The U.S.-Honduras Remittance Corridor
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Underlying the bilateral remittance corridor between Honduras and the United States, different subnational remittance and migration corridors developed over time with distinct migration dynamics and economic impacts. The understanding of the differences and their related development potentials are important for policy initiatives and the private sector, especially for financial institutions. The three sub transnational bridges—Olancho–Florida; Intibucá–Greater Washington, DC area; and Northern Honduras (Garífuna)–New York—were selected for this study, not just because of their common features, but because they present important differences that are explained by social, ethnic, geographic, and historic factors. They present a vivid panorama of the evolution of migration dynamics over time and their different levels of transnationalism, even in a small country like Honduras. The Olancho Case
The Olancho case is representative for the most recent migration patterns today in Honduras. Migration was primarily triggered by the aftermath of the disastrous Hurricane Mitch; the majority of migrants are young men from rural areas with irregular migration status (Box 4.4). Box 4.4. The Case of Intibucá—Greater Washington, DC Area Transnational Bridge Approximately 200,000 people live in rural Intibucá, which has the second lowest Human Development Index of communities in Honduras. Six financial institutions offer remittance services, but one financial institution dominates with 55 percent of the market share. Remarkable for Intibucá is the rural outreach of cooperatives in municipalities with highest migration rates. About US$30 million in remittances were sent to Intibucá in 2006. This is 10 times more than the total annual budget of all 17 municipalities that incorporate this department. About 20 percent of the households receive remittances on a regular monthly basis, although these are distributed unevenly throughout Intibucá. It is estimated that more than the half of Intibucá migrants in the United States live in the Greater Washington, DC, area. Source: Authors based on research carried out by PROMYPE/GTZ.
Compared to other cases, coyotes play a particularly active role in the Olancho— Florida transnational bridge. Seventy four percent of the migrants are paying for human smuggling schemes, making that a very lucrative business (refer to Chapter 1).9 These facts demonstrate that the more recent the migration tradition of a region— under the given U.S. admission policies—the more migrants rely on informal migration and remittance services. Due to their recent migration history, the Olanchanos in the United States are only sporadically engaged in community support of their hometowns. Only very few cases could be identified where migrants’ collective remittances support community projects at home. And it is expected that with time, these still feeble transnational bridges between the Diaspora and hometown communities will strengthen. The Intibucá Case
The Intibucá case is representative for the typical Central American migration pattern of the past, triggered by civil wars and counter insurgency. International migration in Intibucá started in the south of this department about 20 years ago, in those municipalities that border with El Salvador. This region hosted refugee camps and
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