Curiosity Kills

“Cuidate Chica” Be Careful Girl

Our truck rambled into the hills of Tegucigalpa, the capitol of Honduras. Dan and Antonio, the directors of Agua Clara (a water treatment project here in Honduras) had been talking in rapid Spanish for some minutes, and as I drifted in and out of thought, I had barely noticed that the phrase, Cuidate, was meant for me.

The situation in Honduras has grown more dangerous since the coup this past June. Today I learned that Honduras is in fact the second most dangerous place in the world to be a journalist, right behind Mexico.

What’s scarier, however, are the numbers.

Mexico: population> 180 million, journalists killed in the past year?    10

Honduras: population<7 million, journalists killed in the past year?    9

How is it possible that a country a fraction the size of Mexico has nearly the same level of danger for journalists? Just under a day in Honduras’s capital has taught me that corruption here is beginning to rival that of Mexico. The most popular musicians weave political connotations into their lyrics only to have their concerts disbanded by fatal tear gas initiatives. Bus drivers are decapitated on a daily basis. And each daily paper inevitably contains at least one dead body sprawled across its front page. And on the heels of the last major coup where teachers, artists, and policy makers were murdered, kidnapped, or simply run out of the country, it is no wonder journalists have become prime targets.

Nobody likes questions when there are things to hide.

Tomorrow Aeriel and I will head two hours outside of the capital to live with a family who have JUST begun receiving clean drinking water thanks to the work of Agua Clara. I’m hoping to get a better picture of the water situation and the work facility AguaClara has installed but have also learned that this particular town is newly plagued by iron mine intruders. It is a hot button political issue well out of my range, as MediaGlobal is supposed to highlight the good things happening in the developing world. So as much as I am drawn to the environmental degradation I know I can’t and won’t touch it. All the same, the thought of an iron mine ruining a newly installed water treatment facility, the consequences of such a disturbance, how the people of this small town who have inevitably already lost children to water born diseases must feel…

As if reading my mind and all the questions swimming around inside it, Dan turns to me and says, “Say you’re a student and don’t go near the mines, if you start asking questions about those, they’ll have no problem killing you.”