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RedCLARA continues leading the efforts to help Honduras create its own NREN and join through advanced internet the regional endeavour in favour of scientific and academic development. Within that inclusive context, the country has been chosen as the host for the next half-yearly ALICE2 - RedCLARA meeting that will be held in June.

The José Cecilio del Valle University (UJCV) in Honduras will host the next ALICE2/RedCLARA meeting, which will take place from 20 to 24 of June. The decision was made following a visit to Tegucigalpa by members of the RedCLARA directing board in February; but the actions to make Honduras open its doors to the meeting began in 2010, in parallel to the follow-up over the last years of the possibility of this country to join advanced networks.

“Just as in the meetings held in Bolivia, Paraguay and Nicaragua, during the meeting in Honduras we will try to encourage the university vice-chancellors to get connected to RedCLARA”, pointed out Rafael Ibarra, inclusion leader of the ALICE2 project’s work package 8 (WP8).

Every year we invite NREN (national research and education networks) leaders, community members and technicians to participate in the regular meeting jointly organised twice a year by ALICE2 and RedCLARA. The meeting is used to share the benefits of advanced internet with the authorities of the host country. The strategy of the last years has been to organise the event in countries which still are not connected to advanced networks and encourage them to get linked.

In fact, during the recent visit to Honduras, the RedCLARA delegation met with vice-chancellors and staff and shared with them the advantages of its regional backbone and its interconnection with the rest of academic networks worldwide. The delegation was constituted by RedCLARA’s President, Luis Furlán, the Director of Training, Claudia Córdova and the WP8 leader, Rafael Ibarra, who met with the authorities from the Technical Secretariat of Planning and External Cooperation (SEPLAN), the vice-chancellors from the main universities and representatives from the Government.

Julio Raudales, Deputy Minister of Planning (SEPLAN), Eduardo Pavón, Director of SEPLAN and Ivette Castillo, Deputy Director of Science and Research at SEPLAN, are some of the officials with whom the delegation discussed the creation of a NREN in Honduras and therefore, the possible connection of this country to RedCLARA.

“We made a presentation about RedCLARA and its benefits for a large group of University Vice-Chancellors and the Deputy Minister of Planning. At their own instigation the “ball was left in their field” for them to get organised and consolidate Honduras’ NREN”, points out Luis Furlán.

Honduras organised its own academic network in 2005, the Honduran Network of Universities with Advanced Telecommunications (RHUTA), but because of different reasons the initiative faded out.

On this occasion, in his presentation Ibarra reaffirmed RedCLARA’s willingness to continue supporting this country’s inclusion and provide it with technical assistance to walk towards the connection to advanced internet.