The Honduran Coup:
Where is the Church?

I have put off writing on this topic, but Friday, August 21, a group from the Sisters of Mercy of the Americas was here in Santa Rosa de Copán and I had arranged for them to speak with Padre Fausto Milla and with Monseñor Luis Alfonso Santos, the bishop. Listening to Padre Fausto and Monseñor Santos moved me to break the silence.

Many people in Honduras have been scandalized by the Honduran Bishops’ Conference July 4 statement and the remarks of Cardinal Oscar Rodríguez after he read the statement and in several interviews he gave the following week. Many were especially disturbed that he read the bishops' statement and added his own remarks on the "cadena" - the simultaneous broadcast on all Honduran radio and television stations, mandated by the de facto government - and that the mandatory broadcast was repeated numerous times.

Why has the cardinal virtually given support to the coup? He denies this and even said “I am the first to reject the coup d’état.” But it is hard to see his severe critiques of the deposed president Mel Zelaya – some of them warranted – and the lack of critiques of the de facto president Roberto Micheletti as anything less than a support of the change of government.

THE BISHOPS’ STATEMENT

The cardinal has insisted that the bishops’ conference statement is the work of the whole conference. It is signed by all the bishops, but who wrote the statement ? It is mostly the work of the cardinal and a draft included a statement that what happened was not a coup. The document was modified at the bishops' meeting and the statement that what happened was not a coup was dropped in part because Bishop Santos of Santa Rosa indicated that he would not sign a document that explicitly included such an assertion.

On Thursday, July 2, the bishops were called to meet the next day. By that time, the Cardinal had obtained information from the government on the process of “succession of power” – even giving the bishops arrest warrant materials.

It is important to know that only four of the eleven Honduras bishops are Honduran nationals – the cardinal, his two auxiliary bishops, and Bishop Santos. The others are missionaries from Canada, Spain, Panamá, Malta, and the US. Also, all but three of the bishops were ordained by the Cardinal.

The cardinal and his auxiliaries, from fairly well-to-do families with connections to the Nationalist party, do not see what happened as a coup. Bishop Santos calls it a coup as do many religious and lay groups in the Honduran church.

Some have suggested that the bishops should have waited a bit longer to consider a statement and examine the documents. For example, the arrest warrant was dated June 26, two days before the coup. So there is some concern about possible falsification of documents.

Furthermore, Bishop Santos now questions using the charge that Zelaya planned to change the constitution so that he could have a second term as a justification for the "coup". You can’t judge a person on the “presumption of a crime;” you need an act, he noted.

Bishop Santos further said that he would be out in the streets if Zelaya tried to continue as president after his term ended, since that would be unconstitutional. But, as many have said, there was no proof from Zelaya that the proposal to put a question in the November elections on a Constitutional Constituent Assembly was for the purpose of extending his term of office.

Very interestingly, related to the issue of a national constituent assembly, the bishops of Honduras had in a June 19 document affirmed the need for public consultations on serious matters but subtly opposed the June 28 referendum in terms of its legality.

WHY IS THE CARDINAL SO ANTI-MEL?

But why is the cardinal so insistent that there was not a coup and why is he so critical of President Mel Zelaya?

The cardinal has had a great fear that Honduras would become another Venezuela and that President Hugo Chávez was using President Zelaya for this purpose. In an August 2008 interview, the Cardinal expressed his concern about “new totalitarian dictatorships,” referring not only to Venezuela, but also to Ecuador, Bolivia, and Argentina. He then proceeded to condemn “the so-called Boliviarian socialism” as a “hidden capitalism… a capitalism for a few who hold power and who use it as a means to keep themselves in power.”

The cardinal also detected a campaign of “class hatred,” fomented by Venezuela, the weeks before the coup, but I don’t really know to what he was referring – unless it is to the detraction he has suffered.

The conflict between the Cardinal and Chávez goes back at least two years when a statement about dictators – that they are blind and deaf and see themselves as gods – was taken as a reference to Chávez. In turn, Chávez, not prone to understatement, called the Cardinal “a parrot of imperialism… an imperialist clown.” An apology from Chávez followed.

But I believe that fear drove the Cardinal’s thinking and actions.

But Bishop Santos, in his August 21 meeting with the Sisters of Mercy delegation, noted that in the face of oppression we can always count on faith in Jesus. Acting in fear is not acting with faith. “We have to accept change.”

CARDINAL “GOLPISTA”?

The Cardinal has been critiqued as a “golpista,” a supporter of the coup, even in the week before he read the Honduran Bishops Conference statement. There have been caricatures of the cardinal on the walls of Tegucigalpa as well as on the internet. There have been all sorts of charges, some of which verge on calumny, many of which are character assassination.

There was the charge that he was receiving a large monthly salary (100,000 lempiras – about $5000) from the government, offered to him in December 2001 by then president Carlos Flores Facussé (who, many believe, is one of the intellectual authors of the coup). However, a monthly gift was offered the Cardinal shortly after he named cardinal, designated for the institutional expenses of the “cardinalate.” It was probably thought that there would be more expenses for his more prominent role in the Church. But, according to reliable sources, the cardinal only received the money once.

(President Carlos Flores also offered money to Bishop Santos of Santa Rosa for the repair of the obispado, the bishops’ residence and office. Bishop Santos refused the money.)

It should be noted that the cardinal has been an outspoken proponent of debt relief and so this has helped Honduras, which has been declared a HIPC (Highly Indebted Poor Country) which allowed for some major debt relief. It has also been suggested that the gift might have also been a recognition of the cardinal’s service to the country.

But this campaign of character assassination cannot hide the connection that the cardinal has with the rich in the country. He may feel that he owes some of them debts for their support of the archdiocese.

It must be noted, also, that the Cardinal is seen by many as a voice for the concerns of the poor, especially in his role in Caritas International. He has also been critical of the open-pit mining in the Valle de Siria, outside of Tegucigalpa. But many believe that he has been tied more closely to the rich.

He has also been publicly critical of his brother bishop, Monseñor Santos, who has gone out in the streets with his people in opposition to open pit mining. For his strong opposition to mining and identification with the movements against it, the Cardinal accused Bishop Santos of dividing the episcopal conference.

OTHER VOICES

More could be written about the current situation of the church in Honduras. For now, it is important to remember that while the Cardinal’s words, based on his fears, are all too often taken as the only point of reference, others in the church – important voices in the church – see things differently.

There is, for example, the statement of the Conference of Men and Women Religious of Honduras (CONFEREH). It has been widely circulated on the web but has not been released publicly because the Cardinal refused to authorize its publication. It seems that he thinks it's not part of the mission of consecrated religious to make public statements of this kind.

There have also been statements from the Santa Rosa de Copán Diocesan Pastoral Council and the presbytery of the diocese of Trujillo. In the Santa Rosa message, released two days before the cardinal’s appearance on national television and radio, they “ repudiate the substance, the form, and the style with which a new Head of the Executive Branch has been imposed on the People.” Also, recently there have been several interviews of Santa Rosa bishop, Monseñor Luis Alfonso Santos, who has publicly called those behind the coup thieves and gangsters.

The witnesses of priests like Padre Fausto Milla from Santa Rosa de Copán, the Jesuit Padre Melo Moreno, and the environmentalist Padre Andrés Tamayo are notable exceptions to the silence of many of the clergy.

WHERE CAN THE CHURCH GO FROM HERE?

The situation in Honduras is complex – as is the situation of the church. But, as the Central America Dominican provincial wrote in a recent letter of solidarity, “ ... we do not believe that the principal conflict is only between Zelaya and Micheletti. We believe that there is a real confrontation between those who hold on to their own economic interests and those who defend new alternative models which try to incorporate the interests of the majority.”

There has to be change that allows the poor to participate in the economy and politics of Honduras – but also promotes reconciliation and real dialogue. A church-based effort in Honduras to secure peace and reconciliation based in justice is what is most needed at this time.

And so it gave me great joy to see two You-Tube videos of the prayer at the August 11 demonstration in San Pedro Sula. Padre Fausto Milla gave the sermon but there were at least six priests vested in alb and stole and two more just with stoles, as well as two sisters in habit, on the stage. Padre Fausto spoke strongly, not only against the coup, but he also issued a call for peace, “Brothers [and sisters], let us make peace and not violence. Repression can only be fought and overcome through peace. Here we do not have to face the oppressor families, we do not have any famous last names. The police are our brothers, they are López, they are Ramos, they are Pérez." In addition, before reciting the Lord’s Prayer, the priest leading the prayer encouraged the people to take the hands of those next to them – even the hands of the police.

The church in Honduras must continue to listen to the voices of the poor and the marginalized so that their voices may be heard, while reaching out to all so that justice and reconciliation may come.

Love and truth will meet;
justice and peace will kiss;
truth will spring from the earth;
and justice will look down from heaven.
Psalm 85: 11-12

last slight revision, August 25, 9:50 am