User:Alexis Coquillard/sandbox

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Miguel Facussé Barjum
Born
Miguel Facussé Barjum

(1924-08-14) August 14, 1924 (age 99)
Tegucigalpa, Honduras
Nationality Honduras
EducationAeronautical Engineering
Alma materUniversity of Notre Dame
OccupationPresident of Corporación Dinant
SpouseVera Facussé Saenz
ChildrenMiguel Mauricio

Miguel Facussé Barjum (born 14 August 1924[1]) is a Honduran businessman and landowner. A 2006 study by the Friedrich Ebert Foundation named Facussé one of the three "most powerful men in Honduras".[2] Facussé was the chief economic advisor to President Roberto Suazo Córdova[3] (in office 1982 to 1986); he was vice-president of APROH, a "right-wing grouping of business interests and members of the armed forces"[4] from the early 1980s[5] to at least 2001.[4] His nephew Carlos Roberto Flores was President of Honduras (1998 to 2002). He is married and has five children,[1] and is an uncle of Carlos Flores Facussé, President of Honduras 1998-2002.[6] His son-in-law Fredy Nasser is also a prominent Honduran businessman. In May 2009, in recognition of his business career, Facussé was awarded the Orden Mérito a la Democracia en el Grado de Gran Caballero by the Senate of Colombia, in the presence of the President of the Honduran Congress, Roberto Micheletti.[1]

Early Life and Education

Miguel Facussé was born in Tegucigalpa, Honduras on August 14, 1924. He was the seventh of nine children born to Nicholas and Mary Barjum Facussé Facussé.[7] He studied aeronautical engineering at the University of Notre Dame.[8] As a student, Facussé was among the the university's Latin American attendees to a ceremony on 24 June 1942 when university president Rev. Hugh O'Donnell, C.S.C, and Director of Faculty Rev. William F. Cunningham, C.S.C, where awarded honorary doctors degrees from the Catholic University of Chile.[9]

University of Notre Dame

Facussé was 18 years old when he earned his degree in aeronautical engineering in 1944.[10]. He has had a close relationship with the University of Notre Dame ever since. In 1969, Facussé attended the Silver Jubilee Reunion for his Class of 1944.[11] Over the years he has hosted Notre Dame presidents Rev. Theodore M. Hesburgh, CSC in 1960[12] and Rev. Edward "Monk" Malloy, CSC in 2003 during visits to Honduras.[13] In 2005, Facussé invited the Notre Dame Glee Club to tour his tropical bird aviary following a concert in Tegucigalpa to benefit Asociacin Koinonia.[14]

Political Career

In the early 1980s Facussé was the chief economic advisor to President Roberto Suazo Córdova[3] (in office 1982 to 1986), and during this time helped his nephew Carlos Roberto Flores (who later went on to become President of Honduras) become a political advisor to Suazo;[3] Flores was Minister of the Presidency under Suazo from 1982 to 1984.

Business Career

1960s & 70s

In 1969, Facussé was president of both the Honduras Industrial Association and the Central American Industrial Association. At the time, Facussé owned Químicas Dinant, a company that made soaps and detergents.[15]

1980s

In the 1980s Facussé was vice-president of the Asociación para el Progreso de Honduras (APROH), an organization officially founded in January 1983[16] linking business leaders and military personnel (head of the armed forces Gustavo Álvarez Martínez was elected its first president[17]).[18][19][5][20] In 1984 The Nation described Álvarez Martínez' alliance with Facussé in the Association for the Progress of Honduras (APROH) as "the crowning achievement of Alvarez’s efforts [to form strategic alliances with civilian groups in order to purge Honduras of 'alien ideologies']".[21] However the organisation may have existed as early as 1980, before attaining legal status in 1983; according to one author, "by then it was rumored to have been operating as a kind of shadow cabinet for economic policy".[22] A "widely publicised memorandum" by Facussé "argued that the only way out of the national crisis was to 'sell Honduras to the foreign investor'".[23] Facussé was still listed as Vice-President of APROH in 2001.[4]

1990s

Facussé was previously president of the Cressida Corporation, which in the 1990s received a $55m investment loan from the World Bank.[24] Facussé sold Cressida, which had subsidiaries throughout Central America and was at the time described as "the biggest food and cleaning products manufacturer in Honduras" to Unilever for $322m in 2000, for an estimated net value to Facussé of $120m.[25] Facussé had previously sold his brand Magia Blanca and others to Procter & Gamble for over $25m.[25]

2000s

In 2011 Facussé remained the owner of Corporación Dinant, which owned over 22,000 acres of palm plantations in Bajo Aguán.[26] Facussé was described in 2012 by Reporters without Borders as having "a private militia that can count on support from the police and army to impose his will".[6] Accusations that Facussé's militia was responsible for the deaths of peasants occupying his lands (Facussé admitted 5 deaths during a land invasion, accusing the National Agrarian Institute, INA, of responsibility for having encouraged the invasion[27]) led to the withdrawal in 2011 of a $20m investment loan from the German DEG development bank,[28][29] and to Électricité de France cancelling the purchase of carbon credits from Dinant.[30] However, the United Nations continued to back two local palm-oil-waste-to-biogas projects through its Clean Development Mechanism.[31] Leaked US Embassy cables published by WikiLeaks, as well as media reports, suggest that an airstrip on Facussé's property has been used for the transit of cocaine.[28][32][31][30]

References

  1. ^ a b c (in Spanish) La Tribuna, 24 May 2009, Senado de Colombia condecora al empresario Miguel Facussé Barjum
  2. ^ Thelma Mejía, Inter Press Service, 15 December 2006, HONDURAS: Governed by Vested Interests
  3. ^ a b c Rick Rockwell, Noreene Janus (2003), Media Power in Central America, University of Illinois Press, p21
  4. ^ a b c "South America, Central America and the Caribbean", Regional Surveys of the World Series, 10th Edition 2002, Routledge 2001, p496
  5. ^ a b Listed as "vice-president" alongside "Gen. (retd) Gustavo Alvarez Martinez" as "leader" in Ciarán Ó Maoláin (ed, 1985), Latin American Political Movements, Longman, p159
  6. ^ a b Reporters without Borders, 2 May 2012, Miguel Facussé Barjum , Businessman and landowner, Honduras, accessed 11 October 2012
  7. ^ "Cohep recognizes business career of Miguel Facussé". La Tribuna (Honduras). 3 November 2012. Retrieved 25 January 2013.
  8. ^ Wilberto Nuila Coto, Msc., Ramón (12 April 2012). "Zacate Grande: Una gran visita". La Tribuna. Retrieved 24 January 2013.
  9. ^ "Notre Dame President Receives Honorary Award" (PDF). The Scholastic. 26 June 1942. Retrieved 25 January 2013.
  10. ^ Malloy, Edward A. (2004). Monk's travels : People, Places, and Events. Kansas City: Andrews McMeel Pub. ISBN 0-7407-4706-1.
  11. ^ "Class Notes for Class of 1944" (PDF). Notre Dame Alumnus Magazine. July - August 1969. Retrieved 24 January 2013. {{cite news}}: Check date values in: |date= (help)
  12. ^ "Our Family To The South" (PDF). Notre Dame Alumnus Magazine. November 1960. Retrieved 25 January 2013.
  13. ^ Malloy, Edward A. (2004). Monk's travels : People, Places, and Events. Kansas City: Andrews McMeel Pub. ISBN 0-7407-4706-1.
  14. ^ Chapla, Shannon (28 July 2005). "Notre Dame brings glee to Latin America". Notre Dame News. Retrieved 24 January 2013.
  15. ^ "Class Notes for Class of 1944" (PDF). Notre Dame Alumnus Magazine. September 1969. Retrieved 24 January 2013.
  16. ^ Henry W. Degenhardt (1988), Revolutionary and dissident movements: an international guide, Longman p149
  17. ^ James D. Rudolph (1983),Honduras, a country study: Volume 550, Issues 151-152, American University (Washington, D.C.). Foreign Area Studies, United States. Dept. of the Army, p172
  18. ^ (in Spanish) Bolpress, 4 June 2012, Raíces históricas de la fortuna de Miguel Facussé Barjum
  19. ^ Described as "APROH co-ordinator" in Business Week, Issues 2788-2796, McGraw-Hill, 1983, p75
  20. ^ Listed as "vice-president" in Ciarán Ó Maoláin (1987), The radical right: a world directory, Longman, p152
  21. ^ George Black, The Nation, 28 January 1984, "Delivering a Country to the Military"
  22. ^ Donald E. Schulz, Deborah Sundloff Schulz (1994), "The United States, Honduras, And The Crisis In Central America", Thematic Studies in Latin America, Westview Press, p118
  23. ^ Richard Lapper, James Painter (1985), Latin America Bureau, "Honduras, state for sale", Latin America Bureau special brief, p100
  24. ^ Revista Envio, Maquila*: The Swallow That Lays Golden Eggs, Number 194, September 1997.
  25. ^ a b Economist Intelligence Unit, 11 May 2000, Country Briefing: Honduras finance: Regional links attract foreign direct investments
  26. ^ The New York Times, September 15, 2011 In Honduras, Land Struggles Highlight Post-Coup Polarization
  27. ^ (in Spanish) La Prensa, 16 November 2010, Honduras: Facussé acusa a Ham por los asesinatos, archived at http://www.webcitation.org/6BcpUxy5g
  28. ^ a b Dana Frank, The Nation, 21 October 2011, WikiLeaks Honduras: US Linked to Brutal Businessman
  29. ^ Mathew Carr and Catherine Airlie, Bloomberg, 21 April 2011, ‘Misleading’ Claims Harm Honduras Emissions-Project Owner, Executive Says
  30. ^ a b Geoffrey Ramsey, InSight Crime, 18 May 2012, Honduran Tycoon Accused of Drug Ties Named 'Press Predator'
  31. ^ a b Jeremy Kryt, In These Times, 30 November 2011, Carbon Credits in the ‘Valley of Death’
  32. ^ hondurasnews.com, WikiLeaks Cable Re: Honduras 03/19/04

External links

DEFAULTSORT:Facusse Barjum, Miguel Category:1924 births Category:Living people Category:Honduran businesspeople Category:University of Notre Dame alumni


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