Poking the head of anyone from the «Soviet block» in Honduras at that difficult time of «bipolar confrontation» was equally to suicide. International «death squadrons», ominous «contras», omnipresent experts in «covert actions» from the United States, Honduran «uniformados», who became a skilled hand at repressions and «disappearances», were doing their black job, and the «Voice of America» and Reuters news, permanently presented Honduras as an advanced post of successful resistance to «communist threat». It was in that period (from 1981 to 1985), when John Negroponte was the omnipotent ambassador of the United States in Tegucigalpa. His then mission in the conditions of cold war was very much clear: to prevent the «domino effect» in the region. If communists capture Nicaragua, then El Salvador will crash down, then Guatemala, and the turn will come to Honduras. That is why Negroponte did not hesitate as for the methods of fighting the rebellious movements. At the same time «clean-up» of different structures of their support and suspicious dissidents was carried out in Honduras. It is not accidental that in the epoch of Negroponte the country, which was militarised to the limit, was called «Aircraft carrier Honduras».

And still, everything turns to better in this best of the worlds! Berlin wall, being the symbol of confrontation of two blocks, was destroyed, guerillas and «contras» laid arms, it became easier to cross the previously inaccessible borders, including in Latin America. Could I earlier imagine that I would get a visa to Honduras at the next day after I applied for it in the Embassy! Attache Gunther Schuler (I would like to preserve his name for history), with a smile, granted me a «stamped» passport, having indicated that visa «CA-4» gives me the right to free trips to El Salvador, Nicaragua and Guatemala. Here they are — optimistic winds of integration, including tourist one! Not long ago these countries signed an interstate agreement on unification of efforts on «tourist front», creation of «supranational routes», sui generis «Golden ring» of Central America to have a better competition with Mexico in fight for foreign tourists, and accordingly for the content of their purses.