Keeping up

I have been a bit remiss in keeping up with the blog this month.

The month began with two catechists workshops. They are almost always a delightful challenge and this time we began the sessions with praying Psalm 23 by having the catechists draw an image from the psalm that touched them.

Then I spent a day with Sister Pat preparing the Alternatives to Violence workshop which we facilitated in the Gracias prison. Another of the Dubuque Franciscan Sister, Sister Mary Beth, joined her here at my house in Plan Grande.

Then I went to the diocesan pastoral assembly where I had the role of secretary. The bishop was there with all the priests who are pastors as well as the parish coordinators (sort of like parish council presidents).

Immediately after the assembly, the bishop came here to the Dulce Nombre parish for three confirmation Masses.

Then it was off to Gracias for the Alternative to Violence workshop. It went well, though there were a few times when we had rather spirited conversations. (Machismo runs deep.)

Last Thursday, Phil Barutha from Saint Thomas Aquinas in Ames arrived and we’ve been rather busy.

The big event, though, was Sunday’s feast of Christ the King.

Over one thousand people came to the town of San Agustín for a procession and Mass.

When we arrived at the starting point of the procession I started to walk through the crowd with Phil so that he could meet a few of the people.

This is one of the things I most enjoy in my ministry here – the chance to just go through a crowd and greet people – shaking hands and greeting babies.

No, I’m not a politician, but the importance of greeting people personally is very important. I learned this at St. Thomas where I found great joy in greeting people in the parish’s gathering space before and after Sunday Masses. It’s there that I met a lot of folks, especially students, who would never attend an event but were faithful to Sunday Mass.

Here I find greeting people important. Honduras is a society that looks down on the poor, that considers them not worth much. Thus is important to greet them, to listen to them, to let their voices be heard.

This week I’ll be taking Phil around to a few places so that he can see more of the parish and report back to the St. Thomas Honduras Ministry Committee.

Then a day free until next Sunday, the first Sunday of Advent, when we will accept about 40 young people as catechumens who, if they persevere, will be baptized at the 2016 Easter Vigil.

Catching up

I have not written for over a week for a number of reasons.

First of all, I took part in the diocesan pastoral assembly from Monday to Thursday as secretary. Trying to keep on top of all that was happening and being said was a challenge – and I did lose my cool a couple of times. But I think the meeting opened the way for the diocese to move forward and be less hindered by the past. I was particularly struck by one of the bishop’s talks where his openness and sharing of his story may have opened up a way.

I returned home on Thursday afternoon but Friday we had confirmations in two places in the Dulce Nombre parish – and there is another Mass of confirmations today. Since I have been working with the catechists and helped them and others prepare the liturgies I have been trying to get there ninety minutes before the Mass to help them make sure that most everything is ready.

Confirmation site in Delicias, Concepción

There were many moving moments in the liturgies, especially in El Zapote de Santa Rosa.

Before Mass I encountered a young woman who is disabled, who has difficulty speaking and cannot walk. I talked with her and her mother and noted that she was very happy to be here for the confirmation. During the Mass I noted, since she sat in the front row, how she sang with great gusto. I was touched by her desire for God.

One young man from Plan Grande who is disabled was unable to participate because his condition worsened and he couldn’t be transported safely to the confirmation site. Though disabled, possibly because of a blow to the head when he was a baby, he had attended all of the religious education for the sacrament.

But there was also the joy I experienced to be able to sponsor a young man here – one whose father, a policeman, was killed a few years ago and who is being raised by his grandparents. I was particularly touched when he came up to hug me at the Greeting of Peace.

Several of those confirmed from Plan Grande with Bishop Darwin Andino

Next week I’ll be in jail again for two days – helping in a workshop on Alternatives to Violence. I’m glad to be able to help out in this since we all need to develop the skills to respond creatively and patiently to conflict.

Then a visitor is coming from Ames.

Life is busy – but blessed.

Violence in Honduras

While in the US last month, many people asked me about violence in Honduras, in particular, where I live. As I tried to answer this question, I began to see that it helps to distinguish different types of violence. The trouble is that we fail to make distinctions and thus call Honduras the most violent country in the world, without distinguishing the types, where they are more likely to occur, and the risks involved in living or visiting here.

I started with five types of violence then added two more, and just this week I decided that there was one more type of violence to add. This is, of course, a completely biased list, based not on research but on my reading and my experiences. Beware, This is a long and biased analysis - but I invite comments so that we can understand what is happening here and change the situation.

In addition, this analysis should not be used to deter people from coming to visit. It sure doesn't deter me from staying here. But looking at the types of violence can help us respond to the injustice as well as to avoid the risk of personal violence.

Types of Violence

Organized crime

Organized crime, including drug dealers, drug smugglers, and smugglers of contraband and arms, are sources of violence, though I believe this violence is limited to certain areas and to targeted persons. There has been violence in certain areas of the north coast related to drug smuggling and conflicts between organized crime families. Close to hone, I remember that a few years ago a congressman was killed in Copán Ruinas, possibly related to organized crime. Most people I know – Hondurans and others – are not seriously threatened by organized crime violence.

     

Gangs

Gangs are a problem in the major cities – especially Tegucigalpa, La Ceiba, and San Pedro Sula, as well as in the prisons.

Several of the gangs in part owe their current existence to the deportation of Hondurans who had fled to the US and joined gangs their. There are fights over territory, extortion, and recruitment of youth that are particularly troublesome and violence, but these are largely confined to a few cities and even certain neighborhoods. If one can avoid these neighborhoods and is careful in the cities, the risk of violence can be minimized. But if one is a poor Honduran living in a big city, trying to eke out an existence, violence and threat of violence can be a serious risk every day. But there has not been a major influx of the gangs in Santa Rosa de Copán or in the municipalities of the parish of Dulce Nombre de María where I serve.

Common crime

In a poor country there are people who are desperate and will rob and assault people. There are also people who seek to make a life through common crime.

These crimes may be accompanied by violence or threats of violence.

There has been at least one assault of an intercity bus recently near La Entrada, Copán. There have also been some robberies of people on isolated rural paths in the area. Santa Rosa has its crime.

But taking precautions about when and where one travels are normal. People warned me of pickpockets in Rome, Italy, as well as in Tegucigalpa.

Vendettas and vengeance

In a country where there is no really active justice system, a number of people will take the law into their own hands. If someone has been killed, there is less than a 9% chance that the killer will be brought to trial. And so, frustrated by the lack of justice, people have taken the law into their own hands.

This sometimes plays out as part of a long history of killings between families or groups of people – going on for generations. A new killing may provoke a series of killings. This has happened in at least two villages in the parish. In one case, it was probably a case of mistaken identity in which the grandfather of the family was killed when the killers sought one of the sons who had been involved in a killing.

In these cases the killings are normally targeted.

The risk for outsiders is minimal. In addition, visitors should avoid places where there is an ongoing inter-family feud where violence has been involved.

As a worker in the church, I find myself called to be careful but also to be present to the people. A few months ago I joined our pastor, Padre German, when he went to say the ninth-day Mass for someone who had been killed, probably as part of a cycle of vengeance.

Sexual jealousy

Occasionally there are feuds, usually between men, over a woman. However, I once saw a woman attack another woman over a man in a restaurant in Santa Rosa.

These again are cases of targeted violence that could happen anywhere and anytime – even in the US. Common sense and carefulness can mitigate any personal risk.

Domestic violence

Violence against women and rape are very serious problems in Honduras. The macho culture and the structures of society that emasculate men contribute to this violence. There are efforts being made by a number of groups to lessen the number of cases of domestic violence, including women’s groups that help to empower women. Santa Rosa de Copán also has a domestic abuse shelter for women and their families, which does have a police officer always present.

I have encountered one severe case of domestic violence. Leaving a village after a church meeting, someone raced after the pickup and asked me to take someone to the hospital. She had been macheteed by her companion. We got her to the hospital where her arm was saved; I learned that she later returned to her family’s village. The man was arrested and jailed, though I don’t know his current status. The police probably came because people called the police and reported it (at my insistence); one of those who called was the wife of one of the mayors in the parish.

I am not so sure that the police are also so willing to make arrests in these and other cases.

“Saturday night” specials

Alcoholism and alcohol abuse are serious problems in Honduras. Drugs can also be found in many places. Drinking or using drugs to excess can lead to fights, sometimes over the smallest things. If a machete or a fire arm is available, serious violence can result. Machetes are dangerous weapons, especially when they are sharpened. Fire arms are all too available. Every once in a while I’ll see someone with a pistol stuck in the waistband of their pants.

These cases of violence are more likely to occur on weekend evenings and in places where liquor is sold. So one should avoid bars and cantinas, especially in the countryside. I would also avoid pool halls, which are often places where lots of alcohol is consumed and sometimes places where prostitutes can be found.

The government passed a law supposedly to try to control this about two years ago that prohibited the sale of liquor, even in stores, between 6 pm Sunday night and about 6 am Monday morning. But I think that many of the problems that lead to violence happen Saturday night.

The violence of the powers that be

The training of the police and the military leads a lot to be desired here. That doesn’t mean that there are not some very good policemen and soldiers.

In addition, there is a military police – or better called a militarized police force – in addition to the regular police.

There are still cases of abuse and violence by the police. This can be seen especially in cases such as a recent dismantlement of a squatter settlement as well as some actions against street demonstrations.

In addition, I would mention the large number of private security personnel, which, I believe, have more persons than the police. In some cases, especially in the north coast where the security forces are “protecting” disputed lands that have been taken over by large landowners. These forces have used violence. I believe that over 100 deaths have occurred in the Aguan Valley in the northeast of the country, mostly of campesinos.

Another serious category of this violence would have to note the ongoing deaths of lawyers and journalists, as well as activists.

There are probably other cases and types of violence which I have overlooked.

Structural Violence

But there is the unseen violence, the structural violence, that keeps people in poverty, that makes real change extremely difficult.

In their 1968 document on poverty, the Conference of Latin American Bishops, gathered in Medellín, Colombia, wrote strongly against what they termed “institutional violence” in their document on peace, ¶16.

If Christianity believes in the productiveness [fecundity] of peace in order to achieve justice, it also believes that justice is an inescapable condition for peace. It doesn’t fail to see that in many parts Latin America finds itself in a situation of injustice that can be called institutionalized violence, when, because of deficiency in  the structures of industry and agriculture, of national and international economy, of cultural and political life, "whole populations lack necessities, live in such dependence as hinders all initiative and responsibility as well as every possibility for cultural promotion and participation in social and political life," thus violating fundamental rights. This situation demands all-embracing, courageous, urgent and profoundly renovating transformations.
(Translation revised by author.)

This was the case in 1968 and it still continues here in Honduras. These structures need to be changed if there is to be any real peace and end to violence and poverty.

Praying for the dead

Today is the feast of All Souls, the Catholic day to remember all those who have died.

The commemoration here in Honduras is subdued. People go to the cemetery, clean the grave of their loved ones, and put flowers on the graves.

In the neighboring village of Candelaria there is a cemetery which serves both Candelaria and Plan Grande. The cemetery is on the top and the side of a hill. We celebrated Mass there this morning.

I had only been there once before – for the burial of Nicolas Sánchez which I wrote about in April 2014 here.

When I arrived there was a small area at the base of the hill prepared for Mass but there were many people walking among the graves. I joined then, praying and talking with them.

I met a woman whose sixteen year old son had died of malnutrition – twenty years ago, but the pain remains.

I talked with a woman whose son was killed by a falling tree about a year ago.

A young man spoke with me about his father who had died when he was eleven years old.

There were all sorts of tombs – small and large above ground tombs, simple slabs of concrete, some which look like drawers. 

Walking among the tombs, I saw several young girls from Plan Grande with baskets of flowers, spreading them over the tombs. They were not honoring any particular person but wanted to bring a bit of beauty.

Mass began with a hymn and then several people read the names of the dead. Gloria broke down after she read her husband’s name but she recovered and read a later part of the  long list.

During the Eucharistic Prayer Padre German asked me to read the list of the dead again, at the point where we remember those who have died. Five long pages.

I also thought of several friends who had died this year – in particular, Mary Sawyer and Father Pat Geary – though I did not mention their names. I also remembered the mother of a friend who had died this year.

After Mass, Jerry whom I will sponsor at his confirmation in a few weeks, invited me to go up to the tomb of his father who had been a policeman and was killed in February 2011. I was moved that he asked to be there to pray with him and to see what he and other family members had brought for the tomb.

Being at the Mass and walking amid the tombs with the people I live among is a great privilege.

Accompanying those who are mourning is part of what it means to be a follower of Jesus who became one of us and listened to the cries and tears of the people.

It is also, I believe, an important part of the ministry of a deacon – if God calls me to be ordained to the permanent diaconate next year.

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More photos here.

Another travel warning on Honduras: more of the same

On October 30, the US State Department released another travel warning for Honduras, available here. I don’t know if it was part of a Halloween attempt to scare people from visiting Honduras, but it is a highly flawed document.

When the last warning was released in March 2015, I wrote a critique, which you can read here. This recent report is significantly shorter but it is still largely a “cut and paste” of previous reports.

One of the most egregious problems with the document is that it seems to treat all of Honduras as being a risky place to travel. Tegucigalpa and San Pedro Sula are very different from Santa Rosa de Copán and Gracias Lempira. Rural municipalities of Dulce Nombre de Copán and Concepción Copán are very different from Choloma and other suburbs of San Pedro Sula and Tegucigalpa.

The first change is interesting. In the previous four warnings, the documents read:

Tens of thousands of U.S. citizens visit Honduras each year for study, tourism, business, and volunteer work without incident.

This is strangely missing.

They also excised the critique of Honduran military and police that appeared in last March’s report:

Members of the Honduran National Police have been arrested, tried, and convicted for criminal activities. Many more are under investigation. As a result, criminals operate with a high degree of impunity throughout Honduras. The Honduran government is still in the early stages of substantial reforms to its criminal justice institutions.

There is thus no report on the so called “substantial reforms” of the Honduran government, which many consider to have been undercut by continuing corruption and efforts of the executive branch to control all the aspects of the government. 

Is the US State Department afraid of offending Honduran officials?

The report continues to mark Honduras as a country with a high murder rate, but note changes:

Since 2010, Honduras has had one of the highest murder rates in the world,...  However, official statistics from the Honduran Observatory on National Violence show Honduras’ homicide rate has decreased to 66 per 100,000 in 2014, down from its peak of 86.5 per 100,000 in 2011, and mid-year estimates in July 2015 predict a lower rate for 2015. 

Then, it continues to repeat that:

U.S. citizens are victims of crime at levels similar to those of the local population.

In a previous paragraph they have added that

the U.S. Embassy has recorded 42 murders of U.S. citizens during the same time period [since2010], with 10 recorded since January 2014

What is missing in this is any substantial indication of where and when these crimes happened or under what circumstances.

There is a statement about carjackings and assaults in isolated areas:

Honduran law enforcement reports frequent highway assaults and carjackings, including remote areas of Choluteca, Olancho, Colon and Copan Departments. 

Reporting indicates that these assaults are frequently executed by criminals posing as Honduran law enforcement.  This criminal activity occurs frequently enough to present security challenges for anyone traveling in remote areas. 

But here again the information is vague. What is a remote area in the department of Copán where I live? There was a bus that was attacked a few months ago on the road between La Entrada and Santa Rosa de Copán, but it was after dark. I have not heard of any other specific cases.

The report also repeats what was noted in the May 2015 report:

Most of Honduras’ major cities (Tegucigalpa, San Pedro Sula, La Ceiba, and others), as well as several Honduran “departments” … have homicide rates higher than the national average for 2014…

The report continues to report that

Since January 2012, four cases of kidnapped U.S. citizens were reported to the U.S. Embassy and the kidnapping victims were all subsequently released after paying ransoms.

These kidnappings were first noted in the June 2013 report; there have thus been no kidnappings for about two and half years. Why this information is given in such an inaccurate manner is beyond my comprehension.

There is, for the first time, note about sexual assault, which is important:

Sexual assault is a concern in Honduras.  Most Honduran local police and medical staff do not have the capacity to properly handle evidence collection and medical care of sexual assault cases.

Those of us who live here know of this and of the violence against women – Honduran women. There may have been sexual assaults against non-Hondurans but the most serious problems are the assaults against Honduran women and the large number of violent deaths of women, what some here call femicide.

But I am again incensed at the outright lie that “U.S. citizens are victims of crime at levels similar to those of the local population.” As I noted in my previous analysis this is completely false for any number of reasons.

I expect more of the US State Department than cutting and pasting and vague generalizations.