Transportation in Honduras and the Cooperative Movement

An early article in this blog warned about the impending possibility of social protests. Today's news of the transportation strike gives evidence of this possibility, now a reality, which should be looked at with a bit of perspective.

Yesterday, North, East and Central Honduras woke up to paralyzed cities; it's obvious that the public transportation sector is trying to make a point. Taxi Drivers have organized themselves to stop city transportation. Tegucigalpa, San Pedro Sula, La Ceiba, Choluteca and Danlí, have no bus or taxi service, so we know that they have big bargaining chips. The interesting thing is that the protesting groups were in direct disagreement with one another in terms of what they think should be done in relation to the issue at hand, putting the Honduran government in a position of power, something unanticipated and almost certainly unwanted by the strikers.

The issue is now being called the "Tarifazo"*1, the rise in fuel prices is making transport groups raise the transportation costs. Groups agree that change in policy in imminent; some ask for the liberation of fixed prices, some ask for the authorization of a new government subsidy. Some say that prices are not being regulated by the government and it should stay that way, others say the opposite, i.e let the market forces play out to a price 'conclusion.'

The government is investigating what the law has to say about fixed transportation prices. We hope they don't continue investigating until the population has resolved the issue through practical experiment. See El Heraldo's latest article on this subject.

*1 ... the endings in "...azo" are used to name national situations. Wendy Griffin's "Spanish endings make things worse, or just bigger" published in Honduras This week, wrote: ..."Un paquete is a package. It is the kind of package that you love receiving for Christmas or your birthday. But what do you call a package of economic measures which must be agreed to so that you qualify for World Bank loans and IMF relief? In Honduras, un paquetazo...." See full article in Honduras this week.