Suazo Córdova, Roberto, 1927–2018, Honduran political leader, president of Honduras (1982–86). A doctor who practiced in Guatemala City and then in La Paz, Honduras, and a member of the Liberal party, he served several terms in the Honduran congress and became party leader in 1979. After the military agreed to permit elections, he won the presidency in 1981, becoming the country's first civilian president in nearly a decade; the military nonetheless remained Honduras's most powerful institution. Suazo Córdova supported the buildup of American troops in Honduras, which the United States used as a base to train and arm counterrevolutionaries conducting a guerrilla war against the Sandinista government of Nicaragua (see Iran-contra affair). After unsuccessfully seeking to have his term extended by two years, he retired from politics.
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