NATIONAL NEWS

Government steps up forest protection

Anette Emanuelsson
Honduras This Week

Courtesy of COHDEFOR
President Mel Zelaya recently invited the Honduran media here to Olancho to reinforce his commitment to forest protection.

Last Monday President Manuel Zelaya paid a visit to Patuca, in southeastern Olancho, an area seriously affected by deforestation. There he reinforced his commitment to protect the Honduran forests, and installed a Green Task Force, a military unit that will work to prevent illegal logging and forest fires in the area.

Since the beginning of his presidency Zelaya has made his interest in forestation clear. On his first day of government he visited Patuca and announced that one percent of the national budget would be used for a reforestation fund.

Ramon Alvarez, newly appointed General Manager of the national forestry cooperation COHDEFOR, is happy with the support.

"I think this is a historic moment because it is the first time that a Honduran president has made it so clear that forest protection is a government priority," he said.

According to Alvarez, the country's forestry laws and management plans are appropriate but there has not been enough political will on part of the government in order to apply and execute them. As a result, an estimated 80 000 - 100 000 forest hectares are lost every year in Honduras. Extensive cattle farming, migratory agriculture, illegal logging, and also legal logging not abiding by the regulations, are the main causes behind the deforestation. In the pine forests, fires are one of the biggest problems since they destroy the small trees that would regenerate the forest. Only this year, there have been 63 forest fires in the country and virtually 100 percent are man-made.

A lack of good statistics means that COHDEFOR doesn't know if deforestation is on the increase or decrease. However, according to numbers published by the US Environmental Investigation Agency last year, there won't be any trees left on Honduran territory in 50 years if the destruction of the forest goes on at this rate.

In spite of these numbers, there has been a rise in environmental awareness, according to Alvarez. "Only 30 years ago, eliminating forest to open up for agriculture was seen as progress, it was seen as conquering the jungle and change it into something productive."

For there to be a real change, the work of COHDEFOR needs to be reformed. The law dictates that logged areas have to be regenerated within three years but it has not been applied even in the forests managed by COHDEFOR.

"COHDEFOR has traditionally been overlooked by the government and no one has obliged it to follow the law," said Alvarez, who calls for a change of mentality within the institution and increased transparency to come to terms with the widespread corruption. There are also plans of upgrading COHDEFOR to a ministry and increase decentralization, leaving the forest management to groups in the communities.

Before coming to work for COHDEFOR, Alvarez worked as a technical advisor for the Honduran timber association for 14 months and therefore he has been the target of criticism from environmental organizations since his first day of work. Given the traditional conflict of interest between environmental groups and the industry, Alvarez understands the criticism. "I think it's better they call me timber man than lazy, corrupt or bureaucratic," he said, adding that in his new position he probably won't be on a good footing with either group.

On the question on specific changes in the forestry management during the new administration, Alvarez is somewhat vague. He hopes that the deployment of soldiers will lead to a great reduction in deforestation. He also mentions improvements in the prevention of forest fires - instead of lying low until the annual fires appear in January he wants to work year around capacitating people and instigate controlled fires.

In spite of everything, Alvarez is hopeful for the future.

"We still have a lot to protect. Half of Honduras is covered with forest so there is still a lot of potential, we still have alternatives."

Numbers of child killings increase

Hannah Green
Honduras This Week

The plight of many murder victims in Honduras is reported in the media almost daily, yet little is being done to stop the numbers growing at an alarming rate, according to child-protection organization Casa Alianza. Their last report shows that the number of violent deaths or killings of children has been on the increase during the first months of the year. Casa Alianza has been campaigning for the protection of young people against this violent national phenomenon, producing monthly reports for the government and media since 1998. Over 3 000 cases of child and adolescent executions have been recorded in that time.

The vast majority of killings included in the reports occur in the more densely populated cities. The statistics published by Casa Alianza last month showed that nearly half of the young people in question were murdered in Tegucigalpa. Patterns observed point to the likelihood of organized crime. The poorest districts are the worst affected and also the most susceptible to gang culture.

Gangs form a major part of the problem, but the killing is becoming increasingly indiscriminate. Similarly, the criminals responsible can be anyone: security personnel, corrupt policemen, or youths killing others their age. The tragedy is that the legal system cannot (or will not) deal with the problem. Of the 3 000 cases reported only 180 have been solved and only eight of the criminals responsible have been sentenced. José Manuel Capellín, the National Director of Casa Alianza Honduras, reasons that 'if the laws are not respected it does not matter who is killed or who committed the murder'.

The former president of Honduras, Ricardo Maduro, was the first to react to the work of Casa Alianza and admit that the widespread killing of young people must be examined. Under his administration an investigative unit was set up to deal specifically with this problem consisting of thirty policemen in the north of Honduras and in Tegucigalpa. However, Capellín describes it as 'a big effort without sufficient results'.

There is an inclination not only by the government but also by society in general to blame these deaths on the children's involvement with gangs. In trying to brush aside the problem in this way, Capellín feels that the government is avoiding the real issue. "Juvenile deaths are only a symptom of the problem," he said. He believes that at the core of the issue is Honduras' lack of development economically, politically and socially.

In order to combat the problem and to eradicate the culture of violence, Casa Alianza proposes several steps. Effective state policies need to be put in place in order to strengthen the value of the family so that children are not pushed away onto the streets. The country's juvenile justice system is at present more damaging than constructive for those who end up there. Children face violence inside the centers, which only serves to force them to repeat their crimes once discharged. With the correct rehabilitation programs they could be reinstated into society.

Palms together for a cleaner future

George Reynolds
Honduras This Week

George Reynolds/Honduras This Week
Hector Luis Castro, general secretary of Fenapalmah.

Hector Luis Castro is the general secretary of Fenapalmah, the National Federation of Honduran Palm Producers, the group responsible for the implementation of the project. The deal with Malaysia was part of a governmental agreement between the two countries, and it should go some of the way to safeguarding dwindling fuel reserves. The need for biodiesel is clear: as President Bush pointed out, the world's addiction to oil could have catastrophic costs, and so there is no time like the present to start making an effort to find a more economically viable and ecologically friendly solution.

For some time now, Fenapalmah has been confident that biodiesel provides this solution. Founded from eight member groups in August 2000, they have been scouting likely sites for the planting of the Malaysian palms for some time, and now suitable areas have been marked out the project can go ahead. It is a venture that will also prove immensely beneficial for the local community, creating jobs in regions where unemployment is rife. Castro is aware of the help that his initiative is bringing; in fact it is one of the primary reasons he is so pleased that the project has the go-ahead: "Of course this is going to help the environment and the Honduran economy, but it is on a social level that I really want this to be a success."

The figures are compelling and bode well: 3 000 workers have been contracted to look after the 20 000 hectares, and within a few years the plan is for these 20 000 to increase threefold. Last year Honduras imported some 5.7 million barrels of diesel - 885 million litres' worth. If the country could produce 550 million liters of biodiesel, economists calculate that Honduras would save almost 400 million US dollars. Best of all, given Honduras' unemployment problem, by the time the scheme reaches its completion over 300 000 jobs will have been created.

Honduras is hardly in the vanguard in terms of biodiesel production: similar systems are already in operation (and have been for some time) throughout Africa, in Malaysia, and, closer to home, in Ecuador and Brazil. Over time, Castro hopes that the Honduran biodiesel production industry can reach the lofty heights of some of its foreign counterparts; and indeed he is optimistic: "It's a growing industry. In time it will keep getting bigger and bigger, reaching further across the country - this can only be a good thing."

Environmentally sensitive project breaks new ground

Anette Emanuelsson
Honduras This Week

Anette Emanuelsson/Honduras This Week
Tommy Bauer, Rita Hojan, Steve Romania

The condominium boom continues on Roatan. Just before Easter the investors behind Infinity Bay Spa & Beach Resort inaugurated the construction of their new development in West Bay with a ground breaking ceremony. And the interest from buyers is high.

"The prices of property and real estate are still affordable since Roatan is in its infancy compared to many other Caribbean islands," Infinity Bay's senior investor Eugene Albert explained the high interest.

That opinion is shared by real estate broker Mary Monterroso, who has lived on Roatan since 1976 and started real estate agency Island Properties 15 years ago. According to her, 2005 was the year when Roatan for the first time became a seller's market and people started making a profit - some key beach properties have seen a 100 percent return in only a couple of years.

Another explanation for the increased interest in the island in the last couple of years are the new cruise ship arrivals to the island and airlines such as Continental and Delta starting direct flights from Houston, Atlanta and Miami, making southeastern US a primary market for developers such as Infinity Bay.

The development of the real estate market has changed the Roatan economy and created many new job opportunities, as construction has become the biggest industry of the island rather than fishing. But the rapid development has also brought problems.

"The impact on the environment is one of the negative sides of the growth of the real estate market," said Monterroso, who is not only a broker but also a board member of the environmental group Bay Island Conservation Association. "We need an increase in coastal management, that is the handling of septic and run-off water, to protect the reef. Because of short-term thinking, many developers still drain straight into the sea," she said.

The investors behind Infinity Bay are well-aware of the problem and promise a different approach from other resorts. Apart from restaurants, health clubs and swimming pools, they also offer an extensive environmental plan.

"We have the benefit of learning from decades of other developments on other islands and we can take steps to improve things before it has gone too far," said Vernon Albert, project coordinator and one of four investors behind Infinity Bay.

Their environmental plan focuses on handling all the waste water and storm water on site, stopping it from going into the ocean. There will be 300 000 gallons of cistern to take care of surface water and a million gallons of storage for roof water. The roof water will later be used for the swimming pools. Infinity Bay also promises that when its waste water goes out it will be as clean as it can be with the technology available today. The resort will also have its own desalination plant which will produce potable water for all the condos instead of using ground water. Finally, Infinity is creating a waste-water foundation that will help people that live by the water and that cannot afford it to set up adequate septic systems.

Anette Emanuelsson/Honduras This Week
West Bay beach has seen a lot of new condominium developments during the last years.

The environmental plan doesn't only help protect the environment - according to the developers it is also very much in the interest of buyers.

"The reef is this island and if we don't protect it right now anything we do for the island and our investors doesn't really matter," said Eugene Albert.

Mary Monterroso has followed the development of the Roatan real estate market from the early years - when there wasn't really any real estate to talk about and buyers had to build themselves - through the hard years after Hurricane Mitch hit Honduras in 1998, to the condo boom of today. She believes that the upward trend - both in the number of properties and in prices - will continue. "I think there is going to be a tremendous growth in all of Central America," she said, citing the strong euro and fear of terrorisms as reasons that Americans will increasingly vacation in their own hemisphere.

As for Roatan, Monterroso hopes that the talk of creating a duty free zone on the island will mean more involvement from the central government and more consideration for the environment. Because while she welcomes the environmental plan presented by Infinity Bay, she says such initiatives are not enough. "Waste treatment should not only be an objective of some, it should be a minimum requirement for all developers."

Semana Santa tragedies

More than a hundred people lost their lives during the Semana Santa festivities in Honduras.

CONAPRA (National Commission for the Prevention of Accidents) estimates that 17 people died and 49 were injured in road traffic accidents. However, with the recent introduction of the new Transit Law there were considerably fewer accidents on the road in comparison to the holiday period last year.

In addition, 28 people are thought to have drowned and 60 to have died at the hands of others or owing to suicides. Alvaro Romero, the Minister of Security, announced that a press conference will be conducted in which the confirmed numbers of deaths will be released.

La Tribuna

Border dispute with El Salvador settled

After the failed settlement of the border between Honduras and El Salvador in 1992, where the former gained 62% of the territory in question, an agreement has now been reached.

The Honduran President Manuel Zelaya Rosales and his Salvadorian counterpart Elías Antonio Saca resolved the demarcation of the border between the two countries in the signing of the El Poy presidential declaration.

This historic event occurred on Tuesday April 18th in the border town of El Poy, where the ex-presidents Rafael Leonardo Callejas accompanied Zelaya and Carlos Flores. Zelaya expressed the importance of the demarcation process 'to unite our countries, to unite wills and efforts'.

El Heraldo

Budget priorities decided

Manuel Zelaya Rosales has this week sent the national budget, which totals 42,996 million Lempiras, to Congress for discussion and approval.

An increase of 351 million Lempiras will go to the Secretariat of Security in order to increase police numbers and to combat delinquency in Honduras.

Hugo Noah Pine, the Minister of Finances, revealed that the greater parts of the budget will be assigned to Education (826 million Lempiras), Health (5257 million Lempiras) and Security (1465 million Lempiras).

La Tribuna

Malnourished children welcomed with Open Arms

Emma Barlow
Honduras This Week

Emma Barlow/HondurasThis Week
Becky Santos, wife of the Vice-President, has dedicated herself to the cause of malnourished children.

With the help of the new Government and the Open Arms Foundation, Honduras is beginning to wake up to the alarming problem of malnourishment in its nation's children.

The objectives of the Foundation were put forward by the new spokesperson of the campaign, Becky Santos, wife of Vice President Elvin Santos, at a high profile launch at the Marriott Hotel, Tegucigalpa, on Tuesday. "We all need to take part in the fight against hunger and malnutrition," she said in a brief interview after the event, which the first lady Xiomara de Zelaya also attended.

Malnutrition is one of the biggest child killers; implicated in more than half of all child deaths worldwide. Malnourishment leads to a less effective immune system - decreasing the chances of fighting infection; therefore turning common childhood ailments such as diarrhoeal diseases and respiratory infections into deadly sicknesses. For those who survive, frequent illness exhausts the little nutrients they have, locking them into a vicious circle of recurring poor health and faltering growth.

"In Honduras there are 1.5 million children who suffer from difficulties related to malnutrition," Santos explained. In fact Honduras has one of the biggest nutrition problems in all of the Americas: according to the latest study by UNICEF, 18% of the nation's under fives are malnourished. Yet their problem is almost invisible since the children of Honduras suffer from chronic malnutrition where stunted growth is the only outward sign of their vulnerability. Otherwise, a child can look well and act healthily.

However, these children will inevitably grow into adults who are less physically and intellectually productive and more likely to suffer from chronic illness and disability. Women who suffered chronic malnutrition as children often go on to have birthing difficulties and tend to bear low-birthweight babies and so unknowingly perpetuate the cycle of malnutrition into the next generation.

Courtesy of UNICEF
According to UNICEF, 18% of Honduran children under the age of five are malnourished.

Malnutrition develops as a result of many contributing factors: national food availability; the mother's education; the mother's status relative to the father's; access to safe water and medical attention (especially for early immunizations). However, some of these factors pose an imposing dilemma for many Hondurans: it is hard enough to raise a family in a country of 7 million people which despite favorable conditions does not even grow enough food to support itself. It is estimated that people living in the rural areas would need roughly 2.3 times the average salary in order to be properly nourished.

The Open Arms Foundation plans to begin work on the factors that can be readily changed, focusing on educating mothers and improving the practices already in place for helping children suffering from malnutrition.

The importance of breastfeeding is one such area in which education is needed: only 11% of Honduran babies are exclusively breastfed in their first 4 months. During an important time for any infant, breastmilk provides the best possible nutrition and protection against infection during the early months of life. Giving a baby any other foods or liquids at this time increases the chances of infection. The poorer the circumstances of the family, the more vital the protection that breastfeeding affords.

Another change that the Foundation plans to make is to the facilities and treatments for malnourished children that are already in place. With the creation of a new Center for Infant Nutritional Recuperation they hope to pave the way, becoming a model for other centers and hospitals to follow. The center is set to establish itself as an intermediate institution between a hospital and the home of the minors. "Right now hospitals can only admit the children for a 20-day period and then they are sent home. This is no way near enough time for the child to fully recuperate; in our centers children will be able to stay for 3-6 months," Santos explained.

The Foundation sees itself contributing to the future prevention of malnourishment by means of programs of orientation and education for the families of the children taken care of in the Centers.
Becky Santos defined her reasons for her involvement in the Foundation: "I felt pain knowing that children are going to bed every night without eating and that children under five are not receiving all the nutrition they need, which goes on to affect them - not only physically but mentally."

The problem of child malnutrition in Honduras is not one that is going to be easily overcome as at its root is a much larger issue - poverty. But with the work of Foundation Open Arms steps are definitely being made in the right direction.

Decentralization expected to solve Honduran water problem

Anette Emanuelsson
Honduras This Week

Anette Emanuelsson/Honduras This Week
Rodolfo Ochoa from SANAA showing a model of Tegucigalpa's insufficient water system. 

Come summer and Semana Santa and notes start to appear in the entrances to Honduran apartment buildings. "SANAA is rationing the water and therefore we ask you to use it adequately, without wasting it. Thank you for your understanding." In some neighborhoods the water is cut every two days, in others every three days, depending on how close they are to the central water network.

During the summer months, Tegucigalpa has a 55 percent water deficiency.

One reason for the lack of water is the uncontrolled growth of the city - the population increases by about 20,000 people a year, and most of them settle down in the higher parts of the city where it is more costly to lay down pipes. The altitude difference between the highest and lowest located houses in Tegucigalpa is 500 meters.

But the main cause behind the problem is simply a lack of money.
According to Rodolfo Ochoa, director of the department of investigation and analysis at the national water company SANAA, the water tariffs are far too low. On average nationally, Hondurans pay only 80 percent of the operational cost of the water distribution. Just to run the current, insufficient, water systems, you would have to pay 100 percent, but in order to improve them the tariffs would need to double.

At the moment, SANAA is decentralizing the responsibility for the water supply to the municipalities and the idea is for them to raise the tariffs so that they at least cover the operational costs.

Anette Emanuelsson/Honduras This Week
SANAA, the national water authority.

Ochoa is confident that people will be willing to pay more for water. "The main problem is not poverty. Many poor people who are not connected to the water system buy drinking water in bottles. But for the price of four bottles they could pay for one month's consumption. As long as raised prices go hand in hand with a better service there won't be a problem," he said.

The insufficient funds are also due to a lack of international funding. During the last decade there has been a global aversion to the construction of dams since they are claimed to cause serious ecological problems. "But really it was giant irrigation dams in, for example, Africa, that sometimes affected entire countries, that people were complaining about," said Ochoa. "The dams for drinking water are much smaller and now the trend has changed and the Latin American financial institutions are willing to finance dam projects again."

Ochoa is hopeful that the opening for international financing combined with local administration of the water supply will result in a long-lasting solution to Honduras' water problem. A couple of new dams are also planned in the Central District, which will double the capital's water supply.

About 60 percent of the people of Tegucigalpa are connected to the water system. The rest get their water from local water tanks or trucks. The expansion of the water system is currently running 11 years behind, meaning that it was adequate in 1995 but hopelessly insufficient today.

The problems are similar in the rest of the country, although some towns like San Pedro Sula and Puerto Cortes are better off since they have a local administration that has raised water tariffs.
According to the UN Millennium Development Goals, the Honduran water deficit should be cut in half between the years 2000 and 2015 but the Honduran government is more ambitious than that. "We want to reach 95 percent coverage by 2015," said Ochoa, who believes that to be a realistic goal when the decentralization process is completed. "And in 30 years, with the new dams, 100 percent of the population will be covered."

Short-term missions: helping or hindering?

Hannah Green
Honduras This Week

The culture of running short-term missions to under-privileged countries is fast becoming a phenomenon. Estimates suggest that between one and four million people per year - mostly from North America - travel abroad to lend their support to needy communities.  It is widely thought to be greatly beneficial to those who receive the help, but a recent study by Kurt Ver Beek, Professor of Sociology at Calvin College, has challenged the simplicity of that view. Ver Beek's intention is not to dissuade people from embarking upon such projects, rather that changes need to be made in order to improve the long-term impact of them.

In the study - conducted on over a hundred Honduran families that were assisted after Hurricane Mitch - half of the houses were built by short-term missionaries and the remainder by local people. Feedback from the new homeowners was mixed; all were grateful to have their own houses rather than renting from others regardless of who had built them. However, the potential for ten extra houses to be built instead of a group of volunteers' travel expenses makes short-term missions hard to justify in this case. The option of sending larger amounts of money without the accompanying volunteers was therefore the only choice for the Honduran families.

This rather disheartening choice is due in part to the fact that the Honduran families and short-term missionaries often do not form the close relationship that could be entirely possible. The language barrier is rarely broken resulting in a more strained form of communication. Neither do volunteers eat with the local community, rather in their own groups, so the opportunity for further interaction is lost. Ver Beek emphasizes the value of volunteers expecting to return to the country and staying in contact with the community in the meantime.

Unfortunately, the real problem seems to be the contrast in former volunteers' opinions of the lasting effects of the experience and the lack of resulting contributions. The vast majority of people who had been involved in short-term mission work described it as life changing, but this did not translate into increased support either physically or financially. Despite their good intentions, Ver Beek puts this down to ''human nature''.

According to Ver Beek, the solutions to the problems faced while the short-term missionaries are in the country revolve around how the agencies themselves are managed. This includes the level of research and preparation, managing finances effectively, and the follow-up program. Ver Beek is adamant that ''the week they spend here is not as important as what they do when they return home''. He believes that their commitment to educating friends and family back in North America or Europe about what is needed in countries such as Honduras is of utmost importance. The need for awareness primarily, followed by support.

At the core of improving the experience for Hondurans is the need for thorough research by the agencies organizing short-term missions. Ver Beek believes that it is essential for missionaries to partner with NGOs based in the country, who have experience of the culture and how exactly what is needed.

Advancing on their own

Anette Emanuelsson
Honduras This Week

Anette Emanuelsson/Honduras This Week
Car rentals in Honduras are tax exempt thanks to the Tourism Incentive Law. 

While an increasing number of national businesses are taken over by international franchises, Advance Rent a Car has decided to move in the opposite direction. After 27 years as an American franchise, the owners decided to form their own company.

"The restrictions put on us by the franchise were getting stricter and stricter," said Jorge Elias Fléfil, CEO at Advance. "We paid almost ten percent of our production incomes for the franchise rights." On top of that there were heavy fines if they didn't attend international reservations made through the franchise correctly. In the end, it got too expensive and Fléfil and his partners decided to open their own national car rental.

Advance Rent a Car is a US car rental but Advance Honduras only pays commission for international reservations. The company is registered in Honduras, has its own logo and is under no obligation to use the business systems of the US company.

Advance has kept its old clients while updating its fleet of trucks and moving into new, modern premises. And business is good, for several reasons.

First of all, thanks to the Tourism Incentive Law, car rentals are tax exempt. Second, car rentals directly notice when there are new developments in the Honduran economy.

"There have been a lot of businessmen visiting us lately because of the free trade agreement between Central America and the US," said Fléfil. He has also noticed that the efforts made by the government to attract international tourists is bringing him business. The result has been a boom in the number of car rentals in the country. When Fléfil took over the company 14 years ago there were only ten car rentals in Honduras - today there are close to 60.

Still, most of Advance's clients are Honduran. The largest group is Hondurans living abroad that visit the country for business and vacation. The second group is executives from national companies moving between different parts of the country. The third group is international tourists who often make their reservations through independent reservation centers that Advance work with.

Fléfil doesn't expect the explosive increase of car rentals seen during the last decade to continue, but estimates that there will be an annual growth of about five to eight percent.

However, Advance is planning to grow. New charter flights and cruise ships are encouraging Advance to open their business in most important tourist destinations. To the current representation in Tegucigalpa, San Pedro Sula and La Ceiba they will soon add Rotan, Tela and maybe also Copan.

Also the improvements to the road infrastructure are a reason for optimism, according to Fléfil. "Yes, things are definitely improving."

Garifuna book published

Suzanne Shende
Special to Honduras This Week

Courtesy of Suzanne Shende
A new book about the Garifuna people in Honduras will be published in May. 

The Garífuna Emergency Committee of Honduras has announced the publication of its pioneering book, The Garífuna of Honduras: Culture, Struggle and Human Rights under Convention 169 of the ILO. The Comité's Coordinator, Ana Lucy Bengochea explains: "Concerned about the lack of cultural values and recognizing the importance of sharing the richness of our way of life with other communities throughout Honduras and abroad, we decided to publish a book that describes who we are."

After a presentation in Tegucigalpa which will take place in May, the book will be donated to primary and secondary schools in the Garífuna town of Colón, and available for sale to the public as well in order to pay the publishing costs of reprinting and donating more books. The book is s co-written by ethno-historian Wendy Griffin. Between its covers the reader will find chapters such as "Land Tenancy Problems," "Use of Traditional Medicine," and "Important Figures of the Garífuna Ethnic Group."

The Committee is also continuing its support of the preservation of the Garífuna language with the distribution of the educational primer Garífuna Wafarendera, which they distributed to 17 schools. This workbook, written by Garífuna school teachers including Professor Sergia Zapata, had already been distributed through the Secretary of Education in the Department of Atlantida, but only now to the schools of Colón. The Committee donated 25 copies to each school and trained school teachers and principals on its use.

Transport employees threaten to strike

Drivers everywhere including those who drive public transport are riled over the new fines system. Transit Authorities say they will not back down.

The fines have been raised for a number of traffic offences, including not wearing a seatbelt, and not carrying the break-down triangle and fire-extinguisher in the vehicle at all times.

The drivers and collectors who transport hundreds of passengers around the bus of routes of Tegucigalpa threatened to take to the streets of the city in protest, if the authorities of Transit and the National Congress do not take into account their request to review the new fines.

El Heraldo

Banana-exporting Americas look for united front against Europe

Representatives from the majority of Latin American banana-exporting countries and the US gathered in Tegucigalpa, to define a common position against the increased European banana import tariff and to explore whether or not a united front can be presented to the WTO.

Simultaneously, the possible legal action deemed necessary for a softening of the regime was evaluated.

The partaking countries were Ecuador, the US, Colombia, Guatemala, Nicaragua, Panama and Honduras.

Fresh Plaza

Mystery of abandoned jet solved

The mystery of the $4 million jet that was abandoned at Toncontin airport has finally been solved.

On Feb 24, a Mexican-registered Gulfstream GII landed at Toncontin airport late at night. The pilots then disappeared. At the time the media jumped on the case of the Jet Misterioso as proof of growing sentiments that drug traffickers are taking over the country, and that authorities do little to stop them. Politicians also jumped into the fray.

"This is an indicator that there is a constant violation of our airspace," Honduran President Manuel Zelaya told The Miami Herald. "There are regions of this country that are dominated by drug cartels."

Authorities revealed that the owner was a Mexican banker named Mario Alberto Andrade Mora. It also turned out that the jet's registration and insurance in Mexico were set to expire 47 minutes after the plane landed in Tegucigalpa. Officials suggested that Andrade Mora was having legal problems in Mexico, and just needed to get the jet out before it was confiscated.

A lawyer came to Honduras to reclaim the plane for the businessman, only to find that the government has slammed the banker with $265,000 in parking fees and fines because its navigation permits expired.

PAP

War tactics could wipe out  gangs says police

Central American governments could wipe out violent street gangs in two months by treating them like opponents in a war, El Salvador's police chief said Tuesday.

The gangs are considered to be the No. 1 security threat in Guatemala, El Salvador and Honduras. Inter-gang warfare often involves beheadings and eye gouging although human rights groups blame some killings on vigilante death squads.

"If this continues at the same rate in the region, the gang members are going to become belligerent groups that are going to endanger stability and national security," Salvadoran police chief Rodrigo Avila told a local television station.
Police from the United States, Mexico, Guatemala, Honduras, El Salvador, and Dominican Republic are meeting in San Salvador to discuss ways to combat gangs in the region.

Government crackdowns on gang violence, especially in Honduras and El Salvador, pushed gang members to move to other countries, including southern Mexico, which has an easily penetrable border.

Reuters 

Mayor of Tegucigalpa battling limited resources

Anette Emanuelsson
Honduras This Week

This is how the mayor of Tegucigalpa, Ricardo Alvarez, likes to be seen, handing out water to the habitants of the neighborhood Cantarero Lopez.

Two months after he took over as mayor of Tegucigalpa, some people ask themselves whatever happened to the man who during his hands-on election campaign was constantly seen in the media, repairing roads and constructing roofs in the city's impoverished areas. According to the man himself, Ricardo Alvarez and his administration is still doing exactly that (helping the poor); just that they now work out of the limelight.

After serving as secretary to former President Ricardo Maduro for three years, Alvarez knows how to handle the media and is well aware of the importance of looking after his image. When interviewed, he repeatedly emphasizes his commitment to help the poorer sections of society, interspersing his speech with one-liners such as "improving people's lives permanently is a major part of my government but not only that - I would say it's the meaning of my life"; and telling anecdotes about the people helped through his social programs.

However, it is not only an act for the cameras, since Alvarez's government has destined a total of 40 million lempiras to two major social projects. The first project, Dignified roof, aims is to improve the homes of the single mothers and the elderly by providing them with a real roof over their heads. The second project, Water for life, supplies neighborhoods not connected to the city's water system with drinking water, using trucks. "Until now we have given away one million gallons of water and by the end of the year it will be ten million gallons," Alvarez said. However, he emphasizes that the main responsibility for finding long-term solutions to the capital's water problem lies with the central government - the municipality can only be a complement.

Apart from the social projects, Alvarez mentions keeping the streets clean and in good working order a goal of his administration, although he doesn't want to promise too much. Tegucigalpa produces 800 tons of garbage every day but only 600 of those are collected, and insufficient finances mean that Alvarez doesn't see any change in the near future. He says that the citizens of Tegucigalpa need to do their part by not putting out the garbage on days when the garbage truck doesn't pass their neighborhood: it increases the risk of having it spread out by dogs and rats. Furthermore, the repair of the streets will have to wait because of the financial situation. The 90 million lempiras budgeted for infrastructural projects is not much in a city with over a million inhabitants, according to Alvarez. "Very little will be seen in this area at the moment."

The troubling financial situation of the city is partly due to the large debts left behind by the previous mayor. "I took over a municipality with a one billion lempira debt and obviously that will limit us," Alvarez said. His administration has renegotiated the debt with the banks, giving the city four extra years to repay it, while the interest rate has been lowered from 20 to 14 percent.
In order to improve the finances, Alvarez has his eyes set on increasing tax collection. "We have identified 45,000 buildings and land properties that are missing in our data base and consequently don't pay tax," he said. Also the collection of business taxes will be stepped up, having auditors knocking doors and checking tax declarations.

One area not part of Alvarez's political platform, but of immediate interest with Easter week coming up, is Tourism. Well-aware that the city's tourist attractions are few, Alvarez sees Tegucigalpa mainly as a starting point for exploring neighboring villages such as Valle de Angeles and Santa Lucia, and the La Tigra national park. "We need to promote tourism in the capital but it's not going to be easy. At the moment we don't have a lot to sell," Alvarez said. Still, he is hopeful for the future, mentioning the establishment of many large hotels as an indication that people do visit the capital.

For those spending Easter in Tegucigalpa, there are a couple of new regulations to be aware of. During Good Friday and Easter Day, the selling as well as the public consumption of alcohol will be prohibited from six o'clock in the morning until midnight. Also, a new law under which all establishments selling alcohol need to close no later than two a.m., comes into effect on April 7th. The hope is to reduce crime and the number of car accidents. "I can guarantee that this law will save lives," Alvarez said. According to opinion polls, 80 percent of the people of Tegucigalpa are in favor of the regulation. "But if 80 percent would have been against it I still would have enforced it," Alvarez said. "I think this is a good, healthy decision that will make life safer for all of us."

When asked what he wants people to remember from his four years as mayor, Alvarez answers without hesitation: "When I die I want my tombstone to read ‘Mayor Ricardo, always helping the poor’."

A reason to call this Friday good

George Reynolds
Honduras this Week

Emma Barlow/Honduras This Week
Volunteers help in the making of the carpet. 

In recent years, Semana Santa has become a byword for overly-indulgent celebrations for many sectors of Honduran society - a sort of Catholic Spring Break. Those who can, flee to Roatan, Utila, Guatemala, Tela, and La Ceiba; there is rarely anything left on offer for those who have not taken part in this annual exodus. Until now. This year, as part of an initiative to re-invent Tegucigalpa as a tourist destination in its own right, the Easter Week celebrations are going to be on a grand scale, and with the religious aspects of the holiday very much in mind. At the heart of this will be the Good Friday procession.

Easter Week celebrations have been part of Honduran and Central American culture for time almost-immemorial. A practice started by the conquering Spanish in remote villages, it has grown and grown to the point where each church in Tegucigalpa holds its own procession of sorts - the largest, of course, being that of the city's Cathedral. The processions go on all week, culminating on Maundy Thursday, when churches are visited to commemorate the Last Supper.

Tegucigalpa's celebrations stand above those of the other cities in the country, however, by virtue of a peculiar local tradition: a festive carpet, or alfombra, made out of sawdust and decorated with religious imagery and doctrine. It originated in nearby Comayagua, where the odd family would place a small mat of sawdust outside their houses, and the Tegucigalpan carpet is now the biggest in the country.

The making of the carpet is a lengthy process and involves some 2 months of preparation. Stencils have to be cut out of cardboard or wood, and then they are placed over the sawdust and paint is poured onto them. The procedure requires almost 200 people - all of them volunteers. What is most heartening - given the Christian overtones of the tradition - is that these volunteers come from everywhere: Mexico, Guatemala, El Salvador, and even Canada.

Courtesy of Museo del Hombre
The finished product - a vibrant carpet in Avenida Cervantes in 2005.

The carpet was first placed on downtown Tegucigalpa's main street, Avenida Cervantes, in 2002, and government funding and aid from the mayor's office have helped those running the project this year to increase the scale of the plan even more. The 2006 alfombra will be over 500 metres long, and over 600 bags of sawdust will have been used in its construction by the time Semana Santa arrives. This year's carpet is considerably more ambitious than past projects: for the first time, the carpet will be in sequence and will even have a plot of sorts: involving quotations from scripture and colourful religious icons, each section will come together to form a strong and memorable non-violence message.

Once, everyone went to the beach during Semana Santa. This year, authorities expect some 300-350 000 visitors to Tegucigalpa for the procession and carpet alone. Easter is a time of rebirth, of hope - maybe this year Honduras' capital city will have good reason to be optimistic.

Rescue center fighting for the survival of reptiles

Hannah Green
Honduras This Week

Emma Barlow/Honduras This Week
English speaking guide Raul Alvarenga handles a Green Iguana. 

The Honduran Center for the Rescue and Exhibition of Reptiles and Amphibians is situated near Tegucigalpa Airport in Toncontín. It currently houses a variety of animals such as iguanas, turtles, chameleons, crocodiles, and around fifty snakes. Its planned move to a larger venue in July is evidence of its success since March 2000, when it opened.

The center is run by ORPRAH (Organization for the Rescue and Protection of Reptiles and Amphibians in Honduras). Twenty-seven volunteers dedicate their time to protecting reptiles and amphibians in three different ways: rehabilitating injured animals, running breeding programs, and educating local people about species found in Honduras.

In the rehabilitation center, rescued animals are nursed back to health. Some of the center's residents have ended up there after people have found them in their homes and have been unsure how to handle them. These are the lucky ones. There are others that have been injured by people either trying to fend them off, eat them, or steal their eggs. Others are neglected by owners who do not know what conditions the creatures need in order to remain healthy.

The center also operates a breeding program for most types of reptiles there. This requires the engineers who conduct the program to have a thorough scientific grounding in order to create the optimum conditions for snakes, iguanas and turtles to reproduce. The offspring are born at the center and cared for until they reach maturity. Once a biological study has been conducted to find an area with minimal human presence, they are released into the wild with the prospect of a good chance of survival.

The lack of education regarding reptiles and amphibians creates a largely irrational fear of them. This leads to many animals sustaining injuries and even dying at the hands of humans - something that ORPRAH is trying to stop. Common misconceptions about reptiles include the belief that larger snakes pose the greatest danger. With enthusiastic guides like Raul Alvarenga passing on their expert knowledge, people will learn to respect rather than fear these animals; particularly snakes. In addition to the guides, there are posters full of information for visitors to read. There is also a grading system informing visitors whether the snakes are venomous, have toxic saliva or are harmless.

Consistent with the spirit of helping the community, there is a small workshop where local people can learn arts and crafts and take their skills back to their villages. Although the majority of visitors to the center are Hondurans, there are five English speaking guides to cater for foreign visitors. For tourists there is also a selection of souvenirs such as T-shirts and postcards.

The entry fee is 20 Lempiras and normal opening hours are 8-12 and 1-5pm between Tuesday and Sunday. During Semana Santa, the center is open on Tuesday and Wednesday. To ensure the center is ready for your visit, or to ask for directions, call (504) 291-0090. ORPRAH also has an informative website: www.reptilesyanfibios.com where you can find out about how it all began, current projects and get up to date with news of how the organisation is helping local communities now.  

ALÓ commercializes Directv

Emma Barlow
Honduras This Week

Emma Barlow/Honduras This Week
Julio Ponce, Lesbia Lorenzana, Lourdes Galvez and Delia Chinchia at the launch of Satellite TV.

ALÓ (cell phone network company) announced on Wednesday that it is the official representative of Directv in Honduras and in all of Central America.

In a high profile launch the benefits and advantages of Directv were introduced by ALÓ executives.

Both companies are subsidiaries of the American group Movable, pertained by the Mexican tycoon Carlos Slin, who obtained the tax exemption to commercialize Directv in Central America.

Directv is a new Television Satellite System offering over 75 channels presenting programs of every genre: entertainment, music, sports, the news and films as well as 30 music channels. Additional channels will also be on offer specializing in family entertainment, comedy and adult drama and a pay-per-view service making the newest movie releases available to the subscriber at any time.

Lesbia Lorenzana, ALÓ commercial manager explained how they began to commercialize this new service of entertainment through the national cell phone company and how recently they have been able to offer the service in all authorized points of sale and scattered ALÓ stores throughout the country.

It will be the first National Coverage System to offer Satellite TV at a price that many Honduran homes will be able to afford.

"This service is now available for everyone who wants to have access to it." Lorenzana said. "And as the service is received via satellite it means that the image is always clear and without distortions of any type and that the client has a quality service far superior to any on offer at the moment."

Directv will also bring other benefits including; stereo sound; channel guides; parental controls and subtitles.

This new product can be purchased in 19 ALÓ stores throughout the country.

The installation of the equipment is easy and consists of a 90 cm Antenna, remote control and decoder. Directv send a technical crew to install the system.

Honduran Port Joins U.S. Container Security Initiative

The Port of Cortes in Honduras is the first Central American port to join the Container Security Initiative (CSI). Through its CSI membership, the port now has the opportunity to ship more containers to the United States, say U.S. officials.

The US Customs and Border Protection (CBP) is a program that works cooperatively with foreign governments to target and pre-screen cargo for terrorists or terrorist weapons before the containers are shipped to the United States. Cortes is the 44th port worldwide to implement the initiative.

In a CBP press release issued March 26, US Ambassador to Honduras, Charles Ford said, that the Port of Cortes' membership in the initiative "will directly benefit the Republic of Honduras because foreign investors will see the country as an easy and secure way to send their merchandise to the United States."

In addition to joining the CSI, the Port of Cortes also has joined the U.S. Department of Energy's National Nuclear Security Administration's MegaPorts Initiative, under which the United States will install radiological detection equipment in the port to identify nuclear material.

USINFO.

President Travels to Brazil

The President of Honduras, Manuel Zelaya Rosales will attend the annual meeting of the Inter-American Development Bank (I.A.D.B.), as a guest of honour. The meetings will take place over one week, from the 29th of March to the 5th of April in Belo Horizon, Brazil.

The Presidential House released an official notice on Thursday explaining that Zelaya has been invited to the event by the president of the I.A.D.B., Luis Brown Alberto.

Zelaya will speak at the meetings with the purpose of invoking "international solidarity", the notice read.

According to the government, the President will expose alongside his Bolivian colleague Evo Moral the challenges in regards to regional development and in building on relations with other nations.

El Heraldo