Gang truce in Honduras - first thoughts

Yesterday, in a prison in San Pedro Sula, representatives of the two major gangs in Honduras announced that they were seeking a truce between them. One of the leaders promised “Zero violence,” but another leader stated, “"We're willing to work to lower the violence, but we need everyone to be on board, because we're not willing to be the only ones."  

This is good news, if it holds. A lot will depend not only on the actions of the two gangs but on the willingness of the wider society and the Honduran government to make major changes. More on this in a later blog entry.

San Pedro Sula is the city with the highest percentage of murders in the world and Honduras is one of the world’s most violent countries.

Where I am in western Honduras, we don’t see much gang activity, but the gangs are active in the major cities and on the north coast. To finance their wars they demand “war taxes” – protection money – from businesses, as well as bus and taxi drivers.

Central to this process was Monseñor Romulo Emiliani, the auxiliary bishop of San Pedro Sula. Adam Blackwell, a Canadian from the Organization of American States who has been involved in the gang truce in El Salvador, was also instrumental to arriving at an agreement.

Monseñor Emiliani, a Claretian from Panama, has been a major force in the church’s Prison Ministry throughout the country.

Monseñor Romulo Emiliani, August 2012

Last March, during a bloody prison riot in San Pedro Sula, he negotiated an end to the crisis. He assured the prisoners that the police would not try to end in by a violent attack. Though about 17 were killed in the riot, more deaths were prevented.

Last August at a meeting in Santa Rosa of the prison ministry in northern and western Honduras, he spoke of his trepidation when he entered the prison three times; in one sense, he did not know if he would come out alive.

I was impressed by his courage and his willingness to take risks. It became clear that he loves the prisoners, though he is realistic about the situation.

As he said in an interview in El Heraldo, “On the human level I’m not very optimistic, but seeing everything from the vantage point of faith, there is where one can maintain hope, and where God can intervene.”

There was a truce between the two gangs in 2005, but it only lasted two months.

I have a little more hope now, especially because Monseñor Emiliani is involved, a person of faith, committed to prisoners, who has gained their confidence by his courageous initiatives on their behalf.

In this situation we can pressure authorities in Honduras and in the US to respond to this initiative of the gangs and accompany our actions with prayer.

In prison

Today I went to prison with Padre German and about 45 people from the Dulce Nombre de María parish. We got to go home afterward, though.

The local prison has more than 600 prisoners – some who have gone to trial, some who haven’t.

I won’t go into the problems of the justice system and the prison system here in Honduras – which are shameful, full of corruption, and totally unjust. That’s another blog entry.

Santa Rosa de Copán’s Granja Penal is overcrowded, but not as badly as other prisons in Honduras, some of which have experienced severe fires and violent uprisings in the past few years.

It’s a relatively half-decent place to serve a term – or wait for a trial. But the prisoners – or, as people say here, those deprived of liberty – do not have an easy life. They have to find ways to buy basic necessities like toothpaste.

There is no state-sponsored work program here, that I know of. I see people weaving fish nets and hammocks and there are a few small crafts – earrings and necklaces; but the people have to seek an outside market. There is a carpentry shop, set up with Spanish aid and attended to by a Spanish Franciscan sister who lives down the street from me in Santa Rosa.

The diocese has a prison ministry, headed by a woman in Santa Rosa – unpaid, of course. But there is also a prison ministry within the prison. They have a choir and did all the readings for the Mass. I think they even are forming a base community there.

Each month a parish visits the prison – Matthew 25: 36 in action. A priest from the parish says Mass and the parish provides a meal for all those in prison!

Today was Dulce Nombre’s turn. Padre German came and celebrated Mass with those in prison and the visitors from the parish. A music group, Mensajeros de Amor – Messengers of Love -  came from the village of Oromilaca – a group that sings Christian ranchero music. They are quite good.

The parish brought tortillas, rice with chicken, a drink, and a banana for every one in the prison. Some women worked since last night to prepare the food. People from all the villages contributed about $25 per village for the costs. The poor provided for the poor.

Padre German gave a rousing, 17 minute homily – really speaking to everyone and encouraging those in prison to use the time as one for renewing their lives. (I had jokingly told him, before entering the prison that he shouldn’t speak more than 15 minutes. He told me that Guatemalans say that people are attentive to a 10 minute homily but with a 15 minute sermon the butt goes to sleep.)

After Mass and a few rollicking songs from Mensajeros de Amor, Padre German and others went to the smaller women’s section of the jail. The women had not been allowed to go to the Mass in the men’s section. Padre spoke, the Mensajeros de Amor sang, and they prayed. Padre German promised to come back for a prayer with the women and possibly a Mass.

He was a bit upset that the women had not had a chance to go to Mass. Another case of marginalization, he quietly said to me.

It was a moving experience, particularly during Mass when I looked at the mural on the wall of Jesus with men behind bars. The men, muscled and tattooed, were there beside Jesus.

During Mass, Padre German asked is this image looking in or looking out. He assured the men that Jesus was there with them. He talked about their situation but urged them to be really free – undeterred by the situation of imprisonment, free in their hearts.

He urged them to solidarity, to living good lives.

I left before everything was over, moved again by the suffering of the people here, but even more by the solidarity of the people from the parish who came to visit the imprisoned.

On a wall in the women’s section of the prison I saw a poster which read – deprived of liberty, but not of dignity.

I saw some of that today.

Transforming conflict and prison ministries

Almost two months  ago, I was asked by Argentina, who coordinates the Santa Rosa prison ministry, to do a presentation on conflict for a regional prison ministry meeting which would include people from the north coast and our diocese.

I have been doing a few workshops on the topic, partly based on the workshops I’ve received from Caritas Honduras using the materials developed in  Colombia and other places in conjunction with John Paul Lederach.  I also try to incorporate what I’ve learned from the Alternative to Violence Program here as well as from nonviolence training I received in the US years ago.

The theme of the meeting was dealing with conflict. Their theme was “Prison ministries constructing justice and peace, avoiding conflicts.” 

Santa Rosa bishop, Monseñor Darwin Andino, sharing closing remarks

I, however, noted that the challenge is not to avoid conflicts – since conflicts are inevitable; nor is it to resolve conflicts – because resolved conflicts at times leave the underlying conflicts unresolved and new conflicts arise, rooted in the underlying problems. The real challenge is to transform conflicts, seeking to craft a new situation in the face of conflicts.

The workshop went well, better than I had hoped. But it was a humbling experience.

I was going to work with about 60 people who work in the prisons here, some of them former prisoners. Among them was San Pedro Sula auxiliary bishop Romulo Emiliani. At the end of March this year he was the major force to resolve a major conflict that started violently at the San Pedro Sula jail.

At the end of the meeting, Monseñor Emiliani spoke a bit about his role in that conflict. What most impressed me is his courage, his willingness to risk his own life, for others. Three times, he said, he moved into a situation where he could have been killed. But his faith and his dedication to prisoners gave him the courage to proceed forward.

Monseñor Romulo Emiliani

Would there were more people like Monseñor Emiliani.