What is the US doing in Honduras?

Today I’m venturing into a topic that I perhaps should treat more cautiously, but recent events – specifically the killing of at least four civilians (including 2 pregnant women) by Honduran drug agents who were accompanied by US Drug Enforcement Agency (DEA) persons – lead me to offer a few thoughts.

I offer these musings knowing that I am not writing from personal experiences, but my life here for almost five years in the poorest diocese in Honduras does give me a distinct perspective.

A few weeks ago a priest whom I trust asked me about US AID, the US Agency for International Development, and its work here in Honduras. US AID does some good working in agriculture, and health. But US aid is conditioned on the policy behind it.

If the agriculture policy is supporting use of chemical fertilizers and genetically manipulated seed, is this really helpful for the small farmers who are seeking to eke out a subsistence on the little land they own or have to rent? If the emphasis is on export agriculture, will this really help José and Cruz feed their family in a remote village?

But also US aid should be seen in the context of US policy in the region which is, I believe, very questionable, at the very least. The roots of this policy go back more than a hundred years when US supported the US banana companies that controlled agriculture in the northern coast.

The continuing presence of more than 500 US military personnel in the Soto Cano Air Force base near Comayagua is a thorn in the side of many Hondurans. The base was established in the 1980s, when repression was severe here. It served, together with a training base in northern Honduras, to support the Contra war against the Nicaraguan government and the US-backed repressive Salvadoran government in the civil war against the FMLN.

But the US military presence has increased in the few years. More bases have been built throughout the country, especially on the northern coast; the reason given is to control the transit of drugs, especially cocaine, through Honduras.

The US is providing the Honduran government with radar installations in the Moskitia, a very unpopulated region in the northeast which is said to be a major transit point for drugs from South America.

There are also more civic operations which include US troops (often National Guard) with Honduran military and Honduran government agencies. These go out into remote areas and provide one-time medical care. Why there are troops from both the US and Honduras there seems strange. In at least some cases my guess is that they are there as part of intelligence operations, supposedly looking for drug trafficking.

But these remind me of the Salvadoran military practice, endorsed by the US, to provide civilian services by the military in contested areas as a way to, supposedly, “win the hearts and minds” of the people who had many reasons to be suspicious of the repressive policies of the government and the brutality of the military.

Excuse my cynicism, but these “Medical Readiness Training Exercises” make me nervous, remembering the history of like programs in El Salvador and Guatemala – and Vietnam.

But the presence of DEA in collaboration with Honduran drug enforcement personnel is especially problematic as I see it.

Not only does it mean a militarization of what should be police work, but it ignores some very real deficiencies in Honduras. Specifically I refer to the massive corruption of police and government personnel – sometimes at high levels of authority. The drug lords can easily pay off police, mayors and others to ignore what they are doing. There are stories of a mayor who is tied to drug trafficking paying off the police in the region with $100 a month.

The human costs of the DEA presence can be seeing in recent events.

An event in the Moskitia last week reveals part of the problem. At least four people, including two pregnant women, were killed when a Honduras drug enforcement helicopter fired on them. According to some reports, in the pre-dawn hours, the helicopter was following some boats which were believed to be transporting cocaine. Some sources claim that there was a firefight, initiated by the drug-trafficking boats.

But why were the civilians attacked? Their boat had a light while the other boat didn’t.

But some reports from unnamed sources make it look as if the civilians were killed during a firefight. The way some reports are phrased make it appear that initial fire came from the civilian boat, which is highly unlikely.

But what is the word out of the US Embassy and the Honduran government?

I may not be finding the right sources but it looks as if they have not yet apologized or lamented the loss of life.

This is in stark contrast to the reaction to the brutal killing of a HRN radio journalist who was kidnapped and then killed. HRN is a mainstream – some would say conservative – news source in Honduras.

President Lobo is offering 3 million lempira (about $150,000) for information about the journalist’s abduction and killing. The US Embassy and the ambassador have expressed outrage at the killing – which is fitting.

But what outrage has been shown by the US Embassy about the other 20 some journalists killed since early 2010 or the more than 50 killed in Bajo Aguan (many at the hands of security forces of large landowners)?

This killing grieves me – as do the many other deaths throughout the country that are never investigated.

But the US usually seeks to put this all in the framework of a drug war, or blames "gangs". 

The drug trafficking situation has worsened here in the last three years. But I believe that it is closely connected with the continuing breakdown of law, in part due to widespread corruption and bribing of police and officials by drug lords and the ongoing failure of the government to respond to the needs of the poor. At times it appears that the government doesn’t really care about the poor but serves the interests of the elites.

What is also disturbing is the failure of the Honduran government to investigate human rights abuses, even abuses by police and military, and the failure of the US government, esepcially the State Department,  to pressure Honduras in this respect. There are efforts in the US Congress to place human rights condition on police and military aid to Honduras, but what chance is there of this really happening?

In the midst of all this I am still convinced that this is where God wants me to be. There is much to be done, mostly accompanying the people in their faith lives and in their struggles for a decent life.

There are signs of hope here, but they mostly come from the people at the base, not from institutions, especially not from government institutions, whether Honduran or US.

And so, today I pray for the people here – a people who are suffering but with the hope of resurrection.

Jesuit father Ignacio Ellacuría, martyred by Salvadoran government forces in 1989, talked about the “crucified peoples of the world.” I run across them almost every day but I see some of them trying to live the hope of resurrection. These are the persons I hope I can support and accompany as we work and pray together for the Reign of God.

Musings and controversies in Honduras

San Isidro Labrador in Oromilaca

Tuesday was the feast of St. Isidore, the patron of farmers and farmworkers.  The sector San Isidro of the parish of Dulce Nombre had a celebration which included Mass and blessing of seeds.

The celebration also included blessing a new ambo and tabernacle for the church. The village, which has two extraordinary ministers of communion, will now have the Eucharist reserved in their church. Interestingly the tabernacle is shaped like a house with white walls and red roof tiles.

Alfredo and Efraín distributing Communion

Padre Efraín gave a spirited homily, speaking first about the devotion of San Isidro who went to Mass every morning before going to work in the landlord’s field. 

Then he went to talk about the importance of using better agricultural practices, in particular, avoiding the use of chemicals.

The parish has a program to help farmers and though part of the program is buying chemical fertilizers in bulk, the program does try to promote other practices, including teaching people how to make organic fertilizers.

It’s an uphill struggle. There have been some advances in some parts of the country. Though here in Copán some still prepare the land by burning, in the south of Lempira the municipal governments, with the support of the church, have effectively banned burning.

May San Isidro help us find better ways to feed the people. 

Blessing of seeds

If you want some more information on San Isidro/Saint Isidore, I wrote a little about him yesterday here.

There are more pictures of the event on my Flickr set here.

Deaths in the country

This past week two more reporters were killed – one from a gay alliance supporting the Resistance, the other from a mainstream radio station. Whether there will be any investigation remains to be seen. These are just two of the more than 20 journalists killed since the June 2009 coup.

I also just read that another person has been killed in the Bajo Aguan region in northeast Honduras. That makes more than fifty killed in relation to land controversies there.

A major problem is the lack of police and judicial follow up of crimes. To the people involved it appears that the government just doesn’t care – or, at the very least, is incapable of responding to the problems. This is especially so when the poor and involved as victims or the perpetrators are members of the elites or police or governmental authorities.

Addendum: President Lobo is offering 3 million lempiras (about $150,000) for information about the death of the journalist from the mainstream radio station. As far as I know, nothing has been offered about the other 20 journalists.

US involvement in Honduras

In the last year there has been much talk of US support of Honduran anti-drug-trafficking measures. The US Drug Enforcement Agency (DEA) has sent five US “commando style squads” to Central America and the Caribbean, including Honduras.

The results here – the recent killing of four to six civilians (plus the two unborn children of the two pregnant women) who were travelling in a boat on a river in the Moskitia, in the northeast of the country.

According to a report in  El Tiempo,  a Honduran daily, they were “being pursued by helicopter by agents of the National Police and the Drug Enforcement Agency of the United States (DEA).” (A translation can be found in the Quota blog, here. )

This is not the way to deal with drug-trafficking.

Any effort to deal with this needs to deal with the involvement of politicians of both major parties in drug trafficking, as well as with the corruption and involvement of the police and the military.  There are reports of a drug lord in western Honduras giving 100 dollars a month to police – but only four refused the “gift”.

The militarization of a country where the authorities do not investigate crimes and human rights abuses and where authorities are involved in serious human rights abuses will only put more power in the hands of those who refuse to deal with underlying causes of injustice and corruption.

I don’t know the way to deal with this. But the efforts of people at the local level need to be encouraged and supported. That will help begin to solve the problem, if is accompanied by some structural changes that take power away from those who profit from drug-trafficking.