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Voices escaping from the dangerous silence – is anyone listening?
Honduras This Week
 Workers’ unions, labor boards, schoolteachers and many working-class citizens protested and marched through the streets of several Honduran cities on April 17th. Announced in advance, the marches were the result of widespread, popular dissatisfaction with chronically difficult living conditions, made even more difficult by recent increases in food and gas prices. Some marchers baptized the protest as “a march against neoliberalism.” Full Article
Las Casitas:
Small, rural village struggles are commonplace
Manfredo Mrtinez
Honduras This Week
A family in Las Casitas, circa 1990, stand on the main street.
 In the small village of Las Casitas in western Honduras, many children must forego school to work on farms: their survival, and that of their families, depends upon it. Families here are usually composed of seven or more people due to the lack of family planning and birth control practices. Daily wages in Las Casitas average 40 lempiras per day, $2.30 USD. This meager amount has to cover a family’s basic necessities. Full Article
Frida Kahlo photograph exhibit:
Incentive to finally visit the Museum of National Identity
Patrick Ahern
Honduras This Week
Leo Matiz Frida Kahlo XII circa 1945
 The Museo para la Identidad Nacional (MIN) in downtown Tegucigalpa has an excellent exhibit of photographs by famed Colombian photographer, Leo Matiz. Matiz spent several years in Mexico City in the 1940’s and befriended Frida Kahlo (1907-1954) and Diego Rivera (1886-1957). The photos of Frida were taken between 1943 and 1945 at her “Casa Azul” in Coyoacan, Mexico. Matiz returned to Casa Azul in the late 1990’s after it was converted to a museum dedicated to Frida in the southern part of Mexico City.Full Article
THE “CAN-DO LADY” IS BACK
 Mrs. Suyapa Edwards is back at the helm of her pet project after allowing it to be used last year to raise funds for the “Little Friends Foundation.” This year, the proceeds will go to the “Parrot Tree Educational Fund” to finance many worthwhile charitable programs. This is one fundraiser we know will trickle down to the needy people and won’t be spent on “overhead.” By Don Pearly
Garifunas commemorate 211 years on Roatan plus RECO update
Bruce Star
Honduras This Week
Bruce Starr/Honduras This Week
A new RECO generator awaits placement after arrival on Roatan.
On Saturday, April 12th, the Garifuna from Punta Gorda celebrated their 211th year on the island of Roatan. This year’s festivity was attended by thousands of people, not only from the Garifuna community, but by many others from around the island and country. Honduran President Mel Zelaya was present to take part in the celebration along with the Minister of Tourism, Ricardo Martinez and many other nationally known dignitaries. Full Article
ARTS
WOMEN IN THE ARTS - Mujeres en las Artes. One of the strongest artistic movements
in Tegucigalpa. Mujeres en la Artes Leticia de Oyuela constantly sponsors
workshops, exhibitions, conferences, art shows and community events in the city. For the complete schedule, log on to www.muaartes.org.hn or contact Veronica Romero at 222 3015. Full Article |
Rising food and fuel prices catalyst for nationwide march
Todd Ellertson
Honduras This Week
Todd Ellertson/Honduras This Week
Protesters ended their march close to the Presidential House where they were separated from police by chainlink barricades
Protesters, police, and anti-riot military units came face to face in major cities across Honduras on Thursday, April 17. Rising food costs, record fuel prices and failed political promises galvanized the working-class resolve that resulted in wide-spread marches and brought out hundreds of Hondurans who demanded their voices be heard. Full Article by Todd Ellertson
Moskitia leaders discuss native land rights
Maria Fiallos
Special to Honduras This Week
Foto: Maria Fiallos/Honduras This Week
A church in La Moskitia on disputed land.
Indigenous Miskito and Afro-Honduran leaders, government representatives from the National Agrarian Institute (INA), and other institutions met in Ahuas, Honduras in the Department of Gracias a Dios from March 27-29 to discuss land titling procedures for the Moskitia region. As many know, and others have experienced, the government process of granting land titles in rural Honduras is often sketchy and a major cause of dispute. Full Article by Maria Fiallos
What role will the Garifuna play in tourism development?
Callum Oliver Reece
Honduras This Week
Callum Oliver Reece/Honduras This Week
President Zelaya and Paula Bonilla (sub-secretary of tourism) during exercises on Roatan.
In recent years, Roatan has been referred to by many as the Caribbean’s best kept secret and has been a perennial holiday favorite for tourists from around the world over the last 10 years. The 1990’s must now seem like lifetime ago to many people living on or around the islands and along the north coast of Honduras. With the unbelievable amount of building and construction projects and interest within the region building, the secret may not be so well-kept. Full Article by Callum Oliver Reece
European free trade negotiations end in San Salvador
James W. Bodden
Honduras This Week
 El Salvador’s capital hosted the third round of bilateral negotiations between the European Union and six Central American countries, vying for the creation of an ‘Association Accord’ connecting both regional blocs through trade.Full Article by James W. Bodden
Honduran agriculture to get boost from PetroCaribe funds
Courtesy Prensa Latina
Courtesy Prensa Latina
 Honduras will invest some of the funds from PetroCaribe negotiations into agriculture to help counteract recent price hikes in food, the National Congress reported on Tuesday, April 15. Full Article
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