Puerto Cortés

Puerto Cortés is a city in the Cortés department of Honduras.

Geography

It is on the Caribbean Sea coast, north of San Pedro Sula and east of Omoa, at 15.85° N, 87.94° W. It has a natural bay.

It is Honduras's main sea port and it is considered the most important seaport in Central America. [http://www.azcentral.com/lavoz/spanish/latin-america/articles/latin-america_190549.html] As of 2003, Puerto Cortés has a population of some 81,000.

History

Hernán Cortés founded the town of La Natividad in 1524, roughly where Puerto Cortés is today, and populated it with about 20 Spaniards who had been previously been living in Nito and Naco. By 1533, a local native leader, called Çiçumba (or Çoçumba, or Socremba, or Joamba...we don't really know since the Spanish recorded so many variants of his name) had destroyed the town, reportedly taking a woman from Sevilla, Spain captive. After Çiçumba's defeat in 1536 by Pedro de Alvarado, a new town, Puerto de Caballos was founded on the southern shore of the body of water known as the Laguna de Alvarado. Because it was vulnerable to pirates until the building of the Spanish fort at Omoa in the 18th century, it had few permanent residents in the 16th and 17th centuries. People preferred to come out to the coast from San Pedro when a ship came into port. The name Puerto de Caballos (Port of horses) is because when Hernán Cortés arrived on Honduras' coast from Mexico and started unloading horses and cargo from the ships, several horses were drowned. In 1869 Puerto Caballos changed its name to Puerto Cortés in honour of Hernán Cortés.

The city

Puerto Cortés is home of a Soccer team known as Club Deportivo Platense, which in 1966 was the first Honduran National Football Soccer Champion. In 2001 the team won its second national soccer championship.

In the month of August, Puerto Cortés celebrates its local or patronal festivities during two weeks. The last day (a Saturday) is known as Noche Veneciana (Venice's night). August 15th is a local holiday in honour of Virgen de la Asunción (Puerto Cortés local patroness or saint).

In September 2001, the Bridge La Laguna (The lagoon) was rebuilt and inaugurated, the old bridge (a 50 years old structure) was badly damaged in 1998 by Hurricane Mitch and was demolished. A concrete wall that surrounds and protects a portion of the coastline in the bay area, was built close to the north end of Bridge La Laguna, this wall is known as El Malecón, the Spanish word for 'jetty' or 'pier'.

The first four-lane highway in Honduras was inaugurated in 1996, connecting Puerto Cortés and the city of San Pedro Sula.

The seaport

In 1966 the Empresa Nacional Portuaria (Honduras National Port Authority) [http://www.enp.hn] was created. A Free Trade Zone was created in 1976.

Among all worldwide seaports that export containers with goods with destination to U.S.A., Puerto Cortés is the 36th in terms of volume.

Because of its proximity to U.S. seaports in the Gulf of Mexico and on the East Cost and its outstanding seaport infrastructure, Puerto Cortes was included in the U.S. Container Security Initiative (CSI), the first such port in Central America. In December 2005 the U.S. government signed an agreement with Honduras's government and opened a U.S. Customs Office in Puerto Cortés [http://www.cbp.gov/xp/cgov/border_security/international_activities/csi/ports_in_csi.xml] . Under this agreement, all containers exported from Puerto Cortés that are destined for any U.S. seaport are checked by U.S. Customs officials in Honduras.

On December 7, 2006 the Departments of Homeland Security (DHS) and Energy (DOE) announced the first phase of the Secure Freight Initiative, an unprecedented effort to build upon existing port security measures by enhancing the US federal government’s ability to scan containers for nuclear and radiological materials overseas and to better assess the risk of inbound containers. The initial phase of Secure Freight involves the deployment of a combination of existing technology and proven nuclear detection devices to six foreign ports: Port Qasim in Pakistan; Puerto Cortes in Honduras; Southampton in the United Kingdom; Port Salalah in Oman; Port of Singapore; and the Gamman Terminal at Port Busan in Korea. Beginning in early 2007, containers from these ports will be scanned for radiation and information risk factors before they are allowed to depart for the United States. [http://www.dhs.gov/xnews/releases/pr_1165520867989.shtm]

On March 2007, under the Megaport initiative, 3 RPMs (Radiation Portal Monitors) were already installed in Puerto Cortés by U.S. DOE in order to inspect all containers with destination to USA, checking for possible dangerous radioactive threats. On April 2, 2007 the RPMs became operative [http://www.dhs.gov/xnews/releases/pr_1176319613900.shtm] .

Notable people and natives of Puerto Cortes

* "Edgar Alvarez" - Famous football player, now playing in Italy.
* "Felipe Rodríguez Plata" (deceased)- Former Director of Honduras Customs Administration.
* "Guillermo Peña Zelaya" (deceased)- MD, former Congressman (1986-1990), former Mayor of Puerto Cortes.
* "Guillermo Ramón Miranda Talbot" - former Puerto Cortes Port Superintendent and former Assistant of the General Manager of Empresa Nacional Portuaria (Honduras National Port Authority).
* "Guillermo Rene Soriano" - Doctor in Theology, Preacher and Supervisor of Missionaries in the U.S.A.
* "Julio César "Rambo" De Leon" - Famous football player, now playing in Italy.
* "Luis Cosenza Jiménez" - Former Congressman and Ministry of the Presidency (Jan. 2002-Jun. 2005) and former representative of Central America in the Inter-American Development Bank (Jul. 2005-Jun. 2006).
* "Mario Alberto Prieto Rodríguez" - Former General Manager of Empresa Nacional Portuaria (Honduras National Port Authority) and Current President of Liga Nacional de Futbol (Honduras Professional Football Association).
* "Mario Enrique Prieto Alvarado" - Former Congressman and Secretary of Honduras National Congress (1982-1985), former member of Honduras 1980-81 National Assembly which approved the 1982 Honduras Constitution. Father of Mario Alberto Prieto Rodríguez.
* "Mario Sierra" - Businessman and President of Club Deportivo Platense.
* "Roberto Valenzuela Simons" - Former Mayor of Puerto Cortes, former General Manager of Empresa Nacional Portuaria (Honduras National Port Authority), he went into exile to Mexico during military governments.
* "Rodrigo Wong Arévalo" - Journalist, Anchor of TV News Program: "Abriendo Brecha" and News Magazines: "Hablemos Claro", "As Deportiva", etc.
* "Selim Canahuati" - Former President of Liga Nacional de Futbol (Honduras Professional Football Association), current member of the Board of Directors of Empresa Nacional Portuaria (Honduras National Port Authority).
* "Vilma Cecilia Morales Montalván" - Current President of Honduras Supreme Court of Justice (Jan. 2002-Jan. 2009).
* "William Chong Wong" - Former Director of Internal Revenue Service (1990-92), Subsecretary of Treasury (1993), Subsecretary of Finance and Budget (Feb. 2002-Sep. 2004), Secretary of Finance (Oct. 2004-Jan 2006).
* "Juan Ramon Rivera Zelaya" - Pastor at Central Baptist Church (Iglesia Bautista Central) in Tegucigalpa since 1989.

Elected Mayors of Puerto Cortes

In 1982 a new constitution was approved, before that year mayors were designated "by finger" by Tegucigalpa top government officials.

* 1982-1983: Roy Reyes Orellana (Partido Liberal)
* 1984-1985: Mario Sabillón (Partido Liberal)
* 1986-1990: Romulo Montoya (Partido Liberal)
* 1990-1991: Rolando Méndez (Partido Nacional). He resigned and fled out of the country because of corruption scandals.
* 1992: Rolando Orellana Cruz (Partido Nacional). He was fired together with the entire Municipal Top Corporation because a Judge found them guilty of approving an illegal fee applied to all cars entering Puerto Cortes during an Easter holiday.
* 1992-1993: Alvaro Zacarías Mena (Partido Nacional).
* 1994-1997: Marlon Guillermo Lara Orellana (Partido Liberal)
* 1998-2001: Marlon Guillermo Lara Orellana (Partido Liberal) (Reelected)
* 2002-2005: Marlon Guillermo Lara Orellana (Partido Liberal) )Reelected)
* 2006-present: Alan Ramos (Partido Liberal)

Facts

* There is an only-girls elementary school named República de Mexico in honour of this country. In june 29, 2005 when Vicente Fox President of Mexico visited Puerto Cortés and knew about the existence of this school, he donated a computerized display board with all the software, accessories and training to be used in this school. A donation from the Mexican Presidency [http://www.geocities.com/vicentefox_en_puertocortes] .
* There is an only-boys elementary school named República de Chile in honour of this country.
* There is an elementary school named Saint Martin de Porres in honour of this Saint from Peru.
* There is a public high school named Franklin Delano Roosevelt in honour of this U.S. President.
* There is a private Catholic high school named Sacred Heart of Jesus (Sagrado Corazón de Jesús).
* There is a high school academy named Saint John Bosco (San Juan Bosco) in honour of this Saint.
* There is a bilingual school (elementary school, junior high and high school) named Saint John the Baptist in honour of this Prophet.
* There is a beach known as La Coca Cola (coke) in honour of the world famous drink. La Embotelladora La Coca Cola were situated on this beach therefore it was named Las playas de la Coca Cola once employed many workers whose meals depended of this job.
* In the decade of 1930s a small whale was captured in the bay of Puerto Cortés, this was a very rare situation, since whales are not normally found in the Caribbean Sea.
* In 1963 the USS Hornet aircraft carrier arrived to Puerto Cortés.
* There is football stadium known as Estadio Excelsior (the home of Club Deportivo Platense). In 1965 an Argentine professional football club Chacarita Juniors (then in Argentine first division) played here defeating Platense(2-1).
* Since 1986, the Municipality of Puerto Cortes receives four percent (4%) of all revenues(income) received by Honduras Custom office in Puerto Cortes and four percent (4%) of all revenues received by Empresa Nacional Portuaria (Honduras Port Authority) in the Seaport. This fee is known as El Cuatro por Ciento (The Four Percent). The same percentage (4%) is also received by four other municipalities where Empresa Nacional Portuaria operates (La Ceiba, Trujillo, Roatan and San Lorenzo), this percentage is applied to all revenues received by the Honduras Custom Office and Seaport in the respective city.

External links

* [http://www.puertocorteshn.com/index.html First Portal Journalistic in Puerto Cortes]
* [http://www.honduras.com/hondurastips/english/puertocortes.htm Puerto Cortés tips]