In Honduras, Libertarians and Legal Claims Threaten to Bankrupt a Nation

By Nicholas Kusnetz, Katie Surma

ROATÁN, Honduras—Years later, Luisa Connor and Vanessa Cárdenas would look back ruefully on the day foreigners visited their beachfront village with plans for a development next door. They had no idea the effort was backed by Silicon Valley billionaires who wanted to build a “startup city,” or that a relatively new Honduran law would allow them to establish this semi-autonomous enclave. They could not foresee they would lead a fight against it that would launch their village into national politics and prompt an international legal dispute, threatening to bankrupt the country. They thought it was just another hotel.