Golpe de estado – the sixth day

There’s a numbers game going around.

The anti-coup forces are claiming that 50 thousand people were demonstrating in various cities in the country: 30,000 in Tegucigalpa, thousands more in San Pedo Sula, Comayagua, and Progreso. Some of their demonstrations have turned violent, especially in San Pedro Sula, but some have been violently broken up by police or military forces.

The pro-coup forces are claiming 70,000 or more in their demonstration in Tegucigalpa and tens of thousands in San Pedro Sula, Choluteca, and other cities. Often the speakers are local businessmen and politicians. They typically are protected by police and are peaceful.

But I continue to be concerned about the polarization that I read about as well as the demonization of opponents. There's a real lack of reflection. For example, someone I know wrote about the euphoria of the moment that he connected with the pro-coup demonstrations. But what I feel here among the people I know is mostly fear and concern. When I noted that, he agreed.

Tomorrow

Tomorrow a group, organized, I believe, with the municipal authorities, is supposed to have a march for peace and democracy here in Santa Rosa. My guess is it might be pro-coup. The church is not officially participating.

Tomorrow promised to be a very tense day. President Zelaya was supposed to return to Hondurason Thursday, but he changed it to Sunday. The interim president Micheletti notes that he will be arrested. The secretary general of the Organization of American States has been in Tegucigalpa but it appears that nothing has come of his visit. According to one report Guatemalan Nobel Laureate Rigoberta Menchú has arrived in Honduras – on a peace mission, I hope.

The US raised its level of pressure by putting much of its aid to Honduras on hold. The US aid this year and next was to be about 95 million dollars. But some of this is on hold.

The US is still not calling what happened a coup, even as it refuses to acknowledge Michelleti as president. If the US determines that it is a coup ALL aid will have to be stopped and Peace Corps volunteers will have to leave the country. (Interesting fact: Honduras has the second largest Peace Corps contingent in the world; only the Ukraine has more Peace Corps volunteers.)

Again, I must apologize for a disorganized blog entry. Today I have not had time to really reflect on the situation or even read the articles I was downloading. I have mostly been sending the Santa Rosa diocesan message (see entry from yesterday) to as many sources as possible. I will probably continue to do this much of the weekend at the urging of Father Efraín Romero, director of Caritas.

Ah, the weekend. I hope to take time this weekend for prayer, reflection, and catching up on reading. I will try to share with you the fruits of my reflection.

Keep us in prayer.