Government Corruption

            One night a telephone survey on the evening news asked a simple question: “Has Mel Zelaya, the Honduran president, done a good, OK or bad job governing the country in his first two years in office?” I was surprised to see that over half of the couple thousand who responded said he was doing a good or OK job.  I don’t know where they find these people, because after asking at least a dozen Hondurans I haven’t found one person who says he’s OK or good. In fact, I don’t think I’ve found one person who has anything good to say about any Honduran politician; mayor, congressman or president; currently in office. (Incidentally, I haven’t heard one good thing from a Honduran about our President Bush either.)

            Political corruption starts locally in Honduras and goes up through the ranks. Multiple people in Ojojona have told me that mayors traditionally enter office poor and leave office four years later with cars, trucks, houses and properties. The mayor’s salary is not very high, so this profit apparently comes from bribes and money skimmed off the top of aid projects. To be fair, Alexis, one of the plant operators, told me that Ojojona did have one honest mayor once, who cared for the people and left office poorer than when he entered. Most Hondurans seem convinced that this same type of corruption continues through the ranks up to president. 

            When people say that all politicians are the same and corrupt, I often ask, “How do they get elected when everyone knows they will be corrupt?” The most common response is that there aren’t ever any better choices. People mainly vote for someone from the two big parties, liberal and nationalist, and these parties generally have corrupt candidates. Honest politicians are not able to get the party nomination. During election season, the main candidates make big empty promises and give handouts to buy votes.

            Party allegiance is apparently strong in Honduras. Most people are either Liberal or Nationalist, and everyone else knows which. Government workers are chosen based on party. When the mayor is Liberal, everyone working for city hall is Liberal, down to the people cleaning the streets. When the President is Nationalist, the people working for the nationally-controlled phone company will most likely be Nationalist. Choosing civil servants based on party causes inefficiency in government. When a new party is elected, new workers have to be trained in and the old workers capable of training them are ousted.

       This political changeover is one reason many towns have independent water boards, called Juntas de Agua. Since the water board is chosen independently of the municipal government and is supposedly apolitical, the water system operators do not change with the mayor. The fontaneros in Ojojona have been working constantly through mayors and water board presidents who have been both Liberals and Nationalists.

       I have no way of knowing how rampant corruption actually is in Honduran government. What I do know is that the Hondurans I have talked to are sure that their government is corrupt.

“Estamos Fregados”

      “Estamos fregados” is a common expression within Esperanza’s family. I’m not sure how this phrase translates literally, but based on context I’ve come to learn that it means “We’re in trouble!” or more bluntly “We’re screwed!” “Estamos fregados” is usually used to describe the situation of Honduran society and politics. When they discuss politics, the Honduran economy, and their society as a whole, Hondurans are a rather hopeless people.

            In my first few months here, I have seen poverty, but not to the degree I was expecting. This is partly because we haven’t visited the poorest, most rural areas of Honduras and partly because when we have seen severe poverty it hasn´t been as shocking as I thought it would be. Right next to the treatment plant is a family that lives in a wooden shack and goes to the bathroom in the brush outside their house. The husband spent several years in prison and now works as a manual laborer for whoever will hire him. This family is clearly poor, but I don´t think they are starving. They have food to eat, clothes to wear, running water and even share coffee with us every once in awhile. They say hello when we walk by everyday. Their life is very difficult but they don´t appear to be starving.

            According to Antonio, the APP technician we work with, there are very few people starving in Honduras. Anyone who is willing to work can make enough to get by and feed their family, he says. However, there isn’t anything extra. The majority of the people are not able to save money, educate their children well, or spend money on recreation. From what I’ve seen of Honduras, there is a lot more discontent than there is crisis.

            In the next several entries I’m going to explore some of the reasons that Hondurans say they are “fregados”. These problems include:

• Government corruption
• The education system
• Crime
• Movement of the rural poor to cities
• Reliance on outside help
• Environmental destruction