Liberalism in Honduras

Part of a series on
Liberalism
Schools History of liberalism Contributions to liberal theory
Ideas Conservative liberalism Cultural liberalism Democratic capitalism Democratic education Economic liberalism Egalitarianism Free trade Harm principle Individualism Laissez-faire Liberal democracy Liberal neutrality Market economy Negative / positive liberty Open society Permissive society Political freedom Popular sovereignty Rights (individual) Secularism Separation of church and state
Variants Classical Conservative Democratic Green Liberal feminism Liberal internationalism Libertarianism National Neoliberalism Ordoliberalism Paleoliberalism Radical centrism Radicalism Religious Secular Social Socialist
People Frédéric Bastiat Jeremy Bentham Isaiah Berlin Anders Chydenius Joel Feinberg Adam Ferguson Milton Friedman David Lloyd George William Ewart Gladstone Thomas Hill Green Václav Havel Friedrich Hayek Leonard Trelawny Hobhouse Wilhelm von Humboldt David Hume Thomas Jefferson Immanuel Kant Adamantios Korais Wilfrid Laurier Thomas Babington Macaulay Thomas Robert Malthus Giuseppe Mazzini John Stuart Mill Ludwig von Mises Montesquieu Robert Nozick Thomas Paine Lester B. Pearson Ayn Rand John Rawls Franklin D. Roosevelt Murray Rothbard Adam Smith Alexis de Tocqueville Pierre Trudeau Mary Wollstonecraft Helen Zille
Organizations Liberal parties Africa Liberal Network (ALN) Alliance of Liberals and Democrats for Europe (ALDE) Alliance of Liberals and Democrats for Europe Party (ALDEP) Arab Alliance for Freedom and Democracy (AAFD) Council of Asian Liberals and Democrats (CALD) European Democratic Party (EDP) European Liberal Youth (LYMEC) International Federation of Liberal Youth (IFLRY) Liberal International Liberal Network for Latin America (RELIAL)
Liberalism portal Politics portal

Liberalism in Honduras, as a form of Latin American liberalism, has old historical roots. Influenced by the French revolutionaries in the 1790s, the door was opened for ideas of positivism. People turned to liberal ideas: the idea of liberty, equality, and popular sovereignty.

In the early years after the region achieved independence from Spain, Honduras was a constituent of the United Provinces of Central America. Frictions between liberals and conservatives undermined the federation. The liberal position was in favour of republicanism, free trade, less government and boven all removal of the political and economic powers of the catholic church. The Honduran liberal Francisco Morazán became president of the United Provinces in 1830. Morazán enacted many reforms, including freedom of speech, the press, and religion, equality of people of all classes before the law, and trial by jury. All of this was objected to by the Conservatives. The separation of Church and State, including allowing secular marriage and divorce and an end to government enforced tithing, made much of the clergy an enemy of Morazán and the Liberals. This led to a breakdown of this federation.

Independent Honduras came under control of the conservatives. It lasted until 1876 that the liberal Marco Aurelio Soto assumed the presidency. In the upcoming period liberals dominated the country and encourage foreign investment and economic growth. Soto and his successors were responsible for the reform of the powers of judiciary and church, a professionalization of the armed forces and a modernization of communications and education. In this way they paved the way for Honduras to become a state capable of taking its place in the world. Liberals were president until 1903 with Luis Bográn (1883-1891), Ponciano Leiva Madrid (1891-1893), José Policarpo Bonilla Vásquez (1894-1899) and Terencio Esteban Sierra Romero (1899-1903). After this period liberals ruled the country between 1907 and 1911 (Miguel Rafael Dávila Cuéllar), 1920 and 1924 (Rafael López Gutiérrez and 1929 and 1933 (Vicente Mejía).

After that year a period of conservative and/or dictatorial rule starts. Only in 1957 the liberals could regain power with the (democratic) election of Ramón Villeda to the presidency. He is deposed by a bloody military coup in 1963. This leads to another long period of military rule/ This ended in 1980 and in 1982 Honduras became a presidential democracy again with the election of the liberal Roberto Suazo as president. Liberals were also elected president in 1985 (José Azcona), 1993 (Carlos Roberto Reina) and 1998 (Carlos Roberto Flores).

In contrast to most other liberals in Latin America, the Honduran liberals remained united in one party, the Liberal Party of Honduras (Partido Liberal de Honduras), however after the 2009 Honduran coup d'état former president Manuel Zelaya and his supporters including some former liberal party members splited away from the liberial party to form a new party LIBRE. The PLH is member of the Liberal International and nowadays the traditional center liberal party. It was founded in 1890 and is a party with both conservative and progressive wings. The diversity of the party is reflected by the existence of factions within the party.

Further reading

• Zaldivar Guzman, Raúl: Liberalismo en Honduras (Tegucigalpa, 1964)

See also

• History of Honduras
• Politics of Honduras

Liberalism in Latin America and the Caribbean Middle America Belize Costa Rica El Salvador Guatemala Honduras Mexico Nicaragua Panama Caribbean Antigua and Barbuda Aruba1 Bahamas Barbados Cuba Dominica Dominican Republic Grenada Haiti Jamaica Puerto Rico1 St. Kitts and Nevis St. Lucia St. Vincent and the Grenadines Trinidad and Tobago South America Argentina Bolivia Brazil Chile Colombia Ecuador Guyana Paraguay Peru Suriname Uruguay Venezuela Dependencies not included.    1 Defined as a semi-autonomous territory.