I always stayed up later and woke up earlier than I wanted to, but such has been my fate for many years now.
That day saw us meeting in the hotel’s conference room with 2 journalists: Dina Meza and Jairo López. Dina had to take off early, so she only spoke briefly.
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| Dina Meza and Lisa |
She addressed the state’s attempts to stifle free speech. In the capital, the press follows the official government line. Self-censorship is most journalists’ method of self-preservation. But alternative media have sprung up to counter the mainstream narrative.
In response, the government monitors these alternative outlets. They’ve also come under physical attack, with 75 journalists killed since the 2009 coup that deposed the democratically-elected president, Manuel Zelaya. (The Obama Administration endorsed his ouster after the fact.) They believe these attacks have been directed by the Ministry of Security or the President himself.
Dina helped found the Association for Democracy and Human Rights (ASOPODEHU), which provides legal assistance and self-defense and security training to journalists. They also monitor international treaties and pacts that Honduras has signed regarding freedom of expression, which it has violated. Pasos de Animal Grande is their online newspaper.
After Dina left, Jairo told his story. Until recently, he hosted a TV show called El Informador (“The Informer”), but he can no longer broadcast because no one will rent him a time slot. The government forbade advertising from being sold to run during his program.
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| Us with Jairo and his wife |
This is thought to be retaliation for Jairo’s coverage of protests against JOH’s dubious reelection and other examples of government corruption. He exposed the scandal of teaching jobs being sold instead of being given to candidates based on merit. He also revealed the phenomenon of “ghost jobs,” no-show jobs given to the well-connected.
Jairo and his family have received threats against their safety. As a result, he has been placed under the “protection mechanism.” This is an Organization of American States (OAS) program that charges the Honduran government with providing around-the-clock security to individuals considered to be at high risk, mostly journalists and human rights defenders.
But the police providing this security were the same ones harassing him, so it was small comfort. As a “precautionary measure,” the government has prohibited him from leaving the country.
European organizations have offered to get Jairo out of Honduras, but they’re either unable or unwilling to do the same for his wife and daughter. His wife was with him. They got more emotional as the meeting wore on, though she remained quiet. He mentioned that the extreme stress of their situation has caused her and their daughter health problems.
He’d been brought up on charges. While awaiting trial, he had to check in at a courthouse far away twice a month.
Moved by the obvious torment Jairo and his family were going through, I promised to contact Ilhan Omar on their behalf. She’s my Congressmember and, as luck would have it, a recent WFP delegate to Honduras.
It was my last chance to make a face-to-face emotional connection with a WFP partner in Honduras, and their emotional distress compelled me to act. Also, by making a promise right to their faces, I hoped it would force me to follow through. But it had another effect as well: I began to feel personally responsible for their safety.
Thus ended the partner meetings. In the afternoon, we had a debriefing. Corie and Ale took us through some more issues in Honduras. There was hope that the Misión de Apoyo Contra Corrupción y Impunidad en Honduras (MACCIH), an OAS commission, could fulfill its mission of fighting corruption and impunity in Honduras.
A similar commission in Guatemala had resulted in the president being forced out. (Update: The MACCIH’s mandate expired after 4 years with little to show for their work.)
To demonstrate the corruption and impunity in Honduras, they discussed the elite Atala family, which is involved in the bank that funded Berta Cáceres’s murder. Penal courts are used to silence critics of the elite through defamation charges and convictions.
The newly-created crime of “illicit association,” which was meant to target organized crime, is being used against dissidents, like the political prisoners Edwin Espinal and Raúl Álvarez in La Tolva prison.
We formulated our Action Plan up on the 4th floor open-air lounge. Our dreams were big, but that was encouraged, so as not to arbitrarily limit our ambitions. Meredith and Ellen wanted to do a podcast series about the delegation. Lisa wanted to go on Democracy Now! I wanted to blog about it (like I did with Oaxaca) and give presentations around the Twin Cities.
I also offered to contact my favorite podcast, Chapo Trap House, with the long-shot hope of getting an interview or at least a shout-out. Originally, I assumed I would be the interviewee, but then I realized Corie or Ale would make more sense in that role. (Update: There’s been no response to my 2 emails. I should probably try a few more times.)
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| Lisa |
This was followed with a final reflections session. Not surprisingly, a few tears shed were shed. Unfortunately, I couldn’t quite contribute to the pool. I may have gotten a little misty, but that was about it.
I thanked Corie and Ale for all their hard work, giving them “mad fuckin’ props” for reorganizing the itinerary on the fly. It’s pretty amazing what they did, given all the emotional weight of the work and their youth. It took me years after college to learn the truth about the American Empire. I’m still working on the emotional resilience.
That night, dinner was followed by a party in the lounge. Our Closing Ceremony Committee read a list of 10 lessons from the trip, some silly, some serious. ("1. Be bad because the world is going down. 2. Appreciate and protect the water you have.") Then we dug into the alcohol and food. Raúl showed up, as did Eduardo García from the previous day’s press conference.
I tried not to be a wallflower, but I kept falling into the cracks between conversations. The music playlist was compiled by Emily. I’d submitted a list of requests at dinner that night, but it hadn’t occurred to me to include any Latin music.
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| Ellen, Meg and Betty |
Everything on the playlist seemed to be recent Latin American pop. After a while, Emily played one of my choices, “Feel Good, Inc.” by Gorillaz. It came out in 2004, when I was 26, back when I was still hip and up on the latest in music and fashion (as I recall).
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| Lisa and Meredith |
Emily and Diana liked that song, and I couldn’t help but "get down," which seriously cracked them up. Apparently, my dance moves haven’t aged well (if they were ever that good to begin with).
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| Diana, Emily and I |
I guess I could see it as a point of pride, like when I made Q’orianka Kilcher laugh with my dancing at the CodePink party following the big anti-Iraq War march in DC in ’07. But back then it was intentional comedy, so, yeah...
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| Ellen and Ale |
Diana was dancing, but she was usually the only one. The rest of us weren't as confident in our moves. Ellen struggled to open a wine bottle. Eventually, they found a corkscrew. There were many strawberries and other goodies to feast upon.
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| Corie and Ellen |
I went to my room around 10, not bothering to bid adieu. It was a classic “Irish Goodbye,” but I was too sad. I couldn’t handle goodbye’s right then. My fear of crying in public, especially in the middle of a party, was stronger than my fear of hurting their feelings.
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| Raúl and Meredith |
I lay on the bed and stewed in regret while watching a Pixies video marathon on VH1 (which, under normal circumstances, would’ve been awesome). After an hour-and-a-half, I returned to the festivities to try and tie up the loose ends.
There were a few people still chatting. I said I didn’t wanna leave with an Irish Goodbye, and Corie seemed very amused by that. (She, like me, is of Irish descent.)
I took off again at midnight or just before, saying my good night’s. Somebody gave me a hug. It must’ve been Meg. (They were the big hugger in the group.) I went back to my room and took a while to get to sleep.
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