Yellow blossoming karao trees adorn posh sectors of San Pedro Sula and mangoes are now coming into season (costing about Lps. 5= each; equal to about forty cents in US $) while riverbank shacks bathe in toxic dust clouds. The annual smog from burning sugar cane fields to harvest has begun to reduce visibility. Less agricultural operations are expected this year and hopefully the smog won't get too thick and force the closing of local airports. Last May Honduras closed down the airports of Toncontin in Tegucigalpa, Golosón in La Ceiba and Villeda Morales in San Pedro Sula for lack of visibility caused by the intense smog..

Although environmental and forestry issues are discussed, they continue to be ignored. Rain forests continue to be systematically destroyed due to diverse reasons including civilization expansion, inadequate policing and citizen apathy (known locally as vale verga).

Six months have now passed since Hurricane Mitch destroyed much of the country and as a common Spanish phrase freely translated says, "the floodwaters have returned to their riverbeds". This is not to be taken literally, but rather means that the song still remains the same here in Honduras.

Despite good intentions, the road to recovery from Mitch seems to have taken a serious detour. Honduras can thank the United States and many other countries for their continued assistance during and after the crisis, but the apparent slow progress can only be blamed on the government and its inefficiency. This criticism is meant as a wake-up cry and is based on reality and facts. However, the New York Times blames the U.S. government for internal bickering and delaying additional aid, which indicates that governments all over suffer from political posturing and internal fighting.

The Honduran government has finally published its long awaited Master Reconstruction Plan. The following chart shows Honduras prior to Hurricane Mitch and the estimated replacement cost.

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Five previous presidents and chiefs of staff have already publicly supported the New Reconstruction Plan. Considering the relative insignificant financial investment by the local government ($ 371.9 out of the total 5 billion) incorporated into this plan indicates that there is only a small chance that it will be completed as presented. Honduras.com has also discovered a substantial dollar oversight in the originally publicized data. The totals published in the local newspapers were over one billion dollars off since they excluded infrastructure when the total was calculated. We wonder how effectively whatever money obtained will be employed.

The nation's internal schisms are reflected in the fact that reportedly two separate presentations will be given later this month in the upcoming meetings with international organizations in Stockholm, Sweden. One will be to friendly governments and the other to non-governmental organizations (NGOs).

The government was very coy about its plans and vehement public outcries were heard complaining that the government only listens to suggestions but doesn't let any other sectors participate in the actual drafting of the plan. It should be noted that this is basically the same reason that was given by the former Chancellor of Foreign Affairs when he resigned from the Reconstruction Cabinet last December.

One of the biggest stumbling blocks to economic recovery are the energy blackouts that cause production to halt for hours at a time. The government claims that the new cables that will replace the ones that were destroyed in the fire at the hydroelectric dam "El Cajón" will be on line by the end of the month. This will supposedly restore most of the dam's productivity and eliminate the blackouts. We wonder even more when the rationing of electricity will finally halt.

Some help will come from the proposed project where selected villages will receive all of the necessary equipment to generate electricity from solar energy. We wonder which international aid program will fund this project.

Many tourist dollars will be lost since the traditional garifuna celebration held in Bajamar has been cancelled this year. This small coastal town was completely wiped out by Mitch and reportedly has not received any substantial help yet. We wonder who will help and when.

We prefer actual facts rather than continue to wonder and dream. A school that was wiped out in La Lima has received direct assistance from JAK, one of Honduras.com's faithful readers. He discovered its appalling conditions on his recent trip to Honduras and has created a campaign to completely rebuild it. He also distributed free supplies and aid to hurricane victims in remote areas of the country. Hopefully other readers will help him in his quest and even emanate his actions by assisting other needy communities.

The government has also announced that Juan Bendeck has been appointed to manage and restructure COPECO. This organization is the commission for emergency control and managed the situation during Hurricane Mitch. The idea is to try and improve its structure so that it will become even more useful during a crisis. It is our opinion that many minor crises will occur throughout this year, including earthquakes and flooding and that COPECOs activities should be focused on them rather than administrative restructuring.

A prime example of the present administration's employment of smoke and mirrors to veil its true intentions surfaced late last year when the government did not ratify the reform that would have effectively reduced the number of congressional representatives. Apparently the "diputados" valued their public sector positions more than the desire of Honduran citizens and others throughout the world who repeatedly have pointed out that the size of the Honduran government is inordinately large for the population.

The World Food Program (PMA) has announced its decision to reduce its aid to Mitch victims. The official reason provided was that they were hurting some farmers since their aid supposedly has kept the price of some vegetables artificially low in local markets. The PMA should consider subsidizing or implementing other measures designed to benefit farmers and increase their income and not reduce aid to those who really need it.

The macro perspective of the present status of the country continues to be very bleak. Unemployment is up by an estimated 15 %, which means an additional 400,000 people are without work nationwide and over 20,000 businesses have shut down operations. Money is not changing hands as fast as it used to and loan defaults are up very high. The overall economic picture indicates that the country still is a long way from recovering from Mitch or even reaching its level just prior to the hurricane.

Labor Day has just passed, and the behavior of the local unions reflects the tumultuous times that presently prevails throughout the nation. Overall, the perennial marches were small and did not attract much support from the local populace.

One particular labor union (STIBYS) behaved this year like gang members this year. They threw tomatoes, eggs, etc. mainly at twelve other union leaders. This labor union discordance is a by-product of the misguided leadership that is clinging on to its power and leadership at all costs. Carlos H. Reyes heads this union and he was schooled in the former USSR. Although his conflictive style has become obsolete, he still believes outdated paradigms and actively promotes violent behavior and employs intimidation tactics.

The crisis now facing local labor unions is reflected in the massive loss of their members as a direct result of the drastic reduction in agricultural operations throughout the nation. Nonetheless, STIBYS has broken ranks with its colleagues in an outright act of defiance that reflects the ideological schisms between the various unions. Furthermore, its leadership erroneously believes that it should remain to be conflictive rather than work in harmony with other unions and entrepreneurs to improve work and social conditions.

 Statistics provided by the weekly "Tiempos del Mundo" indicate that in 1988 Honduran labor unions consisted of 205,122 members, which has declined by 55 % in seven years, since in 1995 there were only 114,576 members. This period includes the administration of former president Callejas, who effectively broke the tight grip exercised by the unions on the Honduran economy.

According to the sociologist, Mario Posas, Callejas realized that labor unions were not committed to working together in the unitary structure that had been created, so he arranged meetings with their leaders, then disrespectfully started to negotiate with them individually and not according to the structural base.

Another reason that labor unions have lost power in Honduras since the Callejas administration includes the maquila operations. These companies take advantage of the fact that labor is relatively inexpensive in Honduras and assemble products employing locals who are willing to work for less money.

One of the work stipulations in the maquilas is that unions are strictly prohibited. These operations are constantly criticized by their North American counterparts who lament the loss of jobs in the United States since products (particularly textile goods) that were formerly produced there are now assembled in Honduras.

It is very noteworthy that Charles Kernaghan, president of the National Work Committee of the United States recently visited Honduras again. Local Honduran entrepreneurs prior to his arrival have declared this individual "persona non grata". He earned this dubious distinction for his past behavior of manipulating facts to discredit the maquila operations. Last year we reported how he searched throughout the maquilas to find any shred of misconduct to discredit them. Fortunately, this time it appears that he was unable to find anything substantial to further his Machiavellian schemes.

Several recent events reflect the present life style in San Pedro Sula. The local authorities recently shut down a very popular nightclub named Tony Montana's. Members of the "Casa Alianza", an international organization dedicated to protecting children's rights, filed a complaint that minors were employed as erotic dancers. The authorities raided the locale and in effect, some minors were discovered to be working there.

The owners Charles Edward Kasper and Anthony Bucellato are presently in custody as the police try to unravel all of the grim details regarding them and their operations. Reportedly the latter is a fugitive from the police in Oregon, and the latest accusations indicate that cocaine was sold in the establishment and supplied by a local anti-drug detective. The municipality is also investigating how the locale obtained its license to operate to determine whether any active public officials were involved.

The bottom line of this affair is that one must learn to play the game by the new rules. In the past, these sorts of nefarious activities most probably would have continued without attracting notice of the authorities. However, with the government's transparency policy, one must play strictly by the book and respect the rules or face the consequences.

A good case in point is one of the only remaining nightclubs still operating within the inner city circle. Although the mayor made an effort to move all of them outside of the circle, El Florida is still open. The only reason that it has been able to maintain operating is due to a slick lawyer who slapped city hall with a counter lawsuit. Meanwhile, the club maintains strict operational rules which includes a sign prohibiting drugs on the premises, no minors are employed, and it closes down every night no later than three in the morning. In summary, it's apparent that if one can learn to play by the new rules, one can get along with the authorities.

Another enterprise that is infamous for rule breaking is the local TV station known as channel six. We have already written about their dubious operations in the past, and now the authorities have fined them over a million lempiras and have closed down the station since it has repeatedly continued to broadcast without proper authorization.

Despite the fact that the police have become very visible on the streets, crime continues to spread has the economy worsens. The police at least have been fulfilling partially their promise to act as traffic controllers when the electricity is cut off in different areas of the city due to the nationwide rationing of this resource. The local police force has also received a lot of new equipment including guns and vehicles. Unfortunately, they seem to just like to drive around with the air conditioners on, without wearing their seat belts, and their lights flashing. But this author has yet to see them actively in pursuit of a criminal or investigating a crime. They apparently enjoy cruising around the city in style at the taxpayer's expense.

However, citizens apparently have decided that enough is enough, and have begun to take justice into their own hands. Many lament the lack of a death penalty in the Honduran justice system, and distinct forms of vigilante type groups and behavior have been emerging in its place. Gang leaders are often violently killed by both rival gangs and private citizens.

The latest example was the recent murder of a thief who repeatedly assaulted urban buses in the los Andes and Juan Lindo sectors of town. We had already previously reported that these crimes were occurring, but they have now been abruptly halted. Apparently one of the passengers who was assaulted in the latest attack shot one of the perpetrators and then calmly walked away prior to the arrival of the authorities. Once they did arrive, all of the other passengers refused to describe the shooter.

There is a popular local saying that in Honduras, cork sinks and lead floats. This basically means that everything is topsy-turvy in this wonderful country. The latest example recently reared its ugly head in an unusual incident involving the municipal police and members of the investigative force DGIC.

A private citizen named Gregorio Cálix reported to the investigative police DGIC the case of a municipal cop named Jilmer Santiago Hernández who was trying to extort money from him. Cálix had been implicated once in the past in the theft of an automobile. Hernández decided to try and take advantage of this situation and demanded that Cálix pay him a large sum of money to halt further investigations of his activities.

Cálix promptly reported this abusive behavior to the General Investigative Direction known locally as the DGIC, who then set up a sting operation. They caught Hernández in fraganti when he was accepting over seventy thousand lempiras from Cálix. He was immediately then taken into custody.

Later that evening, a group of other municipal police stormed into the DGICs building with their weapons to try and free their comrade. The impasse was resolved a few hours later when top-ranking officials convinced their underlings to abandon the premises. Now that the smoke is finally clearing, criminal charges against the municipal police officers involved in the assault are emerging.

As previously reported, 51 % of the government owned telephone company Hondutel, continues to be up for sale. However, in an effort to increase its profitability and price, they have recently announced a stiff increase in the cost of local phone calls by increasing the cost per minute and reducing the amount of free time allowed. We vehemently lament this latest measure that is a direct assault on the growing popularity of the Internet. It will increase its local cost considerably, which effectively will stunt the growth of the country in the midst of this information age and push it even further behind first world nations.

On the other hand, the National Congress has announced its intention to permit expatriate Hondurans to vote in the next elections to be held in 2001. This measure should enhance our column's visibility and impact since we are the primary source of information for many potential voters, especially those who have not recently visited the country.

We are saddened by the tragic death of Ms. Katherine Hammond in an automobile accident in Austin, Texas on May 1. Ms. Hammond was my daughter's first grade teacher last year. After the scholastic year ended, she then moved back to the United States. However, she had been secretly planning to surprise her former class and to return next September to teach them third grade. Her vibrant spirit and enthusiasm will be missed by all who knew her, and may she rest in peace in heaven. Our prayers to her are accompanied with ones for MANDY and Mayra, both of whom are fighting for their lives with cancer and are presently undergoing diverse treatments.

One final note to my faithful readers. This article is meant to be a public thank you note for those wonderful letters of support that I have received over the past weeks from all over the world.