Post #2

According to worldatlas.com, the official state language is Spanish. This is because Honduras was a part of Spain’s conquest of the new world back in the 1400’s and 1500’s. Even though they speak Spanish, it is a different dialect than the Spanish that Spaniards speak. This is the only official language of Honduras, but there are also indigenous languages spoken throughout the country. According to Worldatlas.com, these are: Garifuana, Miskito, Sumo, Pech, and Jicaque. Garifuana is the language with the largest amount of people who speak it, about 100,000. This number is slightly different than the graph shows down below, but it shows generally the same ideas of how many people speak Spanish in relation to the indigenous languages.

Because there are so many indigenous people and different cultures throughout Honduras, there are problems that many people face.

“19 per cent of the indigenous population in Honduras is illiterate, compared to 13 per cent of the general population”.
—minorityrights.org

A good portion of the indigenous population is illiterate, which makes it harder for them in day to day life. These indigenous people not only face a language barrier if they travel other places in the country, but they may face stigmatization for not being able to read or write. Because of these high illiteracy rates, it can also be assumed that education is low in this country.

Another issue discussed on this website is the discrimination and poverty that the indigenous people face. I believe this can be linked to the language barriers in the country. People in poverty probably do not have the means to get a proper education, leading to illiteracy which was discussed above.

Honduras is a member of the UN, and the IMF, and became a member in 1945. Honduras also became a member of the WTO in 1995. The WTO, or the World Trade Organization, aids with trade with member countries, organizing rules, and being a general third party. There are rules in place that aid in making sure all trades are considered equal.

According to wto.org, Honduras’ main exports are agricultural products, and manufactures. Their main imports are also manufactures and agricultural products, with fuels and mining products closely following. Honduras mainly trades with the United States and the European Union, along with Guatemala, Nicaragua, and El Salvador.

Trade is an important part of Honduras’ economy, which is why its membership in the WTO is extremely important as well. Without its’ membership and trade with other countries, the country’s economy would be far worse off.

According to indexmundi.com, the GINI coefficient “measures the extent to which the distribution of income…among individuals or households within an economy deviates from a perfectly equal distribution”. A score of 0 measures perfect equality, and a score of 100 measures perfect inequality. Honduras’ GINI coefficient was 50.10 in 2015, which according to the graph, is the lowest it has been in at least 26 years. Hopefully this number continues to decrease over time.

A country’s GDP based on PPP means dividing the GDP by the country’s total population. Above is a graphof Honduras’ GDP per capita PPP from 2009 through 2017. As you can see, it has increased steadily every year, and in 2017 it was 4541.8 US dollars.

Upon looking at elpais.hn, and other news sources, it seems like nothing major was in the news this week. There were a lot of small articles about investigating and arresting people associated with political corruption, and gang violence. One article, with the picture below, discusses the trial of Wilfredo Cerrato Durón, who was accused of fraud and embezzlement. Two days ago a short article was written about a body of a cab driver found in El Progreso, Yoro, which is a neighborhood. It says they do not know how he died but it is an ongoing investigation. It is obvious that corruption and violence in general are still a major concern in the country.