Revistazo.com

Un dia (a day) has passed since leaving Honduras, and the withdrawal side of return culture shock has begun. Quiero regresar! (I want to return!) As such a response to my feelings is nearly impossible (too many kids here need to learn the espanol), I am going to live in another place through my observations of another place.

Thus begins my observations of the ASJ project known as Revistazo.com.

I'll empezar (begin) again with what Abe told me during my initial presentation to ASJ. Revistazo.com is an online publication that exposes misuse of government funds and other human rights topics through thorough research and investigation. It is publicized solely in Spanish, as the contributors are Spanish-speaking and do not seem to have the time necessary to translate each article as it is posted (my experiencias with translation work help me to understand their reasoning). Because of the language and the content that the website conveys, the audience has historically been Hondurans or other Spanish-speaking Latin Americans with an interest in or understanding of human rights topics (i.e. diplomats, politicians, NGO staff). Abe labeled it as the "oldest" ASJ project, although he also at one point called the labor rights project the oldest. Hmmm....someone is un poco confundido (a little confused)...but still un experto (an expert) (sin duda!). The final piece of information that Abe gave me about the website was its claim to fame: as it is one of the few newspapers in Honduran that is not tied to government authorities (apparently some of the main newspapers in the area were either owned or invested heavily in by members of the government or political parties), there is no lack of motivation to investigate misdeeds by those in power. Honesty is their one and only policy, regardless of how brutal it might be ("truth" is actually one of the words in their motto).

I was then given a presentation by the Revistazo.com team later in the week, and what I found out was certainly monumental. Emphasizing again their desire to seek and publicize the truth, the team outlined the different investigations and subsequent articles that had been published since 2001--the year the website began to share its investigations with the Spanish-speaking world. Originally beginning with a monthly exploration of relevant themes (the poor treatment of employees at fast food establishments and campaign financing), the website began to shift its focus after a few years by publicizing various articles on a weekly or daily basis and by carrying out different initiatives in the community. For instance, during the election period for the justices on the high court, the Revistazo.com team took to the streets to inform people about the different candidates. They showed up in Teguc's Parque Central with a means by which the public could find out about who was hoping to get elected, and they kept doing this for four months! Do you realize how much of a step that is? In the first place it is difficult to get people to the polls to vote, but do you think people actually take the time in a country like Honduras (much less in a country like the United States...) to find out who is going to be on the ballot and what they stand for antes de (before) casting their vote? Talk about empowering people! This comprehensive election coverage has continued since the catalytic event, as Revistazo.com continually contains an entire section that is devoted to profiles of candidates for public service (and profiles of those who have been voted into public service ya (already)).

Beyond their election coverage, Revistazo.com has been responsible for exhaustive coverage of the recent coup (instead of taking a position on either side, Revistazo.com unbiasedly interviewed the Honduran population to find out their opinions), investigations of government mismanagement of funds and general corruption, studies on Honduran society and the different systems that have seemingly collapsed in recent history (economic, for example), and labor rights abuses (using information gathered from the affiliated ASJ team). The area of their work that fascinated me the most was the investigative journalism that pertained to government mismanagement of funds. You can go to the website and see story after story of money disappearing that was designed for a specific project! For example, the team described one investigation that yielded the news that a small stretch of highway (not a full highway, mind you, but a small stretch) that was supposedly funded by government subsidies never got built! Not only that, but because the project was halted before completion, the displacement of dirt has begun to fill people's homes with mud. Money replaced by mud. Nice. Or how about this: a bus terminal that would make it easier for more efficient transportation is destined to receive X amount of dollars. The semi-detectives of ASJ's Revistazo.com show up to the site months after the project was supposed to commence, and guess what. No terminal. This is a common narrative that always results in missing money and unfinished projects. We are accustomed to believing that projects such as these are "pork barrel" in nature, but in Honduras, these projects are actually intended to serve people! Increible.

If exposing issues of corruption such as these are not enough, Revistazo.com also commissioned a study of Honduras' progress (or lack thereof) in the last few decades and found that the country's stunted growth is attributed to what else but corruption in the system. All other countries in Central America exposed to the same geographic abnormalities and economic risk factors are moving ahead each year while Honduras moves farther atras (behind). All because of corruption. Now who else do you think publicizes this information? Perhaps El Heraldo alludes to this sort of thing in one of their issues or La Tribuna contains a picture of an unfinished project funded by government subsidies. But are they revealing the despicable behavior of the people who are supposed to be serving the people they represent? Nope. Revistazo.com seems to be the only outlet for finding the true story--the story that might not feel good to read but that actually tells it like it is.

To end the presentation, the Revistazo.com team talked about their hopes and dreams for the project. Jorge talked about the need for changes to the site's format now that hundreds of thousands of visitors are visiting the site rather than the select thousand who were familiar with both the arrangement and content of the site. Apparently the site's response to the coup changed the dynamic of its readership and prompted an onslaught of hits to the site--500,000 in the first three months! And with the calming of the political arena, wouldn't you think that fewer people would be reading the site? You would be pensando (thinking) wrong! Jorge informed me that readership has only INCREASED since the coup--INCREASED! People want the truth, amigos; they want to see some accountability. Now they just need to get out of their office chairs and do something about it! (Mas to come about the project that is attempting to do that...).

The final sentiments shared by the Revistazo.com team were anything but positive, though. Each individual in the room talked about the danger they face on a daily basis. They talked about threats, about the shadow of Dionisio's death on the team's work, and about the difficult nature of their work. One staff member even admitted to not even talking about the work with his/her loved ones for fear that they would not allow him/her to continue working for ASJ! How sad that the truth--that justice--comes at such a price! But thank God for people like Jorge & Eleana & Claudia and the rest of the Revistazo.com team who want nothing more than to give their fellow Hondurans the story they might not want to hear but NEED to hear.