Honduras politicians go to great lengths to present the Republica de

Honduras as an honest-to-God, fully functional, DEMOCRACY. As evidence,

they confidently point out that Honduras holds elections, as if holding

elections proves their case.

Lots of other countries that nobody would call democracies hold

elections. Cuba holds elections, which just makes it a dictatorship

that holds elections. By the same line of reasoning, Saudi Arabia is a

dynasty that holds elections. Thailand is a monarchy that holds

elections. So it goes.

Politically, Honduras is neither a Democracy nor a Republic, and calling

it so doesn,t make it so. Abraham Lincoln once spoke out on the matter

of political labeling. "I have a cat named Tom," Mr. Lincoln declared.

"He,s my cat, so I can call him anything I want. I can even call him a

dog. But calling him a dog isn,t going to make him a dog." This is how

it is with democracy. There are functional requirements to be met

before the "Democracy" label can be honestly claimed, and Honduras

doesn,t measure up to them.

A Political Democracy and a Political Republic share some crucial

characteristics: First, both systems of government must be conducted

by the people, and carried out directly by the people or through their

elected representatives; and, Second, both political arrangements must

adhere to the principles of full social equality. Respect for the

individual must prevail throughout the body politic, regardless of

ethnic origin, skin color, religious preference, etc.

As anyone who knows Honduras will quickly see, Honduras fails both

tests.

Functionally, as well as by definition, Honduras is a serial-oligarchy.

It,s "serial" because the reins of government regularly get passed back

and forth between the Nacionales and the Liberales, (with an occasional

"golpe" by the army, to keep both of the "Red" and the "Blue" political

parties reminded of who is really in charge). It,s an "oligarchy"

because Honduras meets the textbook definition of "Government by a few,

especially by a small faction of persons or families." Note the absence

of any reference to either direct intervention or a continuing role in

decision-making on the part of the citizens of the country. Oligarchs

don,t feel any need for "outside" help in governing, and, needing it or

not, they don,t tolerate it. They justify this attitude as the basis

for their "firm hand." More of ten than not, the firm hand amounts to

an "iron fist."

Official population figures for 1996, reveal that Honduras is comprised

of the following ethnic fractions:

Mestizos - (mixed Indian and European) 90%

Indians - 7%

Blacks - 2%

Whites - 1%

Nearly all of the top Honduras officials are drawn from the "white" 1%

of the population. Such exceptions as do infrequently occur, tend to

be limited to Mestizos who are extremely well-placed in the military

establishment.

That Honduras holds elections must be seen as more of a public

relations gesture than a defining element in determining the type of

government it has. In recent years, however, the ruling clique has

turned the election process into an important tool for the protection of

active elected officials, as well as their family members and cronies.

More of this later.

On November 30, 1997, Honduras will conduct a national election.

According to the law of the land, every Honduran who has attained his

or her eighteenth birthday is required to vote, under pain of a

twenty-Lempira multa should they fail to do so. The multas have seldom

been collected, but whether collected or not, they could be because

that is the law.

It,s an unfortunate demographic fact that a large segment of the

Honduras population is illiterate; totally illiterate; can,t read or

write anything! Nevertheless, the Honduras voting law says everybody

who has reached voting age must vote. It is only under close

examination that this requirement comes into useful focus as part of the

electoral "numbers game."

From a qualitative standpoint, the larger the proportion of illiterate

(unqualified) voters who mark a ballot, the less reliable and more

random the results of the election will necessarily be. An election

vote in a democracy is supposed to represent the best, most informed,

most intelligent, collective judgment of the nation. Regardless of

whatever other human qualities they might reflect, illiterate voters are

not equipped to contribute to the quality of national decision-making.

Quite the contrary, the more illiterate and politically/economically

un-informed voters who mark ballots in a national election, the less

validity the polling results will have. How could it be otherwise?

Sheer numbers of voters (quantity) is not an acceptable substitute for

individual voter qualifications (quality) in collective

decision-making. If it were, then the interests of the political

society would be best served by extending the voting

privilege/obligation to every citizen from the cradle to the grave. If

voter qualifications are deemed unimportant, and only numbers of voters

count, then why not have everyone mark a ballot. That would surely

produce a larger number of votes to brag about in the press releases.

Nations conduct elections for a variety of reasons, beside the obvious

one of determining public attitudes as an input to the framing of

national policies. The most obvious reason for holding elections (in

nations that pay little if any attention to balloting results after the

exercise is over) is to maintain the illusion on the part of the

citizens that they are "participating" in their government. Perhaps,

therefor, holding an election once in a while reduces the tendency of

disenfranchised citizens to rise up in revolt against an unfeeling and

unresponsive political power structure.

Of equal and perhaps even greater moment, an election is a magnificent

image-building device for authoritarian regimes. Josef Stalin,

arguably the most iron-fisted dictator in the modern era, understood

and appreciated the usefulness of holding an election once in a while -

even when there was only one set of candidates (hence, no choice

whatsoever) on the ballot!

Nikolai Lenin called religion "the opium of the people." Josef Stalin

called elections "tranquilizers for the people." They still are.

But however useful an election might be deemed as a palliative for an

otherwise restive population, an election can also serves as coin of the

realm in buying international respectability for an otherwise

authoritarian, tyrannical and abusive regime. The mere charade of an

election, however it might parody the real meaning of the term, conjures

up a vision of political permissiveness on the part of the political

bosses. An election, even in places like Burma, Somali and Zaire,

softens the hard edge of international judgments, and prompts thoughts

or statements like, "Well, that Burmese, Cuban, Somali, or Zaire - or

(you fill in the blank) government can,t be too bad, because they allow

their people to vote!"

An international attitude like this makes it easier to arrange

government-to-government loans, bi-lateral military protection

treaties, grants in aid, non-governmental grants from private

foundations, and low-interest - or no-interest - loans from

multi-national sources like the International Monetary Fund, the

International Development Bank, etc. Viewed in the light of pure

pragmatism, having elections can be very good business, regardless of

the underlying government philosophy and the de-facto governmental

system in force.

In the case of Honduras, the election function has an additional benefit

in sustaining and strengthening the corrupt political and economic

status-quo.

A great many federal governments and their political systems can be

described as corrupted, in which case corruption stands as an exception

to the rule of usually honest and responsible federal administration.

What makes Honduras different is that, unlike a system that is merely

occasionally corrupted, in Honduras, corruption is the system. Hence,

instead of an aberration, in Honduras, corruption is the modus vivendi;

the accepted way of national political life.

In view of this fact, it should not be surprising to discover that the

election processes have, themselves, been turned to the direct service

of those who make a continuing practice of avoiding, evading, breaking

and using the nations laws, courts and legal processes to shield

themselves from having to answer for criminal conduct. Most Hondurans,

according to recently-conducted rank-and-file interviews, are unaware

that all of their public officials are totally immune from laws that

apply to everyone else in the country. Most Hondurans are unaware that

the most notorious criminals in Honduras can find immunity from the law

by just having their names placed on the ballot for an upcoming

election!

When a Honduras politician talks about "a nation of laws", he,s talking

about laws for everybody except himself and the rest of the politicians,

all of whom are shielded from legal liabilities of every kind, by virtue

of being either elected or appointed officials, or candidates running

for office.

Former President Callejas recently admitted in a La Tribuna report that

the

National Party has included persons accused of corruption on its slate

of political

candidates in order to grant them immunity. According to Honduran law,

candidates as well as congressmen, substitute congressmen, elected and

appointed officials receive legal immunity and therefore cannot be

charged with any kind of crime.

Callejas specifically referred to the case of Mauricio Kattan, brother

of

congressman Carlos Kattan, and whom the "Red" Attorney General's office

has accused of corruption. By including him as a candidate for Cortes

department, he (Callejas) said, Kattan "avoided going to jail for a

crime he didn't commit and in this way he will be able defend himself

against political persecution."

__________________________________________________________________

Callejas plays very loosely with both law and language in this

statement. First, he seems to have already tried the case and rendered

his own private decision that Kattan is innocent. He did this without

need for a Court hearing of any kind. Second, with the immunity

conferred on Kattan by virtue of his being listed as a "candidate" on

the ballot, there will be no reason for him to "defend himself against

political persecution." since nobody can even place a charge against

him! Note that whenever a crook with political "connections" gets

caught breaking the law, any attempt to hold him responsible in a court

of law is always labeled "political persecution." Always! It is only

members of the "other" political party who are described as "criminals."

Jorge Zelaya, a current member of the Honduras Chamber of Deputies who

is running for reelection, put the case far more dramatically. In

accordance with your author,s solid conviction that absolutely

everything is for sale in Honduras, Congressman Zelaya has offered to

sell his legal immunity for one million Lempiras. This is how Reuters

News Service reported the story:

__________________________________________________________________

Honduran Offers $76,000 Gamble On Legal Immunity

TEGUCIGALPA, Honduras (Reuters) September 18, 1997-

In a swipe at government corruption, a Honduran politician Thursday

offered to sell his nomination to Congress -- and the immunity from

prosecution that success at the polls would bring.

``There are people who need immunity, people who are on the

outside and want in, people who will offer any amount of money, so here

is (a nomination) for sale,'' Jorge Zelaya, a legislator for the

opposition National Party who is seeking re-election, told reporters.

``Candidates for Congress include people who have killed, people

who have stolen from the public purse, or have other problems with the

law,'' Zelaya said. ``For a million lempiras ($76,500), I'll step down,

buy another seat and rent it out.''

``I don't need immunity,'' he added. ``I don't owe money to

anybody. I'm not breaking the law. I'm not planning to kill anybody.

I'm not behind in my taxes.''

In Honduras, parliamentary immunity is used to avoid prosecution

for crimes, debts, nonpayment of alimony or child support, and

corruption, according to politicians and analysts.

In Zelaya's own party, former President Rafael Callejas is running

for Congress despite a host of corruption allegations against him

stemming from his 1990-94 term. Candidates for the ruling Liberal Party

have also been stained by corruption charges.

A National Party official later said none of the party's

nominations would be for sale. The party has said it will seek to amend

the immunity law during the next Congress.

Honduras will hold general elections Nov. 30 to select a president,

three vice presidents, 128 legislators, 20 members of the Central

American Parliament and 296 mayors. (Reuters News Wire)

__________________________________________________________________

With this as first-person testimony, what more could possibly be needed

to identity the Honduras election procedures as just another tool of

corruption? Yet the fact that Honduras holds elections is regularly

cited by Honduras politicians as a reason the nation deserves respect

from the rest of the international community. This is tantamount to

Chicago,s once-famous gangster, Al Capone, seeking community acceptance

because he always attended mass during Semana Santa.

In the case of Honduras elections, however, they lose whatever

mitigating effect they might otherwise have on the Honduras image as a

rogue nation, because the election laws have been specifically designed

to shield known "political" criminals from laws that have been passed to

capture and punish all other criminals!

A Nacionalista official is quoted in the story as saying that his

political party will "seek to amend the immunity law during the next

congress." The immunity law doesn,t need to be amended. It needs to

be repealed. Until it is, everyone who allows his or her name to appear

on the ballot, as a candidate for anything, is publicly announcing his

or her membership in the "lawless society" that the immunity law

creates. Anyone with an iota of self-respect would not allow his or her

good name to be sullied by public association with such a confederation

of known murderers, thieves, family deserters, tax-evaders and lesser

criminal types.

Honduras will have its election on November 30, 1997. The occasion

will be trumpeted far and wide as an event of great significance for

Honduras, for Central America, and the "free world" in general. The

election will be offered up globally as "proof" that Honduras comes

down solidly on the side of candidates of DEMOCRATIC ideals and

government of the people, by the people and for the people. U. S.

Ambassador James F. Creagan might even go so far as to repeat his

earlier declaration that the election - regardless of how it turns out -

adds to the Honduras "Democratic tradition."

But anybody who knows anything about Honduras politics will not be

fooled by the political fuss and publicity fanfare. A Honduras election

is all sham, pretense, and elaborately arranged window-trimming.

Necessarily so, since the system it represents is rotten to the core.

It will take much more than a quadrennial election charade to effect

any lasting changes in this poverty-stricken, socially abandoned,

malnourished, ill-educated and vastly exploited land.

It probably makes no difference which party wins, be it "Blue" or "Red"

- although it is the "Blue,s" turn at bat. None of the previous changes

in administrations, that I have been observing and writing about for

three decades, have brought any kind of discernible improvement into the

lives of ordinary Hondurans. One more change isn,t likely to produce a

different result. This, because a Honduras election isn,t about the

people, or the needs of the people.

A Honduras election is about power. Political control. Illicit

enrichment. Immunity for the privileged criminals walking free among

us. Perpetuation of private power domains, at the cost of national

stature and sovereign honor. It,s about the continuation of corrupt

schemes that enrich the political elite, while further impoverishing

the nation, itself, and the unfortunates that populate it. It,s about

"DEMOCRACY", Honduras style.

So remember! Election Day is November 30. DON,T FORGET TO VOTE!

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Copyright 1997 ©

Lorenzo Dee Belveal