Honduras

Republic of Honduras República de Honduras
Flag Coat of arms
Motto: "Libre, Soberana e Independiente"  (Spanish) "Free, Sovereign and Independent"
Anthem: National Anthem of Honduras
Capital and largest city	Tegucigalpa
Official languages	Spanish
Ethnic groups	90% Mestizo 7% Amerindian 2% Black 1% White
Demonym(s)	Honduran
Government	Presidential constitutional republic
• President	Disputed
• Vice President	Unoccupied
Independence
• from Spain	September 15, 1821
• from the Mexican Empire	July 1, 1823
• from the Republic of Central America	May 31, 1838
Area
• Total	112,492 km2 (43,433 sq mi) ([[List of countries and dependencies by area|102 Not done]])
Population
• August 2009 estimate	7,810,848² ([[List of countries and dependencies by population|93Do not use this template. Use {{RD1}}, {{RD2}} or {{RD3}} instead.]])
• 2000 census	6,975,204
• Density	64/km2 (165.8/sq mi) ([[List of countries and dependencies by population density|128]])
GDP (PPP)	2008 estimate
• Total	$32.725 billion
• Per capita	$4,268
GDP (nominal)	2008 estimate
• Total	$14.126 billion
• Per capita	$1,842
Gini (2003)	53.8 high inequality
HDI (2007)	0.700  ([[List of countries by Human Development Index|115]])
Currency	Lempira (HNL)
Time zone	UTC-6 (CST)
Drives on	Right
Calling code	504
ISO 3166 code	HN
Internet TLD	.hn
"Libre, soberana e independiente" is the official motto, by congressional order, and was put on the coat of arms. Estimates explicitly take into account the effects of excess mortality due to AIDS; this can result in lower life expectancy, higher infant mortality and death rates, lower population and growth rates, and changes in the distribution of population by age and sex than would otherwise be expected, as of July 2007.

Honduras (Template:Lang-es, pronounced [reˈpuβlika ðe onˈduɾas]) is a republic in Central America. It was formerly known as Spanish Honduras to differentiate it from British Honduras (now Belize). The country is bordered to the west by Guatemala, to the southwest by El Salvador, to the southeast by Nicaragua, to the south by the Pacific Ocean at the Gulf of Fonseca, and to the north by the Gulf of Honduras, a large inlet of the Caribbean Sea. Its size is just over 110,000 km² with an estimated population of almost 7,500,000. Its capital is Tegucigalpa.

Etymology

The Spanish used at least three different terms to refer to the area that became the Central American country of Honduras.

• Guaymuras - a name Columbus provided for a town near modern Trujillo. Bartolomé de las Casas subsequently generalized it to apply to the whole colony.
• Higueras - a reference to the gourds that come from the Jicaro tree, many of which were found floating in the waters off the northwest coast of Honduras.
• Honduras - literally "depths" in Spanish. Columbus is traditionally quoted as having written Gracias a Dios que hemos salido de esas Honduras (English: "Thank God we have come out of those depths") while along the northeastern coast.

History

Main article: History of Honduras

Archaeologists have demonstrated that Honduras had a rich, multi-ethnic prehistory. An important part of that prehistory was the Mayan presence around the city of Copán in western Honduras, near the Guatemalan border. A major Mayan city flourished during the classic period (150-900) in that area. It has many carved inscriptions and stelae. The ancient kingdom, named rtyu, existed from the fifth century to the early ninth century, with antecedents going back to at least the second century. The Mayan civilization began a marked decline in the ninth century, but there is evidence of people still living in and around the city until at least 1200. By the time the Spanish came to Honduras, the once great city-state of Copán was overrun by the jungle, and the surviving Ch’orti’ were isolated from their Choltian linguistic peers to the west. The non-Maya Lencas were then dominant in western Honduras.

On his fourth and the final voyage to the New World in 1502, Christopher Columbus reached the Bay Islands on the coast of Honduras. Columbus landed near the modern town of Trujillo, in the vicinity of the Guaimoreto Lagoon. After the Spanish discovery, Honduras became part of Spain's vast empire in the New World within the Kingdom of Guatemala. Trujillo and Gracias were the first city-capitals. The Spanish ruled the region for approximately three centuries.

Spain granted independence to Honduras along with the rest of the Central American provinces on September 15 1821. In 1822 the United Central American Provinces decided to join the newly declared Mexican Empire of Iturbide. The Iturbide Empire was overthrown in 1823 and Central America separated from it, forming the Federal Republic of Central America, which disintegrated in 1838. As a result the states of the republic became independent nations.

Silver mining was a key factor in the Spanish conquest and settlement of Honduras. The American-owned Barger Mining Company was a major gold and silver producer but shut down its large mine at San Juancito in 1954.

Following the attack on Pearl Harbor, Honduras joined the Allied Nations on December 8, 1941. Along with twenty-five other governments, Honduras signed the Declaration by United Nations on January 1, 1942.

In 1969, Honduras and El Salvador fought what would become known as the Football War. There had been border tensions between the two countries after Oswaldo López Arellano, a former president of Honduras, blamed the deteriorating economy on the large number of immigrants from El Salvador. From that point on, the relationship between the two countries grew acrimonious and reached a low when El Salvador met Honduras for a three-round football elimination match as a preliminary to the World Cup. Tensions escalated, and on July 14, 1969, the Salvadoran army launched an attack against Honduras. The Organization of American States negotiated a cease-fire which took effect on July 20 and brought about a withdrawal of Salvadoran troops in early August.

Contributing factors in the conflict were a boundary dispute and the presence of thousands of Salvadorans living in Honduras illegally. After the week-long football war, many Salvadoran families and workers were expelled. El Salvador had agreed on a truce to settle the boundary issue, but Honduras later paid war damage costs for expelled refugees.

Fortaleza de San Fernando de Omoa

Hurricane Fifi caused severe damage while skimming the northern coast of Honduras on September 18 and 19, 1974.

Melgar Castro (1975-78) and Paz Garcia (1978-82) largely built the current physical infrastructure and telecommunications system of Honduras.

In 1979, the country returned to civilian rule. A constituent assembly was popularly elected in April 1980 and general elections were held in November 1981. A new constitution was approved in 1982 and the PLH government of Roberto Suazo assumed power. Roberto Suazo won the elections with a promise to carry out an ambitious program of economic and social development in Honduras in order to tackle the country's recession. President Roberto Suazo Cordoba did launch ambitious social and economic development projects, sponsored by American development aid. Honduras became host to the largest Peace Corps mission in the world, and nongovernmental and international voluntary agencies proliferated. During the early 1980s, the United States established a continuing military presence in Honduras with the purpose of supporting the Contra guerillas fighting the Nicaraguan government and also developed an air strip and a modern port in Honduras. Though spared the bloody civil wars wracking its neighbors, the Honduran army quietly waged a campaign against Marxist-Leninist militias such as Cinchoneros Popular Liberation Movement, notorious for kidnappings and bombings, and allegedly some non-militants. The operation included a CIA-backed campaign of extra-judicial killings by government-backed units, most notably Battalion 316.

In 1998, Hurricane Mitch caused such massive and widespread loss that former Honduran President Carlos Roberto Flores claimed that fifty years of progress in the country were reversed. Mitch obliterated about 70% of the crops and an estimated 70-80% of the transportation infrastructure, including nearly all bridges and secondary roads. Across the country, 33,000 houses were destroyed, an additional 50,000 damaged, some 5,000 people killed, 12,000 injured – for a total loss estimated at $3 billion USD.

The 2008 Honduran floods were bad. Around half the country's roads damaged or destroyed.

In 2009, a constitutional crisis culminated in a coup and transfer of power from the president to the head of Congress. Countries all over the world condemned the action and refused to recognize the new government.

Politics

Main article: Politics of Honduras

Honduras has five registered political parties: National Party (Partido Nacional de Honduras: PNH); Liberal Party (Partido Liberal de Honduras: PLH); Social Democrats (Partido Innovación y Unidad-Social Demócrata: PINU-SD), Social Christians (Partido Demócrata-Cristiano de Honduras: DCH); and Democratic Unification (Partido Unificación Democrática: UD). PNH and PLH have ruled the country for decades. In the last years, Honduras has had five Liberal presidents: Roberto Suazo Córdova, José Azcona del Hoyo, Carlos Roberto Reina, Carlos Roberto Flores and Manuel Zelaya, and two Nationalists: Rafael Leonardo Callejas Romero and Ricardo Maduro. The elections have been full of controversies, including questions about whether Azcona was born in Spain, and whether Maduro should have been able to stand, given he was born in Panama.

In 1963, a military coup was mounted against the democratically-elected president Ramón Villeda Morales. This event started a string of Military Governments which held power almost uninterrupted until 1981 when Suazo Córdova (LPH) was elected president and Honduras changed from a military authoritarian regime.

In 1986, there were five Liberal candidates and four Nationalists running for president. Because no one candidate obtained a clear majority, the so-called "Formula B" was invoked and Azcona del Hoyo became president. In 1990, Callejas won the election under the slogan "Llegó el momento del Cambio" (English: "The time for change has arrived"), which was heavily criticized for resembling El Salvador's "ARENAs" political campaign. Once in office, Callejas Romero gained a reputation for illicit enrichment, and has been the subject of several scandals and accusations. It was during Flores Facusse's mandate that Hurricane Mitch hit the country and decades of economic growth were eradicated in less than a week.

Government ministries are often incapable of carrying out their mandate due to budgetary constraints. In an interview with Rodolfo Pastor Fasquelle, Minister of Sports & Culture and one of three 'super ministers' responsible for coordinating the ministries related to public services (security and economic being the other two), published in Honduras This Week on July 31, 2006, it was related that 94% of the department budget was spent on bureaucracy and only 6% went to support activities and organizations covered by the mandate. Wages within that ministry were identified as the largest budget consumer.

President Maduro's administration "de-nationalized" the telecommunications sector in a move to promote the rapid diffusion of these services to the Honduran population. As of November 2005, there were around 10 private-sector telecommunications companies in the Honduran market, including two mobile phone companies. As of mid 2007, the issue of tele-communications continues to be very damaging to the current government. The country's main newspapers are La Prensa, El Heraldo, La Tribuna and Diario Tiempo. The official newspaper is La Gaceta.

A Presidential and General Election was held on November 27, 2005. Manuel Zelaya of the Liberal Party of Honduras (Partido Liberal de Honduras: PLH) won, with Porfirio Pepe Lobo of the National Party of Honduras (Partido Nacional de Honduras: PNH) coming in second. The PNH challenged the election results, and Lobo Sosa did not concede until December 7. Towards the end of December, the government finally released the total ballot count, giving Zelaya the official victory. Zelaya was inaugurated as Honduras' new president on January 27, 2006. Zelaya precipitated a national crisis by trying to hold a non-binding national referendum to ask the Honduran people: "Do you agree that, during the general elections of November 2009 there should be a fourth ballot to decide whether to hold a Constituent National Assembly that will approve a new political constitution?" This possible Assembly then might or more likely might not (as that would've been decidedly unconstitutional) have proposed constitutional changes to term-limits - as the military and the Supreme Court deemed possible - and other more likely, unrelated and legal constitutional changes.

2009 Honduran political crisis

Main article: 2009 Honduran constitutional crisis

The 2009 Honduran constitutional crisis is an ongoing constitutional crisis. President Manuel Zelaya attempted to hold a so called "non-binding" referendum following the playbook of his friend Hugo Chavez in Venezuela. Zelaya's manifest intention (a "comunicado" was published the same day of the deemed illegal poll, in the nation's official paper "La Gaceta", which ilegally made the poll binding and immediatelty called for a constituent assembly); to call for a Constituent Assembly, which would illegaly impose a new constitution (only congress can call for this) which would let mr. zelaya remain in power indefinitely. Proof that Mr. Zelaya lies when he denies his intent of staying in power (and his desire to dismantle the honduran democracy which is evident with all the steps he took)can be found in youtube. All you have to hear is minute five of the video "La Verdad en Honduras" by fajro86 http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eAx0g_YazWY Plus, Mr. Zelaya's vehicle in the poll was illegal because only the TSE Tribunal Supremo Electoral can hold such important political "polls". Zelaya wanted to legitimize his desires through a a poll conducted by an organism that he controlled. So he was alas, being judge and part. Although Zelaya's popularity rating is only 30% and an overwhelming percent of Hondurans were against Zelaya's intentions and were defending the constitution in the streets(search for the marches of 100 thousands of white t-shirts in Tegucigalpa and San Pero Sula) Zelaya would nevertheless win on that poll because he controlled the INE Instituto Nacional de Estadisticas. But Congress and the Supreme Court knew what would happed and had deemed the plebiscite unconstitutional and prohibited the execution of such poll. The armed forces of Honduras arrested Zelaya, at his home, on the morning of 28 June 2009, the date of the scheduled vote, which the military chief had refused to coordinate. per order of the country's Supreme Court. Zelaya was held in an airbase outside Tegucigalpa before being flown to San José, Costa Rica. Zelaya's removal took place about an hour before polls were to open and violated several articles of the Constitution. The military had an arrest warrant from the Supreme court, but they arrested him at 5:30 am (arrests can be held only between the hours of 6 am and 6 pm), and there is a controversy because the Constitution prohibits the extradition of Honduran citizens, but many deemit would be unsafe or cause a bloodshed (Zelaya controlled many news networks which encouraged mob violence and there is proof that there are hundreds of citizens from Venezuela and Nicaragua financed and trained to cause deaths)to keep Zelaya in Honduras.

Roberto Micheletti, the former President of the Honduran Congress and a member of the same party as Zelaya, was sworn in as President by the National Congress on the afternoon of Sunday 28 June. for a term that ends on 27 January 2010 .

Departments and municipalities

Departmental division of Honduras

See also: Departments of Honduras and Municipalities of Honduras

Honduras is divided into 18 departments. The capital city is Tegucigalpa Central District of the department of Francisco Morazán.

1. Atlántida
2. Choluteca
3. Colón
4. Comayagua
5. Copán
6. Cortés
7. El Paraíso
8. Francisco Morazán
9. Gracias a Dios
10. Intibucá
11. Islas de la Bahía
12. La Paz
13. Lempira
14. Ocotepeque
15. Olancho
16. Santa Bárbara
17. Valle
18. Yoro

Geography

Main article: Geography of Honduras

See also: Rivers of Honduras

Honduras is surrounded by the Caribbean Sea (top), Nicaragua, a gulf on the Pacific Ocean, El Salvador (lower left) & Guatemala (left)

River landscape in Tela.

Honduras borders the Caribbean Sea on the north coast and the Pacific Ocean on the south through the Gulf of Fonseca. The climate varies from tropical in the lowlands to temperate in the mountains. The central and southern regions are relatively hotter and less humid than the northern coast.

The Honduran territory consists mainly of mountains, but there are narrow plains along the coasts, a large undeveloped lowland jungle La Mosquitia region in the northeast, and the heavily populated lowland Sula valley in the northwest. In La Mosquitia, lies the UNESCO world-heritage site Río Plátano Biosphere Reserve, with the Coco River which divides the country from Nicaragua. The Islas de la Bahía and the Swan Islands (all off the north coast) are part of Honduras. Misteriosa Bank and Rosario Bank, 130 to 150 km (80–93 miles) north of the Swan Islands, fall within the EEZ of Honduras.

Honduran Rainforest

Natural resources include timber, gold, silver, copper, lead, zinc, iron ore, antimony, coal, fish, shrimp, and hydropower.

Ecology

See also:List of birds of Honduras

Honduran Emerald

The region is considered a biodiversity hotspot because of the numerous plant and animal species that can be found there. Like other countries in the region, Honduras contains vast biological resources. The country hosts more than 6,000 species of vascular plants, of which 630 (described so far) are orchids; around 250 reptiles and amphibians, more than 700 bird species, and 110 mammal species, half of them being bats.

In the northeastern region of La Mosquitia lies the Río Plátano Biosphere Reserve, a lowland rainforest which is home to a great diversity of life. The reserve was added to the UNESCO World Heritage Sites List in 1982.

Honduras has rain forests, cloud forests (which can rise up to nearly three thousand meters above sea level), mangroves, savannas and mountain ranges with pine and oak trees, and the Mesoamerican Barrier Reef System. In the Bay Islands there are bottlenose dolphins, manta rays, parrot fish, schools of blue tang and whale shark.

Economy

See also: Economy of Honduras

The famous hotel Gran Sula in the center of San Pedro Sula

Fruit Market on roadside

The economy has continued to grow slowly, but the distribution of wealth remains very polarized with average wages remaining low. Economic growth in the last few years has averaged 7% per year which has been one of the most successful growths in Latin America, but 50%, approximately 3.7 million, of the population still remains below the poverty line. According to the World Bank, Honduras is the third poorest country in the Western Hemisphere, after Haiti and Nicaragua. It is estimated that there are more than 1.2 million people who are unemployed, the rate of unemployment standing at 27.9%.

Honduras was declared one of the Heavily Indebted Poor Countries by the World Bank and the International Monetary Fund which made it eligible for debt relief in 2005.

Both the electricity services (ENEE) and land-line telephone services (HONDUTEL) have been operated by government agencies, with ENEE receiving heavy subsidies because of chronic financial problems. HONDUTEL, however, is no longer a monopoly, the telecommunication sector having been opened to private-sector companies after December 25 2005; this was one of the requirements before approving the beginning of CAFTA. There are price controls on petrol, and other temporary price controls for basic commodities are often passed for short periods by the Congress.

After years of declining against the U.S. dollar the Lempira has stabilized at around 19 Lempiras per dollar. In June 2008 the exchange rate between United States Dollars and Honduran Lempiras was approximately 1 to 18.85.

In 2005 Honduras signed the CAFTA (Free Trade Agreement with United States). In December 2005, Honduras' main seaport Puerto Cortes was included in the U.S. Container Security Initiative.

On December 7 2006, the U.S. Departments of Homeland Security (DHS) and Energy (DOE) announced the first phase of the Secure Freight Initiative, an unprecedented effort to build upon existing port security measures by enhancing the U.S. federal government’s ability to scan containers for nuclear and radiological materials overseas and to better assess the risk of inbound containers. The initial phase of Secure Freight involves the deployment of a combination of existing technology and proven nuclear detection devices to six foreign ports: Port Qasim in Pakistan; Puerto Cortes in Honduras; Southampton in the United Kingdom; Port Salalah in Oman; Port of Singapore; and the Gamman Terminal at Port Busan in Korea. Since early 2007, containers from these ports are scanned for radiation and information risk factors before they are allowed to depart for the United States.

Demographics

Main article: Demographics of Honduras

See also: Hondurans

According to the CIA World Factbook, Honduras has a population of 7.48 million; 90% of the population is Mestizo, 7% Amerindian, 2% black and 1% white.

File:Copan.JPG

Village in Copán.

Ninety percent of the Honduran population is Mestizo (a mixture of Amerindian and European ancestry). About 7% of the Honduran population are members of one of the seven recognized indigenous groups. The Confederation of Autochthonous Peoples of Honduras (CONPAH) and the government of Honduras count seven different indigenous groups:

• the Ch'orti', a Mayan group living in the northwest on the border with Guatemala;
• the Garifuna speaking an Arawakan language. They live along the entire Caribbean coastline of Honduras, and in the Bay Islands;
• the Pech or Paya Indians living in a small area in the Olancho department;
• the Tolupan (also called Jicaque, "Xicaque", or Tol), living in the Department of Yoro and in the reserve of the Montaña de la Flor and parts of the department of Yoro;
• the Lenca Indians living in the Valle and Choluteca departments;
• the Miskito Indians living on the northeast coast along the border with Nicaragua.

The confederation and each separate group of indigenous people have worked, since the 1980s, for bettering the life of the aboriginal peoples. Change, however, has been elusive as these peoples still face violence and discrimination.

About 2% of Honduras's population is black, or Afro-Honduran, and mainly reside on the country's Caribbean coast. Most are the descendants of the West Indian islands brought to Honduras as slaves and indentured servants. Another large group (about 150,000 today) are the Garifuna, descendants of an Afro-Carib population which revolted against British authorities on the island of St. Vincent and were forcibly moved to Belize and Honduras during the eighteenth century. Garífunas are part of Honduran identity through theatrical presentations such as Louvavagu.

Honduras hosts a significant Palestinian community (the vast majority of whom are Christian Arabs). The Palestinians arrived in the country in the late 19th and early 20th centuries, establishing themselves especially in the city of San Pedro Sula. The Palestinian community, well integrated in Honduras, is prominent in business, commerce, banking, industry, and politics. There is also an East Asian community that is primarily Chinese descent, and to a lesser extent Japanese. Korean, Ryukyuan, Vietnamese also make up a small percentage due to their arrival to Honduras as contract laborers in the 1980s and 1990s. There are also an estimated 1000 Sumos (or Mayangnas) that live in Honduras, the majority of whom reside on the Caribbean coast.

Although plurality of Hondurans are nominally Roman Catholic, according to one report, membership in the Roman Catholic Church is declining while membership in Protestant churches is increasing. The International Religious Freedom Report, 2008, notes that a CID Gallup poll reported that 47% of the population identified themselves as Catholic, 36% as evangelical Protestant, and 17% provided no answer or considered themselves "other." Customary Catholic church tallies and membership estimates 81% Catholic where the priest (in more than 185 parishes throughout the country) is required to fill out a pastoral account of the parish each year. The CIA Factbook has 97% Catholic and 3% Protestant. Commenting on statistical variations everywhere, John Green of Pew Forum on Religion and Public Life notes that: "It isn't that ... numbers are more right than [someone else's] numbers ... but how one conceptualizes the group. Often people attend one church without giving up their "home" church. Many who attend evangelical megachurches in the US, for example, attend more than one church. This shifting and fluidity is common in Brazil where two-fifths of those who were raised evangelical are no longer evangelical and Catholics seem to shift in and out of various churches, often while still remaining Catholic. Most pollsters suggest an annual poll taken over a number of years would provide the best method of knowing religious demographics and variations in any single country. Still, in Honduras are thriving Anglican, Presbyterian, Methodist, Seventh-day Adventist, Lutheran and Pentecostal churches, and together Evangelical Protestant churches, according to one source, constitute 36% of population. There are Protestant seminaries. The Catholic Church, still the only "church" that is recognized, is also thriving in the number of schools, hospitals, and pastoral institutions (including its own medical school) that it operates. It archbishop, Oscar Andres Rodriguez Maradiaga, is also very popular, both with the government, other churches, and in his own church. Practitioners of the Buddhist, Jewish, Islamic, Bahá'í, Rastafari and indigenous denominations and religions exist.

The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints (Mormons) claims over 120,000 members in Honduras as of the beginning of 2007 (lds.org newsroom site).

Since 1975, emigration from Honduras has accelerated as job-seekers and political refugees sought a better life elsewhere. Although many Hondurans have relatives in Nicaragua, Spain, Mexico, El Salvador and Canada, the majority of Hondurans living abroad are in the United States.

Culture

The Cathedral of Comayagua.

Colonial architecture in Copán.

Main article: Culture of Honduras

The most renowned Honduran painter is Jose Antonio Velásquez. Other important painters include Carlos Garay, and Roque Zelaya. Two of Honduras' most notable writers are Froylan Turcios and Ramón Amaya Amador. Others include Marco Antonio Rosa, Roberto Sosa, Lucila Gamero de Medina, Eduardo Bähr, Amanda Castro, Javier Abril Espinoza, Teófilo Trejo, and Roberto Quesada. Some of Honduras' notable musicians include Rafael Coello Ramos, Lidia Handal, Victoriano Lopez, Guillermo Anderson, Victor Donaire, Francisco Carranza and Camilo Rivera Guevara.

Hondurans are often referred to as Catracho or Catracha (fem) in Spanish. The word was coined by Nicaraguans and derives from the last name of the Spanish Honduran General Florencio Xatruch, who, in 1857, led Honduran armed forces against an attempted invasion by North American adventurer William Walker. The nickname is considered complimentary, not derogatory. The main language is Spanish spoken by a 94% as first language. The other languages that are minorities and are spoken by less than 4%, are Amerindian languages, and in the islands next to the coast English (spoken by less than 0.3%).

Honduras This Week is a weekly English language newspaper that has been published for seventeen years in Tegucigalpa. On the islands of Roatan, Utila and Guanaja, the Bay Islands Voice has been a source of monthly news since 2003.

Honduran cuisine makes extensive use of coconut, in both sweet and savory foods, and even in soups.

The José Francisco Saybe theater in San Pedro Sula is home to the Círculo Teatral Sampedrano (Theatrical Circle of San Pedro Sula)

Celebrations

Sawdust Carpets of Comayagua During the Easter Celebrations.

Some of Honduras' national holidays include Honduras Independence Day on September 15 and Children's Day or Día del Niño, which is celebrated in homes, schools and churches on September 10; on this day, children receive presents and have parties similar to Christmas or birthday celebrations. Some neighborhoods have piñatas on the street. Other holidays are Easter, Maundy Thursday, Good Friday, Day of the Soldier (October 3 to celebrate the birth of Francisco Morazán), Christmas, El Dia de Lempira on July 20, and New Year's Eve.

Honduras Independence Day festivities start early in the morning with marching bands. Each band wears different colors and features cheerleaders. Fiesta Catracha takes place this same day: typical Honduran foods such as beans, tamales, baleadas, yucca with chicharron, and tortillas are offered. On Christmas Eve, the people reunite with their families and close friends to have dinner, then give out presents at midnight. In some cities fireworks are seen and heard at midnight. On New Year's Eve there is food and "cohetes", fireworks and festivities. Birthdays are also great events, and include the famous “piñata” which is filled with candies and surprises for the children invited.

La Feria Isidra is celebrated in La Ceiba in the end of May A city located in the coast. It is usually called "The Friendship Carnival". People from all over the world come for one week of festivities. Every night there is a little carnaval (carnavalito) in a neighborhood. Finally, on Saturday there is a big parade with floats and displays with people from Brazil, New Orleans, Japan, Jamaica, Barbados and many other countries. This celebration is also accompanied by the Milk Fair, where many Hondurans come to show off their farm products and animals.

Infrastructure

Energy

About half of the electricity sector in Honduras is privately owned. The remaining generation capacity is run by ENEE (Empresa Nacional de Energía Eléctrica). Key challenges in the sector are:

• How to finance investments in generation and transmission in the absence of either a financially healthy utility or of concessionary funds by external donors for these types of investments;
• How to re-balance tariffs, cut arrears and reduce commercial losses - including electricity theft - without fostering social unrest; and
• How to reconcile environmental concerns with the government's objective to build two new large dams and associated hydropower plants.
• How to improve access in rural areas.

Water supply and sanitation

Water supply and sanitation in Honduras varies greatly from urban centers to rural villages. Larger population centers generally have modernized water treatment and distribution systems, however water quality is often poor because of lack of proper maintenance and treatment. Rural areas generally have basic drinking water systems with limited capacity for water treatment. Many urban areas have sewer systems in place for the collection of wastewater, however proper treatment of wastewater is scarce. In rural areas, sanitary facilities are generally limited to latrines and basic septic pits.

Water and sanitation services were historically provided by Servicio Autonomo de Alcantarillas y Aqueductos (SANAA). In 2003, a new "water law" was passed which called for the decentralization of water services. With the 2003 law, local communities have the right and responsibility to own, operate, and control their own drinking water and wastewater systems. Since passage of the new law, many communities have joined together to address water and sanitation issues on a regional basis.

Many national and international non-government organizations have a history of working on water and sanitation projects in Honduras. International groups include, but are not limited to, the Red Cross, Water 1st, Rotary Club, Catholic Relief Services, Water for People, CARE, CESO-SACO and SHH.

File:Police cars honduras.JPG

Old Honduran Police Cars

In addition, many government organizations working on projects include: the European Union, USAID, the Army Corps of Engineers, Cooperacion Andalucia, the government of Japan, and many others.

Transport

Highway in Honduras

Transportation in Honduras consists of the following infrastructure: 699 km of railways; 13,603 km of roadways; seven ports and harbors; and 112 airports altogether (12 Paved, 100 unpaved). Responsibility for policy in the transport sector rests with the Ministry of Public Works, Transport and Housing (SOPRTRAVI after its Spanish acronym).

National symbols

National flower, the orchid (orquídea) Rhyncholaelia digbyana.

National bird, Ara macao

The flag of Honduras is composed of 3 equal horizontal stripes, with the upper and lower ones being blue and representing the Pacific Ocean and Caribbean Sea. The central stripe is white. It contains five blue stars representing the five states of the Central American Union. The middle star represents Honduras, located in the center of the Central American Union.

The Coat of Arms was established in 1825. It is an equilateral triangle, at the base is a volcano between two castles, over which is a rainbow and the sun shining. The triangle is placed on an area that symbolizes being bathed by both seas. Around all of this an oval containing in golden lettering: "Republic of Honduras, Free, Sovereign and Independent".

The National Anthem of Honduras is a result of a contest carried out in 1904 during the presidency of Manuel Bonilla. In the end, it was the poet Augusto C. Coello that ended up writing the anthem, with the participation of German composer Carlos Hartling writing the music. The anthem was officially adopted on November 15, 1915, during the presidency of Alberto Membreño. The anthem is composed of a choir and seven stroonduran. The national flower is the famous orchid, Rhyncholaelia digbyana (formerly known as Brassavola digbyana), which replaced the rose in 1969. The change of the National Flower was carried out during the administration of general Oswaldo López Arellano, thinking that Brassavola digbiana "is an indigenous plant of Honduras; having this flower exceptional characteristics of beauty, vigor and distinction", as the decree dictates it.

The National Tree of Honduras is the Honduras Pine (Pinus caribaea var. hondurensis). Also the use of the tree was regulated, "to avoid the unnecessary destructions caused by choppings or fires of forest."

The National Mammal is the White-tailed Deer (Odocoileus virginianus), which was adopted as a measure to avoid excessive depredation. It is one of two species of deer that live in Honduras. The National Bird of Honduras is the Scarlet Macaw (Ara macao). This bird was much valued by the pre-Columbian civilizations of Honduras.

Folklore

Legends and fairy tales are paramount within the Honduras culture; Lluvia de Peces (Fish Rain) is an example of this. The legend of El Cadejo and La Ciguanaba (La Sucia) are also popular.

West Bay Beach at Roatan

Sports

Football is the most popular sport in Honduras. Information on all other Honduran-sports related atricles are below:

• Football in Honduras
• Federación Nacional Autónoma de Fútbol de Honduras
• Honduras national baseball team
• Honduras national football team
• Honduras national under-20 football team
• Honduras U-17 national football team
• Honduran football clubs
• Honduran football competitions
• Honduran footballers
• Football venues in Honduras

See also

Main article: List of Honduras-related topics

• Index of Honduras-related articles

References

• Adventures in Nature: Honduras; James D. Gollin
• Don't Be Afraid, Gringo: A Honduran Woman Speaks From The Heart: The Story of Elvia Alvarado; Medea Benjamin
• Honduras: The Making of a Banana Republic; Alison Acker
• Honduras: State for Sale; Richard Lapper, James Painter
• Inside Honduras; Kent Norsworthy and Tom Berry
• La Mosquitia: A Guide to the Savannas, Rain Forest and Turtle Hunters; Derek Parent
• Moon Handbooks: Honduras; Christopher Humphrey
• Reinterpreting the Banana Republic: Region and State in Honduras, 1870-1972; Dario A. Euraque
• Seven Names for the Bellbird: Conservation Geography in Honduras; Mark Bonta
• Ulysses Travel Guide: Honduras; Eric Ilamovitch
• The United States in Honduras, 1980-1981: An Ambassador's Memoir; Jack R. Binns
• The War of the Dispossessed: Honduras and El Salvador, 1969; Thomas P. Anderson

External links

• general Website
• Government of Honduras Template:Es icon
• Official Site of the Tourism Institute of Honduras (English)
• Chief of State and Cabinet Members
• "Honduras". The World Factbook (2024 ed.). Central Intelligence Agency.
• Honduras at University of Colorado at Boulder Libraries GovPubs
• Template:Dmoz
• Wikimedia Atlas of Honduras
• Template:Wikitravel
• Honduran Biodiversity Database Template:Es icon
• Honduras Tips Travel Info (English)
• Travel and Tourism Info on Honduras (English)
• Humanitarian Aid in Honduras
• Honduran English Language weekly newspaper
• Answers.com
• CIA World Factbook