Background
The surname 'Zelaya' is a word from the Basque language, meaning 'field'. Zelaya was born the first of four children in Juticalpa, Olancho.
The surname 'Zelaya' is a word from the Basque language, meaning 'field'. Zelaya was born the first of four children in Juticalpa, Olancho.
Elected as a liberal, Zelaya shifted to the political left during his presidency, forging an alliance with the ALBA. On 28 June 2009, during the 2009 Honduran constitutional crisis, he was seized by the military and sent to Costa Rica and this was the cause of the 2009 Honduran coup d'état. On 21 September 2009 he returned to Honduras clandestinely and resurfaced in the Brazilian embassy in Tegucigalpa. In 2010 he left Honduras for exile in the Dominican Republic, an exile which lasted more than a year.
He now represents Honduras as a deputy of the Central American Parliament.[8] Since January 1976 Zelaya has been married to Xiomara Castro de Zelaya who is currently, with his full support, a presidential candidate in the Honduran general election, 2013.
He has four children with his wife Xiomara. Two of them are married.
Zelaya's father was given a 20 year prison sentence for his role in the Los Horcones massacre, which took place in the Zelaya family ranch Los Horcones in 1975, but, as a result of an amnesty decree, served less than two.
