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Honduras Fact Sheet
Honduras is part of Mesoamerica, which is the landmass that extends from Mexico to Costa Rica. The region is considered as a biodiversity hotspot due to the numerous plant and animal species that can be found.2 Honduras has a population of over six million and is growing at an average annual rate of 3%.3 In 1907 Sam Zemurray set up the Cuyamel Fruit Company; later bought by United Fruit. The unequal relationship that would exist between the companies and the Honduran state for the first half of the 20th century gave rise to the description "banana republic."4 Roberto Suazo Cordoba ruled the country during the so called "Lost Decade" when hundreds of human rights violations were committed, and alleged political crimes were commonplace.5 New penal requirements…have enabled police and private death squads to detain and even summarily execute children based solely on the bases of having tattoos or being homeless.6 According to Amnesty International, between 2000 and 2002 there was an "unprecedented increase" of extra-judicial executions of children, with the number of murders rising by over 100 percent in these three years.7 According to the World Bank, nearly two-thirds of Hondurans still (63.3%) live in poverty, and close to half, (45.2%) live in extreme poverty.8 Honduras still owes 27% of its external debt burden to the Inter-American Development Bank. This amounts to over US$1.41 billion.9 |
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Vietnam
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