Mitch in Honduras A Disaster Waiting to Happen

Boyer, Jeff; Pell, Aaron

doi:10.1080/10714839.2000.11725633

Cited by 7 publications

(5 citation statements)

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“…Wages stagnated through the 1980s and 1990s, and the destruction in 1998 by Hurricane Mitch amplified existing poverty and unemployment trends (Booth, Wade, and Walker 2010). Neoliberal economic reforms exacerbated environmental degradation and prompted migration to urban areas, attracted by the increasing presence of maquila industry employment (Booth, Wade, and Walker 2010;Boyer and Pell 1999), as well as migration to the United States. Today, more than half of Hondurans live below the poverty line (Mateo 2011).…”

Section: Background and Country Conditions: Foundations For Feminicidementioning

confidence: 99%

The Architecture of Feminicide: The State, Inequalities, and Everyday Gender Violence in Honduras

Menjívar

Walsh

2022

Lat. American Res. Rev.

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Increasing exclusion and inequality in Honduras have posed escalating security risks for women in their homes and on the streets. In this article, we examine gender-based violence against women, including gender-motivated murders (feminicides), the everyday acts that can result in their deaths, and impunity for these crimes. Rather than analyzing these murders as interpersonal acts or linking them to economic deprivation, we examine the actions and inactions of the state that have amplified violence in the lives of Honduran women. We distinguish between the state's acts of omission and acts of commission in order to identify the political responsibility and failures that create a fertile ground for these killings. A context of multisided violence that facilitates extreme violence in the lives of women is present in Honduras, especially considering the diminishing power of civil society groups and increased political repression after the 2009 coup. We identify root causes of the wide (and widening) gap between laws on the books-which have been passed mostly to satisfy international and domestic organizations pushing for change-and laws in action, that is, implementation on the ground. Although we focus on Honduras, we note similar experiences of extreme violence in Guatemala, El Salvador, and in other countries in the Latin American region. IntroductionWe cannot go back to Honduras. . . . They will kill us. With gangs it is very difficult. . . . The gang members wear the same vests and use the same guns that the police do. How do they get hold of these guns and vests? From the police.-A woman who has fled Honduras (UNHCR 2015, 24) For years, Honduras stayed under the radar of international attention, particularly of the US public. This is despite the fact that Honduras has served US interests in Central America in various forms and degrees, playing a key role during the 1980s when it was the staging ground for military operations and training that sustained the wars in that region. However, in recent years, a series of events have thrust Honduras into the limelight, starting with the 2009 coup that ousted the democratically elected president Manuel Zelaya. This event accelerated and exacerbated a security crisis in Honduras and the northern countries of Central America that has resulted in the destabilization of families, worsening of the economy, and increasing violence. 1 The woman quoted above is one among thousands of women fleeing such conditions and seeking refuge in the United States. Thus, while the Latin American region as a whole seems to have entered a new era of openness,1 The Comisión Interamericana de Derechos Humanos (CIDH) has observed that in post-coup Honduras grave violations of human rights take place, such as killings, arbitrary calls for state of exception, repression of protest through excessive use of force, criminalization of social protest, increased arbitrary detentions, degrading and inhumane treatment of detainees, militarization of the national territory, increase in racial discri...

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Section: Background and Country Conditions: Foundations For Feminicidementioning

confidence: 99%

The Architecture of Feminicide: The State, Inequalities, and Everyday Gender Violence in Honduras

Menjívar

Walsh

2022

Lat. American Res. Rev.

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“…17 The longterm impact was devastating and one year after the event, 10,000 Hondurans remained living in temporary shelters. 18 The actual substance used for housing construction is also important. During a Guatemalan earthquake, for example, it was shown that houses made from cement blocks were less likely to collapse than were those made from adobe or other substances.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

The Effects of Hurricane Mitch on a Community in Northern Honduras

Guill

Shandera

2001

Prehosp. Disaster med.

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Introduction:Hurricane Mitch was an event described as one of the most damaging recent natural disasters in our hemisphere. This study examined its effects on a community of 5,000 residents in northern Honduras.Methods:Survey responses of 110 attendants at an ambulatory clinic 4 months after the event were analyzed. Correlates were established between demographic and housing characteristics and morbidity and mortality.Results:The availability of food, water, and medical care decreased significantly immediately after the hurricane, but by four months afterward returned to baseline values. Residents reported emotional distress correlated with the loss of a house or intrafamilial illness or mortality. Diarrheal illnesses more commonly were found in households with poor, chronic access to medical care. The use of cement block housing correlated with availability of food or running water, with access to medical care and vaccinations, and with a reduced frequency of diarrhea or headaches in the immediate post-hurricane phase.Conclusions:Improvements in housing construction appear to be the most effective preventive measure for withstanding the effects of future hurricanes in tropical regions similar to northern Honduras.

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“…Como Jefferson C. Boyer y Aaron Pell afirman, aunque Mitch expuso el hecho de que el modelo de desarrollo orientado hacia las exportaciones de Honduras era insostenible, el gobierno sólo reforzó este modelo más tarde (Boyer & Pell 1999). En su "Carta de Intención" de 1999 para el FMI, el gobierno hondureño prometió implementar ajustes estructurales drásticos a cambio del dinero que requería para pagos de deudas y reconstrucción debido al huracán Mitch (Nuñez de Reyes & Barjum M. 1999).…”

Section: Pobres Por Naturaleza Vulnerables Por Naturaleza Violentosunclassified

“Tu eres gallo… pero la de los huevos soy yo”. Producción y género en las maquiladoras de Honduras

Pine

2018

Trace

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Honduras, la industria maquiladora con sus prácticas disciplinarias y modernas, es vista por muchas personas como una fuerza protectora contra la violencia extrema de las maras y de las calles que es el enfoque principal del discurso diario hondureño. Sin embargo, la industria maquiladora, y las políticas militares y neoliberales (implementados por el FMI y el Banco Mundial) de las cuáles se aprovecha directamente, están estrechamente ligados con las prácticas de violencia asociadas al género. Éstas incluyen tanto la práctica del control estricto de las opciones de fertilidad de las operarias como el genocidio invisible de niños y hombres jóvenes quienes se encuentran sin posibilidades de empleo a causa de la flexibilización y la feminización del trabajo en Honduras. Enfocando en la maquiladora como sitio de producción y reproducción, este artículo examina las formas complejas en las cuales nuevos roles de género se negocian dentro de un contexto hondureño de violencia estructural, callejera, laboral y simbólica. Dentro de ese contexto, muchos hondureños opinan que las maquiladoras presentan oportunidades liberadoras. Aquí se toma en serio la idea que el lugar de trabajo puede (re)producir sujetos liberados, ocupando una definición muy amplia del concepto. Aunque el trabajo de maquiladora disciplina el cuerpo capitalista en términos de género, controlando hasta las acciones más íntimas de las obreras y los obreros, les proporciona nuevos contextos en los cuales pueden renegociar sus roles de género –mediante el chisme, enfrentando sus jefes de trabajo y los dueños de sus fábricas y también empleando su nuevo capital financiero y cultural para afirmar su independencia fuera del lugar de trabajo y efectuar la liberación mediante el consumismo moderno.Abstract: In Honduras, the maquiladora industry, with its disciplinary and modern production practices, is seen by many as a bulwark against the gang and “random” violence that pervades Honduran streets and is the central focus of everyday conversation. However, the maquiladora industry, and the military and IMF/World Bank-led neo-liberal policies from which it directly benefits, are intimately tied to gendered practices of violence. These range from the unwelcome control of women workers’ fertility options to the invisible genocide of emasculated young men rendered unemployable as a result of the flexibilization and feminization of labour in Honduras. Focusing on the maquiladora as a site of production and reproduction, this article examines the complex ways in which new gender roles are being negotiated in a Honduran context of structural, street, workplace, and symbolic violence. Within this context, many Hondurans see maquiladoras as presenting liberatory possibilities. The assertion that the workplace can (re)produce liberated subjects (using a broad definition of the concept) is taken seriously here. For even as maquiladora work disciplines the gendered capitalist body by confining and controlling the most minute actions of workers, it provides new contexts for young women and men to actively renegotiate their gender roles –through gossiping with their coworkers, standing up to managers and factory owners, and using their newfound cultural and financial capital to assert independence outside of the workplace and enact liberation through modern forms of consumption.Résumé : Au Honduras, l’industrie maquiladora, avec ses pratiques disciplinaires et modernes de production, est vue par plusieurs comme un rempart contre la violence de gang et gratuite qui imprègne les rues honduriennes et qui constitue le sujet central des conversations quotidiennes. Toutefois, l’industrie maquiladora et les politiques militaires et néolibérales (mises en avant par le Fonds monétaire international et la Banque mondiale) desquelles elle profite directement, sont intimement liées aux pratiques sexistes de violence. Celles-ci vont du contrôle strict des options de fertilité des travailleuses au génocide invisible des jeunes hommes qui se retrouvent sans possibilité d’emploi en raison de la flexibilisation et la féminisation du travail au Honduras. En mettant l’accent sur la maquiladora comme site de production et de reproduction, cet article examine les façons complexes dont les nouveaux rôles de genre se négocient au sein d’un contexte hondurien de violence structurelle, de rue, de travail et symbolique. Au sein de ce contexte, plusieurs Honduriens estiment que les maquiladoras présentent des opportunités de libération. Cette déclaration selon laquelle le lieu de travail peut (re)produire des sujets libérés (dans le sens large du concept) est prise au sérieux ici. Même si le travail de la maquiladora discipline le corps capitaliste suivant le sexe en confinant les travailleurs et en contrôlant même leurs plus petites actions, il fournit de nouveaux contextes aux jeunes femmes et hommes où renégocier activement leurs rôles de genre –à travers les commérages entre travailleurs, la confrontation avec les gérants et les propriétaires d’usines, et aussi en employant leur nouveau capital culturel et financier– pour affirmer leur indépendance en dehors de leur lieu de travail et jouer leur libération à travers des formes modernes de consommation.

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Mitch in Honduras A Disaster Waiting to Happen

Cited by 7 publications

References 0 publications

The Architecture of Feminicide: The State, Inequalities, and Everyday Gender Violence in Honduras

The Architecture of Feminicide: The State, Inequalities, and Everyday Gender Violence in Honduras

The Effects of Hurricane Mitch on a Community in Northern Honduras

“Tu eres gallo… pero la de los huevos soy yo”. Producción y género en las maquiladoras de Honduras

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