Honduras

The Republic of Honduras is a Central American nation that borders Nicaragua, Guatemala, and El Salvador. Prior to being conquered by Spain in the 16th century, Honduras was the home of numerous important Mesoamerican cultures including the Mayans. The country received independence in 1821 and has officially operated as a republic since. However, the nation has suffered from political instability including four military coups, most recently in 2009. The formation of large and powerful gangs in Honduras, spawned by the operations of transnational crime syndicates that utilize the country as a transit point, has devastated Honduran society. It now has the highest murder rate per capita in the world. Meanwhile, the extreme poverty of the country prevents the government from effectively curbing the dangerous activity of the gangs. Meanwhile, the unstable conditions in Honduras has caused the immigration of over 500,000 nationals. 

Social

Overview: Honduras has the world’s highest murder rate at 90.4 homicides per 100,000 people. Crime and violence are serious problems throughout the country. Transnational criminal organizations operate extensively in Honduras as the country is part of a heavily used drug trafficking route. There is limited government response to the violence and crime committed by gangs. The police do not have the resources to address crimes and many are never investigated. The police are also known to be corrupt with many officers arrested for working in conjunction with criminal organizations.
 
Demographics
            Population: 8,598,561
            0-14 years – 34.8&
            15-24 years – 21.2%
            25-54 years – 35.3%
            55-64 years – 4.7%
            65 years and over – 3.9%
            Mestizo (Mixed Amerindian and European) – 90%
            Amerindian – 7%
            Black – 2%
            White – 1%
            Roman Catholic – 97%
            Protestant – 3%
            (Numbers from CIA World Fact Book) 
 
Trends: Unauthorized immigration from Honduras to the United States has steadily risen since 2000. This immigration is a result of the increased violence and crime occurring in Honduras. Of approximately 573,000 Honduran immigrants in the United States, nearly 60% are undocumented. Honduras is also responsible for the highest number of child immigrants to the United States. 

Economy

Economic System: Honduras has a free market economy that has primarily exported coffee and bananas. It is the second poorest country in Central America and suffers from extremely large wealth divisions. Its per capital GDP of approximately $4,800 ranks it 164th in the world while approximately 60 to 65% of the population lives in poverty. Honduras suffers from a lack of a foreign investment due to unstable security conditions and nearly half of its economic activity is tied directly to the United States.
 
Economic Trends: In the last decade Honduras has tried to diversify its economy away from its agricultural exports of coffee and bananas by industrializing to produce apparel and automobile wire harnessing. There has been modest economic growth of 2 to 3% annually since 2010 but this has not been enough to change the country’s overall rate of poverty.
 
Economic Resources: Honduras suffers from a lack of natural resources. Its agricultural exports are largely confined to small portions of land along the coast and in occasional fertile valleys. The industrial sector has yet to move past basic textile and agricultural processing industries and assembly operations. Honduras faces tough competition from more industrialized countries in the region and its small domestic market hurts its chances for major growth. 

Political

Political System: Honduras is a representative democratic republic. The President of Honduras, currently Juan Orlando Hernandez of the PNH, is elected for a 4-year term without the possibility of re-election. Congress makes up the judicial branch of the Honduran government. Congress has 128 deputies elected to a four-year term by proportional representation. The judicial branch is made up of a Supreme Court presided over by 15 judges elected by Congress.

Political Groups: For the past 50 years political power in Honduras has alternated between two parties, the conservative National Party of Honduras (PNH) and the centrist Liberal Party of Honduras (PLH). However, a 2009 military coup that removed former president Manuel Zelaya diminished the PNH’s and PLH’s alternating hold on power. As a result the 2013 elections featured the most political parties in Honduran history with eight groups. While most of the parties failed to garner significant force, the newly founded Liberty and Refoundation party (LIBRE) received more congressional representatives than the PLH. The leftist party looks to be a force in Honduran elections to come. 

Political Conflicts: The military of Honduras has an extended history of interference in civilian politics. Most recently, the military ousted President Manuel Zelaya when he attempted to hold a referendum regarding constitutional rewrites. Presidential power was then transferred to Speaker of the Congress Robert Micheletti. The coup met widespread international condemnation. In 2011 a commission led by the Honduran Congress found that although Zelaya broke the law in regards to the constitution, the coup was illegal. The coup resulted in the public’s loss of confidence in the two main political systems and gave rise to numerous new political parties. 

Military & Intelligence

Overview: The Honduran Armed Forces (FFAA) ranks 97th largest in the world but has the highest military expenditures in all of Central America. The armed forces of Honduras have consistently been involved in Honduran politics throughout the nation’s history. The military has also been accused of human rights abuses including arbitrary detentions and forced disappearances. Since 2002 they have aided the police in their ongoing conflict with Honduras’s powerful gangs by patrolling the streets.
 
Branches: Honduras’s military branches include army, navy, and air force, The navy operates 31 mostly small vessels while the air force operates out of 4 bases.
 
Intelligence: Battalion 3-16 had historically been the intelligence outfit of Honduras. Battalion 3-16 was primarily involved in domestic subversion of opposition candidates. This included torture and forced disappearance. Ostensibly, Battalion 3-16 has not operated since the 1980s. However, deposed President Zelaya has accused the Battalion of resuming operations with the 2009 coup. 

Information

​Freedom of the Press: Freedom of the press is constitutionally protected in Honduras. However, the environment for media freedom has become worse in recent years. There has been a rise in murders and intimidation of journalists. It is particularly dangerous to report on organized crime in Honduras. Since 2009, 29 media members and journalists have been killed. The government strongly criticizes the reporting of violence to prevent Honduras from being painted in a negative light. In 2013 media members agreed to police themselves over their portrayal of violence in order to prevent a government bill that may have further regulated reporting. Still, the government can use laws to prosecute reporters such as Julio Ernesto Alvarado who received a 16th month sentence for criminal defamation after the reporting of a criminal incident.
 
Media Institutions: Honduras has nine daily newspapers, six private television stations, and five radio stations that broadcast nationally. It also has a large number of community radio stations. Many of the national publications are owned by a small number of business magnates that have political and commercial agendas. This causes the national media outlets to be polarized and censored according to the owners interests. 

Infastructure

Roads: Many of the roads in Honduras were severely damaged by the devastation of 1998's Hurricane Mitch. There has been a steady effort to rebuild in the nearly two decades since but extreme caution should still be exercised while driving as the roads are not in excellent condition. There are also thousands of miles of unofficial roads that are used by the coffee industry. These roads are often unpaved and can be extremely dangerous.
Railways: Few civilian railways, mostly utilized for moving agricultural products.
Maritime: Honduras has over 465 km of waterways primarily only navigable by small crafts. The country also has an array of ports utilized for trade.
Power: Ranked 115th in energy consumption in the world.
Internet: 107th in internet hosts in the world. Not reliable except for the Bay Islands and tourist resorts.
Phone: Fixed land lines are seeing minor increases. Competition between mobile carriers has seen the ownership of cellular owners increase. Top providers are Tigo, Claro, Digicel, and Hondutel. 

Analysis: Country Trajectory
Its unlikely that Honduras will shift from its current troubled state in the next 5 years. While the process of economic diversification is encouraging, tough competition will keep Honduras from gaining financial prosperity. Meanwhile, without prosperity many will still choose to actively work in or with transnational criminal organizations that flourish in Honduras. While the rise of new political parties in the 2013 elections is encouraging, this may mean very little if the government cannot effectively curb the violent activity of criminal syndicates.