Honduras' President Manuel Zelaya walks with supporters in Tegucigalpa, Thursday, June 25, 2009.... 
(AP)
With backing from Fidel Castro and Hugo Chavez, Honduras' leftist president pushed ahead Friday with a referendum on revamping the constitution, risking his rule in a standoff against Congress, the Supreme Court and the military.
Government supporters began distributing ballots at 15,000 voting stations across the country, defying a Supreme Court ruling declaring Sunday's referendum illegal and ordering all election material confiscated. President Manuel Zelaya had led thousands of supporters to recover the material from an air force warehouse before it could be confiscated.
Under Honduran law, soldiers are normally responsible for distributing ballots ahead of elections, but the military leadership has opposed the vote. Zelaya has fired the military chief for refusing to support the referendum and vows to ignore a Supreme Court ruling ordering him reinstated.
Zelaya has the vocal support of his fellow leftist Latin American leaders as he seeks to follow in the path of Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez in transforming his country through a constitutional overhaul. The Venezuelan leader and former Cuban President Fidel Castro have warned a coup is under way in Honduras and pledged their support for Zelaya.
Zelaya says the constitution protects a system of government that excludes the poor, but has not specified what changes he will seek.
His opponents fear he will try to extend his rule by lifting a constitutional ban presidential re-election.
The showdown between the president and virtually all other circles of power in Honduras plunged the impoverished Central America country into a political crisis with no solution in sight. Congress — led by members of Zelaya's own Liberal Party — has opened an investigation into his mental stability and could declare him unfit to govern.
Thousands of Zelaya opponents marched through the capital of Tegucigalpa to demand his ouster Friday, chanting "he must leave now!" Many shops, gasoline stations and some schools were closed for fear of disturbances.
