Countries of the World/COUNTRYS.BIN/dp/0157/01579.txt

Text File | 1991-06-25 | 39KB | 603 lines

$Unique_ID{COW01579}
$Pretitle{351}
$Title{Honduras
Chapter 1C.   The Restoration of Order, 1925-31}
$Subtitle{}
$Author{Richard L. Millett}
$Affiliation{HQ, Department of the Army}
$Subject{honduras
government
carias
president
military
united
honduran
fruit
labor
percent}
$Date{1983}
$Log{}
Country:     Honduras
Book:        Honduras, A Country Study
Author:      Richard L. Millett
Affiliation: HQ, Department of the Army
Date:        1983

Chapter 1C.   The Restoration of Order, 1925-31

     Despite another minor uprising by Ferrera in 1925, Paz Barahona's
administration was, by Honduran standards, rather tranquil. The banana
companies continued to expand, the government's budgetary situation improved,
and there was even an increase in labor organizing. On the international
front, the Honduran government, after years of negotiations, finally concluded
an agreement with the British bondholders to liquidate most of the immense
national debt. The bonds were to be redeemed for 20 percent of their face
value over a 30-year period. Back interest was forgiven, and new interest
accrued only over the last 15 years of this arrangement. Under the terms of
this agreement Honduras, at last, seemed on the road to fiscal solvency.

     Fears of disturbances increased again in 1928 as the scheduled
presidential elections approached. The ruling PNH nominated General Carias
while the PLH, united again following the death of Policarpo Bonilla in
1926, nominated Vicente Mejia Colindres. To the surprise of most observers,
both the campaign and the election were conducted with a minimum of violence
and intimidation, and Mejia Colindres won a decisive victory, obtaining
62,000 votes to 47,000 for Carias. Even more surprising was Carias' public
acceptance of defeat and his urging of his supporters to accept the new
government.

     Mejia Colindres took office in 1929 with high hopes for his
administration and his nation. Honduras seemed on the road to political and
economic progress. Banana exports, now accounting for 80 percent of all
exports, continued to expand. By 1930 Honduras had become the world's leading
producer of the fruit, accounting for one-third of the world's supply of
bananas. United Fruit had come increasingly to dominate the trade, and in
1929 it bought out one of its two principal remaining rivals, the Cuyamel
Fruit Company. Because conflicts between these companies had frequently led
to support for rival groups in Honduran politics, produced a border
controversy with Guatemala, and may have even contributed to revolutionary
disturbances, this merger seemed to promise greater domestic tranquility.
Another step toward tranquility was taken in 1931 when Ferrera was killed
while leading one last unsuccessful effort to overthrow the government.

     Many of Mejia Colindres' hopes, however, were dashed with the onset of
the world depression. Banana exports peaked in 1930, then declined rapidly.
Thousands of workers were laid off, and the wages of those remaining on
the job were reduced, as were the prices paid to independent banana
producers by the giant fruit companies. Strikes and other labor disturbances
began to break out in response to these conditions, but most were quickly
suppressed with the aid of government troops. As the depression deepened, the
government's financial situation deteriorated, and in 1931 Mejia Colindres
was forced to borrow US$250,000 from the fruit companies to ensure that
the army continued to be paid.

The Era of Tiburcio Carias Andino, 1932-54

     The onset of the depression led to the overthrow of governments
throughout Latin America-in nations with much stronger economic traditions
than that of Honduras. But despite growing unrest and severe economic strains,
the 1932 presidential elections in Honduras were relatively peaceful and
fair. Mejia Colindres resisted pressure from his own party to manipulate the
results to favor the Liberal candidate, Angel Zuniga Huete. As a result, the
National Party candidate, Carias, won the election by a margin of some 20,000
votes. On November 16, 1932, he assumed office, beginning what was to be the
longest period of continuous rule by an individual in Honduran history.

     When Carias became president, Honduras was still suffering from most
of the conditions that had afflicted its development in the nineteenth
century. The bulk of the population was rural, isolated, uneducated, and
frequently in poor health. Over 80 percent of Hondurans were illiterate, and
in 1935 only about 6 percent of the school-age population was actually
attending classes. That same year there were only 2,674 secondary and 157
university students in the entire nation. Transportation remained the great
bottleneck in efforts to overcome economic and social underdevelopment.
Tegucigalpa was now linked by road to the Pacific coast, but not to the better
ports on the Caribbean or to the emerging commercial center of San Pedro Sula.
It also remained the only capital city in Central America without rail
service. The banana companies had continued to build lines for their own needs
but had failed to fulfill their contracts to provide service to the major
cities. Standard Fruit had promised for years to build a line to the
departmental capital of Yoro but had never complied, and it continued to
benefit from all the privileges of its generous government railroad
concession. In 1932 the government altered the contract to reduce the amount
of track that Standard Fruit was supposed to build toward Yoro from 26.7 to 12
kilometers annually. Standard Fruit, however, was required to post a
US$50,000 bond to guarantee completion of the work. In 1935 the company chose
to forfeit the bond rather than continue construction, leaving Yoro without
a railroad. United Fruit was making no greater progress on its promised line
from Trujillo and Puerto Castilla to Tegucigalpa.

     There were some notable changes from the Honduras of 1900 to the Honduras
of the 1930s. The debt situation was not as unmanageable; exports and
government revenues were greater, although the depression was causing rapid
deterioration in both areas; and the major cities had begun to acquire
electricity, water, sewage systems, some paved roads and, in the case of
Tegucigalpa, even a streetcar system. The population had also increased
considerably, reaching a total of 854,000 in 1930. Over 81 percent of the
economically active sector of this population was still engaged in
agriculture, but a few small consumer industries had begun to develop. Even
the military was becoming a bit more modernized, and a small air force had
been established.

     There was no immediate indication that the Carias administration was
destined to survive any longer than most of its predecessors. Shortly before
his inauguration, dissident Liberals, despite the opposition of Mejia
Colindres, rose in revolt. Carias took command of the government forces,
obtained arms from El Salvador, and crushed the uprising in short order.

     Most of Carias' first term in office was devoted to efforts to avoid
financial collapse, improve the military, engage in a limited program of
road building, and lay the foundations for prolonging his own hold on power.
The economic situation remained extremely bad throughout the period. In
addition to the dramatic drop in banana exports caused by the depression, the
fruit industry was further threatened by the outbreak in 1935 of epidemics
of Panama disease (a debilitating fungus) and sigatoka (leaf blight) in the
banana-producing areas. Within a year most of the country's production was
threatened. Large areas, including most of those around Trujillo, were
abandoned, and thousands of Hondurans were thrown out of work. By 1937 a means
of controlling the disease had been found, but many of the affected areas were
not brought back into production, and a significant share of the market
formerly held by Honduras had been shifted to other nations.

     Carias had made efforts to improve the military even before he