Coup Atlas Research Database
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09109131950ConspiracyMilitary coup

Honduras, 1950 — military coup conspiracy

Honduras (HND)Central America, AmericasSeptember 13, 1950

Event Summary

In 1950 the government of Honduran President Juan Manuel Galvez quietly suppressed a conspiracy in which an obscure young infantry captain named Jesus Velasco planned to distribute rifles and machine guns to opposition-party civilians, start a shooting uprising, and hand the presidency to the civilian plotters. Galvez, a lawyer who had succeeded the long-ruling strongman Tiburcio Carias in 1949 and permitted an unprecedented degree of liberalization, squelched the plot without a shot being fired. Captain Velasco and four confederates were jailed, while two others fled for asylum to the Guatemalan embassy, and Honduran opinion suspected that Guatemala, then under the reformist Arbenz government, had financed the mischief, consistent with the dataset's foreign-backed coding.

The Galvez government survived and continued the country's cautious postwar opening.

Researched Details

Researched

Independent research, added record by record. Hover any label for what it means.

Target identified in Coup Atlas research: President Juan Manuel Galvez suppressed the plot without violence and continued governing
RESEARCHED NAME
Key figures
Juan Manuel Galvez (president of Honduras, target)
Captain Jesus Velasco (plot leader, jailed)
Guatemala (suspected foreign backer)

Sources

An obscure young infantry captain named Jesus Velasco planned to hand out rifles and machine guns to opposition civilians, start them shooting, then take over the presidency for the civilian plotters.
SOURCE REVIEWED TIME, Honduras: Firm in the Saddle open source ↗
Galvez quietly squelched the plan without a bullet being fired; Velasco and four confederates were jailed, while two others fled to the Guatemalan embassy.
SOURCE REVIEWED TIME, Honduras: Firm in the Saddle open source ↗
Galvez had succeeded strongman Tiburcio Carias in 1949 and permitted an unprecedented degree of liberalization, with civil rights returning to Honduras.
SOURCE REVIEWED U.S. State Department, FRUS 1952-54 vol. IV open source ↗
Tegucigalpa buzzed with suspicions that Guatemala might have financed the recent mischief-making.
SOURCE REVIEWED TIME, Honduras: Firm in the Saddle open source ↗

Editorial Note

Documented plot: TIME reported the Velasco conspiracy against the Galvez government, suppressed without violence, with suspected Guatemalan backing matching the dataset's foreign-backed coding; the timing (21 months after Galvez succeeded Carias) fits the coded 13 September 1950 date. First Honduras record in the dataset run.

Cross-Reference

Only one dataset carries it. One of the three reference datasets we check against carries this event; the others do not list it. That is not a contradiction — the datasets cover different periods and use different thresholds — but it means the record has had less outside corroboration.

Identifiers for finding this same event in the other datasets:

Cline Center id
09109131950

How the match is made is described in crossref-report.md.

Outcome and Target

Coup Atlas research identifies the target as: President Juan Manuel Galvez suppressed the plot without violence and continued governing.

Baseline coding: Plot discovered and disrupted before execution. Recorded leader fate: remained in office; not physically harmed. The baseline file does not name individual targets; researched names are kept in a separate layer.

Baseline Dataset Citation

Cline Center Coup d’État Project Dataset, v2.2.2
Peyton, Buddy, Joseph Bajjalieh, Michael Martin, and Andrea Gerald. 2026. Cline Center Coup d’État Project Dataset. Cline Center for Advanced Social Research. V.2.2.2. February 17. University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign. doi: 10.13012/B2IDB-9651987_V10
⚑ This citation establishes the coded baseline record; use the claim-level sources above for the researched narrative.

Baseline Source-Document Entries

New York Herald Tribune

“2 Officers Are Seized As Honduras Plotters,” September 27, 1950

New York Times

“Honduras Thwarts Plot,” September 15, 1950
“Guatemala Linked to Honduran Plot,” September 25, 1950

This is the citation trail carried by the baseline dataset, grouped by outlet and rejoined from the line-wrapped original. Coup Atlas has not independently re-checked every document; read the original before citing a specific claim. URLs the import damaged beyond safe repair are shown as plain text and listed in citations-report.md. How this list is built →

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