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This article sounds like a reflection of the author's own preconceived ideas about Latinos, picked up in old literature books. Even though there is a larger female population than male (51/49) more women are graduating from school proportionally than men (54/46). Of the 3 most important financial institutions in Honduras, an area usually led by men, 2 are led by women. Scores of small business programs are bringing out women entrepreneurs from all over Honduras.

News items have been talking about murders against women, but statistically, more are committed against men than against women.

As in developed countries like the US, there are still certain backward areas were old machista concepts still survive, but it also happens in the most advanced countries, even in the USA, or isn't that part of a "redneck" culture?

Let's applaud programs that seek to focus assistance on women as a positive contribution to society, as well as programs that assist all citizens. Many female focused programs have been quite successful and everyone should be happy about that.

But describing current honduran society as "machista" and generalizing these antiquated concepts as if they describe the majority of Honduran citizens today can only be ascribed to a mind that has stopped understanding the current dynamics and evolution of Honduran society.

Women are Like Shotguns , HondurasWeekly

My, my oh my.....whats going on in Honduras...that man has got to be kidding....letting that thief come back with clean hands and noone to answer to....this cannot be happening...they are all a bunch of corrupt and putrid smelling lot!!!How can anyone let this guy talk like that...so basically that means anyone in the government is fundamentally a fellon...from the bottom to the very top...I have now lost faith in that government...it seems to me..the more corrupt you are...the better. I am depressed really...how can we as Hondurans allow men with this type of convictions represent us...Honduran politicians have now become the laughing stock of my colleagues here in Canada, "No wonder, they say, you had to leave your country..otherwise...you would have been dead long ago!!!so sad..it is right down shameful!!!
Louis Alvarado
Montreal, Quebec
Canada

Reina Accepts Post as Ambassador to Unasur , HondurasWeekly

Is there any way a schedule or itinerary could be posted for the Conference. It would make it easier to make travel arrangements. Thanx

Conference on Honduras 2010 Set for Copán Ruinas in October , HondurasWeekly

I too visited a number of schools in Honduras, some in the capital, others in the hinterlands. And I agree that most of them were dingy, poorly lit, overcrowded dungeons. I was also struck by the listless apathy or the nervous agitation of the pupils as teachers struggled to maintain control or impart some snippet of knowledge in an environment not conducive to scholarship. I could not have imagined myself being either the poorly paid teachers I met or the kids who clearly came to school culturally and psychologically unprepared to learn. They both suffered from "mental poverty" -- not the congenital kind but that which is acquired in response to poverty, privation, social injustice and a national climate of anti-intellectualism.

Also, from my experience covering Honduras for over 12 years as a journalist, I do not recall a single example of material poverty being "defeated" except by a small dynastic elite living in Babylonian splendor while much of the population survives on false hopes and its daily "canasta."

I believe that the greatest example of "mental poverty," however, is that which is displayed by those who trivialize the importance of unions in a nearly lawless and exploitative nation such as Honduras, who resist any attempt to democratize it, to bring social justice and economic parity, and who blame the rising tide of national nausea against Honduras's collossally inept and corrupt governance not on the leaders, but on the led.

For the Price of a Few Lead Pencils... , HondurasWeekly

I live in Canada....a friend and I have created an ONG that teaches the fundamentals of the English language in a small town called Ceguaca, in Santa Barbara. The interest is amazing...we charge a very small amount for each period, to help with our expenses, but even then..the number of requests for admission has grown every year. We are doing our small part in building the pillars for the next Generation. We hope someday to send some of our pupils to these contests. It is a great idea.Great to hear that.

Honduras Weekly Sponsors Monthly Writing Contest , Honduras Weekly

Good to hear. But...send people from the World Bank..and make them distribute the funds...do not just give it to the government..we already know what they will do with it...steal!!! These families will not see a cent if the Bank does that. My advice from past experience...designate special envoys from outside and make sure these poor people get those funds, if not..they will end in the corrupted politicians bank accounts in Miami.

World Bank Loans US$40 Million for Family Allowance Program , HondurasWeekly

A group of science teachers from public schools were recently invited to a conference for the launching of a new science textbook by a small town science teacher. The conference was taking place in an old private school that had closed down its chemistry lab for lack of support.

The author had travelled from his samll town in very humble clothes, with only a native backpack on him. They showed him the abandoned lab to let him know that he would have little support to present his book. "Oh, no" he answered, "this place is wonderful!" He walked outside, found some discarded coke cans, some nice rocks and bought some string. He gave the most amazing class on how to teach scientific principles with the most rustic elements at hand.

The point is, that more than the books, more than the lead pencils, the fancy classrooms, the first thing that's needed is dedicated teachers.

Thats why, despite whatever romantic ideas Dana Franks has about teachers protesting for a "greater good", the truth is that the majority of Honduras are angry because the school year is about half way through and children have already lost 30% of their class days. And many are wasting childrens time by trying to brainwash them into accepting their own beliefs.

And its the poor children that are being hurt. One of the most famous union leaders has now moved to the backgroung, when it was discovered that he was calling on strikes, while his daughters attended a private school.

Material poverty can be defeated, but mental poverty??

For the Price of a Few Lead Pencils... , HondurasWeekly

I am very interested with the political developments of Honduras and its people. As I see it LR will take the liberal socialist principle of Mel Zelaya and Eduardo Carlos Reina and that Guillermo Escobar claiming the name Liberal Resistance (LR) which I think is confusing the Liberals and the FNRP members.

There is a political opportunism and saboteur somewhere in the unification.

"Liberal Resistance" Aims to Unify Liberal Party and FNRP , HondurasWeekly

I also hope you dwell more on the 'ill effects' of Mel Zelaya on the Hondurans rather than on the coup itself. Surely, I hope you highlight all the philandering and the abuse that went on before his removal from office. I hope you highlight the pathetic power-hungry vultures that surrounded him and who now freely walk the streets after depleting all the country's resources. Honduras is currently in a depression seldom seen before while Zelaya basks in the warm sun of Dominican Republic. That should say a lot about him and his followers.

Book on Zelaya Overthrow Set for September Release , HondurasWeekly

I'm looking forward to reading this book.

Book on Zelaya Overthrow Set for September Release , HondurasWeekly

What are you talking about? Who's contesting allegations against Mr. Zelaya? Did you even bother to read my comments?

What I'm saying is:

(1) Go ahead, prosecute,indict and lock the ex-president up (if you can catch him) but do the same with the murderous Honduran military cadre -- especially members of death squad Battalion 3-16 --who engaged in disappearances, torture and assassinations. I have the names. Do you want them?

(2) If Mr. Zelaya was a right-winger and a friend of the US, he would have been absolved of all crimes.

A New Constitution is No Panacea , Marco Caceres

As an independent voter I will not vote for a party that has mixed ideas about democracy. Either you support the rule of law, separation of powers and the alternability of the presidential office OR you support the constituent assembly. I will not vote in a party where I don't know what I'm getting.

so whatever unity you make, make sure that point is clear or you won't win another election. The rest is punctual, depending on the momentary crisis. The idea that any party is a majority and that Hondurans will continue to vote according to tradition needs to be revised by all polititians.

"Liberal Resistance" Aims to Unify Liberal Party and FNRP , HondurasWeekly

Show me the proof of what you say. The proof on Zelaya is available, so you say that nothing should be done about Zelaya because there is no proof on the others? Let impunity reign! Bravo for you Mr. gutman.

A New Constitution is No Panacea , Marco Caceres

I would cheerfully agree to indicting and incarcerating anyone caught red-handed stealing from the national treasury. But I would defer such punishment until the military thugs -- notably graduates of the US Army School of the Americas who have blood on their hands -- are brought to trial and locked up in a very deep and dark dungeon. A similar fate should await the dynasties of inept, corrupt and apathetic heads of state who committed grand larcecny against the people of Honduras.

Of course, this is wishful thinking. Some inane reason, like "reconciliation," or "national tranquility" will be invoked to spare a public hungry for retribution "the trauma of punitive justice."

Mr. Zelaya is no saint. But looking at the abysmal record of his predecessors, I see the same rush to power and enrichment. No one, at least not in my neck of the woods, believes that the former president would have been deposed had he positioned himself right-of-center and lapped the milk of obedience from America's hand.

A New Constitution is No Panacea , Marco Caceres

Article 16 of the Declaration of the Rights of Man states: "Where there is no separation of powers, a constitution must be installed."

In your second paragraph about punishing those that break the constitution, I totally agree and that is exactly what our struggle is all about. For the first time in our history we have a President caught red-handed stealing. Its not so much about the past but about establishing a precedent that says "anyone who breaks the law, goes to jail, even if he is the president". Like in so many other countries.

But the OAS and UNASUR keep fighting against us so we don't do that -- Amnisty they say. Even if it means going against their very own OAS's Anti Corruption Convention!! Unbelievable, don't you think?

A New Constitution is No Panacea , Marco Caceres

Before June 28, we hondurans kept asking "Which changes?" but got no answer. Of all the people who talk about changing the Constitution to make it supposedly better, no one seems able to pinpoint what it is that needs changing and how that is going to solve so many problems.

Remember most articles can be changed using the normal, constitutional procedures. It is only the articles that establish the principle of Legality (rule of law), the separation of powers and the alternability of the presidency of the executive power that cannot be changed. Thus a Constituent Assembly would be aimed at changing those articles. So, which one? And what would the new proposed article look like? Then we can vote on creating a "supervised" Constituent Assembly to make THAT change and only that one.

Making a Constituent Assembly without knowing where you're going is not about making changes but about creating a new power structure in which the president, with his toy assembly, can stay in power until he feels like it.

Do you think Tiburcia Carias, Oswaldo Lopez Arellano and the rest of the dictators who held power during the lost decades in Honduras didn't have a "Constituent Assembly" to sanitize their actions. Read Honduran history!!

Or simply look at Cuba's "Politburo" or Venezuela's Constituent Assembly (now running for 12 years).

Thank you, Marcos, for your excellent writing.

A New Constitution is No Panacea , Marco Caceres

It was a constitutional convention that abolished royalty in France, decapitated a corrupt and politically abusive Church and enacted, after centuries of feudalism and abuse, the Declaration of the Rights of Man. The power to call for such an assembly should rest in the people, not their representatives. whose interest is to protect the status quo.

Of course, there is nothing inherently wrong with the Honduran Constitution which, predictably, incorporates some of the best elements of the Napoleonic and British codes. What is wrong -- flagrantly wrong -- is that both the spirit and the letter of this document are systematically violated by the governing elite. Theyn will one day be called to answer for their dereliction.

A New Constitution is No Panacea , Marco Caceres

Excellent comments Marcos. You are correct, there is very little that needs changing in the Honduran Constitution, which I have read. Any changes that might be needed can be handled by Congresso Nacioanal. IF trust and legitimacy is reestablished, this constitution will work.
Both in the US, and in the individual states, there is resistance to calling a constitutional convention. Basically, once called, such a body can do as they please, and that alarms many.

A New Constitution is No Panacea , Marco Caceres

This information is actually not accurate. The law is binding on future congressmen. At least 17 current congressmen/women have requested dispensas and at least 10 have used them. Originally all but one congressman claimed to agree voluntarily to forgo their dispensas, but in fact, behind the scenes, several have been requesting them.

Honduras' dispensazo scandal
http://lagringasblogicito.blogspot.com/2010/07/honduras-dispensazo-scandal.html

Additional, it has been reported that at least 128 vehicle dispensas have been issued fraudulently by businessmen, politicians, and NGOs.

Members of Congress Lose Duty Free Privileges , HondurasWeekly

You hit the bulls eye. Many of us prefer to be fed an illusionary dream by Hollywood, which leads to complacency, rather than face the sad truth and try to do something about it.

A Lamp that Sheds No Light , HondurasWeekly