HONDURAS: Renaissance

In 1943, the late Calixto Carias, “director” of a nonexistent artillery school, returned from a U.S. visit enthusiastic over beisbol* (baseball). Ten years before, his uncle, Dictator-President Tiburcio Carias Andino, had abolished sport teams and clubs in Honduras as possible blinds for political conspiracy. Nephew Calixto got beisbol legalized on the grounds that soldiers should learn to pitch hand grenades. In the shadow of baseball’s new legality, futbol (soccer) also mushroomed.

Last week this sports renaissance had gone far. Because Honduras had beaten Guatemala in the Central American futbol championship series being played at San José, Costa Rica, futbol-converted Carias ordered church bells rung, proclaimed a three-day national holiday. Dizzy with victory, he offered his tim $1,000 if it won the series. But despite prize money and bell-ringing, Costa Rica came in first, Guatemala second, Honduras fifth.

* Latin American sports argot contains many words borrowed from English and Hispanicized. Examples: beisbol, jutbol, tim, picker.