On today's El Boletin: 

🌈 Diverse Voices Special Pt3: The social and political challenges of the LGBTQ+ community in Honduras 

🗞️News: What's going on in Honduras' Prisons? 

🚌 The other side of migration: Migrant encounters 

🌈 Diverse Voices Special Pt 3:

The social and political challenges of the LGBTQI+ community in Honduras 

At its foundation, Honduras still remains a conservative, deeply homophobic, transphobic, and heteronormative society. Despite the political changes and political campaigns, the queer community in Honduras continues to suffer from discrimination, persecution, and violence. 

In this part 3 of our Diverse Voices Special, Teddy Bacca, a queer Honduran psychologist and scholar provides context of the social and political challenges the queer community faces in Honduras. 
 

Here are some of the main points brought by Baca: 

1. Last year, the mayor of San Pedro Sula, Roberto Contreras, refused to raise the LGBTQI+ flag because, according to him, doing so would have been “proselytizing”, when ironically he supports the reading of Bibles in schools. 

2. The conspiracy of liberal, nationalist, and Salvador Nasralla's (Honduras’ Vice-president) deputies -and deputies of the Salvador Party of Honduras- to prohibit in the constitution equal marriage, abortion and currently, to criticize the free access to Plan B, demonstrates a conservative bias quite marked by fundamentalist religion, which should have no place in a secular country since they end up controlling the bodies of women and sexual dissidents.

3. Fundamentalist churches seeking censorship of sexual diversity in educational spaces through moral panic campaigns against "gender ideology" -which is a conceptual excuse to continue rejecting sexual diversity and its freedom of expression- through marches, alliances with parents' associations, influence in newspapers such as El Heraldo, La Prensa, La Tribuna, television channels such as Canal 10 in the broadcasts of Abriendo Brecha and even speeches made by ultraconservatives such as Mario Fumero, Sergio Handal, and Paolo Pellegrino that disregard the scientific consensus on human sexuality.

4. Ultra-religious influencers like Felipe Faraj support fraudulent and harmful conversion therapy efforts from a religious approach on their social networks like Twitter and Facebook and oppose the acceptance of children who do not fit their gender expectations and equal marriage. 
   ... 

Check out these two personal articles from Baca to read the full list and more about the challenges of the LGBTQ community. 

🌈 The political realities of the LGBTQI+ community in Honduras

🌈 The determinants of Honduras' gender and sexual norms 

Stay tuned for the last part of the Diverse Voices Special! 

🌟 Next week we'll feature Escándalo en la vía pública [Indecency in the open] A note written by our reporter Daniel Fonseca that takes you into Honduras' drag and the cross-dressing world on the eve of Mister and Miss Universe! 

🏆 The story was nominated for the Gabo Award, one of Latin Americans' most prestigious journalistic awards! Making Daniel the first Honduran to be nominated for the category. So stay tuned for more!!! 
 

What's going on in Honduras' Prisons 

This past Tuesday, authorities reported the death of at least 46 people in a female prison facility on the outskirts of  Tegucigalpa. The incident happened during a prison riot and clash between rival gangs; 25 convicts are thought to have been burned to death, while others were shot.

This is not the first time this happens in a prison facility in Honduras, in just this year there have been more than 6 prison riots and gang clashes registered throughout the country. This issue stems from the lack of proper prison administration, as authorities continue to put rival gangs in the same facilities. 

Despite the multiple prison riots this year, this is the first time this happens in a women’s prison and it’s one deadliest prison confrontations in Honduras’ history. All this also happens while the Honduran government implements its national security plan that consists of a state of exception and intervention in the National Penitentiary System.

As of Thursday, the government of Xiomara Castro has removed both the Ministry of Security and the deputy minister from the positions. 

On Tuesday, in an interview with the BBC, our editor Jennifer Avila explained that only 10 bodies have been identified and that family members are still searching for their relatives. As of today, there are been 22 bodies identified.
 

When asked why the government has not been able to control this crisis, Avila explained, “There is no civil security vision in Honduras, it’s a military vision, and the biggest expression of this is the crisis of violence in prisons in Honduras.”

The Other Side Of Migration: Migrant encounters

🚌 “Migrant encounters” refer to specific interactions between U.S Border Patrol agents and migrants attempting to cross into the United States. These interactions usually refer to two outcomes, one is apprehensions and the other one is expulsions. 

With apprehensions, migrants are taken into custody in the United States, to await trial for specific legal procedures such as asylum requests. In the case of expulsion, the migrant is immediately expelled from the United States. This practice was enabled by Title 42 and has been the dominant practice of the U.S Border Patrol until its end on May 11. 

🚌 The reason for the decrease in migrant encounters is unclear but experts claim that the conditions that have caused the recent waves of migration still continue so migrants will continue to arrive. 

However, deterrents for legal migration are still in place. Despite expulsions ending, the end of Title 42 also implies stricter penalties on migrants who enter the United States without permission. The Biden administration also implemented a rule that denies asylum to migrants who have passed through a third country and did not seek asylum there. 

Central America News Roundup 🌎

🇬🇹Guatemala- In recent months, Guatemalan politics has been marked by obstructions, alliances, and political trials. Next Sunday, June 25, Guatemala will hold its general elections and will determine the direction the country will take.

For many the upcoming elections is just a show, as the Supreme Electoral Tribunal has prevented multiple candidates from entering the race. The candidates that were allowed to participate in the elections have been linked to illicit campaign financing and complex criminal structures that have existed since the military regime. 

At the moment the three top candidates for president are: 

Sandra Torres, a former first lady faced corruption charges for illegal campaign financing in 2019. Torres is part of the Unidad Nacional de la Esperanza (UNE) Party, a political group that was originally centered on social democracy and now has transitioned to conservatism. She has been the face of the coalition that has helped current president Giammattei secure its legislative agenda in Congress. Torres is currently leading the polls. 

Zury Rios, daughter of Efrain Rios Montt, a former military dictator of Guatemala who was convicted of genocide. Rios is the favorite candidate of the far right. 

Edmont Mulet, a career diplomat with allegations of facilitating overseas adoptions during the Guatemalan civil war. Mulet is second in the polls and is part of the Cabal Party, a center-right political party. 

It is expected that both Torres and Mulet will face each other again in August in a runoff. 

The hopes of the Guatemalan people are low, as these coming elections are full of irregularities and political obstruction. 

Check out these two articles that tell the reality of Guatemalan politics as the elections near.

• ‘Simulation of democracy’: Guatemala readies for election amid concerns and manipulations – The Guardian 

• The Road of 2023: A Peak Into Guatemala’s Criminal Past- InSight Crime 

🇸🇻El Salvador- A notorious Salvadorian drug trafficker and one of the MS13 leaders has been acquitted of drug trafficking charges in El Salvador last week. The former leader of MS-13 known as “El Barney” was one of the main people who smuggled cocaine from Colombia to El Salvador. He was acquitted after the prosecutor did not present enough evidence to convict him. He is a fugitive as he never showed up to his judicial proceedings.  

🇳🇮Nicaragua - This week, the OAS will gather to discuss the main issues of the whole American region, and Nicaragua will be a central part of the agenda. Nicaragua is currently leaving the OAS, with its official exit on November 19, 2023, but in the meanwhile, state members will discuss how to manage the human rights crisis in the country. President Lula from Brazil has advocated for a modest resolution that offers Ortega a path for dialogue. However, according to experts, the Ortega government has refused to engage with the organization and cooperate in any way. 

🇧🇿Belize- This week, Belize’ senate passed an anti-corruption bill that would allow the government to have better control of its general budget. The bill known as the “Civil Assets and Recovery and Unexplained Wealth Act” will set up a framework to recover unlawfully attained assets in Belize. 

🇨🇷Costa Rica- The Costa Rican government and Costa Rican Electricity Institute have begun to work on electrifying the country’s public transportation system. The efforts are still in its initial phases but the government hopes to transform the entire transportation system of the country in the following years. The country has already achieved carbon neutrality and it hopes to become carbon negative by 2025. 

🇵🇦Panama- The president of Panama, Laurentino Cortizo, spent the night under medical observation after suffering from dizziness. The medical team of the president explained that the decision was taken of precaution and the following day the president continued its regular agenda. 

Message from the editor!

Thank you for tuning in and see you all next time! Remember to share the newsletter and support independent journalism!! 

Interested in collaborating or participating in El Boletin/CC English?
Feel free to contact us at CCenglish@contracorriente.red 

Abrazos,

Jorge Paz Reyes 

English Content Editor

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