Politics, cont…

We’re just a couple days away from the Honduran presidential election. I was surprised to hear that [some?] church services have been cancelled for Election Day this Sunday. Just goes to show exactly how “Catholic” this country is nowadays…

Here’s an article from abcnews.com about the important issue of crime:

“Crime Shapes Debate in Honduran Election”
http://abcnews.go.com/International/wireStory?id=1346024&CMP=OTC-RSSFeeds0312

In case you don’t want to read the whole article, here are the parts I found the most interesting:

“In a nation plagued by violent crime, much of it attributed to dangerous youth gangs, how best to control delinquents has dominated the political debate leading up to Sunday's presidential election.

Some observers say the battle heavy on rhetorical speeches and light on substantive proposals has dragged the two main contenders [Pepe, National Party and Mel, Liberal Party] into an unprecedented level of personal attacks while distracting them from equally important issues, including a 46 percent unemployment rate and a devastated economy in which 71 percent of Honduras' 7 million people live on $1 a day.”

[46% unemployment rate!!]

“One of the reasons the two candidates are focusing on fighting crime is because the policies of Maduro [Ricardo Maduro, the current president], who is barred by law from seeking re-election, have been widely popular. [ . . . ] The problem, Pineda said, is that the two candidates ‘are only talking about repression. Repression and punishment don't work for young people. It makes them tougher, more hostile.’ [ . . . ] The real solution, Pineda said, is to combine prevention programs with the rehabilitation and education of gang members looking for a way out of crime.

[Itsmania Pineda is the “director of the Xibalba center, which works with vulnerable youth and gang members on the outskirts of Tegucigalpa”.]

“Human rights groups also have complained that the government's ongoing offensive against gangs has targeted innocent young people, led to a vast overcrowding of prisons, and provoked police to indiscriminately kill youths merely suspected of belonging to gangs. Others point out that the overall crime rate has actually increased in Honduras, despite the tough policy. [ . . . ] ‘They aren't concerned about helping the youth who need it so desperately," she said. "They're just taking advantage of the situation to win votes.’”