The social roots of Mel Zelaya’s unexpected leadership

Abstract

On January 27, 2006, an event took place that few Hondurans imagined would have enormous significance in their country’s history: José Manuel Zelaya Rosales, the winning candidate of the Liberal Party, took office as President of the Republic. After a century of two-party rule, during which few significant events had occurred in terms of the country’s political and social transformation, little could be expected from what looked like one more episode of electoral alternation between the National Party and the Liberal Party. Moreover, the credentials of the new president, known as Mel Zelaya, did not augur anything important.