[June 30, 2015] A few years ago, a group of senior U.S. military officers flew into what is considered one of the world’s most dangerous airports (not in a combat zone) – Tegucigalpa, Honduras. While their mission was fairly benign, they were to discover that the level of violence and corruption in that country was staggering. Today, we are also witnessing a rising tide of popular protests of Hondurans against corruption scandals that have been sweeping across Latin America.1,3
“Because power corrupts, society’s demands for moral authority and character increase as the importance of the position increases.” – John Adams
The small group of a number of Flag officers had the task of linking up with the Honduran Armed Forces and senior politicians to show support for that nation and to create improved military-to-military and military-to-civilian relationships. Honduras, along with many of the other Central American countries, has struggled with corruption and violence for a number of years. With many of its military and police arrested, tried, and convicted of crimes, criminals operate with a high degree of impunity.2
Yet the pervasiveness and its impact on Honduran citizens is beyond the imagination ordinary Americans. Interestingly, the danger in Honduras is so great that U.S. military personnel are given combat pay while in country. The cost for basic necessities and for any commodity is higher than what they should be and rivals some of the larger cities in the United States, but more damaging to the society is the thorough corruption of the legal and political systems.
The feeling among the people is that there is little to stop the well-connected, higher echelons of their society from skimming off the state’s few resources and using its governmental power to attack anyone at a whim. When those U.S. Flag officers were there and saw the detrimental impact on the Honduran Armed Forces, they were frustrated by the lack of non-monetary assistance from the United States to fight corruption.
An analyst from the Wilson Institute who follows Honduras closely said that the best way to respond to this corruption is for “more transparency, more accountability, supporting unions, a free press, and civil society.”1 This is unlikely to happen without additional external support from the U.S. and this is even acknowledged by the Honduran government itself and its military.
Honduras is a close ally of the United States and partner in trade, tourism, and culture. Its fate is bound closely to the U.S. and its peoples. If Honduras were to slide into chaos, we will all have failed this wonderful country; a country that assisted us in Iraq when we asked.
[Don’t forget to “Like” the Leader Maker at our Facebook Page.]
————————
[2] http://travel.state.gov/content/passports/english/alertswarnings/honduras-travel-warning.html
[3] Honduras has the highest murder rate of all nations in the world: http://www.mapsofworld.com/world-top-ten/countries-with-highest-murder-rates.html
[Note] See more theLeaderMaker.com blog entries on “corruption”: https://www.theleadermaker.com/the-pig-book-corruption-and-politics/
https://www.theleadermaker.com/venezuela-violence-corruption-failed-leaders/
https://www.theleadermaker.com/political-corruption-and-destroying-trust/
https://www.theleadermaker.com/leader-trends-corrupt/