Last week there was a disturbing confrontation between university students and police at the gates of the national university (Universidad Nacional Autónoma de Honduras). The police arrived to clear the blocking of Boulevard Suyapa (a new policy - no blocking of roads) outside the gates. When the students retreated into the university the police, in full riot gear, followed and then all h___ broke loose. The students were furious and began throwing rocks, the police retaliated with rubber bullets and tear-gas, the university dean tried to get through the rampage to talk to the police and was thrown to the ground by a policeman. Eventually the students actually drove the police back out the entrance where there was a standoff as they, both students and police, threw rocks at each other. The scenes on TV were eerily reminiscent of Kent State in 1970...... students and police playing cat-n-mouse..... we know how that ended up.
The very next day I had to go to the bank, which would normally take me right past that scene on Blvd Suyapa. I took a cab figuring if it wasn't safe the driver would take a different route. We drove right past the entrance, which was packed with the usual buses, taxis, students, and professors coming and going as if nothing had happened the day before. The only evidence was some buildings (Burger King and a fast food chicken restaraunt!) that had windows broken by rocks. The crews were already there replacing windows. Sureal!
Today in Tegucigalpa and San Pedro Sula huge crowds of Zelaya supporters have come in from the countryside, converging on the two cities for grand marches in supposedly unprecedented numbers. It's hard to know the actual numbers, since the reporting is strongly biased depending on which newspaper or TV station you check. Unfortunately there was another violent outburst in the Tegucigalpa march - a bus was burned and a Popeye's Chicken restaurant set on fire. (Fast food chains are taking a licking in this thing!).
The march was taking place peacefully until near the end when the torching and chaos happened. There appear to be various versions of what happened from the bus driver hit a marcher, to a policeman shot a person in the ankle, or a white van drove up and discharged 10 young men who started it all. It's impossible to tell what actually happened but it certainly has given fodder to the pro-Micheletti (de facto government -or- "golpistas" depending on your point of view) to criticize the demonstrators as a bunch of thugs, which is just not true. The unnerving thing is that this happened in an area where we walked all the time when we lived in the apartment. In fact when I went to the bank last week, I was within a few feet of the burning bus location.
So - we continue to be prudent and observant as to where we go and when. If you see a crowd - head the other way no matter what it costs in fare or time. Fortunately there hasn't been any targeting of expatriates or Americans and as I said in our last blog - life just has to go on day-by-day here - it's how people survive all the time, coup or no coup. We'll just continue to take our cues from the Hondurans around us.
One note about the response of the Honduran Mennonite Church - I am so impressed. Early on they met to discuss their role in this crisis and develop a statement. According to Darrin it was a long and at times tense meeting - as in society, the church is divided on this political issue. But they persisted and came up with a statement calling the church to it's prophetic and unique role to maintain peace and human dignity. Since that time they have helped coordinate an inter-denominational group to address the suffering of persons, marchers or local residents, caught in the middle of the conflicts that arise. There was some discussion of the need for MCC Honduras to make a statement regarding the situation - but we eventually came to the consensus that in this situation, we would stand by the statement of our brothers and sisters and, as suggested by our Latin American director, ".... We often try to be the voice of our partner churches, I think this is one time when they can be our voice. "
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