Violence

There have been reports of violence by the military and police in some parts of the country against demonstrators opposed to the coup, as well as arrests and detentions. But it seems to have happened nearby.

There are often demonstrations at a gas station where you van take the road to Gracias off the main road to San Pedro Sula. People camp in the streets and prevent traffic from passing through for a few hours.

I stopped at Caritas this morning and the staff told me, that, according to radio reports, about 11 am this morning, police dislodged the people from the intersection and injured people, including women and some 10 to 11 year old children. Some fled to a restaurant in the gas station; the police broke glass window; people were also fleeing into the woods.

The folks visiting me saw some soldiers in riot gear in a car in town as well as a police car with police and a number of people, coming away from the demonstration.

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I have a group of people from Iowa here with me. They arrived Wednesday night. To avoid having to walk through road blocks we got a ride back Wednesday night with Sor Maria Jesús (a Spanish Franciscan sister who lives down the block from me.) The pickup was stopped twice by the army. At one they said she had a light burnt out. She talked with them and avoided a fine (but I wonder if they wanted a bribe.)

The group spent yesterday afternoon at the home for malnourished kids run by the Missionaries of Charity and this morning with the kindergarten in Colonia Divina Providencia. It is always therapeutic to me to be with the kids - even though I see the deprivation and and know the problems the kids and their families experience.

Tomorrow we'll go out to the parish of Trinidad, Copán, for two days, so that they can see the lives of people in the countryside - the reality of this country.