Blackwell Reference Online

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The La Ceiba Uprising of 1924 was the revolutionary overthrow of President Antonio López Gutiérrez by several Honduran generals and politicians. López Gutiérrez had been the leader of an armed movement against former President Francisco Bertrand and was elected president in 1919 for the Liberal Party (Partido Liberal de Honduras, PLH). As the 1923 elections ended with no clear winner, López Gutiérrez imposed a state of emergency and installed himself in power as a dictator. A civil war broke out, and several parties began trying to overthrow the López Gutiérrez regime. One of them was General Tiburcio Carias Andino, who started his campaign in the northern town of La Ceiba on the Atlantic coast of Honduras. Carias was the conservative National Party (Partido Nacional de Honduras, PNH) candidate for presidency in the October 1923 elections. The PLH had been unable to agree upon a candidate owing to internal disputes, so it presented two candidates, Policarpo Bonilla and Juan Angel Arias. As none of the three candidates gained an absolute majority, according to the Honduran constitution parliament had to appoint a president and vice-president. However, the members of parliament were unable to obtain a quorum. On February 1, 1924, López Gutiérrez appointed himself ruler by decree, concentrating all state powers in his person, “until the country returned to a normal situation” ( Barahona ... log in or subscribe to read full text