Honduras, a small country in Central America, has been in the news over the past decade. Media reports have been mainly about the country's high levels of crime and violence, and the massive movement of men, women and children – known as ‘migrant caravans’ – heading to the United States on foot. Despite the media attention, there are hardly any books published on this Central American country. Anyone remotely interested in Honduras obtains information about the country and forms their opinions mostly through the media. Which is why Dana Frank's book The Long Honduran Night comes at a timely moment. The book focuses on Honduras after the 2009 coup up to the presidential elections in 2017. During this eight-year period, the author looks at the different resistance groups and activists that emerged in opposition to the 2009 coup, the ruling elites and the governments, as well as the reactions and responses of the US government. Additionally, Frank weaves in her own activism. She narrates her work in social justice through her activism in the country as well as by trying to make US officials aware of the negative impact of most of their decisions on Honduras. This is not an academic book and it is not intended for an academic audience. Frank, an emeritus professor of history at the University of California, has written a book in a language that is accessible to everyone.
The book is divided into four parts: the aftermath of the 2009 coup and the emergence of various resistance groups; Frank's activism in the US Senate trying to make senior officials aware of the impact of their decisions in Honduras; the government of Juan Orlando Hernández, president of Honduras since 2014; and the impact of his administration. In these four parts, Frank demonstrates how Honduran governments post the 2009 coup have damaged Honduras’ recent democracy. Furthermore, they (re)established an authoritarian and corrupt government with the purposes of enriching the business and political elites while repressing and even assassinating members of civil society, social movements and activist groups demanding social justice – all with the support and/or unawareness of US high officials who continued to support the Honduran government after the 2009 coup.
Frank presents the numerous resistance groups and the resurgence of activism that emerged after the coup in different parts of the country (e.g. in the North Coast, the Bajo Aguán area). The 2009 coup unleashed massive movements in the country and Frank describes these protests in detail based on her own experience of protests or by speaking to many of the activists she knows personally. As an activist herself, Frank has also participated in these protests and provides first-hand accounts of these emerging social movements seeking a better country and their run-ins with the Honduran state and the powerful ruling elite. Frank describes the violence faced by activists/protestors in the clashes with elites and the Honduran state security and armed forces; in many cases these have led to the former's disappearance and even death.
Frank shows a widely corrupt and violent Honduran state. More importantly, she shows how the ruling elite have transformed Honduras’ weak democratic institutions to their political and economic benefit (e.g. the embezzlement of funds from the Instituto Hondureño de Seguro Social (Honduran Social Security Institute)). Additionally, the 2009 coup polarised Honduran society; it also cemented a conservative, far-right ruling elite that has little interest in creating the much-needed social policies to alleviate poverty and inequality. Since the 2009 coup, the ruling elite have instead found ways to concentrate their political power even more and oppress Hondurans who openly oppose them. Frank demonstrates how the 2009 coup paved the way for the current president, Hernández, and his party, the Partido Nacional de Honduras (National Party of Honduras), to remain in power by manipulating Honduras’ weak state institutions such as the Tribunal Supremo Electoral (Supreme Electoral Tribunal), which allowed his candidacy and re-election in November 2017 when the constitution says otherwise.
A valuable section of the book is Frank's activism in the United States and her critical view of US foreign policies in Honduras. She takes her activism to the US Senate in Washington DC, which appears impenetrable as Frank narrates the countless attempts to speak to US officials and senators, the emails and the calls to make contact with them in order to make them aware of the impact of their decision to keep sending millions for Honduras’ social security programmes. US support only feeds a corrupt state that commits human-rights violations against anyone who opposes it. Speaking to a high official in the US Senate appears to be a matter of luck – she details the opportunity she had to speak to one high official who was concerned about the situation in Honduras. However, in many cases, Frank is left waiting.
In essence, the book is worth reading and its value lies in narrating the impact of Honduras’ 2009 coup as well as the violence and oppression of the Honduran government from the perspective of an activist. Free from academic jargon, Frank explains how Honduras’ frail democracy has been eroded since the 2009 coup largely because of a ruling elite and a government that are widely corrupt and violent toward the many Hondurans who are demanding social justice in one of the most unequal and poor countries in Latin America.
