For a long time now, Santos Guardiola has been the forgotten, ugly sister of Roatan. But lately, that forgotten sister has been getting an increasing number of suitors asking for a dance. Developers are buying up sizable pieces of land and dividing them into smaller lots, creating networks of interior roads with underground wires and services.
On the east side of Roatan, near Mount Picacho, the island’s tallest hill, the views are often stunning. The nature is still relatively unspoiled, and perhaps most important of all for developers, there is a 10.6 kilometer road that is being paved that will reach the very far end of the island.

Paya Magazine has surveyed 18 housing developments in JSG at different stages of completion. The developers here are an international mix. There are Czechs, Danes, Americans, Canadians, and Hondurans. They have backgrounds in construction, sales, furniture, and even veterinary science. Roatan is a cake that has been cut into 20 different pieces. “The advantage that José Santos Guardiola [JSG] has is that it is a cleaner canvas,” said Hugo Coello, a Roatan based architect with 20 years of design experience here. “This municipality has an opportunity to create a great place.” In José Santos Guardiola, one can still find large tracks of undeveloped land. There is plenty of room to grow and the population is relatively small.

Camp Bay Beach for the Famous?

Just like billionaire Kelcy Warren on JSG’s nearby Barbareta island, other rich and sometimes famous Americans have noticed the beaches’ beauty and potential. Actor Michael Douglas has been coming to Roatan for over a decade, and purchased 25 acres of land, with around 1,300 feet of water frontage. According to Erick Anderson, an American who has been living here since the 1960s and knows Douglas well, the actor is looking at a project to potentially incorporate organic gardens and solar power.

Anderson believes that good development is achieved by combining good master planning, good architecture, and good investors. If any one of these elements is missing, bad things begin to happen, especially in the challenging topography and sensitive environment of Roatan’s Far East.

According to Anderson, some developers see the limited in scope and quantity JSG municipal fines as a cost of doing business. “It is a moral failure on their [developer’s] part,” he said. “They need to understand they are destroying a resource that should belong to a community for a long term use.” Anderson says that it is bad for the neighborhood to have developments like that on Roatan. These types of developments discourage potential investors that are looking for pristine, beautiful environment to situate their development.

Diamond Rock Rocks

The Czech investment in land development on the island’s Far East dates back to the early 2000s. Businessman Iri Maska has built a brewery off the main road south of Punta Gorda, and since then has had many Czech investors come to the island.

The biggest of them all is developer Ivan Soška, who came to Roatan 14 years ago. In 2013, he purchased 13 acres with the idea to develop 53 homes in Diamond Rock. “I started to feel the nature here,” says Soška. “The municipal requires a 10 percent green area to be set aside. I set aside 65 percent. If I cut a tree, I plant 20 other.”

After selling out the lots to his fellow Czechs, Soška purchased another 27 acres up the hill from his development and named it Diamond Hill. In 2018, he added another 40 acres to his growing development right on the waterfront.

His sensible approach to developing land is paying off. Soška believes that the green, respectful-to-nature Diamond Hill development has attracted a more varied clientele for his house lots which now include Americans and Canadians. “They are using construction with step-down instead of just counter livered instead and of cutting the hill with big bulldozers,” said Anderson. “That would create erosion and upset the environment.”

The locals have taken notice and warmed up to the tall Czech developer and his three sons. “They are one of the better developments out there,” said Anderson. “They did a good job with landscaping and respect for the environment.”

Santos Guardiola has been the forgotten, ugly sister of Roatan.

Paya Bay for Boaters

Paya Bay has been a sleepy, overlooked, and spectacular beach just west of Camp Bay beach. Now, even sleepy Paya Bay is getting its share of development dollars. The gated, high end community will have access to Paya Bay Resort.

The project consists of two parts: a 180 room condo hotel on the beach and 18 canal front house lots.

Managing partner for the project is Henrik Jensen, a long time Danish Roatan businessman who has build both commercial and housing projects all over the island. The development is located on 19 acres and should be operational by 2027.

Golfing in Luna Azul

Bordering Media Luna to its West, Luna Azul is the largest development ever undertaken in José Santos Guardiola. The 110-acre development, with 380 lots, even surpasses the large 200-acre Parrot Tree development with the number of lots.

Adam Gram, a Danish developer who developed several projects on the western side of the island, is the developer of this now third golf course community project on Roatan. The development is planned in three phases and centers around a golf course, a beach club, a tennis court, and a private beach. As of March 2024, around 60 percent of the roads have been completed, and the golf course design is in progress.

No More Stilts

Scott Miller has stealthily become the man with the most land under development on the island. He is developing three projects in and around Camp Bay: Caribbean Bliss, Camp Bay Estates, and Sunset Vistas. Miller is also developing a project inside West End’s Luna Beach, as well as his biggest project called Sea Breeze just east of Luna Azul. While most of Roatan developers started locally, or came from abroad and focused solely on one development, Miller comes with plenty of experience, cash, and a soon-to-boom vision for Roatan.

Miller comes from a long line a bridge and dam builders in California and Arizona. He has also developed resorts and properties in Belize and Costa Rica. He has three development companies in the US: one in Arizona, one in California, and one in Washington State. He has also developed resorts and apartment complexes all over the Caribbean. “I depend on a really good team of professionals,” says Miller.

They need to understand they are destroying a resource.

In 2013, Miller came to Roatan scouting the island for Hilton Hotels to see if the island was ready for the chain. “I told them it wasn’t,” said Miller, who ended up building a house on the island the following year. “I love it here. People are not after your money like in Costa Rica or Belize,” says Miller. Now Miller believes Hilton and Marriot should be just about ready to invest here.

Back in the US, Miller is friends with quite a few professional athletes potentially interested in having second homes here. With new roads and new airlines eyeing Roatan, he believes the island is on a trajectory to attract a more affluent and demanding clientele made up of home owners from the US. “One thing they will not do is live in a house on stilts,” said Miller. That is the main reason his developments create slab-on-grade type of construction, which require aggressive soil displacement, something some of his neighbors are not always happy about.

Above Punta Blanca

Punta Blanca is Santos Guardiola’s north shore community and dates back to the 1990s. It is surrounded by rolling hills with plenty of development opportunities and fantastic views to the north, south, and east.

Fernando Santana found his 5.5 acre Aroha Estates Punta Blanca development site almost by chance. “As I was walking through the jungle, I found an old ‘for sale’ sign on the property,” said Santana, who was a furniture vendor several years before transitioning to being a home construction supervisor and developer.

The property was originally called Buena Vista, and featured sprawling views in all directions. “I called the person and purchased it even before seeing what I was purchasing. It was a leap of faith,” said Santana, who also helps a local architect with design ideas.

Las Vistas in Camp Bay

Las Vistas is located right across from the entrance to Camp Bay’s public beach. Las Vistas was originally five acres of development by American developer Blaine Bell, who later purchased another six acres adjacent to the property, and the Port Royal National Park. There is an added ecological responsibility to building next to a [Port Royal] National Park. “The idea is to build something in an eco sensitive feel,” said Hugo Coello, a principal at Hugo Coello Architects and also a builder for Las Vistas.

Las Vistas development is planned to accommodate 40 home sites. Underground utilities have been laid in place for the first 25 lots and an impressive entry gate is almost finished. Coello is working with Bell, who has been on the island for ten years and decided to become a developer.

Coello believes the roads should follow as much as possible the contour lines of the topography of the often steep landscape on the island. The idea is to disrupt the soil as little as possible and maintain the location of the site. Acting a bit like a “horse whisperer,” Coello depends and listens to his surroundings to tell him what is appropriate and what is not. “I wait for the land to suggest what is needed,” said Coello.

Coello is known for making master plans, and he created the master plan for Las Vistas and Luna Azul. “Clients hire me because they want something nice, in budget, and something that is respectful of the ecosystem,” said Coello. He makes an effort to give a distinctive identity to each of his projects with materials, colors, and details. Coello has been designing homes on Roatan for 20 years. “We pick the type of home, the type of material that fits,” he said. “I like glass walls, to take advantage as much as possible of the views.”

The Concerns

There are quite a few people concerned with how quickly the land is being developed, and with how it is being done without much regard for the fragile environment of the island. One of these voices is Erick Anderson, an expat who has lived on Roatan since the 1960s. He founded Bay Islands Conservation Association [BICA] from his home in Port Royal.

Anderson says he supports projects that are respectful of the environment, architecturally attractive, and provide a sustainable and long-term benefit to the community. Local jobs are important, but preservation of the soil and vegetation and protecting animals is as well. That, according to Anderson, does not always happen. “I used to push, push for developments and roads and infrastructure,” said Anderson. “What I am worried about is too much development too fast, and that it would spiral out of control.”

East of Roatan has a different climate than the west of the island: different vegetation, different soil. Building here is a bit trickier than on the west side. “They are destroying the exact thing that makes it attractive and beautiful,” said Anderson. “We [BICA] have been petitioning through for SERNA to come and look at these developments so they can understand what is going on.”

The idea is to disrupt the soil as little as possible.

There are new developers, good developers, and sometime not so good developers. Some developers get in trouble on the financing front, others get in trouble working on steep sites that are all over Roatan. “They don’t have a right to destroy this if you have a good master plan,” said Anderson. “They [some developers] are cutting all the trees on site, and cutting them down with bulldozers.”

Anderson believes the JSG development projects should be done with proper master planning, in a way that is sustainable for the future of the community. “Someone who is doing a master plan has to be someone who has a huge experience in what they are doing,” said Coello. “The most important is the approach of the design,” said Coello. “There are several examples [of development] that are just terrible.”

Environmental licenses are given out by SERNA, and typically are not easy to get. “For my lotification [at Camp Bay beach], it took me two years and $20,000 for my development to get all the permits,” said Anderson. “The idea is to protect the reef, mangroves, and all the assets that we have.”

Unfortunately, as copies of SERNA or Municipal permits are not displayed on construction sites, it is difficult for the public to understand what is planned. When work takes place, it is all yesterday’s news. There is no manner to move back hills, uncut roads, replant 100-year-old trees.

The projects that have caused environmental damage are usually an example of the failure of four entities: the failure of supervision on the national Honduran level by SERNA- the Honduran Ministry of Environment, the JSG Municipality’s environmental department, the developers themselves, and the local communities themselves, represented by patronatos.

Unspoiled land in José Santos Guardiola is like Bitcoin.

The Future

What could lie ahead for the island are zoning laws like in the nearby La Ceiba. According to Coello, some more populous municipalities in Honduras developed zoning restrictions and enforcement as they grew in size. Those are principally cities of Tegucigalpa, San Pedro Sula, and La Ceiba. Coello believes building restrictions on Roatan should be done not on a zoning level, but on the consciousness level of the stakeholders involved in developing land across Roatan. The architect believes that more education of people doing master planning and construction should be done.

Much of the land on Roatan’s Far East side remains unspoiled, filled with rolling hills of old growth forests and teaming with wildlife. That is what past generations of islanders have bestowed to the Roatanians in the 21st century. That innumerable resource is not always appreciated.

The Roatan land has served as shelter, food and building resources for islanders for 227 years now. Today, that resource is at risk. If it is destroyed, there will be practically no way of getting it back. The haphazard development of West Bay hopefully will serve as an example of what to do, and what not to do.

For now, the unspoiled land in José Santos Guardiola is like Bitcoin, the longer you keep it as it is, the higher value it will achieve – barring any unpredictable world crisis and catastrophic weather events, of course.

For the longest 20 kilometers run, nine people registered, all of them islanders. The top finisher comes in at 2 hours and 20 minutes. Sixteen locals participated in the 10 kilometer event. In the 5k run 70 people participated and in the 2k run 60 children signed up.

Logistics and organization of the running trails were organized and set up by the Cacique Trail Runners. Cacique organizes cross country races in four places around Honduras: in Tegucigalpa, San Pedro Sula, Choluteca, La Ceiba, and Roatan. Out of these the Tierra Extrema race in Tegucigalpa – Ojojona is the most extreme, and most difficult of the races organized in Honduras.

The running course took the runners into Marbella, Colonia Smith, Crawfish Rock and finished in Palmetto Bay housing community.

Giselle Brady and BICA were organizers of the event. The logistics of the race and the setup of the running course were done by the Cacique trail runners. Forty volunteers, most of them, Roatan High School and BICA volunteers, helped with the event. Cacique Trail Runners are considering Port Royal Park for the 2023 race venue.

Roatan’s Aquifer and Reef are at Risk from the Mismanaged Garbage Dump

The most impressive recycling operation on Roatan has not been set up by the local or central government, or by the nonprofit organization. The island’s biggest recycling operation is done seven days a week, 365 days a year, by around 120 people who work on and often live on the Roatan garbage dump. They separate and salvage metals, plastics and glass; they retrieve usable lumber, find old refrigerators and pass them on to recycling centers in Coxen Hole.

Their dignified, important work goes unnoticed and thankless. They also find themselves earning a living in the most toxic and dangerous environment on Roatan - the “temporary” Roatan Municipal garbage dump.

Maribel has sad eyes of a woman twice her age and her hands are wrinkled and covered with scars. She works without gloves so pieces of glass and metal often cut the skin of her small hands. It is late Sunday afternoon. She places bottles and containers of value into a four foot long transparent plastic bag.

The bag contains about thirty pieces of dirty, used, discardable containers most people see no value in. There are aluminum cans worth 80 Honduran centavos each, there are heavy plastic containers worth two Lempiras each and one glass coca cola bottle worth another two Lempiras.

If Maribel works hard and is lucky, she is able to buy milk for her two-year-old baby that lives with her and her parents, a hundred yards east of the garbage dump. If it is a bad day she might not even earn one hundred Lempiras.

There is an unwritten agreement that each recycler not take away, from a pile already collected. The Municipal dump is dotted with piles of old metal roofs, stacks of wooden pallets, bags of aluminum cans and heaps of rusting refrigerators and dishwashers. Nobody touches these piles but its rightful recycler and now owner. Honor system and gentlemen rules are a big part of recycling life in Mud Hole, Roatan.

Roatan Municipality employs three security guards at the garbage dump. Abiel Navarro has been a security man at the dump for seven years and makes sure nothing happens to the one key piece of equipment that moves trash and flattens the heap of trash. Navarro lives in a makeshift structure on the garbage dump itself. There are a dozen improvised mini houses on the site of the dump where people eat and sleep.

Despite the work of many devoted municipal employees the simple truth is that the local government is not competent enough to manage basic infrastructure projects. Roatan municipal government broke the desalination plant in Coxen Hole, but its biggest fiasco is the garbage dump that it has been mismanaging for two decades.

Its limits fall in the maintenance of fairly complex entities such as desalination plants, garbage dump or black water projects. Since 2013 the Municipality has run the desalination plant that has been sitting vacant ever since, perpetually waiting for some filters replacements.

It all started with a million dollars and high expectations. Back in 2000, the idea was to have one, centrally located garbage dump for the entire island. Construction and operating costs would be less; the two municipal governments could not come to an agreement where to locate such site.

The original Municipal dump had a lifespan of 10 years, but lasted 17 years without much maintenance, proper compacting and lack of proper layering of refuse. The original site of the 100 by 200 meter garbage dump in Mud Hole was opened in 2002. PMAIB (Proyecto Manejo Ambiental De Las Islas De La Bahía – Environmental Management Project of The Bay Islands) spent $850,000 to set up the site and another $600,000 to purchase garbage collection and management equipment: two garbage trucks, a compactor and a pusher.

Municipal dump is dotted with piles of old metal roofs, stacks of wooden pallets.

The equipment survived about a decade and the dump site survived 16 years. In 2018 after several outbreaks of fires and constant complaints of the public the PMAIB dump was finally covered up with a layer of dirt. This took place as Mayor Jerry Hynds took over the Municipality in 2018. The island’s refuse management problem was never solved, but only covered up and shifted to a new, adjacent site.

A new site for the growing municipality was needed and Roatan Electric Company (RECO) and Roatan Municipality worked together to secure land nearby the old dump. The site was just raw land devoid of trees yet it to serve as a “temporary” dumping site.

RECO purchased a six-acre property for around $250,000 and donated it to Roatan Municipality. In exchange RECO had promised to put a garbage incinerator on the site and use the capped dump site for a solar farm. Thus RECO has become a party to the Roatan garbage management fiasco.

Kelcy Warren, the American billionaire and owner of RECO, residing sometime on Barbareta, has focused a try-just-about-anything and see-if-it-works strategy for the power company. RECO has run its Wärtsilä generators on natural gas supplied from Warren’s US energy operation.

To the tune of $7 million it has recycled old and obsolete wind turbines for a wind farm and it built two solar plants that destroyed island forest and leveled hills. Warren, trying to add to his hodge-podge island eclectic empire, has been eyeing methane gas from Roatan’s mismanaged dump as another source of energy.

Unfortunately the municipal dump is a disaster that could happen before RECO gets control of the site. With each passing year, the probability of a catastrophic event increases. With the mismanagement of garbage and the proximity of the site to the sea and reef there is a danger of contaminating the island’s marine ecosystem.

Another catastrophic scenario, one of several, is where garbage is carried by water in a natural gulley, passes the mangroves and is carried by the rain water onto the reef of the entire Sandy Bay. This is unfortunately quite possible and would be a truly an ecological calamity.

Just a few months ago a large part of the gully has been interrupted with a mound of dirt mixed with trash. Now the “temporary” dump has a permanent leech pond with floating trash, plastics and rusting pieces of metal.

The volume of the garbage deposited at the dump is growing by 20 percent every year. “When I left we had 18 tons of garbage a day,” says Julio Galindo, ex Roatan Mayor and owner of AKR tourist resort, about the volume of garbage picked that the Roatan Municipal since 2017. “There are probably 40-50 tons [collected] a day now.”

Strong, dangerous chemicals, pollutants and plastics are sunk into the soil below the dump site. The engine of Roatan’s tourist industry – Sandy Bay, is just a hundred meters away, down current from the garbage dump. “Everything is there: car batteries, oils,” says Galindo. “The mangrove not enough to stop the runoff”

There is another, just as scary scenario where the island’s aquifer becomes contaminated by the refuse from the dump. For the past four years chemicals, oils and other contaminants leached into the soil below the “temporary” dump. These hazardous liquids and liquefied contaminants travel dozens of meters down through soil eventually reaching the aquifer used for drinking water across the island.

RECO has become a party to the Roatan garbage management fiasco.

At least the original PMAIB dump had retention walls and polyurethane liner. The “temporary” dump site has none of that. A clear sign of the toxicity of the dump is how, after just a few months, large trees that were left at the “temporary” garbage site had died. They couldn’t handle the pollutants, and toxic chemicals in the ground that slipped in and killed their root system.

There are signals of increased amount of refuse being found all over the island. Over the last several years trash in unprecedented quantities has been washing on to the reef in Palmetto and as far as Camp Bay. The tags from the food products place the origin of the trash as made in Honduras.

The problems with the Roatan garbage dump are not limited to what we could see, or to the solid waste itself. The old garbage site that has been on fire for years has likely not been stabilized and is another disaster waiting to happen. “The dump fire is probably still burning,” says Vernon Albert, a builder with experience in water and waste management from US who has been living and working on Roatan since 2005. “The 4 mm polyurethane heat-sealed liner is probably compromised due to the fire,” says Vernon.

The surface fire that had started on the PMAIB dump in 2013 was finally extinguished in 2018. Roatan Municipality had extinguished the surface fires by bringing in masses of dirt to cover the original dump that has not solved the problem of containing the fires that likely still smolder underneath the dirt cap.

But while the smoke has kept Roatanians preoccupied, the current covering up of the problem does not. The unsightly sight and foul smell is not only a nuisance, but they are also causing diseases and lowering property values in areas close to the dump.

Strong, dangerous chemicals, pollutants and plastics are sunk into the soil.

Galindo has more thoughts on Roatan Municipalities’ handling of the dump in Mud Hole. “The garbage dump is not temporary, it’s been four years now,” says Galindo. “I sold them [Roatan Municipality] 73 acres of land I regret selling them. They haven’t done anything with it,” says Julio Galindo, whose Anthony’s Key Resort is just two miles down from the current garbage dump.

The smell from the burning refuse site has been a headache for property owners and for tourists. The few trees that have been left at the site have died. Their roots were poisoned by the toxic seepage of the garbage: the battery chemicals, the industrial oils, Freon and rust.

There are other people very concerned with what environmental hazard and environmental disaster the dump has been. Nick Bach, of Roatan Marine park also thinks that some trash has been washed from the “temporary Roatan Municipal Dump. “The majority [of trash] comes from the colonias where there is inadequate trash removal and people just throw most of it on the streets, or in the creeks,” said Bach.

Some environmental voices have been critical of the looming environmental calamity. “This temporary dump is a disaster. It doesn’t have a containment wall, and practically has no maintenance,” said Joel Amaya. “There is one or two creeks that take the garbage to the sea, to the mangroves.”

Environmental group such as Bay Islands Conservation Association (BICA) on the other hand have placed the blame of the unfolding environmental disaster on bureaucratic hurdles. “The process of a technical landfill requires an environmental license, which requires the respective studies, which don’t happen overnight,” said Irma Brady, founder of BICA.

“The dump fire is probably still burning.”

The reason why the garbage dump site has been mismanaged for over two decades is also a question of priorities. Roatan Municipality spent millions of dollars to fix national roads while leaving their “temporary” garbage dump with practically no attention. While Roatan Municipality under Jerry Hynds (2018-2022) has embarked on a campaign of building new roads and rebuilding national roads network on the island, the building of a new dump has been placed on the back burner. Also RECO has spent millions of dollars on new solar projects while the site of the temporary garbage dump is a chemical wasteland.

There are few things more important than air and water and earth that we plant our food crops in. The Roatan municipal garbage dump has been affecting all of these issues.

It is also the issue of legacy. Neither municipal government nor any person is entitled to endanger or squabble resources passed onto him by prior generations. Sadly, now islanders find themselves allowing the destruction of the very environment that raised them.

A Large, Potentially Huge Development Project Breaks Ground on Roatan

Próspera’s website states that by 2025 the project will have a “foreign direct investment of at least $500M and new jobs created (direct) of at least 10,000.” On an island of 100,000 people theses numbers are staggering. If Próspera’s goals will ever be achieved they key will lie in tying the project to Honduras’ “Zonas de empleo y desarollo económico” [ZEDE] – Zone for Employment and Economic Development. Próspera is the first company to take advantage of this ZEDE laws passed in 2015. While many islanders dismiss the legislation as irrelevant to their lives, some see its potential as an opportunity for a business boom and others see it as threat to property ownership in Honduras.

The man behind Próspera is Erick Brimen, the company’s Venezuelan born and US educated CEO. His 2005 thesis in Babson College was “how one could direct market forces to solve social problems,” and he sees Roatan Próspera doing just that. While Brimen has been coming to the island since 2016, he has been thinking about Roatan since high school.

“Foreign direct investment of at least $500M and new jobs created (direct) of at least 10,000.” 

In 2002 Brimen heard a high school friend talk about Roatan and describing the island’s potential as being held back because of the lack of legal infrastructure that Cayman Islands had. That friend was Tristan Monterroso, a Roatanian pastor who now sits on Próspera’s council. “When Honduras past the ZEDEs law and the Supreme Court ruled it constitutional it clicked on me that that could be a delivery mechanism for a place like Roatan to have more prosperity,” said Brimen. Two islanders are now part of the project: Tristan Monterroso and Duane McNab, owner of Max Communications and Próspera’s Council Member.

Próspera has begun on an elongated, meandering 58-acre property just east of Crawfish Rock. The site has about 300 feet of beach but its 750-acre master plan calls for 1.2-kilometer beachfront. “Real estate is heavily financed with debt and other sources of capital.” Many of buildings on the master plan are five to seven stories tall being by far the highest buildings on Roatan. Próspera aims at housing a Marine Center, a University and a Hospital that would provide jobs and create a hub and an “economic development platform” for entrepreneurs from around the world and Honduras. “A platform like PRÓSPERA is the future of the island,” said Duane McNab.

Próspera aims at not to be limited to one location on Roatan, and Brimen sees his project not only expanding around Crawfish Rock, but thought the island and beyond. “The idea is to have multiple hubs thought the island that voluntarily annex,” said Brimen. “We don’t own it all; in fact we don’t have to own it for it to become incorporated.” Brimen says that Próspera has already raised $17.5 million from investors and aims to secure another $30 million in a couple years.

“The idea is to have multiple hubs thought the island that voluntarily annex.”

The project’s direct neighbors in Crawfish Rock seem to be supportive of Próspera, but deeply apprehensive of ZEDE laws and it is impossible to separate the two. Próspera wouldn’t have been formed and the capital couldn’t have been attracted if it wasn’t for ZEDES. “I’m in favor of Próspera. I believe they will take our island and Crawfish Rock out of the hole we’re in. I lived over 13 years in Crawfish Rock before I could get running water,” says Virginia Cecilia Mann, resident of Crawfish Rock. Mann says that 95% of Crawfish Rockers are worried of being displaced by the ZEDE laws.

One of the attractions of becoming part of Próspera and ZEDEs are the lower overall taxes: income tax of 10%, land tax of 1 to 2.5%, and 5% VAT sales tax.  “Those are the taxes you pay to Próspera ZEDE. A percentage of these taxes are then paid to five destinations including central government and the Municipality,” said Brimen.  

Launching of a company that as a first takes advantage of ZEDE legislature caused plenty of stir, pushback and questions from locals. A petition organized by “Alliance for the defense of the Bay Islands Territory” and in part by Irma Brady of BICA aims to repeal the ZEDE legislation. Using a change.org platform the group launched a appeal that has gathered 16,000 signatures by September 24. “We don’t aspire to become theoretical experiences of supposed libertarian investors,” stated the petition. “Expropriation (…) to expand the ZEDE territory, for its (sic!) Eventual delivery to foreign investors is unacceptable.”

While some opposing Próspera and ZEDE have put their discontent in words, others have escalated to physical action. A September 18 Brimen’s meeting with Crawfish Rock residents was interrupted by Roatan’s Municipal Police. “My security was threatened because I was seeking to explain how and why ZEDEs and in particular Próspera ZEDE cannot expropriate,” Brimen wrote on public Roatan Whatsapp security group. “I have been threatened by people in powerful positions so if something happens to me, please know it was not an accident.”

Próspera and Roatan are set for a bumpy ride during unpredictable times on a global scale. Honduras is increasing becoming a country of many laws and people who know how to use and interpret these laws are at an advantage. On Roatan alone there are PMAIB laws, ZOLITUR laws, COVID-19 laws, and now there is the ZEDE.  Seeing the big picture in all of this is not easy, but some try to see the positive. “Big projects like this going on despite the pandemic are a good signal,” said about Próspera Dino Silvestri, Governor of the Bay Islands.

A Nonprofit Helps Kids in Crisis Neighborhood

It all started in 2006 on some old, unused, but well lit courts belonging to Anthony’s Key Resort (AKR).With support from the Galindo Family, Elmore and friend &co-founder, Brandon Raab, began encouraging the neighborhood kids to come gather on the courts in the late afternoon and play sports. “That’s the only thing I really knew how to do,” remembers Elmore. Today, the courts still serve as a gathering and play space in the early evening and as a place for skateboarding lessons after school.

Elmore come to Roatan from North Carolina where he had been working with children with emotional challenges. In 2004 he came to Roatan while backpacking in Central America. “I got really seasick on the ferry and postponed leaving. I started meeting people and fell in love with the island and decide that is where I wanted to be,” remembers Elmore. “I wanted to find something that would be fulfilling for my life and that is how SOL came about.”

“I had more than a couple friends die [from opioids],” says Elmore about the West Virginia town where he grew up and worked. “In the town I grew up in, Huntington, you have areas that fell into decay.” In US helping others is not an easy business. One needs insurance, certifications, approvals, training. “You can’t just have a playground and have kids start coming in there,’’ says Elmore. “There are programs in the States, but to get something going like we have here, you have to jump trough so many hoops and so many regulations that we could never do what we are doing here,” said Elmore. “It would almost have to be founded by the government. Here it’s much more organic.” In SOL, Elmore has recreated a place from his youth where one was free to roam through the neighborhood. “To me this place is a bit like where I grew up in 70s, carefree. In the US everything is really organized in structured programs.” Roatan is much more easy going, and kids life is much less structured. “Here you have your cousins and your brothers looking after you, it’s more of a sense of community,” continues Elmore.

The parents know that this is a safe spot for their kids to be at.

Over the years SOL has grown in leaps and bounds expanding its programs and broadening the community it serves. “It hasn’t been planned. It’s been an organic thing,” says Elmore. In keeping with its sports-based beginnings, SOL constructed a youth baseball field in West End aptly named the John J, Woods Field of Dreams. The facility now provides a home for several Little League baseball teams. In 2015, a beach volleyball court was added to support a growing volleyball program. “We are able to do a lot more with our sports teams there,” explains Elmore.

In October 2016 SOL opened its Havey Learning Center housed within the Center for Community growth in partnership with the Bay Islands Conservation Association (BICA) in a building just west of AKR. A year later a West End home was donated and the materials from the home were used to expand the building. “All the wood, sinks, toilets were donated form a West End home that was about to be torn down,” says Elmore. At the Havey Learning Center, SOL offers tutoring along with English, art, and science classes for the 40 to 70 kids that come in to take part in the programs each day. “They can come and they can go at any time, as long as they are getting along,” said Elmore. “We are not a bunch of expats, but a community,” says Kristy Doig, a New Zealander who came to the island in 2001 and is SOL’s Program Director. SOL estimates that in 2017 around 60 volunteers put in at least four hours of work each at the foundation. Over 1,000 children from all around Sandy Bay participated in some program throughout the year. “The community looks after us too,” says Elmore. “The parents know that this is a safe spot for their kids to be at.”

The “Happy Tummies Active Minds Program” began in May 2017. Two chefs: Brittany from Roatan Oasis and Ed from Blue Marlin kick started the program and stepped in to help. “It’s Pizza, Pasta, they learn how to cook and how to cook healthy. So the kids have a better understanding of the food that is going in their belly and how to prepare it themselves,” said Doig.

Most recently SOL purchased a piece of land behind the Center for Community Growth with financial help of some Canadian donors. Now a green space is planned that will eventually include an edible garden and playground space. “After 12-13 years people understand that what you are doing is with their best interest at heart,” shares Elmore.

In addition to the localized impact that SOL has had in Sandy Bay and West End, the organization also distributes school supplies and backpacks at the beginning of each school year throughout the Roatan Municipality. Approximately 800 backpacks should be distributed in the winter of 2019.

One of the countless individual success stories is Keylin, a young woman who attended SOL programs regularly when she was younger. Today she looks after the kids that come to learn, read, or play. “She has really taken ownership of everything. She organizes all the classes, knows which kids are sick, which kids are not going to school. She is our eyes and ears and knows what’s going on with them,” says Elmore.

SOL provides academic scholarships for students to bilingual private schools and also transportation scholarships because, as Doing explains, “transportation is the only thing preventing them from going to high school.” In 2018 the foundation gave out 42 scholarships.

Monthly donations, one-time donations, and in-kind contributions from individuals coupled with three yearly fundraisers help to keep SOL, a 501 (c)(3)U.S. registered nonprofit, running. “We don’t really solicit. It’s mostly people who recognize what we are doing,” said Elmore. In the beginning SOL started with an annual budget of $7,000. Today the annual operating budget is roughly $180,000. “A large portion of the budget is scholarships here and overseas,” says Elmore.

Emiliano Lemus from Tegucigalpa ended up winning the men’s 10k race.

Acropora Eco-Trail Race gets Rotarians Moving

Drenched in sweat, one male runner stood out from the pack. Fifty-one year old Emiliano Lemus, clad in red running sorts, made it to the 10km race finish line before anyone else in just 49 minutes and seconds. “The champion is not the winner, but everyone that makes it to the goal,” said Lemus. One minute later, Andrea Piccinini, an Italian runner living on Roatan, finished his race placing second among the men running the 10K.

As Lemus recovered after the race, he talked about his running career and the race. “The race was well organized. Acropora provided great challenges, humidity being a big one,” said Lemus. The professional runner built his reputation racing in extreme 80 kilometers marathons. He started running at a very young age in the small Honduran town of Intibucá. “I would run 42 kilometers to and from school everyday growing up” said Lemus. Throughout his career, he won impressive titles including breaking a first-place record in a Palm Beach 80K Ultra Marathon. He has also won the 42K Entre Ríos Marathon in Argentina and held titles in Central American and Pan-American races. Lemus currently works as a technical director for Club Beltran. The runners’ club, based in San Pedro Sula, focuses on training new young athletes.

For 69 year-old Kevin Cleaver the Acropora Race was a completely different experience. “I did my 10K before my big 7-0,” said Cleaver one week before his birthday. The American runner finished 23rd in the 10K men’s category. He was confident that he would place in the top group to the finish line. Cleaver’s wife, a brown Taekwondo belt holder, also completed her 10K race at age 63.

The start of the 2k race at Palmetto Bay.

Elvin Canales, a young Roatan volunteer firefighter, won the 5K run. His time was 27 minutes and 30 seconds. “For me it’s a normal day, its part of our everyday training these kind of challenges,” said Canales. The Roatan Fire Brigade had an important role in the race. The entity provided medical assistance to the runners in trouble. Fit firefighters accompanied racers throughout the trails monitoring their progress and looking for signs of distress. The collaboration of different organizations was vital to the event’s success.

The 2018 Acropora Eco Trail, an event organized by the Bay Islands Conservation Association (BICA), and named after the Acropora Palmata coral species, one of the most important species responsible for constructing coral in shallow reef areas, featured a 2K family race, a 5K moderate trail, and a more advanced 10K run. There was a 20K race planned, but it was cancelled as not enough runners signed up. The races started on Palmetto Bay beach and then moved into the tropical jungle overlooking the bay where the athletes were challenged by steep hills and wet descents. Then the runners transitioned onto an extended cement trail before tackling a long stretch of white, sandy beach. Rest stations along the routes offered water and support as BICA employees and race volunteers assisted and encouraged the competitors. The well-planned routes displayed recycled, handmade signs as well as repurposed race trackers. In only its second year, the race attracted 230 competitors: 84 young runners participated in the 2K Family Run; 80 racers tackled the 5K; and the 10K run had 66 participants. Attendees came from all over Roatan and the mainland of Honduras.

Three young runners race towards the finish line of the 10k run.

The sports company Caciques Trail Runners helped to map out and organize the different trails for the Acropora run. For Rolando Flores Vega or “Rolo,” who funded the company, its been three years of promoting mountain trail runs in Honduras. Flores Vega, a runner who previously worked in accountings, saw the opportunity to organize such events in Honduras. “I would go to different trails in Central America and hold the Honduran flag at the end. It was then that I realized there were no similar trail runs in the country” explains Vega. “I marked the routes from 8 pm to 1 am” said Vega, noting that Roatan provides a safe location for this type of race. Organization of the event on the island is very different than in the mainland, especially in terms of security.

Currently sponsored by adventure brand The North Face, Vega has created four annual eco-runs. The other three extreme mountain races take place in Celaque, Tegucigalpa, and San Pedro Sula. The most challenging race is a 45K in Celaque, the Challenge the Sunset Marathon. This race requires reaching the finish line atop the elevated Celaque Peak before the sun sets. “People want a healthier lifestyle. More young people are becoming involved in similar events,” said Vega while commenting on the growing racing movement in Honduras. Currently, there are four important annual national marathons. The Diario La Prensa Marathon, the largest one in the country, takes place in San Pedro Sula. The event that started in June of 1975 has an average attendance of 5,000 athletes. Other national races include the Sula Marathon, the Gatorade Marathon, and the Atlantic Marathon. These are all full 42K competitions that take place in different parts of the mainland. The races promote and attract participation from both national and international runners. Roatan does not yet have a marathon of its own, but the island has featured smaller races such as the Extreme Roatan Race last held in 2017 in Blue Harbor Plantation and consisting of a 4K obstacle course, and now the Acropora Eco-Trail Race which was inaugurated in 2017 featuring a different route (the race began at Megaplaza in French Harbor and ended in Palmetto Bay).

An athlete who twisted his ankle during the race is tended to by red cross volunteers.

“Acropora represents a new way the organization is creating consciousness and providing environmental education,” said Gisselle Brady, BICA’s program director. The race was initially started with funds given to BICA by the governmental Coastal Marine Project to increase awareness of the northern Honduran protected areas. Since 1990, BICA has worked tirelessly in environmental education while also establishing research projects and patrolling the coastal national parks. “Isn’t our municipal dumpster a big enough sign that we have a problem?” said Brady while discussing the race’s details. For Brady, also a research biologist, waste management and preservation of the ocean and its wildlife will ensure a future for the island and its inhabitants. This year, the International Year of the Reef, the event’s educational focus was to raise awareness about the impact of plastic waste on our oceans and to support two recently proposed municipal ordinances. One would ban the use of plastic bags and the other would eliminate plastic drinking straws in the municipality. The petition to ban plastic straws was also made available on international online platform change.org. To date over thousand supporters had signed the petition.

Representing the Roatan Municipal Corporation, Councilman Rully Siguenza delivered a donation of Lmp 10,000 in support to the event. The current administration has expressed its will to provide solutions to the island’s different environmental problems.

Acropora also had the support of diverse Roatan-based businesses. “I think education and eco-responsible tourism is very important for a small piece of paradise like Roatan. This island is growing very fast and we need to do the changes right now,” said Patrice Bellemare, owner of a Sandy Bay dive shop. The presence of national sponsors was also visible. Banpais bank sponsored awards for first to third places in the different running categories. The 5K and 10K winners received a Lmp 3000 prize. All winners also received a reusable bag and varied gift certificates from the business sponsors. For next year, the organizations expressed their hopes in continued improvement and expansion of the event.

Author Vania Suazo (third from left) runs cross county in her 5k race.

MY OWN 5K

It was my first time running a race in five years. My friend and I drove into the venue early in the morning to find that people were already jogging & stretching. Everyone seemed excited and looked prepared under the bright Roatan sun. One of the registrants, who was also celebrating her daughter’s birthday, greeted us with a smile while busily signing up all the attendees. Experienced runners were warming up and gaining focus. Less experienced runners were figuring out what exactly to do.

The start of the 5K race was announced. We all went under the big red start line that proudly displayed the #onlyforthewildones slogan. As the horn was blasted, young runners sprinted towards the natural trail. I decided to not rush into the trail and stayed behind figuring out my pace.

Faced with an uphill route, the participants started climbing and the pack of competitors quickly established a pace. The top was reached without much difficulty. The downhill proved far more challenging as single runners began to slide down the muddy, slippery trail. My friend and race partner fell and twisted her ankle, wincing in pain. While I was providing assistance, other runners asked if they could help, but she insisted that she would finish and would continue by herself. Taken as my official “go” sign, I started to run.

The trail started to get flatter and my pace accelerated. Quickly enough, a new segment surfaced, a cement road that extended into a big mud lot. As I went through the mud, I finally saw white sand again. Once my feet made it to the sand, I could see the beautiful turquoise beach was ahead. At this point, my body was tired and my legs had started to hurt. It seemed like all the runners were struggling. As if in a mirage, a runner dressed all in red started to outrun every runner he passed. Right behind him, there was another runner with golden-tanned skin. They both seemed to have a similar pace. It almost looked synchronized.

The end was near. My mind kept pushing me to run as hard as I could. Every time I felt another runner picked up their pace I did so myself. After passing the shoreline curves, there was movement again. The finish line was greeting every runner. In those last minutes, all the runners gave their best. The beach was filled with running shoe tracks and sweat drops. Everyone was a winner on their own terms.