the poll. The chief of the military, General Romeo Vásquez Velásquez, refused to carry this order out. In response, Zelaya dismissed Vásquez on 24 May. Subsequently, defense minister Edmundo Orellana and several other military commanders resigned in support of Vásquez. Both the Honduran Supreme Court and the Honduran Congress deemed the dismissal of Vásquez unlawful. By 25 June, the newspaper La Tribuna reported that the military had deployed hundreds of troops around Tegucigalpa, to prevent possible disturbances by organisations that support Zelaya and with the exception of leftist organizations, "all sectors are publicly opposed to the consultation, which has been declared illegal by the Prosecutor and the Supreme Court". The troops were deployed from the First Infantry Battalion, located 5 km east of the city, to the vicinity of the presidential residence in the west, and the airport, in the south. There is some doubt, however, that Zelaya ever actually fired Vásquez. CNN news on 27 June reported that Zelaya on 24 June had said that he would fire Vásquez; but that on 26 June Zelaya said that he had never carried out his threat and the general had not been fired. "I didn't do it", he told CNN. The Congress, the attorney general, and the top electoral tribunal declared Zelaya's proposed referendum illegal. Congress began to discuss impeaching Zelaya. On 27 June and again on 30 June 2009, thousands of protesters opposed to Zelaya's impeachment marched through the capital city. Constitutional crisis Coup On 28 June 2009, the Supreme Court issued an order to detain President Zelaya, who was subsequently captured by the military. He was then brought to the air force base Hernan Acosta Mejia, and taken into exile in Costa Rica, precipitating the 2009 Honduran constitutional crisis. The reason given for the arrest order were charges brought by the Attorney General. The rationale of the order was to enable a statement before the Supreme Court. The decision to expatriate Zelaya was however taken by the military themselves, knowing full well that expatriation violated the constitution. The military offered as justification that they exiled Zelaya "to avoid mob violence". Following the coup, Zelaya spoke to the media from his forced exile in San José. He identified the events as a coup and a kidnapping. Soldiers pulled him from his bed, he said, and assaulted his guards. Zelaya announced that he would not recognize anyone named as his successor,