Ecumenical leaders bring concerns about Honduras to Washington
Noemi Madrid de Espinoza, vice-moderator of the Commission of the Churches on International Affairs
An international ecumenical delegation has urged stronger action against human rights abuses in Honduras at a meeting with the general secretary of the Organization of American States (OAS) and representatives of the U.S. State Department in Washington, D.C., 22-23 October.
"The churches' concern is to overcome social polarization and violence in order to achieve reconciliation", said Noemi Madrid de Espinoza, president of the Theological Community of Honduras and a member of the delegation. "For that to happen a just political solution based on the respect for human rights is needed", added Espinoza, who is vice-moderator of the Commission of the Churches on International Affairs of the World Council of Churches.
Reports from Pax Christi International and an OAS delegation that visited Honduras this month reveal wide-spread abuses including intimidation, beatings and rape by government security forces since the June 28 coup that overthrew President Manuel Zelaya.
"My concern is that the U.S. churches have not paid enough attention to the situation in Honduras, when, in fact, the coup against a democratically elected government is a threat to the stability of Latin America as a whole," said the Rev. Dr Michael Kinnamon, general secretary of the National Council of Churches USA and a member of the delegation.
Kinnamon praised the Obama administration for suspending military and most economic aid to Honduras, "but more attention to the situation is warranted."
Bishop (emeritus) Aldo Etchegoyen, from the Evangelical Methodist Church of Argentina and a member of the delegation, stressed: "This is the time for President Barack Obama to continue showing the necessary leadership for the restoration of democracy in Honduras."
Other members of the delegation included the Rev. Dr Bernice Powell Jackson, WCC president from North America; the Rev. Christopher Ferguson, WCC representative to the United Nations; and Michael Neuroth, policy advocate on International Issues, Justice and Witness Ministries of the United Church of Christ.
The delegation's 22-23 October high-level meetings in Washington follow two delegations to Honduras this summer: a WCC "Living Letters" team that met with church and civil society groups in early August, and a Latin American Council of Churches led pastoral visit in late September. Both visits strongly urged the return of President Manuel Zelaya in order to hold free and legal elections within the country's constitutional framework.
On 28 June a coup d’état by military and civilian actors sent President Zelaya into exile. Roberto Micheletti, the speaker of Congress and second in line to the presidency, was sworn in as interim leader. The coup took place in the context of a power struggle over President Zelaya's plans for constitutional change, which had been rejected by the Supreme Court and the Congress and spurred concerns about democratic rule across Latin America. On September, President Zelaya re-entered the country and took refuge in the Brazilian embassy in the capital Tegucigalpa.
National Council of Churches USA
Ecumenical team encourages Honduran churches to stand by the people
