The Wall Street Journal
Honduras Lurches Toward Crisis Over Election
June 26, 2009

By JOSé DE CÓRDOBA

Honduran President Manuel Zelaya's push to rewrite the constitution, and pave the way for his potential re-election, has plunged one of Latin America's poorest countries into a potentially violent political crisis.

A day after Mr. Zelaya fired the head of the country's armed forces, hundreds of troops on Thursday deployed around the Congress, presidential palace and airport in Tegucigalpa, the country's capital. It wasn't clear whether the troops were responding to orders from Mr. Zelaya, or Honduras' other civilian and military powers, all of which oppose the president.

Mr. Zelaya, a populist and close ally of Venezuela's Hugo Chávez and Cuba's retired dictator Fidel Castro, wants to hold a referendum on Sunday aimed at allowing voters in the country's November presidential election to also vote on rewriting the constitution. Mr. Zelaya says the current constitution favors the country's elites.

The country's Supreme Court, top electoral body, and human-rights ombudsman have all declared the planned referendum illegal. Many in the country fear the president primarily wants to change the constitution to end its ban on re-election, and use that to stay in power when his term ends in January.

Other leftist Latin American leaders like Venezuela's Mr. Chávez, Ecuador's Rafael Correa and Bolivia's Evo Morales have used referendums for a similar purpose. Latin America has a long history of leaders of all political stripes trying to stay in power. Colombia's right-wing President Álvaro Uribe is trying to change the constitution to allow him a third term.

http://online.wsj.com/article/SB1245973696...