Honduras: A Failed State?

In the next couple of weeks I will explore this question in quite detail. There is no clear or unambiguous definition of the term. The Fund for Peace (http://www.fundforpeace.org/web/) proposed the following criteria in defining a "Failed State"

1) Loss of physical control of its territory, or of the monopoly on the legitimate use of physical force therein,
2) Erosion of legitimate authority to make collective decisions,
3) An inability to provide reasonable public services, and
4) An inability to interact with other states as a full member of the international community.

Source: Fund for Peace and Foreign Policy 2010

I will discuss each one of these criteria, while at the same time propose some additions that may help explain why Honduras may be in danger of becoming a failed state. By the way, the qualification that the Fund for Peace and the journal Foreign Policy have for Honduras is of a "warning" in their "Failed State Index 2010" http://www.fundforpeace.org/web/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=452&Itemid=900.

The following are just two of the writers that have addressed this question in our newspapers.
Benjamin Santos: "?Honduras: Estado Fallido?" http://www.latribuna.hn/web2.0/?p=121114 and Octavio Pineda Espinoza: "Convirtiendo a Honduras en un Estado fallido a propósito"  http://www.latribuna.hn/web2.0/?p=189620

Si me hace sentir meramente catracho....

 Me llego en el correo electrónico...juzgue usted mi querido lector si es cierto o no que estamos hechos...



SI ME HACE SENTIR MERAMENTE CATRACHO

Toncontin Airport, Tegucigalpa

AVION HONDUREÑO: Están todos los pasajeros en la sala de embarque en TONCONTIN esperando la salida del vuelo cuando de repente llega el co piloto impecablemente uniformado con anteojos oscuros y un bastón blanco tanteando el camino..La empleada de la compañía aclara que, si bien es ciego, es el mejor copiloto que tiene la Empresa. Al poco rato llega el piloto, con el uniforme impecable, anteojos oscuros y un bastón blanco asistido por dos azafatas.

Airplane Landing in Toncontin Airport, Tegucigalpa

 La encargada  de la sala aclara que, también, el piloto es ciego, pero que es el mejor piloto que tiene la Compañía y que, junto con el copiloto, hacen la dupla más experimentada. Con todos a bordo, el avión comienza a carretear, tomando cada  vez más velocidad y con los pasajeros aterrorizados.El avión sigue tomando velocidad pero no despega... continúa la carrera y sigue en tierra.   Cada vez el final de pista está más cerca y en una explosión de histeria general todos los catrachos a bordo comienzan a gritar como poseídos! En ese momento el avión, milagrosamente, toma altura ...entonces el piloto le dice al copiloto... - El día que los pasajeros no griten,  ¡¡¡ Nos hacemos mierda !!!


Moraleja: está hoy el país, gobernado por ciegos que no ven, o no quieren ver, la realidad.  A la espera de que el pueblo "GRITE" para levantar vuelo. Yo creo que como no gritamos ya nos hicimos mierda!! FIN

More conspirations.. a column by Juan Ramon Martinez...

Conspirators wheeling and dealing leading to a political outcome where Arturo Corrales Alvarez becomes the candidate of the Partido Nacional and next president of Honduras...followed by the subsequent and natural political decay of the Partido Nacional by being two terms in power and thus culminating in a victory of the Partido Liberal and Carlos Flores Facusse's daughter Lizzy Flores Flakes as the next candidate and President of the country


Hmmm...read the column my devoted readers and judge for yourself. Crazier things have happened and would not be surprised anymore...better than a novel by Garcia Marquez...

Si fuesemos un pais serio..por Don Gaspar Vallecillo

Reproducido de la columna en el Heraldo de hoy...no puedo mas que estar de acuerdo con Don Gaspar al cual respeto mucho por no tener pelos en la lengua para decirle al Cesar lo que es del Cesar...en un país serio ya tiempos hubieran rodado cabezas a diestra y siniestra por los escándalos suscitados en el país...desde el robo de la avioneta hasta los grupos de profesores que violentan los derechos humanos de la niñez y juventud de Honduras cuando no dan clase...y encima de eso se dan el lujo de "chulear" al gobierno...?Sera que ya le perdieron el respeto al gobierno? o ?Sera que el gobierno no se ha dado a respetar?

http://www.elheraldo.hn/Ediciones/2010/11/09/Opinion/Si-fueramos-serios

The Intolerance of the Resistencia: Now its Monsignore Rodriguez

A protest conducted by the "Frente Nacional de la Resistencia" outside a religious service in Comaguela lead by Monsignore Oscar Andres Rodriguez degenerated into repeated aggressions to the police assigned to protect the Monsignore.

The people of the Resistencia present outside the mass lead by Monsignore Rodriguez threw stones at the car that took Monsignore Rodriguez when Mass was completed. Of course, the well organized event started quite early and was covered by Globo TV and other "Resistencia" communication channels as one more example of the repression and the "rivers of blood" that are flowing in Honduras.

If you want to see what happened the newpaper La Tribuna has a video documenting the events that transpired there http://www.latribuna.hn/web2.0/. A few days before, a bullet pierced on the windows of Monsignore Rodriguez office in Tegucigalpa.


We cannot but condemn these aggressions for a person who has been a major influence in supporting and negotiating debt forgiveness for Honduras, leading the anti-corruption committee, being the worldwide president of Caritas -the catholic debt relief organization, and being an emissary of peace who tried to truly negotiate amongst many parties during the events of June 28 and beyond to avoid a bloodbath. Monsignore Rodriguez position has always been in support of Hondurashttp://www.speroforum.com/site/article.asp?idCategory=33&idsub=135&id=19782&t=Catholic+Church+did+not+favor+Honduras+coup+d%27etat.

If this is what the Resistencia has to offer as an intelligent action of protest then more than ever we need to stand firm in defense of the Republic.