Political and Criminal Violence in Honduras

Violence in Honduras is complicated and there are key aspects related to weak state institutions, impunity and longstanding social divides that aren't directly caused by the current epidemic of organized crime.

By James Bosworth
Last week I criticized [Elizabeth Dickinson's recent drug war article in the Washington Monthly] on violence in Mexico and Central America for placing it in the framework of the "war on drugs" while ignoring the many other aspects of organized crime that occur in the region. In a similar critique about media coverage of violence in Honduras, [Honduras Culture and Politics] takes it one step further:

Impunity; the availability of guns; targeting of certain groups for political and structural reasons; and the ineffectuality and corruption of the police, who no one expects to actually investigate crimes professionally: all these factors should be the start of press coverage of crime in Honduras, not the end.

I disagree with some of the specifics [in the Honduras Culture and Politics article], but agree on that general point. Violence in Honduras is complicated and there are key aspects related to weak state institutions, impunity and longstanding social divides that aren't directly caused by the current epidemic of organized crime.

Violence and criminality were worsening during President [Manuel] Zelaya's term, then exploded following the coup due to an increase in political violence and a failure by the de facto regime to handle the organized crime problem. Even post-Micheletti, significant violence related to political issues remains including the targeting of journalists and vulnerable populations.

There is both political violence and criminal violence today. They sometimes overlap, but they shouldn't all be lumped together by the media or by President Lobo and his administration as "drug war" issues.

Specific to the Bajo Aguán, the presence of drug trafficking and criminal organizations certainly exacerbates the conflict. In fact, the criminals have embedded themselves and armed certain actors on both sides of that conflict, making it even more difficult to sort out. However, that conflict has some deep roots in land issues and poverty and would likely be a serious social clash even without the presence of criminal groups and drug money. (1/28/12)

Note: This article was reprinted with permission. The author is a freelance writer and consultant based in Managua, Nicaragua. He blogs regularly at Bloggings by boz.