Honduras: A Country in Crisis

Honduras: A country in Crisis
Clara D

One of your members said they would be looking forward to my experiences. They want a real perspective on Honduras. The member is a Conservative. I hold no judgement about his politics and believe he wants to know what the truth is.
I moved to Honduras in 1998. When I moved there, it was a sleepy little country and I couldn’t imagine living anywhere else. My youngest child had been born there in 1996, I was on vacation, he decided he was coming then. When I went in 1998, he was both a US citizen and a Honduran citizen. However, I felt that my small neighborhood and the community was a good place to raise him. I wanted him to learn and have family around him. I never could have envisioned how things would spiral out of control years later. Hurricane Mitch had taken its toll on the country and Honduras rebuilt after that. It seemed that people had come out better than before. Malls popped up, fast food restaurants, paved streets, grocery stores and internet service. I was pleased.
It was around this time in 1996 that Clinton and Newt Gingrich made a contract and decided to deport anyone with a criminal record….and they made it retroactive. This in itself was not a problem….problem was they started deporting violent gang members without telling the Central American governments who these gang members were. They did not want to tell, they feared that these governments would reject the deported gang member. So these gang members were allowed to proliferate in Honduras, El Salvador, Guatemala and Nicaragua. These gangs then formed an international organization, they essentially were empowered by what we did. In Central America, they formed alliances with the governments, police and military. They made backroom deals to give percentages of their ‘bounty’ in exchange for police and the government being ‘caso omiso’ or essentially ignoring their crimes.
Immediately, the danger wasn’t sensed, it takes time for them to establish.
(sorry my liberal friends you might not like what I am going to say next, but truth doesn’t know politics, it is what I lived)
In 2008 and 2009 things started to spiral out of control. Manuel Zelaya Rosales was president. He was infamous for the massacre at Los Horcones. His and his father’s property is known as Los Horcones. Zelaya in unison with soldiers massacred 15 religious leaders, farmers and students in June 1975. The Zelaya father and son buried them on the property. Zelaya’s father went to prison, but he never did. The convicted were given amnesty after serving only 1 year in prison. Their victims, tortured to death in barbaric fashion.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Los_Horcones_massacre
Zelaya is a known drug user and drug trafficker in Olancho. I have family there and most of us are familiar with their family and the history. I knew it was a disaster the day he was elected. The guy courted Hugo Chavez, not because of socialism, but because of control. He wanted to surround himself so he could ferment power like Daniel Ortega and Chavez. He came up with the supposed 4th ballot box to try to overthrow the constitution. This created a crisis and he was removed from power. The huge mistake according to many countries was throwing him out of the country, but expulsion was a safety mechanism for Honduras. Later they would still reform the petreo articles, which I disagree with.
Many of the powerful landowners, politicians and military members are all in bed together. They protect each other at all costs. The son of Porfirio Lobo Sosa (Pepe) was arrested for drug trafficking in Haiti. He was extradited from Haiti to the US…had they not caught him abroad he would never have been removed or even arrested. Chepe Handal has an extradition warrant that is current and still has not been extradited to the US. He is a powerful congressman in Honduras.
My story is very hard for me to talk about. In 1994 I was still all with ideas about the military and police similar to the US. I viewed military as heroes…in the US, they many times are, but not in Honduras. I met and married a man that had been a member of the Honduran military. He had served from 1986 to 1993. He had been in Los Aguacates. I know many of you won’t have an idea of what Los Aguacates is. Los Aguacates is a military base in Honduras that was formed by the US at Ft Bragg. The leaders of it were trained at The America’s School(my liberal friends will know what this is.) I didn’t know anything about the history at the time, but one day a report would get my attention and I would learn everything.
I did not know my now ex husband and his military friends belonged to 316 (a death squad formed by the government). By the time I would discover it, my son would be nearly 5 years old. I have always been a person to be inquisitive and I do and don’t regret it. He had always been abusive, but I had tried to tough it out for my son, because I grew up without my parents and I wanted him to have a father. I always hoped he would change, he never did. I discovered he had captured Sandinistas in the forest in Honduras and protestors. They would hold them in underground cells, torture them in horrific forms and then when they got the information they needed, they would drop them out of helicopters in the dead of night and later bury them in a mass grave. This is quite painful for me, because it changed everything about me, my idealist views and always thinking everyone is good, is gone. He and his ‘friends’ were and are pure evil. When I decided I could not live with him anymore, I asked for a separation. I didn’t talk about any of it while in Honduras, because he would not sign for my son to return to the US with me, so I stayed. He wasn’t able to remove us from the home though, because my son was a minor. As long as I stayed single and did not see other men he left us alone. However, when I decided I wanted to get a divorce and start dating he paid for someone to come after me. That was in 2011, my life was worth $500. I barely escaped, the man fired at me 7 times and missed, he didn’t kill me because he ran out of bullets. I fled the country. I went with my child to the consulate and they put my son on the next flight and me two days later. I landed in the US and was set to stay with friends. One of those friends would turn into my husband a few years later. They had been neighbors in Honduras and knew me personally.

Things in Honduras continued to get worse, nearly every neighbor I had in my neighborhood has been murdered. My brother in law was shot in November 2011 just one month after I left. They moved to another neighborhood trying to escape the situation. No one knows why he was shot, he was just on their list. Then they thought things were settling down and moved back to the neighborhood in early 2014. I was petrified. Police came in with a red truck loaded with mara salvatrucha and when they came out people would be dead. For a few months things seemed to calm down, the neighborhood built a wall and gate to protect residents. My youngest brother in law wanted more than anything for our homes to be safe again, he took a security guard job with the community. On Sept 30, 2014 they were repairing the gate that a dump truck belonging to authorities had knocked down ‘accidentally on purpose’ police gave signal to a home left the neighborhood and minutes later appeared 3 gunmen with Ak-47s and shot him and 2 other community guards dead. My family wasn’t at home, but they went looking for them. They fled from the neighborhood they were visiting and in a taxi went to a neighboring town and escaped to the border of Guatemala. They left everything behind and did not even take clothes with them.
The next day 3 more people appeared dead, they had known who the killers were as they witnessed the transaction between police and the mara.
6 days later my in laws were all in Mexico in a migrant shelter known as 72. It took me 7 months of legal asylum processes in Mexico to get them to Matamoros. I was living in Matamoros the entire time to gain favor for them. By this time, if they could be granted asylum, I was just going to stay and continue daily across the border for work. However, we were told it would cost us 10,000 dollars per person in bribe money just for asylum status, regardless of the validity of their claim. We then decided it was time to just ask for asylum in the US and abandoned asylum claims in Mexico. Most of my family went to the border and asked for asylum, only one portion stayed behind to try to tough it out…unfortunately she is now petitioning under Trump and separated from her child.
So, maybe this explains some of my positions. Hopefully my experience can help give others insight into what Honduras is really like.

ClaraD said:

Things in Honduras continued to get worse, nearly every neighbor I had in my neighborhood has been murdered. My brother in law was shot in November 2011 just one month after I left. They moved to another neighborhood trying to escape the situation. No one knows why he was shot, he was just on their list. Then they thought things were settling down and moved back to the neighborhood in early 2014. I was petrified. Police came in with a red truck loaded with mara salvatrucha and when they came out people would be dead. For a few months things seemed to calm down, the neighborhood built a wall and gate to protect residents. My youngest brother in law wanted more than anything for our homes to be safe again, he took a security guard job with the community. On Sept 30, 2014 they were repairing the gate that a dump truck belonging to authorities had knocked down ‘accidentally on purpose’ police gave signal to a home left the neighborhood and minutes later appeared 3 gunmen with Ak-47s and shot him and 2 other community guards dead. My family wasn’t at home, but they went looking for them. They fled from the neighborhood they were visiting and in a taxi went to a neighboring town and escaped to the border of Guatemala. They left everything behind and did not even take clothes with them.
The next day 3 more people appeared dead, they had known who the killers were as they witnessed the transaction between police and the mara.
6 days later my in laws were all in Mexico in a migrant shelter known as 72. It took me 7 months of legal asylum processes in Mexico to get them to Matamoros. I was living in Matamoros the entire time to gain favor for them. By this time, if they could be granted asylum, I was just going to stay and continue daily across the border for work. However, we were told it would cost us 10,000 dollars per person in bribe money just for asylum status, regardless of the validity of their claim. We then decided it was time to just ask for asylum in the US and abandoned asylum claims in Mexico. Most of my family went to the border and asked for asylum, only one portion stayed behind to try to tough it out…unfortunately she is now petitioning under Trump and separated from her child.
So, maybe this explains some of my positions. Hopefully my experience can help give others insight into what Honduras is really like.

Click to expand...

Harrowing tale and thank you for sharing. I used to work with a Honduran woman, and when I asked why she came to the U.S. she said, "Because they kill my mother and father." That was enough of that. I'm fluent in Spanish btw. But, we're not allowed to use it on the forum. Welcome and what a powerful story you have to tell.

Winston said:

Harrowing tale and thank you for sharing. I used to work with a Honduran woman, and when I asked why she came to the U.S. she said, "Because they kill my mother and father." That was enough of that. I'm fluent in Spanish btw. But, we're not allowed to use it on the forum. Welcome and what a powerful story you have to tell.

Click to expand...

My heart still breaks everyday. I have been in therapy since December 2011 when I was diagnosed with PTSD and its been about 6 montgs since I could write about some of it. I only told a small portion here...

ClaraD said:

My heart still breaks everyday. I have been in therapy since December 2011 when I was diagnosed with PTSD and its been about 6 montgs since I could write about some of it. I only told a small portion here...

Click to expand...

Easy ClaraD, better days are coming.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

ClaraD said:

Things in Honduras continued to get worse, nearly every neighbor I had in my neighborhood has been murdered. My brother in law was shot in November 2011 just one month after I left. They moved to another neighborhood trying to escape the situation. No one knows why he was shot, he was just on their list. Then they thought things were settling down and moved back to the neighborhood in early 2014. I was petrified. Police came in with a red truck loaded with mara salvatrucha and when they came out people would be dead. For a few months things seemed to calm down, the neighborhood built a wall and gate to protect residents. My youngest brother in law wanted more than anything for our homes to be safe again, he took a security guard job with the community. On Sept 30, 2014 they were repairing the gate that a dump truck belonging to authorities had knocked down ‘accidentally on purpose’ police gave signal to a home left the neighborhood and minutes later appeared 3 gunmen with Ak-47s and shot him and 2 other community guards dead. My family wasn’t at home, but they went looking for them. They fled from the neighborhood they were visiting and in a taxi went to a neighboring town and escaped to the border of Guatemala. They left everything behind and did not even take clothes with them.
The next day 3 more people appeared dead, they had known who the killers were as they witnessed the transaction between police and the mara.
6 days later my in laws were all in Mexico in a migrant shelter known as 72. It took me 7 months of legal asylum processes in Mexico to get them to Matamoros. I was living in Matamoros the entire time to gain favor for them. By this time, if they could be granted asylum, I was just going to stay and continue daily across the border for work. However, we were told it would cost us 10,000 dollars per person in bribe money just for asylum status, regardless of the validity of their claim. We then decided it was time to just ask for asylum in the US and abandoned asylum claims in Mexico. Most of my family went to the border and asked for asylum, only one portion stayed behind to try to tough it out…unfortunately she is now petitioning under Trump and separated from her child.
So, maybe this explains some of my positions. Hopefully my experience can help give others insight into what Honduras is really like.

Click to expand...

Tho I am in the neighborhood down here in stable Panama...I wasnt living here yet, still working, teaching. What did you feel about our then administration's involvement in the Constitutional crisis on the side of Zelaya and against Zelaya's own party, the courts and the Hondouran constitution...if I remember correctly?

I felt strongly at the time it was the exact wrong thing to do, the wrong message to send. Its not my area of expertise, but I am interested.

I loved Nicaragua ( love Latin America in general), considered buying property there but with their latest insurrection under Ortega, their history of govt confiscations and rules rewriting after property deals were already made, I am confident I made the right choice in Panama, knock on wood.

Very harrowing story, yours.

Gaugingcatenate said:

Tho I am in the neighborhood down here in stable Panama...I wasnt living here yet, still working, teaching. What did you feel about our then administration's involvement in the Constitutional crisis on the side of Zelaya and against Zelaya's own party, the courts and the Hondouran constitution...if I remember correctly?

I felt strongly at the time it was the exact wrong thing to do, the wrong message to send. Its not my area of expertise, but I am interested.

I loved Nicaragua ( love Latin America in general), considered buying property there but with their latest insurrection under Ortega, their history of govt confiscations and rules rewriting after property deals were already made, I am confident I made the right choice in Panama, knock on wood.

Very harrowing story, yours.

Click to expand...

I wanted Costa Rica, the US and everyone to stop playing poltics asnd leave it alone. The Congress did the right thing when they kicked out Zelaya

Gaugingcatenate said:

Tho I am in the neighborhood down here in stable Panama...I wasnt living here yet, still working, teaching. What did you feel about our then administration's involvement in the Constitutional crisis on the side of Zelaya and against Zelaya's own party, the courts and the Hondouran constitution...if I remember correctly?

I felt strongly at the time it was the exact wrong thing to do, the wrong message to send. Its not my area of expertise, but I am interested.

I loved Nicaragua ( love Latin America in general), considered buying property there but with their latest insurrection under Ortega, their history of govt confiscations and rules rewriting after property deals were already made, I am confident I made the right choice in Panama, knock on wood.

Very harrowing story, yours.

Click to expand...

btw, Panama, Costa Rica and Colombia are on our list as a 3rd country if something happens to our asylum case. Canada is sane, if you don't like freezing 9 months a year.

ClaraD said:

btw, Panama, Costa Rica and Colombia are on our list as a 3rd country if something happens to our asylum case. Canada is sane, if you don't like freezing 9 months a year.

Click to expand...

Know all three to varying degrees, Panama and Colombia in very recent history. I have often said that if I had visited Colombia before I made my decision to purchase in Panama...I would most likely have chosen Colombia.

That being sald, I have lived here joyfully peacefully with great neighbors, mis vecinos, here in the moutains. It is more stable, feels it, and there are many perqs. Colombia has much more refined tastes, higher culture, their people have higher education on average...but both are welcoming societies. Though they were at one time all Colombians, they are very different today.

ClaraD said:

Honduras: A country in Crisis
Clara D

One of your members said they would be looking forward to my experiences. They want a real perspective on Honduras. The member is a Conservative. I hold no judgement about his politics and believe he wants to know what the truth is.
I moved to Honduras in 1998. When I moved there, it was a sleepy little country and I couldn’t imagine living anywhere else. My youngest child had been born there in 1996, I was on vacation, he decided he was coming then. When I went in 1998, he was both a US citizen and a Honduran citizen. However, I felt that my small neighborhood and the community was a good place to raise him. I wanted him to learn and have family around him. I never could have envisioned how things would spiral out of control years later. Hurricane Mitch had taken its toll on the country and Honduras rebuilt after that. It seemed that people had come out better than before. Malls popped up, fast food restaurants, paved streets, grocery stores and internet service. I was pleased.
It was around this time in 1996 that Clinton and Newt Gingrich made a contract and decided to deport anyone with a criminal record….and they made it retroactive. This in itself was not a problem….problem was they started deporting violent gang members without telling the Central American governments who these gang members were. They did not want to tell, they feared that these governments would reject the deported gang member. So these gang members were allowed to proliferate in Honduras, El Salvador, Guatemala and Nicaragua. These gangs then formed an international organization, they essentially were empowered by what we did. In Central America, they formed alliances with the governments, police and military. They made backroom deals to give percentages of their ‘bounty’ in exchange for police and the government being ‘caso omiso’ or essentially ignoring their crimes.
Immediately, the danger wasn’t sensed, it takes time for them to establish.
(sorry my liberal friends you might not like what I am going to say next, but truth doesn’t know politics, it is what I lived)
In 2008 and 2009 things started to spiral out of control. Manuel Zelaya Rosales was president. He was infamous for the massacre at Los Horcones. His and his father’s property is known as Los Horcones. Zelaya in unison with soldiers massacred 15 religious leaders, farmers and students in June 1975. The Zelaya father and son buried them on the property. Zelaya’s father went to prison, but he never did. The convicted were given amnesty after serving only 1 year in prison. Their victims, tortured to death in barbaric fashion.

Click to expand...

I am reasonably sure 99% of the problems in Central and South America stem from policies enacted by the US. Most of it began in the 1950's; got worse under Ron-Ron in the 80's and took off like a rocket when snorting cocaine became North America's pastime

calamity said:

I am reasonably sure 99% of the problems in Central and South America stem from policies enacted by the US. Most of it began in the 1950's; got worse under Ron-Ron in the 80's and took off like a rocket when snorting cocaine became North America's pastime

Click to expand...

Yes, drug use in the US has made bad situations much worse