honduras this week, saturday, april 14, 2007

YOUR CENTRAL AMERICAN WEEKLY REVIEW

SATURDAY, APRIL 14, 2007

VOL. 20, No. 14 (934) Tegucigalpa www.hondurasthisweek.com Lps 6.00

Testimony about Honduran mercenaries goes before the UN

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FORESTRY continued on page 8Andrea Gutierrez/Honduras This Week

This forest between Valle de Angeles and San Juancito has not been as affected by illegal logging as the forests in Olancho and La Mosquitia.

Alvaro Morales Molina

Honduras This Week

After eight years of negotia-tions and lobbying, and two more years of preparations, it finally looks as if the proposal for a new Forestry Law will be discussed and approved by the National Congress. At least that is what the Executive Board of Congress has offered the Congress Forestry Commission and the sectors and non governmental organizations involved in the complex process.

The forest destruction and land desertification in Honduras is a fact. During the last 30 years the national territory has suffered a systematic elimination of most of its pine forest. According to experts, the damage made by man in the last 30 years is greater than the damage inflicted in the previous 2,000 years.

The new law describes the forest as a resource, not simply an element, giving the trees the importance they deserve. Paola Castro, the President of the Forestry Commission and the person in charge of the negotia-tions with civil society, is one the most dedicated advocates of the new forestry legislation.

“It will for sure give the forestry sector the autonomy it needs to improve,” assures Castro. She believes that one of the advantages of the law is the upgrading of the state forestry authority, giving political power to technicians and scientists, that will manage and maintain one of Honduras’ most important resources.

The law will create the Forestry Conservation Institute (I.C.F), an autonomous public organization on a ministry level, that will manage and conserve the forest, and so eliminate AFE-COHDEFOR, that currently manages all wood exploitation and commercialization of wood and its derivates in Honduras. One important difference will be that this new ministry will not sell

Hope for imminent approval of new forestry law

Dayana Martinez - a new kind of politician

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Proyecto Pelicano begins in Puerto Cortes

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Saturday, April 14 , 2007 HONDURAS THIS WEEK2

O P I N I O NYOUR CENTRAL AMERICAN WEEKLY REVIEW

L E T T E R S

Letters to the Editor PolicyAll letters should be no more than 300 words in length, and should include the writer’s name, address and phone number. We will not publish street address, e-mail address or phone number unless specifically requested. All letters become property of Honduras This Week and are subject to editing for length, content, grammar, punctuation, etc. You can send us letters to the editor via email: [email protected] or mail your letter to:

Honduras This WeekPO Box 1312 Tegucigalpa, Honduras

Honduras is a mountainous country – 79 percent of the terri-tory is covered by hills. The soil in the interior of the country is shallow, rocky and eroded – not apt for agriculture with exception of the valleys where cattle raising is common.

However, Honduras has a lot of precious woods. During the 1940s and 1950s, large quantities of mahogany were extracted from the forests of Olancho in a merciless manner, while pink mahogany was plundered in Choluteca, and Cuban investors operated sawmills with little or no control.

There were no state institution responsible for the forestry policies of the country, until the Ministry of Agriculture and its Department of Forestry was created in 1952. Their work was focused on control-ling the export of wood, collecting taxes, registering and controlling the forestry industry and super-vising the forestry concessions issued by the Ministry. No permit was required to exploit the forests.

The depredation of the forests with no economic benefits for the country motivated the passing of a new law in 1974

through which COHDEFOR (the Honduran Corporation for Forest Development) was created. Nevertheless, the exploitation of the forests wasn’t effectively regulated. Until 1989, the forestry management was inappropriate, provoking disturbances of the ground, the river basins and of the forest itself since its regenerations was not guaranteed.

In 1994, the first management plans were approved and auctions were introduced as a new method for selling wood. During this period, there was an influx of international coop-eration money in the forestry sector.

Currently, a new forestry law is about

to be passed. This law will close down COHDEFOR and create a new institution that will be respon-sible for the implementation of the state forestry policies.

There always comes a time to put an end, to turn the page and define a direction that brings change. We have to start protecting our forest resources in a responsible manner. It is no coincidence that in many cultures the symbol of life is a tree: the tree of life.

A seed of change

Founding Editor 1949-2006Mario Gutiérrez Minera

Publisher/General ManagerMario Gutiérrez Pacheco [email protected]

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Bodden, Alex Jones, Alvaro Morales Molina,

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Honduras This Week is planning to add a new section to the newspaper and is therefore asking its readers what kind of section you would like to see. It could be sports, humor, society, history or anything else you find interesting. Please send your suggestions and comments to Andrea gutierrez at [email protected]

Dear Readers and Subscribers

Dear Editor,

I was wondering about the rationale behind the long, boring video in the online edition which previews articles that are available at the click the mouse down below? Imagine inviting people for dinner, putting all the food on the table - hors-d’oeuvres, soup, plat de resis-tance, vegetables, salad, dessert, cheeses, coffee and cognac – and then making a speech about each individual dish. Waste of time.

I think that HTW would be better served by enhancing the quality of its editorial content and reporting. One man’s view.

Best regards,

Willy GutmanCaliforniaVia Internet

Dear Mr. Gutman,

Your comments regarding the streaming video feature on the online edition are well taken. As are the hundreds of positive comments we have collected from our readers who expressed their approval on an online survey last month.

They are also timely, since we will soon begin the second phase of the HTW video project which will give the videos a more clear purpose. Like Mr. gutman said, an explanation is befitting.

The videos present the content of the front page of the online edition in a virtual video set, with a narrator and slideshow presenta-tion. Soon, they will be broadcast on the online video portal YouTube and google video. Their purpose

is to reach new audiences, create a new advertising platform and attract new visitors.

People with video ipods will be able to download the video edition and take it with them in a portable format. The ipod version will be available not only from the hondu-rasthisweek.com web site, but also from the Apple itunes store.

So, instead of looking at the videos as a speech about the food on the table that’s already there, look at them as takeout, drive-through, shake-n-bake morsels of Honduras This Week that will spread around the net in an enter-taining package. Do you want fries with that?

Stanley MarrderOnline Publisher

The depredation of the forests with no economic benefits for the country moti-vated the passing of a new law in 1974

Saturday, April 14, 2007HONDURAS THIS WEEKYOUR CENTRAL AMERICAN WEEKLY REVIEW 3

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James W. Bodden Special to Honduras This Week

A special session of the United Nation’s Human Rights Council in geneva heard testimony by José Luis gómez del Prado, Chairman-Rapporteur of the Working group on the Use of Mercenaries, who outlined his team’s findings in Honduras.

The Working group has oper-ated with a mandate to both monitor and study activities of private military and security outfits; evaluating their impact on human rights and international law in many countries, including Honduras. Chairman del Prado’s investigations centered on charges that private security personnel, foreign and domestic, trained inside the country to then be deployed as private defense forces in Iraq. Recent media accounts state that private security trainees clandes-tinely utilized a Honduran Armed Forces installation, The Center for Military Training of the Army (Centro de Adiestramiento Militar del Ejercito, C.A.M.E.).

Del Prado asserted to the President of the Human Rights

Council, “Firstly, Honduras as a member of the international community could have prevented that Hondurans and Chileans be recruited and trained in its terri-tory to work in an armed conflict area.” He also added that on a positive note, “We are especially pleased to inform that Honduras has already started the necessary mechanisms at the national level for the prompt accession to the Convention against the Use of Mercenaries.”

The Chairman testified that his field mission to Honduras allowed him to obtain important informa-tion and to study the emergent tendencies related to private military, security, and merce-nary activity. He declared that the results of his study showed a dangerous trend that is displacing the authority of the state police and replacing it with what amounts to unaccountable militias. The

Testimony about Honduran mercenar-ies goes before the UN

Courtesy of the UNOG A testimony about Honduran mercenaries was heard by the UN Human Rights Council in Geneva.

MERCENARIES cont. on page 12

Saturday, April 14 , 2007 HONDURAS THIS WEEK YOUR CENTRAL AMERICAN WEEKLY REVIEW

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Alex Jones Honduras This Week

The Honduran Center for Cancer Emma Romero de Callejas was initiated in Tegucigalpa in 1991, as a response to the need for better treatment for cancer sufferers. Now they have several big projects, rare and good quality equipment, drugs certified by the Food and Drug Administration (FDA), and last year treated 749 patients. In the coming years they aim to grow into an institute for cancer and research with the ability to care and provide accom-modation for long term patients, always with the patient as the priority and a promise of free care for anyone who cannot afford to pay.

Cancer is a very expensive disease to treat, and the vast majority of people coming to the centre do not have the funds to buy many of the necessary services. “Only around 5% of the people who come to us have the resources to pay…either because they have a lot of money or because they have some sort of insurance,” said Mario Sanchez, Doctor of Radiotherapy and Oncology at the center. A further 10% are coming from social security companies who have agreements with the center. After this, 15 – 20% have enough money to pay part but not all; “in this instance they receive a large discount to make it affordable.” The final 60% of cancer sufferers coming to the center are those who can only manage small token dona-tions or perhaps nothing at all.

“Here in Honduras one course of chemotherapy will cost L.10,000, and you will usually need four or five courses. At the same time most Hondurans can only afford to pay around L.500 per course.”

Similarly, radiotherapy will cost between L.15,000 and L.35,000. The national minimum wage varies depending on the place, but is around L.3000 per month.

Patients can go to a number of Honduran hospitals to find cancer treatment, but “public hospitals have a lot of patients and usually by the middle of the year they are running out of resources…some-times they run out medicines half way through a course, in which case the patient must search another source...we are all strug-gling with the same problems,” said Sanchez.

Maria de Los Angeles Mautoñe is an example of someone who chose to attend the Center for Cancer Emma Romero for her cancer treatment. She says she heard about it through her family, and is currently paying part of the overall price, with the rest subsidized. She told me how her “options were either to find a private hospital, which would have been too expensive, or to go to a public hospital…and they don’t really have the resources.” For example some machines are only available in a couple of major cities in Honduras, indeed the Center for Cancer Emma Romero de Callejas boasts equipment used for fighting cancer unique to it in the whole country.

“Aside from equipment, across Honduras it is possible to find all qualities of drug…but, even more so with cancer than some other diseases, it is important to always go for the certified drugs as there is often only one chance to cure someone.” This implies another great cost. According to Sanchez there is minimal varia-tion between the cost of drugs in Honduras and the cost of drugs in the U.S. Perhaps otherwise people

from the States would travel to Honduras for their treatment and the drug companies would loose out on a significant amount of money. “It costs $3,000 a month to treat someone suffering from chronic leukemia. That is a lot of money in the States, but it is even more here and almost no one can even think about paying it themselves.”

The Center for Cancer Emma Romero de Callejas focuses its attention on providing quality drugs and equipment to anyone at a price they can afford – be it 100% or 0% of the cost incurred by the organization. Thus it attempts to be an attractive alternative to the often unfeasible prices of the private hospitals and often lacking resources of the public hospitals to combating cancer.

For this reason the Center for Cancer Emma Romero de Callejas relies heavily on charity from U.S drug companies and other insti-tutions. For example this year they received a large donation of Tamoxifen, an important drug in reducing the risk of breast cancer recurrence. “Companies send drugs and equipment for free in response to the fact that the centre provides a free service to those who need it” said Sanchez. Other than this, the Center has an agreement with the Honduran Ministry of Health. The ministry gives them L.8million, and in response they must cater for any patient that the ministry assigns them. They are also able to raise money from certain services they provide, like social security insur-ance and private insurance. In addi-tion some services are cheap, like x-rays and ultrasound, meaning that most people can afford to pay themselves. Finally there is a relay for life, which last year brought the Center L.2million. However, even

Cancer center offering free care for those who can’t pay

CANCER continued on page 5

Saturday, April 14, 2007HONDURAS THIS WEEKYOUR CENTRAL AMERICAN WEEKLY REVIEW

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with all this, this organization is “constantly running in the red.”

“A big problem with cancer in Honduras is that most people do not know much about it,” said Sanchez. The center is trying to use the media and schools to spread information, and each year more and more people are coming and taking advantage of the service.

“In particular we are trying to teach about uterine and breast cancer in women, and prostate and stomach cancer in men.” These are the most common instances of the disease in Honduran women and men respec-tively, with the female forms by far the most frequent. Since 1998 the center have catered for 3946 people, of which 29.45% (803 people) have been women suffering from genital cancer. Following this, 16.02% (437 people) have been women with breast cancer. Of course the patients at the center may not be representative

of Honduran cancer sufferers in general, but national statistics are currently fairly under developed. There is generally very little demographic statistical analysis regarding cancer in Honduras, so little is known about whether or how it is developing in particular areas or within particular groups of people.

What is known is that as the years go on more and more people are coming to the Center for Cancer Emma Romero de Callejas for cancer treatment, and that

they are coming from all around Central America, from all social, racial, religious

and age groups. “Our oldest patient is 104 and suffering from breast

cancer,” says Sanchez, “but she is doing

very well.”

CANCER: Breast cancer common at centercon’t from page 4

Alex Jones/Honduras This Week This is one of only two gamma cameras in Honduras, both found at the Center for Cancer.

Saturday, April 14 , 2007 HONDURAS THIS WEEK YOUR CENTRAL AMERICAN WEEKLY REVIEW6

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Alvaro Morales MolinaHonduras This Week

The modifications made to the Electoral Law, meant that the candidates running for Congress had their photos published and for the first time Hondurans could see the face of the person they were voting for.

Some people were not happy with the changes, especially those that for decades where part of an old and obsolete system that guar-anteed their presence no matter what, so the new process had many opponents. But in the end the change was passed and the results where interesting, with many surprises and new faces in the old Congress.

Some candidates spent lots of money on election campaigns, some utilized ingenuous publicity stunts and some simply earned their votes through sympathy and good actions in front of the people. The latter is the case of Dayana Martinez, a young blind Afro-American woman with a foreign languages’ degree. Her disability did not represent an obstacle to one of most admirable elections of this actual Congress.

Dayana is renowned among Hondurans for being educated, joyful and incredibly witty. Unlike some, she takes her roll as a Congresswoman seriously, having one of the best attendance records in the legislature, and she is also one of the most active participants.

Others know her for her elegant and distinguished wardrobe.

There have been disappoint-ments, however in Dayana’s short political life, “bureaucratic barriers” as she calls the obstacles that she thinks stop the good inten-tions of her colleagues in Congress. In spite of that, Dayana describes Congress as the place to be if you want to do something for those in need. She admits that the current legislature can be criticized for a lack of know-how. “2006 was an adaptation period but our promise is that this year Hondurans will receive a good and just legislative

product,” Dayana says with confi-dence.

Her aim is to legislate in favor of disabled persons that search for equal opportunities in employment, education, health, and politics. “We should not be seen as second cate-gory citizens, but we should receive a first class citizen treatment as any Honduran,” says Dayana. She calls for, among other things, a department of Work Insertion in the Ministry of Employment, which should force employers to hire qualified employees even if they suffer from a disability.

Other initiatives include demanding that the Central Bank emit paper money with symbols on one side that can be recognized through the touch of the fingertips, that the authorities build infra-structure adapted for disabled people, that children with disabili-ties are guaranteed access to normal classes in any educational institute, the right to specialized health services, including pros-thesis for any one with the need.

Dayana speaks six languages fluently: Spanish, English, French, Portuguese, Japanese and Italian, and she hopes to learn additional languages in the future. If she can find the time that is because she admits with a malicious smile that her political aspirations extend beyond this first period in congress. Her professional

Dayana Martinez - a new kind of politician

Alvaro Morales Molina/Honduras This Week Danya Martinez used media’s interest in her per-son to promote her candidature.

DAYANA continued on page 7


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goals include reelection but she also aspires to become a State Secretary, if, as she says, god wants her to. Her Christian believes are obvious whenever she speaks. Her voice is soft, almost that of a child, and her Spanish is rich with an extensive vocabulary.

Although many view her as a young rookie politician, she has proposed several motions. One of them calls for a special budget assignment from the govern-ment to promote the integral development of disabled persons. Considering that 10 percent of the Honduran population suffers from a disability and, according to Dayana, more than 700,000 Hondurans suffer discrimination and marginalization due to their physical problems, something needs to be done.

Dayana reached her position in an atypical manner. She tells us that one day during the inten-sive 2005 presidential election campaign, Jose Mathew, a well known politician, gave her the opportunity to participate in the movement that was promoting gabriela Nunez, the current presi-dent of the Central Bank, as a pres-idential candidate. In Honduras, all

aspiring congressmen have to asso-ciate themselves with a presiden-tial candidate, also donating money to that election campaign. Since the movement supporting Nunez wasn’t among the principal move-ments, however, there where no economical requirements to partici-pate as candidate for Congress. Danya promoted her candidature in all the ways possible, using media’s interest for her as a blind afro-american woman, and as a result she was elected with a big number of direct votes, more votes than many traditional candidates that invested large sums of money in their campaigns.

One legal bill to be introduced by Dayana in the near future, calls for tougher punishment for those that commit “femicide,” a criminal term used in Central America to describe assassinations of women. According to Dayana, Honduras ranks in third place worldwide when it comes to the number of femicides.

As a devoted Christian, Dayana also suggests a divine solution to many difficulties affecting Hondurans. ”We should bend knees in a Christian attitude and turn our eyes on him.”

DAYANA: Tougher punishment for femicidecon’t from page 6


wood and receive money from the private sector, but instead will be assigned a budget. “That way the wood won’t pay for employees,” says Paola Castro, referring to the tradition of selling wood to maintain an oversized and obsolete organization.

The certification of every public or private employees will be a requirement in the new law, that means better controls and less illegal logging. A group of profes-sional forest guards will care for pines all over the territory, giving a scientific and professional meaning to this sector.

Also, management plans will be required, to make sure that the logging is controlled accordingly. These plans will make ground anal-ysis a requirement when someone wants to use a piece of land for agricultural purposes, and so iden-tifying optimal areas to grow.

“There is a commitment from President Manuel Zelaya and Robert Michelletti, president of Congress, to approve the law,” says Paola Castro. The law will include a modernization of forestry concepts and terms found in the current, obsolete legislation. According to Castro, the NgOs, state agencies, municipalities and business repre-sentatives involved in the creation of the law have approved almost all of the law text. However, certain organizations opposed the fact that a safety guard for indigenous people and their territories, as well as the protection of national parks and wild life are included in the legal bill, claiming that these two concepts that should be considered for a separate law and that this law includes them in a merely superfi-cial way.

The process of getting the law passed is long and complicated.

First, it has to be discussed and approved by congress, then it is sent to a style committee to be corrected, and it is then signed by the President and the Secretary of Congress. Then congress sends the law to President Manuel Zelaya who can either sign or send it back to congress for modification. If the President approves, he sends it to the official newspaper La gaceta where it needs to be published before it can enter into force.

The following transition from the previous to the new system takes approximately four to six years. By that time, a forestry cabinet should be in place, to manage and coordinate the forestry policies of the country.

Mopawi, a non governmental organization involved in the process of negotiating the contents of the law, approves almost all of the content of the legal bill to be presented in the days to come. However, Oswaldo Mungia, the NgO’s general director, criticizes the weakness of the law regarding protected areas and wildlife, which he describes as two areas that need their own separated laws due to their importance.

“We should start by thinking more about ecosystems, coastal reefs and rivers and the connection between them and animal life,” says Mungia. He emphasizes the seriousness and urgency of this new legal instrument, especially

due to recent scientific discoveries made by the National geographic Society that show the accelerated deforestation of the Honduran territory with satellite images.

“It makes me sad to know that even though we have enough human resources in the country (forestry engineers) there has not been a positive change,” says Mungia with resignation. On the one hand, the Forestry Science School in Siguatepeque (ESNACIFOR) is one of the best universities of the continent specialized in the issue. On the other hand, Honduras has one of the worst records in preservation of forests.

One of the problems according to Mungia is that the persons in charge of the forestry policies only last four years, and then some-body else comes with a completely different way of management, while the forest needs more than 30 years to recover. “Let’s look to the example of Finland. They export and promote their forest resource while also selling the image of a green forested country to ecotourism,” says Mungia “The forest can be a good profitable business. We must understand that Honduras is more forest than agri-culture, as they say.”

Due to low levels of schooling, people in rural areas still use obso-lete processes to work the land. According to Muniga, people use

the word improvement when they clean the land of trees, when they actually are performing one of the acts that is most damaging to the ecosystem. “They come take the land and cut down all the trees, then they try to grow agriculture products on forest land,” explains Mungia. The result is mediocre production and a failed investment.

Decentralization of the manage-ment of the forest is another item of the law. Each Mayor’s Office will be responsible for the care and management of the forest. Mungia describes the move as delivering property to the real owners. “They have responsibility, conscience and ownership. Also, they know that if they don’t care for what they have, soon they will lose it,” he says. He points to the importance that should be given to environment with a biblical example. “god,” he says, “began creation spending six and a half days to create nature, and half a day to create humanity.”

A cultural change is needed, according to Mungia, beginning with the new generations in preschool. “The smaller ones can understand the problem and they will probably solve it.” He prays that the government won’t change the spirit and content of the law before it has been approved. “We are watching. If they change it just a little bit, if they mess with the text, we are going to protest in Presidential House.”

N A T I O N A LFORESTRY: Safety guard for indigenous people and protection of national parks controversial issuescon’t from page 1


Former minister criticizes U.N advice

The former Minister of Security, Oscar Alvarez Guerrero, considers the recent recommendation by the U.N to decrease penalties afforded to members of gangs absurd. He stated El Heraldo that he feels such a move work be regressive, taking the security problems of Honduras back thousands of years.

“I don’t even want to imagine what would happen. It would be a nightmare for the decent Hondurans, who are the majority, because most of the gang members that have been caught are people who have stolen, raped, killed, stabbed and other crimes against society. It is the states duty to look for the security of majorities,” said Alverez in a phone call from Texas to a local Honduran radio station.

Congressmen reject Zelaya’s censorship

Liberal and National Congressmen sharply rejected the intention of the President Zelaya to regulate the press through legislative decree. The coverage of news from the media, espe-cially newspapers was to be affected the most.

Last Sunday Zelaya attacked the media for broadcasting on the front page murders and kidnappings. He accused them of boycotting his security policies, exaggerating the activities of

the criminals and undermining and understat-ing the work of the police.

The delegate for the Inter American press, Edgardo Dumas Rodríguez, met with the presi-dent of congress, Roberto Micheletti. Although they met in secret, what they talked about currently unknown.

Last week Dumas Rodríguez declared that it would be a big mistake to pretend that the media will be obliged to or sanctioned in an arbitrary way in its role as a source of informa-tion.

More Hondurans deported from the U.S each day

Last week alone twelve plane loads of peo-ple arrived in Honduras carrying deported ille-gal immigrants from the U.S. The Office for the Protection of Immigrants confirmed that the 12 flights coming from the U.S arrived last week with Hondurans captured crossing the boarder between Mexico and the United States.

Last Thursday 235 Hondurans were returned to Honduras, and the day before 290. The Hondurans came sometimes with a small bag of documents, or sometimes only with a spare shirt and no money. Most of the time they are lacking funds to return to their native regions

The Office for the Protection of Immigrants allows any deported immigrants to make one phone call to their relatives, but nothing more.

WEEK IN REVIEW


T O U R I S M

As Honduras and its tourist destinations wind down now from the blow out frenzied Easter Week holiday travel period, the Ministry of Tourism had issued its preliminary pre holiday forecasts for the number of Hondurans and foreigners who will be traveling during the week. The lion’s share of non-Hondurans traveling hailed from El Salvador, guatemala, Nicaragua and the US, in that order. Recent developments in guatemala, especially the killing of a group of Salvadoran diplomats on the road between El Salvador and guatemala, were forecasted to put a damper on Salvadorian tourists heading to guatemala, which has traditionally attracted large numbers during the holiday period. As I have mentioned many times in my articles, the potential for attracting Central American tourists, especially Salvadorans during vacation and non vacation periods presents Honduras with an enormous untapped goldmine of potential visitors. Salvadorans can potentially provide Honduras with a year round source of tour-ists with high per capita/per diem spending, which are precisely the type of tourists Honduras is looking to attract. The main factor impeding the development of this boom of regional tourism toward Honduras is the lack of high quality tourism infrastructure, for example self contained beach resorts. The upcoming Tela Bay project will provide Honduras with its first world class self contained beach resort complete with golf course, marina, commercial areas, condos, townhouses and high end foreign resort brands such as Westin and

Hilton. Together with improve-ments in infrastructure; water, sewage, roads, a makeover of downtown Tela and other tourism related infrastructure, Tela will become a major player in the regional tourism market. There is no other Caribbean resort complex nearby to compete - one must travel as far north as Yucatan and as far south as the Caribbean Coast of Costa Rica in order to find world class, self contained beach resorts.

Closer to home in Copan Ruinas, the quaint village which it always has been, is beginning to show growing pains as commer-cial and residential development continues to grow at a ever quick-ening pace and the lack of serious oversight has lead to problems with the compliance architec-tural codes, signage, and street vendors. In recent years Copan has seen a tremendous increase in street jewelry vendors who block sidewalks, making them unusable for pedestrians. Signage regulations which were unveiled a ways back, initially had the desired effect of the removal of many of the offending signs, but now a few months after the fact, many signage violations continue to occur. For example, many busi-nesses have multiple signs in front of their business, sometimes 2 or 3 or more, which is a violation of signage code. In addition, the issue of temporary signage, often stapled to the fronts of businesses by beverage and cellular compa-nies, etc are becoming a serious problem adding to the signage clutter which has proliferated around town. Architectural and building material codes are also a

problem as many new construc-tions proceed with dubious archi-tectural designs and employing materials which in no way, shape or form add to preserving the archi-tectural integrity of Copan’s down-town. Copan has always had an anything goes, wild west mentality when it comes to such issues and although many positive changes have occurred in recent months, there is still a very long road to travel in terms of protecting and fomenting conscience amongst the people as to the necessity as well as the economic and aesthetic benefits of implementing a serious downtown renovation and rescue project which seeks to insure the architectural integrity of its historical center and surrounding areas. As I have mentioned many times in my pieces, one must only look to nearby Santa Rosa de Copan, gracias, and the further off Comayagua and even Trujillo - all towns large and small, which have undertaken and are implementing historic center renovation and rescue projects, many with amaz-ingly stellar results. In a period of only a few short years, Santa Rosa de Copan has gone from a relatively mundane, unattractive, primarily commerce based town with no emphasis on its rich histor-ical downtown, to a town which has revitalized its historic center with proper signage, architectural and building codes with teeth and a feeling of intense pride amongst its residents that they have been able to overcome the historical and cultural barriers which impede such projects in other towns. All in a city, which most surprisingly does not receive much in the way of tourism. Hopefully other Honduran cities and towns, especially those which are important tourism poles, will learn by watching what other Honduran towns have accom-plished and implement some of the lessons learned.

Today, the attractions of Copan Ruinas stretches far beyond its world famous ruins, and ecological tours in the surrounding landscape are becoming more and more popular among tourists chosing to stay on after visiting the archeo-logical park.

One popular tour, offered by Yaragua Tours, starts at eight o’clock in the morning in front of the Hotel Yaragua. Your guide for the day is Samuel Miranda, the owner of the company. The initial drive takes you through the beautiful surrounding country-side, with rolling hills and forests, finally arriving at the Hacienda Sol Naciente (Rising Sun Ranch) some 25 kilometers north of Copan Ruinas – one of the establishments offering experiences for the adven-turous.

Arriving at the ranch, you are off on a tour of the coffee plan-tation. The guide will take you

through the whole process, from harvesting the bean to grinding the coffee, transforming the bean to a fresh cup of steaming coffee.

The coffee tour is followed by a horse back adventure. For two hours, you ride through the montainous landscape, making your way over hills and through rivers. The ride ends with a short walk through the forest, your guide telling you about the indigenous species of trees, before you arrive at a beautiful waterfall where you can swim in the crystal clear river water. A walk through a coffee plantation takes you back to the ranch where a barbeque awaits you.

After eating, visitors have the option of continuing to the Luna Jaguar Spa Resort, named after a Mayan ruler. The spa revives ancient mayan rituals to provide guests with physical and mental well-being. Cold and warm natural springs, whirlpool baths, sauna and massages - the choice of how to end your ecological day is yours.

Eco-adventures in Copan Ruinas

Courtesy of Hacienda Sol Naciente A visitor touring the coffee plantations of the Hacienda Sol Naciente.


N A T I O N A L

Jesse W. Jamison

Special to Honduras This Week

The City of Puerto Cortes has recently begun a major urban renewal project dubbed “Proyecto Pelicano”, by initiating construction of a new service road. The renewal project is taking place on 8 hectares (19.8 acres) in Barrio Porvenir, located at the mouth of Alvarado Lagoon, an eco-sensitive marsh land. The lagoon area is lined with mangroves, forming densely popu-lated mini-habitats for crustaceans, fish and birds, and is considered eco-sensitive.

This program is the result of collaboration between Allan Ramos, Mayor of Puerto Cortes, Mitilde Paz, Department Chairperson of the University of San Pedro Sula’s school of architecture, and students Marco T. Cantillano and Jose Molina. “Proyecto Pelicano” is their senior thesis, a requirement for gradua-tion, which they began in January 2005.

The project was conceived after the Mayor of Puerto Cortes contacted the university and asked for help in planning the design for a new fish market. The existing fish market supplies sea food to Puerto Cortes and the surrounding

area, including San Pedro Sula and Choloma.

Sharing the same building with the existing fish market is an immi-gration office. Immediately adja-cent to the fish market/immigra-tions office is the Porvenir Market, the Delfin Restaurant, and wharves which accommodate passenger boat traffic to and from Belize, as well as fishing boats. There are also 303 private family homes nearby, 70% of which are built from cardboard and pieces of scrap metal, they have no access to potable water, they are hooked up to electric

power without authorization, and they have no valid legal documents. The residents of these dwellings also discharge raw sewage directly into the lagoon. That not only poses a threat to public health and safety in Puerto Cortes, but the entire region, because fish are being processed in an area that has raw sewerage literally running through it, which could potentially cause a cholera epidemic.

After visiting the fish market, the students concluded that the major problem was lack of space in the entire area, and that in order

to design a new fish market, it was essential to reshape everything around it as well. It was then that they began considering the idea of a major urban renewal project.

The students soon discovered that they would be called upon not only to be architects, in this case, but arbitrators and diplomats as well, which are skills not taught in their career training. They had to gauge public reaction and receive approval before proceeding with any actual plans. They conducted statistical surveys among the two largest effected groups, the local residents and the fishing commu-nity, in order to determine the feasibility of their project.

“We had acquired a massive amount of information about the project site,” said architectural student Marco Cantillano, “but that wasn’t enough. We soon realized that our plan was not only going to affect the project site itself, but the entire City of Puerto Cortes. We had to become intermediaries between the municipality and various community based organiza-tions. We had to learn how to deal with large groups, representing a variety of constituencies.”

In the end, all parties agreed with the students’ proposal. The Porvenir Market will be moved

out of the area, to a location on the Puerto Cortes – Omoa highway. That change will greatly reduce vehicular traffic and congestion within the project site. The new fish market will be built in another area within the site, and new wharves will be built close by, to accommodate the fishing boats. The immigration office and the Delfin Restaurant will be rebuilt, but they will remain in their present loca-tions, along with wharves to accom-modate the passenger boat traffic. A sprawling park is also planned throughout the site. Further, “Proyecto Pelicano” will eliminate all major causes of pollution in the area.

The students learned that “urban renewal” is a broadly used term, however, it is little under-stood. Many towns and cities have been involved in urban renewal schemes, that have been imple-mented by a variety of develop-ment companies, financial institu-tions and community organizations, but there is no single prescribed formula for urban renewal,” nor is there a one authoritative source to provide accepted standards and guidelines.

“Proyecto Pelicano” is expected to take approximately 10 years to complete.

Proyecto Pelicano begins in Puerto Cortes

Jose Molina Illegal house scheduled for removal from project site.


HAPPY EASTER FOLKSThe Holy Week has come and gone. The airports were full to capacity

as was the yacht making a minimum of three round trips each day. A heavy influx of tourists from America, Europe, Salvador, guatemala, Mexico, Tegucigalpa, San Pedro Sula and La Ceiba - all coming to enjoy the beautiful beaches on Roatan. Everyone was calling everyone else to find beds for last minute arrivals. The hotels were over- booked again so plan ahead for 2008 and make those reservations now.

LOOKING FOR CROWDS AND MORE CROWDS? The West End and West Bay beaches sort of merged with thou-

sands of sun, surf and sand seekers moving back and forth. There was a heavy but friendly police presence everywhere and it paid off. Traffic stops across the island with smiling officers handing out brochures about no alcohol and seat belt usage. HTW heard that 45 officers came from the mainland to help protect the island and they were all put to good use.

LOOKING FOR A SAFE HOLIDAY? All week long the lagoon at Parrot Tree Plantation offered refresh-

ments, security and entertainment. It was called the SKYBAR and the fun began on the 3rd and ran through the 7th with a different musical group entertaining each day and each night. It was designed to provide an affordable place for entire families to have the safety, convenience and festive surroundings of Parrot Tree for their Semana Santa.

SISTERS IN LOVEThe bond between Maracopa county Arizona Police Department

and the Roatan Police seems to be a strong and lasting one. Chief Dave Hendershott, Roger Marshall and Jim Miller have kept their word to Chief Julio Benitez by sending down a table full of crime fighting equip-ment to go along with the specialized training they gave our police force earlier. Fingerprinting apparatus, a camera, crime scene paraphernalia are ready to get to work. Let’s hope there will be no need to use it but we know better.

DEM’ HOLES, DEM’ HOLES, DEM”, POTHOLESAll fixed and ready to roll over. Starting at the grand Canyon in front

of Bo Jangles, to right in front of the airport, to the craters near RECO to the monster mess at First bight and on around to Parrot Tree, the holes are fixed. It took but a couple of days and a bit of materials and we can again travel in style. Why oh’ why does it take so long for the simple cure? We have no way of knowing if the repairs will stand up to the next rain but for now everyone is happy. Everyone was grateful the work was completed just in time for the Semana Santa.

DO YOU REMEMBER?A while ago HTW featured a story about some Cuban immigrants

arriving in Palmetto by rickety boat? Well it is again news. It seems the Honduras immigration department began accusing our Mayor of wrong-doings when he treated the boat people with common respect and courte-sies. He arranged housing and food and sanitation, as he should have, how would the Central government have handled it? The community did not hesitate to stand up for Mayor Jackson and fought back the rumors he did anything wrong. Now we are waiting for an apology, do you think we will have to wait very long?

T O U R I S M / N A T I O N A L

Working group has observed regional patterns that show the emergence of an outsourcing of civil security, “We have observed that in some cases the employees of private military and security companies enjoy an immunity which can easily become impunity. In Honduras, Security Committees, Community Watches, private secu-rity companies, either operating legally or illegally and Honduran citizens having the possibility of creating their own protection of up to a 100 persons, there exists ‘small armies’ which might fall outside the control of the authorities. The State might have, thus, ceded part of the monopoly of the use of force. One can raise the question as to what extent a State can yield the control of violence to private secu-rity companies.”

The Working group on the Use of Mercenaries has identified a new modality of private security and militaristic firms, operating under “commercial logic”, spreading throughout the region. “These companies also recruit and train in developing countries, which expe-rience high unemployment rates, cheap manual labour and a tradi-tion of migrant labour, and send these persons to conflict zones, where effectively ordinary guards

become combatants. The privatiza-tion of war…the ‘private or inde-pendent contractors’ [are] the new freelancers of the 21st century.”

Chairman del Prado has proposed a series of official recom-mendations to Honduras that were read out in special session to the Human Rights Council; one of the central proposals is the prohibition of “the export of private military or security services to other countries and, where such exports do occur, regulate such services.”

general Romeo Vasquez Velasquez, Honduran Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, denies that any military installation has served to train non-military personnel. At a press confer-ence the armed forces spokesman Colonel Jose Lobo read out an official communiqué, “The company Your Solutions Honduras solicited the use of the Center for Military Training of the Army to prepare a group of Honduran citizens that were to travel to Iraq, the request was denied. The armed forces reit-erate to the population that their military assets are guarantors of Honduran security, since they are lead by men prepared to serve with honor, loyalty, and sacrifice… ”

Claims by former private secu-rity personnel who claim they

trained at the disputed base have so far been rejected by the military authorities. The Honduran Human Rights Prosecutors Office is currently investigating any wrong doing.

An official within the Honduran Secretary of Foreign Relations is privately bothered by the allega-tions that a military base was leased off to a private mercenary firm, “The whole thing looks bad…, whether it ends up to be true or not, it at least looks like mid-level officials were facilitating private contractors with access to military bases. It seems like the military hierarchy is fragmented and rogue officers are doing deals with secu-rity companies. This is not the image Honduras wants to project to the international community.” She believes that the presence of foreign or domestic mercenaries training within Honduran territory demonstrates a lack of territorial and institutional control by the defense and security authorities. “It is a dangerous thing to keep soldiers without uniforms, without allegiances inside your country. You never know what they will do with that training.”

The official links the increase of mercenary soldiers in the region to the current United States Administration’s policy of outsourcing for private security firms to augment the total coali-tion force currently in theater in Iraq. There is no indication that this policy will be altered; it was ratified by the Baker Hamilton Commission (Iraq Study group) in their recommendations 62 and 63, which endorses U.S. military forces working with Iraqis and foreign mercenaries to protect oil infrastructure and contractors. Honduran paramilitary forces serving for private outfits in the gulf are usually bound to security duties guarding infrastructure. An Investigation by The Human Rights Council reported that most of these individuals ended up performing duties not specified to them before.

MERCENARIES: Military claim that they did not train mercenariescon’t from page 3


Less economic growth for the region this year

The International Monetary Fund (IMF), pre-dicted last Wednesday an economical growth of 4.8% for Honduras. That is in comparison to last years 5.5%. The shrink relates to a regional slow down in growth throughout Latin America with the exception of Brazil, Chile and Nicaragua that grew and Bolivia and Paraguay who maintained the same level.

The performance of the Central American countries now averages out at 5% since December, compared with 5.7% last year. Similarly, Caribbean countries also slowed down to 5.4%, from 8.3% in 2006.

The IMF expects that the international atmo-sphere will be less favorable due the growth of the cost of petrol and metal, which reached record breaking levels in 2006.

This indicates that the more effective coun-tries are those with close relationships with the United Status, like Mexico, Central America and the Caribbean, or the more important exporters of petrol and metals, for example Chile, Ecuador and Venezela.

Importantes exportadores de petróleo y metales (como Chile, Ecuador y Venezuela).

The North American economic group will grow this year by 2.2%, the smallest growth since 2002 when it was recovering from a reces-sion, whereas last year it grew by 3.3%.

New flights for Honduras

An American and a Mexican airline are both interested in entering Honduras to provide their service, confirmed the president of Honduran Association of Airlines, Armndo Funes, last Wednesday.

The North American Spirit will operate daily flights between the state of Florida and San Pedro Sula. At the same time they want offer services between Los Angeles and San Pedro

Sula as well. The other airline, AeroMexico, will cover the route between Mexico City and San Pedro Sula four times a week.

Funes said that the Mexican airline sug-gested that they will begin operations by the second semester of this year. These two airlines will add to those companies already operating in the area, like TACA, American Airlines, Continental, Delta, Isleña Regional de Guatemala and Blue Panorama.

At the same time Delta airlines expressed an interest in operating a nonstop flight between Atlanta and Tegucigalpa, starting in June this year. There are at least 20 daily flights from Honduran airport to destinations in the United States, Central America, Grand Caiman and Italy. During the weekends there are also flights between La Ceiba and Roatan.

National bank loses iden-tity, but it is nothing to worry about

Contrary to the worries of some social sec-tors over the loss of identity of the national bank, the authorities consider that it is a sign of strength for the most important interna-tional banks.

BGA, Bamer, Credomatic, Cuscatlan and Uno have all been owned by HSBC, General Electric and Citygroup. Gustavo Alfaro, president of the National Commission for Banks and Insurances argues that it is a natural phenomenon that strengthens the banking system and guarantees the interest of those depositing their money.

“There is nothing to worry about,” say Alfaro. There is a tendency for this to strengthen the financial system. The Honduran bank system is obliged itself to be more efficient due to the presence of international groups. “Competition is good, and where it is present there are ben-efits for the customer.”

BUSINESSWEEK IN REVIEW

B U S I N E S S

Saturday, April 14 , 2007 HONDURAS THIS WEEK YOUR CENTRAL AMERICAN WEEKLY REVIEW

CASA DEL VIAJEROLOMAS DEL GUIJARRO AND LA HACIENDARooms with A/C, TV, Internet Wi-Fi, Laundry, Breakfast, Free Shuttle and Parking.Daily, weekly and monthly rates available.Tel. 263-0418 / Cel. 99902-2706

[email protected]

Copan ApartmentsTegucigalpa

The Best Completely furnished apts. in Tegucigalpa. Full service: daily maid, swimming pool, laundry/ironing, hot water, telephone(direct, private lines) T.V. cable, microwave, A.C.,V.C.R.(video), fax, barbecue area, garden, individual garages, security. 1,2,3 bedroom /2 bathrooms, studio room (optional), free internet, a country house for week-ends at Zamorano Valley(4 manzanas of land), fruit trees, walking roads, 45 minutes from Tegucigalpa Col. Palmira, Las Acacias St. 2 blocks west from the former United Nations Bldg. Tegucigalpa MDC Tel (504) 238-1751, FAX:(504) 238-3752

Apartment For RentFor an executive located in Col. Florencia del Norte, private security, garage. Hot water, telephone line, furnished or unfur-nished. Electricity, water and private security included in price. Price $350.00/month.

Office For RentLocated in Florencia del Norte, private security, area: 50 mts. 2, bathroom, tele-phone line, parking space, Price $350.00

If you are interested please contact:Mr. Ochoa Phones: (504) 3358-5432,

232-4594, or e-mail: [email protected]

Guest Rooms & Apartments

For both short and extended stays at affordable prices. All of our rooms incluide air conditioning, wireless internet, cable television, direct dial-telephones, daily maid service. Large family room and full service kitchen 24-7 security. Please see our website to fully appreciate our establishment at www.humuyainn.com American owned and managed. Information

(504) 239-8962, 235-7276, 239-2206, 235-7275 Fax: 239-5099 or

[email protected]

San Pedro Sula For RentTwo bedrooms , clean, secure, convenient location. Lps. 3,500. Contact: 984-3217 or send mail to : Chieko Cano, P.O.Box 5, Siguatepeque, Honduras.

Beautiful House for Sale in the Best Town of TegucigalpaLocated in Col. Lomas del Guijarro, excellent location. Six bedrooms, studio, living room dining room, big kitchen, terrace, garage for four cars, one apartment with living room, kitchen, dining room, ceramic floors in the entire house, it has everything you want!!! Perfect for a bed and breakfast or any business. If you are interested contact me to:

[email protected] or andrea_gutierrez@hotmail.

com. Phone(504) 232-2300.

For SaleCopan Ruinas, Property for Sale, apprx 2 acres, one of few large properties available within village boundaries, view of village and valley, mature trees, water, elect, tele-phone access, street access, located on road to Macaw Mtn Tropical Bird Park, 5 minutes to center of village,

[email protected] [email protected] EXTRAORDINARY

Land acquisition opportunity on the leeward side of the highly desirable eastern end of Roatan. ±70 acres of exceptional white sand beach and roll-ing hills with protected harbour. ±400 meters of waterfront. Idea for mixed-use resort, marina, condo-hotel and residential development. Principals only.

For more information please contact:

Daniel “DOC” O´[email protected]

U.S. Toll Free 1.888.417.2660In Honduras 504.236.9200 office 504.9946.5220 cell

Terrain Located in El Hatillo 2.3 Km. ahead of Pinares School, 5,000 V2, completely square and plain. Beautiful view of Tegucigalpa. US $12.00 V2, If you are interested please call us at:

Tel: (504) 3364-7047 or e-mail: [email protected]

R E N T A L SCentral AmericaSPANISH SCHOOL

A SCHOOL WITH UNIQUE TEACHING TECHNIQUES!

OUR PROGRAMS:* Intensive Spanish Language program in:

* La Ceiba * Utila Bay Island * Roatan Bay Island

* Eco-Spanish, Biological and Scientific Program

* In Cayos Cochinos marine protected area.

* Ecological Intensive Spanish Language Program

* In the National Park Pico Bonito.* Mayan and Beach Intensive Language Program

* Available in La Ceiba, Utila and Copan Ruinas.

* Transfer Credits available from US Universities. Call: 440-1707E-mail: [email protected]

www.ca-spanish.com

Alcoholics Anonymous RoatanFor meeting schedules and times,

call 445-1334, 9967-0934, 9991-3215.

S E R V I C E S

Wash & WetChat while you do your laundryOpen from Monday through Friday , from 8:00 a.m.-6:00 p.m., Saturdays trough Sunday, from 10:00 a.m.- 4:00 p.m., We are located in Col. Palmira 1era calle, Ave. Panama.

Phone:265-2037. Come and visit us!!

General Contractor AvailableFlorida Certified General Contractor recently relocated to Tegucigalpa. Over thirty years of experience in commer-cial, institutional, industrial (heavy), underground, marine and high end residential construction. Expertise in administrative and field management. Also available to oversee and inspect the construction of your new office or home.

Call Mike at 504-230-7207, or e-mail: [email protected]

Searching for the best profiles? Searching

for the best job?

Don´t search for more, just visit: SM COMPANY, Honduras and Latin America,www.smcompany.net, www.honduem-pleos.com, [email protected]

We guarantee the best.Ph. (504)221-0874, 553-3386

Bellas Properties• Lake Yojoa, 100 acres, canal with access to the Lake, plane. Price$8,000 per acre.• Property near the Lake and Peñas Blancas, 123 acres to grow coffee, cacao and others. Price: $1,600 per acre.• I front of Lake Yojoa, spectacular view, 940 mts2. Price $250,000/350 mts. $8,000.• TELA 175 acres , with 6500 feet of Caribbean beach front. Price: $17,000 per acre.• ZAMBRANO, terrains from 1,500 mts2, natural environment, private, stoned, water, electricity, 30 minutes from the city. $7.00 per mt2.• CHOLOMA near San Pedro Sula and Puerto Cortes, beautiful property, water, perfect for Agro projects. 350 acres. Price $8,500 per acre.

GUANAJA, 190 acres, beach front.More information and photos

Phone: (504) 9990-7183E-mail: [email protected]

F O R S A L E

For SaleSiguatepeque, Spring like all year, two places on 2+ acres each, both with a large house and small house for employee, fruit trees. water, electric, all weather road just off major hwy. short distances from town. $65,000 each If interested contact:

[email protected]

For Rent

Main Street, Colonia Palmira, #2036 ½ block from United Nations Building and La Salsa Restaurant :

• Perfect for Office with more than 10 Units

• Meeting/Board Room • Air Conditioning

• Electric Generator • Available Computer Network

• 3 Phone Lines • Water Cistern • Lush Gardens

• Social/Break room Areas • 4 Car Garage

• 3 ½ Restrooms

Information: Tel. 232-6263,

Sr. Enrique Moncada

Apartment For RentGood Location in Col. La Reforma, close to the US Embassy. Apartment has two bedrooms, 2 bathrooms, living room, din-ing room, kitchen, storage room, service bedroom (bathroom included), interior patio, telephone line Price: $375.00 If you are interested please contact:

[email protected] call Tel: (504) 236-5526 at night.

14

O T H E R SBar and Restaurant for Sale

For sale by not being able to care of. Restaurant now open for public, well loca-tion near the Valle de Angeles Park. If you are interested please contact us!!

Tel: (504)766-2124 and out of the area(718) 4922338. Price: $10,500.

Help Wanted Experience license real estate agent, call dreams of paradise real estate and devel-opment. You can contact us at: (504) 445-4331

or (504) 445-4332or e-mail: [email protected], ask for

Jeff Kukene.

American man learning to speak Spanish is seeking Spanish*speaking Hondureñas to correspond with by mail. I’m 45; I’m an artist, musician and lover of mountains and trees. Please send me a letter and I will write back soon. Jeff Hacking W.S.R. No. 9971742, P.O.Box 777, Monroe, WA 98272 USA________________________

Hombre Americano aprendiendo a hablar español, en busca de Hondureñas para intercambiar correspondencia. Tengo 45 años de edad, soy un artista, músico y me encantan as montañas y árboles. Por favor envíame una carta y les escribiré rápidamente. Mi dirección es: Jeff Hacking W.S.R. No. 9971742, P.O.Box 777, Monroe WA, 98272 USA.

Executive EscortIn San Pedro Sula, Cortes, with beautiful girls, seven days a week and every hour, only in Hotels. Contact: Cel: 9984-8492 or email: [email protected]

In Search of Bilingual Teachers

Teachers needed for Math, Science and English courses, for elementary and high school. School is located in a small town, 3 hours from Tegucigalpa, Good Salary.

Teachers interested please contact us to: [email protected] or call:

(504) 9883-1932.

For Rent2 bedroom apartment (semi-furnished) located at Fort Saphery Hotel and Restaurant in West End-Roatan. Complex is located on the beach and is available on April 15, 2007 for occupancy. Price: $650.00 per month (water and light included) Call Olin at Phones: (504) 445-4213, 445-

0256, for additional information.

FOR SALELots from $20-$30 thousand dollars. Beach front, located in the tourist community of Balfate, 40 minutes from La Ceiba.• 1 lot of 3000 meters in Rio María,with country house, 20 meters from the beach. Price: $60,000.00• 2 lots in Rio María, for $35,000.00 each one, 20 meters from the beach. • 2 acres, three beachfront houses in La Ceiba, Price: $165,000.00 • Beachfront house in El Porvenir, 10 min. from la Ceiba, price $75,000.00, furnished.• 1 lot of 66 feet, beachfront x 180 feet long, price $160,000.00. Located in El Porvenir, 10 min. from La Ceiba.• Property of 25 meters, beachfront x 50 meters long, house of three bedrooms in La Encenada, Tela. Price $135,000.00.• 51 acres in Rio Maria beautiful view of the ocean, price: $120,000.00 • 57 acres in Armenia, at the back of El Goloson Airport. Mahogany cultivated oranges, lichas and many fruit tress. Price: $125,000.00• 79 acres in Sambo Creek, spectacular view of the beach, natural swimming pools, light, water and house. Price: $280,000.00• Callo, located in Dixon Cove, between Coxen Hole and French Harbor Roatan, Bay Islands, with an extension of 12 acres.• 3 acres with access to the beach in Calabash Bigth, Roatan, Bay Islands. Price $50,000 each acre.• 20 acres of beachfront in Crawfish Rock, Roatan, Bay Islands. Price $60,000.00 per acre.• Lots in El Porvenir, beachfront. Big Properties of beach or mountain in Tela, La Ceiba, Balfate, Colon, Trujillo. and properties for palm growing..

Contact us!!!!

[email protected](504) 9998-8497, José Vallecillo

For SaleTired of warm weather? Beautiful prop-erty for sale. 3 bedrm, livingrm/kitchen house in 1000 square feet. It has a creek and approximately 300 trees. 2 ½ Km from a nationally declared historic town of Ojojona. 34 Km from the capital, Tegucigalpa. [email protected], Central

America (504) 3380 1069 & 767 0810.

HELP WANTED: CONCIERGE/SALES AGENT for new home development at Pico Bonito Lodge, La Ceiba, Honduras. Must speak excellent English and have proven sales experience. Salary + commission. Please send resume to [email protected] and refer-ence Honduras Week Job AD please.

honduras this week, saturday, april 14, 2007

Documents

new forestry legislation

new law

forestry sector

congress forestry commission

new ministry

property of honduras

state forestry authority

years of negotia