HONDURAN SOCIETY is, for the most part, rural and poor. The overall
standard of living in the country is one of the lowest in the Western
Hemisphere. Foreign as well as domestic assessments of the country have
focused on its poverty to the point where this assessment dominates the
outlook of the Honduran people.
Almost all social indices show Honduras lagging in development. The
annual per capita income is low, health services are extremely
deficient, infant mortality and child mortality rates are high, and
literacy rates and other educational indicators are low. In 1993 the
majority of the population in Honduras remained poor, and a high rate of
population increase made alleviation of that poverty in the near future
unlikely.
Honduras's relatively low population density would seem to be a
positive factor. An abundance of land, however, has not ensured the
availability of land for cultivation. The terrain consists for the most
part of mountains with only narrow coastal plains. Much of the arable
land is used for export crops and is not available to small farmers.
Banana (and some pineapple) agribusinesses predominate in the country's
most fertile land in the Caribbean coastal plains. Land available for
agriculture has actually decreased since the 1950s, as farmland has been
converted to rangeland to support an expanding cattle export industry.
The continued underdevelopment of the country produced a crisis of
confidence in Honduran society in the 1980s. Indeed, during that decade,
economic and social pressures produced an acute sense of disorientation
in Honduran society. The combination of a worldwide economic crisis, a
sharp rise in crime, and the absence of an independent police force and
judicial system left the average citizen with a pronounced sense of
vulnerability.
Despite the depressing statistics, however, Honduran society has
numerous strengths. Among some of the positive factors are a relatively
high number of grassroots organizations, a peasant movement that has
continued even during periods of repression, and a corporatist political
system in which organizations and classes instead of political parties
make their political demands. Positive, too, is the absence of civil war
and the high level of terrorism experienced by neighboring countries.
The question for Honduras in the future is how, given the country's
limited resources, to deal with severe poverty and to avoid the
repression and violence that poverty often engenders.
Honduras - Population
Although Honduras, with forty-six inhabitants per square kilometer,
has a relatively low population density, especially when compared to its
neighbors to the west, uneven distribution has contributed to
overpopulation in certain areas. The five mountainous departments
bordering El Salvador (Ocotepeque, Lempira, Intibuc�, La Paz, and
Valle) have a much higher population density than the four sparsely
populated departments in the east (Col�n, Olancho, Gracias a Dios, and
El Para�so). The country's second-largest and least-populated
department, Gracias a Dios, had a population density of only 2.5
inhabitants per square kilometer in 1989. Honduras's only densely
populated lowland area is the R�o Ul�a valley. In 1989 the department
of Cort�s, on the west bank of the R�o Ul�a, had a population density
of 188 inhabitants per square kilometer.
Honduras is the only country in Central America with an urban
population distributed between two large centers. Whereas other Central
American capitals are home to more than 50 percent of their countries'
urban populations, Tegucigalpa's percentage of total urban population is
considerably lower. The difference is accounted for by the growth of San
Pedro Sula. By the beginning of the twenty-first century, Tegucigalpa
and San Pedro Sula are projected to account for nearly 73 percent of the
population living in urban areas. The two cities are also projected to
account for 25 percent of the total population of Honduras by the end of
the twentieth century.
Honduras.
The vast majority of the rural-to-urban population shift has been the
result of migration from the southwestern departments (Ocotepeque,
Lempira, Intibuc�, La Paz, and Valle) to cities in the departments on
or near the Caribbean coast (Cort�s, Yoro, Atl�ntida, and Col�n) and
to Tegucigalpa (in Francisco Moraz�n department in the central
highlands). During the earlier part of the twentieth century, employment
opportunities in the newly established banana plantations attracted many
people from southern and western Honduras to the Caribbean coast. Cities
on the banks of the R�o Ul�a, especially El Progreso, experienced
impressive growth as a result of this migration from the south.
Migration from the mountainous southwest sparked tremendous development
in the city of San Pedro Sula. The search for employment also led many
to Tegucigalpa, even though the capital has never been a center for
industry or agriculture.
Demographers have predicted that, unless significant social and
economic reforms are instituted, the rural-to-urban migration trend so
prevalent in the twentieth century not only will continue but also will
probably increase. Although Honduras is still primarily an agrarian
society, urban centers have grown considerably since the 1920s. Analysts
speculate that urban centers will continue to expand as a result of
internal migration and national population growth.
In the second half of the twentieth century, Tegucigalpa in
particular experienced sharp increases in its population. During the
1950s, Tegucigalpa's population increased nearly 75 percent. The
following decade brought a population rate increase of more than 80
percent. In 1980 Tegucigalpa had a population of 400,000. By 1989 the
population had soared to 576,661. This increase in population has
practically crippled the already fragile infrastructure of the city.
Housing is woefully inadequate, and a large percentage of the residents
either lack running water altogether or receive inadequate amounts.
During the period between 1950 and 1980, San Pedro Sula had a
population growth rate that exceeded that of Tegucigalpa. In the 1980s,
the annual growth rate dropped somewhat and was less than that of
Tegucigalpa (3.7 percent and 4.4 percent, respectively). In 1988 the
population of San Pedro Sula stood at 287,350. Whereas San Pedro Sula
has dealt more successfully with its population growth, it is
nonetheless challenged to meet the housing, services, and employment
needs of new inhabitants.
Other urban centers experiencing a high population growth rate are La
Ceiba, on the Caribbean, and El Progreso, in the agricultural valley of
the R�o Ul�a. La Ceiba is the third-largest city in Honduras. In 1988
it had a population of 68,764 and an annual population growth rate of
3.2 percent. El Progreso is the country's fourth-largest city. The 1988
population of this city was 60,058 and the annual growth rate 4.5
percent. The populations of both La Ceiba and El Progreso are expected
to exceed 100,000 by the year 2000.
The majority of migrants in Honduras are very young, ranging from
their teens to their early twenties. Most male migrants gravitate toward
developing agricultural areas, especially the Caribbean coast. Because
women traditionally have a more limited choice of employment, their
occupational skills are similarly limited. Among the many incentives for
their migration are escape from economic hardship, as well as escape
from marriage and childbearing at a very young age. The majority of
women migrants seek domestic employment or work as street vendors in
urban areas. In the early 1990s, an increasing number of women have been
seeking employment in the maquiladoras, or assembly factories.
Many others become prostitutes. Male urban migrants seek jobs in artisan
shops, with merchants, and as laborers. Employment opportunities for the
new migrants remain spotty, however, as the industrial and commercial
sectors in Honduras have not created enough jobs to absorb the
population coming from the rural areas.
Honduras.
Since the early twentieth century, Honduras has had the challenge of
absorbing thousands of immigrants from neighboring countries. Political
tensions throughout Central America have been a key factor behind much
of the immigration. The number of immigrants from El Salvador looking
for land or jobs was especially high between the early twentieth century
and the onset of the 1969 Soccer War between El Salvador and Honduras. A
significant number of Salvadoran immigrants worked in the banana
plantations during the 1930s and 1940s.
Armed conflict in Nicaragua, Guatemala, and El Salvador in the 1980s
resulted in the arrival of more than 60,000 refugees. Most of these
refugees live near their respective borders, and the majority are women
and children. Throughout the 1980s, Nicaraguan refugees continued to
arrive in Honduras as the war between Nicaragua's Sandinista government
and the Nicaraguan Resistance forces (known as the Contras, short for contrarevolucionarios--
counterrevolutionaries in Spanish) intensified. By the early 1990s,
Honduras hosted an estimated 250,000 refugees or immigrants from Central
America.
Honduras.
In the second half of the twentieth century, Honduras underwent
explosive population growth. In the 1910 census, the annual rate of
population growth barely exceeded 1.5 percent. By 1950 it had reached 3
percent. From 1960 to 1990, the population growth rate climbed to 3.3
percent. By 1992 the annual population growth had slowed somewhat, but
only to an estimated 2.8 percent.
The country's high birth rate has led Honduras's population to double
about every twenty-five years. The 1950 census counted 1,368,605
inhabitants, almost twice as many as the 1926 census recorded. By 1974
the population had almost doubled once again. As of July 1992, the
population was estimated to be 5,092,776.
Several factors have contributed to the rapid population rise.
Honduras has consistently maintained high birth rates during the
twentieth century. The crude birth rate (CBR--the annual number of
births per 1,000 inhabitants) from the beginning to the midpoint of the
century fluctuated between 41.7 and 44.5 births per 1,000 inhabitants.
From around 1950 to 1975, Honduras had the highest CBR in Latin America.
Since the mid-1970s, the CBR has dropped and steadied somewhat. In 1990
the CBR stood at 39 births per 1,000 inhabitants.
The total fertility rate (TFR-the average number of children a woman
would bear in her lifetime) had dropped to 7.5 children per woman by the
early 1970s. Since the 1970s, the TFR in Honduras has declined. In 1990
it was 5.2, and the projected TFR for the year 2000 is 4.1.
In 1993, however, the TFR varied considerably according to a woman's
residence in rural or urban areas and according to income levels. Rural
women had an average of 8.7 children while urban women had 5.3 children.
The TFR for all upper and middle income women (rural and urban) was 5.8,
while among lower income women it was approximately 8.0.
Regional differences in birth rates, coupled with internal migration,
are expected to change Honduras's population distribution. The
department of Cort�s, with a high population growth rate, and the
departments of Col�n and Gracias a Dios, heretofore thinly populated
areas in the northeast, are expected to become the country's fastest
growing areas. The emerging population pattern is one of significant
growth in the central highlands near Tegucigalpa and along the entire
Caribbean coast region from San Pedro Sula east to Gracias a Dios. The
departments bordering El Salvador, in the southwest region of the
country, are expected to have the slowest population growth rate.
The absorption of this expanding population represents a serious
challenge to the Honduran government. Already inadequate health
services, as well as poor educational, employment, and housing
opportunities, will be increasingly burdened by a rapidly growing and
young population. In 1989 slightly more than 2 million Hondurans, or 45
percent, were between one and fourteen years old. Frustrated
expectations for a better standard of living among this youthful
population raise the possibility of unrest in the future.
Honduras.
Although the class structure in Honduras is similar to that in other
Latin American countries, the manner in which these classes interact
presents less conflict than is exhibited by Honduras's immediate
neighbors. The relative lack of tension in class relations raises the
possibility that Honduras might avoid the social and political violence
that has plagued Guatemala, El Salvador, and Nicaragua. Political
dynamics peculiar to Honduras tend to lessen social pressures, although
it is still possible that class tensions, growing poverty among the
majority of the population, and increased concentration of wealth in a
minority could result in violence in the future.
The low level of social tension in Honduras has its origins in the
country's colonial and early republican history. During the colonial
period, the province that later became Honduras was a backwater in the
territories held by Spain. Because much of the indigenous population
either had been exterminated or had died of disease, the province was
sparsely populated. Ethnically, this meant that Honduras had a more
homogeneous mestizo culture than most other Spanish colonies. The area
was isolated because the majority of Honduras's population settled in
the central and western highlands, far from the main transportation
route that linked the southern and northern regions of the Spanish
Empire. Furthermore, the area lacked any significant mineral deposits or
other easily exploitable wealth. Consequently, the colonial elite in
Honduras came to be defined by their control of the province's political
system rather than by their accumulation of wealth. In later centuries,
the absence of coffee exporting concerns in Honduras became another
factor differentiating it from its neighbors. In most of Central
America, large coffee plantations resulted in a wealthy elite. The
accumulation of large fortunes by a land-owning minority took place much
later in Honduras--during the twentieth century, when much of the wealth
from the new banana businesses went to foreign investors who owned the
banana companies.
Honduras - Advocates for Social Change
During the twentieth century, the corporatist system of politics that
has emerged has eased the intensity of the demands placed on the state
by the rural and urban poor. The relative openness of Honduran politics
and the degree of legitimacy given to working class demands have
resulted in a system in which the organizations representing lower
sectors of society can be highly organized and even militant without
calling for the overthrow of the system itself. This militancy has made
organized labor a political force since the 1950s and has resulted in
many labor reforms. Peasant militancy, for example, has made possible
the agrarian reform movement. According to some analysts, Honduras has
achieved a level of political organization on the part of labor unions
and peasant organizations that remains unparalleled in most of Central
America. Reform has been uneven, however, and political
and social reform movements stagnated in the 1970s and 1980s. In the
early 1990s, the central problems of poverty and underdevelopment
remained pervasive.
The military's participation in Honduran politics has been, in one
sense, the action of another interest group. The military in Honduras has not emerged as an
organization for the sons of the elite, as has been the case in most of
Latin America, but rather as an organization that cuts across economic
and class lines. This fact has meant a greater divergence of purpose and
interests between the traditional Honduran elite and the armed forces.
The decision-making structure within the military also allows for a
degree of dissent within the organization, resulting in less resistance
to social reforms.
The relatively open political discourse found in Honduras is aided by
the ability of other social institutions to take advantage of the
country's freedom of expression. Although in general the Honduran press
tends toward conservative positions, it is free of direct government
control. Control of the press is exercised more through
cooptation than by censorship. Several independent radio stations are
powerful forces in Honduras, a country that has a high illiteracy rate.
The independent position of the National Autonomous University of
Honduras (Universidad Nacional Aut�noma de Honduras--UNAH), which as a
rule holds liberal positions, also contributes to the variety of
opinions that can be heard.
The Honduran Roman Catholic Church also has been a force pressing for
social change and reform, although its role has varied and, in many
instances, has been contradictory throughout the years. The role of the
church as advocate for change gained ground in the late 1960s after
Vatican Council II. The church's role gathered momentum after the
meeting of the Latin American Conference of Bishops in Medell�n,
Colombia in 1968. The Roman Catholic Church in Honduras came to hold the
view that its members should become active agents of social change. In
Honduras, foreign clergy in particular played a major role in social
activism. By the 1970s, the Roman Catholic Church in Honduras had come
to be perceived as radical, and in 1971 various Roman Catholic Church
organizations joined with those of the Christian Democratic Movement of
Honduras (Movimiento Dem�crata Cristiano de Honduras-- MDCH) to form
the Coordinating Council for Development (Consejo Coordinador de
Desarrollo--Concorde). The impact of this activism was felt down to the
parish level.
Differences of opinion emerged within the Roman Catholic Church in
the late 1970s, however, regarding its approach to social change.
Certain orders of clergy, particularly the Jesuits (Society of Jesus)
and various priests, advocated even greater activism than the church
hierarchy supported. The hierarchy's opposition to further change was
evident when it withdrew Roman Catholic organizations from the Concorde.
As Central America took central stage in the Cold War in the 1970s and
1980s because of events in Nicaragua and El Salvador, activist priests
were accused of being communists. Tensions between the church's
hierarchy and activist priests eased in the 1990s, however, with the
decline of insurgency in the area.
Increased political conservatism and repression during the 1980s
resulted in the emergence of a great number of grass-roots
organizations. Along with labor unions and peasant organizations, the
emerging groups advocated vigilance concerning human rights and exerted
pressure on the authorities to reveal the whereabouts of disappeared
citizens.
These new grass-roots groups, as well as the press, the UNAH, and the
Roman Catholic Church, all contributed to the preservation of a
political system with relative freedom of expression. The attempts at
reform initiated by these groups, however, have not met with complete
success. Although the government and military have at times opted for
compromise in the face of reform demands, the organizations have also
had to endure periods of threatened and real repression.
Honduras - The Upper Class
Although the upper class has enjoyed privileges and wealth far
greater than the general population, the Honduran elite has been both
economically and politically the weakest oligarchy in Central America.
This relative lack of power is partly the result of the dominant role of
foreign investment in Honduras since the early twentieth century. Until
about 1900, the Honduran elite was involved in rural landholding in the
interior highlands and valleys. To this day, some hacendados (large
hacienda owners) continue to live on their rural estates. Until the
arrival of the banana companies, Hondurans had avoided the
underpopulated, inhospitable Caribbean lowlands infamous for their heat
and pestilence. Even after banana plantations were established in the
Caribbean lowlands at the turn of the century, the interior highlands
elite largely maintained its status quo.
With the development of cotton and livestock export businesses
following World War II, the traditional Honduran elite became more
economically active. In response to the beef markets that opened after
the war, commercial production of cattle also became quite profitable.
Between 1950 and 1980, cattle production more than tripled in Honduras.
This period witnessed a marked acceleration in the concentration of land
holdings and wealth. These changes took place mostly at the expense of
lands formerly used for food production. As land title disputes and
seizures proliferated, social tensions in rural Honduras increased
drastically.
With wealth its only defining criterion, the upper class in Honduras
is not particularly cohesive and has often split into divergent groups
over political and economic issues. Competing business associations have
served as vehicles for the disputing factions. Certain factions of the
elite are more conservative, whereas others advocate a more liberal and
open path to economic development. As a result of their differences,
members of the upper class are willing to participate in an open
dialogue and form alliances with other sectors and classes. In the
1950s, business interests supported striking workers in foreign-owned
corporations. At times, factions of the elite have supported social
change while their conservative counterparts have fiercely opposed it.
In the 1970s, the military, labor, and peasant organizations joined
forces with the more progressive faction of the elite to support a
military regime with a reform platform. Probably because all sectors
keep a stake in the system, Honduras has avoided fundamental challenges
to its social structure and overthrow of its political system.
The twentieth century has seen the military become a part of
Honduras's elite. In the mid-1950s, the armed forces in Honduras
underwent a transformation. With aid and training primarily from the
United States, the military went from being what was, in effect, an
array of provincial militias to a modern national institution. Because
the military in Honduras had never been an institution favored by the
traditional elite, the military has emerged as an independent member of
the upper sector of society.
Honduras - The Middle Class
In 1993 the middle class in Honduras is still a small, albeit
growing, sector. Inclusion in this sector is best defined by economic
factors and by occupation. Except for merchants, an equally important
factor in classifying a person as middle class appears to be completion
of a higher education. Included among middle class ranks are
professionals, students, farmers, merchants, business employees, and
civil servants. Although a well-paying occupation is crucial for
movement up to the middle sector, incomes for this group are still
relatively low.
One factor limiting the size of the middle class is the slow growth
of industry and commerce in Honduras. Employment opportunities are
scarce. The growth of the middle class in the Caribbean coast region has
been directly tied to that area's industries and foreign enterprises.
The success of merchants in the north has resulted from the markets
created by workers employed in the area's agribusinesses. The middle
class in Honduras has not been politically active as a unified group,
although many in its ranks are politically active through unions, church
groups, or other organizations.
Honduras - The Lower Class
Traditionally, the poor in Honduras have lived predominantly in rural
areas. The lack of economic opportunity in rural areas and the
subsequent migration to the cities have led to an increasing number of
urban poor.
During the colonial period, the low population density in the country
made land readily available for small subsistence farmers. When the
concentration of land for cotton and cattle export began in the 1950s,
the situation in the rural areas changed. By the 1960s, poor rural
families were struggling for survival on smaller parcels of land that
had ever-decreasing rates of fertility and productivity. By 1965
landlessness had become a problem.
The increase in the number of landless peasants led to even greater
numbers migrating to cities in search of employment and in the emergence
of a peasant movement in national politics. The majority of those unable
to practice subsistence farming remained in rural areas, however, and
sought work as farm workers; 62 percent of the labor force in 1993 was
in agriculture. Other displaced peasants migrated to the cities in
search of employment in the service sector (20 percent of the total
labor force in 1993), manufacturing (9 percent of the total labor
force), and construction (3 percent of the total labor force). Still
others joined the peasant movement and migrated to areas where
cooperative enterprises were being established or to areas where members
of militant peasant groups were appropriating land.
The poorest peasants still practice subsistence farming in plots of
five hectares or less. Many others work as sharecroppers or rent land
for cash. The majority of peasants are forced to seek work as full-time
or part-time laborers, depending on the season and the size of the farms
on which they are employed. At best, this work provides income to
supplement the meager earnings from their own small parcels of land. At
worst, this work represents their sole source of income.
Although official unemployment figures are not very high,
underemployment is widespread in the countryside and is increasingly a
problem in urban centers as well. Underemployment (ranging between 15
and 75 percent) is usually a result of the seasonal nature of most of
the available agricultural work. During the 1980s, the level of
underemployment also rose in areas of the Caribbean coast where banana
and sugarcane plantations are located. Although work in sugarcane fields
is seasonal, banana plantations are a source of long-term contracts or
even permanent employment. The labor surplus in the interior highlands
is evidence of the severe economic plight of most Hondurans.
In the 1980s, land pressures, an increasing number of landless
peasants, and the declining standard of living of the peasantry and
working class galvanized the ranks of peasant organizations and labor
unions. The first national peasant group to organize, in the 1950s, was
the National Federation of Honduran Peasants (Federaci�n Nacional de
Campesinos de Honduras--Fenach). The National Association of Honduran
Peasants (Asociaci�n Nacional de Campesinos de Honduras--Anach) was
established in 1962 as a competing association. By the time of the
economic crisis of the 1980s, both associations had become equally
militant and confrontational. The National Union of Peasants (Uni�n
Nacional de Campesinos--UNC) was formed in the 1960s. It began as a
militant organization with roots in the international Christian
socialist movement, but by 1993 it was a less combative association.
Many other politically active peasant organizations operated in
Honduras. Their roles and strategies have varied from alienating the
government and military with land takeovers and other militant tactics
to a joint agricultural project with the military in 1989.
Since the 1954 banana workers' strike, the labor movement in Honduras
has been the strongest in Central America; in 1992, 40 percent of urban
labor and 20 percent of rural labor were unionized. Unions are strongest
in the public sector, the agricultural sector, and the manufacturing
sector. Strategies used by the labor movement range from providing
crucial support to sympathetic administrations to adopting more
combative positions during general strikes.
Although the labor and peasant movements represent interest groups
that cannot be politically ignored, their influence has varied
considerably since the 1950s. The two movements were weakened somewhat
by repeated government attempts to divide the organizations. They were
also weakened by internal divisions and the presence of opportunistic
individuals in leadership positions. The economic crisis of the 1980s
and the imposition of the economic adjustment policies during that
decade have also taken a toll on these organizations. Confrontations
between these groups and the government were frequent in the early
1990s. On more than one occasion, strikes in key sectors of the economy
led to the government's calling in the army.
Honduras - FAMILY
The family is the fundamental social unit in Honduras, providing a
bulwark in the midst of political upheavals and economic reversals.
People emphasize the trust, the assistance, and the solidarity that kin
owe to one another. Family loyalty is an ingrained and unquestioned
virtue; from early childhood, individuals learn that relatives are to be
trusted and relied on, whereas those outside the family are, implicitly
at least, suspect. In all areas of life and at every level of society, a
person looks to family and kin for both social identity and assistance.
In general, the extent to which families interact, and the people
with whom they interact, depends on their degree of prosperity. Families
with relatively equal resources share and cooperate. Where there is
marked disparity in the wealth of various branches of a family, the more
prosperous branches try to limit the demands made by the poorer ones. On
the one hand, generosity is held in high esteem, and failure to care for
kin in need is disparaged; but, on the other hand, families prefer to
help their immediate relatives and to bestow favors on those who are
able to reciprocate. A needy relative might receive the loan of a piece
of land, some wage labor, or occasional gifts of food. Another type of
assistance is a form of adoption by which poorer families give a child
to more affluent relatives to raise. The adopting family is expected to
care for the child and to see that he or she receives a proper
upbringing. The children, however, are frequently little better than
unpaid domestic help. Implicit in the arrangement is the understanding
that the child's biological family, too, will receive assistance from
the adopting family.
Kinship serves as metaphor for relations of trust in general. Where a
kin tie is lacking, or where individuals wish to reinforce one, a
relationship of compadrazgo is often established. Those so
linked are compadres (co-parents or godparents). In common with
much of Latin America, strong emotional bonds link compadres. Compadres
use the formal usted instead of t� in addressing one
another, even if they are kin. Sexual relations between compadres
are regarded as incestuous. Compadres are commonly chosen at
baptism and marriage, but the relationship extends to the two sets of
parents. The tie between the two sets of parents is expected to be
strong and enduring. Any breach of trust merits the strongest community
censure.
There are three accepted forms of marriage: civil, religious, and
free unions. Both serial monogamy and polygamous unions are socially
accepted. Annulment is difficult to obtain through the Roman Catholic
Church; this fact, in addition to the expense involved, makes couples
reluctant to undertake a religious marriage. Civil marriage is
relatively common. Divorce in this case is relatively easy and
uncomplicated. Marriage forms also reflect the individual's life cycle.
Most opt for free unions when they are younger and then settle into more
formal marriages as they grow older and enjoy more economic security.
Class also plays a role: religious marriage is favored by middle-class
and upper-class groups; thus, it signifies higher socioeconomic status.
The ideal marriage for most Hondurans involves a formal engagement and
religious wedding, followed by an elaborate fiesta.
No shame accrues to the man who fathers many children and maintains
several women as mistresses. Public disapproval follows only if the man
fails to assume the role of "head of the family" and to
support his children. When a free union dissolves, a woman typically
receives only the house that she and her mate inhabited. The children
receive support only if they have been legally recognized by their
father.
Families are usually more stable in the countryside. Since the
partners are usually residing in the midst of their kin, a man cannot
desert his wife without disrupting his work relationship with her
family. A woman enjoys greater leverage when she can rely on her family
to assist if a union fails or when she owns her own land and thus has a
measure of financial independence.
In keeping with the tradition of machismo, males usually play a
dominant role within the family, and they receive the deference due to
the head of the household. There is wide variation in practice, however.
Where a man is absent, has limited economic assets, or is simply
unassertive, a woman assumes the role of head of the family.
Sex role differentiation begins early: young boys are allowed to run
about unclothed, while girls are much more carefully groomed and
dressed. Bands of boys play unwatched; girls are carefully chaperoned.
Girls are expected to be quiet and helpful; boys enjoy much greater
freedom, and they are given considerable latitude in their behavior.
Boys and men are expected to have premarital and extramarital sexual
adventures. Men expect, however, that their brides be virgins. Parents
go to considerable lengths to shelter their daughters in order to
protect their chances of making a favorable marriage.
Parent-child relationships are markedly different depending on the
sex of the parent. Mothers openly display affection for their children;
the mother-child tie is virtually inviolate. Father-child relationships
vary more depending on the family. Ideally, the father is an authority
figure to be obeyed and respected; however, fathers are typically more
removed from daily family affairs than mothers.
Honduras - LIVING CONDITIONS
Rural Life
Because Honduras has traditionally been an agrarian country and, in
spite of rapid rates of urban growth, is still one of the least
urbanized countries of Central America, conditions of life in the
countryside are a major concern. Rural residents are farmers, although
about 60 percent of Honduran land remains forested and only 25 percent
of the total is available for agriculture or pastureland. A vast
majority of rural dwellers are small farmers who till their own plots or
landless laborers who work for wages on estates or smaller farms. Many
peasants with plots of their own also seek part-time wage labor to
supplement their incomes. In a typical case, a man may work his father's
land, rent additional land of his own, and do occasional day labor.
The trend toward small farms in marginal areas increased rapidly
after 1960 as the population increased explosively. Because land
inheritance among the peasantry is divided among all the sons, a farmer
with six manzanas (one manzana equals approximately
0.7 hectare) of land and six sons would have only one manzana
of land for each child to work as his own as an adult. In addition,
escalating land prices have increasingly forced small farmers to migrate
to more and more marginal land because of population pressure and the
rapid development of commercial agriculture and livestock estates since
World War II. The steepness of the marginal mountain slopes, however,
often makes agriculture impossible or at least extremely difficult. It
is estimated that almost 90 percent of the mountainous area of Honduras
has slopes with gradients that range from marginal for agriculture to
those that do not permit agriculture or even decent pasturage.
Obviously, small farmers attempting to cultivate the mountainsides have
a difficult task.
Deterioration of the mountain environment, poor productivity, and
crop losses result in poverty for small farmers. Soil erosion and the
loss of soil fertility is caused by the marginality of the available
slopes and the methods used in farming. Cultivation techniques are
slash-and-mulch or slash-and-burn employing simple tools, such as
machetes, hoes, axes, digging sticks, and possibly wooden plows, without
the use of fertilizer. The rudimentary storage facilities of most farm
households also contribute to the loss of a sizable percentage of crops
to rodents and pests.
Most of the rural population live in one- or two-room thatchroofed
huts (bahareques) built of adobe or sugarcane stalks and mud
with dirt floors. As plantation agriculture and livestock raising have
increased, many peasants have found it increasingly difficult to find a
plot of land suitable for a house. Many who formerly lived on the edges
of larger estates found themselves forced off the land by enclosure, or
the fencing off of private property. Consequently, there is much
"fence housing" in Honduras, in which a squatter and his
family, squeezed off land by the development of plantation crops, live
in a tiny hut in the narrow space between a public road and the
landowner's fence.
Poor food productivity and low incomes lead to a very low standard of
living in the countryside, where illness and poor diets are endemic. The
typical diet of the rural population consists of corn--by far the
primary staple and most widely planted crop--made into tortillas,
beans--the main source of protein--cassava, plantains, rice, and coffee,
with only occasional supplements of meat or fish. Although pigs and
chickens are widely raised (each rural household usually has a few),
meat is infrequent in most rural diets, as are green vegetables. Given
the nature of the typical diet and the fact that food production has
been insufficient for the country's needs, widespread malnutrition
complicates the population's fragile health. Population growth
exacerbates the problem, creating a vicious cycle of more mouths to be
fed, yet lower agricultural productivity, as well as transportation and
distribution difficulties.
Indeed, a general attitude has evolved in which most of the affected
population has related few of its health problems to their real causes,
such as malnutrition and environmental hazards. Instead, given a state
of affairs where, for example, there is not a dramatic shortage of food
but only a continuously inadequate diet, the population fails to relate
infectious diseases, mental retardation, and low productivity to
conditions of poor diet and lack of sanitation. Because these problems
have always existed for the affected population, they tend to be
accepted as normal.
Honduras - Urban Life
Urban life in Honduras, as in many developing countries, highlights
the contrasts between the life-styles of the rich and the poor. For the
wealthy and powerful elite, Tegucigalpa and San Pedro Sula offer blocks
of elegant apparel shops and jewelry stores. Tall office buildings
provide headquarters for business and professional people. Comfortable
homes shelter well-to-do families; a good education and family contacts
secure promising future careers for their children.
For the vast majority of Tegucigalpa's urban population, however,
living conditions are dismal. Migrants to Tegucigalpa initially settled
in the slums of the center city. When these became inadequate to house
the numbers arriving, the migrants began to invade land on the periphery
of the city. A majority of these barrio residents live in cuarter�as
(rows) of connected rooms. Some cuarter�as face the street,
while others are arranged in double rows facing each other across a
block-long alley, barely wide enough for a person to walk through.
Usually windowless, the substandard rooms are generally constructed of
wood, with dirt floors. The average household contains about seven
persons, who attend to all functions of daily living in the single room,
although sometimes a small kitchen stands in the rear covered by the
overhang of the tile roof. For those living in the rooms facing an
alley, the narrow passageway between buildings serves both as a sewage
and waste disposal area and as a courtyard for as many as 150 persons.
The major survival tactic for some of this population seems to lie in
the large and extended families that deliberately cluster together into
a single room, sharing a roof, a kitchen, and their incomes. Both
relatives and unrelated individuals may be involved in such a network of
social, psychological, and economic support. Others, however, have not
been so fortunate. Given migratory labor, high unemployment, and income
insecurity, male-female relationships often are unstable. Fathers
frequently desert their families, leaving the care and support of
children entirely to mothers who struggle to earn enough for survival.
Some children are abandoned to live on the streets, particularly if the
mother has become sick, has died, or has been unable to find work.
The diet of lower-sector urban dwellers when they can afford to buy
what they need is somewhat better than that of their rural counterparts.
In times of economic hardship, however, urban families, who must pay for
all the food they consume, most likely reduce or alter their food
consumption habits. Speaking of a potentially better diet in urban areas
can, therefore, be misleading. When urban families have the cash to
purchase basic foods, their per capita daily average consumption of
calories, protein, and carbohydrates are all likely to be higher than
the average in rural settings. However, the consumption of calories, and
carbohydrates in particular, still falls significantly below the minimum
daily recommended allowance. Other foods sold mainly in city markets,
especially meat such as poultry, are consumed primarily by the middle-
and upper-class population and do not benefit the lower class.
Honduras - ETHNIC GROUPS
The Lenca, the largest indigenous group (numbering about 50,000),
live in the west and in the southwestern interior. Some anthropologists
argue that the Lenca still practice some traditional customs and that
they are the survivors of a once extensive indigenous population that
lived in the departments of Lempira, Intibuc�, La Paz, Valle,
Comayagua, and Francisco Moraz�n. Controversy has arisen, however,
regarding the identification of this community as indigenous because
their native language is no longer spoken and their culture is to a
large extent similar to the ladino majority.
Other smaller indigenous groups are scattered throughout Honduras.
Several hundred Chort�, a lowland Maya community, formerly lived in the
departments of Cop�n and Ocotepeque in western Honduras. In the
seventeenth and eighteenth centuries, the Chort� migrated to the
northeast coastal area, and by the early 1990s, they were practically
extinct. The Chorotega migrated south from Mexico in pre-Columbian times
and settled in the department of Choluteca. Like the Chort�, the
Chorotega speak Spanish, but they retain distinct cultural and religious
traits. A population of Maya live in the western departments of Cop�n
and Ocotepeque and still speak a Mayan dialect. Several hundred Pipil
live mainly in the isolated northeast coastal region in the departments
of Gracias a Dios and parts of Yoro and Olancho. About 300 Tol or
Hicaque are found in an isolated mountainous area of rain forests.
Honduras - Non-Ladino Groups
The non-Hispanic (nonladino) groups in Honduras consist of the Black
Carib, the Miskito, the black population in the Islas de la Bah�a, and
a sizeable number of Arab immigrants. The Black Carib (also known as
Garifuna in Belize and Guatemala) settled in the early 1800s in coastal
villages along the Caribbean. Originally descendants of freed black
slaves and native Carib from the island of Saint Vincent in the
Caribbean, they arrived in Honduras when they were deported from Saint
Vincent by the British in 1797 and resettled in the Islas de la Bah�a
off the coast of Honduras. From there, they moved to the mainland coast
of northern Honduras. Their language, which they continue to speak, is a
Carib-based creole. Their cultural practices are similar to those of the
Black Carib who live in Belize and Guatemala.
The approximately 10,000 Miskito are a racially mixed population of
indigenous, African, and European origin. Their language, still spoken
by several thousand, is a creole based on Bahwika (in the Misumalpan
family of languages), with contributions from West African languages as
well as Spanish, English, and German. Spain's failure to conquer and
colonize the eastern Caribbean lowlands of Central America made this
area attractive to English-speaking buccaneers, traders, woodcutters,
and planters during the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries. This
remote area also became a refuge for black slaves and freed slaves. In
the northern coasts of Honduras and Nicaragua, unions of indigenous
people and the African and British immigrants produced a racially mixed
group known as Miskito, who have a predominantly indigenous language and
culture. Miskito settlements are situated near the Laguna de Caratasca
and the banks of the R�o Patuca in northeasternmost Honduras and are an
extension of the larger Miskito communities in eastern Nicaragua. When
the Nicaraguan Miskito population near the R�o Coco was uprooted by the
Nicaraguan government for security reasons in the early 1980s, many
Nicaraguan Miskito migrated to Honduras.
Interestingly, although the Miskito and Black Carib peoples have
similar racial origins, the Miskito are generally considered by
Hondurans to be indigenous people, whereas the Black Carib are generally
considered to be black. This difference in ethnic identification is
probably a reflection of the different cultures of the two groups; Black
Carib culture retains more African elements in its folklore, religion,
and music than does the culture of the Miskito.
The Miskito and Black Carib peoples have traditionally been
economically self-sufficient through subsistence agriculture and
fishing. In the early 1990s, the men, however, were often forced to seek
supplementary income by working outside their own regions. Thus, Miskito
and Black Carib men often spend long periods separated from their
families.
The population of the Islas de la Bah�a is a black or mixed
white-black population. The inhabitants are descendants of
Englishspeaking whites and of blacks who came from Belize and the Cayman
Islands during the middle of the nineteenth century. This population
speaks mostly creole or Caribbean English, and their traditions are
distinctly West Indian.
Another distinct ethnic group is the thriving Arab community. Arab
immigrants from the Middle East (especially Palestine and Lebanon) began
arriving in Honduras during the early part of the twentieth century.
Because they held passports issued by the Ottoman Empire, they came to
be called turcos in Honduras. This community retains many of
its traditions and continues to be perceived as culturally distinct,
although this distinctiveness is becoming blurred through increased
intermarriages with other groups. Economically, the Arab community
prospered first as merchants in the area of the banana plantations on
the Caribbean coast. Following their success, many moved to the larger
cities, where they became powerful economically, especially in
manufacturing and commerce.
Honduras - RELIGION
The constitution guarantees religious freedom and the separation of
church and state; however, the Roman Catholic Church has been a powerful
institution in Honduras since colonial times. As a result of various
tensions between the church and the state throughout the centuries, in
the 1880s the Roman Catholic Church was stripped of some of its economic
and political power. Nevertheless, in the twentieth century the church
has remained an important social actor, and the vast majority of
Hondurans have remained Roman Catholic. Church schools receive
government subsidies, and religious instruction is part of the public
school curriculum.
The Roman Catholic Church in Honduras launched an ambitious
evangelical campaign in the 1950s. The program's aim was to invigorate
church membership and encourage more active participation in church
activities. By the 1960s and 1970s, this activism had grown among
certain sectors of the church into denunciations of the military's
repression and the government's exploitation of the poor. This social activist phase in the
Roman Catholic Church ended after large landowners in Olancho brutally
murdered ten peasants, two students, and two priests in 1975. After this
incident, the government took measures to dissuade the more activist
factions in the church from continuing their actions. Expulsions and
arrests of foreign priests took place, and some peasant centers with
ties to the church were forced to close. The Roman Catholic Church
retreated from its emphasis on social activism during the last half of
the 1970s but resumed its criticism of government policies during the
1980s.
Protestant, especially evangelical, churches have undergone a
tremendous growth in membership during the 1980s. The largest numbers
are found in Methodist, Church of God, Seventh Day Adventist, and
Assemblies of God denominations. These churches sponsor social service
programs in many communities, making them attractive to the lower
classes. The evangelical leadership generally exerts a conservative
influence on the political process.
Although Protestant membership was estimated at only 100,000 in 1990,
growth of Protestant churches is apparently seen as a threat by Roman
Catholic leaders. Instances of criticism leveled at evangelicals by
Roman Catholic leaders have increased; however, such criticisms have
generally been ineffective in stemming the rise of converts to
Protestant denominations.
Honduras - EDUCATION
Honduras lacked a national education system until the late 1950s.
Before the reforms of 1957, education was the exclusive privilege of
those who could afford to send their children to private institutions.
The government of Ram�n Villeda Morales (1957-63) introduced reforms
that led to the establishment of a national public education system and
began a school construction program.
The Honduran constitution states that a free primary education is
obligatory for every child between the ages of seven and fourteen. The
reality of the Honduran educational system is much more grim. Because of
a lack of schools, understaffed schools, the high cost of materials
needed for these schools, and the poor quality of public education, a
good education is still largely the privilege of the few who can afford
to send their children to private institutions.
Statistical information shows that the state of the public education
system remains poor. Figures cited by the Ministry of Education suggest
that Honduras suffers from widespread illiteracy (more than 40 percent
of the total population and more than 80 percent in rural areas). A
significant percentage of children do not receive formal education.
Especially in rural areas, schools are not readily accessible. When they
are accessible, they often consist of joint-grade instruction through
only the third grade. Schools are so understaffed that some teachers
have up to eighty children in one classroom.
Only 43 percent of children enrolled in public schools complete the
primary level. Of all children entering the first grade, only 30 percent
go on to secondary school, and only 8 percent continue to the
university.
The quality of instruction in Honduran public schools is greatly
impaired by poor teacher training. The situation is worsened by the
extremely low wages paid to teachers, lack of effective and up-to- date
instruction materials, outdated teaching methods, poor administration,
and lack of physical facilities.
Because of the deficiencies of public education, the years since 1970
have seen the proliferation of private schools. With few exceptions,
however, private education is popularly viewed as a profit-making
enterprise. Great skepticism remains regarding the quality of the
education that private schools offer.
The National Autonomous University of Honduras (Universidad Nacional
Aut�noma de Honduras--UNAH) is the primary institution of higher
learning. Located in Tegucigalpa, the UNAH was founded in 1847 and
became an autonomous institution in 1957. The university has
approximately 30,000 students, with branches in San Pedro Sula and La
Ceiba.
Honduras counts three private universities, none of which is yet
considered a credible educational alternative to the prestigious UNAH.
One is the extremely small Jos� Cecilio del Valle University in
Tegucigalpa. Another private university is the Central American
Technological University, also in Tegucigalpa. The third private
university is the University of San Pedro Sula.
Honduras - HEALTH
In Honduras the quality of and access to health care are directly
tied to income levels. Adequate health care is available to those able
to pay the high cost. Health care for the urban and rural poor is
extremely limited. The lack of health care for the majority of the
population is starkly apparent in its poor health. Widespread
malnutrition is responsible for 34 percent of children experiencing
stunting when they are between two and five years of age. In addition,
most of the population lacks access to running water and sanitation
facilities--all key contributing factors to the country's high infant
mortality rate (63 per 1,000 live births) and to a relatively low life
expectancy rate (64.9 years) in 1992.
Health services are not readily accessible to a majority of the
population. An estimated 1.3 million Hondurans were without access to
health care in 1990. In the isolated regions of Honduras, there are
almost no physicians. The ratio of doctor to population in 1984 was one
to 1,510. Government clinics often are empty shells lacking adequate
personnel, equipment, and medicines.
Infectious and parasitic diseases are the leading causes of death.
Gastroenteritis and tuberculosis are serious problems. Diseases such as
influenza, malaria, typhoid, and pneumonia, once believed to be under
control, have returned in force because of a lack of preventive
measures. The foreign-exchange crisis of the 1980s has resulted in
periods when vaccines and other preventive medicines were not available.
Alcoholism and drug addiction are other health concerns mentioned by the
Ministry of Health. The rapid spread of acquired immune deficiency
syndrome (AIDS) is also of great concern to Honduran health authorities.
The incidence of AIDS appears to be particularly high in San Pedro Sula.
The cholera epidemic that originated in Peru hit Honduras in late
1991. Because of poor sanitation conditions, health officials were
frightened that the disease would quickly spread throughout the country.
The government launched an educational campaign months before the first
case was reported, stressing personal hygiene as a prophylaxis against
cholera. By the middle of 1992, however, more than 100 people had been
diagnosed as having cholera.
Although the country's national public health system was created in
1959, the date when the Honduran Social Security Institute (Instituto
Hondure�o del Seguro Social--IHSS) began to operate, the proliferation
of health services to all regions of the country has been painfully
slow. For years, people have had to travel to Tegucigalpa to avail
themselves of public health service. During the 1970s, when the
government made an effort to expand health services, the INSS opened a
medical center in San Pedro Sula. However, in El Progreso, only fifty
kilometers away and the third largest city in the country, IHSS services
were not available until 1992. Population growth, the implementation of
economic austerity measures by the government in the 1990s, and the
present lack of facilities seem to suggest that public health services
in Honduras are likely to remain inadequate in the near future.
Honduras - THE ENVIRONMENT
The 1980s saw a heightened awareness and concern over ecological
issues. Even though Honduras is not overpopulated, its land resources
have been overexploited, and there are numerous reasons for concern
regarding deforestation and the prevalence of unsustainable agricultural
practices. Enforcement of the few regulations already in effect is
uneven.
Honduras has two major national parks. One is the Tigra Cloud Forest
Park near Tegucigalpa. The other is the Cop�n National Park near the
border with Guatemala, which houses the Mayan ruins. Honduras also has
established the R�o Pl�tano Reserve. Furthermore, the government has
attempted to encourage ecotourism in the Islas de la Bah�a, where
biologically rich coral reefs are located.
As a consequence of the expansion of environmental consciousness, the
Honduran Association of Ecology (Asociaci�n Hondure�a de la Ecolog�a--AHE)
was founded in the 1980s. Following the example set in the foundation of
the AHE, many other groups formed with the stated purpose of promoting
ecologically sound policies. Unfortunately, in 1993 many sources of
international funding dried up following the discovery of corruption in
a number of Honduran ecological groups. Despite the continued presence
of many environmental problems, ecologists are encouraged by the
increasing environmental consciousness among all sectors of the
population. The fact that environmental concerns are part of the
policies advocated by peasant organizations, labor unions, and other
interest groups is a sign that the ecological movement has come to
maturity.
Honduran society provides examples of the most severe problems faced
by developing nations. Yet within that same society, the unique
relationship between social and political forces provides potential for
progress in alleviating the country's problems.
