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- Government
-
- Long-form name: Republic of Honduras.
-
- Type: republic.
-
- Capital: Tegucigalpa.
-
- Administrative divisions: 18 departments (departamentos,
- singular--departamento); Atlantida, Choluteca, Colon, Comayagua,
- Copan, Cortes, El Paraiso, Francisco Morazan, Gracias a
- Dios, Intibuca, Islas de la Bahia, La Paz, Lempira, Ocotepeque,
- Olancho, Santa Barbara, Valle, Yoro.
-
- Independence: 15 September 1821 (from Spain).
-
- Constitution: 11 January 1982, effective 20 January 1982.
-
- Legal system: rooted in Roman and Spanish civil law; some
- influence of English common law; accepts ICJ jurisdiction,
- with reservations.
-
- National holiday: Independence Day, 15 September (1821).
-
- Executive branch: president, Council of Ministers (cabinet).
-
- Legislative branch: unicameral National Congress (Congreso
- Nacional).
-
- Judicial branch: Supreme Court of Justice (Corte Suprema
- de Justica).
-
- Leaders: Chief of State and Head of Government--Rafael Leonardo
- CALLEJAS Romero (since 26 January 1990).
-
- Political parties and leaders: Liberal Party (PLH)--faction
- leaders, Carlos Flores Facusse (leader of Florista Liberal
- Movement), Carlos Montoya (Azconista subfaction), Ramon
- Villeda Bermudez and Jorge Arturo Reina (M-Lider faction);
- National Party (PNH), Ricardo Maduro, party president; PNH
- faction leaders--Oswaldo Ramos Soto and Rafael Leonardo
- Callejas (Monarca faction); National Innovation and Unity
- Party-Social Democrats (PINU-SD), Enrique Aguilar Cerrato
- Paz; Christian Democratic Party (PDCH), Jorge Illescas;
- Democratic Action (AD), Walter Lopez Reyes.
-
- Suffrage: universal and compulsory at age 18.
-
- Elections:
-
- President--last held on 26 November 1989 (next to be held
- November 1993); results--Leonardo Rafael Callejas (PNH) 51%,
- Jose Azcona Hoyo (PLH) 43.3%, others 5.7%;
-
- National Congress--last held on 24 November 1985 (next
- to be held November 1993); results--PLH 51%, PNH 45%, PDCH
- 1.9%, PINU 1.5%, others 0.65; seats--(134 total) PLH 62,
- PNH 71, PINU 1.
-
- Communists: up to 1,500; Honduran leftist groups--Communist
- Party of Honduras (PCH), Party for the Transformation of
- Honduras (PTH), Morazanist Front for the Liberation of Honduras
- (FMLH), People's Revolutionary Union/Popular Liberation
- Movement (URP/MPL), Popular Revolutionary Forces-Lorenzo
- Zelaya (FPR/LZ), Socialist Party of Honduras Central American
- Workers Revolutionary Party (PASO/PRTC).
-
- Other political or pressure groups: National Association
- of Honduran Campesinos (ANACH), Honduran Council of Private
- Enterprise (COHEP), Confederation of Honduran Workers (CTH),
- National Union of Campesinos (UNC), General Workers Confederation
- (CGT), United Federation of Honduran Workers (FUTH), Committee
- for the Defense of Human Rights in Honduras (CODEH), Coordinating
- Committee of Popular Organizations (CCOP).
-
- Member of: CACM, FAO, G-77, IADB, IBRD, ICAO, ICO, IDA,
- IDB--Inter-American Development Bank, IFAD, IFC, ILO, IMF,
- IMO, INTELSAT, INTERPOL, ISO, ITU, OAS, PAHO, SELA, UN,
- UNESCO, UPEB, UPU, WFTU, WHO, WMO.
-
- Diplomatic representation: Ambassador Jorge Ramon HERNANDEZ
- Alcerro; Chancery at Suite 100, 4301 Connecticut Avenue
- NW, Washington DC 20008; telephone (202) 966-7700 through
- 7702; there are Honduran Consulates General in Chicago,
- Los Angeles, Miami, New Orleans, New York, and San Francisco,
- and Consulates in Baton Rouge, Boston, Detroit, Houston,
- and Jacksonville; US--Ambassador Crescencio ARCOS; Embassy
- at Avenida La Paz, Tegucigalpa (mailing address is APO Miami
- 34022); telephone [504] 32-3120.
-
- Flag: three equal horizontal bands of blue (top), white,
- and blue with five blue five-pointed stars arranged in an
- X pattern centered in the white band; the stars represent
- the members of the former Federal Republic of Central America--
- Costa Rica, El Salvador, Guatemala, Honduras, and Nicaragua;
- similar to the flag of El Salvador which features a round emblem
- encircled by the words REPUBLICA DE EL SALVADOR EN LA AMERICA
- CENTRAL centered in the white band; also similar to the
- flag of Nicaragua which features a triangle encircled by
- the words REPUBLICA DE NICARAGUA on top and AMERICA CENTRAL
- on the bottom, centered in the white band.
-