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| Republic of Honduras República de Honduras | |
|---|---|
 Flag
 Coat of arms
| |
 | |
| Capital and largest city | Tegucigalpa |
| Official languages | Spanish |
| Leaders | |
• President | Xiomara Castro |
| Area | |
• Total | 112,492 km² |
| Population | |
• 2021 estimate | 10,278,345 |
Honduras, officially the Republic of Honduras, is a country in Central America. It borders Guatemala to the west, El Salvador to the southwest, and Nicaragua to the southeast with a coast on the Pacific Ocean to the south and the Caribbean Sea to the north. It is currently led by the left-leaning government Xiomara Castro, a member of the Liberty and Refoundation Party.[1]
History
Early history
Honduras was the home of several Mesoamerican cultures, most notably the Maya, prior to Spanish colonization in the 16th century.
Due to colonialism, Roman Catholicism and the Spanish language are dominant and have blended with indigenous culture.
U.S. invasions
The United States invaded Honduras eight times: 1903, 1907, 1911, 1912, 1919, 1920, 1924, and 1925. By 1913, the banana oligarchs Samuel Zemurray and the Vacarro brothers controlled two-thirds of the country's exports. They bought land and railroads, established banking systems, and bribed the government. In 1914, the leading corporations occupied almost a million acres of the most fertile land. U.S. dollars became legal tender in 1918.[2]
U.S. puppet state
In the early 1980s, the United States opened a military base in Honduras with thousands of troops to organize attacks against El Salvador and Guatemala. The USA trained and armed the Honduran military and police to target leftists.[3]
During this period, the CIA supported the Honduran death squad Battalion 316, which tortured and killed hundreds of civilians. The Contras were also based in Honduras and were trained by the CIA to fight the Sandinistas in Nicaragua.[4]
In 2009, right-wing drug dealer Juan Orlando Hernández (JOH) took power in a military coup with U.S. support. Hernández recognized the U.S. puppet Juan Guaidó as the president of Venezuela and trafficked tons of cocaine.[5]
Left-wing government
In 2021, Xiomara Castro of the Liberty and Refoundation Party won the presidential election.[1] She is the wife of former president Manuel Zelaya who was deposed in the US-backed coup in 2009.[6]
A year after the left-wing victory, the US imperialists nominally withdrew support for the previous right-wing narco-dictator puppet Juan Orlando Hernández in an attempt to appear impartial towards international drug trafficking. In reality, this is another example of an imperial puppet's usefulness being outlived, and the imperialists stabbing their asset in the back.[7]
In 2023, the Honduran government stopped recognizing the Republic of China.[8]
References
- ↑ 1.0 1.1 "Left-wing candidate Xiomara Castro all set to become Honduras’ next president" (2021-11-29). People's Dispatch.
- ↑ David Vine (2020). The United States of War: 'The Military Opens Doors' (pp. 210–5). Oakland: University of California Press. ISBN 9780520972070 [LG]
- ↑ William Blum (2002). Rogue State: A Guide to the World's Only Superpower: 'A Concise History of United States Global Interventions, 1945 to the Present' (pp. 125–126). [PDF] Zed Books Ltd. ISBN 9781842772201 [LG]
- ↑ "Torture at CIA Battalion 316". Constantine Report.
- ↑ Ben Norton (2022-07-14). "How Trump and John Bolton attempted a coup in Venezuela" Multipolarista. Archived from the original on 2022-07-18. Retrieved 2022-07-26.
- ↑ Bill Van Auken (2019-06-28). "Ten years since the US-backed coup in Honduras" World Socialist Web Site.
- ↑ Benjamin Norton. "Biden admin slaps Honduran narco-dictator on wrist... after supporting him" Multipolarista.
- ↑ Ben Norton (2023-03-16). "Taiwan separatists lose key ally, Honduras recognizes China – just 12 small countries remain" Geopolitical Economy Report. Archived from the original on 2023-03-23. Retrieved 2023-03-31.