The
paths of our conversion
We, priests and lay
members of the Diocesan Pastoral Council of the diocese of Trujillo, in the
company of our bishop, have reflected on the situation we are living in
Honduras in these days before the feast of the Nativity.
We recognize the turnout,
enthusiasm, and hope with which the people went to the polls (urnas) on
November 26; nevertheless, seventeen days after the general elections without a
resolution of the conflict generated by the fraud which the discredited Supreme
Electoral Tribunal [TSE: Tribunal Supremo Electoral] backed, we feel the
need to share our stance as Catholic Christians in such difficult times.
The voice of the
people converted into a cry, demand respect for their right, resounds strongly
in the hearing of the diocesan church. We feel that the defiant cry of a people
who walk under the domination of those who throughout history trample on, manipulate,
and play with the dignity of the poor. In the face of this drama, we do not
have solutions to offer, but we do have the certainty that the God of the poor
walks with us and his Kingdom of love, truth, justice, and inclusion is the
alternative proposal to the kingdom of violence, injustice, exclusion, and
death.
Above all, we wish to
ask pardon to not having lifted up our voice with greater force when we should
have [a su debido tiempo] to reject the violation of the Constitution by
the Supreme Court of Justice when it declared valid the re-election of the
president which our Magna Carta prohibits. We lament not having taken measures against
the acceptance as candidate for the presidency of the Republic the current
President on the part of the Supreme Electoral Council. As a consequence of
that violation of the Constitution and the Election Law, we now live a period
which is leaving serious wounds and breaches in our society.
We wish to be in solidarity with all the
people who live with much suffering and indignation the necessity to confirm,
one more time, the interminable corruption which from the spheres of political
and economic power robs the people of the guarantee to respect their rights as
citizens.
In particular, we offer our solidarity with
the families which have lost their loved one as a product of the repression of
the institutions which ought to be those that guarantee the security of citizens;
as church, just like all the people, peace is what concerns us, but the Gospel
teaches us that there cannot be peace where there is no justice.
We wish to be at the side of those who,
from their poverty, hope for better times and who, nevertheless, in the face of
the game of ambitions which control those responsible in the administration of the
state, see evaporating the possibility of a future which lets them to get out
of their situation of injustice, inequality, and exclusion.
From
out Christian values, we join ourselves to those who struggle for a resolution
of the current conflict, based in the TRUTH, regardless of the political option
from which have undertaken this struggle.
We reject the militarization by the
Government of the Department of Colón, the repression with which the population
is treated, and the subsequent violation of their human rights, and we demand
an investigation of all the violent acts, including the milling of more that
fourteen persons and the sabotage and downing of the antenna tower of Radio Progreso,
in Cerro Canta Callo, Tegucigalpa.
As church, we express our concern and fear
of a possible persecution of persons who oppose their government, defenders of
Human Rights, social activists [luchadores], communicators, etc., as
well as against organizations and institutions with a position that is critical
and which denounces abuses.
We are equally concerned about the breaking
up of the institutionality [the quality of being a viable institution) in the country, especially of those which have
been created to sustain a fragile democracy and which have been setup to favor
a dictatorial regime in the country.
In this process we recognize the strength,
creativity, and spontaneity of the youth who are taking up the challenges which
the reality puts in their hands, as well as the role that women are playing in
the different fronts of struggle.
We especially encourage the youth to incorporate
in their lives the struggle for the defense of the rights of citizens, as many
of them have done in these moments, but guided always by the values of our
democratic culture and our faith in God which excludes violence.
We believe that our struggle doesn’t have to be only in favor of one candidate
or one political party but in defense of transparency in the results of the
recent elections and of all the actions and processes proper to the democratic system
for which Honduras has chosen.
We demand from all the social
communications media the right to be duly informed and without the twisting the
truth; from them we hope a true independence and an attachment [apego]
to the truth which permits them to fulfill ethically their social role.
We suggest that all members of the Catholic
Church to circulate this message and reflect on it in the meetings of all
church groups and organisms. We ask that this position be interpreted correctly
as an expression of the communion with which we Catholics want to live our
commitment, in the midst of this world, with Jesus Christ and the values of the
Kingdom which he has inaugurated.
May the Christmas which we are going to
celebrate be an opportunity to rescue what this feast means, liberated from consumerism
and strengthened by the love of God and of our families.
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