Mexicans, drugs and what the Hondurans have to say on them...

Sat teaching English to some youths the other day we entered into a discussion on Central America which quickly went from slow, broken English to fast and furious Honduran style Spanish. The Hondurans have always (from those I've met) told me that Central Americans should band together and unite - as they were historically in the former Central American Republic of the 19th century. Mexico however, is always left out of the equation. They don't include Mexicans with themselves, Nicaraguans, Guatemalans, Salvadorans, Costa Ricans or Panamanians... I asked 'why?' during our chat.

'No llevamos bien a veces con Mexicanos' explained one of the students. 'We don't get on very well with Mexicans sometimes' he said. Probing further, the boys explained to me that Mexicans apparently look down on Hondurans and behave as if they're superior when engaging with them. The accent too that Mexicans have (which I personally love) was ridiculed as well. What is interesting is that I have heard the same things said about Mexicans by friends I made in Spain from El Salvador. North Americans - or rather most that I've met - have nothing good to say about Mexicans either. We probably all know that already anyway - look at Donald Trump's progress. Personally, I feel much injustice. I cannot begin to fathom why there is so much dislike towards them amongst Latinos and outside cultures such as North Americans. Surely an accent isn't a reason...

Another time when sat in one of my favourite beach bars here in El Porvenir, that time with an entirely different group of local young people, we had a similar yet different conversation. The subject (a very common theme being as for the last few decades it's been such a current affair) was 'Los Narcos' or the drugs trade in Latin America. The teenage boys and University-aged girl covered how in Honduras the drugs grown and produced for exportation in countries like Bolivia and Peru - simply pass through their country. This being as they are on route to the USA, the end destination of all trafficked narcotics from Latin America. A decided proportion every year does also make its way around the world - much of the Cocaine hitting Europe with Spanish/Latino, Italian and Eastern European criminal organizations polluting the continent with the white filth. The youths confirmed what I have heard and read countless times - that it is the Mexican and Colombian Cartels who run the show within Latin America. This has been the way since the late 1980's. Central American street gangs are simply hired or 'used' to move the drugs from South America and up into the hands of their Mexican employers. These being the people who don't mess around. Not that the Central American gangbangers are a pushover - quite the contrary. I believe though going back to Mexicans having such a presence in organized crime, that this is another reason as to why they are not held in a great regard due to the 'Narco Cultura' that exists there (Mexico). The truth of the matter is that this is a Latin American problem - affecting most of the nations within South and Central America including The Caribbean. If only the nations could all come together and develop an affective, united strategy to eliminate the drugs situation. Easier said than done quite obviously, as this isn't just about tackling drugs but also the poverty, lack of opportunity and industry, corruption etc...Se pagan en Dollares...' said a friend of mine. 'They pay in Dollars...'



 

Photo: Mara Salvatrucha gangbangers. A street gang born in the ghettos of Los Angeles, this now huge Hispanic street gang runs the drugs, prostitution and all other vices in Central American nations like Honduras. The name means 'Salvadoran Army Ants' in El Salvador slang.

 

 

 

Photo: Mexican Mafia inmates in some US Penitentiary. The controllers and large scale organizers of the drugs trafficking into the States - alongside their heavy South American counterparts from Colombia.