An Island Pet Food Company Prepares for Going Regional

The origin of Cummins’ adventure with dog food goes back to 2021 during the COVID lockdowns. As his IT clients shut down one by one, he found himself with lots of free time and little income. Providence knocked on his door. “A friend had a dog with sores on his neck, and face and veterinarians agreed that this condition had to do with the pet’s food,” says Cummins. He decided to make some dog food from scratch, as no such dog food is sold on the island. “I came up with a recipe that cleared those sores in two to three weeks,” said Cummins. “And the dog loved the food.”

“When life gives you lemons, make lemonade,” goes the proverbial phrase, and Cummins expanded his dog food experiment to feed several other dogs. All of them loved it. He purchased a mixer and began working out of his home kitchen. Cummins founded Roatan Pets in late 2020 and began selling his dog food in mid 2021.

Cummins came to Roatan in 2001 to escape a stressful job in the US and, purchased Paradise Computers internet café in Coxen Hole. In November 2002, he brought high speed internet to Roatan. Two decades later, he has refocused on a business about as far from IT as you can get. Cummins is best at generating business ideas and getting these businesses going.

I came up with a recipe that cleared those sores.

The global pet food industry has exploded in the last decade, and Cummins has discovered a niche in the growth of this industry in Latin America. He has plans to expand his small operations into a million-dollar food company within five years.

Latin America has the highest number of dog pets per capita of any region. According to Cummins, Latin Americans outspends their US counterparts $825 to $770 per year on dog food. “It’s shocking,” says Cummins.

Statista.com estimates that the US pet food market is growing in Honduras at around 6-7 percent per year, and is currently at $11 million. The dog food available on Roatan is either produced in the US, or in Guatemala. Dogui was a Guatemalan-owned brand before it was purchased by Multinational Cargill.

The commercial dry dog food that is being fed to most dogs on Roatan is inexpensive, but it can cause health, nutrition, and longevity issues in pets that eat it. “Feeding your dog commercial dried food every day is like eating at McDonalds every day,” said Cummins, who says that positive effects of switching a dog to wet food comes with visible improvements within just a couple of weeks. “I don’t know if you can repair past damage, [but] you’ll see the coat of the pet change. It will be softer, it will be glossier, and it will be shinier.”

The list of dog owners buying Roatan Pets wet dog food for Lps. 100 a pound is growing. The pet food industry is a very emotional economic sector, and its customers develop an emotional reaction to the products they choose for their dogs and cats. “For a lot of people, their pet is like their kid, it’s a child for them,” says Cummins, adding that during the COVID lockdowns, many childless couples began treating their dog or a cat as their child.

Roatan pet owners had to rely on US-made commercial dog food and slightly lighter fillers from canned food. “Generally, skin conditions are caused by fillers: corn, soybeans, or the chemicals that are in commercial dog food – preservatives or flavoring or coloring,” Mitch said about commercial dog food. “All of those are chemical additives. I think that about 95 percent of skin conditions in dogs are based on food allergies.” The dogs don’t handle chemical additives well, and their digestive systems weren’t made to handle those additives.

We try to cook everything as little as possible.

The dog food mixing and packaging operation moved from Cummins’ home basement in West Bay to a commercial space next to the new Serrano’s hardware store in French Harbour. Roatan Pets has three employees, and relies on Rosita Butcher Shop for meat scraps and Disandy for vegetables. Roatan Pets has plenty of space for processing and packaging food –there are grinders, a freeze dryer, and a dehumidifying room.

The key to making the dog food affordable is locating protein sources that are inexpensive and in plentiful supply. The proteins in his dog food selections are beef, chicken, liver, and sometimes fish. Meet scraps are obtained from the local butcher shop Rosita. Cummins determined that the cheapest nutritional chicken on the island came from the US. “That shocked me,” said Cummins. “That is the cheapest nutritional chicken I could find.”

The proteins and bones are ground up separately in a grinding machine. The calcium from the bones is beneficial to the dog’s diet. Beef, chicken, and fish are cooked separately first, and liver is added at the very end. Rice and sweet potatoes are mixed in at the last stage. Then the food is cooked again so the flavors could mix. “We try to cook everything as little as possible. So it is safe and edible for the animal,” says Cummins.

While pasteurization at 140 degrees Fahrenheit for 20 minutes kills all pathogens, most commercial pet food companies prefer to save time by cooking it at 400 degrees, which eliminates all the food’s nutritional value. The process is cheaper, but the pet ends up eating more to satisfy its nutritional requirements. Roatan Pets prepares its food differently – “We cook the food as minimally as we can,” says Cummins, who even experimented making raw dog food. He says that the island climate would spoil the food in about a day. The high temperature and high humidity would affect the food and the pathogens would grow.

Production in November 2024 grew to about 200-300 lbs per week, and most of his customers are subscription-based.

Roatan Pets has some customers in Utila and Guanaja, and for a while in Trujillo but no longer. Roatan Pets has five main dog food recipes, and another 40 variant recipes off those. The wet food is packaged in one, two, three, five, and ten pounds bags, and sold frozen to clients through Roatan.

Roatan Pets is exploring freeze-drying as a method to expand its production — a process that removes nearly all moisture from the food. The freeze dried food is then vacuum sealed, and has a shelf life of 20 to 25 years when the bag is sealed. Once opened and sealed back when not in use, the dog food should be good for several months. As another plus, freeze dried dog food will be much less bulky and lighter than wet food.

Another benefit to this process is that while dehydration removes about 30-40 percent of the food’s nutritional value, freeze drying retains about 98 percent. It is a 24 hour process, regardless of the quantity of the food being processed. In the end, between a quarter and one-third of a cup of freeze-dried food is needed to make a pound of dog food.

Once water is added, the food is back to its original state, before the dry freezing had been applied, in about five minutes. Once it is freeze dried, the customer base should expand exponentially.

Despite being a good retail market, Roatan is a far-from-perfect place to launch a pet food production facility. The supply chain is such that there are times that it is difficult to get certain vegetables for weeks at a time. Island rent and labor costs are also high. “Roatan was probably the worst place to start this business,” says Cummins. Virtually all the ingredients used to make the dog food come from the mainland, and the electricity powering Roatan Pet’s large machines costs four times more than on the mainland.

We are going to be selling all over Central America.

There are a few advantage of being based on the island, however. Roatan has been a good market to launch the business, and to learn the finer details. Cummins knows many people here, and in all likelihood there are several thousand dogs living on the island.

As Roatan Pets grew, Cummins realized that his business could be scaled way up quickly. “Within three years, we are going to be selling all over Central America,” says Cummins. “In four or five years we’ll be in Mexico. Once in Mexico, we’ll be in the States, in a limited way.” The future is looking bright.

A chance encounter with a dog suffering from a rash set Mitch on a path that, four years later, has him building a regional dog food business. His venture aims to provide pet owners from Mexico to Panama with high-quality, preservative- and coloring-free food for their pets.

Five Centuries of European Presence in Honduras

This year, 2024, marks 500 years of a permanent European presence in Honduras. The civilization brought here by Spanish conquistadors half a millennium ago set Honduras on a path to poses a common language, Christianity, an administrative system, schools, roads, and a legal system. All which glues Honduran society together began in March 1524. Yet, you would not know that living here.
The Honduran government held no celebrations to mark this occasion. The Catholic Church in Honduras held no celebrations of 500 years of presence of Catholic sacraments in the country. Even the Spanish embassy in Honduras showed limited interest in talking about the mid-millennial anniversary with Paya Magazine. This willful disinterest in celebrating – or even acknowledging – the Christian, western roots of Honduras signifies something. It signifies that the powers that control the discourse in Honduras hold European and Christians culture in little regard. That of the religion and Christianity of the country’s fathers and forefathers.
There are also no Spanish embassy lectures or exhibitions. Spanish themselves have bought into the idea that for 300 years they have raped and pillaged the indigenous population, and that there is no reason to celebrate the half-millennium anniversary this year.
Honduras has but a peripheral battlefield in the culture wars taking place across the globe. The European and Christian civilization is increasingly vilified and devalued. There are groups interested in debasing not only European culture, but Christianity in particular.

The reality was that the Spanish came to the Americas for a variety of reasons. Some came to gain fame, glory, and riches. Other came to set up roads and build churches and cities. Others yet came to spread Christian faith and educate the natives.

That is a rich tapestry of Spanish men, who sacrificed, suffered, and died while creating the foundation of what is today Honduras. They brought with them the Catholic sacraments, Spanish language, Latin alphabet, a moral code, construction, administration, and a monetary and legal system.

All that laid a foundation of today’s Honduran identity.

You would not know this by visiting the museum of National Identity in Tegucigalpa. There, the Spanish across 300 years are given almost no credit. The sad fact is that Honduras’ history and identity has been captured by forces opposed to Western and Catholic values.

European and Christian civilization is increasingly vilified and devalued.

The 500 year anniversary of European and Christian presence in Honduras was not and will not be celebrated. Except for local events in Tela, there were no celebrations of the events that took place exactly 500 years ago in what is today Honduras. There were no celebrations of first European colonist’s arrival in the country. There were no celebrations of the arrival of Christianity and the first sacraments that took place in Honduras in 1524.

Honduras’ Discovery

On Columbus’s fourth voyage (1502-04) to the Americas, the great explorer finally set foot on the American continent. He did this on Honduran soil. This fact is little appreciated and even less celebrated in this Central American nation. His fourth expedition was made in his final attempt to find a maritime route to the Far East. While failing to do so, Columbus begun a chapter in Spanish and European colonization of the Americas.

The explorer’s first sitting of what is today Honduras took place on July 30, 1502, when he visited Guanaja, which he named Isla de Pinos – Pine island. He spent several days with the local Paya Indians and then continued to the coast, visible in the distance only 40 miles away. He named the mainland Honduras – depths after the deep water off the coast.

Capitanía, Santiago, Gallego and Vizcaíno, sailed 40 miles south to reach Punta Castilla.

While at sea Columbus came upon a Maya canoe on a trading expedition to the Payas. The canoe, captained by an elderly man, likely came from Nito – a Mayan port 200 miles west at the mouth of Río Dulce. The Mayan canoe was large and seaworthy: eight feet wide and 100 feet in length.

The canoe was covered by a canopy in its middle portion. It accommodated 25 men, women, and children. It carried large and varied goods: cacao, cotton ornamented garments, crucibles for melting copper, flint-edged wooden swords, stone axes, and knives. This was the first interaction between Europeans and Mayas.

Columbus’ four Spanish ships: Capitanía, Santiago, Gallego and Vizcaíno, sailed 40 miles south to reach Punta Castilla. It was the first landing of the Spanish on the American mainland, and it took place in Honduras. It took the Spanish a decade of exploration in the Caribbean to finally land on the mainland.

On August 13, 1502, the first Catholic mass was celebrated on the American continent. Brother Alejandro of Barcelona celebrated that mass in Puerto Castilla, and then named Punta Caxinas. Columbus, who was given the authority of the Spanish crown to do so, claimed the territory that we know today as Honduras for the king, Ferdinand the V of Spain.

Unlike the 2024 missing celebrations, on August 13, 2002, Honduran and other bishops celebrated the 500 year anniversary of the first mass on the American continent. This was celebrated near Punta Caxina, or just outside of Puerto Castillo. Columbus also sailed further into the Trujillo Bay, to Trujillo itself.

Honduras’ Conquista

After the conquest of Mexico in 1519-1521 the Spanish turned their attention to lands south: Honduras, Nicaragua, and Panama. They also continued looking for a maritime passage to the East Indies.

The terra incognita that was America was still mostly an unexplored and open book. While Hernán Cortés was the grand explorer of Mexico, his captains kept discovering populous areas full of riches promising them income from tributes, plantations, and gold. The idea of being a governor of a large province made one Spanish conquistador turn against the other. The territory of Honduras and Nicaragua attracted three suitors. The permanent presence of the Spanish in Honduras came three years later, in the spring of 1524.

Velázquez managed to convince Olid to betray Cortés.

The first to land in Honduras was Gil González Dávila, who claimed the land under the auspices of the Spanish crown. The Spanish king authorized González to seek passage to the Pacific along the Honduran coast. On March 19, 1524 González left Santo Domingo with four ships. He commanded an impressive force of 300 men and 50 horses. He landed in an area called Cieneguita, and funded Villa de la Natividad de Nuestra Señora near today’s Puerto Cortés.

He had to lighten the ship by throwing 17 of his 50 horses overboard, hence the name Puerto Caballos (now Puerto Cortés). González then sailed further west, to the Bay of Amatique and the Río Dulce, where he founded the town of San Gil de Buenavista.

The second conquistador to arrive in Honduras was Cristóbal de Olid. Olid was Cortés’ trusted and tested man. He had served Cortés well being one of his four captains that lead Spanish forces in the conquest of Mexico. Olid helped to capture Xochimilco in a key battle of the Mexican campaign. At one point Olid even saved Cortés from certain death as Cortés was captured by the Aztecs.

The Spanish conquest of the Americas was full of intrigue between the conquistadores themselves who competed not only in spreading the Spanish empire, but in creating provinces and territories of which they could become governors.

Olid was camp commander in May 1520, while a trial of Juan de Villafaña, on charge of plotting to assassinate Cortés, was being held. Four years later, as a form of reward, Hernán Cortés dispatched Olid by ship to Honduras with orders to establish a town.

In January 1524, Olid departed with six ships and 400 men for Cuba. He also brought many arms, artillery pieces, and 8,000 pieces of gold to buy horses and vestments. In Cuba, he met with Diego Velázquez, the island’s governor and a known political enemy of Cortés.

Velázquez was aware of Cortés being appointed by King Carlos, governor of New Spain, and resented his success. Velázquez managed to convince Olid to betray Cortés and accept his sponsorship during the conquista of Honduras.

On May 3, 1524 Olid landed in today’s Tela bay, likely to avoid confronting the expedition of González which had arrived in Puerto Cabezas just a few weeks earlier. Thus Olid founded the port of Triunfo de la Cruz, a town that is known today as Tela.

Upon landing on Honduras’ coast, Olid acted in a resolute manner. He decided not to act quickly, but to better establish himself, gain strength, and gather knowledge in order to truly understand if the new lands were worth the political risk of standing up to Cortés. Olid took position of Honduras in the name of Cortés, but held papers that referred to himself, a shrewd but ultimately disastrous strategy.

Olid can arguably be considered the founder of what would eventually become Honduras.

In June 1524, Cortés acted upon his knowledge of Olid betraying him. He sent his trusted lieutenant and cousin Francisco de Las Casas with five well-armed ships and men to Honduras to confront and arrest Olid. All of a sudden, Olid found himself fighting on two fronts. He was confronting the expedition of Gil González Dávila on land and de las Casas at Sea.

Fate intervened as Las Casas sailed to Puerto Caballos, now controlled by Olid. “Olid decided to launch an attack with two caravels. Las Casas returned fire and sent boarding parties, which captured Olid’s ships. Under the circumstances, Olid proposed a truce to which Las Casas agreed, and he did not land his forces. During the night, a fierce storm destroyed his fleet and about a third of his men were lost. The remainder was taken prisoner after two days of exposure and without food. After being forced to swear loyalty to Olid, they were released,” writes Robustiano Vera in his 1899 book “Notes on the history of Honduras.”

Fate has favored Olid until that time. “Las Casas was kept a prisoner, soon to be joined by González, who had been captured by Olid’s inland force,” writes Robustiano Vera. As he fled, González was surprised near Choloma and brought to Olid by Briones, one of Olid’s captains.

Olid became victorious against two divided foes, and moved the men to the town of Naco, a large pre-Hispanic town right outside of the Maya territory, but certainly with contact and trade with the Maya. While Naco today is an unimpressive dirt road settlement, 500 years ago it was the center of a three way competition of Spanish conquistadores trying to secure land that promised perhaps as many resources and opportunities as Mexico just a couple of years before.

Fortunes turned on Olid’s miscalculation. Olid allowed his two prisoners to leave their prison and have dinner with him. “One night after the snack, and Olid being alone with his prisoners, Las Casas got up and grabbed Olid by the beard and buried a sharp knife that he had hidden under his dress in his throat. Gil González threw himself at the same time and also cruelly wounded him… Thus he was able to escape and went to hide in some bushes,” writes Robustiano Vera in his 1899 book “Notes on the history of Honduras.”

Olid was eventually found out and brought back. Olid was accused of treason against the Spain’s royal power. A brief trial took place and Olid was found guilty and sentenced to death. On January 16, 1525, his head was cut off and placed on a spike on the main plaza in the town of Naco. This rushed judgment and execution came into question soon after in Mexico. Even the locals felt this was not a fair treatment for Olid.

The relationship with the new Spanish bosses and local population deteriorated. The locals refused to supply more food and the Spanish left. Las Casas and González left for Mexico, and other settler went to establish settlements in other parts of Honduras.

Olid can arguably be considered the founder of what would eventually become Honduras. To other conquistadors, Olid was seen as an independent operator, dangerous to other Spanish players – especially Cortés.

When Las Casa and González returned to Mexico, the new man in charge – Salazar de la Pedrada – had replaced Cortés as governor and didn’t like them making themselves the judge and executioner of a well respected Olid. What didn’t help was that the two continued to insist they owed their alliance to Cortés and not to Pedrada. So Salazar de la Pedrada had them arrested and tried for Olid’s execution. He was determined to execute them, but finally, the two were taken to Spain as prisoners and avoided further consequences.

Cortés himself avoided travelling through Naco.

Cortés in Honduras

Hernán Cortés decided to head to Honduras himself in 1525, via a land route. Cortés’s main force headed for the coast, while a smaller force travelled by land, south to Naco.
When Cortés arrived in Nito, on the tip of the Bay of Honduras on his overland journey from Mexico, the settlement was manned with a few dozen Spaniards, ill-provisioned and unhealthy form malaria and other diseases. A Spanish ship full of provisions arrived just in time.

The Spanish raced to repair a caravel and a brigantine and sail east to arrive in Honduras by sea. Nito was judged too unhealthy to remain. Cortés himself avoided travelling through Naco on his march across Mayan country and travelled from Río Dulce via boat to Puerto Cortés, then Trujillo, then set off north to Havana.

Captain Sandoval of Cortés’s crew went with soldiers and settlers to the valley of Naco, where Olid made his headquarters earlier. Sandoval found Naco deserted right before their arrival. This was not uncommon. The Spanish would find abandoned towns on their paths of conquest as populations fearing for their lives would scatter and leave everything behind. “We took up our quarters in some very large courts where they had beheaded Cristobal de Olid. The pueblo was well provisioned with maize and beans and Chili peppers, and we also found a little salt which was the thing we needed most,” wrote Bernal Díaz of his arrival in Naco. Even though Spanish conquest disrupted trade, Naco recovered and continued operating as a trade center.

Paya Magazine went looking for the unknown burial site of de Olid.

Nonetheless, the Spanish were impressed with the natural resource of the valley and Naco river. “In this pueblo is the best water we have found in New Spain, and a tree which in the noon-day heat, be the sun ever so fierce, appears to refresh the heart with its shade, and there falls from it a sort of very fine dew which comforts the head,” according to 1539 accounts of Francisco de Montejo.

1525 and After

One of Francisco de Las Casas parting contributions to Honduran History was the founding of the country’s third oldest city, and later its first capital, Trujillo. On May 18, 1525 de las Casas founded Trujillo before departing with his prisoner Gil González Dávila.

Later in 1520s Honduras saw several explorers and conquistadores from Spain. One of them was the Juan de Grijalva who explored Cuba in 1511 and then Mexican coasts on Yucatan and Tabasco in 1518. In 1527 de Grijalva joined Pedro Arias Dávila in exploration of Honduras and Nicaragua. Grijalva was killed by natives in Olancho and buried there.

Olid’s Lost Grave

Without a doubt the principal historical figure of Honduras’ Conquista was that of Cristóbal de Olid. He is the country’s forgotten conquistador, and an overlooked hero that brought the first vestiges of western civilization, Christianity, and European administration.

Paya Magazine went looking for the unknown burial site of de Olid. We made two trips to Naco, Cortés, and areas surrounding that town. While Naco is now a backwater town, it was once a well known and well inhabited place.

The town is located where Naco river runs into Chamelecón river and where the valley widens, allowing ample area for cultivation. The Naco Valley is situated in the middle part of the Chamelecón Valley. In the 1500s, Naco was estimated to have as many as 10,000 inhabitants and was located on the edge of Mayan civilization. Mayan language was certainly spoken, or at least known to the natives. The Spanish were already familiar with Mayan civilization and dialects during their conquest of Mexico in the years prior.

His contribution to the Honduran nation remain unacknowledged.

The foothill area where we focused our search for de Olid’s grave is known to be under control of narco gangs. While we looked for Olid’s grave, we found many abandoned graves but nothing dating further than maybe a century.

While Naco is forgotten, it is still one of Honduras’ premier colonial archeological sites. It was located in a transitional zone between the Maya to the west and non-Maya tribes to the East. “Historical and archaeological evidence indicates that Naco, one of the principal late pre-Hispanic centers in the region, maintained strong ties with the rest of the Maya world and with non-Maya Central America,” writes John Henderson of Cornell University.

The archeological location of the Naco can be traced to Naco Nuevo and Las Flores de Naco. Local oral tradition remembers “El Rey” who fled wounded to the El Salto waterfall on the Naco River. According to the story, he was brought back from there and killed. In high likelihood, the story described Cristobal de Olid final days.

Where to Honduran Man?

A man who not knows his father, will not know his past and will not be in control of his destiny. The people who are in charge in Honduras, those obliging memorization of national hymns and requiring school children parades in Lempira costumes, are interested in keeping the memory of Olid and other Spanish conquistadors unknown.

While Olid was accused of treason and executed, that is nothing new. Fierce competition and even summary execution of conquistadors was not without precedent.
Olid met the same fate as reputed founder of Nicaragua, Francisco Hernández de Córdoba, two years later in 1526. Cordoba, the founder of Granada and Leon, was executed in Leon Viejo by the order of Pedro Arias de Ávila, the colonial administrator who was named governor of Nicaragua a year later.

Since Córdoba was accused as an insurrectionist and a traitor, he was beheaded. His headless remains were discovered in 2000, in a crypt at the church of La Merced in León Viejo. That same year his remains were moved to a monument at the old Managua cathedral and honored with a 21 cannon salute.

Olid’s remains, on the other hand, remain undiscovered. His contribution to the Honduran nation remain unacknowledged. While ignored, the undisputed fact is that Cristobal del Olid was a first class adventurer and valiant conquistador. There is a valid case for Hondurans to claim Olid as their founding father.

When Roatan was Part of The Mexican Empire

Two hundred years ago, Roatan was a part of Mexico, and the island’s head of state was Augustin I. The several hundred Garifuna living on the east side of the island enjoyed the freedom to travel as far as California or Tejas if they wished. While the First Mexican Empire lasted only 18 months, it established a precedent for larger geopolitical agreements like NAFTA (The North American Free Trade Agreement) or CAFTA (Central America-Dominican Republic Free Trade Agreement) on a regional and global scale that continue to have a significant impact to this day. On January 5, 1822, Roatan, along with the rest of Central America, became part of the Mexican Empire as the territory was annexed by Mexico. The period from 1822 to 1823 marked the second of three times when Roatan and the Bay Islands were integrated into a larger geopolitical entity with a king, queen, or emperor serving as its top executive. Prior to this, for 297 years, from 1524 to 1821, the islands were formally a part of the Spanish Empire as part of the Captaincy General of Guatemala. Thirty years after the First Mexican Empire, in 1852, the Bay Islands became a part of another empire, the British Empire, under Queen Victoria. The Bay Islands Colony remained under British rule for a bit longer, lasting nine years until 1861.

Provincial governors appointed by the Spanish still held sway in the region.

Honduras’ Place in the Empire

In the 1820s, the elites of Honduras’ then-capital, Comayagua, along with those in Nicaragua’s León, were among the more supportive groups favoring annexation. Of the five Central American countries, Honduras was perhaps the most enthusiastic about becoming part of the Mexican Empire.
In contrast, other provinces in Central America, aside from Chiapas, were less keen on gaining independence from Spain only to relinquish it to a Mexican Empire. The political elites in El Salvador, Costa Rica, and Granada, Nicaragua, were so opposed to the idea that they even considered military resistance.
The political dilemma primarily concerned the political elite of the Central American countries. For the majority of the region’s population, who lived their lives on a local scale, such matters were of little concern. They were not preoccupied with analyzing the nuances, benefits, or opportunities of living in either a republic or an empire governed by a crowned head of state in Mexico or Spain. Most indigenous peoples remained indifferent to the issue of Honduras’ annexation into Mexico.
On November 28, 1821, Agustín de Iturbide formally requested the annexation of Central America into the Mexican Empire in a letter. He argued that stability and security in Central America could only be achieved through union with Mexico. “My object is only to manifest to you that the present interest of Mexico and Guatemala is so identical or indivisible that they cannot constitute themselves in separate or independent nations without risking the security of each,” he wrote.
Agustín de Iturbide sought a peaceful annexation and took decisive steps to ensure its success. He dispatched troops to Central America to maintain civil order and appointed Brigadier General Vicente Filísola to establish and solidify Mexican control over the region.

Honduras was perhaps the most enthusiastic about becoming part of the Mexican Empire.

In response to Agustín’s letter, all 237 municipalities across Central America published its contents and held open municipal council meetings to allow citizens to weigh in on the government’s decisions. After 30 days, a vote on annexation was conducted. The cabildos voted for complete annexation without conditions. On January 5, 1822, the Consultative Junta voted unanimously in favor of annexing Central America to the Mexican Empire.
As a result of the annexation, this included Guatemala, El Salvador, Honduras, Nicaragua and Costa Rica, Mexico reached its greatest territorial extent. The people of Central America, as well as Roatán’s Garifuna population, were automatically granted Mexican citizenship.

Roatan’s Place in the Mexican Empire

In 1823, Roatan was part of an empire that stretched from mission settlements in San Francisco, California, to Costa Rica. Unlike its nearby desert islands of Utila and Guanaja, Roatan was inhabited on its eastern end by several hundred Garifuna people.
Interestingly, it was the British who sowed the seeds of colonization, initially aligning the island with the Spanish Empire, then the Mexican Empire, and eventually Honduras. The Garifuna, brought by the British military, landed on Roatan on the stormy day of February 25, 1797. These Roatan Garifuna were part of a larger group of 5,000 who were forcibly removed by the British from the island of St. Vincent. Known as the Black Caribs, they were transported from St. Vincent via Jamaica to Roatan aboard the HMS Experiment.
By 1822, Roatan was a distant Mexican possession, much like Tejas, California, and New Mexico. However, Roatan was far from a deserted island; it had a vibrant population of a few hundred Garifuna who had experienced two wars with Great Britain. While Roatan and Trujillo were the original points of Garifuna settlement, the Black Caribs were also establishing communities along the Honduran coast, reaching as far as Tela and the Mosquito Coast.
The Garifuna of Roatan received support from the Catholic Church and the Diocese of Trujillo. A common approach for aiding a remote Catholic community like Roatan’s was to periodically send a Catholic priest to the island to celebrate Mass and administer sacraments such as baptisms and marriages.

Roatan’s Garifuna population, were automatically granted Mexican citizenship.

Tragedy of Agustin I

On May 18, 1822, the military in Mexico City proclaimed Iturbide as Emperor Agustín I. A day later, a majority in the Mexican Congress ratified the decision and recommended that the Mexican monarchy be hereditary.
Developments unfolded rapidly, and on July 21, Iturbide was consecrated as Emperor in Mexico City’s cathedral in a grand ceremony. His wife, Ana María Huarte, was crowned
Empress of Mexico. The event bore similarities to the 1804 crowning of Napoleon Bonaparte in Reims Cathedral.
Agustín’s prestige began to wane rapidly, and a rift developed between the army supporting him and the civilian Congress. Just three months after his coronation, on October 31, 1822, Agustín dissolved Congress and began ruling through an appointed 45-member junta. This act served as a pretext for the subsequent revolt against him.
On March 19, 1823, in the wake of a plot against him, Agustín abdicated the Mexican throne and went into exile, bringing an end to the history of the first Mexican Empire. In its stead, three Mexican military officers – Nicolás Bravo, Guadalupe Victoria, and Pedro Negrete – established the Supreme Executive Power.
The abdication of Emperor Agustín marked the end of Central America and Honduras being part of Mexico. On March 29, 1823, after news of Agustín’s abdication reached the region, plans were made to form a Central American congress to determine its future. On April 1, 1823, the Mexican Constituent Congress instructed the Mexican military in Central America to cease hostilities with anti-annexation forces.

Central American Congress

On June 18, 1823, the Mexican congress instructed Filísola to attend the upcoming session of the Central American congress. He received instructions to respect the Central American congress’s decision on whether to remain in union with Mexico or become an independent state.
The final chapter of Bay Islands being part of Mexico unfolded on June 29, 1823. Out of the 41 representatives in Congress, 37 voted to appoint Delgado as the president of the National Constituent Assembly of Central America. On July 1, 1823, this assembly declared independence from Mexico and reaffirmed their independence from Spain. This historic declaration marked the birth of the United Provinces of Central America, with all states except Chiapas choosing to be independent.

I die with honor, not as a traitor.

Why the Empire didn’t last

The short-lived Mexican Empire faced numerous adversaries and conspirators who were opposed to the idea of a powerful, Catholic nation spanning from the Pacific to the Atlantic across such a vast territory. During the reign of Augustin I, U.S. envoys were already engaged in efforts to persuade Mexican officials to sell their northern territory. This precedent had been established two decades earlier, in 1803, with the questionable acquisition of 530 million acres of French Louisiana from Emperor Napoleon.
The French Revolution of 1789 and the American Revolution both had a dominant, albeit not frequently discussed, presence of Freemasonry within the ranks of the revolutionaries. The Freemasonic influences and their agendas, which included anti-monarchism and opposition to the Church, played a prevailing role in these revolutions. Freemasonry was also pivotal in the overthrow of Spanish rule and the Spanish monarchy in the Americas.
Following the departure of the Spanish and a weakened Catholic Church, Mexico turned into a tumultuous battleground marked by the presence of three secret societies: York Rite Masonry, Continental Masonry, and National Mexican Rite Masonry. The situation escalated to such an extent that just five years after the dissolution of the Mexican Empire, in 1827, the Montaño rebellion called for the prohibition of secret societies throughout the country. The scheming York Rite Freemason and U.S. diplomat, Joel Roberts Poinsett, was expelled from Mexico during this turbulent period.

Iturbide’s Death

After his abdication, Iturbide chose to seek refuge first in Italy and later in England. In England, he earned income by writing memoirs. Unbeknownst to him, the Mexican Congress, fearful of his return, had issued a decree condemning him to death as a traitor in case he set foot in Mexico again.
Iturbide arrived in Mexico in July 1824. Just four days later, on July 19, in Padilla, Tamaulipas, Iturbide, often referred to as the Iron Dragon, received his last rites and was executed by firing squad. His final words were: “Mexicans! In the very moment of my death, I implore you to love your homeland and to uphold our religion, for it will lead you to glory. I die having come here to assist you, and I face death with courage, for I die among you. I die with honor, not as a traitor. I leave no stain on my children or my legacy. I am not a traitor. No.”

Quiet Life After Decades at Sea

His grandmother Decidelia Solorzano from Olancho raised him until he was seven and at age ten the young Sam would do “machete work,” clearing bush for people and earning two Lempira a day. “No man worked harder than me,” says Mr. Sam. “Money had value those days. Today it has no value.”

There were no schools nearby and getting education was dependent on tutors and family usually using Royal Readers. “I don’t know what a schoolhouse looks like,” says Mr. Samuel, who was taught to read and write by his stepfather, Archibald Hinds, who came from Barbados.

At 24, Mr. Samuel married a friend he met in church, her name was Juliet Francelia Gale. He built an 18 foot by 14 foot “bush house with a porch on it” for his new family and thus his married life had begun. The couple had two girls: Greta, Wilma, and a boy named Buel.

Money had value those days. Today it has no value.

When he was 33 his life took a drastic turn. It was 1967 and he picked up a contract to work on “Red Diamond V” a frozen foods transport ship sailing between Bluefields Bluff, Nicaragua and Brownsville, Texas. The 104 foot long ship was moving lobster and other frozen seafood to markets in the US. Mr. Samuel worked in the engine room and while the work was noisy and tough, he got used to it.

After working for 18 months straight he was able to come home for 18 days before an offer to become the chief engineer on “Red Diamond V” came in. Jobs were hard to come by and Mr. Samuel jumped on the opportunity. He became a permanent member of the crew of six that run the vessel for ten long years.

In 1977 Mr. Samuel moved to Dubai to join Gulf Fleet, a company running boats supplying oil rigs in the Persian Gulf. He was the chief engineer working on 190-foot vessels. It was a big responsibility and Mr. Samuel did that until 1982. “For nine years I didn’t spend a single Christmas at home,” remembers Mr. Samuel. Life of a boat crew was not easy as one had to ask for permission to take time off to visit home for Christmas and special occasions.

Mr. Samuel’s year-long contracts would be interrupted by three month visits to Roatan. Eventually he moved closer to home and began working for Gulf Fleet out of Ciudad del Carmen, Mexico. He switched boats a few more times and took his final gig in 2001- Mr. Sam was 69 years old and after 34 years at sea he was ready to spend full time on his native Roatan.

Now well into his 80s, Mr. Samuel spends much of his time in his home on a Diamond Rock hill just 100 paces from mangroves. The view from his porch of the rolling hills and fields is stunning. He took up planting yucca, camote in his back yard and bought a fishing dory. The 31 foot boat with 100 horsepower diesel motor takes him wherever he wants to go looking for a Wahoo, or a barracuda.

However, as the war escalated, on the 1st of March 1917, America began taking the threat of underwater warfare seriously enough to purchase the Danish Virgin Islands for $25 million. This was to preempt a possible German purchase for the purpose of installing a naval base there.

The decision of British Honduras (Belize) to send 450 soldiers to fight in the war on the Allied side further increased tensions in the region. In response, a plan was conceived by the exiled Guatemalan General Isidoro Valdez and it proposed to Heinrich Von Eckhart, the senior German diplomat, the general spymaster serving in Mexico City.

The “Valdez Proposal,” as it came to be known, was to muster an army of 5,000 Germans in Mexico, provoke a coup d’état in Guatemala to oust its pro-American president, Manuel Estrada Cabrera. The plan included an invasion of Belize with an army of Honduran opposition liberals to establish a U-boat base. Once a pro-German government had been installed in Honduras as well as in its major ports, then tire Mosquito Coast could also be used for naval bases.

Upon learning of these plans, U.S. naval intelligence sent the esteemed Harvard-educated Mayanologist Sylvanus Morley to Belize on a United Fruit Company ship. He travelled on the pretext of conducting archaeological research in the area.

Working as a secret agent from his headquarters in the American legation compound in Tegucigalpa, he would spend the next 20 months putting together an espionage ring in Belize, Guatemala, and Honduras to spy on and compile blacklists of German-owned businesses and diplomats. Ironically, his agents in Honduras had to collect their monthly pay of $25 from the German-owned Banco de Honduras, the only bank in Tegucigalpa.

Honduras also closed all of Germany’s consulates.

Morley would also travel over 2,000 miles of Central American coastline, including the Bay Islands of Honduras, looking for clandestine U-boat sanctuaries.

During his time in Central America, Morley and his agents would send back over 10,000 pages of information and reports to naval intelligence. Morley would later be acknowledged as probably America’s most effective secret agent during the war. He would later excavate and largely catalog the objects in the great Mayan city of Chichén Itzá in the Yucatán, as well as make several exciting discoveries of other previously lost Mayan temples and pyramids. Morley has been put forward as a model for Steven Spielberg’s fictional movie hero Indiana Jones.

In May of 1917, reports that a Standard Fruit banana boat had been shelled and sunk by a German gunboat on the milk run between La Ceiba and New Orleans prompted Honduras’s pro-American president, Francisco Bertrand, to cut off diplomatic relations with Germany. Honduras also closed all of Germany’s consulates including those in Puerto Cortez, La Ceiba, and Trujillo, and expelled its German diplomats. Honduras was put under martial law, and people wishing to travel within the country’s borders had to do so using an internal passport.

Germany had indeed been using its consulates to coordinate espionage networks. Most of these German agents were corrupt and much more interested in lucrative smuggling activities with allied ships than in espionage or actual sabotage.

Honduras finally entered World War 1 on the side of the allies on July 18, 1918. It was the last nation in the world to declare war on Germany. The threat of U-boats to the banana companies was now over.

The US has begun to implement a sort-off rent-a-passport system. “If you have seriously delinquent tax debt (…) The State Department generally will not issue a passport,” reads a statement on the IRS.gov website. At least 362,000 names have been selected for passport denial and revoking for having a government debt over $50,000. In communist countries in 1940-1990 and in Cuba today citizens have to ask permission to receive a travel passport and have to return it to authorities when they return. Perhaps, if your passport was taken away so easily, maybe it wasn’t yours to begin with.

Mexico

Ibogane anti-addiction clinics are popping all over Mexico. Thousands of Americans dependant on Heroin, Cocaine and alcohol have freed themselves from their addiction after a 36 hour iboga root withdrawal session supervised by medical staff. There is no withdrawal symptoms with Ibogane and success rate is reportedly as high as 80%. Europeans came across the root bark of iboga tree being used in initiation ceremonies among some West African tribes in late XIX century. While CIA studied affects of ibogane in 1950, the Iboga plant is illegal, and alongside Heroin and Marijuana considered schedule I drug in USA.

Brazil

Mesoamerican reef that Roatan is a part of is no longer considered the second largest barrier reef in the world, it is now tied for second place. Scientists have discovered a brand new, 1,000 kilometer long reef – the Amazon coral reef. It stretches from French Guiana to Brazil’s Maranhão State and covers 9,500 square kilometers. The discovery of the reef at the mouth of the Amazon corrects a wrongly assumed theory that great rivers create gaps in reef systems. The reef follows the edge of South American continental shelf and is estimated to contain 60 species of sponges and 73 species of fish.

Sweden

Increasingly Swedes are choosing to have microchips inserted into their bodies. Apparently carrying cash, or even cards is inconvenient and a micro chip the size of a grain of rice can save you seconds to wirelessly unlock doors, access your computer or make credit payments from just four centimeters away. So far the 3,000 Swedes got “biohacked” and are not concerned about the risk of data theft, continuous live tracking of where they are and what they do.

Pakistan

China has built a world class shipping port in Pakistan’s Gwadar, the largest deep sea port in the world. Increasingly goods and supplies to and from western China are now shipped via Gwadar and placed on the paved road network avoiding the time end expense of travel to ports like Shanghai or Hong Kong. Gwadar port is part of the $50 billion China-Pakistan Economic Corridor. China has paved 806 kilometers of Pakistan’s treacherous Karakorum highway connecting the it’s Tibetan plateau with the Arabian Sea. The two countries are also linked with 820 kilometer underground Fiber Optic Cable.

Mali

The UN world army has been at war in Mali since 2012 and the prospects of perpetual war are looking good. 17,000 foreign and 6,000 Mali forces and dozens have been holding the line against the 1,200–3,000 strong Islamic State of the Greater Sahara [ISGS]. Military servicemen from China, Slovenia, USA, Cambodia, Nepal, Ireland, France and a dozen of other willing countries have sent their soldiers to fight and fly fighter jet missions in continually unsuccessful mission to defeat the ISGS and there is no end in sight. In contrast, in Syria and Iraq, the 40,000 strong Islamic State has been all but defeated by the by conscripted Iraqi and Syrian forces. The Mali war has so far displaced 400,000 many of whom are already in Europe.