Since about 1920 Honduras has had essentially a two-party system, with the Liberal Party and the National Party dominating electoral politics. The early 1980s were a relatively peaceful period compared to other countries in Central America buffeted by left-wing guerrillas. The Honduran government provided bases for U.S. backed counter-revolutionary armies operating in Nicaragua. Between 1981 and 1984, several
forced disappearances were carried out by the military, as proved before the
Inter-American Court of Human Rights. and in the Report of the National Commissioner for the Protection of Human Rights in Honduras. In 1984, armed-forces chief General
Gustavo Alvarez was deposed amid anti-US demonstrations in the capital,
Tegucigalpa; this marked a decrease in counter-revolutionary activity, and the government continued to assist the United States' anti-
Sandinista activities in Nicaragua in return for economic aid. In 1986, the Liberal Party's
José Azcona del Hoyo was elected president. Allegations of
human rights abuses, and
summary executions by police—especially of street gangs—have diminished steadily in recent years, while political violence has been a constant.
Rafael Callejas became president in 1990 and introduced
neo-liberal economic reforms and austerity measures. He is credited with a major push to improve the country's transportation
infrastructure. He implemented a policy of requiring cabinet member nominees to first pass appropriate examinations, unique among politicians anywhere. In 1993, the Liberal Party's
Carlos Reina was elected president, promising to reform the judicial system and limit the power of the armed forces. In April 1995 compulsory military service was abolished. The Liberal Party's
Carlos Roberto Flores Facussé was elected in 1997, also promising to restructure the armed forces; in 1999 the armed forces were brought under civilian control. In 2001,
Ricardo Maduro was elected president on a platform that promised to stop rampant
inflation afflicting the nation, and to put a stop to the brutal trademark violence of street gangs. At the time, the abuse of child-protection laws by gangs recruiting minors, and aggressive recruitment of members under threat of violence, lent broad popular support for Maduro's enlistment of the armed forces for a greater role in fighting crime during this time, as the police were seen as overwhelmed.
Gang violence A major political issue in Honduras since about 1990 has been the high level of violent crime associated with the
maras (Spanish for gangs, predominantly of young people), and drug trafficking organizations involved in the transport of
cocaine from South America to the United States. Although gangs existed in Tegucigalpa in the 1980s, the phenomenon exploded around 1990. The range of criminal activities that street gangs carry out is broad, from kidnapping and
human trafficking to drug, auto and weapons smuggling, as well as domestic
extortion. A 2006 estimate by the FBI and Honduran National Security Office put the number of gang members in Honduras at 36,000. Gang membership is partly attributable to population movement between Honduras and the United States. During the 1980s, many Hondurans fled to the US to avoid civil war and strife, and
emigration continued for economic reasons after that. Other than civil war, high rates of poverty and unemployment and lack of education make at-risk youth more vulnerable to gangs. In Honduras, close to 30% of the population is aged 15–24. In 2004, the
U.S. Department of Homeland Security's Office of Immigration and Enforcement reported that Honduras received 2,345 total criminal deportations. However, it is unclear how many were gang-affiliated. Almost a third of Hondurans feel a sense of insecurity related to crime. The report listed as causes and risk factors, "Lack of opportunities and alternatives for youth and adolescents, family breakdown, movement of Hondurans to and from the United States, and abuse of drugs and alcohol, and presence of weapons". It has been recently contended though that the media tends to exaggerate the gang problem, thus making Hondurans believe their communities less secure than they really are, Most of the crime in Honduras takes place in the big cities of Tegucigalpa and
San Pedro Sula. A survey by
Mitchell A. Seligson in 2004 found that 18% of the population thought public security and violence – delinquency, crime, violence, drug trafficking, and gangs – were the most serious problem facing the country. Honduras has been not only a transit point for cocaine running between
Colombia and the United States, a pattern broken substantially after the arrest and exile of the ex-president
Mel Zelaya, but also has an internal market, creating all sorts of inner-city problems. Gangs sell
crack, commit other crimes, and hire themselves out to organised drug smugglers. Those engaged in international trafficking are better resourced than the state authorities combating them. Although gang members have been arrested for selling drugs at the street level, it is still unclear how much interaction they have with the larger drug cartels and their operations within Honduras. Some would use this argument to justify increasing US
military aid to Honduras to help fight the organised drug gangs, while others claim that Honduras would be better off legalizing drugs, thus avoiding military solutions to Honduran security problems. A recent form of U.S. aid that addresses the gang problem was the creation of the Central American Regional Security Initiative (CARSI), originally seen as a part of the
U.S.- Mexico Mérida Initiative. In 2010 the U.S. Congress separated funding for Central America totaling $83 million. Although some of the aid came in the form of military hardware, some components focused on strengthening the receiving country's judicial system. President
Ricardo Maduro, a former chairman of the
Central Bank of Honduras, ran on an anti-crime platform after his only son was murdered on 28 April 1999. During his tenure at the Central Bank of Honduras, a banking license was given to
Banco de Producción. After leaving the Central Bank he became chairman and majority stockholder of Banco de Producción, and the general manager of the Central Bank, Ana Cristina Mejia de Pereira, became general manager of Banco de la Producción. Maduro came into power in January 2002 with a wave of measures against gangs and delinquency, the most noticeable, soldiers patrolling the streets. Many gang members were jailed for illicit association. His "Mano Duro" policy (name used to describe Central American leaders taking a hard stance against crime) led to the creation of a penal code in 2003 which made street gangs like MS-13 and M-18 illegal and established jail sentences up to 12 years for proven membership. Their desperation resulted in a "declaration of war" against the government, and three major events over the last few years brought this tiny country to the attention of the world
media: a massacre of 68 prisoners at the prison farm just outside
La Ceiba on 5 March 2003, a fire in the prison at
San Pedro Sula that killed 107 prisoners on 18 May 2004, and the massacre of 27 innocent men, women and children in San Pedro Sula, on 23 December 2004. A massacre in the San Pedro Sula suburb of
Chamelecón left 27 dead and 29 injured. The murderers left behind a message, claiming to come from the
Cinchoneros, railing against Maduro, Lobo, Álvarez and the death penalty. The Cinchoneros are believed to be defunct, however. The attackers promised another massacre before the new year. However one suspect was detained very shortly afterwards in another part of San Pedro Sula, and further arrests were later made. Local police said that the gunmen were members of the street gang Mara Salvatrucha (MS-13), and the supposed mastermind of the attack, Ebner Anibal Rivera-Paz, was later arrested in
Falfurrias, Texas. After Maduro left office gang resurgence was felt and their presence continued, although less than before, but now using the cover of anti-government demonstrations for their activities. ==Elections==