Student’s Uncle Discusses Honduran Politics

Ex-Presidential Hopeful Spends Time With Niece’s Fellow Student

BY KATE POSPISIL

In November when double-degree junior Elena Krell burst into my room and blurted, “My uncle is running for President of Honduras!” I couldn’t resist the opportunity before me. We had been planning to spend Christmas break with her family in Tegucigalpa. Luis Cosenza, a virtual unknown in the pantheon of traditional politicians, was suddenly thrust into the candidacy in the place of Ricardo Maduro.
In an election system where a full year separates party primaries from the general elections, this year’s campaign for the presidency has been more like a spirited game of musical chairs than politics as usual. Originally the front-runner for the National Party primary nomination, Maduro was forced to temporarily cede his nomination to fellow party member Cosenza in November, after the Liberal opposition challenged his status as a Honduran citizen. 
This week, as a result of a controversial interpretation of Article 23 of the Honduran Constitution, Ricardo Maduro received the green light to reinstate himself as the National Party candidate for President of Honduras. 
Even though his candidacy proved to be temporary, he still had to prepare himself for the likely possibility of being President. As Cosenza found himself in the position of party front-man, I found myself in his kitchen, eating fresh conch stew and savoring the coffee that Honduras is famous for, while participating in a family debate on Honduran politics. He remained calm about his candidacy; he half-jokingly warned Krell to start memorizing the Honduran National Anthem now for his inauguration (apparently it is ridiculously long). In December, when I was visiting Honduras with Krell, he agreed to talk with me about Honduras and his aims and hopes for his country.
Displaying a great respect for and obligation to the Honduran people, he described his countrymen as “Kind, very gentle, and willing to receive you with open arms.” He also said the current political system has failed his fellow Hondurans in many ways, most importantly by taking away their trust in democracy.
“We do have a problem here that is probably different from the States,” he said. “There has been a policy or a desire to get people to believe — and I think that that’s been by design — that the solutions to their problems do not lie in their hands, but rather in the hands of the bureaucrats in central government [in Tegucigalpa]. We have to get people out of that frame of mind. We have to get people to believe that they are responsible for their own lives and what they do makes a difference.” 
According to Cosenza, getting that message across may not be easy. “[That is] because people have been conditioned to believe that things are as they are because that’s the way they have always been or because some divine power wants it to be so. People have seen their grandparents, great grandparents, or parents living in less than acceptable conditions but they have come to believe that that’s [just] the way things are,” he said.
Contributing to these less-than-acceptable living conditions are the two overriding issues of unemployment and security. Cosenza said that crime, lack of prisons, a corrupt judicial system, and lack of credible law enforcement have made people uneasy about their safety. These issues, plus the dearth of employment opportunities have driven Honduras’s best and brightest to other countries, such as the United States, where prospects are better. 
“The conditions are so difficult here for young people starting a life,” he said. “Now it’s not only an issue of young people coming back to low salaries and uncertainty; it’s also a matter of coming back to a country where garbage seems to be piling everywhere, where security is an issue, when people have to worry whether they are going to be affected by crime simply by stepping out of their own homes.” 
There has been a growing mistrust of government institutions by the public and the constitutional decision in favor of Maduro represents an attempt to restore this trust. There have even been rumors of American involvement in the decision, as reported in Honduras this week, all of which have been fervently denied by the President of Congress and Liberal Party candidate Pineda Ponce. Maduro said that this was a triumph for democracy and that the Honduran people were also winners in this decision. 

Regardless, this November election should be a wake-up call for democratic participation, reassessment and reform. If Ricardo Maduro truly shares Luis Cosenza’s idealism and hope for transformation, Honduras may be in store for some major changes. Perhaps Krell may still be asked to sing the National Anthem after all….all 30 verses of it.