The original banana republic

In 1904 0. Henry published a series of short stories called Cabbages and Kings. One of the stories is the origin of the phrase "Banana Republic," and he based it on his experience of an 8 month stay in Honduras. It's a story of the dominance of large corporations and public corruption.

That dominance has lasted to this day in Honduras, and it's still mostly about bananas. Chiquta and Dole own a huge part of the land, and most of the population remain poor or very poor, with no easy way out .

Even where we are on the beautiful island of Roatan with its vibrant tourist sector, poverty is omnipresent. Beach hotels next to shacks, favela settlements attached to villages and towns.

Wealth is clearly not shared, and yet there is no sign that anything will change soon because, as far as I can tell, there is no political movement for change. It might be the realisation that easy answers like the ones tried in neighbouring Nicaragua can make things even worse .

And there are storm clouds on the horizon since the big attraction here is the coral Reef, which sadly is rapidly dying.Read more