Biography of Victor Hugo Barnica Alvarado
Víctor Hugo Barnica Alvarado was born in Santa Rosa de Copán during the transition between the governments of Tiburcio Carías and Juan M. Gálvez. His parents are Humberto Barnica Milla (R.I.P.) and Alba Alvarado Lozano.
He became a doctor and surgeon in 1973 at UNAH and is married to Ana Suyapa Elvir Maldonado, a doctor in Microbiology, with whom he has two sons and a daughter, who have also made him a grandfather. He has practiced medicine for over 35 years, with a strong connection to his homeland and region.
He grew up in Santa Rosa de Copán, where he attended school and graduated from Jerónimo J. Reina primary school and the Salesian Institute Santo Domingo Sabio. He studied medicine at the National Autonomous University of Mexico and obtained the title of medical surgeon in 1971.
He returned to the country to do his internship at Leonardo Martínez Hospital and his social medical service in Mexico City and Aramecina, Valle, in Honduras. He then specialized in general surgery at the Teaching Hospital.
In 2005, he ran as a candidate for deputy for Copán and won the seat, which led him to become a candidate for vice president in November 2009. With the victory of the National Party, President Lobo appointed him to coordinate the National Council against Drug Trafficking, from where he has exposed various irregularities within the government and institutions. This has gained him greater prominence in the media, and with the motto of «setting clear rules» in all areas of national life, he ran for president on November 18.
Among the positions he has held:
- Secretary of the Southern Medical Association in 1976.
- From 1976 to 1977, he was president of the Southern Medical Society and also served as a forensic doctor in the southern region of the country.
- From 1981, he worked at the Teaching Hospital as the head of the women’s surgery ward and as an on-call surgeon at the Western Hospital.
- Between 2002 and 2005, he was alternate secretary of the board of directors of the National Congress.
- From 2006 to 2010, he was a member of the National Congress representing the department of Copán.
- From 2010 to 2014, he served as the designated presidential representative of the Government of Honduras.
He was the president of the National Council Against Drug Trafficking (CNCN), head of the National Council for Sustainable Development (CONADES), and leads the Corredor Quetzal organization, a program for sustainable integral development focused on implementing social projects in the poorest communities.
He also served as alternate secretary of the board of directors of the National Congress from 2002 to 2005. He was a pre-candidate for the presidency of Honduras with the Acción Barnica movement, which belongs to the National Party.
