José Azcona Hoyo was born on January 26, 1927. He was born in La Ceiba in Honduras.
Azcona spent the years from 1935 to 1949 living in Cantabria, Spain with his maternal grandparents. He grew up there during the Spanish Civil War. He returned to Honduras in 1949, working in his family's trading company.
He went to study in the National Autonomous University of Honduras (UNAH) graduating in civil engineering, with postgraduate studies from the University of Monterrey in Mexico.
As the PLH were unable to decide on a single candidate they ended up fielding four candidates, including Azcona, against the one National Party of Honduras (PNH) candidate Rafael Leonardo Callejas Romero. Because the PLH candidates gained 51. 5% of the vote between them, and as Azcona gained the highest of the 4, he gained the presidency with only 27. 5% of the vote, even though Callejas gained 42. 6% of the vote. This was the first transfer of power from one constitutional, elected president to another since 1948, and the first time it happened democratically since 1932.
Azcona's success as a president has been contested across the political spectrum. While his followers and a large proportion of the population would favour him due to the perceived honesty and integrity of his government, another group would challenge this view, arguing that he pursued a weak economic policy (artificially maintaining a 2:1 exchange rate between the Honduran lempira and the US dollar), ran up large budget deficits and did little to develop investment opportunities in the country. Many people still remember the fuel supply problems, mostly in the last part of his government due to foreign credit issues.
During his presidency, the Central American peace process took place, by the time he turned over the presidency to his successor on 27 January 1990 the Contra rebels in Nicaragua were demobilising. Less known is the relationship between Honduras and the US Government covert operations to exchange arms for hostages in Iran and fund rebels, later known as Iran ContraAffair.
After leaving power Azcona concentrated on running his construction business. At the end of the nineties he had a heart attack. On 24 October 2005 at 12. 30 a. m. (local time UTC−6) just as he was going to bed in his home in Tegucigalpa Azcona died suddenly from another heart attack, age 78.
During his four year term in office, José Azcona had the difficult, if not impossible, task of attempting to reconcile the policy objectives of the United States vis-a-vis the Sandinista regime in Nicaragua with his own role as a Honduran and as a Central American. The establishment of American military bases in Honduras and the existence of Contra camps along the Honduran-Nicaraguan frontier were elements in the Central American policy of the United States that Azcona had to tolerate. Infusions of American economic and military aid represented a payment of sorts for Azcona's support, but as the Nicaraguan crisis deepened and as a series of Central American peace initiatives gained momentum, the president found himself caught between two competing forces. It is a testimony to Azcona's political and diplomatic skills, as well as more than a little bit of luck, that he was able to lead his country through this difficult period of isthmian turmoil. Indeed, Azcona's greatest achievement might well have been his own political survival, for in January of 1990 he was able to turn executive power over to Rafael Callejas, his opponent in the 1985 election and the victor in the November 1989 presidential contest.
In Florida he met his wife Miriam Bocock de Azcona. They had two daughters and son.
His son José Azcona Bocock is currently an elected Congressman.
His daughter Elizabeth Azcona Bocock was Minister of Industry and Commerce for the first half of Mel Zelaya's presidency.
