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Honduras Advocates for Social Change
During the twentieth century, the corporatist system of
politics
that has emerged has eased the intensity of the demands
placed on
the state by the rural and urban poor. The relative
openness of
Honduran politics and the degree of legitimacy given to
working
class demands have resulted in a system in which the
organizations
representing lower sectors of society can be highly
organized and
even militant without calling for the overthrow of the
system
itself. This militancy has made organized labor a
political force
since the 1950s and has resulted in many labor reforms.
Peasant
militancy, for example, has made possible the agrarian
reform
movement. According to some analysts, Honduras has
achieved a level
of political organization on the part of labor unions and
peasant
organizations that remains unparalleled in most of Central
America
(see Political Dynamics
, ch. 4). Reform has been uneven,
however,
and political and social reform movements stagnated in the
1970s
and 1980s. In the early 1990s, the central problems of
poverty and
underdevelopment remained pervasive.
The military's participation in Honduran politics has
been, in
one sense, the action of another interest group
(see Historical Background
, ch. 5). The military in Honduras has not
emerged as an
organization for the sons of the elite, as has been the
case in
most of Latin America, but rather as an organization that
cuts
across economic and class lines. This fact has meant a
greater
divergence of purpose and interests between the
traditional
Honduran elite and the armed forces. The decision-making
structure
within the military also allows for a degree of dissent
within the
organization, resulting in less resistance to social
reforms.
The relatively open political discourse found in
Honduras is
aided by the ability of other social institutions to take
advantage
of the country's freedom of expression. Although in
general the
Honduran press tends toward conservative positions, it is
free of
direct government control
(see The Press
, ch. 4). Control
of the
press is exercised more through cooptation than by
censorship.
Several independent radio stations are powerful forces in
Honduras,
a country that has a high illiteracy rate. The independent
position
of the National Autonomous University of Honduras
(Universidad
Nacional Autónoma de Honduras--UNAH), which as a rule
holds liberal
positions, also contributes to the variety of opinions
that can be
heard.
The Honduran Roman Catholic Church also has been a
force
pressing for social change and reform, although its role
has varied
and, in many instances, has been contradictory throughout
the
years. The role of the church as advocate for change
gained ground
in the late 1960s after Vatican Council II. The church's
role
gathered momentum after the meeting of the Latin American
Conference of Bishops in Medellín, Colombia in 1968. The
Roman
Catholic Church in Honduras came to hold the view that its
members
should become active agents of social change. In Honduras,
foreign
clergy in particular played a major role in social
activism. By the
1970s, the Roman Catholic Church in Honduras had come to
be
perceived as radical, and in 1971 various Roman Catholic
Church
organizations joined with those of the Christian
Democratic
Movement of Honduras (Movimiento Demócrata Cristiano de
Honduras--
MDCH) to form the Coordinating Council for Development
(Consejo
Coordinador de Desarrollo--Concorde). The impact of this
activism
was felt down to the parish level.
Differences of opinion emerged within the Roman
Catholic Church
in the late 1970s, however, regarding its approach to
social
change. Certain orders of clergy, particularly the Jesuits
(Society
of Jesus) and various priests, advocated even greater
activism than
the church hierarchy supported. The hierarchy's opposition
to
further change was evident when it withdrew Roman Catholic
organizations from the Concorde. As Central America took
central
stage in the Cold War in the 1970s and 1980s because of
events in
Nicaragua and El Salvador, activist priests were accused
of being
communists. Tensions between the church's hierarchy and
activist
priests eased in the 1990s, however, with the decline of
insurgency
in the area.
Increased political conservatism and repression during
the 1980s
resulted in the emergence of a great number of grass-roots
organizations. Along with labor unions and peasant
organizations,
the emerging groups advocated vigilance concerning human
rights and
exerted pressure on the authorities to reveal the
whereabouts of
disappeared citizens.
These new grass-roots groups, as well as the press, the
UNAH,
and the Roman Catholic Church, all contributed to the
preservation
of a political system with relative freedom of expression.
The
attempts at reform initiated by these groups, however,
have not met
with complete success. Although the government and
military have at
times opted for compromise in the face of reform demands,
the
organizations have also had to endure periods of
threatened and
real repression.
Data as of December 1993
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