President Roberto Suazo Córdova and General Gustavo Álvarez Martínez at inauguration, January 1982
Courtesy Jorge Majin/El Tiempo

A demonstration celebrating the return to democracy, January 1982
Courtesy Jorge Majin/El Tiempo

President Suazo Córdova assumed office at a time of extreme political ferment in Central America. The United States government was seeking to halt or roll back the advances of what it considered to be pro-Soviet forces on the isthmus. The leftist insurgency launched by the Farabundo Martí National Liberation Front (Frente Farabundo Martí de Liberación Nacional--FMLN) in El Salvador had been underway for some two years, and the outcome of the struggle in that country was in doubt. In Nicaragua, the FSLN--with close ties to Cuba, the Soviet Union, and other communist states--ruled repressively and continued a military buildup unprecedented for the region. Honduras--a country poor in resources, lacking in democratic traditions, and strategically located between these two revolutionary governments--almost inexorably drew the attention and involvement of Washington.

Data as of December 1993