Deception, Fraud and Dynasties of Kleptocrats

By W. E. Gutman
Abuse of authority, fraud, misappropriation of funds, swindling, bribery, perjury, dereliction of duty and gross negligence, continue to top the list of complaints against various federal, state and municipal bodies in Honduras. Also cited are a culture of corruption fueled by fear, greed, apathy and complacency, and a conspiracy of silence on the part of a large segment of Honduran society that perceives corruption less as a misdeed than a rite of passage, a privilege earned by people in high places. Such skewed value system has in turn emboldened common folk to suborn public officials in schemes that have resulted in a convoluted and inextricable symbiosis of intrigue and crime.

Since 1996, when detailed statistics on corruption began to surface, more than 10,000 complaints have been lodged against various Honduran institutions. Topping the list -- in descending order -- are the Treasury, the business sector, the military, municipal entities and the courts. Also implicated in very public -- but mostly uninvestigated -- scandals are the Autonomous University of Honduras; the all-powerful and inscrutable private telecommunications consortium, Hondutel; the Department of the Interior; the national police and, to a lesser visible extent since the largely cosmetic “dismantling” of the military regime, members of the armed forces.

Hondutel was shaken by revelations that its deputy director, Marcelo Chimirri Castro, was involved in illegal wiretapping of ousted President Manuel Zelaya and then-president of the Congress Roberto Micheletti. Now in jail, Mr. Chimirri has also been accused of threatening the life of journalist Octavio Carvajal. Mr. Chimirri, who maintains a secret telephone center, claimed to have become a born-again Christian -- an alibi many desperados have used to gain unwarranted public sympathy and official exoneration.

The meshing of the political and business elite into a tangled latticework of duplicity and fraud has helped fossilize corruption in Honduras. A pattern of impunity and immunity in high places has further dampened the public’s will and ability to challenge an increasingly unyielding power structure. The disturbing rise in drug trafficking, child prostitution, extrajudicial executions and violence against homeless youths and indigenous peoples, among other sins, is widely regarded to be the result of such conspiracy.

Honduras has a murky political past and a ritualized penchant for obfuscation. Decades of cronyism, shameless nepotism, secrecy and a blatant policy of prevarication by succeeding dynasties of inept despots have helped rationalize corruption. It has since become a “wink-wink-nod-nod” business-as-usual instrument of personal enrichment, influence-peddling and political clout. The dimensions of the problem take on special significance when the press either ignores or whitewashes these abuses.

Not long ago, as former -- and-yet-again -- Security Minister Óscar Álvarez spoke to this writer, allegations that several members of the police narcotics detail had been involved in a vast conspiracy exploded on the cover of Honduras’ four major dailies. Sources close to the case continue to allege that Ofelia Gutierrez Gonzalez, then deputy director of the DLCN (Dirección de Lucha Contra el Narcotrafico) had been taking bribes and orchestrating the delivery and trans-shipment of narcotics at the Villeda Morales International Airport in San Pedro Sula.

The affair, which has since sprouted new tentacles and led to other disclosures, is still “under investigation” which, in Honduras, means “gathering dust.” As usual, time will dull memory and blunt interest, and, unless the media are vigilant and outspoken, the case will be swept under the heavy carpet of duplicity and indifference. (3/2/10)