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Truth About Political Wages in Honduras
By: Lorenzo Dee Belveal
As another election approaches, a great many people who don’t understand the
realities of Honduras "public service" are wondering what all of the fuss is
about. They ask themselves - and their friends - why it is that otherwise sensible people
would spend millions of Lempiras contesting for offices that carry such modest salaries.
It just doesn’t make
sense.
Their curiosity is well-founded. In order for people to fight so hard to be elected, there
has to be a larger incentive beyond the official government salary schedule. The principal
lure to "public service" isn’t much understood by ordinary Honduras
citizens. So let me explain.
Consider that these are the pay checks for the very apex of the Honduras government
pyramid:
President of the Republic - Lps. 70,000.00 (about US$5,000.00) per month.
Vice-Presidents (3) - Lps. 30,000.00 (about
US$2,105.00) per
month.
Diputados (128) - Lps. 17,000.00 (about
US$1,197.00) per
month.
President, Corte Suprema - Lps. 17,000.00 (about
US$1.197.00) per month.
Justices, Corte Suprema (9) Lps. 12,000.00
(about US$ 845.00) per month.
These are the established salary figures for office-holders at the very top of the
Honduras political "food chain." These distinguished individuals don’t have
much interaction with the rank and file citizens, but they are much in evidence at
international meetings, conferences, and political planning meetings. They are the true
"celebrities" in the Honduras political structure. The sheer grandeur of their
positions
tends to isolate them from the "common people."
Now let’s take a look at the lesser lights in the federal, state and municipal
structures. These functionaries have much more direct contact with the general population.
They are the petty officials and administrators, who take their orders from the political
"celebrities" above, but who necessarily "personify" the powers of
government to the little people, through daily interaction and high visibility. Probably
you know some of these individuals.
_____________________________________________________________
Lempiras per mo.| Stated in Dollars |U.
S.Equivalent Function
Judge of Letters Lps. 13,500 US$ 1,038.00
District Court Judge
Justice of the Peace Lps. 3,500 $ 269.00
Municipal Judge
Fiscal General Lps. 50,000 $
3,846.00 FBI Director
Fiscales Lps. 7,000
$538.00
FBI Agents
FSP commander Lps. 8,000
$615.00 Chief of Police
FSP policeman Lps. 1,200
$92.00
Policeman
_____________________________________________________________
Salaries tend to be penurious throughout Honduras, but the government,itself, stands
revealed as easily the most tight-fisted employer to be found in the entire Republica.
With these numbers before him, a reasonable person must ask, what is the great attraction
to government positions? It certainly can’t be the salaries involved, so what is it?
Can it be just the opportunity to serve the country? A selfless desire to be of service to
one’s fellow "paisanos"? An urge to share in the publicity spotlight and
enjoy the celebrity that attends high government service? No! No! and No! are by far the
most logical answers.
Then what? Why would the Nationalistas and the Liberales spend millions of dollars every
four years to elect their candidates to positions that pay so poorly? On the face of it,
spending a lot of money contesting for these offices makes no economic sense at all! In
the Honduras of 1997, the wages for Justice of the Peace and policemen don’t even
represent amounts that a family can live on! How are these
"public servants" expected to survive?
We shall see.
There is much more to political recompense in Honduras than is reflected in these numbers.
The major incentive to political office-holding, either by election or appointment is not
discussed very much - especially not discussed by the office-holders, themselves. The idea
being that the less the voters know about it, the better.
The magnet that draws financially ambitious people to Honduras politics, like a honey-pot
draws flies, is legal immunity. Once covered by this law that offers total legal
protection for a long list of elected and appointed officials, they are above the law! It
makes no difference what they do, they are legally untouchable. Regardless of
the crimes they commit, while their immunity is intact, nobody can even so much as file a
lawsuit against them. The same immunity also applies retroactively. Immunity
"forgives" whatever kind of criminality they may have been involved in prior to
being elected or appointed to their political position.
Before a "covered" politician can be sued in a court of law,
his immunity blanket must be removed, and only the national legislature can do this.
Needless to say, it almost never happens.
Now let’s look at that salary schedule again, and see it like a politician running
for office sees it. To each salary number, we need to add the crucial clause: "plus
legal immunity and everything you can steal." This makes the list read as follows:
President of the Republic - Lps. 70,000.00 (about US$5,000.00) per month, plus legal
immunity and everything he can steal.
Vice-Presidents (3) - Lps. 30,000.00 (about US$2,105.00) per
month,plus legal immunity and everything they can steal.
Diputados (128) - Lps. 17,000.00 (about US$1,197.00) per
month, plus legal immunity and everything they can steal.
President, Corte Suprema - Lps. 17,000.00 (about
US$1.197.00) per month, plus legal immunity and everything he can steal.
Justices, Corte Suprema (9) - Lps. 12,000.00
(about US$ 845.00) per month, plus legal immunity and everything they can steal.
Judges of Letters Lps. 13,500.00 (about US$1,038.00) per
month, plus legal immunity and everything they can steal.
-------------------
"Steal" is used as a generic term in
this connection. It is meant to cover everything from "propinas" (tips) and
"mordidas" (bites), to "subornos" (bribes), fees for illegal services,
and "protection" from local and/or external threats that can range from private
lawsuits to extradition at the hands of other governments.
Avoiding extradition is known as "buying
safe haven" in international parlance. It involves big numbers, and continuing
installments that may go on for years - or until a statute of limitations, amnesty, or
death, rescues the international criminal-in-flight from the clutches of his paid
protectors. Depending on what the fugitive from justice has done, how badly the other
country wants him, and what they intend to do to him when they get him, the sky
is the limit. A bought "passport" can cost millions of dollars. Selling
"safe haven" to international criminals is big business in Honduras.
"Steal" in the political sense is meant to cover anything and everything a
corrupt politician might do for money - or other valuable considerations, - and that would
land a private citizen - without immunity - in jail.
This salary recapitulation should prove beyond any reasonable argument, that the salaries
that go along with the various positions in the Honduras federal structure just can’t
be deemed very important in terms of attracting capable, well-trained, honest, people to
fill them. The candidates who are attracted to these positions would be just as eager for
the jobs if they carried no salaries at all!
A candidate for public office in Honduras, who actually intends to subsist on the official
paycheck that comes along with his rubber stamp, is too unimaginative to take up space in
the hallowed halls of government. He has no future in politics, as conducted in La
Republica!
The correct mind-set for a Honduras politician is that s/he has been elected for four (4)
years. That’s all! There is a possibility, of course, that he might be re-elected.
Reelection is not forbidden, nor is it unheard of. But it is highly unlikely.
At the end of four years, the combination of
public discoveries and - in the absence of a congressionally enacted and firmly enforced
"Publicity Gag-Law" - resulting bad publicity, can be expected to have totally
destroyed whatever credibility the party, the administration (and the individuals in it)
ever had. So re-election, although constitutionally possible, almost never happens.
This means that the elected official must realize that s/he has four years to lay hands on
enough money to last the rest of his or her life.
This isn’t much of a challenge to an enterprising individual. With immunity from all
of the criminal statutes, and with unfettered access to the full range of money-making
possibilities offered via the nearly limitless prerogatives of a sovereign nation, four
years is more than enough! Given four years to get it done, any well-placed,
imaginative, industrious, corrupt public official will find ways to make abundant
financial preparations for his "golden years" following retirement from public
life.
As the November 30 election approaches, the prudent voter must consider these political
and functional ramifications very carefully. It’s not easy to make intelligent
choices between all of those eager candidates who are pleading for votes, and promising
the world and everything in it in return. So what qualities should be most sought after in
those individuals who, in addition to running the country for four years, will also be
totally above the laws of the land (that apply to everybody else) for the same period of
time?
Honesty, of course, would ordinarily be the first priority. But with the open enticement
of legal immunity, DIShonesty is clearly much more attractive. Especially to men and
women of minimal moral scruples, even under ordinary circumstances. When criminality
carries no penalty, few among us are likely to have the inherent strength of character to
resist this kind of temptation. More particularly, when it's generally known that
"everybody else is doing it."
Furthermore, an honest man or woman in public
office is
going to have to be content with the statutory salary for the position occupied.
That’s what honesty is all about. Suddenly public service loses any attraction it
ever had, especially as a way to earn a living!
So, if honesty cannot be used as the acid-test for an acceptable candidate for public
office, what other qualification can be looked for, that will offer the best possible
chance of minimizing the rampant thievery and corrupt practices that Honduran legal
immunity invites?
Most thoughtful people will agree that the more intelligent a person happens to be, the
greater his potential for success in whatever type of activity he decides to take up.
Hence, it goes without saying that a "smart" political crook is a much more
dangerous individual - especially when covered with legal immunity - than a stupid
political crook would be. The smart crook will be able to steal more. This assumes they
both have the same opportunities to abuse the system in
which they are working.
So there you have it.
Until such time as the Honduras Chamber of Deputies sees fit to repeal the immunity law
that now invites all of the Republic’s officials to four years of criminality without
risk of punishment, the only prudent course is to vote for the least intelligent
candidates to be found on the ballot.
Why?
Because, as set forth above, a smart crook is far more dangerous than a stupid crook -
wherever you find him. And a smart politician covered by an immunity statute has to be
rated the most dangerous potential criminal you will ever have to confront.
To put this situation into somewhat clearer
focus, political salaries in the United States should add a ray of light for the sake of
direct comparisons.
These are annual salaries for top U. S.
Government officials:
President: $200,000.
Vice President & Chief Justice Supreme
Court: $175,400.
Associate Supreme Court Justices:
$167,900.
House & Senate majority and minority
leaders: $151,800.
Senators & Representatives:
$136,700.
The message here should be clear enough for
anyone: The first step toward structuring an honest government is to pay the
public functionaries enough that they are not, perforce, required to steal to support
themselves and their families.
Honduras still has to face up to this reality.
___________________
Lorenzo Dee Belveal, Author
Copyright © 1997 Lorenzo Dee Belveal
All Rights Reserved
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mail to
[esteban@goodfelloweb.com] with questions or comments about this web
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Copyright © 1997
Last modified: February 12, 2003 |
