Stories from Quick Reads and Honduras
AIDS Activist Freed After Kidnapping in Honduras
Keren Dunaway, una joven activista de pacientes de VIH/Sida, fue liberada horas después de haber sido secuestrada en la ciudad hondureña de San Pedro Sula.
Migrant Children from Central America Are Not Mere Statistics
In an opinion piece for the American newspaper Milwaukee Journal Sentinel, Global Voices contributor Jamie Stark wonders, “What kind of parent would pay $10,000 for a stranger to bring a child 1,400 miles through gangland and hostile border crossings? A good parent, perhaps.” As a concerned citizen about the crisis of...
Honduras Generates Employment with Community Activities
Honduran President Juan Orlando Hernandes launched the program “Desarrollemos Honduras” (Let's Develop Honduras) alongside civil servants and community members. Hernandes explained that if a house has a damaged or a dirt floor, it should be replaced with a cement floor; or prioritize according to the family needs, and: Cambiar los...
What We Take With Us
From Tegucigalpa, capital city of Honduras, Madame Gumbeaux tells she will return to live in the United States in a few weeks, and lists what she will miss… and other things she won't: I will miss…. 1. the guy on the motorbike who rides through the ‘hood twice a day,...
The Humanitarian Tragedy of Children Emigrating Alone
From Mexico, Katia D'Artigues, author of the blog Campos Elíseos (Champs Elysées), writes about the children who see themselves forced to emigrate on their own [es], and calls this a “humanitarian tragedy”: Son niños que son orillados a cruzar la frontera solos. No lo hacen por aventura, sino porque muchas...
Honduras: Thoughts After the Match Against France
The blog Bitácora del párvulo (Prekindergatener log) writes thirty minutes [es] after the match the national team played against the French crew, where the latter scored three times and the Honduran team none: Francia 3, Honduras 0 con tecnología o sin ella. ¡Estamos en el Mundial, señores! ¿Quién les dijo...
Honduras Launches Online Dictionary of Indigenous Languages
A dictionary of Honduran indigenous languages was recently released online [es]. Honduran newspaper Tiempo [es] explains that this dictionary “registers the equivalent [words] in Spanish, chortí, garífuna, isleño, miskito, pech, tawahka and tolupán, languages that make up the country's linguistic heritage.” For example, a search for the Spanish word for...
Gender-Based Violence Epidemic Hits Sex Workers in Honduras
Despite the fact that sex work is legal in Honduras, many groups and individuals view their actions as immoral. Those who murder sex workers believe they can literally treat these human beings as garbage to be disposed of. Such violence takes place against the broader backdrop of widespread gender- and sexuality-based violence...
Electoral Authority Agrees to Recount Vote Tallies in Honduras Presidential Election
Honduran presidential candidate Xiomara Castro from left-wing LIBRE party has been calling for a recount of the votes from the country's recent presidential election. According to official results Castro won 29% of the votes, placing her second after conservative candidate Juan Orlando Hernandez with 37%. RNS in Honduras Culture and...
Vote Counting Errors in Honduras Elections
RNS in Honduras Culture and Politics writes about some of the anomalies noted by observers of Sunday's elections in Honduras, “some of which have been corrected, and others of which have not.” He concludes: A public recount of the Actas would go a long way to providing confidence that everyone...
Honduras: Over 600 Femicides in 2012
A woman is killed in Honduras an average of once every fourteen and a half hours according to the Violence Observatory of the National Autonomous University of Honduras. The group concluded that 2851 women were killed in Honduras between 2005 and 2012 and there has been a steady increase in...
Hondurans Hopeful Ahead of Elections
Adrienne Pine in her blog Quotha writes that “there is an incredible amount of hope right now in Tegucigalpa,” as Hondurans prepare to elect a new president on November 24, 2013: It's palpable, in the central park, in cafés, on the streets, in my classrooms. It feels to me like...
One Month Until Honduras’ General Election
Mike Allison from the blog Central American Politics shares links to English-language posts on the November 2013 elections in Honduras. Mike recommends blogger Hermano Juancito's post “about the breakdown of the two-party system”; a post from the blog Honduras Culture and Politics on the newest poll results; and a post...
Reclaiming Indigenous Lands in Honduras
In Honduras, they’re taking land that we were using to grow beans and rice so they can grow African palm for bio-fuel. The intention is to stop the production of food that humans need so they can produce fuel that cars need. Beverly Bell and Tory Field have published a...
Honduran Indigenous Leader Killed
This is a story of exploitation of Honduras’ natural resources, and of popular opposition to their destructive effects, largely ignored outside activist media outlets. RAJ in Honduras Culture and Politics blogs about the murder of Tomás García, an indigenous Lenca COPINH (Civic Council of Popular and Indigenous Organizations of Honduras)...
Campesino Resistance in Honduras
Chavelo’s voice was quiet but unwavering as [he] expressed his gratitude that we traveled all the way from the U.S. and Canada with the human rights and solidarity organization Rights Action to hear his story. […] Chavelo recounted briefly how he ended up in the prison, emphatically stating that, “I...
#FLISOL 2013: Hundreds of Latin Americans Installing Free Software
From the Patagonia to Havana, hundreds of computer users across Latin America are choosing freedom over control by installing free software on their computers. On April 27th, groups of free software enthusiasts will be installing free software in dozens of cities across Latin America as part of FLISOL [es], the...
Visiting World's ‘Most Dangerous Country’
Every day I wake up, shivering with fear, hoping I’ll make it to see the light of another day here in Honduras. I live behind doors enforced with triple bolt locks and I barely dare to go out on the street. […] If that’s what you want to hear, there...
Honduras’ Indigenous Reject Hydroelectric Project
Simply put, this dam is a death sentence to the indigenous communities that have lived here for generations.
The State of Torture in the World in 2013
On January 23, 2013, an excerpt from the annual report of l'ACAT-France, A World of Torture 2013, makes a fresh assessment of the state of torture in the world [fr]: “A report called A World of Torture in 2013, assesses torture practices that continue to be alarming, from Pakistan to...
Honduran President vs. Freedom of the Press
We make no claim that the Honduran press is exceptionally reliable, or lacking in bias. But Lobo Sosa wants to stop the press from doing anything that makes his government uncomfortable, even though part of the role of a free press is just that: making the powerful uncomfortable. RNS from...
