Honduras as China’s Gateway to Central America | OTM in Roatán and San Lorenzo Port
For Episode 6 of our field research video series, SFS travels to Honduras, which is in the eye of the Dragon. After encroaching on most of South America, China now has its sights set on Central America. On March 26, 2023, Honduras became the latest country to break diplomatic relations with Taiwan in favor of the People’s Republic of China and has subsequently signed no fewer than 17 agreements with the PRC, including bringing the Belt and Road Initiative (BRI) to Honduras.
SFS Executive Director Joseph Humire traveled to the Port of San Lorenzo, in the southern part of Honduras in a region close to the Gulf of Fonseca, to the island of Roatán located about 40 miles off the northern coast of Honduras. In Roatán, he visits Prospera, a special economic zone that is becoming the beacon of economic freedom in the Western Hemisphere and, consequently, a target of the self-avowed socialist government of Honduran President Xiomara Castro and the LIBRE political party. Is this an effort to dislodge an American investment to favor President Castro’s strategic allies in the Chinese Communist Party (CCP)?
Special thanks to Prospera Honduras for its support during this trip and to our SFS analysts who conducted the research for this video and forthcoming report.