López Arellano, Oswaldo (1922– )

Honduran soldier and right-wing political leader, president 1963–71 and 1972–75. In October 1963, as army chief of staff, López removed President Ramón Villeda Morales in a violent coup and subsequently headed the junta before, in 1965, being made president by the constituent assembly. López reversed some of Villeda's liberal economic policies, but faced workers' unrest and agitation for agrarian reform. His decision to repatriate Salvadoran immigrants, in an effort to reduce population pressure, precipitated a five-day war with El Salvador in 1969 and, as a result, Honduras pulled out of the Central American Common Market.

A career soldier, López joined the airforce in 1942, became defence minister in 1956 and was a member of the ruling military junta that overthrew President Julio Lozano Díaz in October 1956 and handed over power to President Villeda in December 1957.

Under a national unity plan, Ramón Cruz, of the right-wing National Party, was elected president in 1971, heading a coalition with the Liberals. López remained influential as commander of the armed forces and, in December 1972, replaced Cruz as president in a bloodless coup. After implication in a bribery scandal, López was himself ousted in 1975.