1948

October: Presidential election (Gálvez / PN)

Argueta 1989: Gives the number of registered voters, number of votes for PN and PL, null votes, and number who did not vote (page 333).

Bardales B. 1980: Describes the election (pages 46-47).

Krehm 1957: Carías' candidate was elected when the opposition candidate withdrew (pages 158-159).

Leonard 1998: "In October 1948 Carías's handpicked successor, Juan Manuel Gálvez, won the presidential election unchallenged. The change in leadership, however, set Honduran politics in a new direction. Two new political groups soon came forward, labor and the military, each seeking to have the political system serve its own interests" (page 96).

Parker 1981: "Juan Manuel Gálvez, an able lawyer and friend of Carías, won by an easy margin when his Liberal opponent Angel Zúñiga Huete withdrew from the race before the elections" (page 189).

Posas 1983: "En las elecciones presidenciales de octubre de 1948, que resultan ser elecciones de un solo candidato, triunfa Juan Manuel Gálvez, exabogado de la Cuyamel Fruit Company primero, más tarde, de la United Fruit Company y Ministro de Guerra durante el prolongado régimen cariísta. El candidato opositor, Angel Zúñiga Huete, se retira del proceso electoral, previendo elecciones viciadas, no sin antes llamar a la insurreción armada a sus partidarios, sin ningún éxito" (page 113).

Rojas Bolaños 1994: "(E)n las elecciones realizadas el 11 de octubre de 1948 [Gálvez] resultó vencedor con el 80% de los votos" (page 108).

Weaver 1994: "Even though the Liberal Party had been made legal again to give the appearance of a competitive election with the National Party, the Liberals boycotted the elections after assessing their chances. But as so often is the case in Central American history, the carefully chosen successor did not turn out to be all that malleable after all" (page 145).

1950

Kantor 1969: "When municipal elections were held in December 1950, the Liberal Party actually won in one 'municipio,' Nacaome, and was allowed to take office. The vote in the 1950 election, one of the fairest ever held until then, demonstrates how few voters Honduras has traditionally had, for the official result gave the National Party 77,593 and the Liberal Party 8,103, a total of 86,697 at a time when the country's population was 1,428,089" (page 139).

1952

Martz 1959: Under Carías's "nominal leadership the party had won 76 percent of the total vote in 1952 municipal elections" (page 145).

1953

Martz 1959: In 1953, "despite a strong campaign by the Liberals, [the Nationals] polled 44,334 votes. Liberals and Reformistas together polled some 10,000 less" (page 145).

1954

Haggerty and Millet 1995: "By early 1954...a major [U.S.] covert operation against Guatemala was being organized...with greater Honduran cooperation. One reason for the cooperation was the Honduran government's concern over increased labor tensions in the banana-producing areas, tensions that the fruit companies blamed, in part, on Guatemalan influence" (page 33).

Sullivan 1995: "In the early 1950s, women's associations fought for women's suffrage, which finally was achieved in 1954, making Honduras the last Latin American country to extend voting rights to women" (page 190).

April

Rojas Bolaños 1994: The Partido Comunista Hondureño is founded in April 1954 (page 109).

May: Labor strike

Delgado Fiallos 1986: "La Huelga de Mayo de 1954 está considerada como uno de los acontecimientos más importantes de la historia de Honduras...Con la huelga..la clase obrera hace acto de presencia en la vida política del pais" (page 173).

Leonard 1998: "The strike affected Honduras's two political parties. For eighteen years following the strike, the Liberal Party (PLH) became the representative of the lower socioeconomic groups, while increasingly the National Party (PHN) became the representative of the traditional elite groups. The struggle between them provided the military with the opportunity to become a major participant in the political arena" (page 101).

Morris 1984: "In May 1954, the Gálvez administration was surprised by what turned out to be the country's only successful mass labor strike" (page 10).

Schooley 1987: "A political and economic crisis erupted in April 1954 when dock workers at Tela refused to load ships at the UFCO wharves...As the dispute escalated into a general protest against the UFCO management, Gálvez sent troops..., but by May 3 the strike had spread to the four UFCO divisions....The strikers' case was supported by Guatemala, fueling allegations...that the strike was 'communist' inspired" (page 37).

May: Agreement with United States

Alcántara Sáez 1989: "En el transcurso de 1954 se articuló un Acuerdo de Ayuda Bilateral con los Estados Unidos gracias al cual fue posible la creación del moderno y profesional ejército de Honduras" (page 183).

Bowman 1999: "On 20 May 1954, in a quid pro quo for Honduran support of the Castillo Armas invasion and as a continuation of U.S. military assistance policies in Latin America, the United States and Honduras signed a Bilateral Agreement of Military Assistance that called for U.S. military aid in exchange for free access to raw materials that may be needed by the United States" (page 9).

Haggerty and Millet 1995: "As the strike was spreading, Honduras was also becoming more deeply involved in the movement to topple the Arbenz government in Guatemala. In late May, a military assistance agreement was concluded between the United States and Honduras, and large quantities of United States arms were quickly shipped to Honduras....[and] passed on to anti-Arbenz rebels commanded by Castillo Armas" (page 34).

Ropp 1974: "In order to fully understand the impact that the U.S. Military Aid Mission's effort to create a more professional Honduran Army was to have on Honduran politics, one must realize that such professionalization of the Armed Forces was paralleled by a decline in the institutional cohesion of the two Honduran political parties. While it is true that the National and Liberal parties had never been anything more than semi-institutionalized factional groupings, party disarray reached true crisis proportions during the forties and early fifties" (page 513).

July

Bowman 1999: "The First Infantry Battalion was organized by the United States on 20 July 1954--less than a month after the fall of Arbenz...With alleged communists in neighboring Guatemala and leftists participating in banana strikes on the Honduran north coast, Washington wanted insurance for their many investments" (page 9).

October: Presidential election (Lozano Díaz / PN)

Bardales B. 1980: Describes the election and gives the results (pages 47-48).

Becerra 1983: Gives number of votes for PL, PN, and MNR (page 161). Gives seats occupied by each party in the Constituent Assembly, which ultimately selected the vice president as president.

Bowdler 1982: "According to Roberto Gálvez Barnes who was one of the three military officers who served on the 1956 junta, and whose father Dr. Juan Manuel Gálvez was President in 1954, this election was one of the most unusual and complex situations in Honduran history, even though at first it followed constitutional provisions" (pages 179-180). Details the chain of events before and after the 1954 election.

Fernández 1970: "The 1954 electoral campaign was one of the few campaigns where a third party made significant headway in the electoral process. This came about mostly as a result of Carzias' decision to return to the presidency" (pages 84-85). Gives details of the campaign and the election.

Fernández 1983: Gives percent of vote won by candidate of PL (page 29). "Elecciones de octubre de 1954" (page 33). Gives party, candidate, and number of votes and percent of vote received.

Haggerty and Millet 1995: The PNH split to form the MNR (page 34). "(A)pproximately 260,000 out of over 400,000 eligible voters went to the polls." Gives votes for each presidential candidate. Describes the events that follow the failure of the leading candidate to win a majority of the total votes (pages 34-37).

Martz 1959: Describes the election and the results (pages 141-148).

Morris 1984: "The split among the Nationalists enabled the Liberals to win a plurality (48 percent) in the national elections, but without an absolute majority the election was thrown into the National Congress, where the distribution of seats favored the Nationalists and the MNR" (page 11).

Parker 1981: "The elections on 10 October gave Villeda Morales a clear plurality but left him 10,000 votes short of topping his combined opponents [Carías was second, Williams third]. The votes for Congress, which now had the responsibility of choosing the president, gave the Liberals 24 seats, the Nationalists 23, and Reformists 12...The Nationalists and Reformists, unable to concur on a candidate of their own, had agreed to block Villeda" (pages 190-191). Vice president Julio Lozano Díaz (who had assumed presidential powers due to Gálvez's illness) assumed dictatorial powers on December 6.

Posas 1983: Gives votes for top three presidential candidates (page 147).

Weaver 1994: "Appealing to the plantation and transportation workers and the small urban middle class with a reformist platform, the Liberal Party ran Ramón Villeda Morales against Carías in the 1954 election. Villeda won a plurality, but for two years he was prevented from assuming the presidency because of fraud perpetrated by Gálvez's vice-president, who had become president after Gálvez's resignation" (page 146).

November

Schulz 1994: "In November 1954 Vice President Julio Lozano Díaz assumed the presidency during a constitutional crisis occasioned by an anarchic election. His ostensible purpose was to save the country from descending into chaos. Once in power, however, he decided to stay there" (page 25).

December

Posas 1983: "Lozano disuelve el Parlamento e instala en su lugar un Consejo Consultivo de Estado (10 de diciembre, 1954) integrado por 59 personas, adscritas a los tres partidos políticos enfrentados en la lucha electoral" (page 147).

Rojas Bolaños 1994: "El día fijado para realizar la elección, el 5 de diciembre, el Congreso no pudo sesionar por falta de quorum: un acuerdo entre el Partido Nacional y el Partido Nacional Reformista lo habían impedido" (page 109). Lozano "disolvió el Congreso, se declaró 'Jefe Supremo del Estado' y estableció el 10 de diciembre un Consejo Consultivo de Estado" (page 110).

1955

January

Posas 1983: Women are given the right to vote by decree on January 24, 1955 (page 155).

October

Parker 1981: "In October 1955...the Partido Unión Nacional (PUN) [is] organized to support the policies and person of Julio Lozano Díaz" (page 191).

Posas 1983: "El PUN se forma con las bases sociales del Movimiento Nacional Reformista y con núcleos conservadores desafectos con el control rígido que el General Carías ejerce sobre el Partido Nacional" (page 155).

1956

July

Schooley 1987: In July Villeda Morales is arrested and sent into exile (page 37).

August

Bowman 1999: In August 1956 the United States relinquishes its jurisdiction over the Honduran First Infantry Battalion (page 9).

Dunkerley 1988: "Increased repression of Liberal opposition from early 1956 together with well-founded expectations that the regime would fix the constituent assembly elections planned for October of that year provoked a group of Liberal activists to resort to an old-style insurrection, taking temporary control of the capital's San Francisco barracks in August" (page 533).

Posas 1983: "El 1o. de agosto de 1956, el cuartel San Francisco, en Tegucigalpa, fue tomado por núcleos partidarios ligados al Partido Liberal y por estudiantes universitarios que desde julio de 1956 han pasado, mediante una huelga, a hacer oposición directa al régimen" (page 154). The barracks are retaken, with the loss of close to one hundred lives and many students are imprisoned.

October 7: Constituent assembly election

Bardales B. 1980: Describes the election and gives the results (pages 48-50).

Becerra 1983: Gives votes for MNR-PUN coalition, PL, and PN (page 163). The government wins all seats in the assembly.

Becerra 1994: "La primera vez que sufragaron las mujeres en Honduras fue el 7 de octubre de 1956 para elegir una Asamblea Nacional Constituyente, episodio que, por desgracia, bajo la manipulación del dictador de turno, se convirtió en una de las farsas electorales más descaradas y burdas de la historia latinoamericana" (volume 1 page 341).

Bowdler 1982: "The situation created by this 1956 election (the most positive contribution of which was to allow women to vote for the first time in Honduras by decree of Lozano) was that all three organized parties, Liberal, National, and Reformista, were opposed now to Lozano" (page 181).

Dunkerley 1988: "Following a turnout that was suspiciously high even allowing for the enfranchisement of women, the PUN received a formidable 89.4 per cent of the vote (370,318 votes) against the Liberals' 10.1 per cent (41,724) and a desultory 0.5 per cent (2,003) for the rump of the PN. The fraud was transparent. With both traditional parties denouncing Lozano's already illegal and increasingly unpopular regime and the prospect of further violence quite manifest, the army was obliged to intervene" (page 533).

Fernández 1983: "Elecciones de octubre de 1956 (asamblea constituyente: 58 bancas)" (page 33). Gives party, percent of vote, and seats won.

Kantor 1969: "The government announced that its organization, the National Union Party, had won 370,381 votes and all fifty-six seats in the Constituent Assembly that was to elect the new president. The Liberal Party was awarded 41,724 votes, the National Party 2,003" (page 140).

Martz 1959: "Official results released a week later showed the PUN to have won all fifty-six seats. Not one anti-government candidate won" (page 158). Describes the election fraud.

Morris 1984: These were the first "in which Honduran women participated and that fact accounted for the turnout of over 400,000 voters" (page 11). Lozano's coalition wins a 90 percent majority.

Parker 1981: "The National party abstained from voting. PUN by official count won all fifty-six of the seats in the assembly" (page 192).

Posas 1983: Gives the number of votes for each party (page 155). The constituent assembly is to convene November 1, 1956.

October 21: Government overthrown, military junta takes command

Bowman 1999: "On 21 October 1956, a mere two years after the armed forces took institutional shape, the colonels ousted Julio Lozano in the first military coup in the country in the 20^th century. The armed forces had quickly emerged as the most powerful institution in the country" (page 9).

Dunkerley 1988: "On 21 October General Roque Rodríguez, commander of the military academy, took power at the head of a junta whose only declared objective was the return of constitutional government through new elections. In this spirit political prisoners were released and exiles allowed to return" (page 533).

Dunkerley 1996: "In 1956 the military, in their first foray into national politics, intervened to restore the Constitutional order after a particularly inept bid at 'continuismo' by Vice-President Lozano Díaz" (page 71).

Merrill 1995: "A coup in 1956 ousted the elected president and marked a turning point in Honduran history. For the first time, the armed forces acted as an institution rather than as the instrument of a political party or of an individual leader. For decades to come, the military would act as the final arbiter of Honduran politics" (page xxvii).

Millett 1992: "The 1956 Honduran coup that ousted President Julio Lozano Díaz marked the first institutional involvement of the military in internal politics. A junta was set up, with a promise to restore constitutional order as soon as possible" (page 57).

Parker 1981: "The junta of three officers who took [Lozano's] place, led by General Roque Rodríguez, set about doing what Lozano had only pretended to do, preparing for honest elections to provide a representative body which would write a new constitution" (page 192).

Schulz 1994: "As it became clear that the president was preparing to maintain himself in power indefinitely, the military decided that it had had enough. On 21 October 1956 it ousted Lozano and set up a junta to govern until new elections could be held" (page 25).

Weaver 1994: "(A)fter a particularly blatant attempt to steal the 1956 elections by the interim government and the National Party, the military overthrew the government" (page 146).

1957

Nickson 1995: "In 1957 the district system was abolished, and municipal elections were held until 1972" (page 192).

September 21: Constituent assembly election

Bardales B. 1980: Describes the election and gives the results (pages 50-52).

Becerra 1983: Gives votes and seats won by PL, PN, and MNR (page 168).

Dunkerley 1988: "Although the Liberal Party possessed a strong anti-militarist contingent, the Villeda Morales leadership was prepared to accept the new terms of military organization, which worried it a good deal less than did the traditionally partisan police force of the regional 'comandantes.' In the event, regular troops replaced these units in overseeing the September 1957 poll for a new constituent assembly, allowing relatively unhampered expression of support for a party that had been out of office for twenty-five years...Unchallenged to the left, the PL took 62 percent of the ballot (209,109 votes), making the division of its opponents (PN--30 per cent; MNR--8 per cent) purely academic" (page 535).

Fernández 1983: Gives percent of vote for PL, PN, and MNR (page 29). "Elecciones de septiembre de 1957 (asamblea constituyente: 58 bancas)" (page 33). Gives party, number of votes, percent of vote won, and seats won (page 33).

Kantor 1969: "A wave of enthusiasm swept over Honduras. All the political parties became active and an election was organized for September 22, 1957. This was the first election in the country's history not dominated by the armed forces, the first to include women voters, and the first to use the system of proportional representation. The political leaders had finally begun to understand that a country must have a loyal opposition, and therefore all parties must be represented in the Congress. That year 522,359 persons registered to vote, including 213,065 women and 313,373 illiterates" (page 141). Gives percent who voted; the number of votes and percent of total votes won by the Liberal Party, the National Party, and the National Reform Movement; and the number of seats won by each.

Morris 1984: Gives number registered to vote and percent of vote won by PL (page 36).

Parker 1981: "The outcome was a constitutional convention composed of 36 Liberals, 18 Nationalists, and 4 Reformists" (page 192).

Posas 1983: Gives votes and seats for each party (page 161).

November: Presidential election (Villeda Morales / PL), constitution takes effect

Becerra 1994: Gives the portions of the 1957 constitution relating to elections (volume 1 pages 341-343). "Por primera vez se crea en Honduras el Consejo Nacional de elecciones como organismo exclusivo de la actividad electoral."

Bowman 1999: The 1957 constitution "gave the armed forces unparalleled power and autonomy. Articles 318 through 330 established that the Chief of the Armed Forces would be selected by the military and that soldiers would be obedient to him and not to the president, that the Chief of the Armed Forces could use his discretion in obeying or disobeying the president, that civilian courts would have no jurisdiction over crimes by soldiers, and civilians would have no access to or oversight of military budgets" (page 9).

Bulmer-Thomas 1991: "The new president went out of his way to accommodate the military...Indeed, the suspicions held by some sections of the armed forces about Villeda Morales were the main reason for the President's agreeing to share power with the military under the Constitution of 1957 with disputes to be settled by Congress" (page 208).

Dunkerley 1988: "Even with a fourteen-seat majority in the fifty-eight-seat assembly the Liberal deputies needed López Arellano's good offices to permit the indirect election of Villeda Morales as president and thus avoid three polls in as many years" (page 535).

Dunkerley 1996: "The Constitution passed...by the interim military 'triunvirato' granted the armed forces effective autonomy from the executive. The consolidation of a central role for the armed forces in national political life was favoured by the historically weak and divided nature of Honduran civilian elites" (page 71).

Haggerty and Millet 1995: "(I)n November, by a vote of thirty-seven to twenty, the assembly selected Villeda Morales as president for a six-year term" (page 36).

Martz 1959: "Although Villeda had expressed a preference for presidential elections, the November meetings of the constituent assembly felt otherwise, and Villeda was not reluctant to accept their mandate as chief executive. On the sixteenth, after nine hours of rancorous discussion, he was named to begin a six-year term on January 1, 1958. The final vote was thirty-seven to twenty" (page 161).

Morris 1984: "The assembly converted itself into the National Congress while confirming the appointment of Villeda Morales as president of the republic" (page 37).

Parker 1981: "On 21 December 1957 Ramón Villeda Morales, choice of [the constituent assembly] was inaugurated as president...Honduras' eleventh constitution took effect on the same day Villeda became president...[It] specified a six-year presidential term with no immediate re-election...[and] a unicameral legislative authority...(B)oth men and women over the age of eighteen [were included] in the popular suffrage" (pages 192-193).

Schulz 1994: "At first glance, the coup seemed a benevolent enough intervention. The following year elections were held, and the government was turned over to civilians. Something had changed, however. The new constitution fundamentally altered the relationship between the president and the armed forces. Henceforth, presidential orders to the military had to go through the latter's commander. If a conflict arose between the two, it would be submitted to Congress for decisions" (page 26).

Villanueva 1994: "La Constitución de 1957 otorga el voto a la mujer mayor de 18 años" (page 134).

Weaver 1994: "The military...exacted a high price for its role in setting up new elections, allowing a majority party to take office, and returning to the barracks. The new constitution, which in several ways was a more democratic document than its predecessor, explicitly limited civilian politicians' authority over the military to little more than symbolic functions" (page 146).

1959

February

Schooley 1987: In February 1959 "there was an abortive military coup, with fighting continuing for several months" (page 39).

July

Acosta 1986: "On July 12, 1959, the bloody events that played a leading role in the unsuccessful return of Colonel Armand Velasquez allowed the Villeda administration to organize the Civil Guard to replace the old National Police, who were allegedly involved in these events. The Civil Guard became political police, repressing nationalists and leftist groups and colliding head-on with the armed forces, staging many bloody engagements throughout the country" (page 45).

Bowdler 1982: "President Villeda, smarting under his lack of control over the armed forces who were under Colonel López and the political advisor of the Armed Forces and close confidant of the Colonel, later political boss of the National Party, Ricardo Zuñiga, decided to create a sort of police militia force of his own called the 'Guardia Civil.' This was further necessitated by the fact that the Army had virtual control of the regular police forces. To be in the 'Guardia Civil' required Liberal Party affiliation" (page 184).

Bulmer-Thomas 1991: "A series of minor revolts culminated in an uprising by the National Police in July 1959, which was suppressed with some difficulty. In retaliation, the President created a separate Civil Guard subject to presidential control (unlike the National Police, which had been subject to the control of the armed forces). Clashes between the 2,500-strong Civil Guard and the armed forces became frequent and contributed to a sharp deterioration in the relationship between the military and the Liberal government" (page 210).

1962

Municipal elections

Bowdler 1982: "Villeda established a political police force [Guardia Civil] which did act and seek to influence the one municipal election held during the Villeda administration in 1962...The Liberal Party actually won the municipal election of 1962 but the National Party claimed frauds had been committed including voting by many Salvadoran exiles who were not eligible" (page 184).

1963

September

Pan American Union 1963: This study is requested by Villeda Morales on July 25, 1963 and the report is submitted to him on September 11, 1963. It recommends changes to the electoral system for the elections to be held October 13, 1963.

October 3: Government overthrown by military

Bowman 1999: "The 1963 election campaign favored Modesto Rodas Alvarado, the charismatic and fiery former president of the Constitutional Assembly, who promised to large campaign crowds that he would reduce the power of the military...There was a ground swell of support from various sectors of Honduran society to follow the Costa Rican model and proscribe the military. But a violent pre-emptive coup was launched a mere ten days before the October 1963 elections, ending a six-year democratic opening in the country and effectively silencing the debate on demilitarization" (page 10).

Brockett 1998: "On October 3, 1963, the eve of national elections scheduled to select his successor, Villeda was overthrown by a military coup...(T)he probable victor in the election would have been the head of Villeda's party, viewed by many as a radical who would continue with his general reform program; this was undoubtedly a major cause of the coup. More generally, large landowners, both domestic and foreign, were alarmed at the growing mobilization of peasants on the north coast and appreciated the value of the coup as a conservative reaction against the awakening of popular forces in the countryside" (page 186).

Bulmer-Thomas 1991: "The real reason for the coup was the military's fear of an election victory by Rodas, who had committed the Liberal Party to revise the Constitution of 1957 and re-establish civilian control over the armed forces" (page 210).

Delgado Fiallos 1986: "El 3 de octubre, días antes de las elecciones el coronel Oswaldo López Arellano derrocaría a Villeda Morales. Más que contra Villeda el golpe fue contra Rodas Alvarado [candidate of the PL]" (page 175).

Dunkerley 1996: "Following an anti-communist coup in 1963, the first institutionalised military government ...was installed" (page 71).

Haggerty and Millet 1995: "The elections were scheduled for October 1963...All signs pointed to an overwhelming victory for the PLH, an outcome that the military found increasingly unpalatable...Before dawn on October 3, 1963, the military moved to seize power. The president and the PLH's 1963 presidential candidates were flown into exile, Congress was dissolved, the constitution was suspended, and the planned elections were canceled. Colonel López Arellano proclaimed himself president, and the United States promptly broke diplomatic relations" (page 37).

LaFeber 1993: "By 1963 changes were occurring rapidly enough so that Villeda Morales's days in power were numbered. Alliance [for Progress] officials, the small middle class, the banana companies, and the U.S. Ambassador all had growing doubts about an Honduran president raising such issues as agrarian reform and patriotic textbooks. The army had even sharper doubts, especially since the president had formed his own 2,500-man Civil Guard to keep the army a safe distance from the presidential residence" (page 180).

Millett 1992: "Armed Forces Commander Col. Osvaldo López Arellano installed himself as president" (page 58).

Ropp 1974: "After General López got rid of the Liberals 'for the Nationals,' he skillfully initiated a bargaining process whose end result was López's installation as constitutionally elected President. By promising to deliver 35 of the 64 available seats in the General Assembly to the Nationals, he was able to maintain their support without really alienating the Liberals" (page 527).

Rosenberg 1990: "(T)he military now made an alliance with the National party, whose leading operative was a close adviser to the military officer who ruled the country. For the next eight years the country's political direction was determined by...López Arellano...and by National party leader Ricardo Zuñiga Agustinus" (page 521).

Schooley 1987: "A successful coup was staged in October 1963 (pre-empting the scheduled elections) under the leadership of Col. Oswaldo López Arellano, the Defence Minister and Head of the Armed Forces....[Vice president] Rodas, who as the candidate of the PL in the forthcoming election had been expected to win, had declared during the campaign that if elected he would seek to exert stronger control over the armed forces. Col. López issued a decree naming himself as president, and announced the immediate imposition of a state of siege, the dissolution of Congress and the proscription of all political activity" (page 38).

Weaver 1994: "Ten days before the 1963 presidential elections, the military, fearful of Villeda Morales's establishment of a Civil Guard independent of the military and encouraged by the fruit companies and domestic landlords, successfully overthrew the Villeda Morales government and canceled the elections, which probably would have been won by a Liberal colleague of the president's. Although the Kennedy administration refused to grant U.S. diplomatic recognition to the new regime, the Johnson administration did so a year later" (page 208).

1964

Haggerty and Millet 1995: "López Arellano promised to call elections for yet another legislature, and early in 1964 his government was recognized by the new United States administration of President Lyndon B. Johnson. Shortly thereafter, military assistance, which had been suspended following the coup, was resumed...To give a semblance of legality to his government, López Arellano promulgated a new constitution with a unicameral Congress. He then called elections for this new Congress" (page 38).

1965

February: Constituent Assembly election

Anderson 1988: "The elections...were obviously fraudulent...The Nationals then gave themselves 35 of the 64 seats in the Assembly" (page 131).

Bardales B. 1980: Describes the election and gives the results (page 53).

Becerra 1983: Gives votes and seats won by the PN/PUN and PL (page 179).

Fernández 1983: The PN won 54.6% of the vote (page 29). "Elecciones de febrero de 1965 (asamblea constituyente: 64 bancas)" (page 33). Gives party, number of votes, percent of vote, and seats won.

Haggerty and Millet 1995: "The PNH had pledged throughout the campaign that if it gained control of the Congress, its members would select López Arellano as president. The vote was held on February 16, 1965; the PNH won thirty-five seats, the PLH twenty-nine" (page 38).

Kantor 1969: The February 16, 1965 elections "resulted in a victory for the National Party, which received, according to the official results, 328,412 votes to 267,808 votes for the Liberal Party" (page 144).

Morris 1984: "With the Liberals in disarray and the National party firmly in control of the electoral machinery, the vote results were destined to assure López Arellano his place as chief of state from 1965-1971" (page 40).

Roberts 1968: "Congressional" (page 173). Gives party, number of votes, and percent of vote won in election of 1965.

Roberts 1968a: Gives total population, total vote, and percent of population voting in election of 1965 (page 183).

Rojas Bolaños 1994: "(E)l 12 de febrero de 1965 se realizaron elecciones para una Asamblea Nacional Constituyente. En estas elecciones, calificadas como fraudulentas por la oposición, el Partido Nacional, que apoyaba a López Arellano, obtuvo la mayoría absoluta: 335.315 votos, contra 272.712 del Partido Liberal" (page 130).

Schooley 1987: "Elections for a new constituent assembly took place in February 1965, resulting in 35 seats for the PN against 29 for the PL, which then boycotted it" (page 38).

Schulz 1994: "To give the regime a facade of popular support, elections for a Constituent Assembly were held in early 1965. The result was a carefully orchestrated fraud" (page 33).

March

Becerra 1994: "La Constitución de 1965, producto de un golpe castrense, repite al pie de la letra los artículos electorales de la anterior" (volume 1 page 343).

Bulmer-Thomas 1991: "The Partido Nacional majority in the new Assembly introduced a new constitution confirming the autonomy of the armed forces and promptly elected López Arellano (now promoted to brigadier general) as president for six years" (page 211).

Schooley 1987: "The Assembly held its first session in March and elected Col. López to serve as president for a six-year term with effect from June, when it was redesignated a full legislative assembly" (page 38).

June

Rojas Bolaños 1994: "El 3 de junio se promulgó la nueva Constitución, y López inició el período constitucional el 6 de ese mes; en mayo la Asamblea lo había ascendido al grado de general" (page 130).

1968

Acker 1988: "The Christian Democrat Party (PDCH) was formed in 1968, but was blocked from legal status for thirteen years by a Supreme Court largely controlled by the National Party" (page 76).

March: Municipal election

Anderson 1988: Gives mayoralties being contested and total won by the Liberals (page 132).

Bowdler 1982: "(I)n spite of U.S. Embassy observers throughout the country and the supposed embassy interest in preserving the two-party system, the Liberals were literally trampled under foot in 1968. Embassy observers reported a considerable amount of fraud in the election" (page 185).

Fernández 1970: "Results of municipal elections on March 31, 1968" (page 86). Gives by department the number of votes for the National and Liberal parties, null votes, abstentions, and total votes. "Of the 281 municipalities at stake, the official results gave 246 to the Nationalists and 35 to the Liberals."

Haggerty and Millet 1995:"Municipal elections were held in March 1968 to the accompaniment of violence and charges of open fraud, producing PNH victories but also fueling public discontent" (page 39).

Morris 1984: "Coercion and other illegal tactics were used in municipal elections, after which the National party controlled almost 90 percent of the local governments" (page 40).

Rosenberg 1990: "(I)n the context of growing popular dissatisfaction with the government's lackluster performance, municipal elections were held in 1968. Violence, ballot-box stuffing, and confusion marked this effort and resulted in a Liberal party boycott of the unicameral national Congress" (page 521-522).

1969

Haggerty and Millet 1995: "As the political situation deteriorated, the Honduran government and some private groups came increasingly to place blame for the nation's economic problems on the approximately 300,000 undocumented Salvadoran immigrants in Honduras...(I)n January 1969, the Honduran government refused to renew the 1967 Bilateral Treaty on Immigration with El Salvador" (page 39).

July 14: El Salvador invades Honduras

Dunkerley 1996: "After defeat in the 1969 war with El Salvador, a more reformist tendency within the army briefly gained the upper hand" (page 71).

Haggerty and Millet 1995: "After the war, public support for the military plummeted" (page 41).

1970

Cerdas Cruz 1993: "El PINU surgió como respuesta a una coyuntura política muy particular: la guerra de El Salvador y Honduras en 1969, y se fundó el 5 de noviembre de 1970" (page 75).

Haggerty and Millet 1995: The Honduran Christian Democratic Party is announced (page 41).

Schooley 1987: "President López announced in November 1970 that general elections would be held the following March, and in advance of the poll the PL and PN concluded a pact of national union under which each party would have 32 seats, so that in any debate the president would have the casting vote" (page 39).

1971

Haggerty and Millet 1995: "After considerable discussion and debate, the PLH and PNH parties responded to pressures from labor, business, and the military. On January 7, 1971, they signed a political pact agreeing to establish a national-unity government after the March elections. [One of the purposes] was to present a single slate of congressional candidates that would divide the Congress equally between the PLH and PNH" (pages 41-42).

March 28: General election (Cruz Ucles / PN)

Anderson 1988: "The two major parties got together and agreed that although the presidency would be actually contested, the legislative elections would be rigged so as to give equal representation to both parties in the 64-member Assembly" (page 134). Gives number of voters who turned out.

Bardales B. 1980: Gives the full text of the pact, describes the election, and gives the results (pages 53-58).

Becerra 1983: Gives votes for PN and PL (page 197).

Chronicle of parliamentary elections 5 1971: Gives the reason for the election, the characteristics of congress, and gives details of the electoral system (pages 39-40). "The percentage of voters abstaining during the elections amounted to 31,9%; left-wing groups, which had not proposed any candidates, had recommended abstention." "Results of the elections and distribution of seats in the National Congress" (page 40). Gives number of registered voters, number of voters and percent they constitute of registered voters, blank or void ballot papers, valid votes, and the number of votes and seats won by the National Party and the Liberal Party.

Haggerty and Millet 1995: Gives votes for presidential candidates (page 42).

Fernández 1983: Gives number who voted, percent of vote for winning candidate, and margin by which he won (page 30). "Cifras finales que arrojaron las elecciones del 28 de marzo de 1971" (page 33). Gives votes and percent of vote for PL and PN candidates, number and percent of null votes, number and percent of blank votes, number of voters and percent they constitute of registered voters, number and percent of abstentions, and total who voted. "Por departamentos" (pages 34-36). Gives by department the information summarized in the previously cited table.

Leonard 1998: "The National Party won the presidency and control of Congress in 1971, but President Ramón Ernesto Cruz, not a decisive leader, did not seek to cooperate with the Liberals" (page 101).

Posas 1983: "En marzo de 1971 con un abstencionismo de más o menos el 50% del electorado, cerca del 23 por ciento del total de la población votante lleva a la presidencia al Doctor Ramón Ernesto Cruz" (page 232).

Rojas Bolaños 1994: "Cruz alcanzó el triunfo en las elecciones de marzo de 1971, con 306.028 votos, mientras que el candidato liberal obtuvo 276.777 votos; el abstencionismo fue del 32%" (page 133).

Weaver 1994: "The 1971 elections were carefully choreographed by the National and Liberal parties...The low turnout demonstrated voters' apathy about this kind of politics" (pages 209- 210).

June

Busey 1985: "Cruz was uncommonly inconspicuous, but troubles broke out between Liberals and Nationals over a power-sharing national pact into which they had entered" (page 33).

Rosenberg 1990: "(W)hen...Cruz took office in mid-1971 he confronted three major obstacles. First, a still-ambitious López Arellano had remained in his post as chief of the armed forces. Second, Zuñiga had also remained in the government as a cabinet minister, and third, organized labor had high expectations about the new president's ability to effect the needed reforms. From the outset it was clear that López wanted to return to the presidency" (page 522).

1972

December: Government overthrown

Dunkerley 1996: "(T)he military administration which governed between 1972 and 1975 was characterised by a mixture of structural reforms (most notably land reform) and partially successful cooption of the popular movement" (page 71).

LaFeber 1993: "López's hand-picked civilian government won the 1971 presidential election, but quickly made economic and political misjudgments. With the approval of nearly all the key civilian sectors, López disavowed his own creation and, on behalf of the military, seized the presidency for himself in 1972" (page 262).

Leonard 1998: "The political tenseness that ensued [from Cruz's inability to cooperate with the Liberals] prompted General López to engineer yet another coup in December 1972 and set in motion a decade of direct military rule" (page 101).

Morris 1984: "On the morning of December 4, 1972, President Cruz was sent home by the military, which then formally installed Gen. Oswaldo López Arellano as chief of state" (page 44).

Nickson 1995: After 1972 "all municipal officeholders were appointed by military rulers until 1981" (page 192).

Schooley 1987: "The president was accused of taking the country into 'economic chaos' and was placed under house arrest...López was confirmed in power as head of state for at least five years, and as C.-in-C. of the Armed Forces he enjoyed virtual independence of any civilian authority" (page 41).

1974

LaFeber 1993: In September 1974 "Hurricane Fifi blasted into the country, killing 8,000, leaving 300,000 homeless, and tearing apart the nation's most productive agricultural-industrial areas" (page 263).

1975

Busey 1985: "The presidency of López Arellano came to an ignominious conclusion when a U.S. congressional probe discovered that he had accepted a $1,250,000 bribe from United Brands Company (formerly United Fruit), allegedly for reduction of the export tax on bananas as well as for other favors. In 'defense of the national honor,' Colonel Juan Alberto Melgar ejected López from power on April 22, 1975, and took over the presidency himself, after which he was promoted to the rank of general" (page 33).

Cerdas Cruz 1993: "El Partido Demócrata Cristiano de Honduras, surgió primero como Movimiento en la ciudad de Choluteca el 10 de setiembre de 1968 y siete años después, en 1975, se convirtió en Partido propiamente hablando. En su aparición ejerce una influencia importante el Concilio Vaticano II, que inspira a sus fundadores no obstante el tradicional carácter conservador y ajeno al movimiento de la Iglesia Católica hondureña" (page 76).

Dunkerley 1996: "A transcendental change occurred in 1975, when decision-making within the armed forces changed from what had been essentially a form of personalised 'caudillo' rule towards a more collegiate form embodied in COSUFFAA (Consejo Superior de las Fuerzas Armadas)" (page 71).

Lapper 1985: "López resigns after the 'Bananagate scandal' and General Juan Melgar Castro takes over as president. The army and local landowners kill 15 peasant demonstrators, including two priests, at Los Horcones" (page 5). PASOH is "formed by Christian Democrat dissidents following the 1975 Los Horcones massacre" (page 9).

Posas 1980: "The regime of López Arellano, already debilitated, fell in April 1975 when it was implicated by the U.S. press in a million-dollar bribe paid by the multinational conglomerate Untied Brands" (page 52).

Rosenberg 1996: "Although [Oswaldo López Arrellano's] ouster in 1975 was directly attributed to allegations that he was linked to bribery, it coincided with a period of growing demands for participation in decision making by other senior officers. It was during this period that the Superior Council emerged to play the central military decision-making role" (page 74).

Schooley 1987: "In March 1975 a group of young dissident officers managed to instigate a purge in the higher ranks of the army, forcing over 40 colonels into retirement and replacing López by Col. Juan Alberto Melgar Castro as C.-in-C. The same group of officers, led by Melgar Castro, staged a coup against López on April 22 " (Page 40).

1976

Posas 1980: "In 1976 the military regime created the Consejo Asesor del Jefe de Estado (CONASE), a type of parliamentary body to draw up a new electoral law and to supervise some of the national projects" (page 53).

Schooley 1987: "The new government faced considerable opposition to its land-reform programme, and the opposition increased in January 1976 when President Melgar Castro said that the army would retain political power at least until 1979 in order to implement the policies it had promised. Elections would be held in 1979" (page 41).

1977

Schooley 1987: "The Supreme Council of the Armed Forces approved a new electoral law on Dec. 27, 1977, in preparation for these elections, providing for the full resumption of political activity (banned since 1972). There had earlier, on Oct. 21, 1977, been an unsuccessful attempted coup by right-wing civilian and military elements opposed to the government's reforms" (page 41).

Sieder 1998: "La legislación de 1977 constituyó un avance institucional importante; ésta puso un énfasis sin precedente en la democratización interna de los partidos políticos...Una innovación importante fue la creación del Tribunal Nacional Electoral" (pages 20-21).

1978

Dunkerley 1996: "(M)ilitary reformism in Honduras lacked both strategic vision and ideological coherence and by 1978 had reached an advanced state of decomposition, being largely characterised by selective repression of the popular movement and increased corruption within the officer corps" (page 71).

Haggerty and Millet 1995: "When demonstrators took to the streets to support Melgar Castro, right-wing elements within the military charged Melgar Castro had lost control of public order and ousted him. On August 7, 1978, Melgar Castro and his cabinet were replaced by a three-member junta" (page 44).

Posas 1980: "The conservative posture that had characterized the Melgar Castro government increased when the military junta took his place...It closed down CONASE, ending all channels of popular expression" (page 53).

Rosenberg 1983: "The Carter administration carefully brought along the Honduran military utilizing a two fold strategy: nurturing strong-man Policarpo Paz García with a series of meetings with high level US officials both in and outside of Honduras and by significantly increasing both military and economic aid. Paz García made good on his commitments to guarantee the Constitutional Assembly elections, and was duly rewarded by being named the country's provisional president, overseeing both the writing of the new constitution and the second round of elections, elections which would provide the country's civilian president" (page 13).

Schooley 1987: "President Melgar Castro was overthrown in a right-wing coup on Aug. 7, 1978, by the C.-in-C., Gen. Policarpo Paz García, who then headed a junta" (page 41).

1979

Lapper 1985: "Following the overthrow of the Nicaraguan president, Anastasio Somoza, in July, the Carter administration strengthens its relations with Honduras" (page 5).

Pearson 1982: "In 1979, the government of Army General Policarpo Paz called elections for a constituent assembly for April 20, 1980, to draft a new constitution and procedures for the transfer of power to an elected government" (page 440).