Independence Day manifestation in Honduras - image heavy

Hello everyone, I present to you a photo essay I made. C&C is very welcome.
Going downtown in Tegucigalpa, Honduras's capital, is always a taxing experience on the soul. You're forced to go face to face with the worst hardships of the human condition, as everywhere you look you'll be met by the sight either of extreme poverty, social decay and fear from the onslaught of violent crime and political oppression. Yet what feels close to an ultimate dystopia at times, is a city of very beautiful sights, in its own way. That's what moves me to go out and take pictures, in spite of this being one of the fastest ways of being marked by gangsters for mugging or worse. Don't worry, I know my way around to stay safe.



Today is a different day. Libre is a political party born from the opposition to a 2009 military coup that threw the country into further conflict and impoverishment, and it takes to the streets to protest against the misdeeds of the ruling parties. It is headset on removing the ruling powers, which have brought about one of the, if not the most corrupt and ineffectual governments of the Americas, and bringing about social change. However, Libre has been troubled from the start by controversy from its courtship of hard left ideologies and association with Hugo Chávez, now finding itself isolated to face a ruthless political, mediatic and military machinery controlled by the oligarchy that owns the country. It's been over five long and difficult years for the people supporting this movement; while Libre claims to be non-violent and democratic (in spite of embracing a leftist guerilla aesthetic for romantic bravado), its followers have been hounded by repression and targeted killings by the military from its inception.









It's been a very emotionally loaded day. The people here at the city square, come together both to celebrate Independence Day and to manifest their dissent to the regime, clearly have the weight on their shoulders of all the pain and losses they've endured; from the difficulties of every day life, being helpless against poverty and organized crime, to the unending loss of lives to death squads for half a decade; yet they can't give up; for their hope to bring about a change and an end to our country's toils is unwavering in their minds.







"Where are they?" The photographs of all the people presumed assassinated by death squads operating in the last half century under different regimes hang by the wayside as we make our way towards the city square.

 

Thank you for your comments and your insight, I see what you mean about the old lady shot. She caught me totally off guard with that lively gesture and I just had to press the shutter no matter what I'd get! But for sure that picture is getting cropped.

 

Thank you!