Tiburcio Carías: Portrait of a Honduran Political Leader by Thomas J. Dodd (review)

Book Reviews TIBURCIO CAR~AS: PORTRAIT OFA HONDURAN POLITICAL LEADER. BYTHOMAS J. DODD. BATON ROUGE,: LOUISIANA STATE U P, 2005, P. 296, $56.95. In Tiburcio Carias: Portrait o f a Honduraiz Political Leader, Thomas J. Dodd presents a clear analysis of Tiburcio Carias (1876-1969), the president of Honduras from 1933to 1949. Unlike his predecessors, Carias was able to unify the urban and rural sectorsof the nation and bring about an era of political and social stability. Like other authoritarian military leaders who came to power in Latin America during the Great Depression, Carias was able to impose centralized political control, restore order, and maintain cordial relations with the United States. These authoritarian leaders, who used paternalistic methods of governing, rose to power in the vacuum created by the demise of the Liberal export-led model of economic development implemented in Latin America during the second half of the nineteenth century. Dodd, however, is quick to point out that Carias is uniquely different from the other authoritarian leaders who came to power during the 1930s. El Salvador’s Maximiliano Hernandez Martinez (1931-1944), Guatemala’s Jorge Ubico (1933-1944),the Dominican Republic’sRafael Leonidas Trujillo Molina (19301961 ), Nicaragua’s Anastasio Somoza (1936-1956), and Cuba’s Fulgencio Batista (1934-1944;1952-1959)were all either forced from office and sent into permanent exile or assassinated while still in power. Carias, whom Dodd callsa ”benevolent dictator,” announced his retirement in 1948,held elections, and turned over power to Juan Manuel Galvez on 1January 1949 (5). As such, when Carias died in 1969,he received tremendous praise at his funeral. According to Dodd, an adjunct professor in the School of Foreign Service at Georgetown University and former U.S. ambassador to Uruguay and Costa Rica during the Clinton administration, Carias, at the time of his death, was not remembered as a military dictator. During the funeral ceremonies, Carias was ”recalled only as a political leader” (234). Dodd’s analysis of Carias, therefore, sets out to portray the political career of Honduras’s most famous caudillo. Physically, Carias was the quintessential image of a caudillo. He was barrel-chested, weighed over 250 pounds, was six feet two inches tall, and sported a wide mustache. Taller and larger than most Hondurans, Carias was a commanding figure. His portrait on the front cover of the book confirms his image as a caudillo. Like most Latin American caudillos, Carias came from a politically active landowning family. His extended family ties and his own pragmatic political skills enabled him to be Honduras’s longest ruling political leader. According to Dodd, Carias’s “external demeanor concealed an inner discipline, through which he attended to details with perseverance and patience” (3). In addition, his amicable relationship with officials of the United Fruit Company (UFCO),the largest employer and landowner in Honduras, facilitated his control over the Honduran nation. Dodd’s study chronicles Carias’s rise to power, first as a regional leader, then as president from 1933 to 1949. His victory was facilitated by his formation of the National Party, which simultaneously represented both The Latin Americanist, Spring 2007 urban and rural interests. Carias’s election on 28 October 1932was viewed favorably by American diplomats in Honduras, who believed that Carias’s Liberal opponents were anti-American and anti-UFCO. Like Franklin D. Roosevelt,Cariasencouraged the construction of public works projects during the Great Depression. Carias oversaw ”every detail” in the administration of the government (57). He used the telegraph system to maintain daily control over the country. He was also the first Honduran leader to use the radio to communicate with Hondurans throughout the nation. Carias also made significant contributions to the development of Honduras’s infrastructure. During his regime, Honduras developed the best internal air transportation system in Central America. The nation, however, continued to be a monocultural economy based on the export of bananas. Carias realized that the Allied victory in World War I1 made dictatorships an anomaly in Latin America and planned, as early as 1945, to leave office in 1948 when his presidential term expired. After his retirement, Carias continued to exert a strong influence on the Honduran political system. Dodd’s research...