Annonce
About Honduras
The 2009 coup against President Manuel Zelaya revealed the brutality of Honduras’s authoritarian political system.
During his term in power, Zelaya (2006-2009) proposed social and political reforms which threatened the privileges and power of the traditional elites. On June 28th 2009 the military staged a coup and expelled Zelaya from the country.
Hundreds of thousands of Hondurans took to the streets in a popular uprising bigger than any before seen in the small Central American nation, demanding the return of Zelaya. Zelaya returned to Honduras in 2010, but the military-backed regime is still in power.
Today Honduras is facing a severe political, economic and social crisis. The country is one of the most dysfunctional states of Latin America, mired in poverty and ruled with impunity. Ten powerful families own 85% of the country’s wealth while over 65% of Hondurans live in poverty.
A history of military brutality and violence
In 1982 a new constitution ended decades of military dictatorship in Honduras. However, a two-party political system has since entrenched the power of the Liberal Party and the conservative National Party, both of which represent and protect the powerful Honduran oligarchy.
Throughout the 1990s strict neo-liberal economic policies were implemented. The powerful elites have been responsible for extensive exploitation of national resources, while doing almost nothing to reduce the country’s overwhelming poverty. To this day the military continues to have decisive political influence.
Under President Manuel Zelaya (2006-2009), initiatives and proposals for a more just distribution of resources were put forward. Among other reforms, Zelaya pushed to strengthen civilian control over natural resources, increase investment in education and health, legalize abortion and contraceptives, and introduce a more democratic constitution.
His reforms met great opposition from the elites, including from within his own Liberal Party, as well as the National Party, the security forces, the Church and the politicized legal system. Confrontations led to the 2009 coup and Zelaya being forced from the country at gunpoint.
In a massive popular uprising, teachers, farmers, factory workers, students, human rights groups and indigenous movements took to the streets and formed a resilient resistance movement. For months hundred of thousands of Hondurans continued to demand democracy in the face of fierce military brutality.
In November 2010 elections were held, and the leader of the National Party, Porfirio Lobo, won the presidency. Those responsible for the coup still hold powerful positions within the state as the country sinks deeper into debt and economic crisis. Peaceful demonstrators have been repeatedly attacked, and the government has fired striking teachers. Farmers in the northern part of the country have experienced brutal repression, and union leaders are killed every week.
Honduras is increasingly affected by narco-trafficking. Of all the cocaine going from South to North America, 42% passes through Honduras’s Copan region; the corrupt police and military are directly involved.
Poverty increases as the education and health sectors are privatized and basic rights are abused. Honduras is today the most violent country in the world with the highest number of murders per capita. Every day 20 Hondurans are murdered. Less than 20% of homicides are investigated. Since the coup 200 oppositions politicians and 30 journalists have been assassinated.
LIBRE
The coup of 2009 became the basis for a historical resistance movement and the formation of the National Popular Resistance Front(Frente Nacional de Resistencia Popular, FNRP).
The FNRP is supported by many sectors of Honduran society who were previously without political influence. One of the focal points of the resistance movement has been the demand for democratic renewal through a Constituent Assembly.
In 2012 the FNRP formed the political party Freedom and Refoundation (Libertad y Refundación, LIBRE) as a step towards gaining power and bringing about social change.
LIBRE’s political agenda centres on securing political and social rights for farmers and workers and a more just distribution of natural resources.
LIBRE’s presidential candidate Xiomara Castro is currently leading the polls. Castro (born 1959) is a leading figure in the resistance movement, a former member of the Liberal Party, and the wife of Manuel Zelaya.
The November elections carry a hope of change which can put an end to the corrupt two-party political system and give birth to popular influence and democracy.
Learn much more about Honduras, the coup of 2009 and LIBRE here.
Elections in Honduras
Four years after the coup in Honduras, popular resistance against the regime continues. The National Popular Resistance Front (FNRP) is determined to put an end to the corrupt two-party political system in Latin America’s most dysfunctional and violent state.
On November 24th 2013 Hondurans vote in general elections. A newly founded party, Freedom and Refoundation (Libertad y Refundación, LIBRE), which arose from the popular uprising and the FNRP, is leading in the polls. As elections approach the government is doing everything it can to crush all opposition; political repression becomes more brutal by the day. Since the coup more than 200 opposition leaders and 30 journalists have been assassinated. But the civilian resistance and LIBRE maintain their peaceful stance and continue to demand democracy in Honduras.
- Population: 8,448,465
- % of people living in poverty: 65%
- GDP per capita: $4,700
- Maternal mortality: 100/100,000
- Infant mortality: 19.28/1,000
- Life expectancy: 70
- The term banana republic was first used with reference to Honduras. The country is still dependent on the export of bananas and coffee, but exports have been diversified to include textiles, clothing and automobile wire harnessing.
- Nearly half of all Honduras’s economic activities are directly tied to the US. Exports to the US account for 30% of GDP and remittances from the US another 20%.
Annonce
