One year ago, Honduras, along with Guatemala, El Salvador, Mexico, and the United States, was shaken by one of the most severe and unexpected humanitarian crises ever witnessed in the Western Hemisphere. Tens of thousands of Honduran children had walked out of the country and embarked on a perilous journey to the United States. Reports were received throughout the Northern Triangle, of teenagers guiding children into the hands of human traffickers—“coyotes”—who charged thousands of dollars to lead them into the United States.

For most of the world, the decade of the 1990’s came to a close with Europe agreeing on a single currency, the movie Titanic earning the distinction of being the most financially successful picture in history, and the world holding its breath for the predicted chaos that would supposedly be brought on by the Y2K bug.