Rafael Leonardo Callejas Romero was born on 14 November 1943 in Tegucigalpa in Honduras, and was President of Honduras January 27 1990 to January 27 1994, representing the National Party of Honduras (PNH).

Career

He studied agricultural economics at the University of Mississipi , becoming an expert on the financial and economic issues connected to agronomy, and in 1968 he was made the Director of Economic Planning by the then President Oswaldo López Arellano. in 1975 another General and President, Juan Alberto Melgar Castro named Callejas Minister for Agriculture and Natural Resources. When another general and President Policarpo Paz García took over in a coup in 1978 Callejas remained in his post. During the transition to democracy culminating in November 1981 elections, won by the National Liberal Party (PNH) he rose within the ranks of the PNH, and in 1982 presided over their central committee. He supported current President Ricardo Maduro's Unidad y Cambio (Unity and Change) movement within the PNH that brought more towards the center, and following a liberal economic path. Callejas then created his own faction, the Movimiento Nacional Callejista (National Callejista Movement), to advance his candidature in the 1985 presidential elections. At the time both main political parties allowed various candidates to stand, and while Callejas gained the highest vote of any candidate with 42.6%, the PLH candidates gained 51.5% of the total vote, and therefore it was their most voted for candidate, José Azcona Hoyo, with 27.5% of the vote, who became President.

President

He was again the PNH candidate in the 1989 elections, and won with 52.3% of the vote, becoming the first PNH President since 1972. He had to confront severe economic problems, and he followed the advice of the International Monetary Fund (IMF) by cutting public spending, resulting in many public servants being laid off, and by devaluing the Lempira. This caused a lot of suffering in what was already one of the poorest countries in the western hemisphere. This led to many strikes and a lot of social agitation, until the United States of America forgave Honduras a $US430 million debt, in September 1991, relieving the economice hardship.

External link

Biography in Spanish