2009 Honduran constitutional crisis
The 2009 Honduran constitutional crisis was a political dispute over plans to either rewrite the Constitution of Honduras or write a new one. Honduran President Manuel Zelaya planned to hold a poll on a referendum on a constituent assembly to change the constitution. A majority of the government, including the Supreme Court and prominent members of Zelaya's own party, saw these plans as unconstitutional as they could lead to presidential reelection, which is permanently outlawed by the Honduran constitution. The Honduran Supreme Court upheld a lower court injunction against a 28 June poll. However, the constitutional process for dealing with this situation was unclear; there were no clear procedures for removing or prosecuting a sitting president. The crisis culminated in the removal and exile of Honduran president Manuel Zelaya by the Honduran military in a coup d’état. On the morning of 28 June 2009, approximately 100 soldiers stormed the president's residence in Tegucigalpa and put him on an airplane to San José, Costa Rica. Zelaya immediately called this a "coup" upon his arrival. Later that day, the National Congress voted to remove Zelaya from office, having read without objection a purported letter of resignation. Zelaya said the letter was forged.