Roberto “Pollo” Contreras, the mayor of San Pedro Sula, argues remittances are blood money. Emigration from Honduras means leaving behind siblings, children, and other family members—many of whom end up joining gangs.

San Pedro Sula has been struggling with a serious challenge: its youth are leaving for the United States or Spain. Contreras argues this exodus is primarily due to the government’s failure to enable economic opportunities.

With the possibility of mass deportations under US President Donald Trump, Honduras faces an ominous crisis: a lack of jobs and economic activity to welcome deportees. Contreras estimates that each deportation costs the United States between US$15,000 and $20,000, and Honduras is expecting the return of 60,000–80,000 people during this term. He laments that such resources are not going into industrial investment.

A self-made man, Contreras believes poverty stems from the wrong mindset and that people can still succeed through grit. In terms of policy solutions, though, he advocates investing in technical education, fostering entrepreneurship, and building a sampedrano dream that competes with the American dream. He identifies a corrupt Tegucigalpa political class as adversarial towards San Pedro Sula and unwilling to permit decentralization, preferring to protect its loot.

Recommended Links

• Follow Roberto Contreras on X.
• “Xiomara Castro’s Hollow Agreement with Donald Trump,” Impunity Observer.
• “The Exodus Is Turning Honduras into Cuba,” Impunity Observer.