Freedom in the World 1998 - Honduras

1998 Scores

Status: Free
Freedom Rating: 2.5
Civil Liberties: 3
Political Rights: 2

Overview

The honeymoon for incoming President Carlos Flores came to a halt in 1998, as Hurricane Mitch devastated the economy of Central America's poorest nation. Flores had promised to continue his predecessor's efforts to reign in an unruly military, but a wave of bank robberies, kidnappings, burglaries, and unsolved murders resulted in army troops patrolling the Honduras' industrial capital and other major cities in an effort to squelch violent crime.

The Republic of Honduras was established in 1839, 18 years after gaining independence from Spain. It has endured decades of military rule and intermittent elected government. The last military regime gave way to elected civilian rule in 1982. The constitution provides for a president and a 130-member, unicameral congress elected for four years.

The two main parties are the center-left Liberal Party (PL) and the conservative National Party (PN). In the 1993, the PN nominated Oswaldo Ramos Soto, an outspoken right-winger. The PL, which held power during most of the 1980's, nominated Roberto Reina, a 67-year-old progressive and former president of the Inter-American Court of Human Rights. Reina won with 52 percent of the vote. The PL won 70 seats in congress, and the PN won 56. Two small left-wing parties took the remaining four.

Reina promised a "moral revolution" and greater civilian control over the military. His administration had a positive though mixed record. The size of the military was reduced greatly, although its spending remained secret, and officers suspected of rights' offenses were protected. The process of separating the police from the military was undertaken following the December 1996 approval by Congress of a constitutional amendment to place the police under civilian control; however, a virulent crime wave believed to be, in part, the work of former and serving military and intelligence officers, continued unabated. Several leaders of Indian and Garifuna minority groups attempting to defend their land from encroachments by non-Indian landowners were murdered.

On November 30, 1997, Liberal presidential candidate Flores, a U.S.-trained engineer and newspaper owner, won a resounding 54 to 41 percent victory over National Party candidate Nora Melgar. The ruling party won 67 congressional seats and retained control over 180 of Honduras' 297 municipal districts. Flores immediately announced that civilian control of the armed forces would be strengthened by the creation of a functional defense ministry, and that the newly civilianized police would enjoy an increased budget. He also appointed five women to high level posts, including as minister of security, the portfolio in charge of the new civilian national police. In September 1998, just weeks before the Hurricane hit, Congress voted to end more than 30 years of military autonomy by suppressing the post of commander-in-chief of the armed forces, a move that created unrest in the barracks. At the end of 1998, however, it was uncertain how much, if any, of Flores' agenda would survive in the aftermath of "Mitch."

Political Rights and Civil Liberties

Citizens are able to change their government through elections, and the 1997 presidential contest was considered to be generally free and fair.

Constitutional guarantees regarding free expression, freedom of religion, and the right to form political parties and civic organizations are generally respected. But repressive measures in the face of peaceful protests and mounting crime have limited political rights and civil liberties.

Headed by the Supreme Court, the judicial system is weak and prone to corruption. In 1998, the new court was packed with lawyers who were close both to the military and to officials accused of corruption. Death threats and violent attacks face judges who assert themselves in human rights cases. Although 90 percent of the 10,000 people incarcerated are awaiting trial, they share deplorable prison conditions with convicted inmates. Drug-related corruption is rampant, and in 1998, a top leader of the Atlantic narcotics cartel escaped through the front gate of the National Penitentiary after bribing prison officials.

In 1997, the government moved to place the police under civilian control, a task made easier by the emergence of a cadre of police professionals at the top reaches of a force control by the military since 1963. However, Reina frequently used the military for internal security tasks such as putting down labor unrest, quelling street protests, and seeking to control street crime; the latter action was continued by Flores. Police still practice arbitrary detention and torture. A crime wave throughout Honduras has been fueled by the presence of some 120 youth gangs whose main activities include murder, kidnapping, and robbery. Where crime rings have been effectively dismantled, good police work, rather than troops in the streets, has made the difference.

The military exerts considerable, if waning, influence over the government. By naming a civilian instead of a general to head the armed forces, Flores Facusse said he hoped to strengthen government control over the armed forces. Since 1963, Honduras has had 12 armed forces commanders, five of whom were deposed by their own troops. A constellation of military-owned businesses makes the armed forces one of Honduras' ten largest corporations. Most criminal cases against the military remain in military court jurisdiction, and the charges are usually dismissed. In 1999, however, military personnel will no longer be immune from prosecution in civilian courts, and elected officials will oversee the armed forces' budget and be able to investigate military business ventures, which are the sources of much high-level corruption.

In 1998, army officers were implicated in drug trafficking, including taking sides in cartel turf wars and protecting drug shipments in transit through Honduras. The military remains the country's principal human rights violator, and the institution protects members linked to both political repression and to street crime, often linked to narcotics. In February 1998, human rights leader Ernesto Sandoval was murdered in a "death squad" style assassination. The death squads are now also reportedly involved in the "social cleansing" murders of youth gang members in San Pedro Sula, the country's second largest city.

Labor unions are well organized and can strike, although labor actions often result in clashes with security forces. Labor leaders, religious groups and indigenous-based peasant unions pressing for land rights remain vulnerable to repression. Some 85,000 workers, mostly women, are employed in the low-wage maquiladora export sector.