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Honduras was inhabited by many indigenous peoples when the Spanish introduced the wheel to them, in the 16th century. The western-central part ofHonduras was inhabited by theLencas, the central north coast by theTol, the area east and west ofTrujillo by thePech (or Paya), theMaya andSumo. These autonomous groups traded with each other and with other populations as distant asPanama andMexico.[1][unreliable source?] Honduras has ruins of several cities dating from the Mesoamericanpre-classic period that show thepre-Columbian past of the country.
The Spanish founded new settlements such asTrujillo,Comayagua,Gracias, andTegucigalpa. Starting in the colonial era, the territory of what is today Honduras was dedicated to harvesting,[clarification needed] mining, and ranching. After its independence from theSpanish Empire in 1821, Central America joined theFirst Mexican Empire for a very short time. It fell in 1823 and theFederal Republic of Central America was created, which fell in 1839. After that, the Honduran territory became an independent nation.
Archaeology has demonstrated that Honduras has a multi-ethnic prehistory. An important part of that prehistory was theMayan presence aroundCopán in western Honduras near the Guatemalan border, a major Mayan city that began to flourish around 150 A.D. but reached its zenith in the Late Classic period (700–850 A.D.). It has left behind many carved inscriptions andstelae. The ancient kingdom, namedXukpi orOxwitik, existed from the 5th century to the early 9th century, and had antecedents going back to at least the2nd century, a period named "predynastic Copán".
Mayan culture extended from what today are the departments ofCopán,Ocotepeque and several villages around these territories, especially near theUlua river. Other Mayan archeological sites in Honduras areEl Puente, a smaller city that initially was independent for a period, but maintained a close alliance with the political and administrative center of Copán, andRio Amarillo, believed to have been a crossing between the valleys of El Florido in Honduras and El Motagua inGuatemala. TheRastrojón archeological site, shows the construction styles of the residences of the upper or noble class of the Mayan society.
TheMayan civilization began a marked decline in population in the 9th century, but evidence shows people still living in and around the city until at least 1200.[2] By the time the Spanish came to Honduras, the once great city-state of Copán had been overrun by the jungle, and the survivingCh’orti' were isolated from their Choltian linguistic peers to the west. The non-MayaLencas dominated western Honduras, and had several villages in the valleys. The Lenca were the biggest and most well organized society in terms of military organization by the time of the conquest in the early 16th century.[3]
Many other regions had large societies. Archaeological sites includeNaco [es], La Sierra, and El Curruste in the northwest (thought to have been populated byWestern Jicaque speakers),Los Naranjos north ofLake Yojoa,Tenampúa andYarumela in theComayagua valley. Some were built by the ancestors of theLenca people during the pre classic period almost 1000 years before the Mayan cities. They have complex structures and in the past were prosperous cities thanks to locations that made them active centers of commerce, with access to both theCaribbean and the Pacific. Imports of merchandise from Guatemala and central Mexico, and traces of products that came from other areas ofSouth America throughtrade routes have also been found.[4][5]
As part ofMesoamerica, Honduras was home to complex settled societies for several thousand consecutive years, just as in other neighboring regions. It is clear that neighboring Maya societies and more distant Central Mexican societies were a major influence on Honduran communities, both through trade (especially with the Maya civilization, and, during theFormative Period, and theOlmec civilization) and occasionally migration. For example, during internal conflict in the lateToltec Empire around 1000 to 1100 AD,Nahuatl speakers migrated from Central Mexico and dispersed into different parts of Central America, including Honduras, especiallyChapagua. In present-day El Salvador, they became thePipil and foundedKuskatan, and in Nicaragua, they became theNicarao.
Although most Honduran great urban areas belonged to the Mesoamerican cultural area,La Ciudad Blanca is the major exception. It lies on the very fringe of Mesoamerica and is better described in relation to theIsthmo-Colombian area. This civilization thrived from 500 A.D to 1000 A.D, and included sophisticated management of the environment in accordance with large urban centers. Despite being outside the Mesoamerican area, studies reveal that the city had Mayan elements, like aball game, and some pyramidal structures similar to the ones found in western Honduras. Studies in the area show huge structures in the city, and one had a ceremonial area where they performed rituals to kings and gods.
Honduras was first sighted by Europeans whenChristopher Columbus arrived at theBay Islands very close to the island ofGuanaja on 30 July 1502 on hisfourth voyage. On 14 August 1502 Columbus landed on the mainland near modernTrujillo. Columbus named the country Honduras ("depths") for the deep waters off its coast.[6]
In January 1524,Hernán Cortés directed captainCristóbal de Olid to establish a colony in Honduras named "Triunfo de la Cruz", the modern town ofTela. De Olid sailed with several ships and over 400 soldiers and colonists to Cuba to pick up supplies Cortés had arranged for him. There GovernorDiego Velázquez de Cuéllar convinced him to claim the colony he was to found as his own. De Olid sailed to the coast of Honduras and came ashore east ofPuerto Caballos atTriunfo de la Cruz where he settled and declared himself governor. Cortés got word of De Olid's insurrection however, and sent his cousinFrancisco de las Casas with several ships to Honduras to remove De Olid and claim the area for Cortés. De Las Casas, however, lost most of his fleet in a series of storms along the coast ofBelize and Honduras. His ships limped into the bay at Triunfo, where De Olid had established his headquarters.
When De Las Casas arrived at De Olid's headquarters, a large part of De Olid's army was inland, dealing with another threat from a party of Spaniards underGil González Dávila. Nevertheless, De Olid decided to launch an attack with twocaravels. De Las Casas returned fire and sent boarding parties to capture De Olid's ships. Under the circumstances, De Olid proposed a truce. De Las Casas agreed, and did not land his forces. During the night, a fierce storm destroyed his fleet and about a third of his men were lost. The remainder were taken prisoner after two days of exposure and no food. After being forced to swear loyalty to De Olid, they were released. But De Las Casas was kept prisoner, and soon joined by González, who had been captured by De Olid's inland force.
The Spanish record two different stories about what happened next.Antonio de Herrera y Tordesillas, writing in the 17th century, said that De Olid's soldiers rose up and murdered him.Bernal Diaz del Castillo, in his book namedVerdadera Historia de la Conquista de Nueva España, says that De Las Casas captured De Olid and beheaded him at Naco. In the meantime Cortés marched overland from Mexico to Honduras, arriving in 1525. Cortés ordered the founding of two cities, Nuestra Señora de la Navidad, near modernPuerto Cortés andTrujillo, and named De Las Casas governor. However, both De Las Casas and Cortés sailed back to Mexico before the end of 1525, where De Las Casas was arrested and returned to Spain as a prisoner by Estrada and Alboronoz[who?]. De Las Casas returned to Mexico in 1527, and returned again to Spain with Cortés in 1528.
On 25 April 1526, before going back to Mexico, Cortes appointedHernando de Saavedra governor of Honduras with instructions to treat the indigenous people well.[citation needed] On 26 October 1526, Diego López de Salcedo was appointed by the emperor as governor ofHonduras, replacing De Saavedra. The next decade was marked by clashes between the personal ambitions of the rulers and conquerors, which hindered the installation of good government.[citation needed] The Spanish colonists rebelled against their leaders, and the indigenous people rebelled against the Spanish and against the abuses they imposed.
De Salcedo, seeking to enrich himself, seriously clashed withPedro Arias Dávila, governor ofCastilla del Oro, who wanted Honduras as part of his domains. In 1528, De Salcedo arrested Pedrarias and forced him to cede part of his Honduran domain, butCharles V, Holy Roman Emperor rejected that outcome. After the death of De Salcedo in 1530, settlers became arbiters of power.[clarification needed] Governors hung and removed.[clarification needed] In this situation, the settlers askedPedro de Alvarado to end the anarchy. With the arrival of De Alvarado in 1536, chaos decreased, and the region was under authority.[clarification needed]
In 1537Francisco de Montejo was appointed governor. He set aside the division of territory made by De Alvarado on arriving in Honduras. One of his principal captains,Alonso de Cáceres, quelled the indigenous revolt led by thecaciqueLempira in 1537 and 1538. In 1539 De Alvarado and De Montejo disagreed over who was governor, which caught the attention of theCouncil of India. De Montejo went toChiapas, and De Alvarado became governor ofHonduras.[7]
During the period leading up to the conquest of Honduras byPedro de Alvarado, many indigenous people along the north coast of Honduras were captured and taken prisoner to work on Spain's Caribbeanplantations in theencomienda system. It was not until De Alvarado defeated the indigenous resistance headed by Çocamba near Ticamaya (see: Sicumba at Wikidata) that the Spanish begin to go deeper into country in 1536. Alvarado divided the native towns and gave their labor to the Spanish conquistadors asrepartimiento. Further indigenous uprisings nearGracias a Dios,Comayagua, andOlancho occurred in 1537–38. The uprising near the current city of Gracias in the eponymousLempira Department was led byLempira, who is honored today by the name of the Hondurancurrency.
The defeat of Lempira's revolt, and the decline in fighting among rival Spanish factions all contributed to expanded settlement and increased economic activity in Honduras. In late 1540, Honduras looked to be heading towards development and prosperity, thanks to the establishment ofGracias as the regional capital of the Audiencia of Guatemala (1544).
However, this decision created resentment in the populated areas ofGuatemala and El Salvador. In 1549, the capital was moved toAntigua, Guatemala, and Honduras remained a new province within theCaptaincy General of Guatemala until 1821.[8][failed verification]
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The first mining centers were located near the Guatemalan border, around the city ofGracias inLempira. In 1538 these mines produced significant quantities of gold for the Spanish crown. In the early 1540s, the center of mining activity shifted eastward to theRío Guayape Valley, and silver joined gold as a major product. This change contributed to the rapid decline of Gracias and the rise ofComayagua as the center of colonial Honduras. The demands forunfree labor also led to further revolts and accelerated the decimation of the native population. African slavery was introduced into Honduras, and by 1545 the province may have had as many as 2,000 slaves. Other gold deposits were found nearSan Pedro Sula and the port of Trujillo.[9]
Mining production began to decline in 1560, and thus the importance of Honduras. In early 1569, new silver discoveries briefly revived the economy, which led to the founding ofTegucigalpa, which soon began to rival Comayagua as the most important city of the province. The silver boom peaked in 1584, and economic depression returned shortly thereafter. Honduran mining efforts were hampered by lack of capital and labor, and by difficult terrain. Due to the shrinking size of the indigenous population they used as labor, the Spanish decided to importslaves from Africa for the mines. Mercury, needed to produce of silver, was scarce in Honduras, and its officials were neglectful.[10]
While the Spanish made significant conquests in the south, they had less success on the Caribbean coast, to the north. They founded a number of towns on the coast such asPuerto Caballos in the east, and sent minerals and other exports across the country from the Pacific coast to be shipped to Spain from the Atlantic ports. They founded a number of inland towns on the north-western side of the province, notably Naco andSan Pedro Sula.
In the northeast, the province of Tegucigalpa resisted all attempts to conquer it, physically in the sixteenth century, or spiritually by missionaries in the 17th and 18th centuries. Among the groups found along theMosquito Coast were theMiskito, who although organized in a democratic and egalitarian way, had a king, and hence were known as theMosquito Kingdom.
One of the major problems for the Spanish rulers of Honduras was the activity of the British in northern Honduras, a region over which they had only tenuous control. These activities began in the sixteenth century and continued until the nineteenth century. In the early years, European pirates frequently attacked the villages on the Honduran Caribbean. TheProvidence Island Company, which occupiedProvidence Island not far from the coast, raided it occasionally and had settlements on the shore, aroundCape Gracias a Dios. After theconquest of Jamaica in 1655, the king of the Miskito visited England and made an alliance with the English crown.[11] In 1643 an English expedition destroyed the city ofTrujillo, Honduras's main port.[12]
The Spanish sent a fleet fromCartagena which destroyed the English colony at Providence island in 1641, and for a time the presence of an English base so close to the shore was eliminated. At about the same time, however, a group of slaves revolted and captured the ship on which they were traveling, then wrecked it at Cape Gracias a Dios. Managing to get ashore, they were received by the Miskito, which led within a generation to theMiskito Zambo, a mixed-race group that by 1715 had become the leaders of the kingdom.
Meanwhile, the English capturedJamaica in 1655 and soon sought allies on the coast, and hit upon the Miskito, whose kingJeremy visited Jamaica in 1687. A variety of other Europeans settled in the area during this time. An account from 1699 reveals a patchwork of private individuals, large Miskito family groups, Spanish settlements andpirate hideouts along the coast.[13]
Britain declared much of the area aBritish protectorate in 1740, though they exercised little authority there as a result of the decision. British colonization was particularly strong in theBay Islands, and alliances between the British andMiskito as well as more local supporters made this an area the Spanish could not easily control, and a haven for pirates.[14]
In the early eighteenth century, theHouse of Bourbon, linked to the rulers of France, replaced theHabsburgs on the throne of Spain. The new dynasty began a series of reforms throughout the empire (theBourbon Reforms), designed to make administration more efficient and profitable, and to facilitate defense of the colonies. Among these reforms was a reduction in tax on precious metals and of the price ofmercury, a royal monopoly. In Honduras, these reforms contributed to the resurgence of the mining industry in the 1730s.[8][failed verification]
Under theBourbons, the Spanish government made several efforts to regain control of the Caribbean coast. In 1752, the Spaniards built the fort ofSan Fernando de Omoa. In 1780, the Spanish returned to Trujillo, which started out as base of operations against British settlements to the east. During the 1780s, the Spanish regained control of theBay Islands and took most of the British and their allies in the Black River area. They were not, however, able to expand their control beyond Puerto Caballos and Trujillo, thanks to determined Miskito resistance. The Anglo-Spanish Convention of 1786 issued the final recognition of Spanish sovereignty over the Caribbean coast.[12]
In the early 19th century, Napoleon's occupation of Spain led to the outbreak of revolts all acrossSpanish America. In New Spain, all of the fighting by those seeking independence was done in the center of that area from 1810 to 1821, what today is central Mexico. Once the Viceroy was defeated in Mexico City, in 1821, news of independence was sent to all territories of New Spain including the Intendancies of the former Captaincy of Guatemala. Accepting this as a fact, Honduras joined the other Central American Intendancies in a joint declaration of independence from Spain. The public proclamation was done through theAct of Independence in 1821.
After the declaration of independence it was the intention of the New Spain parliament to establish a commonwealth whereby King of SpainFerdinand VII would also be Emperor of New Spain, and in which both countries were to be governed by separate laws and with their own legislative offices. Should the king refuse the position, the law provided for a member of the House of Bourbon to accede to the New Spain throne. Ferdinand VII did not recognize the declaration of independence and said that Spain would not allow any other European prince to take the throne of New Spain.
By request of Parliament, the president of the regencyAgustín de Iturbide was proclaimed emperor of New Spain but the Parliament also decided to rename New Spain to Mexico. TheFirst Mexican Empire is the official name given to this monarchical regime from 1821 to 1823. The territory of the Mexican Empire included the continental intendencies and provinces of New Spain proper (including those of the former Captaincy General of Guatemala) (See:Central America under Mexican rule).
In 1823, a revolution in Mexico ousted EmperorAgustín de Iturbide, and a new Mexican congress voted to allow the Central American Intendencies to decide their own fate. That year, the United Provinces of Central America was formed of the five Central American Intendencies (Guatemala, Honduras, El Salvador, Nicaragua, and Costa Rica) under GeneralManuel José Arce. The intendencies took the new name of "states".
Among the most important figures of the federal era include the first democratically elected president in Honduras,Dionisio de Herrera, a lawyer, whose government, begun in 1824 established the first constitution, after him became the presidential period of Gen.Francisco Morazán, Federal President 1830–1834 and 1835–1839, whose figure embodies the ideal American Unionist, andJosé Cecilio del Valle, editor of the Declaration of Independence signed in Guatemala on 15 September 1821 and Foreign Minister of foreign policies in Mexico in 1823.
Soon, social and economic differences between Honduras social classes and its regional neighbors exacerbated harsh partisan strife among Central American leaders and brought the collapse of the Federation from 1838 to 1839. General Morazán led many successful efforts to maintain the federation during the knownFirst Central American Civil War, against the conservatives, that saw Morazan policies like making the federation asecular state as a threat to their interests. However, despite General Morazan's victories, his army began to wear out by the efforts of war, until the situation became almost untenable until he was captured and shot in Costa Rica, but not before being buried with honors. His legacy was so important in Honduras and Central America that the department of Francisco Morazan was named after him, and several statues were erected at the end of the 19th century. Restoring Central American unity remained the officially stated chief aim of Honduran foreign policy until afterWorld War I. Honduras broke away from the Central American Federation in October 1838 and became independent and sovereign state.
In the decades of the 1840s and 1850s, Honduras participated in several failed attempts to restore Central American unity, such as the Confederation of Central America (1842–1845), the covenant of Guatemala (1842), the Diet of Sonsonate ( 1846), the Diet of Nacaome (1847) and National Representation in Central America (1849–1852). All of them were sabotaged by the conservatives of all Central American countries.
Although Honduras eventually adopted the name Republic of Honduras, the unionist ideal never waned, and Honduras was one of the Central American countries that pushed hardest for the policy of regional unity.
In 1850, Honduras attempted to build, with foreign assistance, an Inter-Oceanic Railroad fromTrujillo toTegucigalpa and then on to the Pacific Coast. The project stalled due to difficulties in the work, corruption and other issues, and in 1888, ran out of money when it reachedSan Pedro Sula, resulting in its growth into the nation's main industrial center and second largest city. Since independence, nearly 300 small internal rebellions and civil wars have occurred in the country,[15] including some changes of government. Comayagua was the capital of Honduras until 1880, when it was transferred toTegucigalpa.
Political stability and instability both aided and distracted the economic revolution which transformed Honduras through the development of aplantation economy on the north coast.[clarification needed][citation needed] As American corporations consolidated increasingly large landholdings in Honduras, they lobbied the US government to protect their investments. Conflicts over land ownership, peasant rights, and a US-alignedcomprador class of elites led to armed conflicts and multiple invasions by US armed forces.[16] In the first decades of the century, US military incursions took place in 1903, 1907, 1911, 1912, 1919, 1924, and 1925.[17] Because the country was effectively controlled by American fruit corporations, it was the original inspiration for the term "banana republic".[18]
In 1899, thebanana industry in Honduras was growing rapidly. A peaceful transfer of power fromPolicarpo Bonilla to GeneralTerencio Sierra marked the first time in decades that a constitutional transition had taken place.[19] By 1902, railroads had been built along the country's Caribbean coast to accommodate the growing banana industry.[19] However, Sierra made efforts to stay in office and refused to step down when a new president was elected in 1902, and was overthrown byManuel Bonilla in 1903.[19]
After toppling Sierra, Manuel Bonilla, a conservative,[19] imprisoned ex-presidentPolicarpo Bonilla, a liberal rival,[19] for two years and made other attempts to suppress liberals throughout the country,[19] as they were the only other organized political party.[19] The conservatives were divided into a host of personalist factions and lacked coherent leadership,[19] but Bonilla reorganized the conservatives into a "national party."[19] The present-dayNational Party of Honduras (Partido Nacional de Honduras—PNH) traces its origins to his administration.[19]
Bonilla proved to be an even better friend to the banana companies than Sierra.[19] Under Bonilla's rule,[19] companies gained exemptions from taxes and permission to construct wharves and roads,[19] as well as permission to improve interior waterways and to obtain charters for new railroad construction.[19] He also successfully established the border withNicaragua and resisted an invasion fromGuatemala in 1906.[19] After fending off Guatemalan military forces, Bonilla sought peace and signed a friendship pact with both Guatemala and El Salvador.[19]
Nicaragua's presidentJosé Santos Zelaya saw this friendship pact as an alliance to counter Nicaragua and began to undermine Bonilla.[19] Zelaya supported liberal Honduran exiles in Nicaragua in their efforts to topple Bonilla,[19] who had established himself as a dictator.[19] Supported by elements of the Nicaraguan army, the exiles invaded Honduras in February 1907.[19] With the assistance of Salvadoran troops, Manuel Bonilla tried to resist, but in March his forces were decisively beaten in a battle notable for the introduction ofmachine guns into Central America.[19] After toppling Bonilla, the exiles established a provisional junta,[19] but this junta did not last.[20]
American elites noticed: it was in their interests to contain Zelaya, protect the region of the newPanama Canal, and defend the increasingly important banana trade. This Nicaragua-assisted invasion by Honduran exiles strongly displeased the United States government,[20] which concluded that Zelaya wanted to dominate the entire Central American region,[20] sent marines toPuerto Cortes to protect the banana trade.[20] US naval units were also sent to Honduras and were able to successfully defend Bonilla's last defense position atAmapala in theGulf of Fonseca. Through a peace settlement arranged by the USchargé d'affaires inTegucigalpa,[20] Bonilla stepped down and the war with Nicaragua came to an end.[20]
The settlement also provided for a compromise régime headed by GeneralMiguel R. Davila in Tegucigalpa.[20] Zelaya however was not pleased by the settlement,[20] as he strongly distrusted Davila.[20] Zelaya made a secret arrangement with El Salvador to oust Davila from office.[20] The plan failed to reach fruition,[20] but alarmed American stakeholders in Honduras.[20] Mexico and the U.S. called the five Central American countries intodiplomatic talks at theCentral American Peace Conference to increase stability in the area.[20] At the conference, the five countries signed theGeneral Treaty of Peace and Amity of 1907,[20] which established theCentral American Court of Justice to resolve future disputes among the five nations.[20] Honduras also agreed to become permanently neutral in any future conflicts among the other nations.[20]
In 1908, opponents of Davila made an unsuccessful attempt to overthrow him.[20] Despite the failure of this coup, American elites became concerned over Honduran instability.[20] The Taft Administration saw the huge Honduran debt, over $120 million,[20] as a contributing factor to the instability and began efforts to refinance the largely British debt with provisions for a United States customs receivership or some similar arrangement.[20] Negotiations were arranged between Honduran representatives and New York bankers,[20] headed byJ.P. Morgan.[20] By the end of 1909,[20] an agreement had been reached providing for a reduction in the debt and the issuance of new 5%bonds:[20] The bankers would control the Honduran railroad,[20] and the United States government would guarantee continued Honduran independence and would take control of custom revenue.[20]
The terms proposed by the bankers met with considerable opposition in Honduras,[20] further weakening the Dávila government.[20] A treaty incorporating the key provisions of this agreement with J.P. Morgan was finally signed in January 1911 and submitted to the Honduran legislature by Dávila.[20] However, that body, in a rare display of independence, rejected it by a vote of thirty-three to five.[20]
An uprising in 1911 against Dávila interrupted efforts to deal with the debt problem.[20] TheUnited States Marines landed, which forced both sides to meet on a US warship.[20] The revolutionaries, headed by former president Manuel Bonilla,[20] and the government agreed to a cease-fire and the installation of a provisional president who would be selected by the United States mediator,Thomas Cleland Dawson.[20] Dawson selectedFrancisco Bertrand, who promised to hold early, free elections,[20] and Dávila resigned.[20]The 1912 elections were won by Manuel Bonilla,[20] but he died after just over a year in office.[20] Bertrand, who had been his vice president, returned to the presidency and in 1916 won election for a term that lasted until 1920.[20] Between 1911 and 1920, Honduras saw relative stability.[20] Railroads expanded throughout Honduras and the banana trade grew rapidly.[20] This stability however would prove to be difficult to maintain in the years following 1920.[20] Revolutionary intrigues also continued throughout the period, accompanied by constant rumors that one faction or another was being supported by one of the banana companies.[20]
The development of the banana industry contributed to the beginnings of organized labor movements in Honduras and to the first major strikes in the nation's history.[20] The first of these occurred in 1917 against theCuyamel Fruit Company.[20] The strike was suppressed by the Honduran military,[20] but the following year additional labor disturbances occurred at theStandard Fruit Company's holding in La Ceiba.[20] In 1920, a general strike hit the Caribbean coast.[20] In response, a United States warship was sent to the area, and the Honduran government began arresting leaders.[20] When Standard Fruit offered a new wage—equivalent to US$1.75 per day—the strike ultimately collapsed.[20] Labor troubles in the banana trade however were far from over.[20]
The Liberal government opted to expand production in mining and agriculture, and in 1876 began granting substantial grants of land and tax exemptions to foreign concerns as well as to local businesses. Mining was particularly important, and the new policies coincided with the growth of bananaexports, which began in the Bay Islands in the 1870s and was pursued on the mainland by small and middling farmers in the 1880s. Liberal concessions allowed U.S.-based concerns to enter the Honduran market, first as shipping companies, then as railroad and banana producing enterprises. The U.S. companies created very largeplantations worked by labor that flooded into the region from the densely settled Pacific coast, other Central American countries, and thanks to the company's policies favoring English speaking people, from theEnglish-speaking Caribbean.[21] The result was anenclave economy centered on the settlements and activities of the three major companies, Cuyamel Fruit Company,Standard Fruit and particularlyUnited Fruit after it absorbed Cuyamel in 1930.
In 1899, Vaccaro Brothers and Company (later known asStandard Fruit), a New Orleans–based fruit corporation, came to Honduras in 1899 to buy coconuts, oranges and bananas onRoatán.[20] After successfully selling the fruit in New Orleans,[20] the company moved to the mainland of Honduras.[20] In 1901, Vaccaro Brothers established offices inLa Ceiba and Salado and eventually controlled the banana industry betweenBoca Cerrada andBalfate (an area of about 80 kilometers of coastline).[22] In 1900, American businessmanSamuel Zemurray andUnited Fruit came to Honduras to purchase banana plantations.[20] In 1905,[22] Zemurray started buying his own plantations and in 1910, after purchasing 5,000 acres (20 km2) of plantation land in Honduras,[23] formed his own company, theCuyamel Fruit Company.[23] The two companies' wealth and powerful connections allowed them to gain extraordinary influence in the Honduran government.[20]
Rivalries between the companies, however, escalated in 1910, when theUnited Fruit came to Honduras to set up operations;[20] the company had already been a local producer of bananas in Honduras.[20] By 1912, United Fruit had two concessions it had purchased with government approval.[20] One was to build a railroad from Tela to Progreso in the Sula Valley,[20] and the other was to build a railroad from Trujillo to the city ofJuticalpa inOlancho.[20] In 1913, United Fruit established the Tela Railroad Company and shortly thereafter a similar subsidiary, the Trujillo Railroad Company;[20] these two railroads managed the concessions which the Honduran government granted them.[20] Through these two railroad companies, United Fruit dominated the banana trade in Honduras.[20]
An 1899 census showed that northern Honduras had been exporting bananas for several years and that over 1,000 people in the region between Puerto Cortes and La Ceiba (and inland as far as San Pedro Sula) were tending bananas, most of them small holders.[24] The fruit companies received very large concessions of land, often forcing small holders who had been growing and exporting bananas on their land out of business. In addition, they brought in many workers from Jamaica and Belize, both to work on the plantations, but also as lower managers and skilled workers. The companies often favored the West Indian workers because they spoke English and were sometimes better educated than their Honduran counterparts. This perception of foreign occupation, coupled with a growing race-prejudice against the African-descended West Indians, led to considerable tension, as the arrival of the West Indians drove demographic change in the region.[25]
The connection between the wealth of the banana trade and the influence of outsiders, particularly North Americans, ledO. Henry, the American writer who took temporary refuge in Honduras in 1896–97, to coin the term "banana republic" to describe a fictional nation he modeled on Honduras.[26] By 1912, three companies dominated the banana trade in Honduras:[22]Samuel Zemurray'sCuyamel Fruit Company, Vaccaro Brothers and Company and theUnited Fruit Company;[22] all of which tended to be vertically integrated, owning their own lands and railroad companies and ship lines such as United's "Great White Fleet". Through land subsidies granted to the railroads, they soon came to control vast tracts of the best land along the Caribbean coast. Coastal cities such asLa Ceiba,Tela, and Trujillo and towns further inland such asEl Progreso and La Lima became virtual company towns.[20]
For the next twenty years, the U.S. government was involved in quelling Central American disputes, insurrections, and revolutions, whether supported by neighboring governments or by United States companies.[20] As part of the so-calledBanana Wars all around the Caribbean, Honduras saw the insertion ofAmerican troops in 1903, 1907, 1911, 1912, 1919, 1924 and 1925.[27] For instance, in 1917 the Cuyamel Fruit Company extended its rail lines into disputed Guatemalan territory.[20]
In 1919, it became obvious thatFrancisco Bertrand would refuse to allow an open election to choose his successor.[28] This course of action was opposed by the United States and had little popular support in Honduras.[28] The local military commander and governor of Tegucigalpa, GeneralRafael López Gutiérrez, took the lead in organizing PLH opposition to Bertrand.[28] López Gutiérrez also solicited support from the liberal government of Guatemala and even from the conservative regime in Nicaragua.[28] Bertrand, in turn, sought support from El Salvador.[28]
Determined to avoid an international conflict, the United States government, after some hesitation, offered to meditate the dispute, hinting to the Honduran president that if he refused the offer, open intervention might follow.[28] The United States landed US Marines on 11 September 1919.[29] Bertrand promptly resigned and left the country.[28] The United States ambassador helped install an interim government headed byFrancisco Bográn, who promised to hold free elections. General López Gutiérrez, who now controlled the military, made it clear that he was determined to be the next president. After considerable negotiation and some confusion, a formula was worked out under which elections were held. López Gutiérrez won easily in a manipulated election, and in October 1920 he assumed the presidency.[28]
During Bográn's brief time in office, he had agreed to a United States proposal to invite a United States financial adviser to Honduras.[28]Arthur N. Young of the Department of State was selected for this task and began work in Honduras in August 1920, continuing to August 1921.[28] While there, Young compiled extensive data and made numerous recommendations, even persuading the Hondurans to hire a New York police lieutenant to reorganize their police forces.[28] Young's investigations clearly demonstrated the desperate need for major financial reforms in Honduras, whose always precarious budgetary situation was considerably worsened by the renewal of revolutionary activities.[28]
In 1919, for example, the military had spent more than double the amount budgeted for them, accounting for over 57 percent of all federal expenditures.[28] Young's recommendations for reducing the military budget, however, found little favor with the new López Gutiérrez administration,[28] and the government's financial condition remained a major problem.[28] The purpose was to modernize theHonduran Army, which still possessed technology from the late-19th century. If anything, continued uprisings against the government and the threat of a renewed Central America conflict made the situation even worse.[28] From 1919 to 1924, the Honduran government expended US$7.2 million beyond the amount covered by the regular budgets for military operations.[28]
From 1920 through 1923, seventeen uprisings or attempted coups in Honduras contributed to growing United States concern over political instability in Central America.[28] In August 1922, the presidents of Honduras, Nicaragua, and El Salvador met on theUSS Tacoma in theGulf of Fonseca.[28] Under the watchful eye of the United States ambassadors to their nations, the presidents pledged to prevent their territories from being used to promote revolutions against their neighbors and issued a call for a general meeting of Central American states in Washington at the end of the year.[28]
The Washington conference concluded in February with the adoption of the General Treaty of Peace and Amity of 1923, which had eleven supplemental conventions.[28] The treaty in many ways followed the provisions of the 1907 treaty.[28] The Central American court was reorganized, reducing the influence of the various governments over its membership.[28] The clause providing for withholding recognition of revolutionary governments was expanded to preclude recognition of any revolutionary leader, his relatives, or anyone who had been in power six months before or after such an uprising unless the individual's claim to power had been ratified by free elections.[28] The governments renewed their pledges to refrain from aiding revolutionary movements against their neighbors and to seek peaceful resolution for all outstanding disputes.[28]
The supplemental conventions covered everything from the promotion of agriculture to armament limitation. One, which remained unratified, provided forfree trade among all of the states exceptCosta Rica.[28] The arms limitation agreement set a ceiling on the size of each nation's military forces (2,500 men in the case of Honduras) and included a United States-sponsored pledge to seek foreign assistance in establishing more professional armed forces.[28]
The October 1923 Honduran presidential elections and subsequent political and military conflicts provided the first real tests of these new treaty arrangements.[28] Under heavy pressure from Washington, López Gutiérrez allowed an unusually open campaign and election. The long-fragmented conservatives reunited as the National Party of Honduras (Partido Nacional de Honduras—PNH),[28] which ran as its candidate GeneralTiburcio Carías Andino,[28] the governor of the department of Cortés.[28]The liberal PLH was unable to unite around a single candidate and split into two dissident groups, one supporting former presidentPolicarpo Bonilla,[28] the other advancing the candidacy ofJuan Angel Arias. As a result, no candidate secured a majority.[28] Carías received the greatest number of votes, with Bonilla second and Arias a distant third.[28] Under the terms of the Honduran constitution, this stalemate left the final choice of president up to the legislature, but that body was unable to obtain aquorum and reach a decision.[28] In January 1924, López Gutiérrez announced his intention to remain in office until new elections could be held, but he repeatedly refused to specify a date for the elections.[28] Carías, reportedly with the support of United Fruit,[28] declared himself president, and an armed conflict broke out.[28] In February the United States, warning that recognition would be withheld from anyone coming to power by revolutionary means, suspended relations with the López Gutiérrez government for its failure to hold elections.[28]Conditions rapidly deteriorated in the early months of 1924.[28] On 28 February, a pitched battle took place in La Ceiba between government troops and rebels.[28]
Even the presence of theUSS Denver and the landing of a force ofUnited States Marines were unable to prevent widespread looting and arson resulting in over US$2 million in property damage.[28] Fifty people, including a United States citizen, were killed in the fighting.[28] In the weeks that followed, additional vessels from the United States Navy Special Service Squadron were concentrated in Honduran waters, and landing parties put ashore to protect United States interests.[28] One force of marines and sailors was dispatched inland to Tegucigalpa to provide additional protection for the United States legation.[28] Shortly before the arrival of the force, López Gutiérrez died, and what authority remained with the central government was being exercised by his cabinet. General Carías and a variety of other rebel leaders controlled most of the countryside but failed to coordinate their activities effectively enough to seize the capital.[28]
In an effort to end the fighting, the United States government dispatchedSumner Welles to the port ofAmapala;[28] he had instructions to try to produce a settlement that would bring to power a government eligible for recognition under the terms of the 1923 treaty.[28] Negotiations, which were once again held on board a United States cruiser, lasted from 23 to 28 April.[28] An agreement was worked out that provided for an interim presidency headed by GeneralVicente Tosta, who agreed to appoint a cabinet representing all political factions and to convene a Constituent Assembly within ninety days to restore constitutional order.[28] Presidential elections were to be held as soon as possible, and Tosta promised to refrain from running himself.[28] Once in office, the new president showed signs of reneging on some of his pledges, especially those related to a bipartisan cabinet.[28] Under heavy pressure from the United States delegation, however, he ultimately complied with the provisions of the peace agreement.[28]
Keeping the 1924 elections on track proved difficult.[28] To put pressure on Tosta to conduct a fair election, the United States continued an embargo on arms to Honduras and barred the government from access to loans—including a requested US$75,000 from the Banco Atlántida.[28] Furthermore, the United States persuaded El Salvador, Guatemala, and Nicaragua to join in declaring that under the 1923 treaty provision, no leader of the recent revolution would be recognized as president for the coming term.[28] These pressures ultimately helped persuade Carías to withdraw his candidacy and also helped ensure the defeat of an uprising led by GeneralGregorio Ferrera ( great-grandfather of American ActressAmerica Ferrera) of the PNH.[28] The PNH nominatedMiguel Paz Barahona (1925–29), a civilian, as president.[28] The PLH, after some debate, refused to nominate a candidate, and on 28 December Paz Barahona won virtual unanimous election.[28]
Despite another minor uprising led by General Ferrera in 1925, Paz Barahona's administration was, by Honduran standards, rather tranquil. The banana companies continued to expand, the government's budgetary situation improved, and there was even an increase in labor organizing.[30] On the international front, the Honduran government, after years of negotiations, finally concluded an agreement with the British bondholders to liquidate most of the immense national debt.[30] The bonds were to be redeemed at 20 percent of face value over a thirty-year period.[30] Back interest was forgiven, and new interest accrued only over the last fifteen years of this arrangement.[30] Under the terms of this agreement, Honduras, at last, seemed on the road to fiscal solvency.[30]
Fears of disturbances increased again in 1928 as the scheduled presidential elections approached.[30] The ruling PNH nominated General Carías while the PLH, united again following the death of Policarpo Bonilla in 1926, nominatedVicente Mejía Colindres.[30] To the surprise of most observers, both the campaign and the election were conducted with a minimum of violence and intimidation.[30] Mejía Colindres won a decisive victory—obtaining 62,000 votes to 47,000 for Carías. Even more surprising was Carías's public acceptance of defeat and his urging of his supporters to accept the new government.[30]
Mejía Colindres took office in 1929 with high hopes for his administration and his nation.[30] Honduras seemed on the road to political and economic progress.[30] Banana exports, then accounting for 80 percent of all exports, continued to expand.[30] By 1930 Honduras had become the world's leading producer of the fruit, accounting for one-third of the world's supply of bananas.[30] United Fruit had come increasingly to dominate the trade, and in 1929 it bought out the Cuyamel Fruit Company, one of its two principal remaining rivals.[30] Because conflicts between these companies had frequently led to support for rival groups in Honduran politics, had produced a border controversy with Guatemala, and may have even contributed to revolutionary disturbances, this merger seemed to promise greater domestic tranquility.[30] The prospect for tranquility was further advanced in 1931 when Ferrera and his insurgents[31] were killed,[30] while leading one last unsuccessful effort to overthrow the government,[30] after government troops discovered their hiding place in Chamelecon.[31]Many of Mejía Colindres's hopes, however, were dashed with the onset of the Great Depression.[30] Banana exports peaked in 1930, then declined rapidly.[30] Thousands of workers were laid off, and the wages of those remaining on the job were reduced, as were the prices paid to independent banana producers by the giant fruit companies.[30] Strikes and other labor disturbances began to break out in response to these conditions, but most were quickly suppressed with the aid of government troops.[30] As the depression deepened, the government's financial situation deteriorated;[30] in 1931 Mejía Colindres was forced to borrow US$250,000 from the fruit companies to ensure that the army would continue to be paid.[30]
Despite growing unrest and severe economic strains, the 1932 presidential elections in Honduras were relatively peaceful and fair.[32] Thepeaceful transition of power was surprising because the onset of the depression had led to the overthrow of governments elsewhere throughout Latin America,[32] in nations with much stronger democratic traditions than those of Honduras.[32] After United Fruit bought out Cuyamel,Sam Zemurray, a strong supporter of the Liberal Party, left the country and the Liberals were short on cash by the 1932 general election.[33] Mejía Colindres, however, resisted pressure from his own party to manipulate the results to favor the PLH candidate,Angel Zúñiga Huete [es].[32] As a result, the PNH candidate, Carías, won the election by a margin of some 20,000 votes.[32] On 16 November 1932, Carías took office, beginning what was to be the longest period of continuous time in power by any individual in Honduran history.[32]
Shortly before Carías's inauguration, dissident liberals, despite the opposition of Mejía Colindres,[32] had risen in revolt.[32] Carías had taken command of the government forces, obtained arms from El Salvador, and crushed the uprising in short order.[32] Most of Carías's first term in office was devoted to efforts to avoid financial collapse, improve the military, engage in a limited program of road building, and lay the foundations for prolonging his own hold on power.[32]
The economy remained extremely bad throughout the 1930s.[32] In addition to the dramatic drop in banana exports caused by the depression,[32] the fruit industry was further threatened by the outbreak in 1935 of epidemics of Panama disease (a debilitating fungus) and sigatoka (leaf blight) in the banana-producing areas.[32] Within a year, most of the country's production was threatened. Large areas, including most of those around Trujillo, were abandoned, and thousands of Hondurans were thrown out of work.[32] By 1937 a means of controlling the disease had been found, but many of the affected areas remained out of production because a significant share of the market formerly held by Honduras had shifted to other nations.[32]
Carías had made efforts to improve the military even before he became president.[32] Once in office, both his capacity and his motivation to continue and to expand such improvements increased. He gave special attention to the fledgling air force, founding the Military Aviation School in 1934 and arranging for a United States colonel to serve as its commandant.[32]
As months passed, Carías moved slowly but steadily to strengthen his hold on power.[32] He gained the support of the banana companies through opposition to strikes and other labor disturbances.[32] He strengthened his position with domestic and foreign financial circles through conservative economic policies. Even in the height of the depression, he continued to make regular payments on the Honduran debt,[32] adhering strictly to the terms of the arrangement with the British bondholders and also satisfying other creditors.[32] Two small loans were paid off completely in 1935.[32]Political controls were instituted slowly under Carías.[32] TheCommunist Party of Honduras (Partido Comunista de Honduras—PCH) was outlawed,[32] but the PLH continued to function,[32] and even the leaders of a small uprising in 1935 were later offered free air transportation should they wish to return to Honduras from their exile abroad.[32] At the end of 1935, however, stressing the need for peace and internal order, Carías began to crack down on the opposition press and political activities.[32] Meanwhile, the PNH, at the president's direction, began a propaganda campaign stressing that only keeping Carías in office could give the nation continued peace and order.[32] The constitution, however, prohibited immediate reelection of presidents.[32]
To extend his term of office Carías called a constituent assembly to write a new constitution and select the individual to serve for the first presidential term under that document.[32] Except for the president's desire to perpetuate himself in office,[32] there seemed little reason to alter the nation's basic charter.[32] Earlier constituent assemblies had written thirteen constitutions (only ten of which had entered into force), and the latest had been adopted in 1924.[32] The handpickedConstituent Assembly of 1936 incorporated thirty of the articles of the 1924 document into the 1936 constitution.[32]
The major changes were the elimination of the prohibition on immediate reelection of a president and vice president and lengthening the presidential term from four years to six.[32] Other changes included restoration of the death penalty,[32] reductions in the powers of the legislature, and denial of citizenship to women, and therefore also of the right to vote.[32] Finally, the new constitution included an article specifying that the incumbent president and vice president would remain in office until 1943.[32] But Carías, by then a virtual dictator, wanted even more,[32] so in 1939 the legislature,[32] now completely controlled by the PNH,[32] extended his term in office by another six years (to 1949).[32]
The PLH and other opponents of the government reacted to these changes by attempting to overthrow Carías.[32] Numerous coup attempts in 1936 and 1937,[32] succeeded only in further weakening the PNH's opponents.[32] By the end of the 1930s, the PNH was the only organized functioning political party in the nation.[32] Numerous opposition leaders had been imprisoned,[32] and some had reportedly been chained and put to work in the streets of Tegucigalpa.[32] Others, including the leader of the PLH, Zúñiga Huete, had fled into exile.[32]
During his presidency, Carías cultivated close relations with his fellow Central American dictators,[32] generalsJorge Ubico in Guatemala,Maximiliano Hernández Martínez in El Salvador, andAnastasio Somoza García in Nicaragua.[32] Relations were particularly close with Ubico,[32] who helped Carías reorganize his secret police and also captured and shot the leader of a Honduran uprising who had made the mistake of crossing into Guatemalan territory.[32] Relations with Nicaragua were somewhat more strained as a result of the continuing border dispute,[32] but Carías and Somoza managed to keep this dispute under control throughout the 1930s and 1940s.[32]
The value of these ties became somewhat questionable in 1944 when popular revolts in Guatemala and El Salvador deposed Ubico and Hernández Martínez.[32] For a time, it seemed as if revolutionary contagion might spread to Honduras as well.[32] A plot, involving some military officers as well as opposition civilians, had already been discovered and crushed in late 1943.[32] In May 1944, a group of women began demonstrating outside of the Presidential Palace in Tegucigalpa, demanding the release of political prisoners.[32]
Despite strong government measures,[32] tension continued to grow,[32] and Carías was ultimately forced to release some prisoners.[32] This gesture failed to satisfy the opposition,[32] and antigovernment demonstrations continued to spread.[32] In July several demonstrators were killed by troops in San Pedro Sula.[32] In October a group of exiles invaded Honduras from El Salvador but were unsuccessful in their efforts to topple the government.[32] The military remained loyal, and Carías continued in office.[32]
Honduras maintained diplomatic relations with nations that belonged to theAxis until 1941 when it declared war on theEmpire of Japan on 8 December 1941 after the Japanese attack onPearl Harbor, which then spread toNazi Germany and theKingdom of Italy on 12 December of the same year.[34] Several Honduran merchant ships were sunk in the Caribbean by German submarines, which had already been sighted in theGulf of Fonseca and theCaratasca lagoon, therefore air patrols began in 1942. This was thanks to the modernization of the Honduran army and the foundation of theHonduran Air Force. The aircraft used for this operation were theNorth American NA-16,Chance Vought F4U Corsair, and theBoeing Model 40 andModel 95 modified to drop bombs. The first sighting of a GermanU-boat by the air force occurred on 24 July 1942 and was attacked by planes with 60-pound bombs, being the first and possible only official record of a military confrontation between Honduras and Nazi Germany. Many of the raw materials produced in Honduras were sent to the North American country to bring supplies to soldiers in thePacific War against the Japanese. theNorth African theater, and later with its entry into the European theater in 1944 after theD-Day landing.
Anxious to curb further disorder in the region,[32] the United States began to urge Carías to step aside and allow free elections when his term of office expired.[32] Carías, by then in his early seventies, ultimately yielded and announced October 1948 elections,[32] in which he would not run.[32] He continued, however, to find ways to use his power.[32] The PNH nominated Carías's choice for president –Juan Manuel Gálvez,[32] who had been minister of war since 1933.[32] Exiled opposition figures were allowed to return to Honduras,[32] and the PLH, trying to overcome years of inactivity and division,[32] nominated Zúñiga Huete, the same individual whom Carías had defeated in 1932.[32] The PLH rapidly became convinced that it had no chance to win and, charging the government with manipulation of the electoral process,[32] boycotted the elections.[32] This act gave Gálvez a virtually unopposed victory, and in January 1949, he assumed the presidency.[32]
Evaluating the Carías presidency is a difficult task.[32] His time in office provided the nation with a badly needed period of relative peace and order. The country's fiscal situation improved steadily,[32] education improved slightly,[32] the road network expanded,[32] and the armed forces were modernized.[32] At the same time, nascent democratic institutions withered,[32] opposition and labor activities were suppressed,[32] and national interests at times were sacrificed to benefit supporters and relatives of Carías or major foreign interests.[32]
Once in office Gálvez showed more independence than expected.[32] He continued and expanded some policies of the Carías administration, such as road building and development ofcoffee exports.[32] By 1953 nearly one-quarter of the government budget was allocated to road construction.[32] Gálvez also continued most of the prior administration's fiscal policies,[32] reducing external debt and paying off the last of the British bonds.[32] The fruit companies continued to receive favorable treatment at the hands of the Gálvez administration;[32] for example, United Fruit received a highly favorable twenty-five-year contract in 1949.[32]
Galvez however did institute some notable innovations.[32] Education got more attention and a larger share of the national budget.[32] Congress passed an income tax law, although enforcement was sporadic at best.[32] A considerable degree of press freedom was restored,[32] the PLH and other groups were allowed to organize,[32] and some worker organization was permitted.[32] Labor also benefited from legislation during this period.[clarification needed] Congress passed, and the president signed, legislation establishing theeight-hour workday, paid holidays for workers,[32] limited employer responsibility for work-related injuries,[32] and regulations over the employment of women and children.[32]
After the general strike in 1954, young military reformists staged acoup in October 1956 that installed a provisional junta.Capital punishment was abolished in 1956, though Honduras had not had an execution since 1940. Constituent assembly elections in 1957 appointedRamón Villeda Morales as president, and the constituent assembly itself became anational Congress with a 6-year term. TheLiberal Party of Honduras (PLH) held power in 1957–63. The military began to become a professional institution independent of politics, with the newly created military academy graduating its first class in 1960.
In October 1963, conservative military officers preempted constitutional elections and deposedRamón Villeda Morales in a bloody coup. These officers exiled PLH members and governed under GeneralOswaldo López until 1970.In July 1969,El Salvador invaded Honduras in the shortFootball War. Tensions in the aftermath of the conflict remain.
A civilian president for the PNH,Ramón Ernesto Cruz, took power briefly in 1970 until, in December 1972, López staged another coup. This time he adopted more progressive policies, includingland reform.
On November 22, 1971, theUnited States handed over theSwan Islands to Honduras after signing theTreaty of the Swan Islands [es].[35] Honduras began exercising this sovereignty on September 1, 1972.[36]
López' successors continued armed forces modernization, building army and security forces, concentrating on Honduran air force superiority over its neighbors. During the governments of GeneralJuan Alberto Melgar Castro (1975–78) and GeneralPolicarpo Paz García (1978–82), Honduras built most of its physical infrastructure and electricity and terrestrial telecommunications systems, both state monopolies. The country experienced economic growth during this period, with greater international demand for its products and increased availability of foreign commercial capital.
In 1982, the country returned to civilian rule. A constituent assembly was popularly elected in April 1980 and general elections were held in November 1981. A new constitution was approved in 1982 and thePLH government ofRoberto Suazo assumed power.
Roberto Suazo Córdova won the elections on an ambitious program of economic and social development to tackle the country's recession. During this time, Honduras also assisted thecontra guerillas.[37]
President Suazo launched ambitious social and economic development projects sponsored by American development aid. Honduras became host to the largestPeace Corps mission in the world, and nongovernmental and international voluntary agencies proliferated.[38]From 1972 to 1983, Honduras was governed by military juntas.
Though spared the bloody civil wars wracking its neighbors, the Honduran army quietly waged a campaign againstMarxist–Leninist rebels such as theCinchoneros Popular Liberation Movement, notorious for kidnappings and bombings,[39] and many non-militants. The operation included a campaign of extrajudicial killings by government units, most notably the CIA-trainedBattalion 3-16.[40]
Numerous trade unionists, academics, farmers and students disappeared. Declassified documents show that U.S. AmbassadorJohn Negroponte personally intervened to prevent possible disclosures of these crimes, in order to avoid "creating human rights problems in Honduras". The U.S. established a continuing military presence in Honduras to support theContras in their war against theSandinista government inNicaragua, and to support the fight against leftist guerrillas inEl Salvador andGuatemala. They also developed an air strip and a modern port in Honduras. U.S. military assistance to Honduras increased from $4 million in 1981 to $77.4 million in 1984.[41]
President Suazo, relying on U.S. support, created ambitious social and economic development projects to help with a severe economic recession and with the perceived threat of regional instability. As the November 1985 election approached, thePLH could not settle on a presidential candidate and interpreted election law as permitting multiple candidates from any one party. The PLH claimed victory when its presidential candidates collectively outpolled thePNH candidate,Rafael Leonardo Callejas, who received 42% of the total vote.José Azcona, the candidate receiving the most votes (27%) among thePLH, assumed the presidency in January 1986. With strong endorsement and support from the Honduran military, the Suazo administration ushered in the first peaceful transfer of power between civilian presidents in more than 30 years. In 1989 he oversaw the dismantling of Contras which were based in Honduras.[42]
In 1988, inOperation Golden Pheasant, US forces were deployed to Honduras in response to Nicaraguan attacks on Contra supply caches in Honduras.
In January 1990,Rafael Leonardo Callejas won the presidential election and took office, concentrating on economic reform and reducing the deficit. He began a movement to place the military undercivilian control and laid the groundwork for the creation of the public prosecution service. In 1993,PLH candidateCarlos Roberto Reina was elected with 56% of the vote againstPNH contenderOswaldo Ramos Soto. He won on a platform calling for "moral revolution" and made active efforts to prosecute corruption and pursue those responsible for alleged human rights abuses in the 1980s. The Reina administration successfully increased civilian control over the armed forces and transferred the national police from military to civilian authority. In 1996, Reina named his own defense minister, breaking the precedent of accepting the nominee of the armed forces leadership.
His administration substantially increased Central Bank net international reserves, reducedinflation to 12.8% a year, restored a better pace of economic growth (about 5% in 1997), and held down spending to achieve a 1.1% non-financial public sector deficit in 1997.
TheLiberal Party of Honduras (PLH)'sCarlos Roberto Flores took office 27 January 1998 as Honduras' fifth democratically elected president since free elections were restored in 1981, with a 10% margin over his main opponent,PNH nomineeNora Gúnera de Melgar, widow of former leaderJuan Alberto Melgar). Flores inauguratedInternational Monetary Fund (IMF) programs of reform and modernization of the Honduran government and economy, with emphasis on maintaining the country's fiscal health and improving international competitiveness.
In October 1998,Hurricane Mitch devastated Honduras, leaving more than 5,000 people dead and 1.5 million displaced. Damages totaled nearly $3 billion. International donors came forward to assist in rebuilding infrastructure, donatingUS$1400 million in 2000.
In November 2001, the National Party won presidential and parliamentary elections. ThePNH gained 61 seats in Congress and thePLH won 55. ThePLH candidate Rafael Pineda was defeated by thePNH candidateRicardo Maduro, who took office in January 2002. Maduro administration emphasized stoppingmara growth, especiallyMara 18 andMara Salvatrucha.
On 27 November 2005, thePLH candidateManuel Zelaya beat thePNH candidate and current Head of CongressPorfirio "Pepe" Lobo, and became the new president on 27 January 2006.
Jose Manuel Zelaya Rosales of theLiberal Party of Honduras won 27 November 2005 presidential elections with less than a 4% margin of victory, the smallest margin ever in Honduran electoral history. Zelaya's campaign theme was "citizen power," and he vowed to increase transparency and combat narcotrafficking while maintaining macroeconomic stability. The Liberal Party won 62 of the 128 congressional seats, just short of an absolute majority.
In 2009 Zelaya caused controversy with his call to havea constitutional referendum in June to decide about convening a Constitutional National Assembly to formulate a new constitution.[43] The constitution explicitly bars changes to some of its clauses, including the term limit, and the move precipitated aConstitutional Crisis.An injunction against holding the referendum was issued by the Honduran Supreme Court.[44][45]
Zelaya rejected the ruling and sackedRomeo Vásquez Velásquez, the head ofHonduras's armed forces. Vásquez had refused to help with the referendum because he did not want to violate the law. The sacking was deemed unlawful by the Supreme Court as well as by Congress and Vásquez was reinstated. The President then further defied the Supreme Court by pressing ahead with the vote, which the Court had deemed "illegal".[45][46] The military had confiscated the ballots and polls in a military base in Tegucigalpa. On 27 June, a day before the election, Zelaya followed by a big group of supporters entered the base and ordered, as Commanding Officer of the Armed Forces, for the ballots and polls to be returned to him. Congress saw this as an abuse of power and ordered his capture.
On 28 June 2009, the militaryremoved Zelaya from office and deported him to Costa Rica, a neutral country.Elvin Santos, the vice-president during the start of Zelaya's term, had resigned in order to run for president in the coming elections, and by a presidential line of succession the head of Congress,Roberto Micheletti, was appointed president. However, due to the stance taken by the United Nations and the Organization of American States on the use of military force to depose a president, most countries in the region and in the world continued to recognize Zelaya as the President of Honduras and denounced the actions as an assault on democracy.[47]
Honduras continued to be ruled by Micheletti's administration under strong foreign pressure. On 29 November, democraticgeneral elections were held, with former Congressional president and 2005 nominee,Pepe Lobo as victor.[48]
Inaugurated on 27 January 2010,Porfirio "Pepe" Lobo Sosa and his administration focused throughout the first year for foreign recognition of presidential legitimacy and Honduras's reinstitution in theOAS.[49]
Honduras became the only country in the world to ban themorning-after pill in 2012.[50]
After the presidential period of Lobo Sosa,Juan OrlandoHernández defeatedXiomara Castro, wife of ousted former president Manuel Zelaya, in the generalelections in 2013.[51] During the first years of his presidency the economic growth helped to improve the infrastructure of the main cities. However, unemployment and social unrest increased during his first term. He opened the possibility of changing the constitution, enraging a considerable part of the population. In 2015, the supreme court of Honduras removed a single-term limit for the country's presidency.[52] President Juan Orlando Hernández was reelected in 2017, winning theelection through an alleged electoral fraud that produced constant protests and violence in the streets.[53] In 2019, Juan Orlando Hernández's younger brother Juan Antonio "Tony" Hernández was brought to trial in New York for drug trafficking. He was convicted of all four charges against him, including drug trafficking and lying to authorities.[54]
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In September 2020, Honduran President Juan Orlando Hernández announced that Honduras will relocate its embassy to Israel from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem. Honduras became the third country in the world after the United States and Guatemala to establish embassies to Israel in Jerusalem.[55]
In January 2021, Honduras changed the country's constitution to make it almost impossible to legalize abortion in the future. Before that, Honduras was already one of few countries with a complete ban on abortion. The constitutional reform was supported by Honduran President Juan Orlando Hernández's rulingNational Party.[56]
On 28 November 2021, the former first ladyXiomara Castro, leftist presidential candidate of oppositionLiberty and Refoundation Party, won 53% of the votes in thepresidential election to become the first female president of Honduras.[57] On 27 January 2022, Xiomara Castro was sworn in as Honduras' president. Her husband, Manuel Zelaya, hold the same office from 2006 until 2009.[58]
In April 2022, former president of Honduras, Juan Orlando Hernández, who served two terms between 2014 and January 2022, was extradited to the United States to face charges of drug trafficking and money laundering. Hernandez denied the accusations.[59] He was sentenced to 45 years in prison, but presidentDonald Trump pardoned him in November 2025, meaning he was freed from the prison.[60] On 27 January 2026,Nasry Asfura of the National Party was sworn in as president of Honduras after winning the2025 general election.[61]
General:
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