Honduras has been a country plagued with violence, corruption, and impunity. Unfortunately, these tendencies seem to have infiltrated all aspects of life here, and there aren’t many signs that it’s getting any better (Although Honduras is not the murder capital of the world anymore, hurray!)
On January 25, the Leader of the LGBT Human Rights group, Paola Barraza, was shot and killed in her home. When the article went to press on 27th, the police hadn’t even assigned an investigator to the case. Unfortunately, this is not out of the norm. Only 2% of crimes actually go to trial in this country. In 2014 more human rights defenders were killed in Honduras than anywhere else in the world, and the murder rate of women is so high it even has it’s own name for statistical purposes: femicide.
Despite the fact that 98% of crimes go unpunished, prisons here are grossly overpopulated. There are over 16 000 people in prisons whose maximum capacity is 8625. The incarcerated only receive $1.38 a day for meals, leaving it up to family members to provide and transport meals to the inmates, who sometimes wait years just for sentencing. Of the entire prison population, only 6670 have received a firm sentence.
As a Canadian in Honduras, the first impression I got was that there are a lot of guns. Everywhere. It seems like everyone and their mother has at least one gun, and all security guards have shotguns. The United States is a key player in the rise of arms, and therefor armed conflict in Central America. Under the guise of training military groups in Central America, the US has shipped 1000’s of troops into the Northern Triangle (Guatemala, El Salvador, and Honduras), to help fight the war on drugs. Unfortunately, the strengthening of financial support for military force in turn strengthens the institutions that repress its population, as there are multiple cases of military terrorizing, wounding, and even killing innocent citizens.
The instability in Honduras has made people rich; private security companies pulled in $200 million US in capital in 2015. Unfortunately, the rise of private security companies means more laymen are being trained to use guns, and the number of guns and ease of obtaining one has been on the rise, leading to an increase in intra-familiar shootings and armed robberies.
Recently, in Guatemala, an International Commission against corruption was successful in ousting corruption at the highest level, resulting in the arrest of both the vice-president and president, leading to new democratic elections. Here in Honduras, after the discovery of a $200 million dollar fraud scheme in the IHSS, the country’s social security program, the people demanded an International Commission as well. This resulted in weeks of protests, called the Antorchas, which unfortunately only resulted in the creation of the Missions to Support the Fight against Corruption and Impunity in Honduras (MACCIH), basically a band aid solution, and agreement between Honduran President Hernandez and the Organization of American States (OAS) to make recommendations for reform. This only fuelled the fire of the protesters, as it comes nowhere close to being the international commission that they asked for. So, the marches continue, relatively peacefully, every Friday at 5pm (protesting without a permit is criminalized and has led to the deaths and arrests of many Hondurans).
There are too many examples of crimes against humanity to list. Adding to the problem of insecurity is that literacy and education rates are extremely low, exacerbating the problem of unemployment, knowledge of basic rights, and sovereignty. Only 60% of children finish 6th grade. Of those who continue on, only 40% of them finish high school, and of those, 12% continue on to university, with only 4% of them graduating from University.
Over half the population of this country live in conditions of extreme poverty, with little to no access to proper health care, job security, pensions or even potable water. Ironically, 5 of the billionaires from Forbes list of richest people in the world live here as well. The gap between rich and poor is staggering. It’s almost like there are two worlds within one country. A person with money will be able to send their children to private school, and Universities in the United States. They will have excellent health care and family ties that will ensure them they will never find themselves without a job or a roof over their head. The rest of the population staggers under a huge unemployment rate, with most jobs available to rural people being informal, earning well below the minimum wage of around $250 per month.
I feel very fortunate to have been born in Canada. To have grown up believing I have the same rights as men, to have had access to adequate health care, to trust that the police are there to uphold the law, not abuse it, and to be able to earn enough money to live comfortably, to travel, and to have fun. That’s pretty rare here. For that reason, I feel compelled more than ever to try to make some positive change here, however small. My goal while working with the Centro de Desarollo Humano for the next year is to assist in creating and opening a Youth Employment Centre, to assist youth in vocational training, job searching, and business planning. I will be updating about my progress over the next year, and hopefully will have more good news than bad in the entries to come!
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