Since the Elections

Hello, friends.

I haven't updated since, well, ever, and I thought I should again depict the details of my life as a foreigner in Honduras.

The hotly contested elections unfolded on November 29th, and despite fears of both violence and boycott, there was widespread peace and participation. In fact, it was the highest proportion of voter turnout in the history of Honduran democracy with about 56 percent of eligible voters practicing their suffrage right. The United States State Department claim that the elections were both fair and transparent while hesitating to recognize President Elect Porfirio "Pepe" Lobo as the next head-of-state without addressing the issue that, yes, their was a military-executed removal of the ousted Manuel "Mel" Zelaya on June 28th.



Pepe looks strangely like a Latino Barack Obama, and coincidentally, he ran a campaign based on "change" using the slogan "Pepe es cambio ya" or "Pepe is change". "Ya" is difficult to translate by the way; it roughly means "now", "already", "soon", etc.

The United States demands include a Unity Government involving Zelaya as well as a truth commission to determine what actually occurred on and after June 28th. The notion of truth commissions conjures up horrifying images implanted in my mind from reading Ariel Dorfman's "Death and the Maiden" and then watching Roman Polanski's film adaptation starring the ethnically-ambiguous Ben Kingsley (the one who has portrayed Gandhi, Moses, Otto Frank, etc.) who portrays a doctor that participated in torturing supporters of the previous autocratic regime. Truth commissions remind me of intelligence tests; they seem very official and objective, but they fail to accurately report what they're measuring, i.e. "truth" or "intelligence". Regardless, the Honduran Congress has voted against reinstating Zelaya who has sought refuge in the Brazilian Embassy in Tegucigalpa since September. Mr. Lobo is currently seeking amnesty for all, including the ousters and Zelaya himself who faces arrest if he exits the embassy. It seems that Honduras wants to move forward and leave this crisis and Mel Zelaya behind it.

Part of moving forward involves addressing the drug trafficking that has tilted the rule of law in favor of corrupt narcotic peddlers. Though statistics are lacking, many "families" in Honduras earn a hefty proportion of their income by catalyzing the transport of drugs from South America to the United States. Recently, the director general of the national office for combating drug trafficking was murdered in his car by hitmen on motorcycle. Earlier this week, he warned that the avenues through which drugs were infiltrating Honduras were increasing, mainly through additional secret airfields on the large properties of the wealthy elite. The former director general claimed that Honduras is on the precipice of becoming another "narco-state" similar to the those that have ruled (or currently rule) Venezuela and Colombia. The rule of law in Honduras is weak, and with drug revenue feeding the corruption at the political and legal levels, development will remain beyond Honduras's reach.

One solution to the ills of narco-trafficking is the legalization and regulation of all the produce of the planet, psychoactive or not. But if the nations of the world have difficulty collaborating to address climate change, I doubt they'll rally around a global repeal of prohibition.

Other than that, the weather here is wonderful.

Be well,
El gringo joven