Carlos Roberto Reina Idiáquez (13 March 1926 – 19 August 2003) was a Honduran politician, lawyer and diplomat who served as the

President of Honduras The president of Honduras ( es, Presidente de Honduras) officially known as the President of the Republic of Honduras (Spanish: ''Presidente de la República de Honduras''), is the head of state and head of government of Honduras, and the Com ...

from 1994 to 1998. He was a member of the Honduran

Liberal Party The Liberal Party is any of many political parties around the world. The meaning of ''liberal'' varies around the world, ranging from liberal conservatism on the right to social liberalism on the left. __TOC__ Active liberal parties This is a li ...

Background

He was born in the city of Comayagüela, Honduras. His wife, Bessie Watson, was an American citizen with whom he had two daughters. He completed university studies in the

National Autonomous University of Honduras National may refer to: Common uses * Nation or country ** Nationality – a ''national'' is a person who is subject to a nation, regardless of whether the person has full rights as a citizen Places in the United States * National, Maryland, c ...

where he earned a

bachelor's degree A bachelor's degree (from Middle Latin ''baccalaureus'') or baccalaureate (from Modern Latin ''baccalaureatus'') is an undergraduate academic degree awarded by colleges and universities upon completion of a course of study lasting three to six ...

in Juridical and

Social Sciences Social science is one of the branches of science, devoted to the study of societies and the relationships among individuals within those societies. The term was formerly used to refer to the field of sociology, the original "science of so ...

. Later, Reina continued his postgraduate studies in the and cities of London and Paris.

Political career

Throughout his long political career Reina held a number of political governmental and international jobs, including judge in the court of Tegucigalpa, peace member of the international court of

The Hague The Hague ( ; nl, Den Haag or ) is a city and municipality of the Netherlands, situated on the west coast facing the North Sea. The Hague is the country's administrative centre and its seat of government, and while the official capital o ...

, Ambassador of Honduras to France, and president of the Central Executive Council (CCE) of the

, among other important positions. Reina was arrested several times for his political activities in opposition to the military governments during his younger years. The first time was in 1944 for protesting against dictator Tiburcio Carías. Later in the 1960s he was sent to prison twice by

General A general officer is an officer of high rank in the armies, and in some nations' air forces, space forces, and marines or naval infantry. In some usages the term "general officer" refers to a rank above colonel."general, adj. and n.". OED ...

Oswaldo López, who had taken over the Honduran government through the use of military force. This led Reina to become a fierce defender of

human rights Human rights are moral principles or normsJames Nickel, with assistance from Thomas Pogge, M.B.E. Smith, and Leif Wenar, 13 December 2013, Stanford Encyclopedia of PhilosophyHuman Rights Retrieved 14 August 2014 for certain standards of hu ...

throughout the rest of his life. In 1979, he was nominated president of the Inter-American Court of Human Rights of the Organization of American States.

President (1994–1998)

Carlos Reina became president in November 1993, with the

Liberal Party of Honduras The Liberal Party of Honduras ( Spanish: ''Partido Liberal de Honduras)'' is a centrist liberal political party in Honduras that was founded in 1891. It is the oldest extant political party in the country, and one of the two main parties that ...

(PLH, ''Partido Liberal de Honduras''), after defeating Oswaldo Ramos, the candidate of the National Party of Honduras with 56% of the vote. He was accompanied by his vice presidential candidate: retired General Walter López, the politician Juan de la Cruz Avelar and the lady Guadalupe Jerezano Mejía. On 27 January 1994, Reina replaced president

Rafael Leonardo Callejas Rafael Leonardo Callejas Romero (14 November 1943 – 4 April 2020) was the President of Honduras from 27 January 1990 to 27 January 1994, representing the National Party of Honduras (PNH). Early life and education Callejas was born on 14 No ...

. Reina inherited a relatively difficult economic situation from the existing nationalist administration. Foreign debt weighed heavily on the economy of the country: debt service represented 40% of Honduran exports. Even though approximately 700 million dollars were condoned to Honduras, the debt 'was' still higher than that it had been at the beginnings of 1990. In his first presidential speech Reina launched his moral

revolution In political science, a revolution (Latin: ''revolutio'', "a turn around") is a fundamental and relatively sudden change in political power and political organization which occurs when the population revolts against the government, typically due ...

: " I pledge my word of honor before God, before the people and before history, that we will go forward in this enterprise that we have imposed upon ourselves. We will defeat corruption; we will give currency to social liberalism. We will see the moral revolution to its end." The issue of whether his plan was a success or a failure is still highly controversial. One of Carlos Roberto Reina's main objectives during his government was the reform of the Armed Forces. His reforms were mostly realized by the end of his first year in office. The first one was the total transfer of all power in hands of military men to civilian authorities, followed by the abolition of compulsory military service in the country. These and other reforms to the military are also controversial to the ruling elites, they believed it fomented gangs, by eliminating a source of employment and education for young men.

Post-presidency and death

Carlos Roberto Reina finished his presidency on 27 January 1998. Later, in October 1998, Reina began his period as president of the Central American Parliament (Parlacén), where he remained until 28 October 1999. Finally on 19 August 2003, Carlos Roberto Reina committed suicide from a gunshot at the age of 77. His brother revealed that Reina was suffering from health issues relating to the gallbladder and pancreas.

References

External links