Dates of last and next legislative elections:  2001/2005

Head of state: President Ricardo Maduro

AT THE LAST ELECTION

The traditional power brokers have been the military, the US embassy, and the United Fruit Company (now called Chiquita), the country's biggest banana producer. The military held power intermittently from the mid-1950s, until pressure from the US government forced it to restore civilian rule in 1984. During the 1980s, US military aid and political influence increased sharply. The armed forces retained a strong political hold. Attempts continue to bring human rights cases from the 1980s to trial.

The PNH and PLH have few real ideological differences. Presidents, able to serve only one four-year term, have tended to be weak. The PLH introduced unpopular austerity measures in 1994, but also began reducing the autonomy of the military by abolishing conscription. President Carlos Flores of the PLH, elected in 1997, continued this "demilitarization" process by naming a civilian defense minister in 1999. The presidency was won back by the PNH when Ricardo Maduro was elected in 2001.

Reconstruction after the devastation of Hurricane Mitch in 1998 will be a long-term undertaking.

From "The Financial Times World Desk Reference" © Dorling Kindersley 2004