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

Abstract

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...

Youth lost to homicides: disparities in survival in Latin America and the Caribbean

“…Honduras endorses regional and international laws against violence, for example, criminalising intrafamily violence, rape and killings of women. However, these laws are weakly implemented or even omitted 36. Violence against women has intensified in Honduras caused by the deteriorating rule of law, escalating repression, and amplified gender-based violence targeting women.…”

“…Conversely, other Central American countries, such as El Salvador and Guatemala, which also exhibit high levels of violence, have made relatively more progress than Honduras towards creating specialised services for women (eg, Ciudad Mujer in El Salvador and specialised feminicide courts in Guatemala). Similarly, Nicaragua and Costa Rica have relatively lower overall levels of violence and lower levels of feminicide 36…”

Complicating notions of violence: An embodied view of violence against women in Honduras

“…The women interviewed explained how, during demonstrations against the coup in 2009, military officials had harassed activists physically and verbally. Some had shouted at women to go home to their families, called them whores or threatened them with sexual violence (Menjívar & Walsh, 2017;Ronderos, 2011). Such verbal and physical violence had continued at demonstrations the activists had attended even in the years following the coup.…”

“…Such verbal and physical violence had continued at demonstrations the activists had attended even in the years following the coup. Scholars have found that in Honduras, the legal and judicial system's actions and inactions have contributed to violence on women (Menjívar & Walsh, 2017). In addition to physical and verbal violence, activists interviewed reported that the post-coup regime had begun restricting women's reproductive rights, for example by prohibiting emergency contraception.…”

The Armed Arena: Arms Trafficking in Central America

“…In Latin American studies, the consensus that its democracies are weak requires more study of such weakness's sources, development, and impacts. 1 Many studies work to explain gaps between laws on paper and laws in practice (Menjívar and Walsh 2017). Through arms trafficking, this article advances such study on two levels: the weakness of democracy and the state on one level, and the trend toward iron fist (mano dura) policing on another.…”