Independence
News of independence from Spain reached Honduras on September 28, 1821. While the Liberals of Tegucigalpa celebrated, the Conservatives of Comayagua declared their intention of joining the American monarchy under the Mexican Agustin Iturbide. Following Iturbide's deposition, the provinces of Central America declared themselves an independent republic on July 1, 1823. In the civil war that almost immediately followed, the Honduran Francisco Morazan - Liberal and sometime soldier - succeeded in defeating Conservative forces in Guatemala and, elected president of the republic in 1830, tried to institute a series of far-sighted reforms in government, the Church, the judicial system and education. Opposed by Conservatives across Central America, his vision of the potential of a united republic was not enough to persuade even his own countrymen. There were sporadic uprisings and eventually civil war broke out again; Morazan failed to crush the Conservative-backed 1837 rebellion of Rafael Carrera in Guatemala, and - when Honduras and Nicaragua went to war against El Salvador - resigned in 1839. The Central American Republic was finished. Rivalry in the newly independent Republic of Honduras between Liberals and Conservatives was as strong as ever. Rallying various bastions of local power to their respective flags, they plunged the country into an almost permanent state of political and military conflict. The economy, too, was deeply unstable: subject to financial mismanagement by governments of both colours, lacking an export sector to secure foreign revenues and a national infrastructure to push growth, and undermined by flourishing corruption. The effects of this were clearly illustrated in the ill-fated venture to construct a national railway system. Sensing the opportunity to make a quick profit, British banks loaned a desperate government GBP6 million in 1867-70. Of this, only around GBP100,000 was ever received and barely 90km of track laid. The resulting debt - which over the next fifty years rose to GBP30m - was not fully paid off until 1953.
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