Porfirio Lobo Sosa (born 22 December 1947), known as Pepe Lobo, is a
Honduran politician and agricultural landowner who served as
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 Comm ...
from 2010 to 2014.
A member of the conservative
National Party and a former deputy in the
National Congress of Honduras
The National Congress ( es, Congreso Nacional) is the legislative branch of the government of Honduras.
Organization
The Honduran Congress is a unicameral legislature. The nominal President of the National Congress of Honduras is currentl ...
from 1990, he was
president of the National Congress of Honduras from 2002 to 2006. He came second to
Manuel Zelaya
José Manuel Zelaya Rosales (born 20 September 1952)Encyclopædia BritannicaManuel Zelaya/ref> is a Honduran politician who was President of Honduras from 27 January 2006 until 28 June 2009, and who since January 2022 serves as the first Fir ...
with 46% of the vote in the
2005 general election. After the military ousted Zelaya in a
coup d'état
A coup d'état (; French for 'stroke of state'), also known as a coup or overthrow, is a seizure and removal of a government and its powers. Typically, it is an illegal seizure of power by a political faction, politician, cult, rebel group, m ...
, Lobo was elected president in the
2009 presidential election and took office on 27 January 2010.
Early life and education
Lobo was born in
Trujillo and grew up on the ranch of La Empalizada near
Juticalpa
Juticalpa () is the capital of Olancho Department in Honduras, with a population of 69,850 (2020 calculation), and the municipal seat of Juticalpa Municipality. Situated in a broad river valley alongside the Rio Juticalpa, the town is a commerci ...
,
Olancho
Olancho is the largest of all the 18 departments into which Honduras is divided. The department covers a total surface area of 24,057 km² and has an estimated 2015 population of 537,306 inhabitants.
The departmental capital is Juticalpa, ...
. His parents are Porfirio José Lobo López and Rosa Sosa Hernández de Lobo; both are deceased. His father served as deputy in the National Congress in 1957 and was a political leader in the department of
Olancho
Olancho is the largest of all the 18 departments into which Honduras is divided. The department covers a total surface area of 24,057 km² and has an estimated 2015 population of 537,306 inhabitants.
The departmental capital is Juticalpa, ...
. His brother Ramón Rosa Lobo Sosa is a deputy in the National Congress for the department of
Colón.
After attending a
Catholic
The Catholic Church, also known as the Roman Catholic Church, is the largest Christian church, with 1.3 billion baptized Catholics worldwide . It is among the world's oldest and largest international institutions, and has played a ...
school in
Juticalpa
Juticalpa () is the capital of Olancho Department in Honduras, with a population of 69,850 (2020 calculation), and the municipal seat of Juticalpa Municipality. Situated in a broad river valley alongside the Rio Juticalpa, the town is a commerci ...
, Lobo continued his studies at the San Francisco Institute of
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 ...
and then at the
University of Miami
The University of Miami (UM, UMiami, Miami, U of M, and The U) is a private research university in Coral Gables, Florida. , the university enrolled 19,096 students in 12 colleges and schools across nearly 350 academic majors and programs, incl ...
Coral Gables, Florida
Coral Gables, officially City of Coral Gables, is a city in Miami-Dade County, Florida. The city is located southwest of Downtown Miami. As of the 2020 U.S. census, it had a population of 49,248.
Coral Gables is known globally as home to the ...
in the United States. After obtaining his
Bachelor of Business Administration
Bachelor of Business Administration (BBA) is a bachelor's degree in business administration awarded by colleges and universities after completion of undergraduate study in the fundamentals of business administration and usually including advanced ...
from the
University of Miami School of Business, Lobo returned to
Honduras
Honduras, officially the Republic of Honduras, is a country in Central America. The republic of Honduras is bordered to the west by Guatemala, to the southwest by El Salvador, to the southeast by Nicaragua, to the south by the Pacific Oce ...
to work in the family's
agricultural business
Agribusiness is the industry, enterprises, and the field of study of value chains in agriculture and in the bio-economy,
in which case it is also called bio-business or bio-enterprise.
The primary goal of agribusiness is to maximize profit w ...
and to teach
political economy
Political economy is the study of how Macroeconomics, economic systems (e.g. Marketplace, markets and Economy, national economies) and Politics, political systems (e.g. law, Institution, institutions, government) are linked. Widely studied ph ...
and English at the La Fraternidad Institute in
Juticalpa
Juticalpa () is the capital of Olancho Department in Honduras, with a population of 69,850 (2020 calculation), and the municipal seat of Juticalpa Municipality. Situated in a broad river valley alongside the Rio Juticalpa, the town is a commerci ...
for 11 years. He was granted a doctorate by
Patrice Lumumba University
The Peoples' Friendship University of Russia (russian: Российский университет дружбы народов), also known as RUDN University and, until 1992, Patrice Lumumba University in honor of the hero Patrice Lumumba, is a ...
in
Moscow
Moscow ( , US chiefly ; rus, links=no, Москва, r=Moskva, p=mɐskˈva, a=Москва.ogg) is the capital and largest city of Russia. The city stands on the Moskva River in Central Russia, with a population estimated at 13.0 million ...
. He also obtained a
black belt in
taekwondo
''Taekwondo'', ''Tae Kwon Do'' or ''Taekwon-Do'' (; ko, 태권도/跆拳道 ) is a Korean form of martial arts involving punching and kicking techniques, with emphasis on head-height kicks, spinning jump kicks, and fast kicking techniques. T ...
.
Political career
Lobo's political career started at the age of 19 as a political leader in
Olancho
Olancho is the largest of all the 18 departments into which Honduras is divided. The department covers a total surface area of 24,057 km² and has an estimated 2015 population of 537,306 inhabitants.
The departmental capital is Juticalpa, ...
. For 31 years, he presided over the national party's youth in Olancho, local committee of Juticalpa and the departmental committee of Olancho.
He was in charge of the Honduran corporation for forestry development, from 1990 to 1994. He was elected to the
national congress in 1990, where he later served as president, from 2002 to 2006.
2005 general election
Lobo was the
National Party of Honduras
The National Party of Honduras (PNH; es, Partido Nacional de Honduras) is a conservative political party in Honduras founded on 27 February 1902, by Manuel Bonilla Chirinos. Historically it has been one of the two most influential parties in t ...
' candidate for 27 November 2005
presidential election
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 pre ...
;
Mario Canahuati was his running mate. His campaign was based on job security, a tough stance on crime, and being in favour of reintroducing the
death penalty
Capital punishment, also known as the death penalty, is the state-sanctioned practice of deliberately killing a person as a punishment for an actual or supposed crime, usually following an authorized, rule-governed process to conclude that t ...
. He came in second in the presidential election with 46.17% of the vote against 49.90% from his rival
Manuel Zelaya
José Manuel Zelaya Rosales (born 20 September 1952)Encyclopædia BritannicaManuel Zelaya/ref> is a Honduran politician who was President of Honduras from 27 January 2006 until 28 June 2009, and who since January 2022 serves as the first Fir ...
of 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 ...
. He held the position of president of the
National Party of Honduras
The National Party of Honduras (PNH; es, Partido Nacional de Honduras) is a conservative political party in Honduras founded on 27 February 1902, by Manuel Bonilla Chirinos. Historically it has been one of the two most influential parties in t ...
.
2009 constitutional crisis and general election
In December 2008, he once again became the presidential candidate of the
PNH PNH can stand for:
* Police Nationale d’Haïti
* Police Nationale d’Haïti Football Club
* National Party of Honduras
* Paroxysmal nocturnal hemoglobinuria
* Parelli Natural Horsemanship
* IATA Airport Code for Phnom Penh International Airp ...
and on 29 November 2009 he was elected
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 Comm ...
with 56% of the vote against 38% for his rival
Elvin Santos
Elvin Ernesto Santos Ordóñez (born 18 January 1963 in Tegucigalpa) is a Honduran politician who served as the vice president of Honduras from January 2006 to November 2008, when he resigned to stand as a Liberal Party candidate for the presid ...
.
Following his victory, Lobo said his administration will "begin the great national dialogue".
[
]
He also promised to encourage private investment to generate employment and to increase social benefits in a country where 70% of its 7 million citizens live in poverty.
Presidency (2010–2014)
Human Rights Watch
Human Rights Watch (HRW) is an international non-governmental organization, headquartered in New York City, that conducts research and advocacy on human rights. The group pressures governments, policy makers, companies, and individual human r ...
argued that "at least eight journalists and ten members of the
National Popular Resistance Front The National Popular Resistance Front or National People's Resistance Front (Spanish: ''Frente Nacional de Resistencia Popular'' or FNRP), frequently referred to as the National Resistance Front, is a wide coalition of Honduran grassroots organisat ...
(FNRP)—a political group that opposed the 2009 removal from office of the then president and advocated the reinstatement of the ousted president, Manuel Zelaya — have been killed since Lobo assumed power on January 27, 2010".
Human Rights Watch
Human Rights Watch (HRW) is an international non-governmental organization, headquartered in New York City, that conducts research and advocacy on human rights. The group pressures governments, policy makers, companies, and individual human r ...
, 29 July 2010
Honduras: Ongoing Attacks Foster Climate of Intimidation
/ref> Human Rights Watch has also reported attacks on the independence of the judiciary and public prosecutors. The Obama administration
Barack Obama's tenure as the 44th president of the United States began with his first inauguration on January 20, 2009, and ended on January 20, 2017. A Democrat from Illinois, Obama took office following a decisive victory over Republican ...
, however, praised Lobo for his attempts at reconciliation, which include forming a truth commission to investigate events surrounding the removal from office as well as appointing a human rights adviser and political opponents to his government.
Honduras became the only country in the world to ban the morning-after pill
Emergency contraception (EC) is a birth control measure, used after sexual intercourse to prevent pregnancy.
There are different forms of EC. Emergency contraceptive pills (ECPs), sometimes simply referred to as emergency contraceptives (ECs), o ...
in 2012.
The project of the American economist Paul Romer
Paul Michael Romer (born November 6, 1955) is an American economist and policy entrepreneur who is a University Professor in Economics at New York University. Romer is best known as the former Chief Economist of the World Bank and for co-recei ...
, which consists of building "private cities" on parts of the national territory where almost all the regulations would be given to investors and not to the Honduran state, is accepted by the government of Porfirio Lobo. The national constitution is amended to this effect in February 2011. In the event that a subsequent government wishes to revisit this project, a decree states: "The systems instituted in the REDs pecial development regionsmust be (...) approved by the National Congress with a qualified two-thirds majority", with the understanding that "this constitutional status may only be modified, interpreted or overturned by the same majority, after consultation by referendum of the population living in the RED". The management of the Inter-American Development Bank
The Inter-American Development Bank (IDB or IADB) is an international financial institution headquartered in Washington, D.C., United States of America, and serving as the largest source of development financing for Latin America and the Caribb ...
(IDB) was enthusiastic and promised to support it. Following a complaint of "treason to the homeland" to the Supreme Court of Justice by opponents of the project, the project was finally declared unconstitutional and rejected by the Court.
According to the Mexican agency Consulta Mitofsky, Porfirio Lobo's popularity in 2012 was only 14%, which made him the second most unpopular leader in Latin America at the time, after Costa Rican then-President Laura Chinchilla
Laura Chinchilla Miranda (; born 28 March 1959) is a Costa Rican politician who was President of Costa Rica from 2010 to 2014. She was one of Óscar Arias Sánchez's two Vice-Presidents and his administration's Minister of Justice. She was the ...
.
U.S. drug trafficking case against Fabio Lobo
Lobo Sosa's son, Fabio Lobo (born in 1971), was arrested in Haiti
Haiti (; ht, Ayiti ; French: ), officially the Republic of Haiti (); ) and formerly known as Hayti, is a country located on the island of Hispaniola in the Greater Antilles archipelago of the Caribbean Sea, east of Cuba and Jamaica, and ...
in a U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration
The Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA; ) is a Federal law enforcement in the United States, United States federal law enforcement agency under the U.S. Department of Justice tasked with combating drug trafficking and distribution within th ...
sting operation in 2015 and was sentenced in September 2017 in the federal court for the Southern District of New York
The United States District Court for the Southern District of New York (in case citations, S.D.N.Y.) is a federal trial court whose geographic jurisdiction encompasses eight counties of New York State. Two of these are in New York City: New ...
to 24 years in prison for conspiring to import cocaine
Cocaine (from , from , ultimately from Quechuan languages, Quechua: ''kúka'') is a central nervous system (CNS) stimulant mainly recreational drug use, used recreationally for its euphoria, euphoric effects. It is primarily obtained from t ...
into the United States. He pleaded guilty in May 2016.
Corruption allegations
In July 2016, the National Anti-Corruption Council called for an investigation into the alleged misuse of public funds for the purchase of school materials by Rosa Elena de Lobo, wife of Porforio Lobo, and her private secretary. The former first lady is also facing charges of falsifying documents. She was incarcerated in February 2018 for diverting $4 million from the state to her personal account. This is the first time in Honduras that a high-ranking public figure has been placed in prison for corruption. Half a dozen properties of the presidential couple could be seized by judicial authorities.
His name appeared in 2021 in the Pandora Papers
The Pandora Papers are 11.9 million leaked documents with 2.9 terabytes of data that the International Consortium of Investigative Journalists (ICIJ) published beginning on 3 October 2021. The leak exposed the secret offshore accounts of 3 ...
. He, his wife, and their son are mentioned as owners of companies registered in tax havens. Some of them were created while he was president of Honduras.
See also
* Honduran Social Security Institute
*
References
External links
Biography by CIDOB Foundation
(in Spanish)
{{DEFAULTSORT:Lobo Sosa, Porfirio
1947 births
Deputies of the National Congress of Honduras
Honduran Roman Catholics
Honduran male taekwondo practitioners
Living people
National Party of Honduras politicians
People from Colón Department (Honduras)
People from Olancho Department
Presidents of Honduras
Presidents of the National Congress of Honduras
University of Miami Business School alumni
Peoples' Friendship University of Russia alumni
People named in the Pandora Papers