"Free coffins: political swag for Honduran poor" by ALBERTO ARCE, Associated Press / October 3, 2012
I suppose I should be thankful it rolled of the wire and the Globe put it into print for me today ( nowhere to be found on the website).
TEGUCIGALPA, Honduras (AP) — In some countries political campaigns give out bumper stickers and yard signs. In others, they offer free lunches and supermarket debit cards. In Honduras, one of Latin America’s poorest countries and also its most dangerous, candidates dole out another type of political swag: coffins for the destitute.
Charities organized by politicians scour poor neighborhoods in search of families of murder victims who cannot afford funeral services or even a simple casket to bury their beloved. There are plenty of takers in this Central American country, where two out of three workers earn less than the minimum wage of $300 a month, and more than 136 people are killed every week.
The murder rate has more than doubled over the last six years due largely to an explosion in drug trafficking to the United States and a proliferation of violent gangs, many of which originated in U.S. cities. The capital, Tegucigalpa, has grown so threatening that its streets empty after sunset, while its morgues fill up.
Hey, look, it's all worth it to fund CIA black budgets and prop up bank profits with laundered drug money.
Without a coffin, morgues are prohibited from releasing a body and instead bury the dead in mass graves. For the grieving family too poor to purchase a casket, that means not just the loss of their loved ones, but no way to honor them either.
That’s where the charities come in....
Honduras is considered the world’s most dangerous country....
Where the drug war really is a war.
The violence permeates all facets of life, leading pedestrians to shun city streets. The poor stick close to home in neighborhoods ruled by Maras gangs, while the wealthier congregate in American-style, indoor shopping malls with heavily armed guards at the door. At night, motorists typically drive through traffic lights to avoid assaults.
Despite the precautions, thousands of people are murdered every year,
creating an outsized demand for coffins and new opportunities to serve
the poor....
That is where my print copy ended it.
Is it just me, or is calling the doling out of coffins an opportunity to serve pervertedly morbid?
--more--"
I may have another Honduran article hiding in the stacks of unread Globes and will add it as an update when and if I find it.
