Juan Velasco Alvarado of the Velasco administration's economic policies is still debated today. As the Peruvian military government ran deeper into debt, it was forced to devalue the currency and run inflationary policies. This however, was in part due to the 1970s Energy Crisis, which also affected Peru and made it impossible for the Velasco administration to fund some of its most ambitious reforms. In foreign policy, in contrast with his 1970s Latin American contemporaries, which were mostly right-wing military dictatorships, he pursued a partnership with the Soviet bloc, tightening relations with Cuba and Fidel Castro and undertaking major purchases of Soviet military
Juan José Alvarado led the party of the federal government under José Francisco Morazán Quezada and resisted the separation. On 5 April 1839 his troops were defeated by Nicaragua and to the troops of Morazán in the battle of Espiritu Santo in El Salvador. On 25 September 1839, at San Pedro Perulapán, the troops of Honduras surprised Francisco Ferrera, who was wounded and fled to Nicaragua. Although Alvarado stated that he withdrew for reasons of health, the political and military pressure from Morazán contributed to it. He died in Gracias. Juan José Alvarado Juan José Alvarado (1798–1857) was Supreme Director of Honduras from