 |
| Honduras Solidarity Network press conference |
We had a press conference at 11am to present our findings along with a delegation from Canada. Three speakers sat at a table: Corie representing Witness for Peace, Eduardo García of Alliance for Global Justice and Victoria Cervantes of La Voz de Los de Abajo. Those 3 organizations fall under the umbrella of the Honduras Solidarity Network.
We stood behind them in our WFP vests, as did the members of the Canadian delegation, wearing lanyards. Victoria read a statement detailing the violence and repression carried out by President Juan Orlando Hernández’s (or “JOH”) government since what she called the “fraudulent” election of 2017.
Protests erupted across the country following that vote, as the result seemed to have been rigged by the president. “Fuera JOH” (“Go away, JOH”) was a common graffito on our travels. The government violently repressed those protests and imprisoned many.
Victoria expressed the Honduras Solidarity Network’s support for the Berta Cáceres Act. This is a bill in the US Congress that would suspend US security aid to Honduras until the perpetrators of the violence against protesters during the post-electoral crisis are brought to justice.
They read the English version of the statement first, but only a few reporters were around for that and the TV cameras were still being set up. By the time the Spanish version started, the cameras were on and the press was there in force. The speakers took questions following the statement.
After the presser, we chatted with the group from Toronto, who had gone to visit 2 of the 3 political prisoners remaining from the protests that followed the 2017 election. Their names were Edwin Espinal and Raúl Álvarez. They were being held at the maximum-security La Tolva prison, 25 miles east of Tegucigalpa.
To her great amusement, Corie was interviewed by a reporter from a trashy TV show. She wondered if the footage would make it onto that day’s episode. The press conference was followed by a simple lunch for the attendees.
Thence we drove to Comayagüela, Téguz’s twin city, where most of the working and middle-class folks live. We were actually early for our next meeting, so we stopped at an indoor market with clothes, straw hats and other touristy wares for sale.
That’s where Diana was (mildly) attacked by a man through the window. I was walking near her when it happened. I heard what I thought was a cat screech. I asked her what it was. She said a guy had reached through the window and grabbed her leg and made that inhuman sound. The sidewalk along the street behind the building was 3-4 feet below the floor, putting his arm at the same height as her legs.
She was startled but amused. I was a bit horrified. This is what Capitalism does to people: We’re turned into animals.
Three kids in single digits(?), 2 boys and a younger girl, were watching the Cartoon Network in Spanish on a little TV. The animated program was Teen Titans Go!, one of the few TV shows of the past decade that I’ve actually watched enough to become a fan of.
Corie was sitting in a chair by the little snack stand. There were some tents over the plastic tables and chairs, even though it was inside.
Outside, Carlos had locked the keys in the bus, which extended our stay at the market. There were some men sticking a long wire in the driver’s-side window. They climbed up on top of the cab, maybe trying to get in through the emergency hatch? It took a while, but they got it, and Carlos finally had a reason to be embarrassed. (Until this miscue, his job performance had been above reproach.)
We drove nearby to Arcoíris (“Rainbow”), a shelter for LGBT people, where we had stopped before the market, but no one was there at the time. So, instead of being early, we were late, even by Latin American standards. This time we went up to the 2nd floor lounge.
It was stuffy inside, but I managed to stay awake despite the heat and my fatigue. To be honest, I was uncomfortable with the muñecas (“transgender people”) and lesbians there. I resented having to focus on their problems when there were so many bigger issues afflicting almost everyone, primarily of the economic and geopolitical varieties. But I was ashamed of my reaction and tried to empathize.
The issues they focus on are health care, employment and education. It’s difficult for LGBT people to access all three. Homophobia and transphobia are common among health care workers. Discriminatory hiring practices are the norm, and many schools won’t accept homosexuals or trans people.
Religious fundamentalism is fueled by the media, leading many LGBT kids to be kicked out of their homes. This leaves them vulnerable to violence and exploitation on the streets. But the primary source of violence against their community is the police. They have no legal protection from discrimination.
Many feminists exclude lesbians and trans women from their movement. TERF’s (Trans-Exclusionary Radical Feminists) have caused a rift between the LGBT community and feminists.
For those trans people who attempt an identity change, economic hurdles come up that can prevent access to bank accounts, housing and even buying appliances.
Arcoíris’s current policy campaign is for marriage equality. They’re also lobbying to make May 17th a “Day against Homo-, Trans- and Lesbophobia.”
Following the meeting, we exchanged hugs. One person offered me their hand for a handshake, but I smiled and hugged them instead. A handshake would’ve seemed woefully inadequate.
We finished the visit by going to the roof and taking some group shots as the sun sank toward the horizon. On the bus, we had a mini-reflections session. A full-sized version happened in the evening.
Dinner followed at Cadetur. The hotel’s dining room was also a carport with a soaking pool. (It wasn’t big enough to be a swimming pool.) That may sound kinda trashy, but it was actually quite nice. I never noticed the car exhaust.
The Canadian group from that day’s presser was also staying at Cadetur. I saw them a few times meeting in the lobby or in the dining room, but we didn’t chat much.
That night Honduran VH1 had a marathon of AC/DC videos. Great band, not great videos.
I’d gotten toothpaste a few days earlier after going the first few days without. It was Colgate, but the baking soda in it was extremely abrasive. Some of it had dried onto the back of the toothbrush head and irritated my lips. I thought it was a cheap, Third-World version. Or is all Colgate baking soda toothpaste like that?
It reminded me how the Triscuits and Better Cheddars crackers I got at a grocery store in Beloit, WI, during college didn’t taste as good as the ones back home. I thought maybe those companies sent inferior products to Beloit because it was a poor city.
In my bathroom, there was a heater or something built into the shower head with exposed wires sticking out. Emily had mentioned that the same was true in her and Diana’s room. This convinced her not to turn up the water temperature for fear of being electrocuted.
I hadn’t had any trouble when I cranked up the water temp the first night, so I figured it was OK. (Spoiler alert: This may sound like foreshadowing, but I never got electrocuted.)
No comments:
Post a Comment