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Honduras MILITARY RULE AND INTERNATIONAL CONFLICT, 1963-78
López Arellano rapidly moved to consolidate his hold on
power.
Growing radical influence had been one of the reasons
advanced to
justify the coup; once in power the government disbanded
or
otherwise attacked communist, pro-Castro, and other
elements on the
left. The Agrarian Reform Law was effectively nullified,
in part by
the regime's refusal to appropriate money for the National
Agrarian
Institute (Instituto Nacional Agrario--INA). The country's
two
peasant unions were harassed, although a new organization
of rural
workers, the National Union of Peasants (Unión Nacional de
Campensinos--UNC), which had Christian Democratic ties,
actually
expanded in the mid- and late-1960s. 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.
Close ties soon developed between the military
government and
the PNH. A key factor in the development of these links
was PNH
leader Ricardo Zúñiga Augustinius, who became secretary of
state
for the presidency, the key cabinet position. Numerous
other party
members served in the government, giving it a
civil-military
character but widening the gap between the administration
and the
PLH. Also linked to the government was a secret
organization used
to attack the left and intimidate political opponents.
Known as the
Mancha Brava (Tough Spot), it reputedly drew much of its
membership
from the ranks of public employees.
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. A general
amnesty
for political figure was decreed in November, exiles were
allowed
to return, and the PLH resumed political activity. 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 35 seats,
the PLH
29. The PLH charged the government with fraudulently
manipulating
the results, and some party leaders urged their supporters
to
boycott meetings of the assembly. The PLH was unable to
agree on
this tactic, and enough PLH members took their seats when
the
Congress convened on March 15 to provide the necessary
quorum. The
PNH delegates kept their promise and elected López
Arellano as
president for a new six-year term, from 1965 to 1971.
For a time, López Arellano had success in foreign
affairs. One
of his government's first acts had been to join with
Guatemala and
Nicaragua in establishing the Central American Defense
Council
(Consejo de Defensa Centroamericana--Condeca), which was a
military
pact among these Central American states and the United
States for
coordination of counterinsurgency activities. El Salvador
joined
shortly thereafter, and in 1965 Condeca held its first
joint
military exercise on the Caribbean coast of Honduras. That
same
year, Honduras contributed a small contingent of troops to
the
Organization of American States (OAS) forces monitoring
the
election in the Dominican Republic.
As the 1960s progressed, Honduras's relations with
Nicaragua and
with the United States improved, but increasing problems
developed
between Honduras and El Salvador. In May and June 1967, a
series of
incidents along the border aggravated tensions
considerably. One
incident involved the capture of two Salvadoran officers
and
thirty-nine enlisted men whose truck convoy had penetrated
several
kilometers into Honduras. The Salvadoran troops were
finally
returned over a year later, but the tensions continued to
mount.
Data as of December 1993
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