http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Military_of_Honduras20,000 active personnel ain't going to get it done. Even if they have a 1-1 tooth to tail ratio that still leaves only 10,000 combat troops. And the ratio is probably higher than that. At best they might have 5,000 combat arms types. Also listed are 22 light tanks, and 72 armored cars.
Now imagine a new city that has attracted 100,000 or more people, can you imagine a scenario where such a small force with no heavy armor can push in a take the city against even untrained irregulars? Maybe US troops or Russians or Brits would have a chance but a banana republic military? No.
And they don't quite have the number of tubes it would take to level the place before they got sallied upon and lost them.
Finally, the commanders would likely be quite happy taking payoffs to not do anything. And in the time the city may be big enough to forgo having to pay any protection money.
Another way to protect themselves is to invite many diplomatic missions into the city and give them land (which becomes officially part of the home country) along the likely avenues of attack or shelling. That way, in order to attack the city the Hondurans would have to attack through mini Germany, France, China, Japan, Brazil etc. All of whom could deal out consequences to the Hondurans. Maybe military, maybe economic, maybe diplomatic but none of it good news for the aggressors.
All this said, Honduras would not be my first choice for such a scheme. Costa Rica or Belize in that region would rate higher, but you take your shot where you can, of course.
