Amid Government Human Rights Abuses in Honduras, Jesuits Speak Out

Jesuit Community of Honduras speaks out about the situation in the country

Blessed are you when people hate you, and when they exclude you, revile you, and defame you on account of the Son of Man. (Luke 6, 22).

Given the critical situation that the Honduran people are suffering, as well as the loss of legitimacy that the various institutions of the country are experiencing, the apostolic works entrusted to the Jesuits of Honduras express our concern: 

1. We deplore the social and political crisis experienced by the Honduran population as a result of the historic violation of fundamental rights and the deterioration of the rule of law, which are a result of the erratic and corrupt practices of politicians and decision-makers in the public administration. 
2. We stand in solidarity with the victims of systematic repression by the various armed groups and security forces in their mandate to repress the social protests led by various sectors of the population demanding justice and respect for their fundamental rights and rejecting the government policies of privatization of public goods and services. This indiscriminate repression has left dozens of people injured and some dead, including: Luis Antonio Maldonado; Erick Francisco Peralta; and the teenager Eblin Noel Corea. We extend our sympathy in solidarity to their families and our commitment, coming from our faith, to the search for justice. 
3. We warn, call attention to and denounce the high risk to which the Honduran population are exposed when they take to the streets to exercise their right to peaceful protest, when the National Council for Defense and Security, under the command of Mr. Juan Orlando Hernández, authorizes and sends the military and police forces to indiscriminately repress the protests of a population that demands justice, respect for the rule of law and the constitutionality of the country. This was most evident in the violation of university autonomy, when a squadron of the military police broke into the University City facilities, leaving at least four students injured. 
4. There has been a propaganda campaign filled with lies and manipulation to discredit defenders of human and environmental rights. Publicizing the profiles of people identified as leaders of the protests has the intention of criminalizing them and sets the context to justify repressive actions and judicial procedures against these persons. Those listed include Fr. Ismael Moreno (Padre Melo), SJ, director of the Reflection, Research and Communication Team and Radio Progreso (ERIC-RP); and Leonel George and Juan López, delegates of the Word of God of the San Isidro Labrador de Tocoa Parish, who are falsely accused of leading an armed gang that confront the police and other accusations that only seek to discredit their struggle for social justice and create conditions that would justify actions against them. 
5. We highlight and concur with the last message of the Episcopal Conference of Honduras (CEH), based on analysis, reflection and prayer concerning the roots and consequences of the current crisis in Honduras. Any effort to “correct the path of Honduras” must go through the “recovery of ethical values” and overcome the “moral decadence into which the country is falling.” The country yearns for a just society with just laws, “in accordance with the dignity of the human person and seeking the common good,” capable of dialogue because there is confidence in state institutions, with a healthy political ethic in which truth is both the goal and the starting point. A society that does not militarize security and state institutions. 
6. We fully adopt the call of the CEH: “We call on the whole society that, starting from the reality in which each person and group lives, we join the search for ways to solve these problems in Honduras. This can come through accords, agreements, reforms, platforms, a referendum, citizens’ initiative laws, etc. Change for the better is possible. Let us commit ourselves to working to achieve it in solidarity.”