Living under a coup – day 24

An act of love, a voluntary taking on oneself of some of the pain of the world, increases the courage and love and hope of all.

Dorothy Day

Where does Honduras go from here? Who’s to blame for the break up of the talks?

BBC: “The head of the delegation said the Costa Rican mediators' proposal, which would see Mr Zelaya return to Honduras, was ‘absolutely unacceptable…’ Representatives of ousted President Manuel Zelaya have said they will no longer negotiate with their rivals.”

Reuters: “While Zelaya's negotiators said they agree in principle to a proposed compromise from Costa Rican President Oscar Arias, the government that deposed Zelaya refused to budge on its insistence that he would be arrested and prosecuted if he returns.”

That’s the game that has begun. Reading different news sources some wonder how much either side is really interested in dialogue and negotiation, though it appears that Michelleti is more intransigent and Zelaya has made some concessions and agrees in principle to the suggestions of the mediator, Costa Rican President Oscar Arias.

Arias wants to resume talks Wednesday. He has also asked Zelaya to delay a return to Honduras until Friday. Zelaya says he will walk across the border on Friday if the talks break down.

"What is the alternative to dialogue?” Arias asked. “We could face a civil war and bloodshed that the Honduran people do not deserve." I hope and pray that intransigence doesn't lead to more bloodshed.

In the meantime, the European Union has suspended their aid program – about $92 million dollars worth. The US is threatening serious reprisals if the de facto regime of Micheletti remains intransigent. (I hope they are serious about this.)

The resistance to the coup is calling for a nationwide strike on Thursday and Friday.

What am I hearing from people?

Fear, concern, insecurity, frustration.

A priest friend is advising people to avoid purchasing anything unnecessary. (I’ve been thinking of buying a pick up but have put it off because of the high costs for even a used one. With the situation I might just want to wait a bit more.)

Others, including several persons I respect, see no way out except for the return of Zelaya as president.

In the midst of this, I end this morning's blog with these notes that make it clear why I am here:

"According to the statistics of international organisms, 70% of the population [of Honduras] lives in conditions of poverty and, of them, 45% live in extreme poverty."

According to one news report (of a few years ago) 25 of the 40 poorest municipalities (sort of like counties) in Honduras are in the diocese of Santa Rosa de Copán.

According to a priest I know the two poorest parishes in this area of the diocese are the parish of Dulce Nombre de María and the parish of Trinidad, Copán.

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On another note. I translated the report of the Central American Dominicans which is very thoughtful - what else do expect from the Dominicans? It was hard to translate and I'm sure I made a few errors but I think it deserves to be read by the non-Spanish speaking world. The full text is on my new blog devoted to church documents related to Honduras: http://honduraschurchdocuments.blogspot.com/2009/07/central-american-dominicans-provincial.html

Paragraph 12 is a good summary of what's wrong here:

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.