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1. Ruhl, “Honduras,” 519. In 1902 bananas accounted for 53 percent of Honduran exports, and in 1980 bananas and other fruit retained more than 30 percent of export income. Morris, “Honduras,” 564. 2. “Palestinians Find Home in Honduras,” Tico Times (Costa Rica) (hereafter cited as TT [CR]), 11 M ay 2001, 8. Hondurans of Middle Eastern heritage have developed the country’s leading newspaper and risen to such positions as president of the Central Bank, minister of industry and commerce, vice president, and president (Carlos Flores Facussé). In certain respects Honduras has long typified Central America, with personalistic political leaders—some dictatorial politicians and some military strongmen—and an economy heavily dependent on bananas and other agricultural exports subject to the vicissitudes of international commodity markets. Yet in many other respects Honduras has developed quite a distinct profile. Traditionally, Honduran political elites were not as rapacious as were many of those in neighboring countries.1 Furthermore, the Honduran population contains not only a highly influential Jewish minority, as Panama’s does, but the largest percentage of inhabitants of Arab descent in all of Latin America. In 1843 Palestinians began to immigrate to Honduras, with particularly large influxes occurring during World War I and again in 1948, just after Israel gained sovereignty. As early as 1918 Arabs owned more than 40 percent of businesses in San Pedro Sula, the country’s most vibrant commercial city, and to this day Arabs, many of them Christians, hold quite prominent business and government positions.2 In sociopolitical terms Honduras has neither suffered from sharp ethnic divisions to the extent Guatemala has, nor has it enjoyed the positive international reputation of Costa Rica. Although the country has experienced consider­ able labor turmoil, no significant revolutionary movement has coalesced to threaten the regime. Disappearances and human rights abuses have been quite serious, but they have not risen to the staggering levels of neighboring Guatemala Honduras 5 2 5 4 BRIBES , BULLE T S , A N D I N T I M I D A T I O N 3. Anderson, “Politics and Military,” 426. 4. For steps toward the 1980s democratic transition, see ibid., esp. 425. 5. See Art. 277, Constitución de la República de Honduras. 6. See Ruhl, “Honduras,” 520, 525. and El Salvador.3 Although the country’s Caribbean coast and its Islas de la Bahía (Bay Islands) have shared characteristics with nearby Belize, Honduras has struggled to achieve its neighbor’s democratic political culture. In Honduras, as in various other Central American states, the end of the twentieth century and the beginning of the twenty-first marked a period of real transition. After about two decades of military rule, in the early 1980s Honduras moved decisively toward democracy with a constitution drafted in 1981, followed by a popular vote for president. While elections have been regularly held thereafter, the armed forces have maintained an important position in society.4 Indeed, even under the 1981 Constitution , the leader of the armed forces, not the president, was to serve as commander in chief.5 Democratization has been stunted, in part, because political leaders and parties have made little progress in ameliorating the country’s serious problems, and corruption has abounded. Hence, although their critics multiplied in the 1990s and civilian politicians succeeded in scaling back their political power, the Honduran armed forces have retained some notable popular support, especially when democratic administrations have floundered.6 The 2009 political crisis was simply the most recent—as well as one of the more nationally popular—manifestations of military involvement in political affairs. Here, a coup halted President José Manuel (“Mel”) Zelaya’s attempt to convene a popular referendum to authorize a constituent assembly that he hoped would eliminate the constitutional limit of a single presidential four-year term. However, the military did promptly step aside, enabling the inauguration of President Porfirio Lobo Sosa in January 2010. From the 1970s through the early 1980s Hondurans found themselves wedged in among the civil wars in Guatemala, Nicaragua, and El P A N A M ERICAN HWY A T L Á N T I D A CHOLU TECA C O L Ó N C O M A Y A G U A C O P Á N C ORTÉS E L P A R A Í S O F R A N C I S C O M O R A Z Á N INTIBUCÁ L A PAZ L E M P I R A O C OTEPEQUE O L A...

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