Golpe de estado – day four

This will be a rather disorganized posting. I spent much time today translating from Spanish and have not taken enough time to think things through thoroughly. I hope to take more time to reflect tomorrow.

The situation is tense and should be for a few more days. A curfew has been reimposed from 10 pm to 5 am from tonight until Sunday, I believe. During the curfew, according to one news report, several liberties are rescinded. For example, according to some experts, you cannot have a meeting, public or private, even in the streets or the churches, in your house or in a union hall.

Deposed President Zelaya was supposed to return Thursday but he has postponed it to the weekend. Meanwhile acting “president’ Micheletti said that the only way Zelaya will return to office is through a foreign invasion. Micheletti says he’s open to dialogue but in the next breath he says the courts will insist on jailing Zelaya if he returns. There are reports of conversations aimed at finding compromises. <http://www.nytimes.com/2009/07/02/world/americas/02honduras.html?_r=1&pagewanted=1&ref=world> I hope that all these efforts open a space for dialogue and some peaceful negotiated solution.

There seems to be a lot happening in some parts of Honduras. But information is very difficult to obtain. There have been injuries to some anti-coup demonstrators and one reported death. There are continued reports of media censorship, intimidation of protestors, and arrests or arrest warrants for opponents of the coup.

There have also been large demonstrations in support of the coup. There was supposed to be a march here in Santa Rosa in support, but I didn’t see or hear anything.

International opposition to the coup continues. The US Defense Department suspended activities with the Honduran military. The Spanish ambassador has withdrawn. Today, the Organization of American States gave Honduras 72 hours to reinstate deposed President Manuel Zelaya or face suspension of its membership

A number of non-governmental organizations are affected. The local Habitat is moving its international volunteers to sites in El Salvador.

The first public pronouncement of the Catholic Church in Honduras can be found in article on a Spanish church website that reiterates a position the church took ten days before the coup. The article begins: “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.” The full text in my English translation can be found below in the previous post.

The bishop of Santa Rosa has been meeting with the priests of the diocese and I suspect that a statement may be released by tomorrow afternoon. When I have a copy I will publish and translate it.

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Passing on the word, trying to speak the truth

Since I came here I have seen my blogging and picture pages as ways to let people, especially supporters at St. Thomas Aquinas Church in Ames, Iowa, know what I am doing and what is happening here. Yesterday I sent a note to all the folks I am connected with on Facebook, asking their prayers and letting them know of my blog. Last night I noticed that I was getting more traffic on my blog than normal, increasing exponentially. Between 9:00 am yesterday and tonight at 10 pm my blog has received more than 600 hits. This may partly be due to my note to friends but also because a friend of a cousin’s daughter sent the link to Andrew Sullivan at The Atlantic Monthly who posted it on his website. And so my ministry grows – hopefully still “in service to those most in need.”

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I invite you to join me in this prayer for peace, written in 1963 by good Pope John XXIII

A prayer for peace

May Christ banish from the hearts of all people whatever might endanger peace,

may Christ transform them into witnesses of truth, justice and love.

May Christ enlighten the rulers of peoples so that in addition to their solicitude for the proper welfare of their citizens, they may guarantee and defend the great gift of peace;

may Christ enkindle the wills of all, so that they may overcome the barriers that divide, cherish the bonds of mutual charity, understand others, and pardon those who have done them wrong;

by virtue of this action, may all peoples of the earth become as brothers
and sisters, and may the most longed-for peace blossom forth and reign always among them.

Blessed Pope John XXIII, Pacem in Terris, ¶ 171