Global Voices » Honduras

Latin America: Museum Releases Digital Archive of 20th-Century Art

Silvia Viñas — Tue, 24 Jan 2012 13:36:22 +0000

The International Center for Arts of the Americas (ICCA) at the Museum of Fine Arts, Houston, has released a digital archive of 20th-century Latin American and Latino art, which, “is now available, free of charge, to the research and teaching community as well as to the public at large.” Culture magazine Ñ [es] briefly interviewed Mari Carmen Ramírez, the project's director.

A Guide to Crowdsourcing in Latin America

L. Finch — Sat, 21 Jan 2012 01:16:36 +0000

Crowdsourcing, also known as “mass collaboration,” allows anyone with an Internet connection to generate useful content for the masses. In Latin America, numerous crowdsourcing projects have arisen that respond to the various needs and emergencies that the continent is facing, such as Heroreports [en], which geotags acts of kindness in Mexico, or LluviasVe [en], which maps events caused by strong rains in Venezuela. Crowdsourcing has become a fundamental tool in Latin America to foment and utilize citizen participation in an effort to inform.

On January 14, 2012, Jacinto Lajas published “A guide to crowdsourcing in Latin America [es] on Periodismo Ciudadano, an online blog that hosts discussion and debate about citizen journalism. Below we have republished the article under a Creative Commons Attribution-Non-Commercial 3.0 Spain license (CC BY-NC 3.0).

Americas Society (AS) is the leading forum dedicated to education, debate, and dialogue in the Americas. Its mission is to foment understanding of current political, social, and economic issues that Latin America, the Caribbean, and Canada are facing, as well as to augment public awareness of and appreciation for the diversity of the New World's cultural heritage and the importance of interrelationships between the diverse peoples of the Americas.

Within this mission falls the logical observation of changes effected by technological advances in the Americas, and in that same spirit comes the publication of a guide to crowdsourcing in Latin America, highlighting projects that have developed in different countries throughout the region.

The preface to the list of projects explains how crowdsourcing has become a popular method of citizen participation in compliance with the law, public health, consumer rights, and social issues in Latin America, one of the regions with the largest growth of Internet penetration in the world:

El número de usuarios de Internet creció a 112 millones en enero de 2011 –un aumento del 15 por ciento respecto al año anterior. En Brasil, Colombia, México y Venezuela, las tasas de crecimiento del uso de Internet aumentaron en un 20 por ciento o más durante el mismo período. También va en aumento es el uso del teléfono de última generación: en 2011, uno de cada cinco teléfonos celulares vendidos en América Latina fue un smartphone y, en 2010, las ventas de estos teléfonos en la región aumentaron en un 117 por ciento. Con un mayor acceso a Internet, más latinoamericanos están utilizando las redes sociales: 114.500.000 personas utilizaban sitios como Facebook y Twitter en junio de 2011.

The number of Internet users grew to 112 million in January 2011 -an increase of 15 percent over the previous year. In Brazil, Colombia, Mexico, and Venezuela, the growth rate of Internet use increased 20 percent or more during the same period. An increase in high-end telephone use also was observed: in 2011, one out of every five mobile phones sold in Latin America was a smartphone, and in 2010, sales of these telephones in the region grew by 117 percent. With such widespread access to the Internet, more Latin Americans are using social networks: 114.5 million people utilized websites such as Facebook and Twitter in June 2011.

A promising prospect. Just as the proliferation of participatory projects –some mentioned here [es]– is in Latin America. Below you will find the list of projects included in the guide. You can find more information about each project in the original publication in Americas Society [en].

Argentina
- Mapa del Narcotráfico [es]
- Mapa de la Inseguridad [es]
Brasil
Chile
Costa Rica
- LocalCrime.org [available in en, es, fr]
- Quien Paga Manda [es]
Honduras
- Honduras Health Mapping [en, available in 24 languages]
México
Panamá
- Mi Panamá Transparente [es]
Perú
- Que No Te Roben [es]
Venezuela
- Quiero Paz [es]
- Victeams [es]

Honduras: Priest Denounces Police Attack

Silvia Viñas — Tue, 10 Jan 2012 15:20:59 +0000

Father Marco Aurelio Lorenzo, a Catholic priest, has denounced a police attack on December 26, 2011, “when he and two brothers […] stopped along the highway to rest. […] Eight police officers set on them and beat them, badly enough that they then took them to the hospital,” Honduras Culture and Politics reports. The Committee for Relatives of the Detained and Disappeared in Honduras (Cofadeh) condemns the attack and the police's “systematic practice of attacking [Honduran] citizens.”

Central America: LibreBus Project Presents its Documentary

Jenny Cascante Gonzalez — Thu, 05 Jan 2012 18:17:39 +0000

Several months have passed since the LibreBus [es] collective project traveled across the streets of five different Central America countries looking for free culture and knowledge sharing enthusiasts.

As Jane Park explained in October, 2011:

Librebus, a project inspired by Free Culture principles, consisted of a regional tour spanning most of May of this year [2011] to explore Central American shared culture and digital communities. Twenty-seven “librenautas” [free navigators] with different nationalities, backgrounds and skills, from the free software community, Creative Commons chapters, freedom of speech activists and natural commons experts, shared their “open” knowledge with others in a variety of activities, from roundtables to public data hackathons and the first Central American CC Salon in Guatemala.

Conversations were held in each city with representatives of diverse communities that promote the use of information technology and communication. LibreBus ‘free navigators' also organized meetings with digital natives whose contributions complemented to the discussion on free software and the defense of freedom of speech and content sharing.

Musicians, artists and users in general were able to learn about the cultural commons licenses. Also, participants had the opportunity to learn about the development of knowledge and technological constraints that farmers face in the region because of the legislation and use of transgenic seeds.

A documentary [es] showing the different interactions that took place during the tour through Costa Rica, Nicaragua, Honduras, El Salvador, and Guatemala, is now available online. The organizers are open to arranging a similar tour in the future, under the same flag: free collective knowledge.

These are some extracts from the documentary:

El 16 de mayo de 2011 LibreBus dejó de ser un viaje por Centroamérica para convertirse en un compromiso.

On May 16, 2011 LibreBus was not just a trip through Central America, it became a commitment.

LibreBus leaving Honduras. Image by Flickr user LibreBus (CC BY-NC-SA 2.0)

24 personas subieron y bajaron en el trayecto pero son muchos más los que comparten la filosofía de ser librenauta.

24 people got on and off the bus along the way but there are many more who share the philosophy of being a free navigator.

Ser librenauta es seguir un camino: el del conocimiento libre para todos y todas.

To be a free navigator is to follow a path: free knowledge for everyone.

Information on presentations related to free software, photographs of the trip, and posts published by some participants can be found on the LibreBus [es] website. You can also follow the project on Twitter @Librebus [es] and Facebook [es].

Latin America: Youth Unemployment

Silvia Viñas — Tue, 27 Dec 2011 11:22:56 +0000

Bloggings by boz looks at youth unemployment in Latin America, concluding that “with growth projections decreased for 2011 and 2012, the current situation for youth unemployment is almost certainly getting worse. That could have major economic, political and social implications moving into 2012.”

Honduras: Journalists and Police Clash During Protest

Silvia Viñas — Thu, 15 Dec 2011 17:46:37 +0000

As we reported earlier, Honduran journalists protested against violence in front of the presidential palace this week. Bloggings by boz adds that “protesters ended up clashing with police and military forces guarding the palace and were eventually dispersed with tear gas. President Lobo defended the actions of the security forces, insisting the protesters were not peaceful.”

Honduran Journalist Protest Against Violence

Silvia Viñas — Wed, 14 Dec 2011 12:37:18 +0000

Honduras Daily reports on a protest held by journalists in Tegucigalpa on December 13: “The media personnel demanded a cease to the violence, and respect for the freedom of expression. ‘Justice! Justice! Justice!' journalists shouted as they marched toward the President’s home.”

Honduras: Culture under the Ministry of Culture, Art, and Sports

Silvia Viñas — Mon, 05 Dec 2011 16:43:46 +0000

Honduras Culture and Politics asks, “So what is ‘Culture' in Honduras these days?” in a post that reviews the activities of the Ministry of Culture, Art, and Sports.

Honduras: National Popular Resistance Front Forms New Political Party

Silvia Viñas — Wed, 16 Nov 2011 16:49:57 +0000

The National Popular Resistance Front (FNRP for its initials in Spanish) has formed a new political party called Libre (short for Libertad y Refundación, “Freedom and Refoundation”). The blog Honduras Culture and Politics explains how the party was founded and provides an English translation of its declaration of principles.

Honduras: Police Corruption

Silvia Viñas — Tue, 15 Nov 2011 15:36:20 +0000

La Gringa's Blogicito summarizes several incidents that reveal police crime and corruption in Honduras.

Honduras: The Relationship Between Poverty & Crime

Silvia Viñas — Tue, 08 Nov 2011 16:04:16 +0000

A guest blogger in La Gringa's Blogicito writes about poverty and crime in Honduras: “This rampant poverty, lack of education and lack opportunities drives some young people to become delinquents and gang members. They grow up to become thieves and killers. They grow up to believe the only way to get ahead is by going against the system and taking advantage of those who can be taken advantage of.”

Honduras: “Operation Lightning” Amid Police Shake Up

Silvia Viñas — Wed, 02 Nov 2011 17:09:07 +0000

La Gringa's Blogcito updates readers on the alleged involvement of four police officers in the murder of two university students. La Gringa also writes briefly about Operation Lightning: “In a joint police-military operation, the country has been divided into 8 sections, each with a police and a military commander. According to Minister of Defense Marlon Pascua, foot and vehicle patrols will be performed along with police stops in higher crime areas.”

Honduran Police Suspected of Killing Two University Students

Silvia Viñas — Mon, 31 Oct 2011 12:11:52 +0000

Two university students were killed on October 22; La Gringa's Blogcito reports that four police suspected of killing the students were taken into custody but later “escaped”. “Even in this high profile case, it appears that police still attempted cover up and still felt free to intimidate reporters. What should also be clear to everyone is why citizens are afraid to report crimes or abuse or corruption on the part of the police”, she writes.

Honduras: Blogger's Facebook Account is Shut Down

Silvia Viñas — Mon, 24 Oct 2011 17:37:46 +0000

‘La Gringa', from La Gringa's Blogcito, says her Facebook account was disabled because someone filed a complaint about her username ('La Gringa', her internet pseudonym) after she published a series of posts on crime in Honduras. She explains why she uses a pseudonym and points out that an online petition to restore her account has been set up at Change.org.

Central America: Bloggers Attempt to Raise Awareness as Heavy Rains Continue

Silvia Viñas — Thu, 20 Oct 2011 18:35:05 +0000

Mike from Central American Politics links to English language blogs covering the damage caused by the heavy rains that have been falling on Central America for over one week.