Politics of Honduras
Encyclopedia
Politics of Honduras takes place in a framework of a presidential
representative democratic
republic
, whereby the President of Honduras
is both head of state
and head of government
, and of a multi-party system
. Executive power
is exercised by the government. Legislative power is vested in the National Congress of Honduras
. The party system is dominated by the conservative National Party of Honduras
and the liberal Liberal Party of Honduras
.
The Judiciary
is independent of the executive and the legislature.
The 1987 constitution
of Honduras
provides for a fairly strong executive in some ways, but many powers conceded to the executive elsewhere, are designated duties of the unicameral National Congress
. Another branch is the judiciary appointed by the National Congress.
That constitution
delineates mechanisms for amending it, but it also declares eight articles immutable and unalterable and not subject to change, which include a guarantees of a republican form of government, and an explicit prohibition against presidential candidacy of anyone who has been president previously at any time or for any reason.
The constitution
also provides for an independent organ to supervise and implement elections, the Superior Electoral Tribunal. Another organ similarly independent of the three main branches of government a Special Court for Resolution of Conflicts Between Branches of Government.
|Porfirio Lobo Sosa
|National Party
|27 January 2010
|}
The president is both the chief of state and head of government and is elected by popular vote for a four-year term with no possibility of re-election.
(Congreso Nacional) has 128 members (diputados), elected for four year term by proportional representation
; congressional seats are assigned the parties' candidates on a departmental basis in proportion to the number of votes each party receives.
Judicial branch
The judiciary includes a Supreme Court
of Justice - the Supreme Court of Honduras
, courts of appeal, and several courts of original jurisdiction – such as labor, tax, and criminal courts. The judges of the Supreme Court of Justice or Corte Suprema de Justicia, are elected for seven-year terms by the National Congress.
Between 1981 and 1984, there were several forced disappearances carried by the military, as it was proved before the Inter-American Court of Human Rights and on the Report of the National Commissioner for the Protection of Human Rights in Honduras. In 1984, armed-forces chief General Gustavo Alvarez was deposed amid anti-United States demonstrations in the capital, Tegucigalpa; this marked a decrease in counter-revolutionary activity, and the government continued to assist the United States' anti-Sandinista (Nicaragua) activities in return for economic aid.
In 1986, the Liberal Party's Jose Azcona del Hoyo was elected president. Allegations of human rights abuses, and summary executions by police—especially of street gangs—have diminished steadily in recent years up to the present (2009), while political violence has been a constant.
Rafael Callejas became president in 1990 and introduced neo-liberal economic reforms and austerity measures. He is credited with a major push to improve the country's transportation infrastructure. He implemented a policy of requiring cabinet member nominees to first pass appropriate examinations, unique among politicians anywhere.
In 1993, the Liberal Party's Carlos Reina was elected president, promising to reform the judicial system and limit the power of the armed forces. In April 1995 compulsory military service was abolished. The Liberal Party's Carlos Roberto Flores
Facussé was elected in 1997, also promising to restructure the armed forces; in 1999 the armed forces were brought under civilian control.
In 2001, Ricardo Maduro was elected president on a platform that promised to stop the rampant inflation afflicting the nation, and to put a stop to the pandemic suffering of the brutal trademark violence in the streets of street gangs, most notably Salvatrucha-13 and the "Mara 18", and the assassination of his son during the campaign. At the time, the abuse of child-protection laws by gangs recruiting minors, and aggressive recruitment of members often under threat of violence, lent broad popular support for Maduro's enlistment of the armed forces for a greater role in fighting crime during this time, as the police were seen as overwhelmed.
.
Cardinal Maradiaga of Honduras has enjoyed unusual popularity among all sectors of the Honduran people, due to both his criticism of abuses, balanced with a fair perspective to all parties, and champion of the poor.
The increase in gang membership was partly attributable to population movements between Honduras and the United States. During the 1980s, many Central Americans, including some Hondurans, fled to the U.S to avoid the violence of the civil wars and general political strife, and emigration continued for economic reasons after that. Other than civil wars, domestic issues endemic to Central America such as high rates of poverty and un-employment and lack of education make at-risk youth more vulnerable to join gangs. In Honduras, close to 30% of the population is youth ages 15–24.
The children of many of those immigrants found their children forming and joining urban gangs in cities such as Los Angeles. This phenomenon began to have a local impact in Honduras around 1990 because gang members who completed prison sentences were subject to deportation to their home countries for felonies and immigration infractions.
These deportees brought proliferation of the two main gangs in Honduras, the MS-13 and 18th Street gangs. In 2004, the U.S. Department of Homeland Security's Office of Immigration and Enforcement reported that Honduras received 2,345 total criminal deportations. However, it remains unclear whether the majority of these criminals were gang-affiliated or not.
Almost a third of Hondurans feel a sense of insecurity related to crime. The report listed as causes and risk factors, "Lack of opportunities and alternatives for youth and adolescents, family breakdown, mvement of Hondurans to and from the United States, and abuse of drugs and alcohol, and presence of weapons".
Hondurans would note, however, that the "departamento" (political division) with more weapons per person than anywhere else in the nation, Olancho, is the one area without any gang presence at all.
The report adds however, that the "overwhelming attention given to gang violence by the media and the government" is partly responsible for this. The link between the local media and gang violence is important because gang members often compete in carrying out brutal acts to see which crime receives the most coverage. It has been recently contended though that the media tends to exaggerate the gang problem, thus making Hondurans believe their communities less secure than they really are. Such attention is inevitable, just as in other countries such as the United States and Europe, because of the extreme violence that accompanies the crimes perpetrated by these gangs. Another reason for the inevitable attention is that they most affect the lower-income population disproportionately, and almost all areas of public activities were affected.
The murder rate in 1999 was 154 murders per 100,000 population; around 2005 this had fallen to 49 per 100,000. (To put this in context, the death rate from all causes is roughly 1000 per 100,000 population.) Most of the crime in Honduras takes place in the big cities of Tegucigalpa and San Pedro Sula. A survey by Mitch Seligson in 2004 found that 18% of the population thought public security and violence – delinquency, crime, violence, drug trafficking, and gangs – were the most serious problem facing the country.
There is a great feeling of insecurity amongst the population about the chronically poor security situation in Honduras. The major problem is rooted in the gangs, who are called maras in Spanish. These include the Mara Salvatrucha
and the Mara 18. The gangs are rooted in the poverty of Honduras, and in the ready availability of crack cocaine. Honduras has been not only a transit point for cocaine running between Colombia
and the United States, a pattern broken substantially after the arrest and exile of the ex-president Mel Zelaya, but also has an internal market, creating all sorts of inner city urban problems. The gangs sell the crack, commit other crimes, and hire themselves out to the organised drug smugglers. Those engaged in international trafficking are better resourced than the state authorities combating them. Although gang members have been arrested for selling drugs at the street level, it is still unclear how much interaction they have with the larger drug cartels and their operations within Honduras. Not fully understanding this dynamic makes it difficult to discern the type of relationship they have with one another. Some would use this argument to justify increasing US military
aid to Honduras to help fight the organised drug gangs, while others actually claim that Honduras would be better off legalizing drugs, thus avoiding military solutions to Honduran security problems. One of the most recent forms of U.S. aid that addresses the gang problem was the creation of the Central American Regional Security Initiative (CARSI). Originally seen as a part of the U.S.- Mexico Mérida Initiative
, in 2010 the U.S. Congress separated funding for Central America totaling $83 million. Although some of the aid comes in the form of military hardware, there are components which focus on strengthening the receiving country's judicial system.
President Ricardo Maduro
, a former Central Bank of Honduras chairman, decided to stand for President on a security platform after his only son was murdered on 28 April 1999, an event that gained him considerable public support. During his tenure as President of the Central Bank of Honduras, a banking license was given to Banco de Producción. After leaving the Central Bank he became Chairman and majority stockholder of Banco de Producción, and the General Manager of the Central Bank, Ana Cristina Mejia de Pereira, became the General Manager of Banco de la Producción. He came into power in January 2002 with a wave of measures against gangs and delinquency, the most noticeable of which has been soldiers patrolling the streets with the police. Many gang members have been jailed for illicit association. This "Mano Duro" policy (name used to describe Central American leaders taking a hard stance against crime) led to the creation of a penal code in 2003 which made street gangs like MS-13 and M-18 illegal and established jail sentences up to 12 years for proven membership. Violent crime dipped noticeably under Maduro, to the relief of many citizens. Signs of their desperate situation outside prisons included their declaration of war against the government and the aggressive recruitment of younger children, as seen in incidents of arrests of children as young as seven and eight years old. These "mano duro" policies have significant downsides as well. For example, many of the youth are wrongly arrested for membership but are later become recruited to the gangs while in jail. Also, these gang round-ups have led to the overcrowding of the prison system. Regardless of these policy's initial sign of success, gangs learn to adapt and continue to carry out their activities. Some reports say that gang leaders from El Salvador come into Honduras to help stop their decline.
Under President Zelaya's term, the government stated that it would attempt to create dialog with the gang members in order to sway them to renounce their violence and re-integrate into society. However, this program has relied mainly on private groups implementing the actual re-entry programs. Zelaya also created a specialized anti-gang unit within the police force which he used to coordinate patrols with the Honduran military. Although these patrols led to the arrests of 1,200 gang members, the rate of violence in Honduras has yet to subside.
Their desperation resulted in a "declaration of war" against the government, and three major events over the last few years brought this tiny country to the attention of the world media
: a massacre of 68 prisoners in the farm prison just outside of La Ceiba
on 5 March 2003, a fire in the prison at San Pedro Sula
that killed 107 prisoners on 18 May 2004, and the massacre of 27 innocent men, women and children in San Pedro Sula, on 23 December 2004.
The massacre in the San Pedro Sula suburb of Chamelecón
left 27 dead and 29 injured. The murderers left behind a message, claiming to come from the Cinchoneros, and railing against Maduro, Lobo, Álvarez and the death penalty. The Cinchoneros are believed to be defunct, however. The attackers promised to commit another massacre before the new year. Fortunately, one suspected assassin was detained very shortly afterwards in another part of San Pedro Sula, and further arrests have since been made. It was later revealed by the local police that the gunmen were members of the street gang Mara Salvatrucha
, and the supposed mastermind of the attack, Ebner Anibal Rivera-Paz, was later arrested in Falfurrias,Texas.
After Maduro left office. their resurgence was felt and their presence continued, although less than before, but now using the cover of anti-government demonstrations for their activities.
was abolished in 1956, and the last person was executed in 1940, but several candidates for the 2005 presidential election
s were in favour of restoring it. Pepe Lobo
had promised that if elected President but unable to get a majority in Congress to pass the death penalty he would hold a referendum
on the subject.
, José Azcona del Hoyo
, Carlos Roberto Reina
, Carlos Roberto Flores
and Manuel Zelaya
, and two Nationalists: Rafael Leonardo Callejas Romero
and Ricardo Maduro
.
The elections have been full of controversies, including questions about whether Azcona was born in Honduras or Spain, and whether Maduro should have been able to stand given he was born in Panama
.
On February 20, 2005 the PNH and the PLH held their internal party elections (primaries) to decide who would represent these two parties in the forthcoming presidential elections in November. Porfirio Pepe Lobo
became the PNH candidate. Manuel Zelaya
became the Liberal Party candidate. Forty-five percent of the electorate voted in the primaries: 24% for the Liberals and 21% for the National Party. According to the Country Report quoted in the U.C. San Diego Library Latin American election results, "The low participation rate in the primaries . . . is a reflection of the lack of public faith in Honduras's political institutions and leaders."
A Presidential and general election was held on November 27, 2005. Manuel Zelaya
of the Liberal Party of Honduras
(Partido Liberal de Honduras: PLH) won, with Porfirio Pepe Lobo
of the National Party of Honduras
(Partido Nacional de Honduras: PNH) coming in second. Voter turnout was 55% of the 3.9 million eligible. The PNH challenged the election results, and Lobo Sosa did not concede until December 7. Towards the end of December the government finally released the total ballot count, giving Zelaya the official victory. Zelaya was inaugurated as Honduras' new president on January 27, 2006.
The reforms were opposed by President Manuel Zelaya, who indicated that he would veto them, citing constitutional objections.
The reforms would move the date of the presidential primaries ahead from February 2009 to November 2008, change the location of vote-counting from a central one to the individual municipalities, and radically increase public funding of political parties, from about US$ 3.2 million every election cycle to about US$ 52 million every election cycle.
There was further controversy when he refused to submit the government budget for Congressional approval.
In April and May 2009 Zelaya made clear pronouncements of his intention to organize a non binding poll on holding a referendum about convening a constituent assembly
to rewrite the constitution
.
The Honduran Supreme Court had upheld a lower court injunction against the 28 June poll, and on 26 June – while Zelaya ignored the injunction – it issued a secret order for his detention.
On June 28 Honduran soldiers
entered the presidential palace and arrested Zelaya, preempting the poll. They put him on a military airplane which flew him to Costa Rica.
Subsequently on June 28, the Honduran Congress, in an extraordinary session, voted to remove Zelaya from office and appoint his constitutional successor, Speaker of Congress Roberto Micheletti
, in his place as interim President for a term that ends on 27 January 2010.
International reaction was universally negative with widespread condemnation of the events as a coup d'état
. Nearly no foreign government had recognized Micheletti as president.
(COHEP); National Association of Honduran Campesinos or ANACH; National Union of Campesinos or UNC; United Federation of Honduran Workers or FUTH
Presidential system
A presidential system is a system of government where an executive branch exists and presides separately from the legislature, to which it is not responsible and which cannot, in normal circumstances, dismiss it....
representative democratic
Representative democracy
Representative democracy is a form of government founded on the principle of elected individuals representing the people, as opposed to autocracy and direct democracy...
republic
Republic
A republic is a form of government in which the people, or some significant portion of them, have supreme control over the government and where offices of state are elected or chosen by elected people. In modern times, a common simplified definition of a republic is a government where the head of...
, whereby the President of Honduras
President of Honduras
This page lists the Presidents of Honduras.Colonial Honduras declared its independence from Spain on 15 September 1821. From 5 January 1822 to 1 July 1823, Honduras was part of the First Mexican Empire of Agustín de Iturbide....
is both head of state
Head of State
A head of state is the individual that serves as the chief public representative of a monarchy, republic, federation, commonwealth or other kind of state. His or her role generally includes legitimizing the state and exercising the political powers, functions, and duties granted to the head of...
and head of government
Head of government
Head of government is the chief officer of the executive branch of a government, often presiding over a cabinet. In a parliamentary system, the head of government is often styled prime minister, chief minister, premier, etc...
, and of a multi-party system
Multi-party system
A multi-party system is a system in which multiple political parties have the capacity to gain control of government separately or in coalition, e.g.The Conservative-Liberal Democrat coalition in the United Kingdom formed in 2010. The effective number of parties in a multi-party system is normally...
. Executive power
Executive Power
Executive Power is Vince Flynn's fifth novel, and the fourth to feature Mitch Rapp, an American agent that works for the CIA as an operative for a covert counter terrorism unit called the "Orion Team."-Plot summary:...
is exercised by the government. Legislative power is vested in the National Congress of Honduras
National Congress of Honduras
The National Congress is the legislative branch of the government of Honduras.The Honduran Congress is a unicameral legislature. The current President of the National Congress of Honduras is Juan Orlando Hernández. Its members are 128 deputies, who are elected on a proportional representation...
. The party system is dominated by the conservative National Party of Honduras
National Party of Honduras
The National Party is a centre-right conservative political party in Honduras and the main right-wing political party in the country. Founded in 1902 the PNH is identified with the color blue as its rival the Liberal Party of Honduras , is red. All the democratic elections in Honduras have been...
and the liberal Liberal Party of Honduras
Liberal Party of Honduras
The Liberal Party of Honduras is a centre-left liberal political party in Honduras that was founded in 1891. The party is a member of the Liberal International...
.
The Judiciary
Judiciary
The judiciary is the system of courts that interprets and applies the law in the name of the state. The judiciary also provides a mechanism for the resolution of disputes...
is independent of the executive and the legislature.
The 1987 constitution
Constitution
A constitution is a set of fundamental principles or established precedents according to which a state or other organization is governed. These rules together make up, i.e. constitute, what the entity is...
of Honduras
Honduras
Honduras is a republic in Central America. It was previously known as Spanish Honduras to differentiate it from British Honduras, which became the modern-day state of Belize...
provides for a fairly strong executive in some ways, but many powers conceded to the executive elsewhere, are designated duties of the unicameral National Congress
National Congress of Honduras
The National Congress is the legislative branch of the government of Honduras.The Honduran Congress is a unicameral legislature. The current President of the National Congress of Honduras is Juan Orlando Hernández. Its members are 128 deputies, who are elected on a proportional representation...
. Another branch is the judiciary appointed by the National Congress.
That constitution
Constitution
A constitution is a set of fundamental principles or established precedents according to which a state or other organization is governed. These rules together make up, i.e. constitute, what the entity is...
delineates mechanisms for amending it, but it also declares eight articles immutable and unalterable and not subject to change, which include a guarantees of a republican form of government, and an explicit prohibition against presidential candidacy of anyone who has been president previously at any time or for any reason.
The constitution
Constitution
A constitution is a set of fundamental principles or established precedents according to which a state or other organization is governed. These rules together make up, i.e. constitute, what the entity is...
also provides for an independent organ to supervise and implement elections, the Superior Electoral Tribunal. Another organ similarly independent of the three main branches of government a Special Court for Resolution of Conflicts Between Branches of Government.
Executive branch
|PresidentPresident of Honduras
This page lists the Presidents of Honduras.Colonial Honduras declared its independence from Spain on 15 September 1821. From 5 January 1822 to 1 July 1823, Honduras was part of the First Mexican Empire of Agustín de Iturbide....
|Porfirio Lobo Sosa
|National Party
National Party of Honduras
The National Party is a centre-right conservative political party in Honduras and the main right-wing political party in the country. Founded in 1902 the PNH is identified with the color blue as its rival the Liberal Party of Honduras , is red. All the democratic elections in Honduras have been...
|27 January 2010
|}
The president is both the chief of state and head of government and is elected by popular vote for a four-year term with no possibility of re-election.
Legislative branch
The National Congress of HondurasNational Congress of Honduras
The National Congress is the legislative branch of the government of Honduras.The Honduran Congress is a unicameral legislature. The current President of the National Congress of Honduras is Juan Orlando Hernández. Its members are 128 deputies, who are elected on a proportional representation...
(Congreso Nacional) has 128 members (diputados), elected for four year term by proportional representation
Proportional representation
Proportional representation is a concept in voting systems used to elect an assembly or council. PR means that the number of seats won by a party or group of candidates is proportionate to the number of votes received. For example, under a PR voting system if 30% of voters support a particular...
; congressional seats are assigned the parties' candidates on a departmental basis in proportion to the number of votes each party receives.
Judicial branch
The judiciary includes a Supreme Court
Supreme court
A supreme court is the highest court within the hierarchy of many legal jurisdictions. Other descriptions for such courts include court of last resort, instance court, judgment court, high court, or apex court...
of Justice - the Supreme Court of Honduras
Supreme Court of Honduras
The Supreme Court of Honduras is the Supreme Court and Constitutional Court of Honduras. The Supreme Court is the highest judicial authority in Honduras.- Structure, power, and duties :...
, courts of appeal, and several courts of original jurisdiction – such as labor, tax, and criminal courts. The judges of the Supreme Court of Justice or Corte Suprema de Justicia, are elected for seven-year terms by the National Congress.
Administrative divisions
For administrative purposes, Honduras is divided into 18 departments, with departmental and municipal officials selected for four-year terms.Political Parties
Honduras has five registered political parties:- Liberal Party of HondurasLiberal Party of HondurasThe Liberal Party of Honduras is a centre-left liberal political party in Honduras that was founded in 1891. The party is a member of the Liberal International...
(Partido Liberal de Honduras—PLH), founded 1891. - National Party of HondurasNational Party of HondurasThe National Party is a centre-right conservative political party in Honduras and the main right-wing political party in the country. Founded in 1902 the PNH is identified with the color blue as its rival the Liberal Party of Honduras , is red. All the democratic elections in Honduras have been...
(Partido Nacional de Honduras—PNH), founded 1918. Dominated Honduran politics from 1933-1957. - Democratic Unification PartyDemocratic Unification PartyThe Democratic Unification Party is a left-wing political party in Honduras. PUD was founded on 29 September 1992 by the merger of four leftist clandestine or semiclandestine political parties, in the context of the changed political situation in Central America at that period, following the end...
(Partido Unificación Democrática—UD or PUD), founded in 1992 at the end of the Cold warCold WarThe Cold War was the continuing state from roughly 1946 to 1991 of political conflict, military tension, proxy wars, and economic competition between the Communist World—primarily the Soviet Union and its satellite states and allies—and the powers of the Western world, primarily the United States...
when formerly clandestine leftist political parties were permitted to function openly. Four merged to form the PUD. - Christian Democratic Party of HondurasChristian Democratic Party of HondurasThe Christian Democratic Party of Honduras , known by the abbreviation DC, is a centre-left political party in Honduras....
(Partido Demócrata-Christiano—DC), founded 1968. - Innovation and Unity PartyInnovation and Unity PartyInnovation and Unity Party is a centre-left political party in Honduras, established in 1970. PINU was created by Miguel Andonie Fernández as a democratic, moderate left-wing alternative to the two major parties and the military régime.-2001 elections:...
(Partido Innovación Nacional y Social Demócrata—PINU-SD), moderate leftist, social democratic, founded 1970.
History
Since about 1920 Honduras has had essentially a two-party system, with the Liberal Party and the National Party dominating electoral politics. The early 1980s were a relatively peaceful period compared to other countries in Central America that were buffeted by left-wing guerrillas, despite effors by the left. The Honduran government provided bases for U.S. backed counter-revolutionary armies operating in Nicaragua.Between 1981 and 1984, there were several forced disappearances carried by the military, as it was proved before the Inter-American Court of Human Rights and on the Report of the National Commissioner for the Protection of Human Rights in Honduras. In 1984, armed-forces chief General Gustavo Alvarez was deposed amid anti-United States demonstrations in the capital, Tegucigalpa; this marked a decrease in counter-revolutionary activity, and the government continued to assist the United States' anti-Sandinista (Nicaragua) activities in return for economic aid.
In 1986, the Liberal Party's Jose Azcona del Hoyo was elected president. Allegations of human rights abuses, and summary executions by police—especially of street gangs—have diminished steadily in recent years up to the present (2009), while political violence has been a constant.
Rafael Callejas became president in 1990 and introduced neo-liberal economic reforms and austerity measures. He is credited with a major push to improve the country's transportation infrastructure. He implemented a policy of requiring cabinet member nominees to first pass appropriate examinations, unique among politicians anywhere.
In 1993, the Liberal Party's Carlos Reina was elected president, promising to reform the judicial system and limit the power of the armed forces. In April 1995 compulsory military service was abolished. The Liberal Party's Carlos Roberto Flores
Carlos Roberto Flores
Carlos Roberto Flores Facussé was President of Honduras from 27 January 1998 to 27 January 2002 and President of the National Congress from 25 January 1994 to 25 January 1998.- Biography :...
Facussé was elected in 1997, also promising to restructure the armed forces; in 1999 the armed forces were brought under civilian control.
In 2001, Ricardo Maduro was elected president on a platform that promised to stop the rampant inflation afflicting the nation, and to put a stop to the pandemic suffering of the brutal trademark violence in the streets of street gangs, most notably Salvatrucha-13 and the "Mara 18", and the assassination of his son during the campaign. At the time, the abuse of child-protection laws by gangs recruiting minors, and aggressive recruitment of members often under threat of violence, lent broad popular support for Maduro's enlistment of the armed forces for a greater role in fighting crime during this time, as the police were seen as overwhelmed.
.
Cardinal Maradiaga of Honduras has enjoyed unusual popularity among all sectors of the Honduran people, due to both his criticism of abuses, balanced with a fair perspective to all parties, and champion of the poor.
Gang violence
One of the major political issues in Honduras since about 1990 has been how to deal with the high level of violent crime associated with the maras (Spanish for gangs, predominantly of young people), and drug trafficking organizations involved in the transport of cocaine from South America to the United States. Although gangs existed in Tegucigalpa in the 1980s, the gang phenomenon exploded around 1990. The range of criminal activities that street gangs carry out is broad, varying between kidnapping and human trafficking to drug, auto and weapons smuggling, as well as domestic extortion. A recent estimate composed by the U.S. FBI and their local counterparts in Central America placed the total number of gang members in Honduras at 36,000.The increase in gang membership was partly attributable to population movements between Honduras and the United States. During the 1980s, many Central Americans, including some Hondurans, fled to the U.S to avoid the violence of the civil wars and general political strife, and emigration continued for economic reasons after that. Other than civil wars, domestic issues endemic to Central America such as high rates of poverty and un-employment and lack of education make at-risk youth more vulnerable to join gangs. In Honduras, close to 30% of the population is youth ages 15–24.
The children of many of those immigrants found their children forming and joining urban gangs in cities such as Los Angeles. This phenomenon began to have a local impact in Honduras around 1990 because gang members who completed prison sentences were subject to deportation to their home countries for felonies and immigration infractions.
These deportees brought proliferation of the two main gangs in Honduras, the MS-13 and 18th Street gangs. In 2004, the U.S. Department of Homeland Security's Office of Immigration and Enforcement reported that Honduras received 2,345 total criminal deportations. However, it remains unclear whether the majority of these criminals were gang-affiliated or not.
Almost a third of Hondurans feel a sense of insecurity related to crime. The report listed as causes and risk factors, "Lack of opportunities and alternatives for youth and adolescents, family breakdown, mvement of Hondurans to and from the United States, and abuse of drugs and alcohol, and presence of weapons".
Hondurans would note, however, that the "departamento" (political division) with more weapons per person than anywhere else in the nation, Olancho, is the one area without any gang presence at all.
The report adds however, that the "overwhelming attention given to gang violence by the media and the government" is partly responsible for this. The link between the local media and gang violence is important because gang members often compete in carrying out brutal acts to see which crime receives the most coverage. It has been recently contended though that the media tends to exaggerate the gang problem, thus making Hondurans believe their communities less secure than they really are. Such attention is inevitable, just as in other countries such as the United States and Europe, because of the extreme violence that accompanies the crimes perpetrated by these gangs. Another reason for the inevitable attention is that they most affect the lower-income population disproportionately, and almost all areas of public activities were affected.
The murder rate in 1999 was 154 murders per 100,000 population; around 2005 this had fallen to 49 per 100,000. (To put this in context, the death rate from all causes is roughly 1000 per 100,000 population.) Most of the crime in Honduras takes place in the big cities of Tegucigalpa and San Pedro Sula. A survey by Mitch Seligson in 2004 found that 18% of the population thought public security and violence – delinquency, crime, violence, drug trafficking, and gangs – were the most serious problem facing the country.
There is a great feeling of insecurity amongst the population about the chronically poor security situation in Honduras. The major problem is rooted in the gangs, who are called maras in Spanish. These include the Mara Salvatrucha
Mara Salvatrucha
Mara Salvatrucha is a transnational criminal gang that originated in Los Angeles and has spread to other parts of the United States, Canada, Mexico, and Central America. The majority of the gang is ethnically composed of Central Americans and active in urban and suburban areas...
and the Mara 18. The gangs are rooted in the poverty of Honduras, and in the ready availability of crack cocaine. Honduras has been not only a transit point for cocaine running between Colombia
Colombia
Colombia, officially the Republic of Colombia , is a unitary constitutional republic comprising thirty-two departments. The country is located in northwestern South America, bordered to the east by Venezuela and Brazil; to the south by Ecuador and Peru; to the north by the Caribbean Sea; to the...
and the United States, a pattern broken substantially after the arrest and exile of the ex-president Mel Zelaya, but also has an internal market, creating all sorts of inner city urban problems. The gangs sell the crack, commit other crimes, and hire themselves out to the organised drug smugglers. Those engaged in international trafficking are better resourced than the state authorities combating them. Although gang members have been arrested for selling drugs at the street level, it is still unclear how much interaction they have with the larger drug cartels and their operations within Honduras. Not fully understanding this dynamic makes it difficult to discern the type of relationship they have with one another. Some would use this argument to justify increasing US military
Military
A military is an organization authorized by its greater society to use lethal force, usually including use of weapons, in defending its country by combating actual or perceived threats. The military may have additional functions of use to its greater society, such as advancing a political agenda e.g...
aid to Honduras to help fight the organised drug gangs, while others actually claim that Honduras would be better off legalizing drugs, thus avoiding military solutions to Honduran security problems. One of the most recent forms of U.S. aid that addresses the gang problem was the creation of the Central American Regional Security Initiative (CARSI). Originally seen as a part of the U.S.- Mexico Mérida Initiative
Mérida Initiative
The Mérida Initiative is a security cooperation agreement between the United States and the government of Mexico and the countries of Central America, with the declared aim of combating the threats of drug trafficking, transnational organized crime and money laundering...
, in 2010 the U.S. Congress separated funding for Central America totaling $83 million. Although some of the aid comes in the form of military hardware, there are components which focus on strengthening the receiving country's judicial system.
President Ricardo Maduro
Ricardo Maduro
Ricardo Rodolfo Maduro Joest is a former President of Honduras and Bank of Honduras chairman. Maduro graduated from The Lawrenceville School and later Stanford University...
, a former Central Bank of Honduras chairman, decided to stand for President on a security platform after his only son was murdered on 28 April 1999, an event that gained him considerable public support. During his tenure as President of the Central Bank of Honduras, a banking license was given to Banco de Producción. After leaving the Central Bank he became Chairman and majority stockholder of Banco de Producción, and the General Manager of the Central Bank, Ana Cristina Mejia de Pereira, became the General Manager of Banco de la Producción. He came into power in January 2002 with a wave of measures against gangs and delinquency, the most noticeable of which has been soldiers patrolling the streets with the police. Many gang members have been jailed for illicit association. This "Mano Duro" policy (name used to describe Central American leaders taking a hard stance against crime) led to the creation of a penal code in 2003 which made street gangs like MS-13 and M-18 illegal and established jail sentences up to 12 years for proven membership. Violent crime dipped noticeably under Maduro, to the relief of many citizens. Signs of their desperate situation outside prisons included their declaration of war against the government and the aggressive recruitment of younger children, as seen in incidents of arrests of children as young as seven and eight years old. These "mano duro" policies have significant downsides as well. For example, many of the youth are wrongly arrested for membership but are later become recruited to the gangs while in jail. Also, these gang round-ups have led to the overcrowding of the prison system. Regardless of these policy's initial sign of success, gangs learn to adapt and continue to carry out their activities. Some reports say that gang leaders from El Salvador come into Honduras to help stop their decline.
Under President Zelaya's term, the government stated that it would attempt to create dialog with the gang members in order to sway them to renounce their violence and re-integrate into society. However, this program has relied mainly on private groups implementing the actual re-entry programs. Zelaya also created a specialized anti-gang unit within the police force which he used to coordinate patrols with the Honduran military. Although these patrols led to the arrests of 1,200 gang members, the rate of violence in Honduras has yet to subside.
Their desperation resulted in a "declaration of war" against the government, and three major events over the last few years brought this tiny country to the attention of the world media
News media
The news media are those elements of the mass media that focus on delivering news to the general public or a target public.These include print media , broadcast news , and more recently the Internet .-Etymology:A medium is a carrier of something...
: a massacre of 68 prisoners in the farm prison just outside of La Ceiba
La Ceiba
La Ceiba is a port city on the northern coast of Honduras in Central America. It is located on the southern edge of the Caribbean, forming part of the south eastern boundary of the Gulf of Honduras...
on 5 March 2003, a fire in the prison at San Pedro Sula
San Pedro Sula
San Pedro Sula is a city in Honduras. It is located in the northwest corner of the country, in the Valle de Sula , about 60 km south of Puerto Cortés on the Caribbean. With an estimated population of 638,259 people in the main municipality, and 802,598 in its metro area , it is the second...
that killed 107 prisoners on 18 May 2004, and the massacre of 27 innocent men, women and children in San Pedro Sula, on 23 December 2004.
The massacre in the San Pedro Sula suburb of Chamelecón
Chamelecón
Chamelecón is a suburb of San Pedro Sula in Honduras.It came to world attention on 23 December 2004 when 28 people were murdered and another 28 injured while returning from the centre of San Pedro Sula by the MS-13 gang opposed to the restoration of the death penalty in Honduras. Many of the...
left 27 dead and 29 injured. The murderers left behind a message, claiming to come from the Cinchoneros, and railing against Maduro, Lobo, Álvarez and the death penalty. The Cinchoneros are believed to be defunct, however. The attackers promised to commit another massacre before the new year. Fortunately, one suspected assassin was detained very shortly afterwards in another part of San Pedro Sula, and further arrests have since been made. It was later revealed by the local police that the gunmen were members of the street gang Mara Salvatrucha
Mara Salvatrucha
Mara Salvatrucha is a transnational criminal gang that originated in Los Angeles and has spread to other parts of the United States, Canada, Mexico, and Central America. The majority of the gang is ethnically composed of Central Americans and active in urban and suburban areas...
, and the supposed mastermind of the attack, Ebner Anibal Rivera-Paz, was later arrested in Falfurrias,Texas.
After Maduro left office. their resurgence was felt and their presence continued, although less than before, but now using the cover of anti-government demonstrations for their activities.
Death penalty
The death penaltyCapital punishment
Capital punishment, the death penalty, or execution is the sentence of death upon a person by the state as a punishment for an offence. Crimes that can result in a death penalty are known as capital crimes or capital offences. The term capital originates from the Latin capitalis, literally...
was abolished in 1956, and the last person was executed in 1940, but several candidates for the 2005 presidential election
Election
An election is a formal decision-making process by which a population chooses an individual to hold public office. Elections have been the usual mechanism by which modern representative democracy operates since the 17th century. Elections may fill offices in the legislature, sometimes in the...
s were in favour of restoring it. Pepe Lobo
Porfirio Pepe Lobo
Porfirio Lobo Sosa , known as Pepe Lobo, is the President of Honduras, a politician and agricultural landowner. A member of the National Party and a former deputy in the National Congress of Honduras from 1990, he was President of the National Congress of Honduras from 2002 to 2006...
had promised that if elected President but unable to get a majority in Congress to pass the death penalty he would hold a referendum
Referendum
A referendum is a direct vote in which an entire electorate is asked to either accept or reject a particular proposal. This may result in the adoption of a new constitution, a constitutional amendment, a law, the recall of an elected official or simply a specific government policy. It is a form of...
on the subject.
Elections
The PNH and PLH have ruled the country for decades. In the last years, Honduras has had five Liberal presidents: Roberto Suazo CórdovaRoberto Suazo Córdova
Roberto Suazo Córdova is a former President of Honduras.-Biography:In 1949, he graduated as a doctor from the University of San Carlos of Guatemala. After his graduation, Suazo practiced his profession in the general hospital of Guatemala City...
, José Azcona del Hoyo
José Azcona del Hoyo
José Simón Azcona del Hoyo was President of Honduras from 27 January 1986 to 27 January 1990 for the Liberal Party of Honduras . He was born in La Ceiba in Honduras.-Career:...
, Carlos Roberto Reina
Carlos Roberto Reina
Carlos Roberto Reina Idiáquez was a politician of the Liberal Party of Honduras, and President of Honduras from January 27, 1994 to January 27, 1998....
, Carlos Roberto Flores
Carlos Roberto Flores
Carlos Roberto Flores Facussé was President of Honduras from 27 January 1998 to 27 January 2002 and President of the National Congress from 25 January 1994 to 25 January 1998.- Biography :...
and Manuel Zelaya
Manuel Zelaya
José Manuel Zelaya Rosales is a politician who was President of Honduras from January 27, 2006 until June 28, 2009. The eldest son of a wealthy businessman, he inherited his father's nickname "Mel," and, before entering politics, was involved in his family's logging and timber businesses.Elected...
, and two Nationalists: Rafael Leonardo Callejas Romero
Rafael Leonardo Callejas Romero
Rafael Leonardo Callejas Romero was born on 14 November 1943 in Tegucigalpa in Honduras, and was the President of Honduras from 27 January 1990 to 27 January 1994, representing the National Party of Honduras .-Career:...
and Ricardo Maduro
Ricardo Maduro
Ricardo Rodolfo Maduro Joest is a former President of Honduras and Bank of Honduras chairman. Maduro graduated from The Lawrenceville School and later Stanford University...
.
The elections have been full of controversies, including questions about whether Azcona was born in Honduras or Spain, and whether Maduro should have been able to stand given he was born in Panama
Panama
Panama , officially the Republic of Panama , is the southernmost country of Central America. Situated on the isthmus connecting North and South America, it is bordered by Costa Rica to the northwest, Colombia to the southeast, the Caribbean Sea to the north and the Pacific Ocean to the south. The...
.
On February 20, 2005 the PNH and the PLH held their internal party elections (primaries) to decide who would represent these two parties in the forthcoming presidential elections in November. Porfirio Pepe Lobo
Porfirio Pepe Lobo
Porfirio Lobo Sosa , known as Pepe Lobo, is the President of Honduras, a politician and agricultural landowner. A member of the National Party and a former deputy in the National Congress of Honduras from 1990, he was President of the National Congress of Honduras from 2002 to 2006...
became the PNH candidate. Manuel Zelaya
Manuel Zelaya
José Manuel Zelaya Rosales is a politician who was President of Honduras from January 27, 2006 until June 28, 2009. The eldest son of a wealthy businessman, he inherited his father's nickname "Mel," and, before entering politics, was involved in his family's logging and timber businesses.Elected...
became the Liberal Party candidate. Forty-five percent of the electorate voted in the primaries: 24% for the Liberals and 21% for the National Party. According to the Country Report quoted in the U.C. San Diego Library Latin American election results, "The low participation rate in the primaries . . . is a reflection of the lack of public faith in Honduras's political institutions and leaders."
A Presidential and general election was held on November 27, 2005. Manuel Zelaya
Manuel Zelaya
José Manuel Zelaya Rosales is a politician who was President of Honduras from January 27, 2006 until June 28, 2009. The eldest son of a wealthy businessman, he inherited his father's nickname "Mel," and, before entering politics, was involved in his family's logging and timber businesses.Elected...
of the Liberal Party of Honduras
Liberal Party of Honduras
The Liberal Party of Honduras is a centre-left liberal political party in Honduras that was founded in 1891. The party is a member of the Liberal International...
(Partido Liberal de Honduras: PLH) won, with Porfirio Pepe Lobo
Porfirio Pepe Lobo
Porfirio Lobo Sosa , known as Pepe Lobo, is the President of Honduras, a politician and agricultural landowner. A member of the National Party and a former deputy in the National Congress of Honduras from 1990, he was President of the National Congress of Honduras from 2002 to 2006...
of the National Party of Honduras
National Party of Honduras
The National Party is a centre-right conservative political party in Honduras and the main right-wing political party in the country. Founded in 1902 the PNH is identified with the color blue as its rival the Liberal Party of Honduras , is red. All the democratic elections in Honduras have been...
(Partido Nacional de Honduras: PNH) coming in second. Voter turnout was 55% of the 3.9 million eligible. The PNH challenged the election results, and Lobo Sosa did not concede until December 7. Towards the end of December the government finally released the total ballot count, giving Zelaya the official victory. Zelaya was inaugurated as Honduras' new president on January 27, 2006.
Zelaya presidency
On 20 December 2007, the National Congress, at the urging of the leaders of both of the dominant parties, passed a set of electoral reforms.The reforms were opposed by President Manuel Zelaya, who indicated that he would veto them, citing constitutional objections.
The reforms would move the date of the presidential primaries ahead from February 2009 to November 2008, change the location of vote-counting from a central one to the individual municipalities, and radically increase public funding of political parties, from about US$ 3.2 million every election cycle to about US$ 52 million every election cycle.
Ouster of President Zelaya on June 28, 2009
The President Manuel Zelaya, in 2008, initiated controversy in Honduras with the country's affiliation with the Bolivarian Alliance for the Americas ALBA.There was further controversy when he refused to submit the government budget for Congressional approval.
In April and May 2009 Zelaya made clear pronouncements of his intention to organize a non binding poll on holding a referendum about convening a constituent assembly
Constituent assembly
A constituent assembly is a body composed for the purpose of drafting or adopting a constitution...
to rewrite the constitution
Constitution of Honduras
The Political Constitution of the Republic of Honduras was approved on 11 January 1982, published on 20 January 1982, amended by the National Congress of Honduras 26 times from 1984 to 2005, and 10 interpretations by Congress were made from 1982 to 2005. It is Honduras' twelfth constitution since...
.
The Honduran Supreme Court had upheld a lower court injunction against the 28 June poll, and on 26 June – while Zelaya ignored the injunction – it issued a secret order for his detention.
On June 28 Honduran soldiers
Military of Honduras
-pre-1979:During the twentieth century, Honduran military leaders frequently became presidents, either through elections or by coups d'état. General Tiburcio Carías Andino was elected in 1932, he later on called a constituent assembly that allowed him to be reelected, and his rule became more...
entered the presidential palace and arrested Zelaya, preempting the poll. They put him on a military airplane which flew him to Costa Rica.
Subsequently on June 28, the Honduran Congress, in an extraordinary session, voted to remove Zelaya from office and appoint his constitutional successor, Speaker of Congress Roberto Micheletti
Roberto Micheletti
Roberto Micheletti Baín is a former de facto president of Honduras who served as a result of the 2009 coup d'état. The Honduran military was ordered by the Supreme Court to forcefully detain President Manuel Zelaya once the Court stated he was violating the Honduran constitution; Zelaya was exiled...
, in his place as interim President for a term that ends on 27 January 2010.
International reaction was universally negative with widespread condemnation of the events as a coup d'état
Coup d'état
A coup d'état state, literally: strike/blow of state)—also known as a coup, putsch, and overthrow—is the sudden, extrajudicial deposition of a government, usually by a small group of the existing state establishment—typically the military—to replace the deposed government with another body; either...
. Nearly no foreign government had recognized Micheletti as president.
Political pressure groups
Some of the main political pressure groups are the Committee for the Defense of Human Rights in Honduras or CODEH; Confederation of Honduran Workers or CTH; Coordinating Committee of Popular Organizations or CCOP; General Workers Confederation or CGT; Honduran Council of Private EnterpriseHonduran Council of Private Enterprise
The Honduran Council of Private Enterprise is a business trade organization in Honduras. COHEP is the largest such trade organization in the country, and is one of the three private organizations in Honduras proposes candidates for the Supreme Court of Honduras...
(COHEP); National Association of Honduran Campesinos or ANACH; National Union of Campesinos or UNC; United Federation of Honduran Workers or FUTH
Guerrilla groups
- The Revolutionary Popular Forces Lorenzo ZelayaRevolutionary Popular Forces Lorenzo ZelayaFuerzas Populares Revolucionarias Lorenzo Zelaya , was a clandestine politico-military movement in Honduras. FPRLZ was formed in 1980 by dissidents of PCMLH...
was in resistance to the government, and is now defunct. - The CinchonerosCinchonerosThe Chichoneros, also known as the Popular Liberation Movement was a militant organization active in the 1980s in Honduras...
were a leftist guerrilla group active in the 1980s, targeting foreign and corporate interests in the country, but are now defunct.