Lindo Zelaya, Juan (1790–1857)

Juan Lindo Zelaya (b. 1790; d. 24 April 1857), president of Honduras (1847–1852) and El Salvador (1841–1842). Lindo was born in Comayagua, Honduras, the son of Joaquín Fernández Lindo and Barbara Zelaya. He studied in Mexico as a youth and later was appointed interim colonial governor of Honduras by Governor José Gregorio Tinoco de Contreras (ruled 1819–1821). The Constituent Assembly of Honduras, then reappointed him to the post, at which he served from 21 November 1821 to 11 February 1824. While president of El Salvador, he established in 1841 the Colegio de la Asunción, which was later elevated in status, becoming the University of El Salvador in 1847. He also raised the Honduran Academía Literaria in status and renamed it the University of Honduras (1847). Its curriculum, under his direction, included law, philosophy, and Latin.

On 12 February 1847, Lindo became president of Honduras with the support of Honduran Conservatives and the approval of neighboring Guatemala. Technically, his term expired on 16 July 1848, when the 4 February 1848 constitution took effect, and his second term began on the same date and lasted until 1 January 1852. Domestic unrest due to disputes with Great Britain over loan agreements marred his term of office, as did Liberal revolts in Tegucigalpa on 4 February 1849 and 12 February 1850, which forced him to flee. Liberal forces under General Santos Guardiola, his successor, were eventually suppressed with the aid of Guatemala and El Salvador. Lindo's refusal to run for reelection and his belief in the 1848 constitution led him to allow a Liberal to take office unopposed.

See alsoGuardiola, Santos; Honduras.

BIBLIOGRAPHY

Rómulo E. Durón y Gamero, Biografía de don Juan Nepomuceno Fernández Lindo (1932).

Luis Mariñas Otero, Honduras, 2d ed. (1983).

Additional Bibliography

Mejía, Medardo. Don Juan Lindo: El frente nacional y el anticolonialismo. Tegucigalpa: Editorial Universitaria, 1993.

                                  Jeffrey D. Samuels