Forward, march: a ragtag band of barefoot fighters takes orders from a commander, training in a muddy field near the Honduran border as that country's deposed president threatens an insurrection.
"Either the coup is reversed or generalised violence is coming," Zelaya warned in an interview Friday with Nicaragua's state-owned Channel 4 TV.
"The people have the right to protest, to insurrection," said the Honduran president, who was overthrown in a military-backed coup June 28 and bundled out of the country.
Barring his return is an interim government in Tegucigalpa headed by Roberto Micheletti, who has adamantly rejected any compromise that would involve Zelaya's reinstatement as president.
So here in a mountainous area of Nicaragua that borders Honduras, Zelaya supporters are bracing to fight back, showing off their willingness to take up arms to see him returned to power.
A young tattooed fighter who said he was in the Honduran army under Zelaya was teaching troops a manoeuvre to knock a weapon out of an opponent's hand.
"It is an exercise to avoid shooting," said the young man who asked not to be named, as did his friends in training.
After watching the instruction, a 50-year-old farmer tried to imitate the move, and wound up falling to the ground with a loud thud.
"That's OK, that's OK," the trainer reassured him, while younger recruits smiled and waited their turns.
The camp, toured by an AFP correspondent, has been abuzz since Zelaya's pledge Friday to form a militia.
Training for a "people's army" was under way with a green light from Zelaya's ally, Nicaraguan President Daniel Ortega.
About 300 backers descended on the border village of Ocotal just over a week ago with Zelaya who stepped across the border but turned back in the face of Honduran riot police.
Last Friday, Zelaya's militia in training chanted 'Down with the coup plotters!' as they went through their drills.
The volunteers did their best to follow unfamiliar manoeuvres like moving quickly while on all fours.
The lone woman lagged behind her male colleagues, then seemed to have a leg cramp. She dropped out of the exercise and opted to do some abdominals instead.
Most of the would-be troops were young and strong-looking if a bit out of shape.