In June 2009 an uprise occurred within the democracy of the Honduran government and President Manuel Zelaya was escorted out of his home in the middle of the night wearing his pajamas. Overnight, the media expanded the story into much more than it was recounting tales of war and violence on the dirty streets of Honduras. Unbeknownst to them before, the American people now became aware of what and where Honduras was and suddenly became educated on the situation: in a coup d'état the people had overthrown their government, rioting and havoc are characteristic of the country, United States citizens were going to be pulled out, the country is too unstable to let anyone in or out, etc. These events caused the UN to condemn the country and forced Honduras to temporarily withdrawal themselves from under the protective wing of the UN. Since 2009, the UN has not allowed the Honduran president to be an active member of decision-making committees/processes or make requests on behalf of the Honduran people. Since this confusion started in 2009 the country has seen violence, murder rates and drug trafficking activity skyrocket.
I challenge you to step one foot into the horrific monster of a country, as so it's portrayed by international media, talk with the people for 5 minutes and you'll see the story for its true worth. The former president was ousted in 2009 as a desperate, last attempt to save their country from the president's dictator-like tendencies. Zelaya's foreign policy was ruled by the Honduran government to be illegal and his close friendships with Hugo Chávez of Venezuela and Raúl Castro of Cuba worried politicians in Honduras and the allied Latin American countries. Zelaya was warned and advised against these alliances, but upon his attempt to unlawfully change the country's constitution, the Honduran Supreme Court issued an arrest warrant for Zelaya and the military was ordered to bring him in before he attempted to escape.
As I compared U.S. and Honduran media coverage of the situation I quickly understood why I had begun to receive calls and emails questioning my safety in Honduras. The U.S. media, fed information by Chávez's people, was blowing the situation out of proportion. The riots and chaos that frequented American T.V. screens was not of regular occurrence in the country, nor had it enveloped the country as had been portrayed. The turmoil was centered on a single street in the capital, the rest of the country, while concerned for the integrity of their government, went on with life as usual.
CNN Presents aired a 30min segment on the problems of violence in Honduras and Guatemala called Narco Wars in January. I watched as the CNN reporter walked the same streets that I have walked and reported all that he saw only able to interpret it from his personal experience, void of any cultural understanding. His coverage only revealed the worst of the country and its people, small things such as recess locations for students and barred windows were misunderstood and twisted to fit different meanings, and I listened to his mistranslations as he spoke with people on the street. Once again, the U.S. media failing to portray things correctly and appropriately.
Extreme poverty and illiteracy are at their highest in Honduras and people desperate to stay alive have been caught up in the drug traffic that runs through their country's main ports. For this reason I am not denying that there is violence in Honduras and I am not denying that the amount of violence has risen in recent years but I am quick to defend the innocent people, those suffering most from this outcry against their nation. To step off of a plane and onto Honduran soil does not signify immediate mugging, rape, murder, or other life threatening violence. Just as there are certain neighborhoods that you wouldn't walk into or people that you wouldn't get involved with in the United States because of the dangers they could bring to you, so it is in Honduras. Approximately 25% of the country's population resides in the country’s two major cities; the other 75% in predominantly rural areas are not prone to everyday violence.
So before you cancel your mission trips, pull out your Peace Corps volunteers, and get refunded on your family vacations, take a second look at what's really going on and be smart in where you go and what you do. Their status as an impoverished nation has not changed and in this time of heightened violence and pain is when God's children need Him the most, to be shown that there is hope for something greater. Instead of giving up on these beautiful, helpless people and allowing the devil to discourage our efforts, shouldn't we continue to be a beacon of light in a world of darkness?
