Honduras elections: first thoughts

I am heading out early this Monday morning for a get together of the catechists and children in one of the most distant parts of the parish. Before I go, I want to write a few reflections on yesterday’s elections here in Honduras.

Yesterday Honduras held its elections. The participation was higher than expected. The Supreme Electoral Tribunal (TSE) extended voting for an extra hour.

 

Politicking near a polling station in Santa Rosa

There were some problems in various parts of the country but from what I’ve read and heard not a lot of vote tampering or dirty tricks during the voting process.

There were a few efforts to intimidate observers or prevent them from observing,  even those with TSE credentials.

There seem to have been a few more problems when the polls were closed and the counting began. It’s supposed to be an open process, but in a few places measures were taken that excluded people, including accredited observers.

The first results were released about 8:15 pm, with 24% of the votes counted by the TSE:

1) Juan Orlando Hernández= 249,660 votes (34.97%),
2) Xiomara Castro de Zelaya = 202,501 votes (28.36%)
3) Mauricio Villeda = 149,254 votes (20.9%)
4) Salvador Nasralla = 107, 563 votes (15.07%)

The problem: both Juan Orlando Hernández and Xiomara Castro had claimed the presidency.

At 12:22 AM The TSE announced that 54 percent of the tallies had been counted, Juan Orlando Hernandez with 34.27 percent of the vote, and Xiomara Castro 29.67 percent. (No, I didn't stay up that late; I just read the report this morning.)

Already I am reading people who are declaring it a fraud. Others are saying that the official reports from many of the polling places here Xiomara won have not been reported by the TSE – some saying it was deliberate.

A US friend of mine who was an international observer in Tegucigalpa maintains that Juan Orlando Hernández was losing in almost every one of the voting places  where she and about 180 others were observers. I am especially curious about where his support comes from.

The next few days will be tense. Keep us in your prayers.

One thing seemed clear – the two party monopoly has been broken. For more than one hundred years power had been shared alternately between the National Party and the Liberal Party. People also voted for parties – not for candidates. You were a blue or a red – as usually were your parents. You didn’t necessarily know its policies, but you were connected to them. Part of this was the way the parties exerted control and gave out incentives – from jobs to bags of cement.

Last night I was able to connect by internet with Radio Progresso, a project of the Honduran Jesuit’s social project. I was impressed by their professional coverage. Their position is very definitely leaning to the Resistance. During a break one of the songs they played was related to the Resistance movement that grew up after the 2009 coup.

Their director, Father Ismael Moreno, Padre Melo, is a great commentator. But what struck me was his call for respect for the TSE, even if you disagree with the results.

But Juan Orlando Hernández cannot govern alone if he really wins – even with his party. There will be a need for taking other parties into account.

I will continue to comment when I get back to having internet connections.

Honduran elections on Sunday

Honduras has one law about the elections that I really like. For several days before the elections no political propaganda is permitted. No marches, no cars with megaphones – an electoral silence.

Tomorrow and Sunday large public gatherings are not permitted. The Dulce Nombre parish had to cancel its usual Christ the King Sunday parish-wide Mass.

This weekend sale of alcohol is prohibited.

That doesn’t mean that there might not be conflicts. There are already groups warning about corruption, bought votes, and other electoral shenanigans.

In the past the two major political parties – the Liberales (red) and the Nacionalistas (blue) have pretty much monopolized the elections, passing the presidency between them for more than 100 years (when the military had not manufactured a coup and put their allies in power).

There are several small parties that have often allied themselves in Congress with one or the other of the traditional parties.

This year there is a difference.

There are several new parties, with the most prominent being the Anti-Corruption Party and LIBRE.

A former sportscaster, Salvador Nasralla, started the Anti-Corruption Party which has had some significant support.

But the real new party is LIBRE. After the 2009 coup that overthrew and forcibly removed President Mel Zelaya from the country a Resistance movement emerged with support from a wide range of people, not just the traditional left. A new political party was formed by parts of the Resistance and took the name LIBRE – Libertad y Refundación: Liberty and Refoundation. The wife of Zelaya, Xiomara Castro, was chosen as their candidate.

These two parties have brought something new into the elections.

Mauricio Villeda, the Liberal Party candidate, is probably the one who is most affected. He is generally running behind LIBRE and the National Party. Some believe that the National Party, though maintaining support for congressional and mayoral candidates, is in deep trouble.

The National Party candidate, Juan Orlando Hernández, who was president of the National Congress, is running with a strong emphasis on security (in the face of massive violence throughout the country, especially in the two largest cities, San Pedro Sula and Tegucigalpa). He is in a statistical tie with Xiomara Castro, LIBRE’s candidate.

LIBRE’s support is somewhat surprising but I don’t know if it has enough to win the presidency. In addition, there is a bit of mud-slinging against LIBRE - both here and in the international press.

What will be interesting is to see the results of the mayoral and congressional races. My guess is that that will be a real mix of successful candidates.

My guess is that whoever wins the presidency, Congress will be divided and there may not be a real majority party in Congress. So there may very well be back-room deals to determine the president of Congress.

Now, all I can do is pray and wait.

Monday will be another story.

Organic agriculture workshop

Yesterday I went with some Caritas employees who work in a project in La Labor, Ocotepeque, to protect the Güisayote Natural Reserve which is a major watershed for Honduras, as well as El Salvador and Guatemala.

Earlier this year the donor, CORDAID of the Netherlands, added a component to encourage organic agriculture for those who live or work the land which is at the nucleus of the reserve. A young man with university training in agriculture is working with them.

This was one of several workshops Rafael has led and had twenty-three people from three different villages. What impressed me was the participation of a varied group of people – from some adolescents to older men and women. I think there were also more women than men present. One community, Llano Largo, couldn’t bring all the people involved in their project. It was great to see the enthusiasm of the participants.

This session was focused mostly on the use of micro-organisms for fertilizer, pesticides, and more.

Some photos follow. More can be found in this set on my Flickr site.

In a field in Pashapa

Rafael explaining how they would test soil for types of fungi 

Preparing a jar for the soil test 

Preparing the barrel for the wet mixture

Mashing garlic for the wet mixture

Adding vinegar

Taking notes 

Taking notes

Adding alcohol brought on a few laughs

The "salad" mixture (chile peppers, aromatic leaves, garlic, vinegar, alcohol)

Adding water

Preparing the dry mixture

The barrels set aside to ferment

Another busy week in the Dulce Nombre parish

This past week I’ve been in the parish four days.

Two days I was finishing up the series of workshops for catechists. This session we had 93 participants in the four workshops in different zones of the parish.

Catechists' training in Dulce Nombre

Friday was the pastoral council meeting which lasted into the afternoon. A lot of things need to be discussed – including the upcoming parish assembly, December 6-7, when we do evaluation and planning for the coming year. We also clarified the two “lineas de acción” for the parish for next year:

• formation at all levels in a spirituality that is rooted in the Eucharist, the sacraments and solidarity (formación en todos los niveles en una espiritualidad eucarística, sacramental y solidaria)
• evangelization and mission as essential elements of our Catholic identity (evangelización y misión como elementos esenciales de nuestra identidad católica)

This will be very interesting. In my evaluation meetings with the councils of three of the zones of the parish, I found a real yearning for formation. That, of course, will entail more work for Padre German and me. I also think we need to think about setting up formation teams in each of the zones. That will be a more challenging task as we seek people who can really teach in a way that uses a popular and participative methodology (one of the concerns of Padre German).

Santiago

Sunday I went out with Padre German to two rural villages for Mass. I drove – to give him a rest (and to test out the "new" car, which I’ve named “Santiago” – recalling the Camino to the sanctuary of Santiago, Saint James, in Campostela, in northwest Spain.)

At Quebraditas he gave a long (35 minute) homily that was quite pointed, especially in regard to the situation of the country and the upcoming elections. When we were going to the other village, El Zapote de Santa Rosa, he asked me to give a reflection. I only spoke about 12 minutes.

Communion in El Zapote

This week the priests have a diocesan assembly and so I won't be out in the parish until later this week.

Also there is a period of silence for the political campaigns. Next Sunday, which happens to be the feast of Christ the King, Honduras will hold elections in more than 16000 5,000 voting places. Because of this the parish will not hold its usual all-parish Mass for the feast of Christ the King.

I mentioned in my reflection that the elections fall on the fest of Christ the King, partly to remind the people that in the face of fears and promises that have been bandied about during the political campaigns, we need to remember, as Christians, that the political parties don’t offer salvation, that only Christ is the true King.

We especially need to remember that we need to judge political candidates and public policies in the light of the Kingdom of God – a Kingdom of love, of justice, of peace, of life.

For my readers who are believers, I ask prayers for Honduras as we face serious challenges. May the elections offer us a few signs of hope, that the reign of fear and violence may start to be replaced by a reign of justice and solidarity.

Confirmations in Dulce Nombre

Today Bishop Darwin Andino came to Dulce Nombre for 144 confirmations of youth and adults from all parts of the parish.

It was great to see so many people there – catechists I had worked with, some young people, and other people who knew me (though  I cannot remember their names.)

It was also a delight to see two catechists being confirmed as well as the daughter of the parish cook.

Photos follow.

Padre German Navarro and Monseñor Darwin Andino

Opening procession of the confirmation Mass

The light of Christ

Monseñor Andino confirming Erasmo, a catechist 

Confirmation candidates from El Limon

Ronal, artist and musician, before the mural he painted

More photos from the Confirmation Mass can be found here.