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Honduras Background
Although the class structure in Honduras is similar to
that in
other Latin American countries, the manner in which these
classes
interact presents less conflict than is exhibited by
Honduras's
immediate neighbors. The relative lack of tension in class
relations raises the possibility that Honduras might avoid
the
social and political violence that has plagued Guatemala,
El
Salvador, and Nicaragua. Political dynamics peculiar to
Honduras
tend to lessen social pressures, although it is still
possible that
class tensions, growing poverty among the majority of the
population, and increased concentration of wealth in a
minority
could result in violence in the future.
The low level of social tension in Honduras has its
origins in
the country's colonial and early republican history.
During the
colonial period, the province that later became Honduras
was a
backwater in the territories held by Spain. Because much
of the
indigenous population either had been exterminated or had
died of
disease, the province was sparsely populated. Ethnically,
this
meant that Honduras had a more homogeneous mestizo culture
than
most other Spanish colonies. The area was isolated because
the
majority of Honduras's population settled in the central
and
western highlands, far from the main transportation route
that
linked the southern and northern regions of the Spanish
Empire.
Furthermore, the area lacked any significant mineral
deposits or
other easily exploitable wealth. Consequently, the
colonial elite
in Honduras came to be defined by their control of the
province's
political system rather than by their accumulation of
wealth. In
later centuries, the absence of coffee exporting concerns
in
Honduras became another factor differentiating it from its
neighbors. In most of Central America, large coffee
plantations
resulted in a wealthy elite. The accumulation of large
fortunes by
a land-owning minority took place much later in
Honduras--during
the twentieth century, when much of the wealth from the
new banana
businesses went to foreign investors who owned the banana
companies.
Data as of December 1993
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