Rafael Pineda Ponce (August 18, 1930 – January 24, 2014) was a Honduran professor and politician in the Liberal Party of Honduras and President of the National Congress of Honduras from 1998 to 2002.
Rafael Pineda Ponce was born to Juan Rafael Pineda López and María Ponce on August 18, 1930, in a small house built by his grandparents, Caridad López Morales and Juan Rafael Pineda Flores. The house was located between Liber de Agua Zarca and Los Arrayanes next to Rio Tocó in the municipality of San Miguelito (now called San Miguel Guancapla), in the Department of Intibuca. He lived here for the first six years of his life. Pineda Ponce had one older sister, Consuelo, and two younger brothers, Rafael and Carlos (called Carlitos). Carlitos was murdered as a child between San Miguelito and El Liber while returning home after selling dulce de rapadura.
When Rafael was six, his mother, María Ponce, went back to her childhood home in Guatemala with her family, where she died soon after. After their mother left, Juan Pineda López placed Rafael and his siblings to live with relatives. Rafael first went to the city of La Esperanza, Intibucá. Afterwards he went with his sister Consuelo to live with their uncle, Filadelfo López Morales, in the village of Villa de Cofradía, in the department of Cortes. Rafael completed his elementary school education alternating between three schools "Lempira" in Cofradía, and "Juan E Flores" and "Valero Meza", both in La Esperanza. In all three schools he was highly regarded by his teachers. Rafael began his secondary education at the Instituto Departamental de Occidente (subsequently the Escuela Normal de Occidente, now the Universidad Pedagógica Nacional Francisco Morazán). He transferred to the Escuela Normal de Varones in Tegucigalpa, where he received the certificate of Maestro de Educación Primaria. He went on to earn a Bachelor of Science and Letters at the Instituto José Trinidad Reyes in San Pedro Sula.
In La Esperanza, during the third and fourth years at normal school, Pineda Ponce was elected President of the Procultural Society (Presidente de La Sociedad Pro-Cultural), which constituted the most honorable position that a student could obtain at that time. When he graduated he was awarded the Father Trino Gold Medal (Medalla de Oro Padre Trino) as the most outstanding secondary-education student, presented at the Municipal Palace in San Pedro Sula.
In 1965, Pineda Ponce went to the Universitária Armando de Salles Oliveira, in São Paulo, Brazil, to specialize in education of teachers (Especialista en Formación de Maestros). This period exposed him to some distinguished educators in Latin America. There, on April 14, he was selected as the principal orator at the Pan American Day, where he gave a speech. He became known as a writer and orator.
Rafael Pineda Ponce was married to María Lidia Espinoza, who bore their four children, Alicia, Rafael, Octavio y Mario Pineda Espinoza.
Rafael Pineda Ponce was a member of the Liberal Party of Honduras or PLH . In 1980 he was appointed Secretary in the Ministry of Public Education during the provisional government of Policarpo Paz García. Pineda Ponce was an ideologue for the Liberal Party of Honduras. As well as encouraging many people to run for office after the return to democracy in 1980, he participated in many legislative initiatives, including the following:
Childhood and Adolescence Code
Establishment of the Voluntary Military Service
Fourteenth month of salary for public employees
Law of the Banking and Insurance Commission
Law for the Promotion of Production
Law for the Protection of Coffee
Reforms to the Framework Law of the Electric Sub-sector
Promotion of Production and Social Compensation
Budgetary increase to the Family Allowances Program (PRAF)
Constitutional reform for the creation of the National Police
Elevation to the category of constitutional figure to the Commissioner of Human Rights