Honduras History

Honduras - national flag

The flag was officially adopted in 1949. It is identical to the flag of the Central American United States, which was used in 1818-38. In 1866, the five stars were added in the hope that the five original Central American states, Costa Rica, El Salvador, Guatemala, Honduras and Nicaragua, would be reunited. The two blue ribbons symbolize the Caribbean Sea and the Pacific Ocean.

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Honduras - History

When the Spaniards began the conquest and colonization of the country in 1523, it was inhabited by a number of Native American peoples, including the Mayans; in western Honduras lies the ruined city of Copán, which until 800-t. was one of the most important centers of Mayan culture. During colonial times, Honduras, like the other Central American provinces, was administratively under the command of General Guatemala.

In 1821 the whole region became independent from Spain, and together with Guatemala, El Salvador, Nicaragua and Costa Rica, Honduras formed in 1823 the United Provinces of Central America, which the following year became a federal republic. The construction, however, gradually disintegrated, and in 1838 Honduras declared its independence. Like the rest of Latin America, conservatives and liberals fought for power in the country throughout the 1800's.

From the end of the century, banana production became the main source of income. American companies, especially the United Fruit Company, were given large tracts of land on extremely favorable terms, often in return for supporting certain political groupings. The influence of the companies made the country the prototype of a banana republic.

• AbbreviationFinder: Check three-letter abbreviation for each country in the world, such as HND which represents the official name of Honduras.

Politically, Honduras has been unstable, and the quiet periods have been especially during the dictatorships, for example during the 1933-49 presidential term of General Tiburcio Carías Andino. The military has always had great political power, not least after the 1963 coup against President Ramón Villeda Morales, which was caused by the oligarchy's dissatisfaction with his otherwise moderate reforms.

In 1971, the country got a civilian president; this was perhaps most likely due to the humiliation of the Honduran military during the Football War against El Salvador in 1969, but new military coups or coup-like seizures of power followed in 1972, 1975 and 1978.

Following pressure from the United States, a process of democratization began, and in 1981 elections to the Constituent Assembly were held. That same year, Roberto Suazo Córdova was elected president, and in 1982 a new constitution was adopted. In reality, however, it was still the military that had the power. In November 1985, a democratic presidential election was finally held, and for the first time in 55 years, two elected presidents succeeded each other in office.

Honduras' history in the 1980's was marked by drug trafficking, obscure political bargaining, and especially by events in the rest of Central America: the Sandinista Revolution in Nicaragua in 1979, the El Salvador Civil War, and the Guatemalan massacres of Indians primarily resulted in the influx of refugees to Honduras..

Several thousand Nicaraguan opponents of the Sandinistas, the so-called contras, operated from here, and with the United States' construction of military airports, training camps, and a military school, the country almost gained the character of a military base. However, US military activity declined in the mid-1980's. due to the Iran-Contra affair.

Although the military has lost much of its political influence and has come under more democratic control, a forced retirement of some of the most rabid officers caused a coup attempt in January 1991. However, Honduras' internal problems have not, as in neighboring countries, led to civil war, and in In 1991, several of the smaller guerrilla groups laid down their arms when an amnesty law was passed.

After the end of the civil wars in Honduras' neighboring countries in the early 1990's, Honduras took steps to demilitarize society in 1993, a process that continued with the abolition of conscription in 1995 and the inauguration of the first civil defense minister in 1999. The country's two major bourgeois parties , representing different attitudes within the ruling class, continued to rule.

The Partido Liberal ruled for the two periods from 1994 to 2002. Thereafter, Ricardo Maduro (b. 1946) from the more right-wing Partido Nacional became president on promises to fight rising crime and carry out more privatizations. He was succeeded in 2006 by Manuel Zelaya (b. 1952) of the Partido Liberal.

On June 28, 2009, the country's military president removed Zelaya, carrying out the first military coup in Central America since the Cold War. The reason for the conflict in the country was the president's desire to continue in office and that he had planned a referendum that would change the country's constitution and secure him another four years in power.

The military opposed it, causing a dismissal of the army chief. Zelaya was then removed by the military and put on a plane to Costa Rica. On June 28, the military also installed Roberto Michelletti of the Partido Liberal as interim president. The coup led to an international isolation of Honduras.

In November 2010, the conservative Porfirio Lobo won the presidential election; he was installed in January 2010. The election was recognized by the international community, whereupon the country's diplomatic isolation was lifted. A Honduran "truth commission" investigated the removal of Zelaya and concluded that there was a coup.

Like several other countries in Central America, Honduras has a major problem with gang crime. The country has a very high murder rate and some aid organizations have pulled out their staff. The gangs, the so-called "maras", control many poor districts in the cities.