Poor, poor Honduras! It seems as though just about everything is wrong. There is violence, corruption, and abuse of every sort.
Honduras is a country of tremendous natural resources, very hard working people, excellent agricultural possibilities; some would say the world’s best coffee, surrounded by countries with volcanoes, but none in Honduras, fantastic tourist attractions. And yet, they get very little benefit from it all.
Honduras is known as the murder capital of the world. Gangs have taken over the streets in the two largest cities, Tegucigalpa and San Pedro Sula. The rural areas are not much safer. Businesses, taxis, and many individuals are forced to pay a so-called “war tax” to criminal gangs in order to stay alive. If they refuse, they are shot, in some cases along with their whole families. This “war tax” is often higher than the actual taxes the government charges.
Honduras is, along with Haiti, the poorest country in the Western Hemisphere.
A small corrupt elite seems to control the government and most of the wealth. They are now selling the rights to the best parts of the country to foreigners, who can have “model cities” with their own laws. That way the privileged wealthy will be able to keep their often ill-gotten gains and live in luxury while the rest of the country goes to the dogs. The government has reneged on agreements made by law with many of the public servants, including teachers, doctors and nurses. Many of these go without any salary for months while the members of congress have voted a comfortable increase in salary for themselves as well as an end of the year bonus. Money going to government for other purposes ends up in the pockets of who knows who.
A very religious country? Foreign preachers have come in preaching the so-called “prosperity gospel”. That means if you want health and wealth, particularly wealth, you need to make a pact with God (or the preacher) giving Him a certain amount of money which you can’t afford to give, and in turn He will answer your prayers. (Whatever happened to Isaiah 55:1?) Clever Hondurans have learned from these and have perpetuated the fraud. Poor, sick, often desperate Hondurans seeking an honest way out of their difficulties, easily fall prey to this religious cant, not realizing they are being robbed.
Foreign companies established in Honduras pay little or no taxes and hire people for a miserable wage, which the rest of Hondurans then feel justified in imitating. If the government interferes they will pick up and move to another Central American country. However I imagine somebody’s pockets must have been well lined, as that seems to be the way things work here.
Many homes have no running water and no electricity. Those homes that do have running water, receive it every second day, for two hours at a time, so it needs to be stored in reserve tanks to be used until the next time.
If someone wants to buy or renovate a home in Canada, what does he do? He goes to the bank to get a loan on his home. Here in Honduras, the same principle works, as long, of course, as you have a decent paying job. However instead of paying between 3% and 6% interest as in Canada, the interest here is 20-24% at a low rate. If a Honduran goes to an unofficial lender (loan shark) for the money, he or she is taking a big risk. Because the collectors are armed, and if the person can’t pay he may be killed.
Many of the police are corrupt. Traffic police will accept a “fine” instead of taking your papers, so you can avoid appearing in court. I’ve read of at least two different police chiefs who have been arrested for being at the head of gangs of kidnappers and extortionists.
So, do you wonder why many Hondurans seem to have given up? Why there are teachers’ strikes, road blocks, etc.? Those are the ones who haven’t totally given up. What is amazing, and for which I thank God, is that there has not been a serious armed uprising. El Salvador and Guatemala both had civil wars, but not Honduras.
A soution?
What is the solution for Honduras? From a human standpoint, it’s changed hearts. From a realistic standpoint, only God can change a person’s heart. True conversions are needed from the top down. So that people at the head of government and of wealthy enterprises will repent and begin to act in a different way. So that people who have abused their power will turn around and begin to serve the people they are meant to serve. So that Hondurans will cease putting their faith in fraudulent religious promises, and truly turn to God. So that foreign companies will recognize that Hondurans (as well as people in other third world companies) are helping them to remain in their wealth, and they might actually give something back to the people who work so hard for them. I believe only God can do a work like that in people’s hearts.
Pray for Honduras.
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