Rafael Leonardo Callejas Romero

Rafael Callejas
President of Honduras
In office 27 January 1990 – 27 January 1994
Preceded by	José Azcona del Hoyo
Succeeded by	Carlos Roberto Reina
Personal details
Born	14 November 1943 (1943-11-14) Tegucigalpa, Honduras
Political party	National Party of Honduras

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

Career

He studied agricultural economics at Mississippi State University, becoming an expert on financial and economic issues connected to agronomy, and in 1968 he was made the Director of Economic Planning by the then President Oswaldo López. in 1975 another General and President, Juan Alberto Melgar, named Callejas Minister for Agriculture and Natural Resources. When another general and President Policarpo Paz took over in a coup in 1978, Callejas remained in his post. During the transition to democracy culminating in November 1981 elections, which were won by the Liberal Party of Honduras (PLH), he rose within the ranks of the National Party of Honduras (PNH), and in 1982 presided over their central committee. He supported former President Ricardo Maduro's Unidad y Cambio (Unity and Change) movement within the PNH that brought the party more towards the center, and 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, with 27.5% of the vote, who became President.

After leaving office Callejas faced accusations of "abuse of power" in eleven (11) cases in the Honduran Justice System. These accusations have since been cleared in a Court of Law.

Callejas is the current president of the Federación Nacional Autónoma de Fútbol de Honduras. He is the second president of this institution to take Honduras to a FIFA World Cup WC 2010.

President

His election in 1989 marked the first time since 1932 that power was transferred peacefully between Honduras' two major parties.

Callejas was once again the PNH candidate in the 1989 elections where a reported 200,000 identifications from deceased Honduran citizens were used. Callejas won with 52.3% of the votes, 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. At the time of the devaluation of the Lempira, the Honduran Central Bank, presided at the time by Ricardo Maduro Joest, did not have any dollars available to the general public. Instead, people were given back devalued Lempiras causing a lot of suffering in what was already one of the poorest countries in the western hemisphere. Gasoline supplies were non-existent when he took office and long lines of cars were seen at the gas stations trying to obtain fuel. This led to many strikes and a lot of social agitation, until his government successfully negotiated with the United States the write-off of a $US430 million debt, in September 1991.

He presided over a liberal reformist government, opened the Honduran economy to local and foreign investment and managed steady growth during the last three years of his presidency, although during the fourth year fiscal indiscipline led to a new set of economic measures being imposed by the following government. Poverty was reduced by 8% under his tenure. Infrastructure was a priority and large investments in the rich Sula Valley area were made in more than 90 kilometers of four lane highways.

His government had some important accomplishments in the social area, such as the creation of the Family Assistance Program (PRAF) and the Honduran Fund for Social Investment (FHIS). Expatriates of the previous Military and Liberal governments were allowed to return to Honduras, with no risk to their lives, and the irregular forces of the Nicaraguan counter-revolutionaries, the Contras, were required to leave Honduras in April 1990 after intense negotiations.

Accusations

He was accused of 7 counts of corruption during his term, including passport's traffic for Asian citizens, the irregular sale of machinery from the "Secretaría de Comunicaciones, Obras Públicas y Transportes (SECOPT)to members of the existing UNION, previously evaluated by AID, falsification of state documents, abuse of authority, and appropriation of state funds. In the latter case, it has been reported that Callejas appropriated of an enormous amount of money from the state's petroleum stabilization fund.The Central Bank of HONDURAS published in all local newspapers that the FUND had been adequatelly managed, and that no funds had been diverted . In 2005 he was declared innocent of all charges of corruption by Honduran courts, including the Supreme Court.

US visa issue

On 19 September 2006, 12 years after he left office, he was denied entry to the United States after being detained for a number of hours in Miami, Florida when he arrived at Customs & Immigration on a personal trip. He traveled back to Honduras by first taking a flight to a neighboring Central American country and then driving back into Tegucigalpa, Honduras.

External links

• Biography of Rafael Leonardo Callejas Romero at CIDOB (Spanish)
• Global Policy - Corruption

References

Preceded by José Azcona del Hoyo

President of Honduras 1990–1994

Succeeded by Carlos Roberto Reina