Dávila, Miguel R. (?–1927)

Miguel R. Dávila (d. 1927), provisional president of Honduras (1907–1908), then elected president (1908–1911). Dávila, a member of the Liberal Party, headed a regime that exemplified the political instability prevailing in Central America at the beginning of the twentieth century. The legendary rivalry between the Nicaraguan dictator José Santos Zelaya and Guatemala's Manuel Estrada Cabrera brought Dávila to power in 1907 when Zelaya engineered a coup against Estrada Cabrera's ally General Manuel Bonilla. During Dávila's term in office, Honduras participated in the 1907 Washington Conference sponsored by Mexico and the United States to restore stability to Central America. He had to deal with numerous rebellions organized by Honduran exiles. Dávila's regime ended in 1911 when Bonilla, financed by banana interests, took advantage of the tensions created by the renegotiation of Honduras's debt with the United States (part of Secretary of State Philander Knox's Dollar Diplomacy) to regain power.

See alsoHonduras .

BIBLIOGRAPHY

There are no monographs on Dávila's presidency. For the Honduran context a standard source is Rómulo Ernesto Durón y Gamero, Bosquejo histórico de Honduras, 2d ed. (1956). A more analytical approach is in Mario Posas and Rafael Del Cid, La construcción del sector público y del estado nacional en Honduras, 1876–1979, 2d ed. (1983). The international rivalries of the period are detailed in Dana G. Munro, Intervention and Dollar Diplomacy in the Caribbean, 1900–1921 (1964).

                              HÉctor Lindo-Fuentes