Honduras

Republic of Honduras

The Republic of Honduras (República de Honduras) was claimed as Spanish territory along with the rest of Central America in the 16th century. It was part of a larger region called the Captaincy General (Capitanía General de Guatemala). In 1821, the entire Captaincy (Chiapas, Guatemala, El Salvador, Nicaragua, Costa Rica, and Honduras) proclaimed its independence from Spain, and later joined the Mexican Empire. All but Chiapas soon separated from Mexico, however, forming the United Provinces of Central America, but this too separated into independent nations by 1840. Spanish Honduras was the former name of the nation, to distinguish it from British Honduras (now Belize).

Honduras was a major staging area during the 1980s for the Contra movement against the Sandinista government of Nicaragua. The United States supported both the Honduran military and the Contras during this era by providing training, military equipment and financial assistance.

The Fuerzas Armadas de Honduras are the armed forces of Honduras, and consist of the Ejercito (Army), Fuerza Naval de Honduras (Navy), and Fuerza Aérea Hondureña (Air Force), with approximately 20,000 active duty personnel. Internal security is the province of the National Police.

Honduran Camouflage Patterns

• From the late 1970s into the 1980s, Honduras issued a duck hunter copy of the US m1942 spot pattern camouflage to many of its infantry, airborne and special operations personnel. The Honduran pattern has dark brown, medium brown, dark green and moss green spots on khaki or pale green background, with some variation noted among different production runs.

• Also common in the 1980s were uniforms made from the US transitional ERDL leaf camouflage pattern, both imported and locally-produced from imported fabrics. Many US companies during this time period produced equipment and insignia for the Honduran armed forces.

• The m81 woodland camouflage pattern is perhaps the most commonly encountered Honduran camouflage pattern, with surplus US BDUs and locally-made uniforms from imported or locally-printed fabrics all in distribution.

• The COBRA Squadron is a special airborne-qualified unit of the National Police with counter-insurgency and counter-terrorist duties. Throughout the late 1980s & 1990s, the unit wore a modified Honduran woodland camouflage BDU with specially-padded regions of black fabric and a black patrol cap. In the present era, however, they have since adopted an urban woodland pattern having black, blue-grey & medium grey shapes on a pale blue background. Other members of this unit have worn a similar design with grey/black colorway.

• In 2008, the Honduran Army adopted a pixelated camouflage design having black & dark green shapes on a light brown background.

• The National Police, in particular the COBRA Squadron, have also adopted a pixelated camouflage design similiar to that of the Army, but with a blue colorway. This design is very similar to that adopted by the US Navy for the Navy Working Uniform (NWU).