José Simón Azcona del Hoyo (26 January 1927 – 24 October 2005) was

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 27 January 1986 to 27 January 1990 for 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 h ...

(PLH). He was born in

La Ceiba La Ceiba () is a municipality, the capital of the Honduran department of Atlántida (department), Atlántida and a port city on the northern coast of Honduras in Central America. It is located on the southern edge of the Caribbean, forming part ...

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 ...

Early life and career

Azcona spent the years from 1935 to 1949 living in

Cantabria Cantabria (, also , , Cantabrian: ) is an autonomous community in northern Spain with Santander as its capital city. It is called a ''comunidad histórica'', a historic community, in its current Statute of Autonomy. It is bordered on the east ...

, Spain with his maternal grandparents. He grew up there during the

Spanish Civil War The Spanish Civil War ( es, Guerra Civil Española)) or The Revolution ( es, La Revolución, link=no) among Nationalists, the Fourth Carlist War ( es, Cuarta Guerra Carlista, link=no) among Carlists, and The Rebellion ( es, La Rebelión, lin ...

. He returned to Honduras in 1949, working in his family's trading company. He then went to study 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, ce ...

(UNAH) graduating in civil

engineering Engineering is the use of scientific method, scientific principles to design and build machines, structures, and other items, including bridges, tunnels, roads, vehicles, and buildings. The discipline of engineering encompasses a broad rang ...

, with postgraduate studies from the

University of Monterrey The University of Monterrey ( es, Universidad de Monterrey, acronym "UDEM") is a private Catholic-inspired secondary and higher education institution in the municipality of San Pedro Garza García, belonging to the Metropolitan Area of Monterre ...

in Mexico.

President of Honduras

As the PLH were unable to decide on a single candidate they ended up fielding four candidates, including Azcona, against the one

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 ...

(PNH) candidate

Rafael Leonardo Callejas Romero 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 ...

. Because the PLH candidates gained 51.5% of the vote between them, and as Azcona gained the highest of the 4, he gained the presidency with only 27.5% of the vote, even though Callejas gained 42.6% of the vote. This was the first transfer of power from one constitutional, elected president to another since 1948, and the first time it happened democratically since 1932. Azcona's success as a president has been contested across the political spectrum. While his followers and a large proportion of the population would favour him due to the perceived honesty and integrity of his government, another group would challenge this view, arguing that he pursued a weak economic policy (artificially maintaining a 2:1

exchange rate In finance, an exchange rate is the rate at which one currency will be exchanged for another currency. Currencies are most commonly national currencies, but may be sub-national as in the case of Hong Kong or supra-national as in the case of ...

between the

Honduran lempira The lempira (, sign: L, ISO 4217 code: HNL;) is the currency of Honduras. It is subdivided into 100 centavos. Etymology The lempira was named after the 16th-century '' cacique'' Lempira, a ruler of the indigenous Lenca people, who is reno ...

and the US dollar), ran up large budget deficits and did little to develop investment opportunities in the country. Many people still remember the fuel supply problems, mostly in the last part of his government due to foreign credit issues. During his presidency, the Central American peace process took place, by the time he turned over the presidency to his successor on 27 January 1990 the

Contra Contra may refer to: Places * Contra, Virginia * Contra Costa Canal, an aqueduct in the U.S. state of California * Contra Costa County, California * Tenero-Contra, a municipality in the district of Locarno in the canton of Ticino in Switzerland ...

rebels in Nicaragua were demobilising. Less known is the relationship between

and the US Government covert operations to exchange arms for hostages in Iran and fund rebels, later known as

Iran Contra Iran, officially the Islamic Republic of Iran, and also called Persia, is a country located in Western Asia. It is bordered by Iraq and Turkey to the west, by Azerbaijan and Armenia to the northwest, by the Caspian Sea and Turkmeni ...

Affair.

Post-presidency

After leaving power Azcona concentrated on running his

construction Construction is a general term meaning the art and science to form objects, systems, or organizations,"Construction" def. 1.a. 1.b. and 1.c. ''Oxford English Dictionary'' Second Edition on CD-ROM (v. 4.0) Oxford University Press 2009 and com ...

business. At the end of the nineties he had a heart attack. On 24 October 2005 at 12.30 a.m. (local time UTC−6) just as he was going to bed in his home 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 ...

, Azcona died suddenly from another heart attack, at the age of 78.

Trivia

* Azcona's last trip was to

Pensacola, Florida Pensacola () is the westernmost city in the Florida Panhandle, and the county seat and only incorporated city of Escambia County, Florida, United States. As of the 2020 United States census, the population was 54,312. Pensacola is the principal ...

where he met with his wife's (Miriam Bocock de Azcona) side of the family before he died. * His son

José Azcona Bocock José Simón Azcona Bocock (born 13 May 1972 in La Ceiba) is a Honduran businessman and politician, currently acts as deputy of the National Congress of Honduras representing the Liberal Party of Honduras for Francisco Morazán. He is son of the ...

is currently an elected Congressman. * His daughter

Elizabeth Azcona Bocock Elizabeth "Lizi" Azcona Bocock, (born October 5, 1969 in La Ceiba, Honduras), is the Minister of Industry and Commerce in the cabinet of Honduras president Manuel Zelaya.http://infotrade.minec.gob.sv/taiwan/wp-content/uploads/sites/9/2016/09/m ...

was Minister of Industry and Commerce for the first half of Mel Zelaya's presidency.

References

External links

Biography by CIDOB
(in Spanish) {{DEFAULTSORT:Azcona Del Hoyo, Jose 1927 births 2005 deaths People from La Ceiba Presidents of Honduras Liberal Party of Honduras politicians Universidad Nacional Autónoma de Honduras alumni Monterrey Institute of Technology and Higher Education alumni