Callejas Romero, Rafael Leonardo (1943- )

Honduran right-wing politician, president 1990-94. He won the November 1989 presidential election, and his party, the right-wing National Party of Honduras (PNH), also won the concurrent assembly elections. However, Callejas was faced with a deteriorating economy which he failed to improve. Consequently, the opposition Liberal Party (PLH), led by Carlos Roberto Reina Idiaquez, swept to power in elections four years later.

After studying at Mississippi University in the USA, Callejas worked as an agricultural planner for the government and served as a natural resources minister in the 1970s, before moving into banking. A member of the PNH, he became leader of his own faction and, as party president, stood unsuccessfully for the presidency in 1985.