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Roatan and Bay Islands Discussion List Archive
| Posted On: | 23-Mar-2005 |
| From: | mirtha taylor [mirtaylor.....com] |
| Subject: | Re: [roatan] Re: Followup question to the crime topic.... |
am myself a born honduran, i would not have say more better than you just did, yeas as hasrh as is sound but that is the cruel reality of honduras, not just in roatan, is all around honduras, that is the reason i think twise when i have to go, but is fun for visit. my husband is sailor of navy of U.S.A. he is planing to open a dive biz. in roatan, as a honduran and wife all i have to do is wish all go well, and ask the lord for all. i really hope that all what you have say here, put you guys in reality of the crime in hond. take care Melanie wrote: Dear List, I just want to point out a few facts about police and judicial procedures in Honduras. Hmmmm, where to start. First, it is important to remember that all Honduran institutions are underfunded. If your local police department in the US is possibly underfunded, think what kind of chronic understaffing, lack of training, and lack of equipment there is in Honduras. Ditto the judicial system. So, if some of the following practices seem unjust and unfair, just try to understand that it is not that people here don't want to advance, it's just that they have a challenge each day to keep from backsliding. If you want to report a non-violent crime, you will be responsible for transporting the police. They aren't going anywhere until you buy the gas, unless someone was hurt or killed. In my work, I have a need at times for a police report, or other assistance from the police, and I always budget for their gas and if it is going to be a long day, some food and soft drinks. Yes, there should be room in the police department budget for fuel for the vehicles, but the car won't move without gas. (That is a good tip for living in Honduras long term -- don't ever try to argue the simplest facts). Then, if you want to prosecute a non-violent crime, you will have to hire a lawyer. This is a figure in Honduran criminal law, the "private accuser," which is a lawyer who represents a criminal victim, and tries the case, as opposed to the Public Attorneys (Fiscalia, Ministerio Publico). There are two ways to press charges in any crime, one is with a private accuser and one is via the Ministerio Publico, like the District Attorneys office. Can you guess which one is more effective? And either way, if you go for the publicly supported route, you should still budget for transportation, food if necessary. So neither option is free. There are four attorneys that work at the Fiscalia in Roatan. They try all the criminal cases in Islas de la Bahia, except for those in which the victims pay their own private accuser. Although it is a very quiet and safe place overall, there are enough major crimes (homicide, major drug trafficking busts) that I believe that all four of those lawyers probably work hard all week and still don't get everything done. So, if you are the victim of a crime against your property, and no one was hurt, you will not automatically get any attention from the police or the judicial system. If you want to press charges, you will personally have to coordinate the whole thing, and pay all the expenses. This is why people get let out of jail after 24 hours. If I were asked to advise a person who found themselves in jail, that is always the first advice -- sit tight, after 24 hours, if no one is paying a private attorney, then no other procedures will be filed, and the defense attorney shows up and asks that the imprisoned person be released, since there is no ongoing criminal charges. If you show up at the police station or the Fiscalia seeking help from them, for free, then the friendly ones will try to explain it to you, and the unfriendly ones will laugh in your face. I also like to point out that crime affects everyone, the poor are especially likely to be victims of crime. Ask some little lady in Barrio Los Fuertes how many times a week she gets rolled for the 20 Lps. she was going to use to buy eggs and tortillas. And her family doesn't eat that day. And if she goes to the police or the Fiscalia, they will laugh in her face. Honduras is a sea of necessities, with a trickle of resources. The poor do not receive welfare. The sick do not receive health care. Abandoned children live in the streets. And crime victims do not get justice. Try searching the interet for information on Highly Indebted poor countries. Ok, anyone still with me? The bottom line is, no one in Honduras is going to help you, they don't have the resources. You have to do everything yourself, which is kind of freeing once you actually accept it. You have to protect your own belongings. I personally also advise not having too much stuff, that is how I've avoided a lot of crime in Honduras. And you have to accept that your belongings flow into and out of your life, and sometimes theft is just a way to pare down our material posessions, giving back to the universe. You can call me crazy for saying that, but ten years later, I can still enjoy my time in Honduras, and look the people around me and see that they are good people, and trying to do their best under tough circumstances, and that no one is more upset than the Good people of Roatan to see a crime wave. But if you are going to demand immediate and effective action from public officials and institutions, then I have to suggest that you not come here to demand services. The newly imported foreign residents (to put it kindly) brought a ton of wordly posessions with them, and have invested huge amounts in homes. The government doesn't have the resources to protect this influx of personal property. And a huge proportion of these transplanted residents are investors and business owners, expecting to have economic gain from their time in Honduras. So right in your budget you need to plan for your own personal security protection, be it a dog, a watchy, a gun, bars on the window, video cameras (so you can watch your stuff going away again and again), private security companies, lots of outside lighting, cell phones for every member of the family, locks on the windows, etc. You could also try to help your local police, but that might be pouring resources into a black hole. But it could be helpful, especially donations of equipment. I also half suspect that if you paint any building yellow and grey, the police will move in there and open a post. Of course then you would have to feed them. But you wouldn't have to pay for their gas anymore, if you made it close to your house. That is my advice (since I've been asked). Take care of yourself. If you came down here to make demands on the government, then that is going to be a disappointment for you. (I'm just chatting and not proofreading, so if it sounds wrong, maybe it is!!! and of course, much of this is just my humble opinion) Regards, Melanie Wetzel www.honduranlaw.com http://www.roatanet.com ----------- To visit your group on the web, go to: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/roatan/ roatan- the Yahoo! Terms of Service. ----------- Do You Yahoo!? Todo lo que quieres saber de Estados Unidos, América Latina y el resto del Mundo. Visíta Yahoo! Noticias. http://www.roatanet.com To visit your group on the web, go to: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/roatan/ roatan- : | |
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