Coup Atlas Research Database
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09107071957SuccessfulPalace coup

Honduras, 1957 — palace coup

Honduras (HND)Central America, AmericasJuly 7, 1957

Event Summary

In mid-1957, the ruling military junta that had governed Honduras since removing Julio Lozano Diaz in October 1956 was reorganized, an internal shakeup that changed its membership as the country moved toward elections. The original three-man junta of General Roque Rodriguez, Hector Caraccioli, and Roberto Galvez Barnes had promised to restore constitutional order, but tensions within the triumvirate led to a restructuring in which Rodriguez and Galvez Barnes left and Colonel Oswaldo Lopez Arellano entered. The reshaped junta continued to prepare for the Constituent Assembly elections held on September 22, 1957, which produced a Liberal Party majority.

That assembly appointed Ramon Villeda Morales as president for a six-year term and drafted a new constitution that, at the military's insistence, gave the armed forces unusual autonomy. Lopez Arellano, who entered the junta in this reorganization, would later seize the presidency outright in the 1963 coup.

Researched Details

Researched

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

Target identified in Coup Atlas research: Members of the Honduran military junta (Rodriguez and Galvez Barnes removed in an internal reorganization; not physically harmed)
RESEARCHED NAME
Key figures
Roque Rodriguez (junta member who left)
Roberto Galvez Barnes (junta member who left)
Oswaldo Lopez Arellano (officer who entered the junta)
Hector Caraccioli (junta member)
Ramon Villeda Morales (elected president in the ensuing 1957 vote)

Sources

The military junta of 1956-1957 was composed of General Roque Jacinto Rodriguez Herrera, Roberto Galvez Barnes, and Hector Caraccioli Moncada; after tensions within the junta caused a reorganization, Rodriguez and Galvez Barnes left and Oswaldo Lopez Arellano entered.
SOURCE REVIEWED Wikipedia, "Honduran military junta of 1956-1957" open source ↗
The reorganized junta allowed free elections in 1957 for a Constituent Assembly, which elected Ramon Villeda Morales as president for a six-year term.
SOURCE REVIEWED Military Wiki, "Honduran military junta of 1956-1957" open source ↗
In a new election held on 22 September 1957 the Liberal Party won a majority of seats, and the new Congress appointed Villeda Morales as president for a six-year term.
SOURCE REVIEWED Wikipedia, "1963 Honduran coup d'etat" (background) open source ↗
The 1957 constitution adopted after the election envisioned a political role for the military, gave it a secret budget, and allowed it to disobey orders deemed to violate the constitution, reflecting the armed forces' expanded power under the junta.
SOURCE REVIEWED Wikipedia, "1963 Honduran coup d'etat" (background) open source ↗

Editorial Note

The Cline dataset codes this a palace coup on 7 July 1957 with the leader not physically harmed. The sources confirm an internal reorganization of the ruling junta in which Rodriguez and Galvez Barnes left and Lopez Arellano entered, though they do not pin the precise July date; the dataset date marks this reshuffle within the 1956-1957 junta. Two Wikipedia articles and Military Wiki were read directly. This continues the story of the October 1956 Honduras coup record and introduces Lopez Arellano, the future strongman of 1963.

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
09107071957

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

Outcome and Target

Coup Atlas research identifies the target as: Members of the Honduran military junta (Rodriguez and Galvez Barnes removed in an internal reorganization; not physically harmed).

Baseline coding: Incumbent executive removed from power. Recorded leader fate: deposed; 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

Wikipedia

New York Times

“Army Ousts Member of Honduran Junta,” July 7, 1957

Los Angeles Times

“Hondurass Seek Stable Government by Ballot: Leaders of Military Junta Foresee New Constitution After Election in Septebmer,” by Charles Hillinger, July 14, 1957

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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