When the US Sniffs, Honduras Gets Sick

Within the Western Hemisphere at least, the US consumer accounts for most of the money that passes into the hands of drug traffickers, which then flows out to fund organized crime syndicates and gangs... which is then used to terrorize and destabilize countries like Honduras...

By Marco Cáceres
When the Obama administration suspended US$16.5 million in military aid and some US$30 million in economic aid to Honduras last year following the removal of Manuel Zelaya from office, there was tremendous outrage on the part of many people who felt that the US was betraying Honduras and hurting its longtime friend and ally. But I found it difficult to get overly worried or emotional about the stoppage, mainly because I sensed that the moves were temporary and primarily aimed at sending a signal to Latin America and the Caribbean that the US did not approve of forceful overthrows of democratically-elected leaders, rather than some irrational evil plot against Honduran democracy. Despite the dangers that Mr. Zelaya posed for Honduras, the US was slightly more concerned about the precedent that his ousting might establish in the region and its potential for destabilizing Honduras far more than even Mr. Zelaya could have managed -- hard as that is to fathom.

Besides, I thought the outrage against the US government was misplaced. Getting worked up about the damage caused to Honduras by the brief loss of US$46.5 million that may or may not have been in the immediate pipeline seemed to me lacking in perspective, given the incalculable death, destruction, violence, and psychological trauma in Honduras caused by the insatiable US market for illegal drugs. If you had to pick a scapegoat to blame for most of the suffering that Hondurans have gone through during the past few years (... apart from the endemic poverty), a better choice than the US State Department or Mel Zelaya or even Hugo Chávez would be the estimated 12.8 million people in the United States who currently use illicit narcotics, according to the US Justice Department.

About one-third of people in the US age 12 and older have tried an illegal drug. We're talking about everything from marijuana and hashish to cocaine and LSD. The costs to US society of illegal drug use by its citizens are huge, specifically with regard to drug-related illness, crime, and death. The Justice Department puts the figure at about US$66.9 billion annually, while other institutions place the figure at more than US$70 billion. A survey conducted by the World Health Organization (WHO) in 2008 showed that the US leads the world in illegal drug use.

The United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime estimates that worldwide profits from the sales of illegal drugs total about US$394 billion per year. Within the Western Hemisphere at least, the US consumer accounts for most of the money that passes into the hands of drug traffickers, which then flows out to fund organized crime syndicates and gangs... which is then used to terrorize and destabilize countries like Honduras through bribery, random violence, kidnappings, turf wars, and targeted assassinations. Kind of like what we've been seeing in recent years in Honduras, and especially during the past year and last few weeks.

The number of small aircraft flying from South America to Honduras with shipments of cocaine increased by a factor of seven last year. Based on an annual report published by Honduras' Public Ministry, 55 kilograms of cocaine transported by small planes were seized by Honduran authorities in 2005. The amount grew dramatically to 2,714 kilograms in 2006, the first year of the Zelaya administration. It settled down a bit in 2007, with 1,704 kilograms confiscated. But in 2008, the figure rose to 6,764 kilograms, and in 2009 it spiked to 49,000 kilograms. That's 108,027 pounds of cocaine that was destined mostly for the US market. Who knows how much actually got through, and even worse for Honduras... how much remained within the country.

When Secretary of State Hillary Clinton admitted recently in Guatemala that the US is to blame for much of the drug-related violence in Central America and Mexico, she was not exaggerating. Many US politicians don't like mea culpas. They seem to feel that the US should never apologize for anything because they view it as a sign of national weakness. Mrs. Clinton should be commended for speaking the truth. Not only does it show sensitivity to the increasingly debilitating situation facing countries to the immediate south of the US border, it shows that she's savvy enough to simply state what leaders in Central America and Mexico already know.

All the money and technical assistance the US government gives Honduras is almost irrelevant. You could double it, triple it, or cut it out altogether. Doesn't much matter. Either way, it does not even begin to make up for the ever growing destabilization of the country caused by the illegal drug trade. If the US really wants to help Honduras, then it needs to get its own house in order first. (3/17/10) (photo courtesy Internet)