After two difficult and intense months, the Convergence Against Continuism assumes the responsibility to reflect from an autonomous and critical standpoint.
1- We continue to place our trust in the current government. The enthusiasm reflected in the massive voter turnout on November 28, 2021, although quieter now, continues to be present for millions of co-patriots. In the midst of uncertainty and doubts, Honduran society in general continues to place their trust and hopes for change in the new government.
2- We are aware that two months is an extremely short time for defining tendencies or reaching conclusions in a complex society with institutions that have been dismantled by 12 years of corrupt and dictatorial practice. However we have the responsibility to warn of elements that, if they continue, could establish tendencies that define the course of the next months.
3- We recognize as positive the decisions that have been taken in the process of repealing laws and decrees that sustained the dictatorship such as the so called Law of Secrets, the process of repealing the ZEDEs, the process towards declaring Honduras to be free of open pit mining, the decision of the Executive to advance measures to alleviate the high cost of living in the face of uncontrollable spikes in the cost of fuel, the decision of the Executive to adopt austerity measures to level out salaries across state entities so that none surpass the salary of the President of the Republic, among other positive signs from the government.
4- We are concerned that after two months, fluid communication between different departments of Government and the citizenry has not been established, leaving the sensation of lack of information and chaos in decisions that are being taken. We are not aware of a coherent information strategy. The more complicated the decisions are, the more necessary it is to have a fluid and constant communication system. Without a fluid communication strategy, the perception of chaos and improvisation is accentuated and without a doubt, erodes the environment of credibility and trust.
5- We are concerned about the environment of patronage that permeates state agencies, at the central level as well as departmental and municipal levels. These relations of patronage reduce levels of professionalism that should characterize state agencies, opens the severe risk of converting agencies into fields for political proselytizing and reproduction of the practices of bi- partisanship that have done so much damage to Honduran politics and society. The concern grows with reports of nepotism that are observed and that only cause damage to the public administration.
6- We recognize the efforts to attack the structures of criminality from which the dictatorship sustained itself. At the same time we are concerned about the environment of social decomposition worsened by growing criminality that generates fear, instability and threats due to extortions and murders that are expanding across wide urban sectors, especially on the northern coast and in capitol of Honduras. An integrated security strategy is urgent to detain the climate of violence and extortions, avoid continued deterioration of the image of the government and to restore trust to small entrepreneurs and those who struggle in the small and medium business sector.
7- We recognize the openness on the part of the government to build relationships with the international community, but we are worried by signs of a heavy presence on the part of the government of the United States, the visits of dozens of delegations led by Sub –Secretaries of State and a wide array of departments from the US administration. We are concerned that these visits and close relations could give priority to a security policy that aims to involve the government of our country in international conflicts, to the point of reviving the sad geopolitical role of Honduras as the launching pad of the United States, as assigned to us in the last century. We agree with relations of cooperation, support and cordiality with the United States, but always within a framework of sovereignty and self determination of the people, because only in this way will relations with the United State be respectful and complementary.
8- In the weeks of transition following the electoral triumph, there was a euphoria of meetings and dialogues that indicated proximity and listening on the part of the new government. Two months later, the proximity and listening has turned into distance and decisions that are arbitrary and without consultation. This has generated understandable distress such as the infamous appointment of the Mayor of Tocoa, Adán Fúnez, as governor of the department of Colon, in the face of popular rejection given his involvement with the mining industry and declaration of himself as a sworn enemy of the freed Guapinol environmental protectors.
9- If this government truly wants to continue to be a source of hope, it must resume that practice of proximity, dialogue and listening to diverse sectors of society and make important decisions based on that listening and not only on the basis of party interests or according to the demands of activists. We need more of the presence and words from President Xiomara Castro, as the head of the Executive and less presence and words from delegates and advisors who create a cold wall between the citizenry and a President that represents trust, alignment and consensus for the vast majority of Honduran society.
March 29, 2022
Convergencia Contra el Continuismo
