Research Paper Of The Existence On Repression In Honduras Till These Days

While traveling through Honduras on vacation I took some time apart from the regular beach vacation and went with a local guide through the inner city of Roatan. While driving, I couldn’t help but notice the lack of development. Our tour guide mentioned many interesting facts on why it lacked in development. Some of the contributors, but not all are corruption in the government and economic factors involving agriculture and poverty. The question I had once leaving this country was why repression in Honduras still exists in 2019? What are the details of these contributors? I will explain how repression is a continuous factor in Honduras today due to both political and economic factors including corruption, agriculture, and poverty.

Background/Literature Review

To understand but is causing repression in Honduras, we need to understand what makes a country developed and how development is measured. According to International Studies: Global Forces, Interactions, and Tensions, development is considered by the wealth of a country and the welfare of its people. According to Thomas Leonard in his book The History of Honduras, “Honduras is the second-largest country in Central America and it’s also one of the poorest nations in the western hemisphere with an unequal distribution of wealth”.

The Economy/ Poverty

Honduras is a relatively poor country. With a GNI per capita of US$1,040 in 2004 (World Bank Indicators), it is the fourth poorest country in Central America (but very close to Nicaragua, the poorest country). It has the highest poverty headcount ratio in the region, which has remained fairly constant since 1990. A great divide between rich and poor remains a particular problem. Most Hondurans live in rural areas and make their living through subsistence farming. A small elite of business executives, military officers, and bureaucrats benefit most for Honduras’s economy. The worldwide recession in the early 1980s and the decline in commodity prices were severe blows to the Honduran economy. Businesses fail, unemployment and underemployment together exceeded 50 percent. This data shows the economic level Honduras is as and how the country is divided by socioeconomic class. Most of the people in Honduras live a severely impoverished life and have thus been this way for an extremely long amount of time. Although the employed work day in and day out for what they have, most of the economy belongs to the higher class.

The Agriculture

Some of the Honduran loss in the export of bananas was replaced by coffee, lumber, and increasingly as we come to the present, the growth, processing, and packaging of other tropical fruits such as pineapples and melons, and table vegetables. The new agricultural pursuits also contributed to the expansion or introduction of ancillary industries, including cardboard box making and other containers for shipping. Employment in Honduras is based almost entirely on agriculture and natural resources. In 1961, agriculture employed 70 percent of the labor force but accounted for only 37 percent of GDP. The agriculture in Honduras is a major contributor to the countries employment and economic well being however due to resources running scare and corporations managing the labor force with trade and negotiations, the people of Honduras are being affected and left in poverty mentioned before.

Government/ Corruption

The weak political structure and corruption both in the government and private have taken a heavy toll on Honduras’ development. The military has readily used public funds and services to accumulate private fortunes, particularly during the massive infusions of U. S. military aid in the 1980s. Government resources have been diverted for the personal benefit of members of the business community. From 1982 to 1990, Honduras was a weak but strengthening democracy. There was still a strong military and police presence, and severe human rights violations. However, with the end of the Cold War, Honduras was determined to overcome the Central American crisis. For nearly the next two decades, Honduran electoral democracy would be consolidated, and institutional reforms were carried out in the military, police, judicial system, and the electoral process. While the country was challenged by increasing crime and deep social problems that stemmed from unsatisfied citizen demands, the government offered greater political and ideological diversity. Unfortunately, all of this came to an abrupt end with the June 28, 2009, military coup against President Manuel Zelaya (2006). The coup halted the progress of democracy and knocked the country back into the past. Since the coup corruption has spread throughout the country. Many crimes remain unpunished, and citizens have been unprotected by the failing justice system. The armed forces and police, which maintained direct control of the state until 1980, have renewed their presence. The coup has also polarized Hondurans. It has debilitated the government's bipartisanship and leadership and handicapped a judicial branch that is incapable of resolving human rights violations, increasing police inefficiency, corruption, and impunity, and reaffirming the presence of the military in the most conservative sectors of Honduras. The data and evidence I found on the corruption happening in Honduras lead me to believe this is the countries highest priority problem. I think the root of a country running smoothly is its government and without stability and justice, I don’t think the country of Honduras will ever become developed. Granted there are many other contributors that lead to a countries stability, after researching Honduras and understanding its history I feel this corruption in their country is leading them down a path that will be hard to come out of.

Discussion

According to “Role of Foreign Aid in Development: Costa Rica and Honduras”, the role of foreign aid in this country is mixed. While it managed to improve the lives of thousands of Hondurans, it has made much less progress in facilitating sustained economic growth. Indeed, some critics believe that Honduras has become dependent on foreign aid. Although Honduras has received aid, I believe that the country is so underdeveloped and with the corruption in the government included, any aid they received would be used on other contributors not relating to helping improve the development but for a personal and political gain.

Conclusion

The information found about Honduras gives a more in-depth explanation of the factors that contribute to the countries under development. I’ve found data that dates back to the early 1950s to the most recent of 2017. While driving through the streets of Honduras a person can see the struggle the citizens in that country go through but they are simply doing it to survive. If I were a citizen of Honduras my next step would be figuring out how to make a change in a country that is dictated by the government and how to either find a way to live un-impoverished or finding out how to help stabilize the government.