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Murder and Migration in Honduras: Immigrant America — Transcript

by VICE News · 1,986 words · 323 segments · language en · Watch on YouTube

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0:01we're on our way to a neighborhood
0:02called bados we've been informed that
0:05there has been a murder there which is
0:07an all two common occurrence here in San
0:09pedla honduras's second largest city and
0:12also known as the most violent city in
0:14the
0:28world
0:32[Music]
0:37there's been a surge in migration from
0:39Honduras to the United States in recent
0:41years we came to the country's second
0:42largest and most violent city to find
0:44out why so many people are leaving
0:46during the summer of 2014 Americans were
0:49stunned to see images of thousands of
0:51families and unaccompanied children from
0:53Central America turning themselves in at
0:55the US Mexico border the Obama
0:57Administration has called this an urgent
0:58humanitarian situation there's no no
1:01stop uh to the flo the flood of children
1:04has become a crisis for the government
1:06as it scrambles for Solutions overall
1:08illegal immigration from Central America
1:10has risen about 500% since late 2010
1:14families single moms and children are a
1:16larger and larger share of people who
1:18make the long and potentially dangerous
1:19Trek through Mexico to the United States
1:23more child migrants are now coming from
1:24San Pedro Sula Honduras in the
1:26surrounding areas than any place else in
1:28Central America and as ordinary
1:30Hondurans told us over and over again
1:32the outflow is being fueled by an
1:34explosive mix of violence poverty and
1:55inequality Carlos Portillo's family has
1:58suffered through what so many other hun
1:59and families are trying to avoid when
2:01they migrate illegally to the
2:16[Applause]
2:19[Music]
2:27US Carlos told me that his son only left
2:30the house to run a quick
2:32[Music]
2:57errand Carlos joined here by his younger
3:00brother lives with his wife and daughter
3:02in this tiny three- room house
3:04impoverished to begin with their
3:06situation has only gotten worse since
3:07Carlos Jr's murder Carlos's wife has
3:10become severely depressed and ill since
3:12her son was killed and he has been
3:14unemployed for 2 years and can't afford
3:16her
3:17medication they live with the knowledge
3:19that their son's killer will never be
3:20brought to
3:26Justice
3:28no
3:35the absence of justice has become the
3:36norm and hondurus the police are corrupt
3:39and often paid off by the drug cartels
3:41and street gangs it's estimated that
3:44less than 5% of reported crimes are ever
3:46even investigated meaning that people
3:48can kill with little fear of
3:51consequence Honduras has had a long
3:53history of violence and poverty but the
3:55country's problems intensified in 2009
3:58when the Honduran military and the upper
4:00class joined forces to overthrow then
4:02president Manuel zayia in a surprise
4:04military coup months of protests strikes
4:07and violence
4:09followed homicide surged and hit an
4:11all-time high in 2011 giving Honduras
4:14the unfortunate distinction of being the
4:16deadliest country in the world last
4:18spring the violence became too difficult
4:20for many s Pedro Sula residents to
4:22ignore in a matter of just a couple
4:24weeks nine children between the ages of
4:267 and 17 were murdered in the LA Prader
4:29neighborhood apparently because they
4:31wouldn't work with the gangs we followed
4:34the San Pedro Sula medical examiner one
4:36evening to get a better understanding of
4:37the violence plaguing this city sadly it
4:40wasn't long before we got a call about a
4:42homicide near where the laaa murders had
4:44taken
4:46place there was a body found in this
4:48tall grass
4:50here the investigated police are here at
4:53the um forensic team and then the whole
4:56area is being guarded by the military
5:01looks like one
5:07body this young man had been tied up
5:10gagged and beaten the police didn't find
5:12any identification on him so like so
5:14many other victims in this city he will
5:16be classified as unknown each month the
5:19San Pedro Sula morg buries dozens of
5:21unclaimed unidentified bodies in a mass
5:24grave in order to make room for the
5:26three to seven additional bodies they
5:27receive each day
5:32we've heard a lot that people are
5:33migrating because of the violence here
5:35in San Pedro Sula and to see it you know
5:38to see a young man that looks like a lot
5:41of the kids who are migrating it uh puts
5:43into perspective why so many of these
5:45kids are
5:56leaving lives in a rural community about
5:5845 minutes outside of San Pedro Sula two
6:01of her brothers were murdered within a
6:03couple years of one another like most
6:05homicides in Honduras the police never
6:07investigated and the killers were never
6:09brought to
6:10Justice Olga's family has grown more
6:12impoverished since her brothers were
6:14killed a mother of three herself she's
6:16taken in her brother's three kids plus
6:18her aging mother she's finding it
6:20impossible to support
6:28everyone
6:34[Music]
6:37finds work from time to time cleaning
6:39houses but she says the work isn't
6:41consistent and the pay of about $10 per
6:43day isn't enough to support the eight
6:45people in her
6:53[Music]
6:58household
7:05on top of that she has to worry about a
7:06gang extorting her on her way to and
7:08from
7:19work in May of 2014 Olga heard a rumor
7:23that it had become easier to enter the
7:25US she took her 5-year-old boy Chris
7:27with her and left her two teenage girls
7:29behind to look after her mom nieces and
7:31nephews after 3 weeks of traveling
7:34through Guatemala and Mexico Olga and
7:36her son made it to the US border but
7:38like nearly 70,000 other Central
7:40American families this year they were
7:41caught by the US border patrol Olga and
7:44Chris spent 2 months in a Texas
7:46Detention Center they were deported back
7:48to Honduras in
7:53[Music]
7:58July
7:59[Music]
8:14Congressional debate about the sudden
8:16increase in immigration from Central
8:18America has focused primarily on
8:20deporting people like Olga as quickly as
8:22possible in an effort to discourage
8:23others from migrating too the best thing
8:26that we can do is send a clear message
8:28that in America there is no permisos if
8:30you make that Journey you're going to be
8:32sent back to your country Mr Speaker the
8:34house today is bringing up their imig
8:36their only immigration related
8:39Bill and it has just one message Deport
8:43Deport Deport at the same time the Obama
8:46Administration has been putting pressure
8:48on Central American leaders to address
8:50the poverty violence and inequality that
8:52forces so many people to leave Honduras
8:55is one of the most unequal countries in
8:56the world and where I'm standing is a
8:58really good example of that behind me is
8:59a neighborhood it's a squatter
9:00settlement with tin roofs and wood
9:02houses a very very poor area but
9:05literally just right across the river
9:06and right across the street is this
9:08really nice neighborhood with beautiful
9:10houses there's little doubt among
9:11experts that this kind of inequality was
9:13what the 2009 military coup aimed to
9:16preserve since the coup the richest 10%
9:18of Honduran Society has gotten richer
9:20while the other 90% of the country has
9:22gotten poorer 2/3 of Hondurans now live
9:25below the national poverty line and one
9:27in four live on less than a per day
9:30Hondurans migrate or Worse turn to a
9:32life of crime because they have no way
9:34to get ahead in their country truly
9:36addressing the root causes of the
9:38migration and murder that's plaguing
9:39hondur and Society will require efforts
9:42to reduce inequality and promote upward
9:44Mobility back in July President Obama
9:46asked for $3.7 billion to cover the
9:49costs of apprehending detaining and
9:51deporting Central American immigrants
9:54but kin Zamora's Story shows how making
9:56relatively small investments in
9:57underserved populations in Honduras can
10:00prevent illegal immigration before the
10:02problem reaches our
10:03border so this is Sano San heronimus
10:06Port of Kia and this is one of the
10:09houses that I lived when I got deported
10:11from Mexico 10 years ago kin was like
10:14many of the kids who are migrating today
10:16he was raised by an unemployed single
10:18mom in a village outside of San Pedro
10:20Sula like Olga kin's mom felt like she
10:23was out of options so she took
10:2412-year-old kin and his 99-year-old
10:26sister on a journey through Guatemala in
10:28Mexico their final destination was
10:30Oregon kin's family made it about
10:33halfway through Mexico when they were
10:34caught by Mexican immigration
10:36authorities they were forced to return
10:37to Honduras I remember being pretty
10:40depressed those those couple months
10:42after the trip because I really really
10:45wanted to reach Oregon but I came back
10:47to school and and thankfully you know
10:50God knows why things happen but it ended
10:54up to me being something positive the
10:57deportation from Mexico soon after kin
11:00returned to Honduras a private
11:01elementary school opened in his rural
11:03town the school aimed to provide the
11:05same kind of highquality English
11:07language education that upper class kids
11:09in the cities receive but at a price
11:11poor families can afford the wealthy
11:13people will always put their kids in the
11:15best schools in the country
11:16international schools bilingual schools
11:18private schools right there's not a
11:21single wealthy person that will say oh I
11:23will trust the Honduran system I will
11:25make my kid go to a public school since
11:27the 2009 coup the Honduran government
11:30has cut education spending and often
11:32fails to pay its teachers leading to
11:34recurring strikes that cause nearly half
11:36of all school days to be cancelled this
11:38leaves kids on the streets and
11:40vulnerable to recruitment from gangs it
11:42also means that they grow up without the
11:44skills they need to get good jobs kin
11:47excelled at the Bilingual School he's
11:49now on scholarship at the University of
11:51Delaware and lives in the US legally
11:54privileges usually only afforded to
11:55upper class kids not someone from a poor
11:58family like his
11:59this organization changed me uh they
12:02they they told me that I could dream
12:03they told me that it's all right to be
12:06in a poor country and still have dreams
12:08and still try to carry them although kin
12:10migrated legally to the us to continue
12:12his studies the real objective of the
12:14elementary school he attended is to give
12:16low-income Hondurans the skills they
12:18need to be successful in their own
12:19country and their approach seems to be
12:21working none of the 90 kids who have
12:24graduated from the school have migrated
12:25illegally many have continued on to
12:28study at University in Honduras and
12:29abroad or secured good jobs in companies
12:32that require English language skills of
12:34course the best case scenario would be
12:36greater public not just private and
12:38International Investment in education
12:40but instead the Honduran government is
12:42cutting programs that help poor kids go
12:44to school while at the same time
12:46investing in a so-called prevention
12:48program run by the military called
12:49Guardians of the Homeland yes this
12:52program gets kids off the streets but
12:53instead of teaching them what they need
12:55to know to get a job or start a business
12:57it inculcates them with milit AR
12:59propaganda and firearms training but
13:01it's not surprising that this kind of
13:03program would be implemented by
13:04President Juan Orlando Hernandez who has
13:06a history of using military solutions to
13:08solve the country's problems for its
13:11part the US Congress has proposed little
13:13in the way of addressing the root causes
13:14of Central American Immigration focusing
13:17instead on speeding up the deportation
13:19process and spending more on border
13:21security there's no Silver Bullet to the
13:24Central American Immigration crisis but
13:26one thing seems certain as long as
13:28family and young people continue to live
13:30in fear of murder and deprivation
13:32illegal migration will continue no
13:34matter how quickly the US deports
13:36people Olga is Case in point she was
13:39among the first Honduran families
13:40deported back in July during the height
13:42of the Border crisis 2 months later
13:45she's already planning her second
13:46attempt to enter the US
13:48illegally apparently the challenges she
13:50faces at home far outweigh any deterrent
13:53presented by the US border
13:57patrol
14:07[Music]
14:21[Music]

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