Flag Symbolism:
three equal horizontal bands of blue (top),
white, and blue, with five blue, five-pointed stars arranged in an X pattern
centered in the white band; the stars represent the members of the former
Federal Republic of Central America - Costa Rica, El Salvador, Guatemala,
Honduras, and Nicaragua; the blue bands symbolize the Pacific Ocean and the
Caribbean Sea; the white band represents the land between the two bodies of
water and the peace and prosperity of its people
Executive Branch: president elected by popular vote for a four-year term; election last held on 29 November 2009 (next to be held in November 2013) Judicial Branch: Supreme Court of Justice or Corte Suprema de Justicia (9 principal judges - including the court president - and 7 alternates; court organized into civil, criminal, and labor chambers); note - the court has both judicial and constitutional jurisdiction The Legislative Branch: Unicameral National Congress or Congreso Nacional (128 seats; members elected proportionally by department to serve four-year terms) Their US Ambassador: Jorge Ramón Hernández AlcerroTheir US Embassy: Suite 4-M, 3007 Tilden Street NW, Washington, DC 20008 Their Consulates: Atlanta, Belmont (MA), Chicago, Houston, Los Angeles, Miami, New Orleans, New York, Phoenix, San Francisco Our Ambassador: Ambassador Lisa J. KUBISKE U.S. EMBASSY (THERE): Avenida La Paz, Apartado Postal No. 3453, Tegucigalpa Our Consulates: N/A UN Representatives: Mary Elizabeth Flores Flake
Scarlet Macaw - National Symbol
Conventional Long Form Country Name: Republic of Honduras Capital City: Tegucigalpa Type of Government: Democratic
Constitutional Republic Date of Independence: 15 September 1821 (from Spain) National Holiday: Independence Day, 15 September (1821) Suffrage: 18 years of age;
universal and compulsory National Symbols: scarlet
macaw; white-tailed deer
President Porfirio LOBO Sosa -
Head of Government and Chief of State
International Disputes: International Court of Justice (ICJ) ruled on the delimitation of "bolsones" (disputed areas) along the El Salvador-Honduras border in 1992 with final settlement by the parties in 2006 after an Organization of American States survey and a further ICJ ruling in 2003; the 1992 ICJ ruling advised a tripartite resolution to a maritime boundary in the Gulf of Fonseca with consideration of Honduran access to the Pacific; El Salvador continues to claim tiny Conejo Island, not mentioned in the ICJ ruling, off Honduras in the Gulf of Fonseca; Honduras claims the Belizean-administered Sapodilla Cays off the coast of Belize in its constitution, but agreed to a joint ecological park around the cays should Guatemala consent to a maritime corridor in the Caribbean under the OAS-sponsored 2002 Belize-Guatemala Differendum Refugees: N/A Internally Displaced Persons: N/A Stateless Persons: N/A Human Trafficking Issues: Honduras is a source and transit country for men, women, and children subjected to sex trafficking and forced labor; Honduran women and girls, and, to a lesser extent, women and girls from neighboring countries, are forced into prostitution in urban and tourist centers; Honduran women and girls are also exploited in sex trafficking in other countries in the region, including Mexico, Guatemala, El Salvador, and the US; Honduran adults and children are subjected to forced labor in Guatemala, Mexico, and the US and domestically in agriculture and domestic service; gangs coerce some young men to transport drugs or be hit men Illicit Drug trafficking/use: transshipment point for drugs and narcotics; illicit producer of cannabis, cultivated on small plots and used principally for local consumption; corruption is a major problem; some money-laundering activity