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El Hogar Ministries eNewsletter
Special Edition - Update on Political Situation
August 3, 2009 |
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| Introduction |
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We are continuing to send updates from Rich Kunz as new information becomes available.
Thank you for your concern for El Hogar and Honduras.
Liz Kinchen
Executive Director in NA | |
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| August 3, 2009 |
Those following the news in Honduras already know that the situation here is not resolved yet. Zelaya had put out a call to supporters to gather in Nicaragua to form a "peaceful militia" to escort him back to power. Several hundred folks answered that call, most of them poor farmers. They are doing exercises and learning to march, living on very little food and with scant shelter. These are people who believe that Zelaya is committed to helping the poor, and have made great sacrifices to join him. They have no weapons, and are a far cry from the well armed revolutionary groups that are still present in places like Columbia.
Zelaya, meanwhile, is no longer staying with them. He is back in Managua, preparing for a trip to Mexico this week.
Demonstrations continued on a daily basis last week, with one of them devolving into violence. Quite a few people sustained injuries, and one man, a teacher, was shot and eventually died. Once again, there is argument about how he was shot. The army claimed to be using rubber bullets, and this death was from a "real" one. On his way home from that teacher's funeral, another teacher was stabbed to death. This appears to be have been done by the gangs, however. The police now have a representative who is meeting with the demonstrators to come to agreement about the nature of the protests in order to prevent further violence from occurring. The government has announced it will no longer tolerate vandalism or the prolonged blocking of roadways. The demonstrators, many of whom are from one of the teachers' unions, have announced two protest walks. One group will start in San Pedro Sula, and one in Tegucigalpa. Each group will walk to the opposite city, a trip that will probably take at least five days. They have promised to walk on the side of the road, and not down the main roadway.
The U.S. suspended the diplomatic visas of four government leaders, and Spain has announced that it will not recognize the government that results from the November elections, since the elections are being held by an illegitimate government. A lot of foreign aid has been canceled, and the road blocks and the dearth of international visitors have left the country more impoverished than ever.
The present President has asked Arias to send a representative to Honduras to listen to the different groups here, including church officials, business people, human rights activists, etc., so that a more informed solution to the crisis can be found.
Quite a few people are coming to the conclusion that no matter what happens, it will be a tough six months for Honduras. No one believes that Zelaya is pushing so hard to return just to serve out the last few months of a lame duck presidency. They believe if he returns, no matter what he signs, he will continue to push hard for constitutional changes and closer relations with Chavez, and that he will use the groups that are demonstrating now to pressure the country into going along with those things. On the other hand, if he does not return, the diplomatic and economic sanctions that have already begun will just get worse.
There is lots more, of course, but I write this to give you a general idea of the background in which we are operating. It is also important to say that often it feels like things are totally normal. The level of protest activity has fallen considerably, and most Hondurans are just trying to go about their lives. Last night Barbra and I went out for our Sunday evening ice cream at the Baskin Robbins across from the Presidential Palace. The place was crowded with families and couples. There were a few soldiers patrolling across the street, but even that close to the center of government, things seemed pretty routine.
At El Hogar, life goes on. On Thursday I had the opportunity to go with Wilman, our outreach teacher at the agricultural school, to visit one of our rural projects. It involved traveling over some pretty questionable dirt and mud roads, and then some steep climbing, but it was great to meet some of the project participants, and to see the tomatoes and potatoes growing nicely! While there, we stopped into the small, two room school. The two teachers there said that they had not honored the strike, since they believed their children should not be hurt for political reasons. They have continued to hold classes every day. On the way to the project, Wilman stopped to pick up his father, who was going the same direction. He is also a farmer. As a city boy, it is interesting to travel with people who know about farming! As we drove past fields, I saw "fields". They saw quite a bit more. "Look at those tomatoes! They look like X breed. They are great because they grow will without a lot of water." "Look how far apart that person has planted his platanas! What a waste of space! He should be growing something else in the area between his plants!" " Notice that field with plastic put out under the plants. That farmer must have a lot of money to be able to afford that." It was yet another reminder to me of how little I know!
Friday I went to the Institute where we met to go over a few recommendations from the last audit. (BTW - the audit was fine and in order! But we were given some suggestions to make it even clearer in the future.) Saturday the boys from the Institute had an informal soccer tournament with the youth from Santa Maria church, which included a picnic lunch. Each group won one game. Several of our graduates, who still attend the church, played against the Institute with the church group.
Another week of classes went by at El Hogar, which brings us close to the end of another trimester. They are beginning the planning for election of class officers. This is a chance for the children to learn something about democracy in action, and the importance of transparency in elections. (The last elections featured one of our volunteer groups serving as foreign observers.) Claudia feels that, though this year is hard, in some ways it has been the best one yet.
On Sunday after church, one of our graduates was looking kind of sad. Barbra and I stopped to talk with him. He was, first of all, feeling a little sick. But he also went on to tell us that his mother had just moved in with a new boyfriend, who had little time for him. He is trying to finish the next stage in his education. He had held a part time job, but with the recession, that job was ended. He goes off to school every day without having had any breakfast, and worries about the expenses that come up during the month, like notebooks and school supplies. He shares his tiny house with his sister, and says the neighborhood is full of gang members who carry their guns around all the time. He travels to school on his little bike, which at that point had no air in one of the tires. We were able to help him out with this month's expenses, but it was a reminder of how vulnerable so many lives are here in Honduras.
So, we begin another week, hopeful that a peaceful and just solution can be found to the current crisis, and thankful for all God's blessings on us in the midst of it! Please keep up your prayers!
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July 29, 2009
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The focus of
the political crisis in Honduras has really shifted away from Tegucigalpa for
the time being. Zelaya has set up a kind
of headquarters in a little mountain town in Nicaragua, close to the border,
and says he is gathering supporters for his next step. The towns in the department of El Paraiso are
feeling the impact of this, laboring under a curfew that some days has amounted
to a type of house arrest. There are stories
about people hiking through the woods to join Zelaya, and sleeping with little
food or shelter on both sides of the
border. Depending on the sources, there
are either thousands, or about three hundred, of these supporters.
Here in the
city things are settling into a routine.
Every day a group, largely composed of the teachers who have still not
returned to their classrooms, forms and then marches to a designated point in
the city. Yesterday it was Mall
Multiplaza. The marches have been largely
peaceful, although every day some tires get burned, and the demonstrators leave behind buildings defaced with graffiti.
I had a
blessedly normal day yesterday. I was
able to drive out to the Institute without any incident, and saw that classes
were functioning very nicely. There were
two women from an agency that offers technical assistance to schools, and I got
to meet them and hear about some of the curriculum materials they had
available. (They were very impressed,
BTW, with our Institute!) At El Hogar
things were bubbling along very nicely, with the children all in their
classes. I did not get to the farm
yesterday, but I am hoping to visit there tomorrow. They are far enough outside the town of
Talanga that they have had very little disruption during this past month.
Politically
there is a lot going on behind the scenes.
The congress and the supreme court are looking carefully at the
agreement proposed by Arias. An
investigation is underway to determine the meaning of the mysterious list of
organizers and dollar amounts, along with the signed receipts. The US has revoked the diplomatic passports
of four prominent government officials.
(Apparently their tourist visas are still valid.) Zelaya's wife, having passed on the offer the
military made to fly her to her husband, is still trying to journey across the
border. The economic costs of road
blockages and canceled aid and closed borders are being tallied. Restaurants, taxis, hotels, and shops are all
feeling financial strain.
But Hondurans
are very resilient, and are doing their best to carry on with life as normal.
Once again, I
am grateful to our dedicated staff, who have managed to hold normal classes at
all three centers almost every day. When
I compare that with the prolonged closure of the public schools, I am doubly
grateful to our staff, who see this not as just a job, but as a ministry in
which they share. Please continue to
hold us in your prayers, and pray for a just and peaceful resolution to this
crisis.
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| Past Articles |
| To read past articles, please visit our website at: www.elhogar.org. | |
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Sincerely,
Rev. Rich Kunz
Executive Director, Honduras | |
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