Honduras Church Documents

Comayagua diocese on the Comayagua prison fire

2012-02-15T19:40:00.004-08:00

DIOCESE OF COMAYAGUA

COMMUNIQUÉ

The diocese of Comayagua in these times of local and national consternation directs itself to the deeply distressed family members of the prisoners who perished in the Central Jail of Comayagua, to those who were wounded and affected during the fatal fire that began at 10:50 pm last night, Tuesday, March 14. We also direct ourselves to the whole Honduran people.

First, we profoundly lament what occurred during the worst tragedy in the history of the jails of our country and we are greatly in solidarity with the family members and those affected by the disaster who took the lives of a large number of prisoners in the Comayagua prison which according to initial data added up to 356 persons who died out of a prison population of 852.

Second, we invite our brothers and to unite with us in a common effort to respond, in the short and medium term, to the most urgent needs of the survivors of the disaster and the affected families.

Third, we lament that this is the third disaster which has happened in a decade in the prisons of Honduras, an aggravating factor being that the penal institution in the city of Comayagua was considered the prison with a higher level of security on the national level.

Fourth: we consider lamentable the inhuman conditions of stacking up [the prisoners] and insecurity in which our country’s prison population lives. Specifically in the Prison of Comayagua, constructed to house 250 prisons, the prison population was reaching 852 persons deprived of liberty.

Fifth, we ask the live groups [literally, the forces that are alive] of the Honduran society so that, united, we demand that our authorities improve the conditions of imprisonment and the means of human security in the prisons in order to safeguard the integrity and dignity of those deprived of liberty and in order that such a lamentable tragedy is not repeated, a tragedy which has brought grief to so many Honduran families and saddens all of us.

Sixth, we ask the Christian community to lift up prayers to the God of life, so that welcome in his kind hands and welcome into his glory our brothers who have died and that he strengthen their relatives with the certainty that they are not alone, that God keeps watch over them and accompanies them in these difficult moments. May God quickly heal those wounded during this disaster and may our civil authorities act decisively and quickly to improve the conditions of our prisons and of the judicial system in general.

Monseñor Roberto Camílleri OFM

Bishop of Comayagua and the priests of the diocese

The original Spanish can be found on my Spanish blog, here.

Honduras Bishops Conference on the Bajo Aguán conflict

2011-07-12T17:15:00.000-07:00

Reflections on the ConfliCt in the Bajo Aguán

In the Plenary Meeting of the Honduras Bishops Conference (CEH), concerns about the events related to the conflicts in the Bajo Aguán which the Bishop of Trujillo and his priests have referred to us, we offer the faithful, pastoral workers, and people of good will the following reflections:

1. The Catholic Church is called to be the untiring seeker for Truth and Freedom. We seek Justice from the perspective of the Truth, and we seek the Right [Law] from the perspective of Freedom. When faced with conflicts as serious as those in the Bajo Aguán, we have the obligation to seek, in Justice and Right, the ways which help us live in Truth and Freedom.

Faithful to this search, the Catholic Church opts, as did the Lord Jesus, for the persons who are the poorest and the marginalized of society. We do this to share with them the defense of their rights. We also do this so that the poor and marginalized may live the values of Truth and Freedom by knowing and respecting Justice and Right. But this option for the poor and the defense of their rights does not mean approving violent means, because we reject violence, come what may. And, above all, we reject the violence that comes from the abuse of power, of whatever class.

From these convictions as members responsible for the way the Catholic Church goes in Honduras, we make a call to the parties involved in the various crises to seek decidedly and firmly a permanent solution to these bloody conflicts which are lived in the Bajo Aguán, among other places.

2. The conflict has various protagonists whose responsibilities we can not judge, but we can point out so as to create a consciousness/conscience and to call them to the search for a just solution.

a) THE GOVERNMENT. Having inherited this conflict which could have, and ought to have been solved by previous governments, the present government is responsible for the most part of not having achieved even the fulfillment of some agreements with the campesino movements of the Bajo Aguán, which at the time it considered itself qualified to make. Its attitude prolongs the situation which each day becomes more violent and it is losing the opportunity to show to the people of Honduras the ways by which Justice and Right ought to face the problematic created by the failure of previous attempts at Agrarian Reform which today has become more necessary and urgent than ever.

b) THE CAMPESINADO [peasantry]. The concept of campesinado, to generalize, has the danger of confusing or ignoring the different positions held among the campesinos themselves, above all in the face of the land ownership which is provoking so much violence. Campesinos are those who have never been land owners and with all right demand land to work on them; campesinos are those who were owners of campesino enterprises and sold them freely; campesinos are those who were mislead or forced to sell their land against their will; campesinos are also those who already own lands and are seeing how to increase their possession, taking advantage of the current struggles; campesinos are those who are part of association; campesinos are those who are independent; campesinos are those who are armed; campesinos are those who possess no weapons but their machetes… What is certain, and which we one more time denounce is that the majority of the victims who have been killed up to this point are members of the campesinado.

c) THE LAND OWNERS. The inordinate accumulation of lands is, in itself, a social injustice, because it is an attack against the Common Good and because it detracts from the social function that all private property should exert. No matter how legalized might be the lands which are owned, they cannot be defended with violence as has happened in the Bajo Aguán, provoking the deaths of many; one cannot convert the employees and security guards of the estates into an armed and violent army which has provoked so much death and at the same time has shared its own quota of dead victims. Campesinos and watchmen are persons from the same social poor stratum, who seek work in order to survive. And their deaths grieve us equally, whatever social class they come from.

d) ORGANIZED CRIME AND DRUG TRAFFICKING. These have taken over control of this region of Honduras. They pass through without any scruples – these new rich, who own arms that are prohibited by the Law. They are also in the business of turning themselves into large landowners, possessing grand expanses of land. They signify a power which appears to have total immunity and which the majority of the population fear; by, paradoxically, they also signify the opportunity to obtain incomes larges that an honest occupation can offer. There is some talk of possible connections of these protagonists with some members of the three previously mentioned groups, but we all know that in order to denounce illegal activities one must have proofs. And to obtain proofs is the responsibility of the investigative branch of the police and the Public Ministry.

e) AGENTS OF PUBLIC ORDER AND THE ARMED FORCES. There is no doubt that the State of Honduras has the authority to move to whatever zone of conflict the agents of public order who guarantee the security of the citizenry and respect for the Law. Curiously, nevertheless, in the case of the Bajo Aguán, the campesino population, for the most part, fears their presence, surely because of the experiences that they have lived through firsthand [in their own flesh] of the abuse of authority of some members of these State institutions. Other settlers, above all the merchants in the urban areas and the very same landowners, feel themselves protected by this presence. Furthermore, the Ministry of Security and the Armed Forces justify their massive presence in the area for the sake of a disarmament which absurdly is announced in advance and which never has been effective.

f) OTHER PROTAGONISTS. The people comment that there are persons infiltrated in the campesino Associations and Movements, perhaps intending to destabilize the whole process which the current government has given samples of wishing to resolve, or with other intentions which are not easy to know. Also, in this group one must point out the lawyers who play an extremely important role whether it be to direct the conflict toward a solution that seeks the good of the majority or whether it be to make it worse by the art of manipulating the laws in favor of the highest bidder. And there are reasons to suspect that there are probably unidentified persons who could be considered the intellectual authors of this disgraceful plot that is so difficult to disentangle.

3. We repeat that the Catholic Church does not make itself the judge in this conflict but it we are required in faithfulness to our prophetic vocation to denounce, in the midst of the complexity of the situation, the responsibility of those who do not intervene in a way that is firm, just and not politicized, though they ought to do so, as well as the responsibility of those who intervene in a negative manner when they ought not to intervene.

As the Catholic Church, we are and will always be on the side of those campesinos who are going through real need and suffer the consequences of their poverty and their abandonment by the State. We are and will be on the side of those who defend their right in the path of lawfulness and dialogue. As the Catholic Church we are in favor of life which ought to always be respected and which in the case of the Bajo Aguán has been profaned with tens of victims which number, if no decision is made, will increase in an uncontrollable way. We will not stop preaching the values of the Gospel to convert the hearts of all the persons who do not choose the ways of lawfulness, dialogue, and nonviolence, but choose the ways of false politics, cheating, lies, and the lack of respect for life.

Conclusions

a) Most of the persons pertaining to these groups of principal protagonists in the conflict are armed. And, either by contagion or fear, most of the population of these departments have weapons. If there is no true disarmament in Honduras, the level of criminal violence will not be able to decrease.

b) It is not merely a question of disarming firearms. We need a moral disarmament of all the weapons we use to continue destroying our common life and continue to impair the quality of our life. There must be a disarming of the thirst for vengeance which nests in the hearts of so many persons and families who have suffered the loss of some one who has been a victim of the generalized violence. There must be a disarming of the resentment generated by the unjust inequality in which we live. There must be a disarming of the prejudices which make us see the other classes or social groups which we don’t belong to as enemies whom we ought to hate There must be a disarming of the arguments which we make which give us the right to despise those who don’t think as we do or have political opinions different from ours. There must be a disarming of the hatred, the defamation, and the division which some means of communication constantly are sowing.

c) We need, instead, to arm ourselves with courage, justice, and truth to eradicate impunity and corruption.

d) We consider it necessary that the Government fulfill the agreements signed with the campesino groups, respecting the decisions of the Courts of Justice, if an immediate accord is not achieved in the dialogue among the different social groups involved. This can be a dependable way to resolve the problematic of the ownership of the land at the national level.

e) The Constitution of the Republic defines the path of Agrarian Reform in article 345: “Agrarian Reform constitutes an essential part of the global strategy of development of the Nation, based on which the rest of the economic and social policies which the Government approves ought to be formulated and put into practice in a way which is in harmony with it, especially those policies which have to do with, among other things, education, housing, employment, infrastructure, marketing, technical and credit assistance. Agrarian Reform will be carried out in a manner that ensures the effective participation of the campesinos, in conditions of equality with the other sectors of production, in the process of the economic, social, and political development of the Nation.”
f) The Public Ministry and the Human Rights Organism have to carry out a thorough investigation which is guaranteed to clear up all the al the bloody deeds of the last few years so that la Lay is applied to all those who are responsible for these deeds.

The Church which is on pilgrimage in Honduras continues to see with the sorrow of a Mother the Bajo Aguán through the diocese of Trujillo with which we are in solidarity. AS we have seen, there a conflict is in debate which gets ever more complicated. Only sincere dialogue, concern for Common Good, respect for life and human dignity, good will of the parties, giving way to all for love of Country, will yield the result hoped for. But let us not forget that there will not be peace without justice, reconciliation without mutual forgiveness, communion without solidarity.

With Mary, the Virgin of Suyapa, who teaches us to seek unity in love, we pray together to the Lord that no more blood is shed in the Bajo Aguán nor in all of Honduras.

Comayagüela, 15 June, 2011
The Honduras Bishops Conference

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The original in Spanish can be found here.

Open Letter of Bishop Santos

2011-06-09T17:20:00.000-07:00

OPEN LETTER

From Erandique, territory of the Lenca people and of the leader Lempira, defender of national sovereignty. I send my fraternal greetings and my thanks to all the persons, institutions, and popular organizations and means of communication that have been in solidarity with me denouncing the crimes, still unpunished, which had continued to happen against the campesinos in the region of the Bajo Aguan.

In my speech in Choluteca, the past May 11, I spoke of 14 campesinos killed in the Bajo Aguan. According to well-documented reports there are now more than 30.

The context of the public denunciation was a march of the Committees in Defence of Nature of the diocese of Choluteca, where I walked at the side of the bishop, Monseñor Guido Plante. The words were in front of a public reduced in size because the noonday sun, exhaustion, and hunger had caused most the those who were part of the environmental march to lose their attention and they had begun to walk away. I thought that it was all over, but the following day Radio America as a Pharisee undertook scandal mongering with the recording of some of my words.

To my surprise 19 days later, on May 30, a notice appeared in http://proceso.hn that the lawyer Antonio Ocampo Santos, the legal representative of the businessman Miguel Facussé, filed a complaint against your servant in the courts of the Republic.

Señor Andrés Pavón, president of CODEH, the Committee for the Defense of Human Rights in Honduras, presented documentation over 24 of those assassinated in the Bajo Aguan but the Fiscal’s office lost them or made them supposed to be lost. The same happened in 2007 when by a superior order no action was taken on a lawsuit on behalf of three persons wounded by bullets by the police in the course of a protest against mining, a lawsuit which we presented through COFADEH, the Committee of Families and the Detained in Honduras.

To confront this complaint I have given power to a team of lawyers to defend me. For the time being and in relation to this theme I will not give any more declarations to the press. I submit myself to the laws of Honduras, not putting aside the ability to approach other international forums.

I am a defender of human Rights and my words were motivated by the compassion that the poorest and the defenseless inspire in me; in this case the campesinos in the Bajo Aguan who defend their lives and the right to land to produce food for themselves and their children.

The document Gaudium et Spes of the Second Vatican Council affirms that the human being is the end (purpose) of all human action and at the same time has as ultimate end (purpose) Jesus Christ, the Incarnate Word. The government, presided over by Porfirio Lobo Sosa has as its motto Christian Humanism; I hope that, based in this humanism, justice will be done for all those assassinated in the Bajo Aguan, at the very least after their death.

The priests and the laity of the diocese of Santa Rosa de Copán want the complaint brought against your servant to be the basis to clarify the death of campesinos in the Bajo Aguán and that the lands which belong to the State of Honduras be put at the disposition of INA, the National Agrarian Institute, with the purpose of handing them over to the campesinos.

Not withstanding this situation, I have continued my work as bishop in the triple function of teaching, celebrating worship, and governing my diocese. Nor had I lowered my guard in regard to the theme of mining of metals, a law concerning which the National Congress wants to approve in these days. I make an urgent plea to environmentalists to be alert and sustain the articles that have been agreed on.

Mining of metals ought not to exist in Honduras while we do not have a capacity set up to manage it with technology and trained personnel. Foreigners carry off the minerals leaving to Honduras the contamination and the social convulsion. The person responsible for the law which is approved is the lawyer Donaldo Reyes Avelar, president of the current mining commission in the National Congress. Would that one day he may not have to face the protest of the Honduran people.

The Catholic Church chooses life; but in order to preserve life the Church has to work resolving the conflicts that threaten life. The Honduran people is waking up and wants to liberate itself of the chains that the exploiters and oppressed have maintained. In the history of salvation, God has intervened in favor of the oppressed. The Catholic church today in Honduras also ought to intervene in favor of the oppressed, thus giving testimony of the following of Jesus Christ, of whom we are disciples and missionaries for the construction of the Kingdom.

I ask the Holy Spirit whose coming we will celebrate June 12 to give us wisdom, intelligence, and strength to face the unjust reality in which the poor live and to find suitable solutions which seek the Common Good and not the enrichment of only a few.

With my apostolic blessing, I close.

Attentively,

Monseñor Luis Alfonso Santos Villeda SDB

Bishop of Santa Rosa de Copán

Santa Rosa priests support Bishop Santos

2011-05-31T16:45:00.005-07:00

Pronouncement

Priests of the diocese of Santa Rosa de Copán

The priests of Santa Rosa de Copán, meeting in the municipality of San Juan Intibucá on the occasion of the celebration of the priestly ordination of the deacon Francisco Rivas, knowing the news that a complaint has been filed by lawyers of Miguel Facussé against our bishop, Monseñor Luis Alfonso Santos, makes this pronouncement in the presence of public opinion in general and Catholic parishioners in particular in the following terms:

1. We are in solidarity with Monseñor Luis Alfonso Santos, the 43 parishes of the five departments in the western region, with a population of about 1.5 million inhabitants; and we are ready to accompany him in the complete process until the truth is discovered and there is an investigation of those directly involved in the violent actions against the campesinos of Bajo Aguan.

2. We ask the State to listen and head the outcry of the campesinos who cry out and affirm with their struggles that Miguel Facussé is the one responsible for the deaths in Bajo Aguan.

3. We denounce the ties and preferential treatment which the Honduran State is giving to this person while the Constitution states that we are all equal. We ask, Why is there such malicious indifference by the judicial power which does not follow up on the acts, which violate human rights, to which the campesinos of Bajo Aguan are submitted? Why isn’t there an investigation of those directly responsible for the psychological and physical attacks which campesinos have suffered in the Gulf of Fonseca, especially in the island of Zacate Grande,

4. We demand that the Honduras state apply justice especially in regard to the problems of land ownership which are the direct causes of the deaths of campesinos in Zacate Grande and Bajo Aguan, among other cases.

5. We invite all the parishioners to be attentive to defend the dignity of the people, to aid the prophetic voice and protect the life of our shepherd, Monseñor Santos who had given over his life for the poor and the defense of life in his 27 years as bishop.

“Hear this, you who walk over the poor and want to suppress the humble of the land.” (Amos 8:4)

Released in the municipality of San Juan Intibucá, May 31, 2011

Accords of the priests' study week

2011-01-01T13:39:00.000-08:00

Diocesan agreements
Pastoral study week of the priests
September 6 - 10, 2010
September 11, 2010
Pinalejo, Santa Bárbara

To assist the processes toward the National Constitutive Assembly (ANC)[Constitutional convention] by means of strategies toward the ANC agreed upon with the organizations which come from the base, taking into account the steps of the social pact suggested in the study week and based in the diocesan plan.
To have a lasting attitude in defense of nature and against the privatization of natural resources.
That the priests maintain their prophetic dimension in conformity with the preferential option for the poor, illuminated by the biblical tradition, the church's magisterium, Latin American theology and the diocesan plans.
To organize a diocesan commission of ongoing reflection and research.
To promote a process of social transformation, by means of analysis and debate, spreading at all levels the formation which is integral and liberating.
To accompany the distinct forms of popular organization and facilitate spaces of dialogue among the various social sectors.
To promote moral and cultural principles and values to combat and unmask corruption, immorality and the global market of neoliberal ideology.
To form a new type of citizens and of leaders capable of renouncing every type of prebends and privileges in order to be faithful to the poor and determined to protect the common good.
To demand public investment to provide for the basic necessities of the poorest parts of the population (roads, electric energy, telephone, schools, health centers, hosing, agricultural and livestock production) especially in the western part of the country.
To push the solidarity of lay people and their recognition of their mission in the church and in the world.
To intensify our pastoral attention to the most vulnerable groups (youth, children, and the elderly).
To promote and assist every work of communitarian progress and development which tends to solve the needs of the poorest starting with their local resources.
To promote and form a pastoral reading of the Bible faithful to the spirit which with it was written - from the poor.

Santa Rosa priests support Father Melo

2010-04-28T09:51:00.000-07:00

Communiqué

“I hate the one who does evil, he will not gather together with me. Far from me is the twisted heart; I will not approve the evil doer.” (Psalm 100)

The Priests of the diocese of Santa Rosa de Copán, having learned of the information about the threats put forth by various media against Father Ismael Moreno (Padre Melo) to national and international communities, make it known that:

We are in solidarity with Father Ismael Moreno, out brother in the ministerial priesthood of Jesus Christ.
The defense of the virginity and the chastity of a young woman, in the history of the church, led to martyrdom for missionary priests and bishops, for example, the Salesians Bishop Luis Versiglia and Father Caravario.
We are firmly convinced that the action of Father Ismael Moreno is based in the defense of the dignity of the human person and of the human rights of Miss Irma Melissa Villanueva.
Sexual assault of women is brutish conduct which intends to demonstrate superiority and brute force as a way to intimidate and to caution all those who think differently.
The judicial and police authorities of Honduras ought to act in adherence to the law and to justice against the police who committed lewd acts against and sexual rape of Irma Melissa Villanueva, and hopefully they will not go unpunished as on past occasions; for example, the police who wounded with bullets the demonstrators in Colonia 6 de Mayo, in Macuelizo, Santa Bárbara, June 17, 2006.
The competent authorities ought to process the formal accusation which Father Valentín Menéndez, S.J., superior of the Jesuits, presented to the Special Prosecutor for Human Rights of San Pedro Sula, dated April 17, 2010.
He have taken the word of Mr. Oscar Álvares, Minister of Security, and President Porfirio Lobo Sosa, who have publicly affirmed that in this government corruption and criminal police forces will not be tolerated.
With this message we call upon all the bishops, priests, deacons, seminarians, and all the base ecclesial communities to join with us in one soul and one heart to defend the Catholic Church seriously threatened in terms of the moral and physical security of several priests.

“HAPPY ARE THOSE WHO HUNGER AND THIRST FOR JUSTICE, FOR THEY SHALL BE FILLED.” (Matthew 5:6)

Santa Rosa de Copán, April 30, 2010.
Presbytery (the priests) of the Diocese of Santa Rosa de Copán [Honduras]

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The original Spanish can be found on my Spanish language blog.

Jesuit statement regarding threats to Padre Melo

2010-04-23T08:40:00.000-07:00

Statement of the Jesuits of Honduras

The superiors of the Society of Jesus in Honduras, in the face of the threats and duress that repeatedly target Father Ismael Moreno, S.J. (Padre Melo), we declare the following before national and international public opinion:

First: We denounce the fact that in the last few weeks Padre Melo has been the object of death threats by unknown persons through text messages and calls to his dell phone. Such threats are related to the humanitarian decision to provide protection for the young woman Irma Melissa Villanueva in a case already known by the Public Ministry’s District Attorney’s office and by various national and international human rights organizations.

Second: we affirm that the relation of Padre Melo with Irma Melissa and her family is exclusively in terms of the actions that occurred on August 14 in Choloma, the day Irma Melissa accused various policemen of having raped her on the occasion of a march of the Resistance in that city. The action of Padre Melo is in the framework of a Christian commitment in the face of situations that require the humanitarian accompaniment of members of religious communities such as he.

Third: we note that the threats against Padre Melo don’t refer only to him. The Society of Jesus denounces the fact that Gerardo Chévez, Radio Progreso reporter, also is receiving threats and intimidation for his informative work in the Radio.

Fourth: we note that on Friday, April 17, Father Valentín Menéndez, S.J., superior of the Jesuits in El Progreso, Yoro, presented a formal complaint (denunciation) to the Special District Attorney for Human Rights in San Pedro Sula in which he asked that there be an ongoing investigation of the threats and duress against Padre Melo.

Fifth: we demand that the national authorities conduct a diligent and effective investigation of the deeds which have been denounced and we make an urgent appeal to national and international human rights organizations to follow up on this case.

Released in the city of El Progreso, in the department of Yoro, the nineteenth of April, 2010.

Valentín Menéndez S.I.
Superior of the Jesuits of El Progreso.
Carlos Solano S.I.
Superior of the Jesuits of Yoro
Juan José Colato S.I.
Superior of the Jesuits of Tocoa.

Spanish original can be found at the Radio Progreso blog or at my Spanish language blog.

Trujillo clergy question a press report

2010-03-05T09:34:00.000-08:00

Clarifications

The Priests Council of the Diocese of Trujillo to the communications media and public opinion in general:

In the newspaper LA PRENSA on March 1, 2010, on page 4 of the Investigation Series, there is a citation from a military intelligence report in possession of that newspaper which, according to the authors of the article, “is already in the hands of the government authorities.”

Referring to the assistance and indoctrination of armed campesino groups who have occupied various African palm plantations in Bajo Aguán, the citation from the military intelligence report, supposedly taken from the text, states that the aid and indoctrination comes from “an established structure in the region which comes from non-governmental organizations in the region of a socialist bent, priests of the Jesuit order who hawk liberation theology in every community, leaders of the teachers, and radical leftist teachers, even including local means of communication with communist ideological biases.”

Further on in the article the following paragraph is cited: “It is important to stress that the dominant Catholic order in the department is the Jesuits, followers of liberation theology which is a Marxist vision of the Gospel. Out of this order have come all the guerrilla priests of the Church including Guadalupe Carney.”

We consider it necessary to make the following clarifications?

1. The priests who belong to the Society of Jesus, founded by Saint Ignatius Loyola, popularly called “Jesuits,” have accompanied the poorest families of the department of Colon who for the most part comprise the campesino population, to assist them in the defense of their rights and to attain the goals of their own development.

2. This work of the Jesuit priests is in accord with the preferential option for the poor which the church in Latin America has made for several decades. In the document “In search of human development n Honduras which is integral, just, and in solidarity,” dated January 6, 2010, the Jesuit priests who work in our country, affirm, “It is clear that the option for the poor is an intrinsic way of making our faith concrete and in it we play out the meaning of our life. This option has to be personal and communitarian, it has to connect the concrete person and the structures, it has to pass through the heart and it has to be expressed in actions in history.”

Pope Benedict XVI himself in his inaugural address at the Fifth General Conference of the Latin American bishops in 2007 explained it in this way: “In the effort to know the message of Christ and to make it the guide of one’s own life, one has to recall that evangelization has always been united to human promotion and authentic Christian liberation.” (Inaugural Discourse, 3) Integral liberation for which the Jesuit priests and the whole Catholic Church work is not Marxist action nor an action which belongs to a political ideology. It is action inspired by the Gospel which demands that we work against every ideology which manipulates the people. And this is what the Jesuit priests do in our diocese of Trujillo. We are clear about the effort the Jesuit priests make and which the whole diocese does for some eighteen years so that the campesinos do not sell their lands which now are the reason for this violent conflict. Likewise, in no moment have we promoted recovery of lands by the campesinos.

3. Also the report in LA PRENSA recalls the following quote from the military intelligence report: “Authorities of the Catholic Church in the area have strong ties with campesino groups in the department, officially to promote environmental and indigenous groups but it is believed that they are also to strengthen their party (the Christian Democrats).”

Aiding political parties is a individual right of every citizen. Nevertheless, no member of the Hierarchy of the Catholic church in the Diocese of Trujillo, which is composed of the departments of Colón and Gracias a Dios, has any commitment with any political party and therefore not with the Christian Democratic Party. We share the words of Pope Benedict XVI when he affirmed in the same inaugural discourse noted above, “If the Church would begin to be transformed directly in political affairs, it would not do more for the poor and for justice but would do less, because it would lose its independence and its moral authority, identifying itself with a single political way and partial opinions and positions. The church is the advocate (lawyer) of justice and the poor precisely by not identifying itself with politician nor with party interests.” (Inaugural Discourse, 4)

Having cleared up these points, we believe it necessary to ask for some clarifications.

a) To the Military Intelligence of the Armed Forces of Honduras and to the authorities of the National Police:

We ask you to inform the people about the victims who up to this moment have been affected by this conflict and those responsible for these bloody deeds.
We ask you, in the name of the population which believes in peace and respects life, to inform us of the general disarmament which was announced before the general elections of last November; of the results and the objectives, as well as the intentions of the military and police authority to not pursue aggressively the arms traffic when it seems that, these very authorities, warn us about the danger of the organization of a guerrilla cell in Bajo Aguán.

b) To the authorities responsible for the struggle against drug-trafficking, we urge them to clear up the movements of the various drug cartels which have invaded the departments of Colón and Gracias a Dios and of their participation in the agrarian conflicts. It is a question so that the population can know what is at risk and what is being protected in regard to the unforeseen, illegal, immoral and even violent consequences which are brought about by being involved in this activity [drug-trafficking] which is destroying so many lives and which intends to convert Honduras into a narco-state.

c) We ask Military Intelligence that it justify how a supposed internal unpublished document has come into the hands of a member of the communications media.

d) To the means of communication we ask them to be more careful in citing unpublished sources which provoke misinformation and confusion in public opinion, attacking the good name of persons and institutions.

The Catholic Church defends the life and dignity of every human being. It rejects every form of violence and also every judgment which, without being tied to the truth, can defame or discredit persons and institutions. It is desirable, if the military report is authentic, that the Military Authorities revise and publish their information.

We trust that the dialogue that the President of the Republic, Don Porfirio Lobo Sosa
proposes as the democratic path will serve in this conflicts to show the legal ways with which it ought to be resolved. We ask the parties in litigation to put aside weapons in order that the force of reason, common sense and legality may finally dominate.

Given in the city of Trujillo, March 2, 2010.

The original in Spanish can be found on my blog in Spanish and at Honduras en lucha.

Honduran Bishops Conference, February 2010

2010-03-01T10:10:00.000-08:00

ORDINARY MEETING OF THE HONDURAS BISHOPS CONFERENCE

“Live praying and supplicating. Pray at all times as the Spirit inspires you. Watch together and persevere in your praying without ever being disheartened, interceding for the holy ones, your brothers [and sisters].” (Ephesians 6: 18)

February 9 to 12 we held the first ordinary meeting of the Honduras Bishops Conference for the current year, 2010.

Together we have given thanks to God for the devotion to Mary shared with the People of God and shown on the feast of Our Lady, the Virgin of Suyapa, the Patron of Honduras.

We have also given thanks for the tenderness of God toward those who are sick as we commemorate the Virgin Mary under the advocacy of Our Lady of Lourdes, during the 18th World Day of the Sick.

We shared with the representatives of ADVENIAT their interest in the Delegates of the Word of God, while thanking them for the generous aid that this institution of the German Catholic Church offers to the Church in Honduras so that we can provide better fruits in our task of evangelizing.

In an atmosphere of prayer and communion we examined the prophetic and evangelizing attitude which the Catholic Church ought to have in the face of the political, economic, and social reality which our country is living at this time when a new stage of its history is beginning with a new government.

Consistent with our faith we consider it a moral today that all of us believers commit ourselves according to our vocation and personal status to participate in the democratic life which the people of Honduras has chosen; and that we work as instruments of the reconciliation which we urgently need in all areas of our social life together.

As citizens we ought to know how to demand of the new authorities, within legal channels, action which is transparent and base on the principle of Social Justice which the Social Doctrine of the Church insists in all its teachings. We ought to demand a just and preferential attention to the poor who are the majority of our people so that all that is promised is fulfilled.

We bishops have discerned that the Catholic Church can and ought to face the difficult realities which are perpetuated beyond [the scope of] the governments which steer our path and which sometimes become much more acute because of their inability [to respond to them]. We are thinking about the increasing action and power of drug traffickers and organized crime, the corruption which is so difficult to eradicate, the considerable fiscal deficit, the legislative delay which permits situations which harm our people, natural resources and the environment.

We the bishops of Honduras commit ourselves to continue working in our respective dioceses together with the priest, religious men and women, missionaries and the faithful to respond to the challenges noted.

We renew the preferential option for the poor. A consequence of this option is the task to reorganize and strengthen the Social Ministry at all levels – national, diocesan, and parish, so that, as the Document of [the Latin American Bishops Conference Meeting at] Aparecida says, it might be “structured, organic and integral that with projects of assistance [and] human promotion, if might make itself present in the new realities of exclusion and marginalization which the most vulnerable groups live, where life is most threatened” (Document of Aparecida, #401)

Seeing that we are approaching the season of Lent, we exhort all the faithful to initiate a path of conversion which permits us to recognize our weaknesses and limitations in order to make reconciliation possible within the heart of the Church and society; a way of grace that allows us to discover the Love of Christ which becomes the way to lead us to glory going through the cross. To live Lent definitively, as a privileged time which brings us to the joy of the Pasch/Passover of the Lord, whose joy no one can take away from us (cf. Juan 16:22).

Honduran Bishops Conference

Honduran Jesuits statement, January 2010

2010-01-17T13:43:00.000-08:00

Statement of the Society of Jesus in the face of the national reality

 Toward the search for an integral human development,
which is just and in solidarity in Honduras.

We are on the eve of a new public administration and, under normal circumstances, this event is always an opportunity to awaken hopes for society as a whole. Nevertheless, the constitutional rupture which happened after the coup d’etat on June 28, 2009, brought to a head a conflict which had been building up for many years. The assumption of a new public administration can only be a real opportunity for all of the society if it is situated in the fundamental national challenge of seeking a true route to the deep division and polarization which are eating away the entire Honduran family.

[The year] 2010 receives us with the entire human, social, political and religious fabric broken. We need to open new paths through a route where all sectors of society commit our words and our hearts because consensuses have disappeared and we need to commit our fate to a new National Convocation around a New Social Compact which leads us to a new project for peace with the purpose of remaking the broken fabric and orienting ourselves along a path of authentic reconciliation.

To advance toward this convocation of a New Social Pact, the members of the Society of Jesus in Honduras (Jesuit priests and brothers) suggest that we take into account the following factors so present in the current national crisis:

1. Conversion:

“Social institutions do not guarantee by themselves, in a mechanical way, the good of all: “the interior renewal of the Christian spirit” ought to precede the commitment to better society.1 In the face of the current national situation, we consider that a starting point ought to be the recognition that in this Honduran crisis no one is exempt from responsibility and no one can blame everyone else, much less consider themselves to possess the truth. To seek a way out, a condition to make this possible is that each person and each sector of the country move away from its position to encounter the positions of the others. If we all move away from our own positions, we will be able to advance toward the construction of a path which would be the expression of shared consensuses. From our Christian faith that self-critical recognition of openness and moving toward listening and discernment of what others believe and think, are characteristic expressions of an authentic conversion: a conversion which leads to decisions to change in the interior of the heart being expressed in not only sensing, looking at and listening to how everyone lives but ends up accepting the way others live, the others we normally categorize as our adversaries and enemies. Without a decision which is the fruit of authentic conversion, whatever agreement over a way out of the current crisis would always be only a partial way out, which in fact would signify letting conflict in the state and in society always keep its place.

We recall the words of Pope John Paul II in his message for the 1997 World Day of Peace:

“the weight of the past which can not be forgotten can be accepted only in the presence of a pardon which is received and offered reciprocally: it is a question of a long and difficult journey, but it is not impossible.”2

“Reciprocal pardon does not negate the demand for justice, and much less does it obstruct the path which leads to truth: justice and truth, instead, represent the concrete requirements for reconciliation.”3

2. Economic Model

“Experts in economics, workers in sectors, and those responsible in politics ought to pay attention to rethinking the economy, considering on the one had the dramatic material poverty of missions of persons and on the other hand the fact that by means of the current economic , social, and cultural structures it is very difficult to take charge of the demands of authentic development.”4 A true way to resolve the present conflict ought to include historical and verifiable signs of transforming the present economic model which causes an increasing gap, which presently appears unstoppable, between the rich and the poor. While this model supported by social exclusion will always be a decisive factor in regard to political instability and will produce violence. Let us remember that “underdevelopment … is an unjust situation which promotes tensions which conspire against peace.”5 Whatever may be a true and wide-reaching way out of the conflict it ought to have the will of all sectors to transform the bases of the current model, starting with a commitment, also verifiable, with those sectors of society which find themselves with fewer advantages to move their lives forward with respect and dignity.

3. Preferential option for the poor.

To decenter ourselves from our own interests in order to seek a way out which has as its center the life and dignity of the most defenseless sectors is what we in our Christian faith take as the Mystery of the Incarnation, the mystery of a God who saves all of humanity by becoming flesh in the weakest of this world 6 and which, from the perspective of the bishops of Latin America and the Caribbean we call the preferential option for the poor. This option “is one of the characteristics which mark the physiognomy of the church in Latin America and the Caribbean(…) If this option is implicit in christological faith7 we Christians as disciples and missionaries are called to contemplate in the suffering faces of our brothers and sisters the face of Christ which calls us to serve him in the,: the suffering faces of the poor are the suffering faces of Christ…8 Everything that has to do with Christ has to do with the poor and everything related to poor calls out to Jesus Christ…” 9

It is clear that the option for the poor is an intrinsic making our faith concrete and in is one judges the sense of one’s own life. This option has to be personal and communitarian, has to intersect with the person in concrete and with structures, has to come from the heart and has to be expressed in actions in history.

4. Truth Commission:

“The truth will make us free.”10 A true way out in order to resolve the present conflict would be to go through a commitment to know the truth about what in fact happened, in regard to human rights violations, crimes of treason [insulting humanity] and of violation of freedom of expression before, during and after the events of June 28, 2009. If we really want to advance toward a way out that leads to reconciliation within the whole Honduran family, we must thoroughly investigate and scrutinize those deeds where abuse of power left human injuries which cannot be healed while the victims are not recognized [do not receive their dignity] and those responsible are not held accountable by a serious and impartial judicial process. For this, an independent authority [instancia] is indispensable, made up of very credible persons and sectors, national and international, who are impartial in their judgments so that, in the space of ninety days from when it is set up, it offers to the government and society at large an initial report about what happened in the period noted, identifying the deeds, the authors and victims, and with the commitment on the part of the state to bring to judgment those responsible for these barbarous situations.

5. Political Corruption

For a way out of the conflict with an enduring and decisive reach, there must exist a commitment, with verifiable mechanisms to confront the political corruption of the state in which factors are involved which link various sectors which are responsible for the political and business life of the country. Political corruption is one of the most acute illnesses which our country suffers, and its damage is so profound that in many occasions those who most often speak about it and propose measures to combat it are the very ones who are most questionable in their commitment to it. In our country, many things don’t work, or work only halfway or work poorly. Nevertheless there is an authority [instancia] which has functioned faultlessly, the two party system [bipartidismo] with its impressive capability to obtain monetary advantage [capitalize] in its favor by means of all the reforms it makes. For the most part the institutions which are created to diminish corruption end up being made up of members elected or named by the elites of the political two party system.
This is called political corruption and the Compendium of the Social Doctrine of the Catholic Church identifies very well the dangers and damages which this corruption represents for society: “Among the deformities of the democratic system, political corruption is one of the most serious because it betrays at one and the same time both moral principles and the norms of social justice. It compromises the correct functioning of the State, having a negative influence on the relationship between those who govern and the governed. It causes a growing distrust with respect to public institutions, bringing about a progressive disaffection in the citizens with regard to politics and its representatives, with a resulting weakening of institutions. Corruption radically distorts the role of representative institutions, because they become an arena for political bartering between clients' requests and governmental services. In this way political choices favor the narrow objectives of those who possess the means to influence these choices and are an obstacle to bringing about the common good of all citizens.” 11

6. Depoliticization and social oversight [vigilance]

To combat corruption, we value as necessary strengthening of institutional order [institutionality] and the Rule of Law for the purpose of fulfilling accepted position [currency] that all citizen are equal before the law and that there are no privileges because the Rule of Law guarantees that no one is above the law. In this sense, we see that it is necessary to remember that “the authority ought to issue just laws, that is, conforming to the dignity of the human person and according to the dictates of right reason…when on the other hand the law is against reason it is called a wicked law; in that case, it ceases to be law and becomes, rather, an act of violence.”12

Likewise, we consider it necessary that mechanisms be created which guarantee the institutional independent of the state from the political parties and that control organs of the state be formed of members whose election does not depend on the leaders of the political parties; we likewise suggest that it is necessary to create authorities [instancias] of diverse sectors of society, connected with the state’s control organs with the function of social oversight over national and municipal budgets and the budgets of autonomous and semiautonomous authorities/agencies of the state.

7. Insecurity and violence:

For a true way out of the conflict which holds us polarized, we consider the need to move forward toward a commitment in the face of the problem of the insecurity of citizens and the violence which affect the lives of the entire society and which has managed to establish itself with expressions of viciousness and cruelty as an extreme manifestation of the deterioration and contempt for the life and dignity of human beings. We do not believe that the signs and manifestations of violence are solved with public policies that stress coercive means and even less do we believe that violence is solved by legislative decisions that criminalize specific social sectors on the base of the single fact that they are young people and live in urban areas or in marginalized rural areas. We do not believe in public policies that give a priority to harsh responses instead of preventive response because, instead of advancing toward solving violence, they generate environments of revenge. We want to aim at the root causes which produce violence and insecurity. Therefore, we propose that the state promote and put into action policies which revive the agricultural sector in order to thus avoid the immigration of youth into the cities, policies for ongoing and worthwhile/dignified production and employment in the cities as well as in the countryside; that they put into action strong measures for a true purification and formation of the structures and personnel of the police, beginning with the officers; reforms of the penal system; putting into action new and decisive policies against drug-trafficking and illicit enrichment which runs through the social fabric of our nation.

In this way, the Society of Jesus confirms its commitment to the service of faith and the promotion of justice in Honduras and declares its interest in seeking ways which bring a true peace, the fruit of justice.

Given in Honduras, on January 6, 2010, the day of the Epiphany of the Lord Jesus.

NOTES:
1 Pius XI, Quadragesimo anno, 218.
2 Cfr. John Paul II, Message for World Peace Day, 1997
3 Compendium of the Social Doctrine of the Church, 518
4 John Paul II, Encyclical Sollicitudo rei socialis (1988), 570 5 Second General Conference of Latin American Bishops. Medellin (1968), p. 109
6 Cfr. Juan 1,14
7 Cfr. Benedict XVI, Deus caritas est (2005)
 8 Benedicto XVI, Discourse at CELAM Aparecida (2007). Cf. 2 Cor 8,9.
 9 Fifth General Conference of Latin American Bishops, Aparecida (2007) # 391, 393
10 John 8: 32.
11 Compendium of the Social Doctrine of the Church, 411
12 Saint Thomas Aquinas, Summa theologiae, I-II, Ed. Leon 7, 164
13 Isaiah 32, 17

Translation mine. Suggested corrections are most welcome.

The Spanish text can be found at Vos El Soberano

National Caritas statement on violence and human rights

2009-12-20T16:13:00.000-08:00

Pastoral Social/Cáritas Honduras
[The national Caritas office]

Statement on the violation of human Rights and the climate of violence

“I have come that they may have life and have it in abundance” (John 10:10)

The national consciousness, accustomed to live in a climate of violence, has been shaken in the last few days by the increase of violence, but with clearly political characteristics. This began before June 28, the date on which the replacement of the president happened.

Various persons died during the course of these five months participating in the mobilizations of the population. Apparently calm appeared to have taken place in daily living.

Nevertheless the recorded assassinations signaled the contrary. Such is the case of the defender of Human Rights, Walter Troches, active member of the Resistance Front and the death of Ángel Salgado, assassinated one day before the elections by members of the army. Similarly, the kidnapping of the leader of the resistance in the northern city of Choloma, among others.

We look with concern and under a shadow on the increase of crimes categorized as common crimes in the population: the death of Katherine Nicolle Cabrery Edwin Canaca at the hands of hit-men for reasons which have not yet be made clear.

The absence of a judicial institutional order which is trustworthy and stable, the vacuum of a power with moral legitimacy, has brought it about that violence has made itself the ruling [power] in the Honduran society.

Pastoral Social/Caritas considers and repudiates against every type of action that attacks the sacred right to life, since these actions are a violation of human rights and make the task of reconciliation and seeking peace in the Honduran society more difficult.

We call upon the society and governmental entities to turn back this situation, to be effective in applying justice and to seek honestly paths which lead to peace, to respect for life and human rights.

Tegucigalpa, December 18, 2009

Honduran Bishops on Dialogue

2009-10-11T20:31:00.001-07:00

Statement of the Honduran Episcopal Conference on the dialogue

“Let us seek what contributes to peace and make us grow together.” (Romans 14: 19)

1. We, the bishops of the Honduras Bishops’ Conference, meeting in our Ordinary Assembly, feel very united to all the people who, both within and outside of Honduras, have paid attention to the dialogue which is being held in order to seek a constructive exit to the political crisis which our country is living.

2. We have experienced in our own flesh, in the Church and in society, the sufferings, divisions and violence which this prolonged crisis has brought with it. He have lived the worry and the fear that a solution might be sought by the paths of violence.

3. We declare our support of the dialogue which began anew on October 7. In every moment we have advocated for that pedagogy [educational process] of sincere dialogue which diligently seeks the best solution for everyone in charity and truth.

4. We ask those directly involved in the dialogue and those they represent that “everyone of them, overcoming personal inclinations, make efforts to seek the truth and resolutely pursue the common good.” (Words of Pope Benedict XVI about the situation in Honduras at the Angelus, Sunday, July 12, 2009)

5. We cannot continue with the uncertainty, personal and social tension, and the economic deterioration. What is urgent is a solution which is just, peaceful, and agreed upon which “assures peaceful life together and an authentic democratic life.” (Words of Pope Benedict XVI)

6. The presence of members of the Organization of American States, the European Community, and the national and international press is a sign of the interest there is that this dialogue carries the ship of our nation to a good port. The people of Honduras have put many hopes in this national dialogue which cannot remain frustrated since that would lead to a great deception and increasing personal and social tensions.

7. In this climate of dialogue which ought to be respectful and understanding, every form of violence – of word or deed – would be prejudicial and would be an attack on the attitudes which favor dialogue and would lead to a failure of credibility for those who provoked such violence.

8. We believe that the established dialogue is not to be narrowed to a technique of solving conflicts but it has an ethical dimension, since the exercise [of dialogue] implies moral attitudes and is at the service of what is good, just and true for our people. Consequently, those who sit at the “table of dialogue” have a serious responsibility before God and before society which they ought not forget or underestimate.

9. We are conscious that a political agreement is not the total solution to the serious problems which plague Honduras, but at least would place the country in the suitable institutional conditions to confront them, in the framework of a joint plan, with the participation of everyone, in accord with the principle of subsidiarity and with a new style of political working which “places the common good as the principle imperative for the construction of a new society.” (Pastoral Letter of the Honduras Bishops’ Conference, “By the Paths of Hope,” # 15, March, 2006)

10. We are praying persistently and with confidence that God would grant all of us, and especially those responsible for this dialogue, wisdom, capacity to listen, social sensitivity, and a spirit of discernment. We know that other persons are praying for this intention. We invite the Catholic faithful and all believers to intensify that prayer so that God will grant us times of peaceful living together, social justice, and development with solidarity.

Tegucigalpa, October 8, 2009
Signed by the archbishop and the bishops of the country

Declaration of the national Caritas of Honduras

2009-10-01T21:32:00.000-07:00

Declaration on the State of Siege in Honduras

“BLESSED ARE THOSE WHO WORK FOR PEACE,
FOR THEY WILL BE KNOWN AS THE CHILDREN OF GOD” (Mathew 5, 9)

1. Moved by faith in Jesus Christ, the fount of justice, truth, fraternity, peace, and life, Caritas of Honduras declares its deep concern and dismay in the face of the direction the country is going which troubles and frightens even more large parts of the population; therefore, we join the different voices which have let themselves be heard in this moment and we express our longing in order that we together may construct a nation in peace, tranquility, and liberty.

2. The critical situation in which we have lived since before June 28 and which was deepened from that date on, has been exacerbated increasingly until it has come to the taking of extreme measures by those who are now at the front of the nation, such as the declaration of a state of siege for 45 days, an act which we consider disproportionate in terms of the force imposed, as well as illegitimate and an obstacle to dialogue, because it damages the fundamental rights of the person, such as freedom of expression, assembly, association, normal circulation – rights and guarantees contained in articles 69, 72, 78, 81, and 84 of the Constitution of the Republic.

3. We are worried about the manner that in the pursuit of maintaining an alleged social peace, the life and physical integrity of so many people who have participated in the marches of the resistance have been wounded. We reject the death threats that Father Ismael Moreno, S.J., has received and the boycott [interruptions?] of the transmissions of Radio Progreso in the diocese of Yoro, Radio Santa Rosa in Copán and other means of communication.

4. It is urgent to reverse as soon as possible this measure which affects and restricts the liberties of all those of us who live in Honduras, increases the tensions, the fear and aggressiveness in the population, without helping solve the real problem of the country.

5. W e make a call for a frank and true dialogue which involves all sectors without excluding anyone, so that accompanied by a mature reflection we may seek together the spaces which will bring us to consensus, discarding every imposition of political positions and personal or group interests and that for one time we think about the common good of this country.

6. We believe that the plan of life which God has for all of us commits us as citizens to the construction of a nation in which living together as brothers and sisters, respectfully and in a dignified manner, is promoted. We also believe that only with the responsible exercise of freedom can we work for the defense and security of life as a right and a duty of everyone. Therefore, we declare our urgent call and our support of the urgent pursuit of reconciliation and social peace in the framework of a Rule of Law which we all desire to become a reality in our country.

7. Longing for and working for a society built on justice, truth, fraternity and respect for life, we shall achieve peace, tranquility, and freedom for this country.

Tegucigalpa, 30 September, 2009.

PASTORAL SOCIAL-CÁRITAS DE HONDURAS

New statement from the Diocese of Santa Rosa de Copán

2009-09-24T18:52:00.001-07:00

Today, September 24, after a four day meeting of the priests with the bishop, this statement was issued. The following is my hurried translation.

Communication of the Diocese of Santa Rosa de Copán

1. The presbyterate [the priests] of the diocese of Santa Rosa de Copán, always faithful to the values of the Kingdom of God and to the people whom we have been entrusted to shepherd, illumined by the Word of God and the church Magisterium [teaching authority], we have analyzed the phenomenon of the coup d’état and after a mature examination we want to share our reflections about it.

2. We reject the coup d’état because it violates the constitution of the Republic, principally articles 3, 71, 72, 84, and 102, restricts constitutional guarantees, puts the Armed Forces and the National Police in opposition to the humble people, compels the people to insurrection (cf. Constitution article 3), causes instability and unrest in the citizenry, and has caused grief to many families because of homicides, and the wounded and beaten whose number increases every day.

3. The group of families, extremely enriched, with businesses which live from the projects financed by the State with the taxes that the citizenry pays and the money which comes from friendly countries, ought to tell the Honduran people the causes and reasons which brought them to give the coup d’état at the government of José Manuel Zelaya Rosales or discredit the usurper government (cfr. Constitution article 3)

4. We believe that no material good is worth the life of so many persons who by orders of Robert Micheletti Baín, head of the Joint Chief of Staffs General Romeo Vásquez Velásquez, minister of security Jorge Alberto Rodas Gamero, advisor Billy Joya and bought about by evil agents of the National Police, and this has been done for the purpose of obstructing the people’s demonstrations.

5. We remind all the citizens that no one owes obedience to a usurper government and that no one ought to obey an order to kill persons. (Cfr. Constitution, Article 3)

6. We hold responsible Mr. Roberto Micheletti Baín, the current National Congress and the magistrates of the Supreme Court for all the damages which have come over the people and their possessions after the coup d’état.

7 . As ordained priests, we are in solidarity with our brother in the priesthood, Father Andrés Tamayo, defender of our forests and prophet of these times, demanding that the Catholic Church should not aid the economically rich group but the poor.

8. The coup d’état is the fruit of the unjust distribution of wealth, which generates in Honduras profound inequalities, in regard to food, work, education, health, the possibility of expression and citizen participation, since 80% of our impoverished people is again victim of a power play, where the pride of the most wealthy wishes to intrude.

9. Called by the cry of many of our Catholic and non-catholic brothers [and sisters], who hope from us a prophetic word, in defense of truth and justice, illuminating from our faith the current circumstances and accompanying the people in their suffering of their struggle for vindication, we cite the words of our beloved Pope Benedict XVI: “To desire the common good and strive towards it is a requirement of justice and charity. To work for the common good is on the one hand to be solicitous for, and on the other hand to avail oneself of, that complex of institutions that give structure to the life of society, juridically, civilly, politically and culturally.” (Cfr. Caritas in veritate, n. 7)

The words of our Lord Jesus Christ console our people.

“Blessed are the poor, for the Kingdom of heaven is theirs. Blessed those who hunger and thirst got justice for they shall be filled.” (Cfr. Matthew 5,6)

10. This coup has been the opportunity to seek the aid of all the countries of the United Nations; because all the nations of the world had taken account of the way Honduras was being administered and governed and how the economic aid, which they were contributing for the social and human development of our country, was being used. We cast out an SOS to all men and women of good will. Do not abandon the five million poor and the two and half million indigent [extremely poor’ Honduras, oppressed today by a military dictatorship to which the traitors of the fatherland have closed ranks.

11. We thank Brazil for giving diplomatic asylum to Honduran president José Manuel Zelaya.

12. Concerned about our fatherland, we will not rest until the constitutional order, interrupted by the coup, is reestablished. With the Word of God, the teaching, coming together, prayer, and above all the celebration of the Holy Mass, we hope to overcome (cfr. Acts 2: 42-47).

13. We do not have enemies, if anyone opposes us it is because of fear of the Catholic religion, which the immense majority of the people in western Honduras belong to.

14. Belonging to a political party ought not be above belonging to the Church, whenever [the church] tries to defend the people against social injustice.

15. We pass on to you what Pope Benedict XVI tells us, about the theology which we ought to profess in the economic and political realm. “This dynamic of charity received and given is what gives rise to the Church's social teaching, which is caritas in veritate in re sociali: the proclamation of the truth of Christ's love in society. This doctrine is a service to charity, but its locus is truth. Truth preserves and expresses charity's power to liberate in the ever-changing events of history. It is at the same time the truth of faith and of reason, both in the distinction and also in the convergence of those two cognitive fields. Development, social well-being, the search for a satisfactory solution to the grave socio-economic problems besetting humanity, all need this truth. What they need even more is that this truth should be loved and demonstrated. Without truth, without trust and love for what is true, there is no social conscience and responsibility, and social action ends up serving private interests and the logic of power, resulting in social fragmentation, especially in a globalized society at difficult times like the present.” (Caritas in veritate, n. 5).

16. We urge you to persevere in the base church communities in order to carry out the popular ministry which we have undertaken in all the parishes.

17. With the powerful help of Our Lady of Suyapa, Helper of Christians, we are sure that you will live free of all weaknesses of body and soul.

18. With the blessing of God, Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, may you also receive ours.

Your brothers and friends of the presbyterate of the diocese of Santa Rosa de Copán, Honduras, Central America.

September 24, 2009

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The original Spanish can be found at my Spanish blog.

Honduran Bishops' Conference June 19 statement

2009-08-31T06:18:00.000-07:00

This document has been referred to several times in the discussion of the current political crisis in Honduras and provides some context to the events of July 28 and the varied responses of the religious community to the coup.

Communiqué of the Honduran Bishops’ Conference

Give, then, your servant a wise heart to govern your people and to be able to discern between good and evil. (1 Kings 3:9)

The Bishops of the Catholic Church of Honduras, united in our second annual meeting, to the People of God and to the Honduran society in general, we declare the following:

1. We wish to be faithful to the mission to announce the Gospel by means of the formation of consciences, the defense of values, above all truth and justice, and the our contribution to the common good. This responsibility reminds us of the Document of Aparecida which affirms: “The Church should also help consolidate the fragile democracies, in the positive process of democratization in Latin America and the Caribbean, even though there currently exist serious challenges and threats of authoritarian deviations” (Document of Aparecida, 541).

 2. The political juncture that has been produced by the internal elections in the political parties, the election of the Supreme Court of Justice. The naming of the Attorney General, the rumors of a coup d’état and the preparations for a poll over a fourth ballot box have produced in us a deep concern for the divisions and the polarization of forces which gets deeper in our society.
 
3. From different communications media, civil groups, and the people itself, there is an insistence on the need to present and try to resolve the enormous social problems which have been being put off: such as increasing social violence, reduction of the State’s financial resources, unemployment, the increase of organized crime and drug trafficking, the reduction in the force that moral and religious values have in our society, vulnerability in the face of natural phenomena, land tenure, etc.
 
4. In one way or another all of us are responsible for this ensemble of problems that threaten our democracy. The Powers of the State, its institutions and organisms, when they politicize their actions and stain them with corruption, abuse of power, and the intention to impose on our country a single way of thinking. The political parties are also responsible who consider themselves inheritors of the state’s patrimony [inheritance] in order to administer them, in many cases, in terms of their own personal interests. Also responsible are the so-called “groups of power,” nation and international, which are difficult to identify because they act in the shadows, insatiable in their eagerness for enrichment, who block or place conditions on integral development and deepen the unjust inequality in which we live. And, finally, all of us who form the Honduran society are responsible in so far as we become indifferent and passive in the face of the dangers which threaten our weak democracy, which is more electoral and representative than participative.
  
5. The participative democracy which we seek will be possible only if certain conditions are met:

Decisive effort so that there is true SOCIAL JUSTICE as a commitment of all the citizenry, above all of those who aspire to elected office. We believe that given the extent to which capability, conscience, and ethical responsibility seem to be developing in political leaders, political functionaries (figures), and those responsible for the banking system, the social injustice which now exist will lessen. Because without Social Justice there can be no real democracy.
DIALOGUE as an instrument which converts natural differences and social and cultural pluralism into opportunities to improve proposals for the future and bring a consensus on political and economic decisions. For this we need a dialogue which includes all the sectors of society and which puts us on the path not only to surmount the current crisis but also to find a national project to work on together.
We ought to consider CONSULTATIONS of the citizenry, far from provoking fear, as an important resource for political participation, if and when they are realized within the framework of the law since “political representation does not exclude, in fact, the direct involvement of citizens in the decisions of major importance for the life of the society” (Compendium of the Social Doctrine of the Church, 413).

Therefore we urge the authorities who have been elected to guard the Rule of Law that they know how to find, by means of DIALOGUE, solutions for the current conflict, and that they know how to guarantee the Honduran people the regulation of the constitutional means, such as Plebiscite and Referendum, which together with other instruments, such as the Law of Citizenship Participation, permit the people to be consulted in questions of major importance.

  6. A free and sovereign society can only be constructed with the participation of all the citizens, feeling themselves co-responsible for the well-being of Honduras. But a true channel of citizen participation can not be done against the laws themselves. The Law can not be disobeyed in the name of persons whom one wishes to benefit, as one cannot be democratic without respecting Democracy, “imposing the power of a specific group on all the other members of society” ([Pope John Paul II,] Redemptor Hominis, 17).
 
7. On the way to preparing for the coming elections we consider it necessary that there be a process that allows the divulging of knowledge of the Constitution at all levels. This effort will have more benefits for the citizenry than all the costs, some of them of doubtful sources, of the excessively long political campaigns.  

8. The citizenry ought to demand of those who present themselves s candidates in the coming elections that they show their understanding of the needs of the nation, their ability to exercise public offices, their honesty, and authentic sensibility toward those most in need. Likewise the candidates have to publicly confirm their commitment to respect the processes of political participation and to work so that the Laws are at the service of the good of everyone, especially the poorest, and not work to adjust them for the specific interests of persons, groups, or political parties.

  9. We ask the three powers of the state, the dependent institutions and, especially, the Armed Forces, to guarantee the transparency, the organization and the good functioning of the coming elections so that they become a demonstration of peaceful living together and of respect for the Constitution just as the Honduran people desire. We pray to God that the Holy Spirit enlighten the hearts of those of us who live in this fatherland which is Honduras. And we pray to the Virgin of Suyapa who, with her motherly presence, reminds us in every moment that we are children of God, brothers and sisters, and that she will guide us toward unity, justice, and peace.

Tegucigalpa, M.D.C., June 19, 2009

translation corrected November 27, 2009

Message from Franciscan Friars (OFM) in Honduras

2009-08-29T09:51:00.000-07:00

Our feelings and thoughts as Franciscan friars minor (OFM) in Honduras

With feelings of concern but, at the same time, of hope, we address you, a people who are noble, hard-working, humble and with a deep faith, who live your commitment to the God of life in the Honduran reality.

We are concerned about what happened on June 28, 2009, which has broken the constitutional order and has generated negative consequences which deeply affect the Honduran people:

The political and ideological polarization which is dividing families and communities, which in many cases turns violent.
The economic and social erosion which we are experiencing and which is bringing about greater impoverishment.
The violation of human rights, namely: the violation of the freedom of expression and demonstration, the excessive use of force and repression by the state’s security forces against the demonstrators against the coup d’état; the incursion with excessive force by elements of the state security forces in the Autonomous [National] University of Honduras; direct repression toward some communications media; the prolongation of the curfew, especially in the areas around the frontier with Nicaragua; the militarization of some cities; the harassment and lack of guarantees for some leaders in the social movement.
The evident deterioration of the health of the Honduran people.
Disrespect and slander toward public persons.
The vulnerability of children and adolescents, not receiving classes in a systematic manner.
Threats against Cardinal Oscar Rodríguez.
The persecution of some priests of the Catholic Church who support the organized people.
The disinformation, manipulation and slander coming forth from the communications media which, instead of contributing to public opinion, sharpen the polarization and conflict.
The violence which has occurred in some demonstrations.

As Franciscan Friars Minor (OFM) who accompany the Honduran people, present in different dioceses, we wish to intensify our commitment for reconciliation, justice, and peace:

Promoting actions which lead to strengthening reconciliation in the family and the community.
Assistance and accompaniment of actions which promote dialogue for social reconstruction.
Exhorting openness to diversity of thought and to tolerance of [other] ideologies.
Strengthening the formation of Critical Consciousness and social solidarity.
Promoting the formation and spirituality of Justice, Peace, and the Integrity of Creation.
We support national and international initiatives that favor the restitution of democracy and the rule of law in Honduras.
Promoting the distribution of the reports of international Organizations which [seek to] guarantee Democracy, Human Rights, and social development.
Encouraging and maintaining hope, believing in “a new heaven and a new earth” (Revelation 21:1), where there arise men and women who are promoters of a society of solidarity, which is participative and committed to the common good, and of the quality of life of the majority who are impoverished.

We conclude with the blessing of Saint Francis for all men and women of good will:

“The Lord bless you and keep you;
may he show you his countenance and have mercy on you.
May he look kindly on you and give you his peace.
May the Lord bless you, brothers.”

Amen.

Honduran Bishops' 2006 Pastoral

2009-08-24T15:54:00.000-07:00

To provide some background on the current political crisis in Honduras, here is my translation of the 2006 pastoral letter of the Honduran Bishops' Conference, released after the last election as the new president and legislature began their terms of office. I have omitted the footnotes.

“On the paths of hope”
Pastoral letter of the Honduran Bishops’ Conference
to Honduran political leaders, political parties
and all members of civil society
about the social situation of the nation
Tegucigalpa, March 1, 2006

 I. Introduction

Dear brothers and sisters,

1. We, bishops of the Catholic Church, conscious of our mission to announce the Gospel in this special period of the history of our country, wish to share with all our sisters and brothers, and especially with the new political authorities, some reflections on the direction/course of our country; [and we wish] to show our solidarity with the worries, problems, and anxieties of the people and to offer our assistance to all those who dedicate their time, talents and efforts to achieve a human development that is integral and sustainable, which is the achievement and the promise of a civilization of love.

2. There are many disillusions/disappointments which are incubating in the soul of our people; [this is] a very difficult situation because they gradually escalate the individual and collective frustrations which impede a true solution of problems by peaceful roads and generate violent reactions. On our part we take it upon ourselves as a commitment to continue accompanying our people with words of consolation, raising up hope, and carrying out works of liberating love.

3. Our condition as disciples representing Christ demands that we live the Gospel of Jesus without detaching ourselves from the reality in which we are immersed. “We cannot feel tranquil or satisfied in the face of the chaotic and disconcerting situation which is right before our eyes: nations, sectors of the population, families and individuals ever more rich and privileged in the face of people, families, and a multitude of persons immersed in poverty, victims of hunger and sickness, lacking decent housing, sanitation, and access to culture. All this is an eloquent testimony to a real disorder and an institutionalized injustice.” These are the feelings that urge us to share our reflections with political leaders, political parties, and with all the people of Honduras.

4. Our exhortation in the area of human realities does not have a political character nor does it share technical criteria, but imparts a pastoral vision illuminated by the Gospel of Life. We offer what is ours – Jesus Christ, the Savior, whose words have eternal value and whose program for life has the motivation and guidance necessary to gradually construct a Honduras which is truly just, peaceful, and living in solidarity.

5. We urge the new government to truly take seriously the concerns, the principles, and the course of action expressed in this pastoral letter, so that its administrative task is inspired by the ethics of the common good to raise up this country and make of it a nation that is respectable, just, and equitable.

6. We hope that the political parties feel motivated by our words to exercise their roles within society as a service of the common good and do not seek their own interested or those of small groups of power.

7. Likewise, we trust that reading and reflecting on this document can serve to inspire and help movements and organizations in the civil society in their initiatives and efforts for a social harmony which is freer, more just, and more participative, “in which the various groups of citizens join together and mobilize/work together to develop and express their orientations to confront their fundamental needs and to defend their legitimate interests.”

II. A REALITY THAT CAUSES US PAIN AND RAISES QUESTIONS

1. A look at our history
8. This pastoral letter, “On the ways to hope,” invites us to look attentively at our history. We must learn from the good choices and from the errors of the past to recognize out social sins which have been committed in the course of history so that we don’t repeat them. To not recognize ourselves as the heirs of the past condemns us to continually commit the same mistakes. Good politics does not fail to recognize history or forget it but, from its common inheritance, puts all its efforts into the construction of the country which it dreams of and which it desires.

2. A look at our present situation
9. The new leaders of our country cannot construct a just nation it they are not capable first of all of taking a profound look at the present reality of our people. In our daily experience we gradually recognize the cries and longing for justice, work, food, education and health for the poor. When we go through the barrios, the villages and the mountains we verify the depth of this situation of poverty and misery. The stability of the macro-economy cannot make us forget nor hide this reality which several international institutions and the government itself express and show with alarming statistics.

3. Critical points about our reality
10. The elimination of poverty and the development of our people face obstacles which appear insolvable, including:
Inequality in the generation and distribution of wealth;
The low quality and insufficient coverage in education;
The lack of attention to health services;
Irrational exploitation of our natural resources and illegal utilization (taking advantage) of these resources;
Widespread corruption;
Theft of the goods of the State;
Forgetting the common good, justice, and solidarity and loss of the sacred value of human life.
All these not only cause a continuous impoverishment of our people but they also produce a constant flow of Honduras out of the country in search of better living conditions.

4. A society with weak institutions.
11. The construction of a strong nation demands the strengthening of State institutions. They are weakened by the populism and the politicization of these very institutions; by the high incidence of corruption which brings about in the population disbelief and lack of confidence in institutions and those who lead them; by the impunity which weakens the state of law, putting the law at the service of private interests and laying aside its principal function of guaranteeing and assuring harmony in the local, regional and national community; by physical violence which increases insecurity among the people and demonstrates that life is not valued or respected.

5. The chronic evil of our society is the fruit of our sins.
12. Where does all this evil, this poverty, this misery come from? Clearly it is not because God wishes this but because groups of economic and political power have been enthroned (assumed control) in our society which, in conjunction with the fatalistic attitude and chronic indolence of many and with the pressure exerted by international economic interests, brings about a scandalous misery in our country. As our brother bishops said well in Pueblo, “There is a mechanism which, being found impregnated not with an authentic humanism but with materialism, produces at the international level more and more rich at the price of more and more poor.” There is not only a social debt but also a collective responsibility for the continuation of these conditions of life, the major responsibility for which lies in those who have assumed public responsibilities for many years.

13. A careful look at the past and the present of our country will show us the course we need to follow to achieve a development which is human, integral, and sustainable. This contemplation, realistic and hopeful, is known to be illuminated and comforted by God, who is love, the guarantee and goal of the future of humanity, who teaches us to look the facts in the face, to know and understand them to discern and to interpret and to seek the best responses to the challenges which he presents us.

III. ETHICAL CRITERIA FOR A JUST AND PEACEFUL SOCIETY

14. We consider that our nation, in addition to the judicial frameworks, ought to cultivate and practice the fundamental principles which are the base of all political harmony, the lines oriented toward development, and the criteria of good government, Such principles are: the common good, the dignity of the human person, justice, truth, freedom, solidarity, and subsidiarity.

1. The Common Good

15. The common good is the principal imperative for the construction of our society; all the efforts of government employees and of public policies ought to be directed toward it. This principle ought to be the paradigm that orients the actions of any political leader who would be consistent and of whatever member of society who lives responsibility in society. “A politics for the person and for society finds its basic criterion in the attainment of the common good as the good of every human being and of the whole human being.” When this spirit animates social relations. economic, political, and social inequalities will disappear.

16. For us, pastors of the pilgrim Church in Honduras, the common good is the coming together of the conditions of social life with which men, women, families or associations can achieve their personal and communal fulfillment more completely and easily. It is not a matter of achieving the minimum or only the basic necessities, rather what it seeks is the achievement of the perfection of the entire society by the full exercise of every human right and duty.

17. “Every human living together should be based in the common good, consisting in the realization, every time more fraternal, of common dignity, which demands that we don’t use some in favor of others and are disposed even to dispense with particular goods.” This commits public powers to recognize, guard, and promote human rights and facilitate the fulfillment of the respective duties connected with then.

18. The search for the common good is the responsibility of all citizens and a demand of faith for all Christians, since it has its foundation in the new commandment of love (John 13: 34; 1 John 3:11). This is the commitment which we, the Christians of Honduras, take on ourselves just as the whole church of the American continent does.

2. The dignity of the human person

19. The dignity of the human person is the source and foundation of all the other principles and the reason of being of the common good and of respect for human rights. In the construction of a new society, “the principle, the subject and end of all social institutions is and ought to be the human person,” the image of God, a being unique and unrepeatable, open to transcendence, in communion with other and with one’s own life project.

20. It is the common teaching of the church that “human rights are born from the dignity of the human person as child of God. For this reason, every trampling on the dignity of the human is a trampling on God himself, of which the human is the image.”

21. Respect for human life, in all phases of its existence is a natural right, inviolable and universal, and thus prior to and superior to civil society and the State. “The service of charity to life ought to be profoundly unitary … for it is a question of being responsible for all life and for the life of all.” This is the root of a coherent ethic of life which says no to abortion, no to euthanasia, no to war, no to the death penalty, and no to poverty and its consequences.

22. The state cannot deny, abolish or impede the exercise of the fundamental rights of the person but has the obligation to respect them, to promote them and to guarantee their juridical effect. The backbone of every effort to construct this country ought to start with seeing that human rights are fully in effect and ought to be expressed in respect for all rights and for all persons and so in the decisive rejection of all the various violations of these.

3. Justice

23. Justice leads us to recognize others as subjects of rights and duties and to create appropriate economic, social, and political conditions so the our world guarantees with greater equity the right to live in accord with the dignity of persons which god himself has conceded to us.

24. In Sacred Scripture, justice is related to God’s fidelity, his mercy and compassionate love of the poor. It is he who “does justice to the oppressed and gives bread to the hungry’ (Psalm 146: 7), “throws down the mighty from their and raises up the humble” (Luke 1: 52). It is he who vividly exhorts us to practice justice and right, to defend the poor and oppressed (Isaiah 5: 8-10, 23) and proclaims blessed those who hunger and thirst for justice, because they will be filled (Matthew 5:6)

25. According to the Christian tradition, brought together in the Social Doctrine of the Church, social justice includes these dimensions:
- At the individual level, all persons should have access to the means to satisfy their basic needs (work, education, property, health care) and that no one be excluded from social goods and achievements.
- At the collective level, agreements and exchanges between individuals, groups, and nations should be done equitably and honestly and not from the domination and imposition of the stronger.
- At the public level, all persons should have the possibility to participate in the construction of a society whose members lead a life which is truly human. Therefore, governments have to guarantee a social order that permits and assures such participation.

26. Therefore, everything that is an affront against justice in relations between persons, betweens persons and the community, and communities and nations among themselves is a social sin.

27. Truth is one of the pillars to construct a different society in an orderly and peaceful form. The Church professes that the full truth about God and the truth about the human person has been manifested in Jesus Christ. whoever believes in Him does not remain in the darkness of error and of lies but knows the truth and walks in the truth.

28. All of us persons, in as much as we are gifted with intelligence and free will and therefore with personal responsibility, feel ourselves motivated to seek the truth and we are obliged to adhere to it once we have known it and to order our lives according to its demands.

29. The demands of truth in social life include transparency at every level, impartiality in the application of justice, honesty in information, respect for personal reputations, political proposals which are not mere demagoguery, and the fulfillment of promises that were made.

30.When truth underlies social relationships, credibility in institutions arises, transparency and confidence in the State and in governmental officials appears, citizens feel proud of their country and dedicate their energy to increase its fame. On the other hand, when the people feel deceived, made fun of, and used, as frequently happens, they become distrustful of public persons and institutions. This explains, in some way, the high level of absenteeism in the polls and sparse civic participation.

5. Liberty [Freedom]

31 – Liberty is a profound aptitude to orient our acts toward good. It makes it possible for every human to develop the capacities which aid them to increase in humanity and consequently to develop themselves as persons “Christ has freed us to be free; keep yourselves firm them and don’t submit again to the yoke of slavery” (Galatians 5:1)

32. – We perceive the Spirit of God animating from within humanity, since every day there are more people who refuse to be treated like objects and who wish to be active subjects, individually and in organized ways, of their personal and collective history, of the directions and decisions that affect them, of the model of society which is being constructed. Therefore, they demand a new conception of society, of the State, and of authority. The old models of political leaders, presidentialism and nepotism ought to give way to the presence of a civil society, which seeks its place and wishes to make its own decisions.

33. – Liberty is not complete without liberation from all that offends and oppresses the dignity of the human person. Consequently, participation of everyone in the construction of the human social life implies the commitment to liberation from every form of social exclusion, from injustice, from exploitation and from violence in order to reach/achieve the integral development of every person and of everyone.

6. Solidarity

34. – Solidarity is the indispensable condition for achieving the common good. According to the teaching of the Church “solidarity helps us see the other – person, people, or nation – not as some sort of an instrument in order to exploit at little cost its capacity to work and physical stamina, abandoning it when it’s of no use, but as one like us.”

35. In the Bible, solidarity refers above all to the relation of God with humans. The history of salvation is the progressive revelation which God makes of Himself to humans as a God in solidarity, who enters in their lives even to the point of sharing it fully in Jesus of Nazareth (John 1: 14). The experience of communion with God which believers have is what impels them to live in solidarity with their brothers and sisters, to have with others the same sentiments and conduct that God has with them.

36. The parable of Lazarus and the rich man shows profoundly and clearly God’s will (Luke 16: 19-31). God does not what us to live in poverty, nor does he condemns riches in themselves but he rejects the lack of solidarity and of social sense in the use of the goods of creation. The table of creation is a common table for all humanity. No one can hoard it ignoring the situation of the poor. The abyss created between one sector [of society] which swims in riches and the other which lives in misery, without possibilities of establishing bridges of solidarity is a sin which cries up to heaven.

37. Despite the fact that today solidarity is spoken of so often, the humiliated and excluded continues being innumerable and every day we are witnesses of the accelerated increase of egoism in persons, groups, and nations. “Our major response, from the Gospel, to this dramatic situation is the promotion of solidarity and peace, which effectively make justice a reality.” In the face of the globalization of the market we propose, with Pope John Paul II, “the globalization of solidarity,’ understood “not as a superficial sentiment for the evils facing so many people near and far, but as the firm and persevering determination to work together for the common good.”

7. Subsidiarity

38. – In the present circumstances there are various trends in regard to the concept of the State. In some cases the claim is to reduce the State to the minimum, leaving everything to private initiative. In other cases, the tendency is to strengthen the State so that it protects groups in power; there are even those who wish that the State total responsibility for the well-bring of the population, overruling the initiative of people and of diverse groups and associations which make up the society.

39. – To avoid these excesses, the Social Doctrine of the Church has constantly developed the principle of subsidiarity, according to which. “a social structure of a higher order should not interfere in the life of a social group of a lower order, depriving it of its competencies but rather ought to support it in case of need and help it coordinate its action with those of the other social components, looking toward the common good.”

40. – This principle is in contrast to the forms of centralism, bureaucracy, and welfare on the part of the State and forms of indifference, dependency, and abdication of responsibilities in the social life on the part of citizens.

41. – “To realize the principle of subsidiarity corresponds: the respect and effective promotion of the primacy of the person and the family; the valuing of associations and intermediate organizations; impulses offered to private initiative in order that each social organism remains, with its own peculiarities, at the service of the common good; decentralization of bureaucracies and administration; the balance between the public and private spheres with the ensuing recognition of the social function of the private sector; an adequate taking of responsibility by citizens to be an active part of the political and social reality of the country.”

IV. PRIORITIES FOR A DIFFERENT FUTURE

42. – To acknowledge our past, to look clearly at the present and to assimilate new principles qualifies us and animates us to propose new lines of action for a different future. We invite all the actors in society – the government, armed forces, political parties, professionals, unions, businessmen, workers, campesinos, women, the indigenous, non-governmental organizations and especially the young – so that in a respectful and truthful dialogue we unite and establish the foundations to build a different country, taking up the following priorities:

1. To eradicate poverty
43. – The country ought to ask for and support the eradication of poverty as a political priority of the State. Politics and social investment ought to work together so that the population has access to basic services: housing, health, education, and above all work. Social investment ought to be a concrete way of redistributing the national wealth, sustained by just and equitable taxes. We cannot tolerate that those who have more are those who less support the national treasury; nor can we continue accepting as normal that our people are living in conditions of poverty and even
destitution.

2. To stimulate a social economy
44. – It is the State’s role to establish policies and undertake precise actions to strengthen an economy of solidarity, a true alternative to diminish unemployment, to improve the level of earnings and to guarantee that basic needs are covered. This has been and continues to be a true form of overcoming poverty in the poor and humble population. So this is demonstrated with various experiences of micro-businesses, cooperatives, solidarity networks, etc. Therefore, a program of incentives in this area is needed accompanied with technical, credit and technological assistance.

3. To resolve the question of agriculture
45. – In this order it is urgent to bring the agricultural question up again, to rescue the rural world as a generator of employment, of food, of life, of dignity for all persons. This implies again a look at the use and ownership of land and at agricultural politics to stimulate processes of agricultural development. The countryside ought to be one of the principal sources of wealth. There we find most of the people, but also the greatest poverty and neglect. Without productive investment, without technological knowledge, without security of land ownership or guarantees for commercialization, we will only with great difficulty achieve the eradication of poverty and avoid migration from the countryside to the city and even outside the country.

4. To achieve an equitable economic development
46. – Promoting equitable economic development is one of the State’s responsibilities. It’s up to the State to animate, stimulate, coordinate, and, if necessary, to make up for the free economic initiative not only of citizens but also of intermediate bodies for sake of the common good. It is the State’s obligation to guarantee legal security, to establish clear rules for investment, so that those who work and produce can enjoy the fruits of their work and thus feel stimulated to fulfill their work efficiently and honestly. Also, just commercial relations with all countries ought to be established – relations that can generate economic growth and development for all residents.

5. To overcome the educational deficit
27. – The question of education is a first order task in the struggle against poverty. We cannot put off attaining quality and efficiency in our educational system, educating for responsibility, service, and work well done, developing attitudes of solidarity and dispositions for the common good, and elevating self-esteem and analytical and critical abilities. The purpose of education is the formation of the human person at the service of one’s ultimate end and the good of the societies of which the human person is a member and whose responsibilities one will participate when one becomes an adult. The parents of the family, the State, and teachers are those primarily responsible to achieve satisfactory results.

6. To improve health services for everyone
48. – The state has to be conscious of the right of all Hondurans to a healthy life and therefore and of responsibility it has to offer everyone the service which promote health, takes care of it, and helps to recover it when it is lost. The present government will have to formulate and carry out those health policies that pay attention primarily to those who presently are the most neglected. The national budget ought to allocate the amount needed to achieve this object and those responsible ought to make a right and transparent use of those appropriations.

49. – So that people and the community promote a healthy life, it is important to implement programs to train individuals and communities how to recognize and prevent diseases, how to use resources, and how to care for environments that favor a healthy life.

50. – Health workers, doctors, nurses and administrators of health centers ought to take pains to provide treatment of the sick, which is attentive, human and personalized.

7. To consolidate democracy
51. – Consolidation of democracy is a task fro everyone, especially the political parties. New reforms and participative practices are needed. We ought to end, as soon as possible, the politicization of state bodies that uses democracy for sectarian interests and personal enrichment. That constitutes a deformation of politics and is a denial of democracy itself.

52.- The Bishops Conference of Honduras makes its own the world of Pope John Paul II when he affirms: “The Church values the democratic system inasmuch as it ensures the participation of citizens in making political choices, guarantees to the governed the possibility both of electing and holding accountable those who govern them, and of replacing them through peaceful means when appropriate. […] Authentic democracy is possible only in a State ruled by law, and on the basis of a correct conception of the human person.” Even more, “The Church praises and esteems the work of those who for the good of humans devote themselves to the service of the state and take on the burdens of this office.”

53. – A positive sign of the process of consolidation of democracy is the existence of civic movements and popular organizations. With their approaches they can contribute to the correction of the way that government institutions administer national resources and exercise political power, at the same time as they defend the rights and interests of the people. Nevertheless, it is necessary that those social forces not be corrupted by private interests nor be politicized, in such a way that they can always act in defense of the common good.

54. – The government as well as the diverse sectors of civil society ought to be educated for consensus, negotiation, proposals, but also for efficiency – so that the defense of one’s own rights does not become a violation of the rights of others. The use of force ought to be the last resort, after having exhausted all other means of solving conflicts.

8. To consolidate the governability of the country
55. – It is everyone’s responsibility to maintain the governability of the country in such a way that the Honduran people can express itself as subject of its own destiny, can organize itself to find alternatives to its problems, and can participate in taking decisions, investigation, control, and carrying out governmental affairs. A profound and enduring change cannot happen if all the population does not participate in this. But it is also decisive that we educate ourselves in fulfilling the laws, in respect for public authority and to State leadership. Anarchy does not produce development but only chaos and destruction of society.

9. To transform the justice system
56. – To recover the credibility – on the national as well as the international level – by means of the proper, transparent, and swift application of justice, is an imperative task. It is necessary to make deep changes in people’s minds, in legislation, and in the exercise of justice.

57. – In addition to other tasks we cannot put off depoliticizing the power of the judiciary and putting brakes on the traffic of economic influences in order to achieve its total independence; establishing adequate procedures for the swift and equitable application of the different laws; recovering moral values, especially love and truth. Without an interior disposition to think truthfully without giving way to prejudices or personal interests, to speak the truth without distortions and lives, and to live the truth in love (Ephesians 4: 15) impartially, one cannot be just or administer justice.

10. To eradicate corruption
58. – Corruption is like a cancer which desensitizes the moral conscience, corrodes the life of society and its institutions and increases the lack of confidence in public management. The principal guarantees against corruption are the exercise of justice with transparency, truthfulness, attachment to the law, professionalism and independence of any type of power; the institutionalization of providing financial reports and access to information in the various areas of public administration; and the moral formation of consciences, from infancy and youth, in family and in society.

59. – This is also a task of the Church. Pope John Paul II tells us: “The Church is called to give witness to Christ, taking up courageous and prophetic positions in the face of corruption of political or economic powers, not seeking glory or material goods; using its goods for the service of the poorest and imitating the simplicity of the life of Christ.”

11. To guarantee the security of citizens
60. – We need a policy of citizen security [public safety] framed in the fullest picture of integral human development. This politics will only be correct in its proposals and effective in its results if it begins with an analysis of the multiple causes of violence. A national security plan cannot be reduced to crackdown and to criminal punishment of crime but ought to develop a series of strategies and actions for the prevention of crime and for the rehabilitation and the reintegration into society of the criminal.

61. – Juvenile delinquency is rooted in the tremendous emptiness in families, in the lack of opportunities for work and education, which leads many youth to join groups that attack society. We can prevent and diminish this crime by increasing surveillance in the street, building rehabilitation centers directed by motivated and trained people, consolidating the unity of the family in love, and creating hopes for a valuable life and future by education and work.

62. Organized crime and drug trafficking are increasing in a alarming way and are gradually damaging the foundations of society with violence, bribes, and drug consumption. A State policy is needed which confronts this very serious problem bravely, effectively, and radically.

63. – An integral policy of security cannot forget the need to renew the whole jail system, the penitentiaries, the way they are organized, the mentality in them, and the persons involved.

12. To protect and apportion the use of natural resources
64 – The municipal community and the national community ought to conserve, protect, and use rationally natural resources: land, water, forests and mines; since we have populations affected by the lack of water, the devastation of forests, and the poor use of the available land.

65 – Mineral exploitation ought to leave most of the profit to Honduras and protect the ecological balance for the good of present and future generations. For this, it is necessary to reform the existing laws or replace them with others which are more just and adequate which above all take in consideration the common good and not the enrichment of a very few.

13. To strengthen the national identity
66. – Constructing the future depends to a great extent on the value we have of ourselves, personally and collectively. The national identity is strengthened when we possess a rich legacy of common memories and when we dream and elaborate a plan suggestive of life in common. These elements are very weak in most of the population. For this we need to keep alive the memory of our past, to awaken latent aspirations of the people, to increase the esteem and appreciation we have of ourselves, and to believe in our abilities. Schools, universities, cultural and artistic institutions, the Ministry of Culture, Arts, and Sports, and the Tourism Ministry have, among other responsibilities, the responsibility to strengthen the national identity.

67. – A Project of the Nation, which succeeds in exciting and joining together the efforts of all the citizenry, will contribute in great part to forming the national identity. But such a project will only be feasible when there exists a political will for a “national consensus”; when the common good is above partisan interests; and when it is a project conceived not only for four years which a government controls but for the medium- and long-term future.

14. To help bring about a culture of responsibility
68. – We ought to begin to eliminate poverty by way of work that is decent, creative, and imaginative. Christ, by his solidarity with us, makes us capable of reviving our activity with love and transforming our work and our history a gesture of praise of God and service of neighbor. By means of work, not only do we produce the goods needed for our subsistence but also we grow within by developing the abilities that we’ve been endowed with.

V. CLOSING EXHORTATION

69. – The task we have before us is immense. The temptation to be discouraged can rise up for us. But we cannot succumb to that temptation since it would lead to apathy, to lack of interest, and to lack of effectiveness. Let us put ourselves on the march “on the paths of hope.” Hope give meaning and direction to personal and collective life, encourages and strengthen the continuing every day effort, and creates solidarity since the good that is hoped for is for everyone.

70. – The priorities we have set forth are urgent and complex. They will only be reached to the extent that we – the people, government, political parties, social and professional organizations and non-governmental organizations – put our energies at the service of a integral human development for everyone, as the only way that the culture of justice, peace, and life will prevail. We offer our prayer and our collaboration to the people and the government to reach the proposed goals.

71. We Christians have placed our hope in Christ (Ephesians 1: 12). The risen Lord is the guarantee, the strength, and the goal of our hope. We have decided to share this enthusiasm with everyone with the security that we will not be deceived.

Tegucigalpa, M.D.C., March 1, 2006

Trujillo Diocesan Communiqué

2009-07-23T18:01:00.000-07:00

Communiqué of the Diocese of Trujillo
to the Honduran People in the face of the political and social crisis
we are living in Honduras

“Therefore, put on the weapons of God to be able to resist the ill-fated day and remain firm in spite of everything. Gird yourself with the belt of truth, clothe yourself with the armor of justice, and put on the sandals of zeal in order to propagate the Good News of peace.”

Ephesians 6, 13-15

As a diocese which has historically made a preferential option for the poor, we wish to share these thoughts in the search for TRUTH, which is so needed in order to put aside certain intransigent attitudes and facilitate dialogue which we all ought to practice in regard to making the common good real.

1. ANTECEDENTS OF THE CRISIS

1.1. Historical Antecedents

The present crisis is the result of a series of violations of the Constitution and of the laws which have happened in the last decades which were caused by the political class and at times forced [on the country] by groups of the economic powers. There is a concept that sums up all these attitudes: CORRUPTION. In our diocese of Trujillo, this corruption has abetted all the negative consequences which provoke the problem, never resolved, of land ownership; for example, the old Regional Military Training Center (CREM) [and] the Campesino Movement on the Valley of Sico-Paulaya, which has cost several human lives, the threats to the Garifuna to expropriate their land ,and the ownership of the best lands in the hands of a few. This reality has unleashed inequality and violence in our region. In addition, the presence of drug trafficking has seriously deteriorated the life of the population and has acquired such strength as to raise the fear that Honduras is being converted into a drug-state.

1.2. Current antecedents

The actions of June 28 are the result of a series of clashes of the executive power/branch with the legislative and judicial branches/powers [of the government] and of the actions of Mr. José Manuel Zelaya contrary to the decisions of the Supreme Court of Justice and the Supreme Electoral Commission. They are also the result of the lack in Honduras of a constitutional tribunal to solve the confrontations which can happen among the three powers of the state. Nevertheless, we condemn the expatriation of Mr. José Manual Zelaya brought about by the Armed Forces. Equally we condemn dictatorial attitudes which violate the freedom of the press and manipulate the means of communication, electrical outages, and the restriction of individual guarantees, etc., because they are illegal attempts against the Constitution of the Republic and the rights of citizens. The interpretation of the legality and illegality of these actions have divided the Honduran people. And, not only that, we find ourselves divided by the different ways of conceiving democracy, of holding opinions about the need or lack of need to reform the Constitution or write a new one. [We also condemn] antagonistic attitudes which ought not be allowed to break up the unity of Hondurans.

2. ATTITUDES WHICH HAVE ABETTED THE CRISIS

1. The majority of the population has stopped believing in the authorities because of the extent of corruption with which these authorities act or which they simply permit. The lack of true political leadership is a cause for concern and in this situation the populism of Mr. Zelaya has had a strong impact on a good part of the people. Populist steps do not always directly benefit the people. In many cases it happens that the government, instead of coming near the people in order to assist them, is served by the people in order to be the one who is assisted.
2. There does not exist in the political class, in general, the will to confront the grave problems which debase the population, especially the poorest.
3. From the time of it approval in 1982, the Constitution has been violated on many occasions and neither the organs of the State which ought to avoid this nor the people have acted in its defense. But in the last few years the consciousness of the citizens has been changing in regard to respect for the [Constitution] and the right to real participation in democratic life as the demonstrations of these days reveal.
4. Inevitably, the economic crisis has had an impact on Honduras. Nevertheless, the government of Mr. Zelaya did not pose a strategic plan to hold it in check nor have the groups with economic power been willing to sacrifice their profits. The current political crisis will cause our economy to crash even more.

3. LESSONS WHICH WE OUGHT TO LEARN

First, DIALOGUE
Once the first confrontations between the partisans of the return to power of Mr. Zelaya and those opposed to it were past, demonstrations have been happening in a more orderly way. And only in this climate will it be possible to dialogue. It is not possible when one part acts with violence. Nor does dialogue have to be dependent on the number of persons there are on each side nor by hidden interests. When TRUTH is sought, this will not be found exclusively with one group and, at times, not even with the side that has more people. The manner in which we overcome the present crisis and the consequences which it will leave us depend on the ability to dialogue at all levels.

Second, THE VALUE OF THE CONSTITUTION AND OF THE LAWS
A point of agreement in all the population is the need to respect the Constitution and to not permit it to be violated. In the year 2004 the National Congress of the Republic eliminated all immunity in the face of the law. The current crisis also allows us the lesson of the need and the right which the people have to participate in framing the laws by which they should be governed and not only the obligation to comply with the laws. As Jesus affirmed, “The Sabbath is made for man, not man for the Sabbath.” (Cfr. Mark 2:27) and thus the human being has been created not to comply with the laws but the laws are to serve the dignity of the human being.

Third, CITIZEN CONSCIOUSNESS
The crisis also leaves us with the lesson that the growing political consciousness of the citizens is a force which neither the political parties nor members of the government have valued. This consciousness among the citizenry has reminded us that it belongs to all of us to resolve the problems of our fatherland. We acknowledge that we are part of the international community, but nevertheless we are conscious that we Hondurans ought to be the protagonists of our future.

Fourth, THE TRUE STRENGTH OF DEMOCRACY
Article 5 of the Constitution of the Republic says:
“The Government must be based on the principle of participatory democracy which is at the heart of national integration, which implies the participation of all political sectors in the public administration [government] to ensure and strengthen the progress of Honduras based on political stability and national reconciliation.”
The present crisis has be converted into the opportunity to go forward and make real a real and participatory democracy, going beyond a merely formal democracy which is merely electoral and representative.

Fifth, THE COMMUNICATIONS MEDIA
It is their responsibility to provide impartial and objective information in order to come close to the TRUTH. Lately we have seen partiality in the news, the repression of some means of communication and the suspension of the right of free expression.

PROPOSALS

a) It is urgent to develop a National Plan, fruit of a national consensus, which includes a social compact. The efforts of the government and of all its institutions, as well as organized civil society ought to be working toward this. Dialogue which facilitate this national plan has to be transparent and be made known to the whole population.

b) It is necessary to enter into a legal process where the people are consulted about possible and necessary Constitutional reforms in order that citizenship participation be real in our democracy. It ought to be a necessary condition for the candidates in the next elections, even if they are moved forward, to declare their intentions in regard to bringing about this process which ought to be started during the first year of the next government [administration].

c) There shall be a guarantee for the future of the Nation that the pertinent institutions of the State investigate if there exist acts of corruption not only in the government of Mr. José Manuel Zelaya Rosales and earlier governments but also in state institutions for the purpose of construing responsibilities.

d) We ought not waste our energies in the battle over whether or not Mr. Zelaya returns as president or if Mr. Micheletti goes or not, but in wagering on making Honduras a better nation. We will only achieve this if we – the citizenry and the political class – begin to share a vision of the county that will be for the good of all and if we exercise the moral right to veto so many corrupt leaders and politicians.

EXHORTATION

“Be reconciled with God!” 2 Corinthians 5: 20

We exhort the Honduran people to put aside attitudes of rejection and accept the paths of RECONCILIATION. Reconciliation does not mean ceasing to apply justice or renouncing the pursuit and defense of what we believe is the TRUTH. Reconciliation consists in being able to sit around the same table to continue to find paths we can walk as brothers/sisters and fellow citizens, toward a better future for everyone.
We urge the people of our diocese of Trujillo, in the departments of Colón and Gracias a Dios not to close themselves in by an obsession with a person, or political party or ideology, but

to struggle to improve the quality of education.
to seek conciliatory positions in the search for solutions of land ownership.
to dialogue with the government about the need to improve the road systems.
to demand from the government a plan for the cultural, economic, and social development of the Moskitia.
that the respective authorities guarantee the security of citizens and that they act in accord with the law to stop the presence of drug-trafficking in the region.
that they return to the problem of deforestation in our departments not only decommissioning wood already cut but also stopping the cutting of our forest reserves and the destruction of the environment.

And we remind the Christian people to pray always and in every moment since we ought to be instruments of harmony, peace, and unity.

Given in the city of Trujillo, July 10, 2009

The extended presbytery, Diocese of Trujillo, Honduras

Spanish text at <http://juancitohonduras.blogspot.com/2009/07/communicado-de-la-diocesis-de-trujillo.html> and <http://www.esglesiaplural.cat/modules.php?name=News&file=article&sid=1765>

There were also a few phrases referring to groups or events that I am not familiar with.
Suggestions to improve this translation are most welcome.

Trujillo Diocesan Communiqué (partial)

2009-07-21T19:01:00.001-07:00

About July 6, the priests and men and women religious of the diocese of Trujillo in northeastern Honduras issued a communiqué .

It begins:
“As a diocese which has historically made a preferential option for the poor, we wish to share these thoughts as a search for truth, which is so needed to put aside certain intransigent attitudes and facilitate dialogue which we all ought to practice in regard to making the common good real.”
… We exhort the Honduran people to put aside attitudes of rejection and accept the paths of reconciliation. Reconciliation does not mean ceasing to apply justice or renouncing the pursuit and defense of what we believe is the truth. Reconciliation consists in being able to sit around the same table to continue to find paths we can walk as brothers/sisters and fellow citizens, toward a better future for everyone.

It ends:
… “We urge the people of our diocese of Trujillo, in the departments of Colón and Gracias a Dios not to close themselves in by a person, or political party or ideology, but to struggle for our real problems:

Improve the quality of education.
Seek conciliatory positions in the search for solutions of land ownership.
Dialogue with the government about the need to improve the road systems.
Demand from the government a plan for the cultural, economic, and social development of the Moskitia.
That the respective authorities guarantee the security of citizens and that they act in accord with the law to stop the presence of drug-trafficking in the region.
That they return to the problem of deforestation in our departments not only decommissioning wood already cut but also stopping the cutting of our forest reserves and the destruction of the environment.”

----

La Patriota, an independent Honduran newpaper, reported in an on line article on July 20 that the document also comments on the coup directly. Even though I have not been able to get a copy of the actual statement to verify it, this is a translation of most of the article by María Orbelina López.

The present crisis is the result of a series of violations of the Constitution and of the laws which has happened in the last decades caused by the political class and at times forced [on the country] by groups of the economic powers, explained the Diocese of Trujilo through a communiqué.

After reviewing a series of acts of corruption which unleashed inequality and violence, it indicated that the events of June 28 are the result of a series of clashes among the executive, legislative, and judicial branches/powers [of the government] and the Supreme Electoral Commission, as well as the failure of the Constitutional Tribunal to solve the confrontations which can happen among the powers of the state.

Nevertheless, “we condemn the expatriation of Mr. José Manual Zelaya brought about by the Armed Forces because it is an attack against the Constitution of the Republic and the rights of Zelaya as a citizen. Equally we condemn the dictatorial attitudes which have been imposed on the population: violation of the freedom of the press and manipulation of the means of communication…”

The interpretation of the legality and illegality of these actions have divided the Honduran people. Also we find ourselves divided by the different ways of conceiving democracy, of holding opinions about the need or lack of need to reform the Constitution or write a new one. We should [not] convert antagonistic attitudes into irreconcilable [attitudes], and these ought not be allowed to break up the unity of Hondurans.

Further on, the communiqué notes, The majority of the population has stopped believing in the authorities because of the extent of corruption with which they act or which they simply permit. The lack of political leadership is a cause for concern and in this situation the populism of Mr. Zelaya has had a strong impact on a good part of the people.

Finally, we have seen the partiality of the news about the repression and the censure of some means of communication and the suspension of the right of free expression. This is not the way for us to understand each other and be able to dialogue.

From the time of it approval in 1982, the Constitution has been violated on many occasions and neither the organs of the State which ought to avoid this nor the people have acted in its defense. But in the last few years the consciousness of the citizens has been changing in regard to respect for the [Constitution] and the right to real participation in democratic life as the demonstrations of these days reveal.

Roe this diocese this crisis has left us with great lessons to learn: it is not possible to dialogue when one party acts with violence; all the population feels the need to respect the Constitution and not let it be violated; the need and the right which the people have to participate in the framing of the laws by which they are governed and not only the obligation to obey the laws.

At the same time it notes that the growing consciousness as citizens is a force which either the political parties nor members of the government have valued. We have proved that the intervention of other countries is neither objective nor without personal interest. We Hondurans ought to be the protagonists of our own future.

[The communiqué] proposes the need to enter into a legal process in which the people can be consulted about the possible and necessary constitutional reforms. It ought to be an absolutely necessary condition that all the candidates for the coming elections declare their intentions in order to bring about this process which ought to begin in the first year of the next government.

http://www.elpatriotahn.com/l/content/di%C3%B3cesis-de-trujillo-condena-medidas-dictatoriales-contra-la-poblaci%C3%B3n

--

The first part of this blog was translated from an article found at http://www.cope.es/religion/16-07-09--obispos-hondurenos-exhortamos-al-pueblo-deponer-actitudes-rechazo-aceptarcaminos-reconciliacion-68907-1

Central American Dominicans Provincial Statement

2009-07-21T08:06:00.000-07:00

PROVINCIAL STATEMENT OF THE DOMINICANS
IN CENTRAL AMERICA
ON THE COUP D’ÉTAT IN HONDURAS

To all the communities of the Dominican Province of Saint Vincent Ferrer in Central America, to the Dominican Family in Central America, to the parish and pastoral communities which we accompany with our work and to all men and women who work for justice and peace in the world.

EVENTS OF CONCERN

1. The arrest of the president of the Republic of Honduras on June 28 by the Armed Forces of that county, the violation of his home, his expulsion from the national territory, and the way this was carried out have presented themselves as the culmination of a series of conflicts which were happening in our brother country and to the outburst of a serious human and institutional crisis and a crisis of civilized living together which threatens the peace of the whole region.

2. The events which preceded such a serious breakdown of the social and political order are not limited, as has been presented in some news sources, only to the proposal of the president to conduct a consultation with which he was trying to obtain backing for [his proposal] to set up in the coming general elections in November a fourth ballot box in which the citizens would have to vote if they wanted to change the political Constitution. A series of conflicts had been building up between president Zelaya and various economic sectors during the last few months. The restructuring of the profit formulas for the international oil companies, the importation of generic drugs from Cuba at cheaper costs than those offered by the national and international pharmaceutical companies, the decision to raise the minimum wage – one of the lowest of the Isthmus – from $182 to $291 [a month], measures that favored the environment, vis-à-vis the mining companies, were some of the governmental measures which caused deep discontent among various private business groups who perceived these events as opposed to their interests and who were putting together a front against those who were governing.

3. From the moment of the removal of President Zelaya, not the least of the serious conflicts generated is the discussion on how to interpret the events as well as the polarization around such interpretations. While international leaders and organisms, such the General Assembly of the United Nations, the Organization of American States, the Interamerican Commission on Human Rights and other organizations, categorically speak of a coup d’état [golpe de estado, in Spanish] and condemned it, the defenders of the same [event] consider it to be a “legitimate succession” in power in conformity with the internal laws of Honduras. All this has created confusion in sectors of the Central American population in [regard to] news reports.

4. This has produced the International isolation of Honduras, the suspension of financial aid, the withdrawal of ambassadors of various nations – all of which raises the fear that, as is customary, this injures, to a great extent, the poorest and weakest, because the more powerful groups always have ways and resources to protect themselves from every type of crisis. The confrontation between the defenders of the institutional order and those who accept the de facto regime has reached the shedding of blood with the shooting by the military on the demonstrators who were in favor of the return of the President.

5. While those who broke up the institutional order consider that the increasing and dangerous influence of the governments of Venezuela, Nicaragua, and other members of ALBA was being brought to bear in Honduras, other sectors of the people and various analysts point to possible plotting, at least an ambiguous attitude, to put it moderately, by the US government in the face of the coup.

ETHICAL CRITERIA FROM CHURCH SOCIAL TEACHING

The call of history [History knocks]

6. As Dominicans we see in our Latin America the living testimony of the martyrs who have taken seriously their vocation to be witnesses of the truth. They summon us, as the Order of Preachers, above all, to take on the vocation of announcing and denouncing. This call is much stronger when human life and social living together are at stake.

7. But we are clear that the obligation to express our opinion, an obligation we share with the Church, ought to be founded in the ethical-religious level, not in the scientific-technical order. In these very days Pope Benedict XVI reminds us, citing earlier church teaching, that “The Church does not have technical solutions to offer and does not claim ‘to interfere in any way in the politics of States.’ She does, however, have a mission of truth to accomplish, in every time and circumstance, for a society that is attuned to man, to his dignity, to his vocation.” (Caritas in veritate, n. 9). Therefore our judgment in this moment cannot be either in the field of juridical-legal analysis or in the field of social-scientific analysis, neither of which belongs to us as Church.

8. Therefore, convinced that they are based on principles drawn from the Church’s Social Teaching, we present the considerations which we offer below in dialogue with other sectors of Church and society, looking to bring light to the action which is required in the face of the crisis in Honduras.

The criteria

9. In the first place, it is necessary to remember that in this conflict which originated in Honduras one finds groups with diverse ideologies, political partisanship, and social and economics interests and that, therefore, one must respect and start from the existence of this plurality. Nevertheless, one must insist very emphatically that one cannot accept the vision, as some have said, that there exist “two groups [bands],” “two parts,” in reference to the democratic institutional order, while the international consensus endorses the [political order] in terms of the conception of democracy and the defense of human rights. In terms of justice, institutions, and defense of human rights, it is not fitting to accept [the notion of] two “groups [bands]” nor some sort of negotiation under the penalty of destroying the premises needed for living together amidst the diversity of persons.

10. The Church has been forceful, in this respect, defending the identification and the proclamation of the rights of humans as one of the forces most relevant in responding effectively to the essential demands of human dignity (cf. Gaudium et Spes, 76). Likewise [it has been forceful] in affirming that the ultimate source of human rights is not found in the mere will of human beings, in the reality of the State, or in public powers, but in the very human person and in God their Creator (cf. Pacem in Terris). Therefore, it is completely unacceptable – as has been done in the “dismissal” of president Zelaya – to have recourse to or to apply any national legislation that does not conform to or is not subordinate to these rights. It is even much less acceptable to shield oneself in “states of exception” to commit actions which fail to respect human dignity. It is clear that Christians appreciate the democratic system to the extent that it assures the participation of all its citizens, gives them the possibility to elect their leaders and hold them accountable, and to replace them in a peaceful manner (cf. Centesimus annus, 46).

11. It is clear in the Catholic social teaching tradition that resort to resistance to a ruler, by means of armed forces, is only legitimate when there have evident been certain, serious and prolonged violation of fundamental rights – not when they have [only] been foreseen or supposed as possible; when all other recourses have been exhausted; without provoking worse disorders; when there is a firm chance of success and if it is impossible to foresee better reasonable solutions. None of this seems to have been considered by the authors of the coup d’état in Honduras. Let us quote the following paragraph in the encyclical “The Progress of Peoples” (31). In that text [Pope] Paul VI recalls the enormous dangers of insurrection against legitimate governments because “– except in the case of evident and prolonged tyranny which seriously attacks the fundamental rights of the person and dangerously harms the common good of a nation – [insurrection] engenders new injustices, introduces new imbalances, and provokes new destruction. A real evil cannot be combated at the cost of a greater evil.” The unanimous international condemnation of the coup in Honduras reveals the widespread perception that the change of the institutional order in Honduras creates threats, no only for peaceful and just living together within the country, but also for the fragile democratic system in the region. This, without a single doubt, is a greater evil which could be avoiding and which in every case remains subject to proof with due process.

12. Furthermore, one cannot separate the ethical-religious judgment of the coup from what one must formulate about the general widespread situation of Honduras and the solution of which ought to be made a first priority, not only for Catholics but also for all men and women of good will in the country, in particular those who govern. Let it be enough to recall certain facts: Honduras is one of the countries in this continent with the majority of the population suffering poverty and its effects, with high indices of inequality in the distribution of income per capita and in the concentration of per capita income per household. Only 38.2% of the households appear in the statistics as “non-poor” because they can cover their basic nutritional and other needs. The level of infant mortality averages 23 per 1000, but it is four times the national average in some rural departments [provinces/states]. For this country, the indicator of hope in life lies in even worse state in that education indicators, which, no matter how the scores are obtained, are among the lowest in the region. It is one of the countries of the isthmus which shows the greatest proportion of undernourished children, where low birth weight is one of the factors which precipitates malnutrition at later ages – the result, fundamentally, of prenatal malnutrition – and where relevant advances in the reduction of this indicator are not registered. The effects of malnutrition suffered in the preschool population is seen clearly in the accumulated deficit of stature in school children which exceeds 40%. And it is clear that one of the principal factor which impacts the deteriorated health situation is inadequate access to sanitation and water. Furthermore, a third of those who suffer from HIV-AIDS in all of Central America live in Honduras.

13. Will we Christians – and in particular we Friars Preachers [Domninicans] – be able to say that in Honduras we are announcing the God of life, Jesus who came “that we may have life and life in abundance”? Will Honduran political parties and leaders [be able to say] that they have made the defense of life their principal priority? Will the coup d’état have any relation with this social and economic situation which is so conflictive and unacceptable?

14. Whatever may be the response to these questions, we are convinced that the commitment to accompany the people of Honduras is not limited to this regrettable juncture of the break up of democratic institutions, but is extended to the journey toward overcoming these structural problems. A strengthening of political democracy – so dramatically wounded with the recent coup – will only be realized with the robust construction of an economic and social democracy.

15. But, in this journey, to define what has to be done – as [Pope] Paul VI taught clairvoyantly – this is not our privileged task, nor is it [the privileged task] of the bishops or the Pope. It is the Christian communities who are entrusted with “analyzing with objectivity the situation of their own country, to illuminate it with the light of the unchangeable Word of the Gospel, to deduce principles of reflections, norms of judgment and directives for action according to the social teachings of the Church as it has been elaborated throughout history … It belongs [to them], with the help of the Holy Spirit, in communion with their responsible bishops, in dialogue with all other Christians and all people of good will, to discern the choices and the commitments which are suitable to assume in order to make real the social, political mad economic transformations which are considered to be urgently needed in each case ( Octagesima adveniens, 4).

GUIDELINES FOR ACTION

16. We call all religious and members of the Dominican Family in Central America to reject categorically, based on the principles stated here, the coup inflicted on the Honduran democratic institution and call for national and international support for the restoration of the same [the democratic institution] as soon as possible.

17. Likewise, we are called to effectively express our solidarity with those most in need, the poorest and the most excluded of the people of Honduras, who are also those who have been most affected -- sometimes even manipulated -- by critical situations like the present one.

18. We consider it very important to resume dialogue within the church in order to determine the common points which bring us to an act of commitment for peace, justice, and solidarity with the poorest. We agree with the Honduran bishops in regard to the need to “initiate a true dialogue among all the sectors of society so that we can arrive at constructive solutions.”

19. We also agree with the bishops that it is “necessary to globalize solidarity as a path that can help us overcome injustice and inequality.” We particularly ask the help of the Promoters of Justice and Peace in the continent so that we do not allow any of our countries to repeat again the alterations of democratic institutions which pull our societies back to the lamentable stages of our past history.

20. We ought to collaborate with the effort of civil society and politicians of good will so that the army of Honduras will avoid falling again into the acts which happened in the last few days.

21. As the Dominican family of Central America we can commit ourselves to create spaces for dialogue, reflection, and prayer, along the lines of justice and peace, to strengthen the identification and construction of common interests by means of justice, excluding all forms of violence.

22. it is urgent that our communities, in their reflection and action keep a watchful Gospel attitude, a culture and an ethic which are translated into actions which help prevent the repetition of these types of situations.

Joined with the Council of the Dominican province of Saint Vincent Ferrer of Central America, and the Centers devoted to Research CEDI (Heredia, Costa Rica), and AkKután (Cobán, Alta Verapaz, Guatemala).

Fr. Alexis Páez Ovares, O.P.
Provincial Prior
Central America

Fr. Carlos Flores, O.P.
Justice and Peace Promotor
Central America

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This is an unofficial translation; the original in Spanish can be found at
http://justiciaypaz.dominicos.org/noticia.aspx?noticia=658

This has been a difficult text for me to translate.
Corrections to the translation are eagerly welcomed.

Honduran Bishops Conference Statement

2009-07-20T14:35:00.000-07:00

This statement of the Honduran Bishops Conference, dated July 3, 2009, was read on national television in Honduras, by Cardinal Oscar Rodríguez Maradiaga, SDB, in the morning of July 4, 2009.

“Building from crisis”

1. Scarcely three weeks ago, in the Plenary Assembly of this Bishops’ Conference, we clearly stated that social justice, dialogue and consultation within the framework of the law are needs that our people ought to recognize and respect.

2. In the face of the situation of the last few days, we refer to the information which we have sought in the appropriate public records of the State (the Supreme Court of Justice, the National Congress, the Public Ministry, the Executive Power [Branch], the Supreme Electoral Tribunal) and many organizations of civil society. – Each and every one of the documents which have come into our hands show that the institutions of the Honduran democratic state are valid and that what it has executed in juridical-legal matters has been rooted in law. – The three powers of the State – Executive, Legislative, and Judicial – are legally and democratically valid in accord with the Constitution of the Republic of Honduras.
3. The Constitution of the Republic and the country’s administrative organs of justice lead us to conclude that:
a. In accord with what is considered in Article 239 of the Constitution of the Republic “Whoever proposes the reform” of this article “immediately ceases to hold his post and remains disqualified for ten years for any public function.” Therefore, the person sought, when he was captured, no longer held the position of President of the Republic.
b. Dated June 26, 2009, the Supreme Court of Justice, unanimously named an already sitting judge who issued an arrest warrant for the citizen President of the Republic of Honduras, who was supposedly responsible for the crimes of: AGAINST THE FORM OF GOVERNMENT, TREASON AGAINST THE FATHERLAND, ABUSE OF AUTHORITY AND USURPING OF FUNCTIONS to the detriment of the Civil Administration and the State of Honduras, the former stemming from the Legal Summons presented by the Public Ministry.
To learn from errors in order to correct them in the future

4. “No Honduran can be expatriated no handed over to a foreign State” (Art. 102, Constitution of the Republic). – We believe that we all merit an explanation of what happened on June 28.

5. On June 19 we said that all of us are, to a greater or lesser extent, responsible for a situation of social injustice. – Nevertheless we continue to believe that Honduras has been and wishes to be a people of brothers [and sisters], living united in justice and peace.

a. Therefore it is necessary that we choose decidedly to listen to the opinions of others in such a way that a true dialogue can be initiated among all the sector of society, so that it can arrive a constructive solutions.
b. It is fundamental to respect the calendar of the Supreme Electoral Tribunal what guarantees elections in the coming month of November.
c. It is necessary to globalize solidarity as a way that can help us overcome injustice and inequality. – The international community, with adequate information about our country’s situation can contribute to these proposals.

6. We make a special appeal

a. to those who have or have held [roles of] leadership in their hands: we invite them to not let themselves be led by egoisms, vengeance, persecution, violence, and corruption. – One should always seek ways of understanding and reconciliation, beyond the interests of parties or group.
b. to the social, economic and political groups: we urge them to overcome emotional reactions and to seek the truth. – Now more than ever social communicators ought to express their love of Honduras, seeking the establishment of peace and the serenity of the people, leaving aside personal attacks and seeking the common good.
c. To the population in general: we invite you to continue in an atmosphere of respectful and responsible participation, understanding that we all can construct a Honduras with more justice and solidarity with honest work.
d. to the Organization of American States: we ask that you pay attention to all that was happening outside the law in Honduras and not only what happened starting on June 28. The Honduras people are also asking why the warlike threats against our country have not been condemned. – If the interamerican system is limited to protecting the system of ballot boxes but not to monitoring good governing and the prevention of political, economic, and social crises, a belated reaction in the face of these will be worth nothing
e. to the international community: we declare the right we have to define our own destiny without unilateral pressure of any sort, seeking solutions which promote the good of all. – We reject threats of force or blockades of any sort which only make the poorest suffer.
f. We deeply thank our brothers and sisters from many countries who with their gestures of solidarity, supporting and being at our side, provide us with horizons of hope in contrast to the threatening attitude of some governments.

7. The present situation can serve to build and to embark on a new path, a new Honduras. – The confrontation which it is living ought not to serve to heighten the violence but [it ought to serve] as a new starting point for dialogue, consensus and reconciliation to strengthen us as the Honduran family, so that we can embark on a path of integral development for all Honduras.

8. We exhort the faithful to intensify their prayer and fasting in solidarity so that justice and peace may reign.

Tegucigalpa, July 3, 2009

Signed by the eleven bishops of the Catholic Church of Honduras.

Translated by John Donaghy, based on the text provided in La Prensa on line, http://www.laprensahn.com/Ediciones/2009/07/04/Noticias/Un-regreso-al-pais-en-este-momento-podria-desatar-un-bano-de-sangre
The text can also be found at <http://www.zenit.org/article-31781?l=spanish>

Message of the Diocese of Santa Rosa de Copán

2009-07-20T14:29:00.000-07:00

Message of the Diocese of Santa Rosa de Copán

The diocese of Santa Rosa de Copán, faithful to the mission of announcing the Kingdom of God and of denouncing situations of injustice, asks all Hondurans to take profound efforts to re-establish social peace.
We, the great majority of Hondurans, do no want confrontations in the streets, civil wars, or wars with other peoples.
Therefore we ask the groups who have altered the public order to put all the good will they have into resolving by means of Dialogue the present crisis which has been produced by the social inequality in which we have always lived.

As those who are responsible for guiding the Catholic Church in Western Honduras, we repudiate the substance, the form, and the style with which a new Head of the Executive Branch has been imposed on the People. If President José Manuel Zelaya Rosales had committed something illegal he has the right to a just trial just like every Honduran citizen and in general every human being. Article 84 of the current Constitution says in its text, “No one can be arrested unless by virtue of a written command of the Competent Authority.”

The coup d’etat of June 28 has these consequences: protests of the citizenry in the streets and highways, a climate of insecurity and fear in families because of the limitation of constitutional rights, including:
The right to freedom of movement, freedom of association and to demonstrate, inviolability of one’s home, the right of private property, freedom of the press and of dissemination of ideas and opinions, personal freedom, including the right not to be detained administratively in a police station for more than 24 hours and [the right to] a limit of six days of investigative detention under judicial orders, which would lead to indefinite detentions. All this mentioned above is contained in the Decree about the “State of Exception” which was being drawn up yesterday, July 1, in the National Congress. With this we are coming near to a massive violation of human rights. In regard to this we especially repudiate:

The violent manner in which Radio Progreso and other means of communication were silenced.
Illegal detentions.
The exiling of some countrymen/women.
The bloody beatings and wounds.

As the Catholic Church on pilgrimage in the West of Honduras we want to remind the 124 [congressional] deputies of the Liberal Party and the National Party responsible for the Coup d’Etat and presently in power that they are not the owners/masters of Honduras and that no one can be above the law. The present deputies ought to remember that they get their salaries from the people whom they are oppressing. If the plebiscite and referendum had been given institutional status [regulated], as we the bishops of the Honduran Bishops Conference suggested in our communication of June 19, we would not be in this situation. They [the deputies] preferred to be faithful to the economically strong groups, both national and transnational. We hope that in the next elections the People will give them a vote of punishment.

We wish to remind everyone, especially the Armed Forces and the National Police, of the fifth commandment which says” “You shall not kill” (Exodus 20:13). This commandment forbids also beating, wounding, and all abuse of human beings who are created in the image and likeness of God and who are Temples of the Holy Spirit.

We regret every violation of the Constitution of the Republic which those who have governed us have been doing up to now. We reject every threat and meddling of foreign nations in the internal affairs of Honduras.

We Hondurans want PEACE.

No more lies. We want to be told the truth. No more injustice. We want respect for the integrity of the person and respect for human rights. We want to live in freedom. We do not want repression.

The call of Jesus is to live in love. Therefore, no more hatred, no more revenge, no more violence, no more spitefulness.

Jesus says in Mark 4:40, “Why do you have so much fear? How is it that you do not believe?” Inspired by these words of Jesus we invite all of you to trust in the merciful and saving presence of the Lord who accompanies us in our pilgrimage.

Let us intensify our prayer for Honduras.

Let us beg the Lord to grant that we may achieve Peace and prosperity and let us ask our patron, Saint Rose of Lima, to intercede for us.

Santa Rosa de Copán, July 1, 2009
Diocesan Pastoral Council

This message was delivered publicly by Monseñor Luis Alfonso Santos, SDB, bishop of the diocese of Santa Rosa de Copán, Honduras, in San Marcos Ocotopeque, Honduras, on Thursday, July 2, 2009, at 12:30 pm.

Translated by John Donaghy.

Honduran Conference of Men and Women Religious Statement

2009-07-20T14:28:00.001-07:00

“The new heavens and the new earth I am going to create will endure for ever…” (Isaiah 66:23)

As the Conference of Men and Women Religious of Honduras – CONFEREH – from our faith in Jesus Christ and his Good News of the Kingdom of God, from our option to accompany the feeling and the march of poor and pilgrim People in the history of Honduras; and in the face of the worsening of the political, economic, and social crisis provoked by the break up of the constitutional order on June 28 (the coup d’état):

We have a special concern about:

The situation of a people and of families divided and faced with polarized political and ideological politics and ideologies.
The lack of peace, the anxiety, fear, confusion and insecurity which the population in general lives in these moments.
The increase of the impoverishment of many Honduran families which deepens the historic inequality and injustice in the country.
The paralyzing of many activities which contribute to the development of our country, especially education and the unviersities.

We reject:

The rupture of the constitutional order and the limitation of constitutional guarantees for the population.
Whatever expression of violence, and the repression of the sector of the population which does not accept and protests what happened on June 28.
The control and manipulation of information by some of the media, violating the right to have objective and true information.
The repression made against some social alternative media.
Whatsoever threat of interference of other nations.
The using of and pressure on the working population for purposes and interests of partisan politicians or groups.

We propose and we accompany

The forces which will restore an environment of trust, justice, and peace in the population and which promote serenity and reconciliation in families.
A true dialogue among the different sectors and organizations in the society, where they lay aside passionate positions of political and ideological confrontation, and where they build beneficial consensuses, especially of benefit to the poor majorities.
The social means of communication which present the truth about what is happening to the population in general.
The population in strengthening a critical sense and discernment in order to seek new paths which favor the common good.

We encourage the people to maintain hope and the commitment to construct God’s Reign of justice, liberty, and peace. We join with all those persons and organizations which make efforts to restore a democracy which guarantees equality, participation, and the good of all in Honduras. May Mary [the Virgin] of Suyapa, who knew how to read the history of her people in a prophetic manner, intercede for everyone who lives on our soil.

Tegucigalpa, July 9, 2009

The original in Spanish can be found at
<http://juancitohonduras.blogspot.com/2009/07/conferencia-de-reliogososas-de-honduras.html>
and at
<http://www.adital.com.br/site/noticia.asp?lang=ES&cod=39716>

Central American Jesuits Social Apostolate statement

2009-07-20T14:26:00.000-07:00

"The truth will make us free."

Communication from the Provincial Commission of the Social Apostolate (CPAS) of the Central American Province of the Society of Jesus in the face of events in Honduras

We have attentively followed with deep concern the events which since Thursday, June 25, have cast over the Honduran people the dark shadow of preparations for a coup d’état. In effect, it was on that date that members of the Armed Forces began to be deployed in the streets of Tegucigalpa. Sunday, June 28, the coup was carried out. In the best copy of the old military uprisings we believed we had already overcome, the President of the Republic was awakened in the early hours of the morning by a detachment of the Armed Forces, guns at the ready, and obliged to board a airplane that took him to Costa Rica where he appeared before the means of communication even though he was in his pajamas and without socks.

From that time, Radio Progreso – whose director is our companion and member of CPAS, Jesuit Ismael Moreno Coto – has suffered, first, the interruption of its broadcasting, forced by a squad of soldiers who threatened to destroy their equipment if they were not obeyed. And that [happened] despite the crowd of people at the doors of the station which showed itself ready to defend “the voice of the people.” Radio Progreso afterwards has resumed its broadcasting cautiously but under threat, and its frequency has been interfered with a few times. The same has happened with other radio and television stations, including some cable stations. Evidently some of those governing who, in order to buttress their government, feel the need to obstruct the transmission of information and its pluralism, show clearly the doubt which hounds them over their own legitimacy and the shifting sands on which they are moving.

Radio Progreso has called from Friday, June 26, for “dialogue for negotiation” between the institutions representative of democracy in Honduras and members of civil society institutions. Negotiating dialogue [is seen] as the only reasonable tool to discern among the diverse proposals and projects in the country. Dialogue and negotiation are the tools of democracy. The use of the Armed Forces, and then of the Police, to repress the citizenry who do not approve the coup d’état, are the tools of a power which fears – and therefore has prohibited – the right of demonstration, of association, of mobilizing, of free expression of opinion, of due process, and, above all, of the inviolability of one’s home and of people’s physical and mental integrity. These are the weapons of dictatorship.

Radio Progreso has again expressed, on Friday, July 3, its conviction that “dialogue for a negotiated settlement is, without doubt, the only way to avoid drowning in bloodshed.” Radio Progreso thinks that the leadership of the Liberal Party has called on the Armed Forces to help its socially elitist project and has misused them, and now also [the same with] the Police, in order to maintain a self-coup [autogolpe] of the civil State which imposes on the country, by anti-constitutional procedures, an authoritative and repressive regime that does not guarantee – although it so is proclaimed – the holding of this year’s November elections and their being clean.

Radio Progreso also thinks that, beyond the disputes, apparently vehement, between the two factions[groups] of government, “civil society has the right to go out into the streets and make its voice heard, not because the government of President Manuel Zelaya has been a good government but because the remedy of a coup d’état brings upon us a much worse political and social sickness than what we had with the improvised and chaotic administration” of President Zelaya and his group.

The Provincial Commission of the Social Apostolate [CPAS] of the Central American Province of the Society of Jesus [Jesuits] shares the analytical evaluation of Radio Progreso and, in every instance, considers that the way toward democratic political freedom can only be guaranteed if the diverse sources of public opinion can make their proper contribution in the pursuit of truth.

The CPAS, therefore, is with no hesitation in solidarity with Radio Progeso, with the Team of Reflection, Information and Communication [Equipo de Reflexión, Información y Comunicación] (ERIC), and with the director of both, Father Ismael Moreno Coto, S.J., and with all the workers who, through these groups, support democracy as citizens who seek truth with freedom from [the standpoint] of the option for the poor. The poor, ultimately, are those who will suffer by the break up of the fragile freedoms of democracy in Honduras and in whatever other country in Latin America and the Caribbean, as well as in the world. We wish to serve the poor in the pursuit of peace inseparable from justice and the defense of democratic cultural values, which include participation in the public life of civil society.

We appeal to the love for country of all those implicated in the political dispute in Honduras and we make a plea for negotiation so that so that paths are sought what return Honduras to the Rule of Law, which the entire community of nations and peoples demands.

We exhort the governments of Mexico and Central America is generously receive the refugees and those forcibly displaced from Honduras, provoked by this crisis.

Francisco Iznardo, S.J.
Coordinator of the Social Apostolate
Central American Province of the Society of Jesus

The original Spanish can be found at
<http://juancitohonduras.blogspot.com/2009/07/jesuitas-centroamericanos.html>
and at
<http://www.adital.com.br/site/noticia.asp?lang=ES&cod=39678>

Radio Progreso and Eric-SJ statement

2009-07-20T14:23:00.000-07:00

A statement from some Honduran Jesuit ministries

Rationality and dialogue: our proposal

As soon as we can we need to create an environment of calm and civility and it is necessary that reason takes its place in the present environment of passions and political and ideological confrontations. We have already reached the heights of political conflictiveness which puts us in a real dilemma: either we now seek a way out of the political crisis which includes reason, dialogue, and negotiation or we go forward without recourse to ungovernability in which we will all go away as losers.
Already the moment has passed for continuing to throw wood on the fire and it is to our advantage to take a little distance form all that which stokes the postures which radicalize whichever of the poles define the present conflict. We find ourselves in an extreme moment of turning inward in which what alone will save us is wagering on setting of minimum consensuses around the preservation of the institutional nature of the state of law.
This minimum consensus has to start with the absolute rejection of all that has to do with a coup d’etat, whether it be technical or violent, since in a situation of ungovernability the entire society remains exposed to violence and expressions of decomposing which only benefits the sectors that nourish themselves in the shade of instability and the absence of institutional order.
The positions of the two poles continue becoming more radicalized. Neither the president appears to take a step toward dialogue nor is the other sector disposed to step back from its decision to disqualify the holder of the Executive branch. To advance toward a stage of minimum consensus there is the need for the action and presence of other forces which contribute to breaking the logic in which both sectors demonize each other and seek to crush each other.
In the face of this dangerous polarization, it is very important to pass on and keep available as much information as possible for the whole society, since only with an informed population can we advance toward a political way out which is not manipulated and only thus can we hope for a conscientious and civil response on the part of the diverse sectors of the Honduran society.
The deeply radicalized polarization involves in a special way those who lead the three powers of the State, and for this very thing their proposals and decisions now enjoy very little acceptance and credibility. Therefore we consider relevant the need for the intervention of sectors of the society which, from their independent and dispassionate positions, can call together the sectors involved in the present political and institutional crisis with the purpose of seeking, as quickly as possible, a negotiated exit to the crisis created within the powers of the State.
We suggest the need to seek the formation of a Commission of well known actors – in the spheres of politics, law, and ethics – nationals and internationals, as a factor which contributes to opening the dialogue toward a negotiated solution to the present crisis. A Commission which could be made up of representatives of the United Nations and the Organization of American States, perhaps a Nobel Peace Prize recipient, an international human rights association and the president of a prestigious university.
Rationality which comes from the inclusion of all sectors of the society is what the present political moment of unrest is most urging us toward. Reducing closed positions, and looking toward the nation and the common good, far beyond individual groups or sectors is what the nation needs to turn away from the ungovernability and instability of those of us who are victims and to advance toward the recovery of the state of law, democracy and peace which are so lacking, so that we can face the true tasks of the development of our country.
Now we are at a moment - the politicians, the major directors of the powers of the State, the means of mass communications, the churches, the diverse sectors of the civil society – we have to give each one of us a step forward in the construction of an exit of dialogue and negotiation. Tomorrow, no doubt, it will be too late, and we of the present and the future generations will forever lament this.

El Progreso, Yoro, June 26, 2009
Radio Progreso and Equipo de Reflexión, Investigación y Comunicación,
[Team of Reflection, Research, and Communication],
apostolic works of the Jesuits in Honduras.

Church of Honduras - coup and Zelaya

2009-07-20T14:19:00.000-07:00

The Church of Honduras rejects the coup
but asks Zelaya to respect the Constitution.

June 30, 2009
Patricio Downes

The executive director of Caritas of Honduras, Father Germán Calíx, make it clear that the Catholic Church rejects the coup against the constitutional government of its country, but at the same time demands that the deposed official Manuel Zelaya respect the constitutional requirements for plebiscites and referenda in regard to constitutional reforms. This is a point that had created friction between the Honduran bishops and the president.

In declarations by telephone from Tegucigalpa to “Religion Digital,” Calíx, a close collaborator with Cardinal Óscar Rodríguez Maradiaga, rejected the accusation against the Catholic Church in Honduras that is was complicit with the coup. “Niether the one nor the other,” he pointed out, “because ten days before the coup the Church called for dialogue and supported [the idea] that the people be consulted.” Father Calíx added that the bishops are ready to become part of a dialogue commission, called by the de facto government, but it considered the arrival of Zelaya, planned for this Thursday [but now postponed to Saturday], could be “catastrophic” if an agreement was not reached beforehand.

While Cardinal Óscar Rodríguez Maradiaga was holding continuous meetings to avoid a coup ending up in blood bath, Calíx said that the Church maintains the same posture that it expressed in its document of June 19 [Comunicado de la Conferencia Episcopal de Honduras <http://www.caritas.hn/noticias/comunicadoconferencia.htm]. The Cardinal, president of Caritas International, was unavailable for his co-workers while fully involved in mediating.

In that document the Honduran bishops noted, “Participative democracy which we wish will only be possible under certain conditions. Thus, we urge the elected authorities to take great for the State of Right [the Rule of Law], which they know how to find, by means of dialogue, the solutions of the present conflict and that they know how to guarantee for the Honduran people the regulation of its constitutional resources, such as the Plebiscite and the Referendum, which, together with other tools, such as the Law of Citizen Participation, permit the consultation of the people in matters of major importance.”

- Would the church participate in dialogue, despite the de facto government?

- If they would call it now, the Church would be disposed to participate despite having received a lot of criticism, especially against the hierarchy, because they consider that it did not put itself on the side of the deposed government and that, by not having spoken in favor of the fourth ballot box [the poll scheduled for June 28 on having a ballot question in November about a Constituent Assembly to rewrite the Constitution] - which is the process that Zelaya had initiated – they accuse the Church of being a participation in the coup d’etat, which has no solid foundation in fact.

Father Calíx this made reference to the possibility of a dialogue commission, which the de facto president Roberto Micheletti has called for. He belongs to the Liberal Party, that same party in which Manuel Zelaya came to power. But until last night they had not set up the mechanism for dialogue to which they would invite the Catholic and Evangelical Churches, as well as the business sector, workers and campesinos [peasants]. Calix commented that the fomenters of the coup had not taken into account the international front and the strong rejection of the coup in the European Union as well as in ALBA (The Bolivarian Alternative for the Americas), the Organization of American State, and the Rio Group.

- What does the Church think of the coup?

- Before the coup on June 29, the Church issue a communication in which it said that you cannot make democracy against democracy. And in this moment the Church has done no more than repeat this. Before the coup, it had been suggested and even asked that all the sectors of society could sit together in a great dialogue and let emerge valid and rational ways out of this situation and that it would not just be an arrangement made between politicians but a consensus among the different sectors of society and that it was necessary to take into account that the political crisis came upon us gradually because the democratic system had not been capable to make the jump to social justice for all the country.

-Did you say to Zelaya that you were opposed to the reelection proposal?

-Yes, some ten days before the coup the bishops met with president Zelaya to let him know that the Church agreed with the desire for the people’s participation and that the participation of the people ought not to be limited in public destinies and in the fixing up of public policies. But it ought to de done within the existing legal framework, since there are already structures like the plebiscite and the referendum with a lot of experience in South America. And there the president was asked to put aside all personal desire for continuity or reelection, a message which he had already received beforehand from the Church and he had given his word to hand over power in January, which could be certain as the word of the president, nevertheless the movement which he was generating around a national assembly put in doubt his affirmations, because the assembly was going to have the legal right to choose him as president and , in that case, he was going to have the option to perpetuate himself in power or change the constitution in over to be again elected president.

- The slogan was “neither the one nor the other,” neither reelection nor coup?

Neither of the two, since the church does not consider the coup was the way out for life in a democracy. The coup does not resolve the political problem which has been coming along slowly during a decade in the exhausting of the party system in Honduras, where a two party tradition exists since the last century, from 1920 more or less, in some case in some cases recalling including still the ideals of that epoch. Those parties need to be reformed but the reforms cannot come through the way of party bosses [caudillos] and, even less, through a coup d’etat, but it is necessary to open spaces for the renovation of the parties, to open up for greater participation, and to seek political solutions to problems which are internal. The peculiarity is that the members who supposedly carried out this coup d’etat – where the military are only the visible and fleeting hand, no more than a moment , because they quickly handed power over to civilians – is that has been brought about among members of the same Liberal Party.

- How do you see the return of Zelaya which is expected this Thursday? [It has been delayed until Saturday.]

Now there’s a lot of commotion, because yesterday and today have been days of confrontation within the social sectors, above all within the popular sectors, and there has been talk of 70 wounded, with no deaths, thank God, up till now. The coming of president Zelaya could be catastrophic because it would mean mobilization of all these people to receive him, to cheer him, and to escort him and there would be a confrontation with police and governmental forces. It would not be a solution unless – because of international pressure – the government on duty (de facto) would decide to negotiate also with Zelaya. But, definitely, it will only be with difficulty that he will be accepted in the position in which he was by a great part of the population.

---

This is my translation - corrections most welcome - of an article in Spanish, most of which is an interview.
Items between parentheses [ ] are my additions to clarify points made in the article. The sections in bold were in bold in the original article.

La Iglesia de Honduras rechaza el golpe, pero pide a Zelaya que respete la Constitución
http://blogs.periodistadigital.com/religiondigital.php/2009/06/30/la-iglesia-de-honduras-rechaza-el-golpe-