Since we got to Honduras, the news has been permeated with corruption scandals. Many politicians are reportedly involved, including the Honduran president, Juan Orlando Hernández. Likewise, in Brazil, corruption is a everyday news, unfortunately, despite the increasingly awareness and vocal protests, citizens tend to forget the name of the politicians engaged in criminal schemes when it comes the time to vote. Therefore, along with sharing positive aspects of Brazilian characters, like the hospitality, Hondurans also face the bad effects of a corrupt government.
I saw with my own eyes and felt with my shaking spine the harmful consequence of the Honduran corruption. This week, for the fourth time, we had to cross the road that links La Esperanza, where we live, to Marcala, a city on the way of one of our case studies. It is an unpleasant experience. The highway was left unfinished due to embezzlement. It is in such a bad state that when we were crossing it, there was even a jammed car in the mud formed after a rainy day. It feels like you are in a rally track.
Whereas, the road connecting La Esperanza to a city called Gracias is a well-made and preserved highway. Gracias is a touristic city with thermal waters. However, the disparity between the qualities of the road La Esperanza-Marcala to the one of La Esperanza-Marcala is not a result of a better touristic potential. Rather, Gracias is the city where the president was born and therefore has been the object of constant infrastructural improvements. Whereas, the road to Marcala will probably remain unfinished as the money originally designated to the building of the highway is in politicians’ pockets, while they probably enjoy a good time traveling in foreign countries in nicely paved highways.
