José Policarpo Bonilla Vasquez (March 17, 1858 – September 11, 1926) was Dictator of

Honduras Honduras, officially the Republic of Honduras, is a country in Central America. It is bordered to the west by Guatemala, to the southwest by El Salvador, to the southeast by Nicaragua, to the south by the Pacific Ocean at the Gulf of Fonseca, ...

between 22 February 1894 and 1 February 1895. He was 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: Arts and entertainment Film and television *'' Præsident ...

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 ( or ''Tegucigalpa, M.D.C.''), and colloquially referred to as ''Tegus'' or ''Teguz''—is the capital and largest city of Honduras along with its sister city, Comaya ...

; his parents were Inocencio Bonilla and Juana Vasquez. He became a lawyer on 17 March 1878, and held posts in the government of

Marco Aurelio Soto Marco Aurelio Soto Martínez (13 November 1846 – 25 February 1908) was President of Honduras from 1876 to 1883. He was known as a liberal. He was a reforming president and had a great impact on the Honduras of his time, including the establ ...

. On 31 October 1890 he created a newspaper "El Bien Público". 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 existent political party in the country; further, it is one of the two main ...

.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 ...

, but lost to

Ponciano Leiva Ponciano Leiva Madrid (November 19, 1821 – December 12, 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 ...

. In December 1893 he led armed forces that invaded from

Nicaragua Nicaragua, officially the Republic of Nicaragua, is the geographically largest Sovereign state, country in Central America, comprising . With a population of 7,142,529 as of 2024, it is the third-most populous country in Central America aft ...

with support from Nicaraguan president

José Santos Zelaya José Santos Zelaya López (1 November 1853 – 17 May 1919) was the President of Nicaragua from 25 July 1893 to 21 December 1909. He was liberal. In 1909, Zelaya was ousted from office in a rebellion led by conservative Juan José Estrada w ...

. He set up a new government in Los Amates 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 women's rights, right of women to Suffrage, vote in elections. Several instances occurred in recent centuries where women were selectively given, then stripped of, the right to vote. In Sweden, conditional women's suffra ...

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. 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–January 30, 30 – Kuomintang in Ch ...

, 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