A Honduras mayor gambled on a plan for her town. She got 80 guitars ... and a lot more

MACUELIZO, SANTA BARBARA, Honduras – For years, Suyapa Jaqueline Trejo watched her community dwindle as many of her neighbors looked for a better life in the U.S. When she was elected mayor in 2021, she began to think of ways to seek help from those who had left in Macuelizo, a municipality of about 40,000 that's made up of several villages in northwest Honduras.

"We barely have the budget to deal with things like clean water, road maintenance or basic, basic health care," she said earlier this year while sitting on a bench in the main square across from her office, surrounded by bursting pink blossoms on the trees the town is named after.

Young people in particular are leaving the country in greater numbers, she says. "It's painful to see because it's young people who have energy, happiness and ideas, and to see them go, it's sad."

Macuelizo is filled with colorful murals depicting the town's life, includingthe native Macuelizo trees in the main square and small homes painted in bright