Golpe de estado – day two

Things are still fairly quiet here in Santa Rosa de Copán. There have been demonstrations in many cities throughout the country, but word about them is being passed around mostly by word of mouth.

There were no classes in the public school throughout the country because the teachers are on a work stoppage in protest of the coup. When they will go back is undetermined.

In several parts of the country people have blocked the highways; there will be one near here tomorrow. In Tegucigalpa people have blocked the Presidential Palace and, supposedly, prevented Roberto Micheletti from entering. Police have fired tear gas to break up opponents of Micheletti.

There have been demonstrations in other cities, including nearby Gracias.

Though I haven’t see it here. there has been military presence in the area. Yesterday the military had two road blocks on the road outside town leading to San Pedro Sula. At one of them armed soldiers in camouflage entered some buses.

And last night and tonight there is a curfew from 9 pm to 6 am.

One of the serious items is the decision of the governments of El Salvador, Nicaragua, and Guatemala to close their borders to commercial traffic with Honduras for 48 hours. That probably means that trucks with commercial supplies, etc.., will not be allowed to cross the borders. With the road blockages this may mean problems of getting fuel in our region and other parts of the country.

The pressure is great on the Honduran government - and the US has continued to hold that the action was illegal. However, there are some here who believe that the coup could not have gone through without the implicit permission of the US government. I hope this is just their paranoia. Some countries have withdrawn their ambassadors to Honduras in protest.

It is still hard to get information, but from what I have heard it is even harder in other parts of the country. In the capital many cable television stations have been prohibited from broadcasting CNN Español and other stations. There is still access here; though I have no television, least of all cable, I dropped down the street to visit the Franciscan sisters and talk with them. I saw a little of CNN-Español.

Some people who were supporters of the president or his poll, including the mayor of San Pedro Sula, have been jailed; some of the members of his cabinet are jailed or under house arrest or in hiding. The foreign minister was flown out of the country to Mexico and joined the president in Nicaragua for a series of meetings with other heads of state.

Keep us in your prayers as we hope for peace and justice – most of all for the poor.

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Some other thoughts.

The campaign for the poll was full of all sorts of corrupt practices – people being paid to sign petitions, public workers being forced to get petitions signed. The Zelaya’s administration has been very corrupt.

There are concerns about what he would do if he were returned, since both the legislative and judicial branches of the government were involved in the coup.

Some are concerned about the influence of Venezuela’s president Hugo Chávez, which may be a legitimate concern (especially when he seems to threaten to invade Honduras). But there is also so much Cold War rhetoric that Mel was trying to bring Communism to Honduras.

Something different is needed. The people here don’t have a voice in what is important in their lives.

A friend in the US just sent me an analysis from a Jesuit group in northern Honduras. I will translate and post it as soon as I can.

Pray for us.