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This work analyzes the scenario in which Honduras found itself during 2019, through the review of economic indicators and the most relevant social and political events that have occurred in the Central American country. 2019 was distinguished by the persistence or worsening of long-standing problems. In economic terms, limited progress is insufficient to reduce the high levels of poverty and inequality. In social matters, violence continues as one of the pending commitments of the second administration of Juan Orlando Hernández. While in political matters, corruption returns to the center of the debate and abuses of power and human rights violations do not stop. All these factors have increased the social discontent expressed in social movements and have caused the emigration of thousands of Hondurans. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article offers information on the several measures of state fragility and political stability in U.S.. Topics discussed include increase in transparency and a call for new metrics to address corruption in politics; government policy to promote economic and security reforms in Honduras; and new metrics focuses United Nations Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), drug policy, and local citizen security.

This article analyses mining policy as an indicator of a larger question: are some Third World governments starting to steer away from plunder ‘extractivism’ towards a paradigm that prioritises the environment? We begin with the cases of El Salvador and Costa Rica, which have major mining bans in place. We then present the results of our research in which we find five other countries with noteworthy mining-policy shifts: Panama, Colombia, Argentina, Chile, and New Zealand. A sixth country, Honduras under President Zelaya, stands as a recent historical case of how sensitive such a policy change can be. A key take-away from our article is that critical development scholars and practitioners need to look more closely at the mining sector – not simply to analyse case studies of specific mining protests and resistances to extractivism, although these are of course important. Rather, there is a need to investigate policy changes that just might be indications that the era of unquestioning extractivism has ended and that at least some governments are initiating policies to incorporate environmental externalities, policies that suggest a changing development paradigm in the direction of environmental – and concomitant social and economic – ‘well-being’ as envisioned in buen vivir. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

Increasing exclusion and inequality in Honduras have posed escalating security risks for women in their homes and on the streets. In this article, we examine gender-based violence against women, including gender-motivated murders (feminicides), the everyday acts that can result in their deaths, and impunity for these crimes. Rather than analyzing these murders as interpersonal acts or linking them to economic deprivation, we examine the actions and inactions of the state that have amplified violence in the lives of Honduran women. We distinguish between the state’s acts of omission and acts of commission in order to identify the political responsibility and failures that create a fertile ground for these killings. A context of multisided violence that facilitates extreme violence in the lives of women is present in Honduras, especially considering the diminishing power of civil society groups and increased political repression after the 2009 coup. We identify root causes of the wide (and widening) gap between laws on the books—which have been passed mostly to satisfy international and domestic organizations pushing for change—and laws in action, that is, implementation on the ground. Although we focus on Honduras, we note similar experiences of extreme violence in Guatemala, El Salvador, and in other countries in the Latin American region. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this paper I rethink land grabbing in Latin America by decentering the rhetoric of novelty and the tendency to focus on large-scale land transactions. To do this, I attend to the longevity of racial thinking bound up in everyday forms of land control. I look at the ways race is salient in the making of land and territorial arrangements. Drawing on my own research in Honduras and Panama, I situate land grabbing in relation to a range of scholarly insights that disclose how the early postcolonial dichotomy of 'civilization' and 'savagery', and its inherently whitening logics, re-appear in contemporary development projects of biodiversity conservation, land administration, and residential tourism. I argue, therefore, that land grabbing is a longstanding process that is routinely operationalized through the state and naturalized through development practices that are underpinned by ongoing racial hierarchies. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article discusses the association agreement between the European Union and Central America signed in 2010. The importance of this agreement is crucial in international relations since it is the first successful association agreement between two regional groups that include trade, political dialogue and development aid. The central argument of this article sustains that the agreement was possible thanks to the efforts of the Spanish diplomatic team. However, this was not sufficient and the efforts of Central American countries were absolutely essential. The main events that influenced the agreement are analysed in order to find the reasons behind the agreement: the Spanish presidency; the bananas conflict between the EU, the US and Central American countries; and the political conflict in Honduras. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

On 28 June 2009 moderately left-of-centre Honduran president, Manuel ‘Mel’ Zelaya, was overthrown in a military coup d’etat. The coup was followed by the systematic repression of anti-coup activists and the eventual election of current president, Porfirio ‘Pepe’ Lobo, amid that repression and in the absence of constitutional democracy. While critical scholarship on the international dynamics of the Honduran coup has discussed evidence of US involvement, Canada also actively intervened politically. Canada’s intervention has been marked by the bold promotion of the interests of Canadian capital operating in Honduras, as part of a wider geopolitical concern of the Canadian state to reproduce a political environment in Latin America amenable to the interests of Canadian investors. Using interviews with Honduran activists organizing against the coup and Canadian capital, as well as Canadian government documents obtained through Access to Information, this article explores the political-economic strategies of Canada’s post-coup intervention in Honduras. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

The article discusses the socio-economic condition of indigenous peoples (IPs) in Honduras as of January 2014. Topics include the controversy surrounding the results of the November 2013 elections, the country's political history, and the process of indigenous and Afro-indigenous struggle. Also tackled are the general outlook for IPs in Honduras, challenges facing IPs, and IPs' pursuance of struggle and resistance processes.

Abstract: How do national social programs influence local voting? This study utilizes the experimental set up of a conditional cash transfer program to show that small, targeted cash transfers can have large electoral effects. The Honduran PRAF program allocated an average of $18 per capita per year to poor households within municipalities that were randomly assigned to receive the program. Although the program was administered at the national level, the program increased an incumbent mayor's re-election probabilities by 39%, without significantly influencing voting behavior in presidential elections. Moreover, the evidence suggests that transferring cash to poor households were more effective at increasing political support than interventions providing public goods for poor villages. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article discusses the social unrest and politics within the territory on the Atlantic Ocean coast of Honduras and Nicaragua during the late 18th century referred to as Mosquito Shore, or Mosquitia. An overview of the relations between Great Britain and Spain in vying for imperial sovereignty over the Mosquitia, including in their relations with the Miskitu Indian rulers, is provided.