Constitutional reform, national constituent assembly and contentious administrative judicial control

the case of Honduras (2009) and the Venezuelan precedent (1999)

Abstract

The proposal of the President of Honduras in 2009 to convene a Constituent Assembly not established in the Constitution as a means for its reform, in contrast with the 1999 Venezuelan precedent, where the courts abstained to exercise the requested judicial control; in Honduras, the courts controlled the Executive acts, prohibiting the President to continue with his proposals. The President’s refusal to obey the judicial orders, and his insistence on reforming rock-like constitutional clauses, provoked his judicial prosecution. It was the unfortunate military deviation in the execution of the Supreme Court judicial detention orders of the President, and his unconstitutional expatriation what provoked the subsequent political crisis and the reaction of the international community.