Maribel Gomez, 51, left her native country of Honduras more than 20 years ago and eventually made her way to Portland, where she now works as a housing justice organizer. She ended up in the Pacific Northwest because, after living for 18 months in Miami, she said she knew she couldn’t make it there without a good job and a lot of money.
Although the economic situation may have drawn Maribel north, she said the insecurity and violence in Honduras, known as the murder capital of the world, is forcing more people to migrate, including some to the Northwest. One of them will be her sister, an engineer and university math professor in the Honduran capital of Tegucigalpa. She plans to move within the next few months. “She’s so scared everyday about the security in Honduras I think that’s the reason that is pushing people to come,” Maribel told me over the phone.
June 28 marks the four-year anniversary of a coup d’etat in Honduras, as well as the birth of a fierce resistance movement that arose in response. The resistance has had its work cut out for it as human rights abuses have increased at alarming rates, coupled with near complete impunity for perpetrators, often members of the government, military and police force. Why should the average American citizen care about Honduras? Because our tax dollars fund the murders of journalists, activists, campesinos (peasants) and LGTBQ people, all under the guise of support for the drug war.
In 2008 and 2009, the democratically elected Honduran president, Manuel Zelaya, made some modest governmental changes, such as an increase in the minimum wage and land reforms to benefit indigenous groups, that were supported by the majority. He also proposed a nonbinding referendum to convene a constitutional assembly to make changes to the Honduran Constitution. Facing some opposition, he called for a preliminary poll on June 28, 2009. Instead, soldiers forced their way into Zelaya’s home and removed him, still in his pajamas, and flew him to Costa Rica on a U.S.-owned plane. He was not allowed back for more than two years.
That fall, amid growing resistance from Hondurans, the interim president, Roberto Micheletti, declared a state of siege and suspended free speech, shut down opposition media stations, suspended habeas corpus and banned unauthorized public gatherings. Two months later, elections were held. The Organization of American States, the United Nations, the European Union and the Carter Center all refused to send election observers, recognizing the vote as a sham. Unsurprisingly, the opposition candidate and current president Pepe Lobo won. The United States accepted the results the following day.
Since the coup, Honduras’ murder rate has skyrocketed. Seattle has a murder rate of 3.2 murders per 100,000 people; in Honduras, 82.1 people are murdered out every 100,000. Tegucigalpa, where Maribel’s sister lives, ranks as the sixth deadliest city in the world.
While much of this violence is related to drugs and gangs, politics also play a significant role. Since the coup, there have been more than 300 politically motivated assassinations, including those of many campesinos fighting against powerful, U.S.-supported agricultural interests. Since 2010 more than 3,000 reports have been filed of police officers violating human rights. Even more concerning is the complete impunity for illicit activity: In Honduras, 80 percent of crimes go unsolved.
The United States and its corporate interests have benefited from the coup. The Department of Defense opened bidding in 2011 to private contractors to help build an Air Force base. The same month, the U.S. Embassy sponsored a conference in San Pedro Sula called “Honduras: Open for Business.” Through its Central American Regional Security Initiative, President Obama has spent millions of taxpayer dollars to fund corrupt military and police forces, including National Police Director Juan Bonilla — who is under investigation for running death squads.
This fall there will be a new election in Honduras, and there is an urgent need for an international presence in the months leading up to the vote to ensure that the election is democratic. In August, a group of Northwesterners will head to Honduras and Nicaragua to examine 30 years of U.S. intervention in Central America and what we can do to change these policies. Maribel’s sister and the other Honduran people need us.