A moment of opportunity?

I’ve been reading a number of articles on the internet, including a long but interesting article in Spanish by the Honduran Jesuit, Ismael Moreno, which suggest that this could be a moment for some real change, if people really would take advantage of it. Some say that the bureaucratic two-party democracy is showing its weaknesses and that Honduras needs to go beyond this. One analyst says that Honduras could be suffering the pains of birth or death pangs.

(By the way, the two major parties, the National and the Liberal, are more like Tammany Hall than the US experience of political parties. There are some minor parties and there is even an independent candidate for president who has ties to the popular movements. But almost the political power is in the hands of both the two major parties who have close ties to the economic elite.)

Monday, in the main plaza of Santa Rosa, I ran into a former politician who was involved locally and then had a national post which he renounced because of the corruption. We talked briefly but he mentioned the need to take advantage of the situation so there might be real change. The economic powers, who are responsible for this mess, need to reflect on the crisis. People need to stop following just what the two political parties say.

Is this just wishful thinking or is there something happening under the surface here, causing people to think of real alternatives? Now the problem will be how the Honduran people will achieve true democracy – with social justice.