José Policarpo Bonilla Vasquez (1858–1926) was Dictator of Honduras between 22 February 1894 and 1 February 1895. Then elected as

President President most commonly refers to: *President (corporate title) * President (education), a leader of a college or university * President (government title) President may also refer to: Automobiles * Nissan President, a 1966–2010 Japanese ...

for the period between 1 February 1895 and 1 February 1899.

Biography

He was born on 17 March 1858 in

Tegucigalpa Tegucigalpa (, , ), formally Tegucigalpa, Municipality of the Central District ( es, Tegucigalpa, Municipio del Distrito Central or ''Tegucigalpa, M.D.C.''), and colloquially referred to as ''Tegus'' or ''Teguz'', is the capital and largest city ...

, Honduras, his parents were Inocencio Bonilla and Juana Vasquez. He became a lawyer on 17 March 1878, held posts in the government of Marco Aurelio Soto. On 31 October 1890 he created a newspaper "El Bien Publico". In February 1891 he founded 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 ...

.Elections and Events 1875-1899
The Library, UC San Diego In November 1891 Bonilla contested the

presidential elections A presidential election is the election of any head of state whose official title is President. Elections by country Albania The president of Albania is elected by the Assembly of Albania who are elected by the Albanian public. Chile The pr ...

, but lost to

Ponciano Leiva Ponciano Leiva Madrid (1821–1896) was President of Honduras 13 January 1874 – 8 June 1876 and 30 November 1891 – 7 August 1893. Leiva was a conservative. Leiva was a soldier and initially came to power through the support of the military. ...

. In December 1893 he led armed forces that invaded from

Nicaragua Nicaragua (; ), officially the Republic of Nicaragua (), is the largest country in Central America, bordered by Honduras to the north, the Caribbean to the east, Costa Rica to the south, and the Pacific Ocean to the west. Managua is the countr ...

with support from Nicaraguan president

José Santos Zelaya José Santos Zelaya López (1 November 1853 in Managua – 17 May 1919 in New York City) was the President of Nicaragua from 25 July 1893 to 21 December 1909. Early life He was a son of José María Zelaya Irigoyen, who was originally from ...

. He set up a new government in

Los Amates Los Amates is a municipality in the Izabal department of Guatemala. The population is about 61,000. The mayor is currently Marco Tulio Ramirez Estrada. Los Amates is located on the Motagua River, from the ruins of the ancient Maya city of Quiri ...

on 24 December, which was recognised by Zelaya the following day. Following a siege of several weeks, Bonilla's forces took the capital

on 22 February 1894 and he was appointed president. In April Bonilla called Constituent Assembly elections for June. The Assembly met on 1 July and drafted a new constitution. Although

women's suffrage Women's suffrage is the right of women to vote in elections. Beginning in the start of the 18th century, some people sought to change voting laws to allow women to vote. Liberal political parties would go on to grant women the right to vot ...

was supported by three deputies, it did not appear in the final constitution. The new constitution was promulgated on 14 October. It prohibited presidents from seeking re-election and provided for the direct election of Supreme Court judges. In the subsequent presidential elections in December, he was elected president with over 98% of the vote. He served until the constitutional end of his term and was succeeded by Terencio Sierra, who won the

1898 elections Events January–March * January 1 – New York City annexes land from surrounding counties, creating the City of Greater New York as the world's second largest. The city is geographically divided into five boroughs: Manhattan, B ...

. He later became a deputy in the National Congress, and was also the governor of

. He was described as "the hero who, by transforming Honduras, gave it a new conscience" by Rafael Heliodoro Valle. In 1919 he was the delegate for Honduras to the Peace Conference of Versailles. Bonilla, who had divided the Liberal Party when he ran for President in the

1924 Events January * January 12 – Gopinath Saha shoots Ernest Day, whom he has mistaken for Sir Charles Tegart, the police commissioner of Calcutta, and is arrested soon after. * January 20– 30 – Kuomintang in China holds ...

, died in 1926. Following his death, the Liberal Party was reunited and nominated Vicente Mejía Colindres. Conlindres won the 1928 elections.

Sources

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Bonilla, Policarpo 1858 births 1928 deaths People from Tegucigalpa Honduran people of Spanish descent Liberal Party of Honduras politicians Presidents of Honduras Deputies of the National Congress of Honduras