Oswaldo López Arellano
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Oswaldo López | |
---|---|
Sketch of Oswaldo López Arellano | |
President of Honduras | |
In office 3 October 1963 – 7 June 1971 | |
Vice President | |
Preceded by | Ramón Villeda |
Succeeded by | Ramón Ernesto Cruz |
President of Honduras (Head of State of Honduras) | |
In office 4 December 1972 – 22 April 1975 | |
Preceded by | Ramón Ernesto Cruz |
Succeeded by | Juan Alberto Melgar |
Personal details | |
Born | Oswaldo Enrique López Arellano 30 June 1921 Danlí, Honduras |
Died | 16 May 2010 Tegucigalpa, Honduras | (aged 88)
Political party | National Party |
Spouse(s) | |
Occupation | General, Statesman |
Oswaldo Enrique López Arellano (30 June 1921 – 16 May 2010) was a Honduran politician who twice served as the President of Honduras, first from 1963 to 1971 and again from 1972 until 1975.
Early life[]
Lopez was born in Danlí to Enrique López and Carlota Arellano in the department of El Paraíso, an influential family . He joined the Army at eighteen and subsequently graduated as a pilot from the Honduran Air Force School. He then spent 1942-1945 in the U.S. state of Arizona studying mechanical aviation. López served as a colonel for numerous years and eventually rose to the rank of general.
Career[]
López briefly fought for on a military junta during 1957, which ended after democratic elections were secured. After a violent coup, he served as president for the first time from 3 October 1963 until 7 June 1971 before allowing further elections (1971 Honduran general election) to take place in April 1971. They ultimately resulted in Ramón Ernesto Cruz coming to power. On 4 December 1972, López again seized power, in the .
During his second tenure as president, López oversaw a major land reform bill that sought to defuse tensions among peasants over their forced removal from uncultivated lands owned by landed elites or by US fruit companies. This plan was called the National Development Plan and went through two stages, the first in 1965 and the most significant ones between 1972 and 1975.[1] The Agrarian Reform Law of 1972, a Minimum Wage Act in 1973, and a Land Reform Act in 1975 came in response to the peasant union pressure, such as the CTH, Confederación de Trabajadores Hondureños and the ANACH Associación Nacional de Campesinos Hondureños.[2] The most important unions clamoring for reform were the United Fruit and Standard Fruit unions SITRATERCO and SUSTRAFSCO. These unions also had support among industrial workers.
López led Honduran forces during the Football War.
Resignation[]
In 1975, the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission exposed a scheme by United Brands Company to bribe President López with US$1.25 million, with the promise of another $1.25 million upon the reduction of certain banana export taxes. Trading in United Brands stock was halted, and on 22 April 1975 López was ousted in a military coup led by his fellow General Juan Alberto Melgar, in the 1975 Honduran coup d'état. This scandal is known in Honduras as "Bananagate".
Personal life[]
López owned several businesses in Central America, including TAN-SAHSA, the now defunct Honduran air carrier.
His eldest son, Oswaldo, died in 2003.
Lopez died on 16 May 2010 at the age of 88 while undergoing surgery for prostate cancer.[3]
References[]
- Pauly, David and Thomas, Rich (1975) "The Great Banana Bribe" Newsweek 21 April 1975, p. 76;
- Obituary (in Spanish)
- Acker, Alison. Honduras: The Making of a Banana Republic. 1988.
- Morris, James. Honduras: Caudillo Politics and Military Rulers. 1984.
- Notes
- ^ del Cid and Posas, Rafael, Mario (1980). ""Honduras: los limites del reformismo castrense, 1972-1979". Revista Mexicana de Sociología. 42: 607–648. JSTOR 4624918.
- ^ Acker, Alison (1988). Honduras: The Making of a Banana Republic. South End Press. pp. 84–86.
- ^ "Oswaldo López Arellano fallece a los 89 años". www.laprensa.hen. 17 May 2010. Retrieved 5 April 2017.
See also[]
- 1921 births
- 2010 deaths
- People from El Paraíso Department
- Deaths from cancer in Honduras
- Deaths from prostate cancer
- Leaders ousted by a coup
- Leaders who took power by coup
- Presidents of Honduras