The Republic of Honduras is located on the Atlantic coast of Central America; it is the region's second largest country. Honduras's 6.5 million people are 90 percent mestizo and largely Roman Catholic, and they inhabit a mountainous nation that has relied heavily on export agriculture. Principal exports are coffee, bananas, and beef. Although agriculture employs one-third of the work force, it accounts for only 12 percent of the gross domestic product (GDP); nearly 50 percent of the populace works in the service sector. The official literacy rate of 78.5 percent is comparable to that of neighboring Nicaragua and El Salvador. The effects of 28 percent unemployment are compounded by high rates of underemployment, which has left about half the population living below the poverty line. On the United Nations Human Development Index in 2004, Honduras ranked 115, near the bottom of the "medium development" category.

A pattern of traditional authoritarian rule in Honduras during the first...