There are different explanations for why these areas have been so badly afflicted. One is that the killings are part of gang wars, as with the government's explanation for the 11 murders earlier this week. But as Conadeh has observed, police frequently commit extrajudicial killings and then pass off the deaths as being related to gang infighting.

By Elyssa Pachico
A new wave of violence, believed to be related to a dispute between gangs, in northern Honduras has left at least 11 people dead on Monday and Tuesday. A spokesperson for the Attorney General's Office in San Pedro Sula, Honduras, said the conflict began when members of the Mara Salvatrucha (MS-13) gang killed two members of Barrio 18 (M-18) on Monday night, reports AFP. Barrio 18 retaliated by killing four alleged members of the MS-13 in La Lima, a town some 15 kilometers southwest of San Pedro Sula, the spokesperson said. The group then reportedly murdered five more alleged MS-13 members in another town, Chamelecón. Police say they have captured one suspect responsible for the Chamelecón killings.

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President Obama recently justified his drone attacks inside Pakistan by saying that they “have not caused a huge number of civilian casualties.” It is impossible not to interpret this as an admission that drones do kill and wound civilians. But it is a minor matter in the President’s eyes.

Editor's Note: US warfighting strategy increasingly relies on the use of surveillance and attack drones (also known as unmanned aerial vehicles or "UAVs"). The Obama administration is preparing to expand its "War on Drugs" in Central America, and specifically Honduras.

By Deepak Tripathi
First the video of United States Marines urinating on bodies of Afghans who had been killed. Then the revelation that copies of the Quran had been burned at Bagram Air Base, which also serves as an American prison camp in Afghanistan. Nearly thirty Afghans and several NATO troops died in the violent reaction. The BBC Kabul correspondent described these events, and the violent public reaction to them, as the tipping point for NATO in the Afghan War. Just as the US commander General John Allen and President Barack Obama hoped that apologies from them would help calm the situation comes another disaster. If official accounts are to be believed, an American soldier left his base in the middle of the night, entered villagers’ homes, woke up Afghan families from sleep and shot his victims in cold blood. The soldier was reported to have turned himself up to US commanders, and was flown out of the country. He has since been named as Staff Sergeant Robert Bales.

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Odd, though, that a Catholic Church beset by so many problems within its own walls -- pedophilia, alcoholism, sexual abuse, dropping numbers, sexism and misogyny; younger generations fleeing in record numbers -- would make the fight against birth control a "top priority." Actually, it is beyond ludicrous; it is deflective and counter-productive. It is also about controlling sex... that terrifying sex.

By Lorraine Devon Wilke
Let's get honest and quit dancing around the issue with statements about "religious freedom" and "war on Christianity" and "saving our flock from government intervention". Sex terrifies the religious. Oh, they're having it, pretty much like anyone else, but sex as a concept terrifies Catholics, selected Protestants, certainly Mormons (though perhaps not their bigamizing brethren); surely there are issues in Islam, I don't know from Buddhists, and though I can't speak for Judaism, I invite any adherents to weigh in on the topic.

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Pentair's Project Safewater initiative with WMI in Colón, Honduras, demonstrated that for only pennies a day per person, it's possible to provide people with access to safe drinking water in regions where they don't have it now. As a result, approximately 300,000 people in Colón now have access to sustainable, safe water and sanitation facilities...

PR Newswire
More than one billion people worldwide -- roughly one out of every seven -- have no choice but to use unsafe, contaminated water. To help solve this issue, Pentair, Inc., a leader in sustainable water solutions, and its Foundation announced today a new five-year grant totaling US$1 million to the non-profit Water Missions International (WMI) of Charleston, South Carolina. The multi-year grant will fund the implementation of clean water and sanitation projects in developing countries, further building on the work of Pentair's Project Safewater initiative with WMI. WMI currently operates water quality and sanitation programs in nine countries -- Honduras, Uganda, Kenya, Malawi, Mexico, Indonesia, Haiti, Peru and Belize.

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There is a tremendous amount of impunity in Honduras. Almost no one who commits a crime is ever caught, much less taken through an orderly judicial process that may or may not result in a conviction. This is one the country's many great flaws, injustices...

By Marco Cáceres
More than 6,750 people were murdered in Honduras last year -- including six journalists. This means that just under 20 are losing their lives to some sort of willful violent act each day. I learned today that a nephew of a close friend of mine in Honduras was killed just this past weekend. It appears the motive may have been robbery. A police officer arrived on the scene hours later and scribbled down some notes, but the chances are slim that there will ever be anything resembling an investigation, and even slimmer that whoever committed the crime will be captured, brought before a court, tried, convicted, and imprisoned. The police officer's role was really nothing more than to take note of what happened and record the homicide. That is what most of Honduras' 15,000 police officers do, because that is all most of them are trained, equipped, and expected to do.

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Honduras Weekly
Remittances from Honduran nationals living abroad -- primarily in the United States -- to their friends and relatives in Honduras equaled US$2.7 billion in 2011, according to a report released by the country's Central Bank. The amount represents an 11 percent rise over the previous year total of US$2.4 billion. The increase is particularly good news for Honduras, as remittances are its primary revenue generator, easily surpassing the maquila, tourism, and agriculture sectors. The total for 2010 was approximately the same as in 2009, which was 11 percent less than in 2008. The lower levels for those years were attributed to the to the world financial crisis and, to a lesser degree, the rise in deportations of undocumented Hondurans from the United States. The Central Bank has been tracking these money transfers for many years. In 2001, remittances were estimated at US$460 million; in 2002, US$770 million; in 2003, US$862 million; in 2004, US$1.1 billion; in 2005, US$1.8 billion; in 2006; US$2.4 billion; in 2007, US$2.5 billion; and in 2008, US$2.7 billion.

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Those Honduran students who are fortunate to make it past the sixth grade do not actually have a full six years of schooling, due to substandard curriculums, inadequately-trained teachers, and constant strikes by teachers' union in response to negligence and poor administration by the government.

Honduras Weekly
Of Honduras' 8.2 million people, approximately 10 percent neither study nor work -- the so-called "nis-nis" ("neither-neither"). This segment represents 68 percent of the youth and young adult population of the country -- those under the age of 30 years. Of these nis-nis, six out of 10 live in rural areas, while the remainder reside in urban zones. Part of the problem of the nis-nis can be attributed to the cultural and economic background of their families. Many of these individuals come from parents and grandparents with no formal education, and so there is no tradition for attending school. But many of them simply come from poor families who lack the economic resources to pay for even a basic education. Equally or more at fault, however, is the chaotic state of the public education system in Honduras. The law only requires that children receive six years of primary school education. Only three out of 10 Honduran youths have access to a secondary education.

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As it applies to a "drug war," much of the drug cartels' power is now centralized in low-level decision-making, and not consolidated in hierarchy or top-down accountability as was most prevalent before the aggressive enforcement interdiction. This fragmented nature has unleashed and relaunched traditional crime gangs in Honduras and Guatemala, and in some neighboring nations, where gang members have stepped-up acts of murder for hire, extortion, human trafficking, kidnapping, and other violent actions.

By Jerry Brewer
It has taken many years for the United States to answer a wakeup call to the Mexican border. As far back as 2005, when the sophistication of Mexican and other transnational organized criminals graphically manifested their superior tactics and armament on the streets of Nuevo Laredo, a nation scrambled to demand walls and fences regardless of the associated costs. The "gang" culture of violence from Latin America had long since penetrated the US border and set up shop in many major US cities. As well, these gangs had been building personnel infrastructures for years, assimilating with US prison gangs -- particularly in southwestern states and California. People were later shocked to learn that there were well over 300,000 gang members in California alone.

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So in many ways, Mrs. Zelaya is the default candidate for Libre. But it's more than only that. Mrs. Zelaya has immediate face and name recognition, and people sincerely like her.

By Marco Cáceres
Former First Lady Xiomara Castro de Zelaya will likely be the candidate to represent the new Liberty and Refoundation Party, or "Libre", in Honduras' presidential election next year. Mrs. Zelaya, who is the wife of former President Manuel Zelaya, is the choice of the largest and most powerful faction, or "current", within Libre -- the Popular Refoundation Force (FRP), led by Juan Barahona, Rafael Alegría, Gloria Oquelí, Wilfredo Paz, and Óscar Rivera. The other four, smaller currents are the July 5 Movement, the June 28 Movement, the Progressive Resistance Movement (MRP), and the People Organized in Resistance (POR) -- each with its own unique ideology or governing philosophy. The FRP, for example, is socialist and the farthest to the left, while the June 28ers are liberal and actually anti-socialist. Interestingly, the June 28ers are led by Mr. Zelaya's brother, Carlos Zelaya, which means that the socialist Xiomara might not be so appealing -- ideologically -- to Mel's relatively more conservative sibling. Carlos, however, may just quietly go along for the sake of peace in the family.

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OAS
The Secretary General of the Organization of American States (OAS), José Miguel Insulza, met yesterday with Arturo Corrales, Foreign Relations Minister of Honduras, who is visiting Washington, DC to discuss his country’s progress in the areas of security, justice, and human rights. Secretary General Insulza affirmed that “Honduras’ efforts in the areas of Security, Justice and Human Rights should continue to be supported by the international community”, and to this end announced that the OAS would sign, along with the Honduran government, a formal agreement on cooperation in security matters in the coming days, to ensure the support and continued monitoring by the General Secretariat of the recently created Commission for Reform of Public Security.

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In 2010, Honduras together with Costa Rica and Nicaragua, had significantly lower levels of crime, until they became major transit countries for drug smuggling gangs...

By Jim Kouri
Drug-gang violence poses a security threat to Central American nations with violence increasing at an alarming rate, according to the United Nations narcotics group's report released last week. The International Narcotics Control Board (INCB) also said Honduras, Costa Rica and Nicaragua had become major transit countries for traffickers. According to the INCB report: "The region of Central America and the Caribbean, because of its strategic geographical location, continues to be used as a major transit area for smuggling drugs from South America into North America. Some Mexican drug cartels, under pressure from Mexican law enforcement authorities, have moved their drug trafficking operations to Central America, which has resulted in increased levels of violence, kidnapping, bribery, torture and homicide in that sub-region. Drug trafficking organizations have increased their operations in Central America and the Caribbean, posing a serious threat to human security, affecting everyday life, in the region."

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Billy lived an ascetic life. He ate sparingly. He slept fitfully. He prayed, doted on his pet dogs and cats, and he worked feverishly until the end.

By W. E. Gutman
It was an unlikely fellowship from the start, the kind of amity made famous in epic novels or on celluloid -- he, a devout Catholic; I, a Jew and an atheist. We came from different universes; we lived in dissimilar worlds that would fortuitously merge like two celestial bodies now caught in a synchronous orbit. Something I’d written 13 years ago about a half-crazed homeless old woman living in a cardboard box in Tegucigalpa’s Parque Central, had caught his eye, stirred his soul and triggered an impassioned response. Entitled Doña Nadie, his editorial took aim at the undercurrents of corruption, ineptitude and apathy that favor and perpetuate poverty in his native Honduras. I called him on the phone. We spoke for an hour and we became fast friends.

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