Policarpo Bonilla
José Policarpo Bonilla Vasquez was Dictator of Honduras between 22 February 1894 and 1 February 1895. Then elected as President for the period between 1 February 1895 and 1 February 1899.Biography
He was born on 17 March 1858 in Tegucigalpa, Honduras, his parents were Inocencio Bonilla and Juana Vasquez. He became a lawyer on 17 March 1878, held posts in the government of Marco Aurelio Soto. On 31 October 1890 he created a newspaper "El Bien Publico". In November 1891 Bonilla was a candidate for president of Honduras, but lost to Ponciano Leiva.
In February 1893 he founded the Liberal Party of Honduras, the oldest liberal Party in Latin America. He became a deputy in the National Congress, and was also the governor of Tegucigalpa. He was described as "the hero who, by transforming Honduras, gave it a new conscience" by Rafael Heliodoro Valle. In 1919 he was the delegate for Honduras to the Peace Conference of Versailles.
Bonilla, who had divided the Liberal Party when he ran for President in the 1924 Honduras Presidential election, died in 1926. Following his death, the Liberal Party of Honduras was reunited and nominated Vicente Mejía Colindres. Conlindres won the 1928 Honduran Presidential election.
