Lorenzo Dee Belveal's Central America & Honduras for newcomers


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Lorenzo Dee Belveal, economist, journalist, author.
Lorenzo Dee Belveal .....spiritual inheritor of O.Henry's bright eye for human foible, and H. L. Mencken's satiric artistry. An irresistable mix of semantic exhibitionism and world-class story-telling."

To begin your introduction to Honduras, let's start by saying it is probably very much different from any other country you have ever previously lived in, or even visited. This Site hopes to clarify some of the things that make it so. The articles listed in the Table Of Contents are of three distinct types: 1) To provide information in connection with topics that merit your general interest; 2) To explore topics that deserve your careful attention; 3) To entertain, while informing you about this part of the world.

As a first step in the education of any newcomer to Central America, Debunking the Central American Myth, can lay a foundation for understanding the background that has made Honduras (and some of its sister Republics) the way they are. Honduras poverty, illiteracy, political corruption and endemic health problems are not accidents. These plagues on a much-abused and long-suffering population have been caused by decades and generations of administrative irresponsibility, economic neglect, and social abuse. To understand how this has happened, check out the evidence in:

Through a combination of plain fear of federal reprisals on the part of its citizens, suppression of publicity concerning political corruption, and international "courtesy" on the part of other - more respectable nations - that have turned their "blind eye" on Honduras, great crimes against Honduran citizens and institutions have been allowed to occur. Terrible perversions of political power and shameful abuses of citizens' rights have been carried out under the mis-applied label of popular government. "National sovereignty" has been invoked as the all-encompassing license covering everything from looting of the federal treasury, to "official" murder of political rivals. And in hypocritical deference to the cloak of "national sovereignty", the hemispheric neighbors have countenanced - or looked the other way - while the these administrative outrages continue. Looting of the Honduras National Treasury is a perennial political program. Destruction and disposal of the nation's natural resources is constantly depleting the national patrimony, in favor of illicit enrichment of a handful of shortsighted and venal political profiteers. See the articles:

The only fully operative rule in Honduras is that "if the price is right, everything is for sale." This means court decisions, commercial franchises, and Honduras citizenships to provide "safe haven" for international criminals, drug traffickers, and fugitives from justice from outstanding federal indictments. Of course these judicial outrages against both law and international custom are engineered and arranged at the very apex of the federal hierarchy. It could hardly be otherwise. But the lesser functionaries in the government structure also enjoy their corrupt "entitlements of office", via a formally enacted "impunity law" that puts all elected officials (and a great many appointed ones) totally above all of the laws of the land: criminal as well as civil.) See the articles entitled:

There seemed to be a reasonable basis to hope for some significant changes in the legal and moral tone of the Honduras government system, with the election of the political maverick, Carlos Roberto Flores Facusse, to the Honduras Presidency. His first three months in office, however, offers nothing to underpin expectations for improvement. The first article explains the wispy hope for change. The second article explains why change was probably too much to hope for. And the third article shows how, in Honduras, the more things seem to change, the more they stay the same. Terminating a corrupted judge, is meaningless, unless his firing sets the stage for judicial reviews and correction of the blatant judicial crimes committed during his tenure. President Carlos Roberto Flores Facusse shows no intentions of "rocking the political/judicial boat."

A totally corrupt government structure, and a judicial system whose decisions have long been - and continue to be - for sale to the highest bidder, is sure to generate grist for a lot of negative publicity. Negative news stories, in turn, constitute a major source of embarrassment for crooked politicians, and a lot of unhappiness among the citizens who can read and hear how they are being ripped off. Throttling a pesky press takes many forms. From killing individual editors, publishers and reporters, to setting fire to the offending businesses, and passing "publicity gag-laws" that make it a crime to print or broadcast the truth about a corrupt government - or an individual poliltician who is "on the take". The Honduras legislature passed such a gag-law in 1997. The following article will explain why they did it, who they intended to shut up, and why it failed:

You may also be interested in seeing a few of the letters that I continued to direct to both Presidents, Carlos Roberto Reina, and his successor, Carlos Roberto Flores Facusse. Both of these emminent gentlemen, in turn, have displayed the same total lack of interest in fumigating a rotten Court. Much of what ails Honduras is plainly set forth in these letters opened for public perusal below:

Honduras offers more than its fair share of direct and well-recognized threats to both life and limb. The U. S. Department of State emphatically points up the hazards of travel on the north shore of Honduras and in the Bay Islands, (Roatan, especially). Muggings, strong-arm robberies, and murder are cited as very real possibilities to be taken into account in planning one's itinerary. (Although murder by professional government- and/or army-sponsored hit-squads appears, on the face of it, to be more common than "private" murder resulting from purely private initiatives.) An Associated Press story reported a minumum of 629 unpunished "political murders" from 1990, to 1997.)

An excerpt from a U. S. Government Travel Alert should serve to put anyone on their guard whenever their travels take them off the well-beaten path in Honduras. After dark, city streets can prove to be no less hazardous than country roads and deserted beaches. Walking in groups is probably the best personal safety insurance available. You should take a State Department alert very seriously. Like this one:

Health considerations, although occupying almost last place in this list, realistically deserve much more prominent notice. Public health facilities and awareness in Honduras, is not given much attention. Potable water supplies are questionable at best, food service establishments are poorly monitored for cleanliness and organisms that convey bothersome - as well as lethal - digestive tract infections to trusting foreign visitors. Perhaps most frightening of all, to a great many visitors, is that Honduras has the unenviable distinction of showing the highest infestation rate of HIV/AIDS of any country in the western hemisphere. Health authorities describe Honduras as "following the African pattern." This devastating public health crisis is spelled out in the article:

An ancient travel bromide used to describe marginal tourist destinations as, "a nice place to visit, but I wouldn't want to live there." Increasingly, this label is being applied to Honduras - and even "visiting" there is becoming steadily chancier. More and more prudent people are asking themselves if the "risk/benefit" trade-off makes any sense; and with increasing regularity, the answer comes back in the form of a resounding "NO! "

Honduras has high hopes, if not very realistic expectations, of generating impressive dollar revenues from its fledgling tourism industry. Evidence already at hand - and growing - fails to support the rosy view. Personal vulnerability to common crime, the widely recognized hazards of investing in Honduras, dearth of legal/judicial integrity, public health shortcomings, and overall lack of political respectability is usually given much more weight than a pretty brochure, when it comes time to make the travel reservations. After all, most travel brochures are pretty.

Another department in my Site to which you should pay some attention is "Links" to a rich assortment of Web resources that can vastly simplify your search for reliable information on a long list of Honduras, Central America, and World-Travel topics. Check it out and see how much time it can save you. Also included in this Site is an ingenious translation facility that can turn English into several other languages, and translate those other languages into English.......quickly.........efficiently........and FREE!

Don't overlook the "Hair-Raising Tales" from both "The Spanish Main" and the "Incredible Island." These yarns, deliberately spun in the style of William Sydney Porter, - or O.Henry, if you prefer - are guaranteed to reach all the way to your funny-bone. And, while giving you some laughs, adding a good bit of information to your file of Honduras information, supposition, and folklore.

Check it out! And let us hear from you in the "Contributor" and "Discussion" sections. Your comments or questions on any topic herein is welcome. Let us hear from you!

Internet and free speech-

Conventional wisdom has always admonished us that "You can’t fight City Hall," and perhaps that was true until the advent of the World Wide Web. But it’s not true any longer, and this WebSite proves it.

In point of fact, this Site is not just opposing a City Hall, it represents the battle-line drawn in a cyber-war, in which a private individual is facing off against a Presidential Palace, and all the rest of the administrative trappings and resources of a full-fledged sovereign nation. This has never happened before, but it is happening here - and because it is, the balance of power between governments and citizens will never be the same again!

How this Site came into being:

The inspiration grew out of a monumental land rip-off, in which Arnold Morris, a fugitive on the run from a 26-count United States federal indictment, and the then-sitting Roatan Judge of Letters, Fernando Azcona Schrenzel, teamed up to steal my Roatan property. Rather than bow to the axiom, "You can’t fight City Hall," I decided to fight.

Surfing the Net one day, I found a page entitled "Honduras Notebook" and noticed that it contained some highly complimentary references to Roatan, that - on the basis of my first-hand experiences - were not only out of accord with the realities, but could help get some trusting souls into deep and very expensive trouble.

I wrote an e-mail to Stephen Goodfellow, the owner of the "Honduras Notebook" site. I detailed my specific exceptions to the rosy picture he had presented of the island. I told him that, based on first-hand experience, I knew Roatan to be in the firm grip of a blatant conspiracy comprised of an international criminal-in-flight, a corrupt Judge of Letters, and some of their nearest and dearest friends.

Stephen Goodfellow replied to me immediately, and asked my permission to post my e-mail in his "Honduras Notebook". I authorized him to do so. He posted it under the title, "The Trashing of Roatan". Reader response was immediate, if mixed. Some people agreed with my point of view. Some readers disagreed, vociferously. But it got attention for the problem.

From that point on, I began thinking seriously about using the World Wide Web to publicize the criminals on Roatan, whose business - clearly - was stealing land from absentee owners. And doing so with the active assistance of the totally corrupted Court of Letters. In due course the scope of my crusade widened to include political corruption, wherever existing in the Republic of Honduras.

Stephen set up the WebSite for me, and he still does most of the designing, layout and all of the artwork. From the very first exposures, a group of followers began to build. Some of those who wrote "Feedback" notes said they enjoyed the Site for the information and the entertaining language-style I employ. Others said they also owned land, or had other interests in Honduras, and/or on Roatan, and they found my articles accurate, highly instructive, and valuable. Many of the the "regulars" speak of the Site as "a learning experience." We try to keep the Site all of these things.

The first article written specifically for the Site was "Roatan - Paradise - Orphan", or "How To Destroy an Island." This expose’ laid the groundwork for everything that has followed. Since then, we have added more materials on politcal corruption, some fiction, some fact-ion, official correspondence, related narrative materials and Site components like Feedback, Discussion - and a Translation function, that allows the site to be multi-lingual. It is constantly changing, as you will see under the "What's New" heading.

The step-by-step progress of the confrontation between this "old Gringo" and the Republic of Honduras, is spelled out and firmly documented in articles, letters and other exhibits that put responsibility squarely where it belongs - at the very top of the political pyramid!

It is pertinent to point out that, while there have been many protests about some of the posts I have made - for a variety of reasons - the veracity of my articles has never been challenged by anyone. For a professional journalist, that is the acid test. As long as my articles are true - and I take extreme precautions to make sure that they are - I believe the citizens of Honduras, and the world at large are well served by my informing them that there is a bunch of crooks holding forth in the Republica de Honduras.

Moreover, that these are extremely dangerous people. A crooked politician, in particular, who is protected by both civil and criminal immunity, is probably the most dangerous criminal you will ever meet - anywhere!

If you would like to see how a single individual - with a computer and an Internet Connection - can go up against crooks in government and win, follow the activities in this Site. You will learn the tactics and strategy of fighting corruption in government with the one weapon that crooked politicians fear more than any other - publicity.

The old saying that, "the pen is mightier than the sword," always has had a grain of truth in it. But when your pen is replaced by a computer, and your words are globally disseminated over the World Wide Web, your "pen " is ten-thousand times mightier than it has ever been before. With this kind of audience, one voice can truly make a difference!

Your suggestions and personal support is welcomed. Let us hear from
you via the "Feedback" function or by regular e-mail.


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