Honduras: Overthrow of President Zelaya - timeline
Searching more than 75 years of world history
- June 2009. President Mel Zelaya (full name Jos Manuel Zelaya Rosales) is forcibly removed from power in a civilian-military coup.
- November 2008. In primary elections, Porfirio "Pepe" Lobo Sosa is elected as the presidential candidate of the opposition National Party of Honduras (PNH), whilst Mauricio Villeda narrowly secures the candidacy of the ruling Liberal Party of Honduras (PLH).
- April 2008.A presidential decree designed to offset rising fuel costs and ease traffic congestion is vetoed by the Supreme Court.
- March 2007.The government agrees to increase the minimum wage by 9.7 per cent.
- August 2006. President Zelaya signs an agreement to increase the monthly pay of school teachers.
- January 2006. Zelaya of the PLH is inaugurated as president.
- December 2005. Zelaya, the candidate of the PLH, is declared winner of the presidential election held in November.
- November 2005. Presidential and legislative elections are held.
- August 2003. Former President Carlos Roberto Reina Idiaquez (1994-98) commits suicide at his home in Tegucigalpa (the capital).
- September 2002. Security Minister Oscar Alvarez announces the establishment of a special police task force to investigate allegations that up to 1,300 children had been executed by the police and criminal gangs since 1998.
- November 2001. Ricardo Maduro, the candidate of the opposition right-wing PNH, wins the presidential election; the PNH also wins more seats than any other party in simultaneous legislative elections.
- August 2001. Human rights organisations call for an investigation into allegations that around 800 children had been shot dead by the police and criminal gangs since 1998.
- August 1999. It is widely reported in Honduras that President Carlos Roberto Flores Facuss survived an attempted coup on July 30.
- September 1998. The National Congress (the unicameral legislature) approves a constitutional amendment abolishing the post of commander-in-chief of the armed forces and transferring those duties to the ministry of defence and public security.
- November 1997. Flores Facuss, of the ruling centrist PLH, is elected as president; the PLH also wins more seats than any other party in simultaneous legislative elections.
- October 1995. Arrest warrants are issued against10 army and police officers in connection with the disappearance of six students in 1982.
- January 1994. Carlos Reina, the candidate of PLH, is inaugurated as president.
- November 1993. The opposition centre-right PLH defeats the ruling right-wing PNH in presidential and legislative elections.
- March 1993. A special commission established to investigate alleged human rights violations by the military is inaugurated.
- September 1992. A protracted and bitter border dispute between Honduras and El Salvador is settled by a ruling of the International Court of Justice (ICJ).
- November 1989. Rafael Leonardo Callejas, the candidate of the right-wing opposition PNH, wins presidential elections.
- January 1989. Armed forces commander Gen. Gustavo Alvarez Martnez is assassinated in Tegucigalpa by left-wing guerrillas.
- June 1988. Nicaragua lodges a complaint against Honduras with the ICJ, alleging that the latter is permitting US-supported Nicaraguan Contras to launch "anti-Sandinista offensives" from Honduras.
- February 1988. Amnesty International says that human rights violations, including illegal detentions, torture, and arbitrary killings, continue in Honduras.
- November 1985. Jose Azcona del Hoyo, the candidate of the PLH, is elected as president; he is inaugurated in January 1986.
- March 1984. Gen. Gustavo Alvarez Martinez, widely regarded as the most influential political figure in Honduras, is dismissed as commander of the country's armed forces.
- August 1982. US-backed Nicaraguan counter-revolutionaries, or Contras, launch operations to bring down Nicaragua's Sandinista government from Honduran territory.
- November 1981. Roberto Suazo Cordova, the candidate of the PLH, is elected President; the PLH also wins more seats than any other party in simultaneous legislative elections.
- October 1980. The foreign ministers of Honduras and El Salvador sign a peace treaty in Lima (the capital of Peru).
- July 1980. A newly convened constituent assembly elects Gen. Policarpo Paz Garca, who seized power in a military coup in August 1978, as President.
- April 1980. The Liberal Party wins elections to a new constituent assembly.
- August 1978. President Juan Alberto Melgar Castro is deposed and replaced by a military junta headed by Gen. Policarpo Paz Garca, the commander of the armed forces.
- October 1977. The armed forces foil an attempted military-civilian coup.
- April 1975. President Oswaldo Lopez Arellano is overthrown and replaced by Col. Juan Alberto Melgar Castro, following a bribery scandal involving a US-based banana producing company.
- September 1974. Coastal regions in northern Honduras are devastated by a hurricane.
- December 1972. Former President Gen. Oswaldo Lopez Arellano seizes power in a bloodless coup.
- March 1971. The Nationalist Party wins legislative and presidential elections, and Ramón Ernesto Cruz, the party's leader, is elected President.
- June 1970. Honduras and El Salvador agree to create a demilitarised zone along their common border.
- July 1969. Nationalist hostility between Honduras and El Salvador results in a brief undeclared war between the two countries.
- October 1963. President Ramn Villeda Morales is overthrown in a military coup led by Defence Minister and Armed Forces Commander Col. Osvaldo Lopez Arellano, who declares himself as the head of state.
- September 1957. Villeda Morales of the Liberal Party is elected as president, after his party wins elections to a 58-member constituent assembly.
- October 1956.President Julio Lozano is deposed in a bloodless military coup, following claims of widespread fraud in elections to a constituent assembly; Lozano is provisionally replaced by a three-man military junta.
- December 1954. Vice President Lozano declares himself as the head of state after candidates fail to win a clear majority of votes in presidential elections held in October.
- May 1954. Honduras and the USA sign military assistance agreements, prompting claims that the US government is using Honduras to support the overthrow in June of Guatemala's President Arbenz Guzman.
- October 1948. Juan Manuel Galvez is elected as president, succeeding Gen. Tibureio Carias, who had ruled Honduras since February 1933.
- December 1941. Honduras declares war against Japan.
- July 1941. President Carias declares his support for the Allied Powers.
- June 1936. Honduras says it intends to withdraw its membership of the League of Nations.
- 1838. Honduras declares full independence.
- 1823. Honduras joins the United Provinces of Central America, which also includes Costa Rica, El Salvador, Guatemala, and Nicaragua.
- 1821. Honduras gains independence from Spain, becoming part of Mexico.
- 1525. Spain begins its conquest of Honduras.
- 1502. The explorer Christopher Columbus discovers Honduras.
