Honduras Economy

The day he died, Gustavo Alvarez Martinez awoke before dawn, entered his study and opened a Bible. Spreading his hands over a map of Honduras, he prayed for his people: "Blessed is the nation whose God is Jehovah." As military commander in chief from 1982 to 1984, Gen. Alvarez was a powerful U.S. ally who battled communism by force of arms. He waged a fierce counterinsurgency campaign at home, helped launch the war by U.S.

It was a sure sign of trouble when Wilmer Pineda's sixth-grade teacher frantically knocked on his door at twilight. He just didn't know how much trouble. The Las Flores and San Juan rivers that met a block from his house were rising rapidly, the teacher reported. His family had to flee. That night last October, tropical storm Mitch washed away Wilmer's home, his school and his future. Hundreds of thousands of Central Americans face similar losses from the storm, which killed 9,000 people.

The Honduran government will fire as many as 10,000 of its 60,000 state workers as part of a severe economic austerity plan launched in April, officials said Friday. The workers will be dismissed in January, 1991, in an attempt to reduce the Central American nation's $117-million fiscal deficit, a government spokesman said.

Dangerously shifting rapids and a shore lined with eerily shaped boulders led Patuca River folk to call this narrow canyon the Gates of Hell, even before the deluge from tropical storm Mitch swelled the river and crushed their cabins like matchsticks. Within a couple of weeks, by mid-November, the river had settled back into its channel, but the power of the flood waters left a landscape so altered that even people who grew up here say they get lost now.

When he campaigned for the presidency of Honduras, Carlos Roberto Reina vowed to reform the powerful army, end the draft and remove the police from military control. He even hinted that he would trim the sacrosanct military budget. But within days of his landslide victory last month, Reina heard from the army that has dominated Honduras for decades. "No way," said the army's commander, Gen. Luis Discua, when asked about possible cuts in the estimated $40 million allotted the military annually.

The presidents of five Central American nations, emerging from a decade of violent conflict and deepening poverty, agreed Sunday night on an ambitious plan to integrate their economies. The accord calls for setting up an Economic Community of the Central American Isthmus to coordinate every aspect of development--including trade policy, debt management, food production, environmental protection and the quest for foreign aid.

Bowing to an army occupation of the company town of La Lima and its sprawling plantations, Honduras' banana workers union accepted a government-proposed wage boost and returned to work Monday, ending a seven-week strike against a giant multinational fruit grower. The settlement Sunday night was a relief not only for Honduras' premier private employer, Chiquita Brands International, but also for the civilian government of President Rafael L.

It was a sure sign of trouble when Wilmer Pineda's sixth-grade teacher frantically knocked on his door at twilight. He just didn't know how much trouble. The Las Flores and San Juan rivers that met a block from his house were rising rapidly, the teacher reported. His family had to flee. That night last October, tropical storm Mitch washed away Wilmer's home, his school and his future. Hundreds of thousands of Central Americans face similar losses from the storm, which killed 9,000 people.

Reeling from Honduras' costliest labor feud in 36 years, the civilian government sent army troops onto banana plantations and censored radio broadcasts Sunday to help an American multinational fruit company end a seven-week-old strike by 10,000 workers. Two workers and an undercover police officer were wounded outside the Chiquita Brands headquarters here when a soldier fired his machine gun into an angry crowd Saturday night.

The demise of the Contras in neighboring Nicaragua is sending tremors of insecurity through Honduras, the U.S. ally that had staked the most on their rebellion. In a major retreat that could signal the war's end, about 10,000 Nicaraguan rebels have marched to base camps in Honduras with their families and civilian supporters since the cutoff of U.S. military aid and the collapse of peace talks with Nicaragua's Sandinista leaders earlier this year.

When he campaigned for the presidency of Honduras, Carlos Roberto Reina vowed to reform the powerful army, end the draft and remove the police from military control. He even hinted that he would trim the sacrosanct military budget. But within days of his landslide victory last month, Reina heard from the army that has dominated Honduras for decades. "No way," said the army's commander, Gen. Luis Discua, when asked about possible cuts in the estimated $40 million allotted the military annually.

The Honduran government will fire as many as 10,000 of its 60,000 state workers as part of a severe economic austerity plan launched in April, officials said Friday. The workers will be dismissed in January, 1991, in an attempt to reduce the Central American nation's $117-million fiscal deficit, a government spokesman said.

Bowing to an army occupation of the company town of La Lima and its sprawling plantations, Honduras' banana workers union accepted a government-proposed wage boost and returned to work Monday, ending a seven-week strike against a giant multinational fruit grower. The settlement Sunday night was a relief not only for Honduras' premier private employer, Chiquita Brands International, but also for the civilian government of President Rafael L.

Reeling from Honduras' costliest labor feud in 36 years, the civilian government sent army troops onto banana plantations and censored radio broadcasts Sunday to help an American multinational fruit company end a seven-week-old strike by 10,000 workers. Two workers and an undercover police officer were wounded outside the Chiquita Brands headquarters here when a soldier fired his machine gun into an angry crowd Saturday night.

The presidents of five Central American nations, emerging from a decade of violent conflict and deepening poverty, agreed Sunday night on an ambitious plan to integrate their economies. The accord calls for setting up an Economic Community of the Central American Isthmus to coordinate every aspect of development--including trade policy, debt management, food production, environmental protection and the quest for foreign aid.

The day he died, Gustavo Alvarez Martinez awoke before dawn, entered his study and opened a Bible. Spreading his hands over a map of Honduras, he prayed for his people: "Blessed is the nation whose God is Jehovah." As military commander in chief from 1982 to 1984, Gen. Alvarez was a powerful U.S. ally who battled communism by force of arms. He waged a fierce counterinsurgency campaign at home, helped launch the war by U.S.

Dangerously shifting rapids and a shore lined with eerily shaped boulders led Patuca River folk to call this narrow canyon the Gates of Hell, even before the deluge from tropical storm Mitch swelled the river and crushed their cabins like matchsticks. Within a couple of weeks, by mid-November, the river had settled back into its channel, but the power of the flood waters left a landscape so altered that even people who grew up here say they get lost now.

Unofficial results in presidential voting in Honduras indicate a strong victory for National Party candidate Rafael Leonardo Callejas, 46, a U.S.-educated agronomist who has advocated free-market cures for Honduras' moribund economy. With about 75% of the vote counted, radio reports give Callejas a commanding lead of about 6 percentage points over his chief rival, Carlos Roberto Flores Sacusse of the ruling Liberal Party.

The demise of the Contras in neighboring Nicaragua is sending tremors of insecurity through Honduras, the U.S. ally that had staked the most on their rebellion. In a major retreat that could signal the war's end, about 10,000 Nicaraguan rebels have marched to base camps in Honduras with their families and civilian supporters since the cutoff of U.S. military aid and the collapse of peace talks with Nicaragua's Sandinista leaders earlier this year.