By now, we are all aware of the situation in Honduras where President Manuel Zelaya tried unsuccessfully to use the nation's institutions to illegally convoke a referendum in order to change the constitution and perpetuate himself in power.
Zelaya took office in 2006 as the leader of one of the two center-right parties that have dominated Honduran politics for decades. His general platform, his support for the Central American Free Trade Agreement with the United States and his alliances with business organizations gave no hint that halfway into his term he would make a radical U turn. Suddenly, in 2007, he declared himself a socialist and began to establish close ties with Venezuela. He incorporated Honduras into PetroCaribe, a mechanism set up by Hugo Chávez for lavishing oil subsidies on Latin American and Caribbean countries in exchange for political subservience. Then his government joined the Bolivarian Alternative for Latin America and the Caribbean (ALBA), Venezuela's answer to the proposed Free Trade Area of the Americas. ALBA is ostensibly a commercial alliance but in practice a political movement that seeks to expand populist dictatorship to the rest of Latin America.
Last year, Zelaya announced that he would hold a referendum to set up a constituent assembly that would change the constitution that barred him from reelection. He was following in the footsteps of Venezuela's Chavez, Bolivia's Morales and Ecuador's Correa.
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