Nicaragua sealed its El Espino, Guasaule and Las Manos border posts beginning at 6 a.m. local time, police spokesman Orlin Cerrato told media. El Salvador did the same thing at noon local time, he added.

At the same press conference, Rene Maradiaga Panchame, the head of the National Police’s General Directorate of Special Investigations, said that Nicaragua had taken the measure “to avoid any possible problems or speculation.”

President Roberto Micheletti responded to the news by blaming Venezuela’s President Hugo Chavez, accusing him of trying to apply boycotts to Hondurans “right to be free.”