I | INTRODUCTION |
Honduras, country in Central America, extending from
the Caribbean Sea to the Pacific Ocean. Honduras is a rugged, mountainous
country with a fringe of lowlands along the Caribbean coast. Explorer
Christopher Columbus landed here in 1506 and named the land Honduras (Spanish
for “depths”) for the deep waters off the Caribbean coast. The country’s
official name in Spanish is Republica de Honduras. The capital and largest city
is Tegucigalpa.
From the 16th century to the early 19th
century, Honduras was part of the vast colonial empire of Spain. In the 20th
century it came under the influence of big fruit companies from the United
States that established banana plantations there. For a long time bananas were
the mainstay of the Honduran economy. Although the economy has become more
diversified, Honduras remains primarily an agricultural society. Its wealth is
controlled by a small minority, and its people are among the poorest in the
Western Hemisphere.
II | LAND AND RESOURCES |
Honduras is one of the largest Central
American republics, second only to Nicaragua. Its area of 112,492 sq km (43,433
sq mi) makes it slightly larger than the state of Tennessee. The country is
bounded on the north and east by the Caribbean Sea, on the south by Nicaragua,
on the southwest by the Pacific Ocean and El Salvador, and on the west by
Guatemala.
Honduras is a primarily a highland plateau,
consisting of broad, fertile plains broken by deep valleys, and traversed by
mountain ranges in a northwestern to southwestern direction. The mountains,
which are volcanic in origin, rise to their highest elevations of more than
2,800 m (9,200 ft) in west-central Honduras. Two lowlands line the coast, one
extending about 640 km (about 400 mi) along the Caribbean Sea and the other
extending 64 km (40 mi) on the Pacific Ocean. The Caribbean lowland, which
extends into Nicaragua, is known as Mosquitia, or the Mosquito Coast. The name
comes from the Miskito, indigenous people who once inhabited the region, and not
from the insect.
Most of the country’s rivers drain to the
Atlantic Ocean. Navigable Atlantic rivers include the Ulúa, which drains
approximately one-third of the country, and the Coco. The Coco forms part of the
boundary between Honduras and Nicaragua. The Choluteca River flows to the
Pacific Ocean.
Lake Yojoa, a beautifully situated mountain
lake 900 meters (3,000 feet) above sea level, is the only large lake in
Honduras. Caratasca Lagoon is the largest of the several lagoons along the
Mosquito Coast.
A | Natural Resources |
Forests, covering 41.5 percent of the
land, yield valuable hardwoods and softwoods. Fertile pasturelands provide the
basis for increasingly productive dairy farming and livestock raising. Valuable
mineral deposits, such as lead and zinc, are also present in Honduras.
B | Climate |
The climate of Honduras is tropical but
becomes milder at the higher elevations of the interior. The average annual
temperature in the interior is 21°C (70°F). The low-lying coastal regions,
however, are warmer, and the humidity is oppressive; the annual temperature here
averages 27°C (80°F).
Rainfall is generally heaviest in eastern
Honduras, where there is no dry season. The average annual rainfall ranges from
1,000 mm (40 in) in some mountain valleys to 2,500 mm (100 in) along the
northern coast. A dry season lasting from November to May occurs in the
south-central highlands and on the mountain slopes facing the Pacific.
C | Plants and Animals |
Forests of oak and pine cover the cooler
highlands. In the drier parts of the country, savanna grasses and low forest
remains on what was once forested land. Mangrove and palms are found in the
coastal regions.
Honduras has a wide variety of wildlife.
The country’s mammals include bears, monkeys, wolves, anteaters, sloths,
armadillos, and kinkajous. Members of the cat family found in Honduras include
jaguar, puma, lynx, and ocelot. A wide variety of reptiles exists, and marine
and bird life abound.
D | Environmental Issues |
The lush, tropical forests of Honduras are
dwindling rapidly. Increased population has led to the clearing of land for
farming and the farming of marginal soils in rural areas, as well as to
uncontrolled development in the fringes of urban areas. All of these factors
contribute to deforestation and consequently to soil erosion. A reforestation
program has been hampered by rudimentary lumbering methods and poor
transportation facilities.
Water pollution is another environmental
concern in Honduras. Heavy metals from mining activities pollute Lake Yojoa, the
country’s largest source of fresh water. Although almost all urban residents
have access to safe water and sanitation, access is much lower for rural
residents.
The Honduran government has protected some
20 percent of its land in national parks, reserves, and refuges. The largest
park in Honduras is the Río Plátano Biosphere Reserve, which covers about
500,000 hectares (about 1.2 million acres). The site is among the last remaining
tracts of tropical rain forest in Central America. It is situated on the
Mosquito coast and extends into the mountains. However, even this reserve is
threatened; it has suffered from illegal logging, agricultural intrusion, and
commercial hunting. The government has ratified international environmental
agreements pertaining to biodiversity, climate change, desertification,
endangered species, hazardous wastes, marine dumping, ozone layer protection,
tropical timber, and wetlands.
III | PEOPLE |
About 90 percent of the people of Honduras
are mestizo (people of mixed Spanish and Native American ancestry). The
remainder are Native Americans, blacks, and whites. The population is 54 percent
rural.
The population of Honduras (2008 estimate)
was 7,639,327. The overall population density was 68 people per sq km (177 per
sq mi), with the greatest concentrations in the small towns and villages in the
northern coastal and central areas. The rugged terrain has kept the people
living in villages isolated from other villages.
A | Principal Cities |
The capital and largest city of Honduras is
Tegucigalpa (2006 estimate, 1,324,000), located in the south-central highlands
region. The country’s second largest city is San Pedro Sula (549,498). The
principal city and commercial center in the north, it lies in the heart of the
vast banana plantations on the Caribbean Sea. La Ceiba (127,590) and Puerto
Cortés (90,161) are among the leading Caribbean ports.
B | Language and Religion |
Spanish is the official language and is
spoken by nearly all the Honduran people. English is spoken by some people in
the north, and the Native Americans who remain have retained their languages.
Roman Catholics make up 86 percent of the population; Protestants constitute 6
percent.
C | Education |
Education in Honduras is free and
compulsory for children between the ages of 7 and 12. The government has pledged
to raise the literacy rate, which stands at 77.2 percent. In 2000, 1.09 million
pupils were enrolled in 8,114 primary schools. However, only 32 percent of
secondary school-age children were enrolled in school. The number of secondary
schools and teachers is inadequate in rural areas.
The National Autonomous University of
Honduras (founded in 1847), in Tegucigalpa, is the country’s major institution
of higher learning. The José Cecilio del Valle University in Tegucigalpa (1978)
offers training in engineering, administration, and computer science.
D | Culture |
The interaction of both Native American
and Spanish strains in Honduran cultural history is clearly visible in the
architecture. Many colonial buildings show strong Native American influences
combined with baroque, Renaissance, and Moorish styles imported by Spanish
colonists.
Traditional languages and customs have
been preserved in a few isolated Native American settlements in the highlands.
However, the culture of Honduras is primarily Spanish today. The marimba is the
most popular instrument and forms the core of many bands. Native folklore, folk
music, and dances are limited, and artistic activity is concentrated around the
School of Fine Arts in Comayagua, the old capital. In northwestern Honduras lies
Copán, a ceremonial center of the Old Empire of the Maya and one of the most
important archaeological sites in the Western Hemisphere.
The most important painters of the 20th
century included Arturo López Rodezno, founder of the School of Fine Arts in
Comayagua; Antonio Velásquez, who painted scenes of Honduran village life; and
Carlos Garay, noted for landscape paintings. The most-respected Honduran
literary figures of the 20th century were poet, historian, and essayist Rafael
Heliodoro Valle; novelist and short-story writer Argentina Díaz Lozano; and poet
and publisher Clementina Suarez.
IV | ECONOMY |
Honduras is one of the poorest and least
developed countries in the Western Hemisphere. Agriculture is the mainstay of
the economy. The country’s extreme dependence on the export of agricultural
products with constantly fluctuating world prices has made the economy highly
unstable. The government sought to diversify the economy during the 1990s by
developing tourism, new agricultural exports, and manufacturing industries based
on assembly of clothing and textiles for export. Despite some success in these
areas, unemployment has remained high. Devastation caused by Hurricane Mitch in
1998 delivered a major setback to the country’s development.
The gross domestic product (GDP), which
measures the total value of goods and services produced, was $9.2 billion in
2006. Per capita GDP was $1,325.20 in 2006. The national budget in 2006 included
$1,804 million in revenue and $1,939 million in expenditure.
A | Agriculture |
Some 12.8 percent of the total land area
of Honduras is cultivated or used for plantation agriculture, most of it on the
coastal plains. Because of the country’s rugged terrain, much of the land is
unsuitable for agriculture. Poor transportation and the lack of modern
production methods have left farms in the highlands physically isolated and
economically backward. Along the Caribbean coast, United States companies
developed vast plantations on which to grow bananas for export. The banana
companies introduced modern methods and transport systems to serve their
plantations.
The U.S. fruit companies were granted vast
concessions of land along the fertile coastal plain around 1900. The region’s
easy access to the southern ports of the United States helped it to become the
world’s second largest banana exporting area, following Ecuador. Until the
middle of the 20th century, the U.S. banana companies completely dominated the
Honduran economy. The government and large landowners who shared the wealth from
the banana trade made few efforts to promote other crops.
Coffee first became an important
commercial crop in the 1950s. It is grown throughout the mountainous area of the
interior. Honduran coffee farms tend to be small. Cotton, which is grown on the
Pacific coastal plain, became important in the late 1950s.
Today, the leading cash crops grown in
Honduras (with annual production for 2006 in metric tons) are fruits such as
bananas and plantains (1,696,409) and coffee (190,640). Other important crops
include sugarcane (5 million), cantaloupes and other melons, oranges, and oil
palm fruit. The principal food crops are corn (470,000), beans (75,000), and
rice (19,200). Production of these food staples is carried out principally by
small subsistence farmers on the infertile soils of the mountainous
interior.
Cattle have been raised on large ranches
in the highlands and the Caribbean lowlands since colonial times. Beef
production rose significantly after 1960 with the opening of the country’s first
modern meat-packing plants. Exports of beef declined in the 1980s as local
consumption grew. The livestock population in 2006 numbered 2.50 million cattle
and 490,000 pigs. Chickens are raised for local consumption.
B | Forestry and Fishing |
Honduras once had abundant forests. As in
much of Central America, the forests have been disappearing at an alarming rate.
Poor, landless farmers cleared land to raise crops, cattle ranchers cleared vast
tracts for grazing land, and loggers cut down trees for lumber. Most of the wood
exported by Honduras is pine and other softwoods. A reforestation program has
been hampered by rudimentary lumbering methods and poor transportation
facilities. In 2006 roundwood production was 9.54 million cubic meters (337
million cubic feet).
Exports of shellfish, primarily shrimp and
lobsters, grew in importance during the 1990s and early 2000s, with shrimp
farming joining the country’s industries. The fish catch in 2005 of 48,580
metric tons was primarily shellfish.
C | Mining |
Deposits of zinc, silver, and lead are
mined in Honduras. Other resources reported, but largely unworked, include iron
ore, coal, and tin. In 2004, 41,000 metric tons of zinc concentrate and 48
metric tons of silver were mined.
D | Manufacturing |
Honduran industry has grown significantly
since the mid-1950s. Traditional industries were based largely on the production
of agricultural and forestry products, including cotton, sugar, beverages, and
furniture and other wood products. Cement was another important product.
Textiles grew in importance during the 1980s, and in the 1990s the assembly of
goods for export became significant as a result of the Caribbean Basin
Initiative. This United States initiative allows for the duty-free importation
of clothing assembled from U.S. cloth. Factories also opened to assemble
electronics, furniture, and metal goods. Most of the assembly industries were
based near the coastal ports of San Pedro Sula and Puerto Cortés. The capital,
Tegucigalpa, is also a center of industry.
E | Tourism |
Tourism has grown in importance and
provides the country with much-needed income. Most of the visitors to the
country come from elsewhere in Central America or from the United States. The
well-preserved ruins of the ancient Maya civilization at Copan are a leading
tourist attraction. Palm-fringed beaches along the Caribbean coast draw
vacationers who wish to relax. Others choose to visit mangrove swamps, cloud
forests high in the mountains, or some of the country’s many national parks
where they can observe wild life, especially the country’s colorful birds. The
Bay Islands off the Caribbean coast of Honduras are ringed by coral reefs, which
makes them popular for snorkeling.
F | Currency and Banking |
The unit of currency in Honduras is the
lempira, divided into 100 centavos (18.90 lempiras equal U.S.$1;
2006 average). The bank of issue is the Banco Central de Honduras. The
government-controlled Municipal Bank and National Agricultural Development Bank
provide credit for developmental projects.
G | Commerce and Trade |
Bananas and coffee have traditionally been
the leading Honduran exports by value, although in the early 2000s they were
surpassed by export revenues from industries that assemble parts for electronic
devices, furniture, and other goods. Other food exports, especially shellfish,
contributed significantly. The United States is the principal trading partner of
Honduras. El Salvador is another leading purchaser of Honduran exports.
Guatemala, El Salvador, and Mexico are other sources for imports.
The total yearly value of exports in 2003
was $992 million. Since the mid-1970s imports have risen rapidly, reaching a
value of $3.32 billion in 2003. Income from tourism helped balance the country’s
trade deficit, as has money sent back to the country by Hondurans living abroad,
especially in the United States.
H | Transportation |
In 1870 the government planned to build a
railroad, but because of bad planning and mismanagement, only 142 km (88 mi)
were finished. The banana companies later built some 600 km (370 mi) of
railroads for their own use along the northern coast. The rest of Honduras was
served only by mule trails until road building began in the late 1940s. The
Inter-American Highway (160 km/100 mi in Honduras) runs along the Pacific coast
and links Honduras with Nicaragua, Guatemala, and El Salvador. A good road
connects this highway with Tegucigalpa. Today, the total length of roads in
Honduras is 13,600 km (8,451 mi).
The mountainous character of Honduras has
made aviation an important means of transportation. Today, about 30 local
airports, several international airports, and more than 100 small fields are in
use. Puerto Cortés, on the Caribbean coast, is the country’s principal port.
Other ports on the Caribbean include Tela, La Ceiba, and Puerto Castilla.
Amapala and San Lorenzo are the main ports on the Pacific coast.
I | Communications |
Journalists in Honduras generally practice
self-censorship to avoid offending government authorities or powerful media
owners. Honduras has 7 daily newspapers. The country also has 410 radio
receivers and 101 televisions for every 1,000 residents; there are 4 main
television stations. Honduras had 69 telephone mainlines for every 1,000 people
in 2005.
J | Labor |
The total labor force of Honduras numbers
3.02 million, of which 39 percent are engaged in agriculture.
V | GOVERNMENT |
Honduras was governed under the constitution
of 1965 until 1972, when it was largely suspended after a coup d’état (for more
information, see the History section of this article). A new constitution
was adopted in 1982 and amended in 1995.
A | Executive |
Executive power in Honduras is vested in a
president, who is elected by direct and universal vote for a four-year term. The
president appoints a cabinet that assists in governing. A president can serve
only one term.
B | Legislature |
Legislative power in Honduras is vested in
the unicameral Congress, the 128 members of which are popularly elected.
C | Political Parties |
The two strongest political parties in
Honduras are the conservative National Party and the slightly less conservative
Liberal Party. The National Party has traditionally been aligned with the
military and received its main support from poor rural areas of the south. The
Liberal Party receives more of its support from urban areas. Smaller groups
include the centrist Innovation and Unity Party and the Christian Democratic
Party.
D | Local Government |
Honduras is divided into 18 departments,
which are subdivided into municipalities. Each department is administered by a
governor appointed by the president. Municipalities are governed by elected
councils.
E | Judiciary |
The supreme court is composed of nine
judges elected by Congress for four-year terms. The judiciary also includes
courts of appeal and courts of original jurisdiction, such as labor, tax, and
criminal courts.
F | Health and Welfare |
In recent years public health services in
Honduras have been made more accessible through an increase in mobile health
units and through the development of community participation in health programs.
Effective programs have resulted in malaria control, improved sewerage, and
increased medical personnel. Malnutrition, inadequate housing, and infant
diseases are still widespread. In 2008 the estimated life expectancy at birth
was 71 years for women and 67.8 years for men; the infant mortality rate was 25
per 1,000 live births.
The constitution provides social security
programs for workers and their families. Funds are collected from employers,
employees, and the government. Only a small part of the labor force participates
in the program.
G | Defense |
The armed forces in 2004 numbered 12,000,
comprising an army of 8,300, a navy of 1,400, and an air force of 2,300. As of
1994 military service was no longer mandatory.
VI | HISTORY |
Western Honduras was at the southeastern
edge of the great Maya civilization during the 1st millennium ad, and the ruins at Copán attest to the
advanced stage of the country’s culture. The Maya, however, were already in
decline by the time Christopher Columbus reached their shores on his fourth
voyage in 1502. Several non-Maya tribes also inhabited the Caribbean coastal
region. The indigenous population was decimated by the Spanish conquest and by
the European diseases the Spaniards introduced, but the number of Spanish
settlers was small and included few women. As a result, marriage between
Spaniards and Native Americans was common, and mestizos became Honduras’s
dominant ethnic group.
A | The Colonial Period |
The conquest of Honduras began in 1524 and
was characterized by bitter struggles among rivals representing Spanish power
centers in Mexico, Panama, and Hispaniola. Hernán Cortés, the conqueror of
Mexico, went to Honduras in 1525 to establish a firm claim, but the discovery of
gold there made the region a center of intrigue and conflict for several years.
The conquerors also met with considerable opposition from Lempira, a Native
American chief whose heroic resistance inspired later movements toward freedom
and whose name was given to the monetary unit of the country.
Pedro de Alvarado, governor of the kingdom
of Guatemala, finally overcame all challengers in 1539 to gain control of
Honduras. The province became a part of the Guatemalan kingdom, which
encompassed almost all of Central America and was itself a part of the vast
Spanish colony known as the Viceroyalty of New Spain. The town of Comayagua,
established in 1540, served as the province’s capital during most of the
colonial period. An early mining boom around Gracias gave the town such
importance that in 1544 it became the capital for the Kingdom of Guatemala. The
gold and silver deposits of Honduras were more limited than Spanish explorers
had originally believed, however. As a result Honduras lost its early
importance, and the regional capital was moved to Guatemala in 1549.
Flurries of mining activity around
Tegucigalpa encouraged that town also to challenge Comayagua, especially in the
late colonial period, creating a rivalry that grew in intensity after Honduras
gained independence. For the most part, however, colonial Honduras was a
sparsely populated province, with most of its population dedicated to
subsistence agriculture or ranching. By the end of the colonial period Honduras
was an important supplier of foodstuffs and livestock to the indigo-exporting
regions of El Salvador and Guatemala.
B | The Central American Federation |
In 1821 Honduras, along with other Central
American countries and Mexico, declared its independence from Spain. Soon
afterward Mexico annexed Honduras and the other countries of Central America. In
1823 the regime in Mexico collapsed, and Honduras joined its neighbors in
forming the United Provinces of Central America. Political dissension between
the conservative Spanish aristocracy and the more liberal intellectual and
Creole landowners soon became evident. (Creoles were people of Spanish ancestry
born in the Western Hemisphere.) In Honduras the bitter rivalry between
conservatives and liberals was reflected in violent quarrels for supremacy
between the mostly conservative city of Comayagua and the more liberal city of
Tegucigalpa.
In 1825 a Salvadoran liberal, Manuel José
Arce, was elected first president of the United Provinces of Central America,
but the following year he bolted his party and turned conservative. A civil war
within the United Provinces followed. From the civil war a great Honduran
liberal and national hero, Francisco Morazán, emerged. Morazán led liberal
forces to victory in 1829 and restored order.
In 1830 Morazán was elected president of
the United Provinces. Though an able leader, he was too hasty in establishing
reform measures. In addition, the federated states still feared the preeminence
of Guatemala, even though Morazán transferred the capital from Guatemala City to
San Salvador in El Salvador. Finally, in 1838 the Central American states
formally dissolved their federation.
C | Independence |
An assembly meeting at Comayagua declared
Honduras an independent republic on October 26, 1838. The course of
independence, however, was stormy. Stronger neighbors, especially Guatemala,
exercised great influence in Honduran politics throughout the 19th century.
Rafael Carrera, the dictator who held power in Guatemala from 1844 to 1865,
unseated liberal regimes in both Honduras and El Salvador. Perhaps because of
this, but also because there was still sentiment strongly in favor of union, the
three neighboring republics—El Salvador, Honduras, and Nicaragua—formed a loose
confederation in 1849. The alliance stayed in effect until 1863, when a
three-way war among its members destroyed the union. Conservative dictators held
power for most of the first four decades of independence, and the nation’s
capital was Comayagua.
Liberal dictators, beginning with Marcos
A. Soto in 1876, dominated the country in the late 19th and early 20th
centuries, and they began to emphasize modernization and exports. The transfer
of the capital from conservative Comayagua to liberal Tegucigalpa reflected both
the triumph of the liberals and a renewed emphasis on mining, which the
government stimulated by attracting foreign investment. Mining companies from
the United States played a major role in late-19th-century Honduran economic
growth, although Honduras remained the least developed state in Central
America.
D | The Banana Republic |
At the start of the 20th century, Honduras
was the poorest of the Central American nations. In the early 1900s U.S. fruit
companies began growing bananas along the Caribbean coast of Honduras. They
competed ruthlessly for grants of land from the government under favorable terms
and often promised political support in return. The banana companies soon became
the dominant force in the country’s political and economic life.
By 1910 U.S. firms controlled 80 percent
of all banana lands, and bananas had become the mainstay of the economy.
Honduras became known as a “banana republic.” When revolutions broke out in 1911
and 1913, the United States intervened on the side of the ruling elite to
restore order and protect U.S. property.
The fruit companies gave Honduras a major
export commodity, developed its Caribbean ports, and contributed, indirectly, to
the growth of San Pedro Sula as the major population center on the entire
Central American Caribbean plain, even though they contributed little to the
general development of the country. Most of Honduras remained illiterate, and
underpopulated.
E | Modernizing Honduras |
The dictatorship of Tiburcio Carías, which
lasted from 1932 to 1948, ended a long period of political disorder in Honduras.
Carías governed with an iron hand and did little to advance the social welfare
of his people. However, the country achieved some economic progress under his
rule, and the austerity measures he introduced contributed to a balanced budget.
In 1949 Carías relinquished the presidency to a successor he chose, Juan Manuel
Gálvez, a lawyer for the United Fruit Company who was supported by the National
Party.
Showing surprising independence, Gálvez
initiated some economic and social reforms. He stimulated the building of new
roads, schools, and health facilities and promoted agricultural diversification.
A program for providing water and sewer systems for the larger towns and cities
was also launched. Some democratic freedoms were introduced, but too few and too
slowly to suit the Liberal Party. Honduras remained the only Latin American
republic without a labor law. In 1954 banana workers went on strike. As other
workers joined in, a general strike paralyzed the country, forcing the
government to legally recognize the labor unions. Most of the workers’ demands
were not met, however.
Elections in 1954 produced a deadlock over
the successor to Gálvez, and his vice president, Julio Lozano Díaz, seized
power. In 1956 a military junta ousted Lozano. The junta organized elections to
a constituent assembly that elected a liberal, Ramón Villeda Morales, as
president in 1957. Villeda led the country into the Central American Common
Market (CACM) and initiated programs for agrarian reform and education. The
landowners and the army opposed the agrarian reforms, and in 1963 the army
overthrew Villeda.
F | Military Governments |
Colonel Osvaldo López Arellano, who led
the 1963 coup, held the reins of government for 11 of the next 12 years. López
halted implementation of the agrarian reforms begun by the Villeda regime and
dealt harshly with militant peasant organizations. His administration did,
however, continue policies of his predecessor that aimed at modernizing the
economy.
Throughout the 1960s tensions grew between
Honduras and El Salvador because of the large number of landless, jobless
Salvadorans who moved to Honduras and because of border disputes. A brief but
costly war between the two countries erupted in 1969 after a soccer match and
further weakened the economy. Relations between Honduras and El Salvador
remained tense until 1980, when the two countries finally concluded a peace
treaty.
In 1971 national elections were held, and
the leader of the National Party was elected president. Late in 1972 López
Arellano regained power in a bloodless coup, suspended congress, and began
governing by decree. By this time peasant unrest had flared up again. López
immediately reactivated the agrarian reform program, distributing government
land and legalizing peasant settlement on idle private lands. Opposition to his
regime grew among both landowners alarmed by agrarian reforms and young army
officers disturbed that high-level government officials had stolen money
intended for hurricane relief. Hurricane Fifi, which struck Honduras in 1974,
had taken 8,000 lives and damaged nearly 60 percent of the country’s farmland.
The final blow for López was the exposure
in 1974 of a $250,000 bribe paid to government officials by United Brands, the
leading banana grower. The army helped Colonel Juan Alberto Melgar Castro take
power in 1975. Under Melgar Castro the army cooperated with landowners in
violently repressing peasant dissent, and some peasant leaders were jailed. He
was ousted in 1978 in another coup, led by General Policarpo Paz García.
In 1979 a revolution in neighboring
Nicaragua brought the Sandinistas to power there. Honduras became a base for
thousands of guerrillas fighting the Nicaraguan government, and the United
States began holding regular military exercises in Honduras in an effort to
bring down Nicaragua’s Sandinista government. United States President Ronald
Reagan believed the Sandinistas were backing communist revolutions in Central
America.
In the 1980s Honduras found itself more
than ever dependent on the United States. The Honduran government first denied
the presence of the Nicaraguan exiles being trained by the U.S. military. Then
in 1986, the government began to ask the United States to remove its Nicaraguan
rebels, as cross-border warfare and the presence of refugees were depressing the
economy. In 1990 the rebel camps were closed.
G | Return to Civilian Rule |
Following the Nicaraguan revolution in
1979, the United States also began to put pressure on the Honduran military to
install a constitutional government to increase political stability. In
elections held in 1981, the Liberal Party candidate, Roberto Suazo Córdova, won
the presidency. A new constitution was approved in 1982. However, the military
retained considerable influence in the country.
José Azcona Hoyo, also a Liberal Party
candidate, was elected president in 1985. He was succeeded by Rafael Leonardo
Callejas of the National Party, winner of the 1989 presidential election. The
Callejas administration was beset by strikes as it struggled with a desperate
economic situation and tried to reduce government spending.
A rising cost of living and government
corruption enabled Liberal Party candidate, Carlos Roberto Reina Idiaquez, a
longtime human rights and political activist, to defeat Callejas in 1993. Reina
investigated government corruption and past human rights violations. His
presidency helped restore civilian control to the government by removing the
police from the jurisdiction of the military and by implementing a plan to put
the armed forces under a civilian defense minister beginning in 1999. With the
approval of the Roman Catholic Church, the former archbishop of Tegucigalpa was
appointed head of the national police force.
In 1995 the main political parties
established a new political forum, the National Council of Convergence, which
was designed to promote consensus on the social, economic, and political
problems facing Honduras. Also that year Honduras joined the Association of
Caribbean States (ACS), a free trade organization. The Liberal Party remained in
power in the presidential and congressional elections in 1997. The new
president, Carlos Flores Facusse, had been a newspaper publisher and former
president of the Honduran Congress.
Honduras was one of the countries hardest
hit when Hurricane Mitch struck the eastern coast of Central America in October
1998. Mitch killed over 5,000 people in Honduras, left many thousands homeless,
and caused enormous damage to crops, roads, and towns and villages. Mitch was
ranked as the fourth strongest hurricane of the 20th century. Some observers
said that the storm had set back economic development in Honduras by decades.
In 2001 National Party candidate Ricardo
Maduro was elected president. Maduro took office in 2002 and vowed to crack down
on violent crime. Gang warfare had been on the rise since the late 1990s, and
army units began policing the streets in 2000. A United Nations report in 2002
condemned the killing of children and young people in Honduras who lived in the
streets. Estimates suggested that more than a thousand street children had been
killed over a four-year period, many by the security forces. The government
launched an investigation into the deaths in 2003.
In late 2003 Honduras signed on to the
Central American Free Trade Agreement (CAFTA), which was designed to improve
trading relations between the countries of the region and the United States
(see Free Trade). The issue of crime continued to dominate Honduran
politics, however. In November 2005 voters showed their unhappiness with the
government by electing the Liberal Party’s Manuel Zelaya as the country’s new
president.
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