Colombia's Constitutional Court shut the door Feb. 26 on President Alvaro Uribe's aspirations for a third straight term, ruling unconstitutional a law that would have let voters decide in a referendum whether he could run again.

The court ruled on a law passed by Congress that would have set up a referendum asking voters whether Colombia's conservative president, a U.S. ally, could run again.

Uribe is hugely popular for seriously weakening leftist rebels, but he has also been widely criticized by human rights activists for allying himself with politicians who collaborated closely with far-right death squads.

First elected in 2002, the 57-year-old Uribe won re-election four years later after allies in Congress pushed through a law amending the constitution so he could run again.