2009 Honduran coup d'état

The 2009 Honduran coup d'état occurred during the 2009 Honduran constitutional crisis. It was triggered after President Manuel Zelaya refused to comply with a Honduran Supreme Court ruling. On 28 June 2009, the Honduran Army ousted Zelaya and sent him into exile.

Zelaya had sought to schedule a non-binding poll on convening a constituent assembly to write a new constitution (the fourth ballot box referendum). After he defied court orders to cease, the Supreme Court issued a secret arrest warrant on 26 June. Two days later, soldiers stormed the presidential residence, detained Zelaya, and halted the poll. Rather than putting him on trial, the army flew him to Costa Rica. Later that day, after presenting a resignation letter of disputed authenticity, the Honduran Congress voted to remove Zelaya from office and appointed congressional head Roberto Micheletti, the constitutional successor, to complete his term. This was the first coup in Honduras since 1978.

The international reaction was widespread. The United Nations, the Organization of American States (OAS), and the European Union condemned Zelaya's removal as a military coup. On 5 July 2009, the OAS voted unanimously to suspend Honduras.

In July 2011, the Honduran Truth and Reconciliation Commission concluded that while Zelaya had broken the law by defying the Supreme Court, his removal was also illegal and constituted a coup. The commission found Congress's appointment of Micheletti unconstitutional, labeling his administration a "de facto regime." Chaired by former Guatemalan Vice President Eduardo Stein, the commission presented its report to then-President Porfirio Lobo Sosa, Supreme Court head Jorge Rivera Avilez, and OAS Secretary General José Miguel Insulza.

In November 2021, over a decade after the coup, Zelaya's wife, former First Lady Xiomara Castro de Zelaya, was elected as Honduras's first female president.