Update on Political Instability in Honduras

Concerned about the current political unrest in Honduras, I sent out an email to many of my friends just a few hours away from me, across the Guatemalan border. So far, I’ve gotten two responses…

The following response was sent to me via Blackberry from a friend who lives in Tegucigalpa, where the coup took place. I will leave the comment anonymous because this friend is rather high-profile and her comment is rather politically-sensitive:

Thank you so much Laura. We are all ok. Happy having that man out of our country and now only hoping that Chavez won’t invade our country as he threatened to do on TV.

The next response is from Mary. She is a missionary in Copan Ruinas, Honduras whose work I’ve written about in several articles on both my blog and on clients’ blogs. Mary was quick to respond with an update and reports that, for now, everything seems to be “okay.”

Dear Laura,

Thank you so much for your prayers for Honduras and all of us. Praise the Lord, everything in Copan Ruinas is fine as of now. This morning was a little crazy when the electricity went off and there were no national news on TV or radio. However, we quickly found out that it was not a nationwide blackout. However, part so San Pedro Sula had electricity as well as La Ceiba. So, it probably was one of our “normal” Sunday’s without electricity. It came back on around 2:00 this afternoon.

This problem has been brewing for a very long time. We knew it was getting bad when a few weeks ago the Catholic church spoke out against the president. The Evangelical church had already voiced its feelings against him. Last week he fired the top military commander when he refused to support the election that was suppose to take place today, which was an illegal act on the president’s part. The congress reinstated the commander and then things really started to move very quickly. So, sometime last night the military arrested the president and in the early morning hours he was transported to San Jose, Costa Rica. Shortly after noon today the congress met and with 100% vote elected the president of congress to be the new President of Honduras.

The streets in Copan Ruinas were like any other day, no additional military or police presence, no marches, no protests, etc. There were groups of people in Tegucigalpa but we are not aware of any violence that occurred today. I am not saying to come because the American Embassy issued a statement tonight saying to not travel to Honduras unless it is an emergency. To my knowledge, TACA is the only airline that has suspended flights. All American based airlines are still flying.

Since we do not have any missionaries in Tegucigalpa, I cannot say for sure what the feeling is there. However, the missionaries in San Pedro Sula and La Ceiba say that things were calm there today. No protests or violence. Tonight the new president asked that the public return to work tomorrow, schools to have classes tomorrow, and people return to their normal activities tomorrow. We really don’t know what we will hear in the morning.

We have to continue praying for the leadership of Honduras and that the Lord will guide them, give them wisdom, and that they are working for the well being of Honduras, not for personal gain. Please pray for us this week. We have a youth team from Parkwood Baptist Church in Gastonia, NC, that will be working in several villages or that is the plan. Pray with us that we will complete the task that the Lord has for them this week and for every one’s safety.

Blessings,
Mary

I’m supposed to head to Guatemala later this week both to celebrate a friend’s birthday and to do some work in photography. I’ll be watching the situation to see whether it would be prudent or not for me to go. I must say, as a journalist, I’m quite interested in getting closer to the story…

Check out the story on Youtube from Al Jazeera:

Click here to read an article about the situation from The New York Times.

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