Back in Honduras

As some of you may know, there is some political unrest in Honduras right now. On Sunday morning, President Mel Zelaya was arrested and removed from the country. Under current law, President Zelaya would not be allowed to run for re-election when his four-year term would come to completion in January 2010; however, recently he pledged to carry out a referendum, planned for last Sunday, which would have asked voters to add a measure on the ballot in November- which would permit a committee to form that would be able to adjust current Honduran law so that President Zelaya could run for another term. The Honduras Supreme Court, Congress, and military leaders were all in agreement that the poll would be illegal according to the Constitution, but President Zelaya continued his promise to complete the referendum. Since he was arrested, the referendum vote was not carried through.

Something to note- this wasn't really a military coup (as the media portrays it). The military was following orders, removed Mel, and the political figure next in line to become President became President (Roberto Micheletti, the Speaker of Congress). In a military coup, the military are overthrowing the government and taking over the country/rule. However, the way they removed Mel from his Presidency wasn't necessarily the correct method.

You may be wondering how life has been impacted here. In general things are very peaceful and calm. People are staying in their homes and avoiding any unnecessary reasons to go out. Before I came back to Honduras, I talked with a few people to get their perspectives regarding the situation. Both assured me it would be fine to fly back to Honduras, and when I did come back, I found that to be the case. A few comments:

- When I arrived to the airport, the only difference I noticed was that Arturo had to wait outside of the airport building for me. And he told me the airport limited one family member/friend to pick up someone (like me) arriving to the airport and enter the parking lot.
- In Nueva Suyapa everything is normal other than the fact that the current state of the government is a big topic of conversation. Most of the activity is downtown. Tuesday afternoon I had intended to run an errand downtown, but with the current state of things decided it would be better to do it a different day since there was a rally (nonviolent) going on downtown that afternoon.
- There is an evening curfew for 10pm; it's an attempt to keep the streets clear of people during the evening hours and keep rowdiness away. In my opinion, not a bad idea.
- The public schools have not had classes all week; however, the private schools (including SCM’s El Verbo) resumed classes on Tuesday.

Mel tried to come back to Honduras yesterday; however, they had the runway blocked, so he wasn’t able to land. I haven’t checked the news yet this morning, so I’m not exactly sure what the current status is of things. There has been a lot of talks/decisions about specific international aid being removed from Honduras due to the current situation, so that will affect the life of Hondurans as well.

I’ve been learning a lot through this process about Mel, new Spanish words (as always!), the perspective of Hondurans, and how the world is reacting. Please continue to pray for a peaceful resolution in Honduras!