What is fuelling the migrant caravan from Honduras?

To get a clear picture of what is happening in Honduras you have to look at what is happening over the whole region, what is going on in Honduras is part of the larger issues of corruption and damaging US foreign policy across central and South America. The US-backed right wing coup that removed elected president, Manuel Zelaya, from power happened under the Obama administration and enjoyed continual support under Trump, as it ushered in a decade of prolonged violence, corruption, and economic suffering. Meanwhile the US uses institutions such as the IMF to impose economic crises across Central America to manipulate the political landscapes there, IMF loans often worsening the unemployment and poverty in the countries they are meant to be helping. The Central American migrant crisis cannot be explained by looking at any country in isolation as it is an issue affecting the entire region and is a result of dynamics affecting the region as a whole, many of which are the result of international intervention run amok.

wsws.org/en/articles/2019/06/28/pers-j28.html 2009-2017.state.gov/r/pa/ei/bgn/1922.htm washingtonpost.com/blogs/post-partisan/wp/2016/04/19/hillary-clintons-dodgy-answers-on-honduras-coup scoop.co.nz/stories/HL0907/S00243.htm americas.org/as-honduras-collapses-its-people-are-forced-to-flee thegrayzone.com/2019/09/01/max-blumenthal-on-the-us-legacy-in-honduras-migrant-crisis-political-murders-narco-president theguardian.com/commentisfree/2019/aug/27/imf-economics-inequality-trump-ecuador

The migrant crisis in Honduras can be traced back to the 2009 military coup that ousted democratically elected president Manual Zelaya, which saw President Juan Orlando Hernández ascend to power and oversee a period of decreasing stability and increasing political violence. Hernandez was then re-elected in 2018 in a vote that was described as fraudulent by both international observers and the government opposition, however Hernandez used the political backlash against this to declare a state of emergency and cracked down on any political dissent. In the time surrounding the 2018 election protests 30 demonstrators were killed and more than 800 arrested, where, according to the UN, they were “transferred to military installations, where they were brutally beaten, insulted and sometimes tortured” [1]. President Hernandez is an illegitimate leader that is cracking down on his own citizens, and has overseen as era of flourishing violent crime, making Honduras one of the most dangerous places on earth causing the country to contribute many citizens to the Central American migrant crisis.

[1] ici.radio-canada.ca/nouvelle/1074427/mort-12-manifestants-honduras-respect-droits-fondamentaux-election-hernandez-nasralla apnews.com/article/b41a25e978f24d46866a787b567bcb49 crisis24.garda.com/insights/news-alerts/d4k6b53ikbv82n2tj/honduras-president-hernandez-leads-recount-december-10-update-21 theguardian.com/environment/2020/oct/06/how-honduras-became-one-of-the-most-dangerous-countries-to-defend-natural-resources