Quick Facts
Biography
Victoriano Castellanos Cortes (1795–1865) was President of the Honduras from February 4, 1862, to December 11, 1862.
Biography
Don Victoriano Castellanos Corte was born in Santa Rosa de Copan on March 23, 1796, and died on December 11, 1865 in Comayagua. He was educated by the Catholic parish priest Pedro Antonio Pineda, and worked as a miner before becoming a politician.
On February 3, 1860, he was elected vice president of the nation, the president being the President General Jose Santos Guardiola, who was killed in Comayagua on January 11, 1862 by his own Presidential Guard. Mr. Victoriano became the provisional president of the nation on February 4 of that year, in the town of Guarita, today part of the Department of Lempira. When returning from traveling in the Republic of El Salvador, he transferred the capital of the Honduras from Comaguya to Santa Rosa. The Government House was situated on the opposite corner of the Central Market, on the North side. After some time passed as president, he decided to move the capital back to Comayagua.
Significant events in the short term
In addition to Decree No. 3 in which it is ordered that the nation should be called "Republic of Honduras" instead of the State of Honduras, he also signed other decrees which created the Department of Islas de la Bahia (Bay Islands). He ordered the construction of schools in the cities of Danli and another in Tegucigalpa.