Honduras and the Mexican Empire (1821-1823)

Abstract

This article offers a critical reassessment of the traditional interpretation of Honduras’s incorporation into the Mexican Empire (1821–1823). Based on documentary analysis, it demonstrates that the elites of Comayagua viewed Mexico as a means to secure political autonomy, both from the Spanish monarchy and from Guatemalan control. The study traces the evolution of two divergent local political projects in Honduras —Comayagua and Tegucigalpa— examining their internal tensions and how these shaped different responses to independence. The text analyzes Honduras’s diplomatic efforts before Iturbide’s government, its representatives’ participation in the Constituent Congress, and the failure of the autonomist project, exacerbated by the lack of imperial support. By offering an interpretation rooted in regional dynamics, the article recovers the perspective of a local elite whose failed project foreshadowed key conflicts in the independent history of Honduras.