Roberto Suazo Córdova

Roberto Suazo Córdoba
240px Sketch of Roberto Suazo Córdova
47th President of Honduras
In office 27 January 1982 – 27 January 1986
Preceded by	Policarpo Paz García (provisional)
Succeeded by	José Azcona del Hoyo
Personal details
Born	(1927-03-17) 17 March 1927 La Paz, La Paz, Honduras
Nationality	Honduran
Political party	Liberal Party of Honduras
Spouse(s)	Aida Zacapa
Alma mater	University of San Carlos of Guatemala
Profession	Politician; surgeon; physician

Roberto Suazo Córdova (born 17 March 1927) is a former President of Honduras.

Biography

In 1949, he graduated as a doctor from the University of San Carlos of Guatemala. After his graduation, Suazo practiced his profession in the general hospital of Guatemala City. In 1953 Suazo returned to his hometown, where he practiced medicine for 25 years.

During his stay in La Paz, Doctor Suazo entered political life as a Liberal.

Suazo represented La Paz in the Honduran Congress as a Liberal and eventually became the most important figure in the party in 1979. At that time Suazo replaced Liberal Party leader Modesto Rodas as general coordinator of the party.

In 1980 the military rulers headed by General Policarpo Paz, decided to restore the civil power in Honduras, under a new constitution. Roberto Suazo was elected president of the subsequent constitutional convention.

Due to his popularity among the Liberals, Suazo came be their presidential candidate for the elections of 1981. In November of that same year, Suazo became the first constitutional president of Honduras after ten years of military rule.

In the elections for president, Doctor Suazo defeated his rival Ricardo Zúñiga of the National Party of Honduras convincingly, with 53% of the popular vote.

Presidency

Roberto Suazo won the Honduran general election, 1981 with a promise to carry out an ambitious program of economic and social development in Honduras in order to tackle the country's recession.

Suazo was counting on U.S. financial aid to implement his plan. Honduras was very important to the interests of the United States in the region at that time, in particular due to the resilience of Fidel Castro in Cuba and the toppling of Nicaraguan dictator Anastasio Somoza Debayle by the Sandinistas.

Although U.S. aid was plentiful and on time, Suazo's government was incapable of rebuilding Honduras's damaged economy. The deficit of the country skyrocketed, as military and social expenditures increased a great deal.

President Suazo tried desperately to find a solution, and fired most of the members of his cabinet. However this did nothing to arrest the country's economic decline.

References

Political offices
Preceded by Policarpo Paz (Provisional)	President of Honduras 1982–1986	Succeeded by José Azcona