Honduras Weekly
Does Decriminalization Lead to More Drugs and Crime?
Written by The Real News
04 March 2012
Click for Video Interview
Editor's Note: The following video interview by The Real News Network (TRNN) with Sean Dunagan and Kevin Sabet provides some excellent insights on the pros and cons of drug legalization in the United States. On Tuesday, US Vice-President Joe Biden will travel to Honduras to talk with President Porfirio Lobo about security related issues, particularly with regard to the growth of organized crime and drug trafficking in Honduras and Central America. One of the specific topics that will likely come up is last month's proposal by Guatemala's President Otto Pérez Molina to legalize drugs in Central America as a possible way to curve the power of drug cartels and drug-related violence in the region. The US government remains firmly against the idea of drug legalization. Mr. Dunagan is a former intelligence analyst with the US Drug Enforcement Agency (DEA). Mr. Sabet is a former senior drug policy advisor in the Obama administration. Paul Jay is a senior editor with TRNN.
TRNN
Paul Jay: But what do you make of the argument that legalization of pot or other drugs leads to more use and flooding into our communities and such?
Sean Dunagan: Well, you know, there's really no statistical evidence to back that up. And there are a couple of examples. One example on the international level was Portugal, which in 2001 decriminalized possession of small amounts of all drugs—hard drugs, as well as marijuana. And Portugal hasn't seen exploding drug rates. They haven't seen drug tourism. What they have seen is declining rates of HIV infection and hepatitis infection.
Roatán's Understated Other End
Written by Kimberley Player
25 April 2012
To compare the east and west ends of Roatán would be like comparing apples and oranges -- the East End represents a completely different, exotic, and untouched realm, perhaps reminiscent of the one that visitors came to see decades ago on the west side, before tourism-oriented development took over.
By Kimberley Player
What comes to mind when you think of Roatán, Honduras? A typical answer would be West End (the lively mix of quirky bars and restaurants that comprises the island’s most popular entertainment venue); or West Bay (recently voted one of the world’s best beaches); or Coxen Hole (where the airport and an expanding cruise ship terminal serve as entry points for growing numbers of tourists); in short, pretty much everything west of French Harbor. But there’s far more to Roatán, namely the more understated, lesser-known East End. This huge, still relatively undeveloped region offers gorgeous landscapes and authentic island experiences in an environment a world away from the west side.
Missouri Army National Guard Survey Team Deploys to Naco
Written by Mary L. Williams
11 May 2012
Each parcel of land will soon be home to a clinic or a schoolhouse. In addition to the clinic in Quimistan and the schoolhouse in Micheletti, they also surveyed the parcel of land in La Lima which will become the Flores de Oriente health clinic.
By Mary L. Williams
A four-person Missouri Army National Guard survey team from the 35th Engineer Brigade out of Fort Leonard Wood, Missouri, has honed their Soldiers' skills during a recent three-week deployment to Naco (Cortés), Honduras, in support of Beyond the Horizon Honduras 2012. The team is easy to spot as they depart the forward operating base each morning headed out to a construction site. They're loading the bus with a sighting level, tripod and stadia rod -- standard surveying equipment. The parcels of land they will survey are baron or have been cleared of any existing structures. They know it's a tight schedule and that before the engineers begin work, the land is first surveyed.
Longing for Pelagius
Written by Marco Cáceres
13 May 2012
Augustine justified government and church subjugation of its' citizens based on his personal inability to choose good over evil and his assumption that everyone else must be as incapable as he.
By Marco Cáceres
It is a shame that Augustine of Hippo (354-430 AD) won out over Pelagius (354-418 AD), also known as Morien. Christianity would have turned out differently (... and better, in my view) had the Briton won out over the north African. Mr. Augustine taught that humankind is sinful by nature, and that without the grace of the Creator that sinfulness could only earn one eternal damnation. It is a totally negative view of humanity, which it goes contrary to my belief in the perfection God's creation. If God is perfect, then I sense so is the product of God's work. According to Augustine, humankind's salvation came solely through the grace of God, as presented in the person and sacrifice of Jesus Christ, and that this grace came only by God's pleasure, to whomsoever he chose to extend it, without requiring any effort on man's part to complete the transaction.
Lyrical Poetry and Pantheism of Juan Ramón Molina
Written by León Leiva Gallardo
15 May 2012
Juan Ramón Molina was born in 1875 and died young in 1908, but he was a precocious writer. His style, somewhat less flowery yet influenced by Darío and his ability to express metaphysical concerns with a language that was still endearing, won him the favor of his readers...
By León Leiva Gallardo
Poetry has always been the vehicle of the unsaid, the unspeakable, and the forbidden. The ambivalent or ambiguous nature of the language, the nuances and the insinuations, all lend themselves for the intricacies and tribulations of the human experience, be they openly shared or shunned by others. In this sense, modern poetry is no longer a social form of discourse as it used to be in Medieval Europe, ancient Greece, and classical Rome, when knowledge and morals were transmitted through versification.
