By Julián Arturo
On March 19, 2022, Witness for Peace Solidarity Collective in collaboration with SOA Watch, CISPES, and other organizations coordinated the meeting between a U.S. Congressional delegation that included Ilhan Omar, Cori Bush, Jamal Bowman and Jesus "Chuy" Garcia and the new executive and legislative government of Honduras. The objective of the delegation was to observe the structural causes that lead to the massive exodus of Hondurans to the United States.
The following is a brief summary of the discussions held during the aforementioned spaces:
Meeting with President Xiomara Castro and her government cabinet
On March 19, the first woman president of Honduras -including her cabinet of ministers- met with a delegation of U.S. congressional representatives. In that meeting, President Castro thanked for all the voices from abroad that denounced the irregularities of the governments that followed the 2009 coup d'état.
She also stated:
"It is time to put the coup d'état behind us and turn the page on the dictatorship. Today we are in a new stage, but the transition from dictatorship to democracy is not easy, because changes take time".
She also emphasized the challenges facing the current government in view of the country's current situation:
"The first challenge is to repeal the laws that set back the rule of law and, then, to recompose the rule of law."
In this sense, the President explained that there is a strategy to rebuild the rule of law in conjunction with the Congress of the Republic:
"We have an agreement with Congress to repeal the laws that destroyed the State, as they already did with the law of secrets, which prevented us from seeing what the money is spent on."
Likewise, the Minister of Human Rights, Natalie Roque, assured that the effects of the coup d'état are also sought to be compensated through the enactment of the amnesty law in order to free political persecuted people from legal charges, being this the opportunity for former members of Manuel Zelaya's government and an endless number of social leaders to resume their lives. In addition, she also called on the U.S. to assume co-responsibility for the political situation in the country:
"In 2017, a dictatorship was imposed with the State Department's congratulations to Juan Orlando Hernandez, therefore, there is a co-responsibility of the US government for the situation in the country."
On the other hand, President Castro was very concerned about the financial situation of the country, arguing that the cause is due to the legacy of the 12 years of corrupt governments that dedicated themselves to plundering the State's coffers. In this sense, she declared:
"The government of the National Party left us in debt, more than 50% of the GDP goes to pay the foreign debt. This month, they paid 17 billion USD in foreign and domestic debt alone, which is a tremendous burden for the government".
Within the plans to mitigate the economic asphyxia she commented:
"We have approached the U.S. government to ask the IMF to help us restructure the debt to address the needs of the people, so we can invest money in the countryside, education and health."
Likewise, she shared that the administration intends to make structural adjustments to free up economic resources for social investment:
"In the next government cabinet they want to reduce the 40 ministers to 13 that Manuel Zelaya had in 2009. They are looking to reduce the budget or public spending to redirect it to have a greater impact on the people".
Another issue that was discussed during the meeting was the situation of justice and the fight against corruption. In this regard, the President stated:
"We are in a frontal fight against corruption. They already asked the UN to pre-install the CICIH, three days ago they named the liaison that will manage the terms of the CICIH with the government of Honduras. We want with the CICIH to establish a mechanism for the appointment of magistrates, so that when the congress appoints there are no vices, and imparts justice with equity".
Regarding socio-environmental conflicts, the presidency assured that:
"We seek to protect micro-watersheds and protected areas that have already been granted. We seek to remove the companies that are illegally exploiting natural assets".
In this line, the importance of the presence of U.S. organizations in the monitoring of the Beta Cáceres case was highlighted:
"The pressure exerted by U.S. organizations helped to prosecute those responsible for the homicide".
Finally, the migration issue was put on the table, recognizing that fundamental changes to mitigate this phenomenon will not be achieved overnight, but with the support of the United States it is hoped to seek lasting and fundamental solutions. In this line, the government requested a TPS for Honduran immigrants living in that country, who have had to leave due to violence, corruption, lack of job opportunities and the hurricanes of 2020 (ETA and IOTA) to work and live legally in the northern country.
For their part, the U.S. congressional delegation said they are inspired by the resilience of the Honduran people, wishing the president much success in her administration and assuring her that the congressmen and women present have always advocated for economic relief for Central America, and in recent congressional sessions they were able to increase the aid budget for the region. They will discuss what they can continue to do to improve the situation in Honduras.
Meeting in the Congress of Honduras
After the meeting with the President of the Republic, the congressional delegation went to the facilities of the Congress of the Republic, where they were received by the President of the Honduran Congress Luis Redondo and seven other representatives, among them: Xiomara Zelaya, Carolina Cuellar, Fabricio Sandoval, Luis Toscano, Rolando Barahona, Fátima Mena and Kritza Pérez.
Congresswoman Ilham Omar (delegate for Foreign Affairs in Congress) and Chuy Garcia (member of the Committee on Financial Affairs, Natural Resources, Transportation and Infrastructure) stated that their respective committees wanted to see how they could help stabilize the country, both in the generation of foreign policies that support the progress of Honduras, as well as in lobbying the IMF on the issue of foreign debt.
In response, the president of the congress expressed his gratitude for the willingness to help and briefly commented on the effects of the financial situation of the institutions:
"The congressional finances were erased, they took everything, physical files, hard disks, accounting books, we have nothing. We went with prosecutors to take minutes. We cannot fire the employees of that criminal structure because there is no money to compensate them. There is no money and there are many debts.
For her part, Congresswoman Zelaya highlights the importance of the U.S. in Honduran politics:
"You have a direct impact on our policy, because many people go there for a better life. Therefore, we have to attack the root problems such as the high economic and military dependence on the U.S.".
Finally, the Honduran congress is asking the U.S. government to help generate employment opportunities so that the population stays in the country and does not have to migrate. They also want international support for the CICIH to arrive and help to recover the independence of the justice operators.
In conclusion, the government of Honduras and its legislative body requested attention for the Honduran population residing in the U.S., as well as to collaborate in combating the background of the migratory phenomenon, where poverty, violence and corruption stand out.
Likewise, the Honduran government conveyed the imperative need to refinance the foreign debt with multilateral organizations, within which the U.S. exerts significant influence.
On the other hand, the delegation of U.S. members of congress committed to summon the Vice President of the United States to comment on all the testimonies they gathered during their visit to the Northern Triangle and to request a readjustment of the international policy of the Biden Plan to combat the causes of migration. They also pledged to lobby multilateral organizations for economic relief for Honduras.
It should be noted that the delegation took place in the context of a political transition of government in Honduras, which may be an opportunity for the U.S. to become involved in the social, economic and political situation of the country in a different way than it has traditionally done.