More Roatan protests...

[John_B]

From El Heraldo (Honduras): Roatan: Protestas dejarian perdida millonarias - Pais - ElHeraldo.hn

Babelfish translation:

Roatan: Protests would leave losses millionaire

The police evacuated the protestants who caused disturbances like damages to the private property and a patrol, indicated an official source

Roatan, Honduras

Losses of a 40%, about 6 billions of dollars*, would leave to the industry of the tourism the protests of workers who paralyzed the cruises and the commerce in Roatan, consider economists.

Hotels and restaurants were directly affected by the blockade of highways and the disturbances that drove away the tourists.

The workers indicated their malaise because, according to them, local companies are contracting foreign manpower low wages leaving them without use.

The police evacuated the protestants who caused disturbances like damages to the private property and a patrol, indicated an official source.

Inhabitants of Roatan said to a radio broadcasting station inhabitant of the capital who were firings of police and settlers, where several people were stopped to commit vandalic acts.

The workers gave a term him from 24 hours to the government so that he takes care of its demands, and of not doing it, they threatened taking soft and the airport from the city.

The Minister of Defense, Aristides Mejia, arrived at the place to have a discussion with the demonstrators, to those who he promised to communicate those demands to president Manuel Zelaya.

Also they requested the intervention of the Office of the public prosecutor of the Consumer and the Office of the judge advocate general of the Work, organizations that do not have representation in Roatan.

* Should this be translated as "6 millions of dollars"? or "6 billions of lempiras"? or ???

:depressed:

Can anyone on the island verify or confirm this?

 

[RTBDiver]

John,
There were protests that did get somewhat violent in some places. The Zolitor building( zolitor is the free trade zone tax type of place) was ransacked and pretty much gutted with its contents sprawled on the road and burned. I would say your google translation lost a little when it mentions billions lost.
A few injuries have been reported and it is still up in the air as to how bad injuries or worse have been.
All is pretty much under control now and the big thing on many peoples mind is how the cruise companies will react to yet another protest.
There is no inclination that this was against North Americans and had more to do with major companies hiring cheap labor from elswhere. The protesters had some very valid issues yet the way they went about it was probably not in their best interest. It all just brings to fact that no matter what many people want to think, Roatan is still very much Honduras and very much part of a still developing country. Reminds me of some of the documentaries I have seen on predjudice in the south in the 50's and 60's.
Please, I know i might not have spelled everything right here but hopefully you can figue it out, if you have any difficulty with my spelling feel free to message me about it rather than point it out on the forum. I am quite sure that is English were your second language you may not be so critical of spelling errors.

 

[ncchuck]

I have no idea what happened but I did get a warning from the US State Dept a few days ago about protests. The warning indicated it was related to foreign workers. This has happened several times and usually they just block the road for a day or two and then everyone goes back about their daily business.
I was there less than 2 weeks ago and there was no indication of any trouble at that time.

 

[RTBDiver]

I have no idea what happened

Seriously,
If you have no idea what has happened in such a serious and sensitive issue then why do you feel the need to post anything?

 

[ncchuck]

Gosh. I was just trying to share what the US State Dept had sent to me. Sorry it upset you. I didn't know the result but I knew there had been an official warning. I was just trying to add to the story. I'm not sure how it hurt anything. I was honest in my remarks.

 

[SoSiouxme]

Gosh. I was just trying to share what the US State Dept had sent to me. Sorry it upset you. I didn't know the result but I knew there had been an official warning. I was just trying to add to the story. I'm not sure how it hurt anything. I was honest in my remarks.

I thought your post was helpful in that it tended to quash any baseless fears prospective visitors may have to coming to Roatan.

Yes, Roatan is in Honduras and as such is subject to the volatility that exists in developing countries. But often, when U.S. travelers hear of any disturbance, even those that don't threaten their having a good time, they rarely investigate the details, but instead, hightail it to another destination.

I took NCChuck's post as just that -- he was warned about the problems by the U.S. state department, but the disturbance did not ruin his travel plans.

I also think RTB diver's original post was helpful as it gave the protests a context.

The reality is that most visitors to RTB don't care about the island politics unless those politics ruin their good time. NCChuck was just pointing out that the protests didn't affect his having a good time.

That's what I took from the thread and thought both viewpoints enhanced my understanding of what's going on.

I'll be watching for threads like this in the coming weeks as I'm planning a visit in August. Hope things work themselves out by then, not just for my own selfish reasons but because I really love that island!

--Sioux

 

[Doc]

Again, we must all understand that visiting tourists are not being impacted by this latest fracas. Cruise ships might avoid the place, but I'll vote for that!

Here's an interesting explanation that was culled from another website:

Thu May 7, 2009 10:04 am (PDT)

The ostensible grievances or the protesters are quite legitimate and the targets understandable. Once again, this is a mainland vs. island issue. Look at the cast of characters. Looks a lot like the RECO (RECO is the acronym for Roatan Electric Company) demonstrations. (The RECO demonstrations date back to 1988 and center around fuel surcharges. There have been about 6 of them. Each of them increasing in size and unlawfulness)

Zolitur (That's the acronym for Zona Libre de Turismo. In English this translates to a, Free Zone for Tourism) has been attempting to keep the "Spaniards" from coming to the island. The prevailing thinking of the islanders is that the Spaniards should stay on the mainland and leave the jobs for the islanders. The latest Zolitur island ID card is the most illustrative of this.

One of the problems with that is that the Bay Islands are one of the 18 departments (simlilar to our States) of Honduras and constitutionally, Honduras can't be restricted from traveling to, or living and working in, any department they choose.

Similarly, they are protesting the fact that "foreigners" are taking jobs that should be reserved for Hondurans. In the Bay Islands, as we know, there are dive operations that willingly and knowingly hire foreigners who have not legally become qualified to work in Honduras. You can understand the position of the employer. They don't have to worry about labor laws, they don't have to pay RAP, INFOP, IHSS and they can simply keep these employees off the books, thereby reducing their tax liability.

These illegal labor practices are reprehensible and should be stopped. These protesters, who have now allowed themselves to become murderers and criminals, should have demanded that the existing laws be enforced.

Maybe they could have organized the police and the immigration officials and made surprise raids on the offenders. We all know who they are. Get these businesses fined and closed and Get some illegal workers deported and permanently barred from the country.

This has the added benefit of allowing legal businesses to complete on a level playing field creating more and better jobs for the locals.

Lest anybody not understand, I support quick and equitable enforcement of the law. I certainly don't condone the recent practices of these protesters.

But this wishful notion that "if we can just get rid of the Spaniards and the foreigners (for some, that includes North Americans), the island could be good again and we could run our island for the islanders" is unrealistic. The times they are a changing, as the song says, and we all need to learn to live together.

and here is one response....

Thank you for a better understanding of the most recent protests on the Island. I am on the Island currently and everything is quiet now. I drove past the the Zolitur building last night and it was not burned down as previously thought. The glass was broken and papers and computers were
taken outside and set on fire. The glass is now all replaced and there are guards out front but no protesters.

 

[mikemill]

The reality is that most visitors to RTB don't care about the island politics unless those politics ruin their good time. NCChuck was just pointing out that the protests didn't affect his having a good time.

I'm leaving tomorrow for Roatan and I completely agree with this statement. I'm not insensitive to their plight but right now I just want to have a good time for a week. I totally understand the illegal workforce issue (it is a hot button topic here as well).

Fortunately I already knew about the CCV chat board so a quick pop in there to get confirmation that everything was ok and any concern was removed.

 

[mrlipis]

These illegal labor practices are reprehensible and should be stopped. These protesters, who have now allowed themselves to become murderers and criminals, should have demanded that the existing laws be enforced.

I just returned from Roatan and didn't hear about anyone getting murdered although it was a pretty violent protest. I understand that Carnival canceled the next 12 port of calls to Roatan and while I don't see any 6 billion dollar loss, that is a substantial amount of lost revenues for the Island. Unfortunately this is about the only way these people can voice their concerns as the communication infrastructure is very poor there. I am also under the belief that this was organized by workers from the main land and not the Roatan locals. Hopefully the government can come to grips with the problem and avoid any future protests.

To keep this all in perspective, the local labor rate is about $15.00 per day so what is happening is the foreigners (Nicaraguans, San Salvadorians etc) are coming in and working for less. Ouch! If the local business' can't make a profit with $15.00 a day labor, they need to get out of business.