A Brief Honduran Political Chronology

Here’s a boring entry about Honduras’ political history for anyone interested. The information was taken from a talk given to us by the head of the finance committee in Honduras’ congress and president of the PINU party… a minority party who call themselves social democrats and are considered an alternative to the two traditional parties.

1821 – Independence of Central America from Spain. Not a single bullet is shoot in the process… Spain drops the region to head to the more promising South American region. Was independence too cheap? Central America is fighting between and within for the next 100 years.

1821 to 1842 – Era of General Francisco Morazàn (The George Washington of Honduras). Morazàn becomes the prime figure of politics and government in Honduras. After independence the colonies (now Central American countries) were really poor and separated... they ask Mexico to be their colonies as part of the then Iturbide empire. Morazàn believed a huge problem for these colonies was the influence of the Church, wanted separation of church and tate and was a strong advocate of a Central American union. In 1942 the Catholic Church organized his betrayal and murder.

1850s – Ramòn Roso & Marco Eurelio Soto instigate liberal reform in Honduras. Their most important accomplishment is to change Honduran education from Theological to secular.

Foreign influence and conservative government were the rule from the 1890s to the 1950s

1900s – Birth of two major national parties: Partido Liberal and Partido Nacional… both very conservative parties. The two parties create power struggles that impede progress in the country. Honduras falls behind the rest of Central America in development.

1932 to 1948 – Tiburcio Carìas, the Trujillo of Honduras, becomes dictator for 16 years. By implementing a “tough hand” policy (often horrible dictatorship practices) he was able to bring peace to the country by stopping the power struggles between the two parties. Ruled during the 2nd World War era when US supported dictators in Latin America to keep peace in the region in order to face the challenges of Germany and Japan.

INTERESTING NOTE: Honduras will have presidential elections this year and the favorite candidate, Pepe Lobo, is running on a “tough hand” campaign with running adds that say: “During the years of Carìas we used to sleep with the doors opened”. He’s also proposing death penalty for the country.

1948 – US government pressed Carìas to have elections, power is won by his Vice President Juan Manuel Galvez.

1948 to 1954 – Galvez establishes Honduran IRS and opens doors to exiles. Period is considered a cradle to modern Honduran democracy.

1969 – WAR. Only formal war in Honduran history, named the One Hundred Hour War. The war against El Salvador is lost in a 100 hours and destroys the economy and the Central American comun market. The war opens the eyes of Hondurans that they can do things for themselves.

Birth of the PINU party by head of civilians that supported the army during the war, Miguel Andony Fernàndez. The Partido Inovaciòn y Unidad (PINU) becomes a civic movement for change. After the war the two main parties, the Nacional and Liberal, went back to power struggles and PINU provided an alternative to the people tired of the situation. The head of the party does not succeed due to his Arab ascend.

1970 to 1982 – Coud’tat in Honduras, succession of military governments supported by the US.

1982 – Modern democratic period begins, Honduran democracy is now 25 years old. Christian organized party is formed called, Partido Democràtico Cristiano de Honduras (PDCH).

1992 – Peace treaties are signed and the coalition of very leftist groups are organized into the Partido Unificaciòn Democràtica (PUD). These are old guerrilla members from factions that once hated each other and are now unified to have power in congress.