The vision that moves us to carrying this project out is to place ourselves in Honduran life and history from the Franciscan JPIC spirituality in defense, care and sense of brotherhood with the people, and with the whole creation in this space of the COMMON HOME. Our mission is to accompany and serve, from the Franciscan JPIC spirituality, the ecclesiastic walk, embracing the cause and struggles of the people, of the indigenous communities, of rural communities, and of the Honduran groups taking care of and defending human rights, creation and mother Earth.
The JPIC process in Honduras takes a new momentum in 2009 after the coup d’etat, when the OFM friars in the country draft a consensual document reporting human rights violations and the murders perpetrated by police and military groups led by the putschist president. In 2010, Fr. René Flores begins a JPIC animation process as Franciscan Family; some religious sisters and laypersons joined this process. The first FF JPIC teams were created in the country during 2013.
In 2015 a new process is begun; it goes on with the formation of FF JPIC teams of sisters and laypersons, in a collective construction that ends up by establishing 7 JPIC teams at national level. In this process, the friars (who have appointed one friar for fraternity) have always acted from their local realities, and at the same time from their service they have integrated actions to processes of the Franciscan Family, all of them becoming a part of this family united by Francis and Clare.
Pastoral agents involved and committed in Franciscan JPIC teamsare men and women in commitment with community, social and ecclesial engagement. Mostly they are believers, they believe in Jesus Christ (delegates of the Word, catechists, pastoral agents), not all are practitioners of the daily activities of the Catholic Church; other agents in ecclesial engagement are the religious persons (clergy and nuns). The Franciscan Family JPIC teams are in seven districts of the country: Santa Rosa de Copan, San Esteban, Culmi, Catacamas, Comayagua, Rio Esteban, and Tegucigalpa.
We are moved and challenged by situations that can be local and regional, emerging from social, political and economic contexts, as was the case, for instance, during the general elections in Honduras that took place on November 26, 2017. The period prior to the election day, broad sectors of the population questioned the credibility of the system and the electoral process. The suspension by the supreme court of the constitutional clause that limits the number of presidential terms to one and the consequent candidacy of President Hernández for a second term also provoked restlessness.
The prolonged delays and allegations of irregularities in the vote counting of the presidential election gave rise to allegations of fraud, and as of November 29, 2017, a wave of protests was unleashed throughout the country, in which the national police and the armed forces enforced public order. Alleging that there had been waves of violence and looting on November 1, the President declared a state of emergency, establishing a curfew for a period of 10 days
During 2017, at the Social Forum of External Debt (FOSDEH) it was disclosed that 65 percent of Hondurans live in poverty, that is, 5,700,000 people, of which 3,700,000 are in precarious situation surviving with less than two dollars a day and 2 million without complete access to the basic basket.
Furthermore, according to Casa Alianza, in the Juan Orlando Hernández government term alone (2014-2017) more than 2,780 violent deaths and/or arbitrary executions of girls, boys and young adults under 23 years were registered.
On the other hand, the suspension by the Supreme Court in 2014 / 2015 of the constitutional prohibition of a second presidential mandate, and the subsequent candidacy of President Hernandez to a second mandate, generated restlessness in one sector of the population.
And under these situations of the country, according to information from the collective of JPIC agents, different activities can be found emerging from the organized society or through faith institutions. Among these activities are: mobilizations and rallies in the streets motivated by the political and economic situation of the country, as well as by impunity in situations related to advocacy against the destruction of natural assets by extractive companies (mining), against governmental corruption and impunity, and for disagreement with the pollution of their local communities’ rivers. All these spaces generate critical awareness about realities such as governmental corruption, social and environmental degradation in communities. During this year, some of our activities were:
- The National Meeting of FF JPIC Teams, February 23, 24 and 25, in Comayagua, for a 2018 planning and organization day, with the participation of 4 regions of the country
- Participation in the 2018 JPIC Course, in Guadalajara, Jalisco, April 09-16, on Migration, Causes, Walls and Franciscan Perspectives, promoted by the Rome OFM JPIC Office.
- In Santa Rosa de Copán, the regional team holds a one-hour radio broadcasting space per week to speak about JPIC related issues; and the team carries out the ongoing organization with the communities affected by an American church against the privatization of their water sources.
- San Esteban Olancho undertook, this September 7, a Town-hall Meeting on the Environment conducted by the OFM JPIC and the parish team, in which they determined several consensual topics to appoint a municipal commission for the environment, and to follow up several proposed actions, among which was that of a plebiscite.
- The realization of the Way of the Cross of Honduran reality is an annual act for the Franciscan Family of the region.
- This September 21-23, the National Meeting of the Franciscan Family was held on issues of JPIC, and the motto: Franciscans in mission to Care of the Common House.
- In daily practice, we have implemented bulletins, communiqués and articles on the national reality of the country for the Franciscan Family.
- On May 22 2018, for the first time we were invited to a first meeting of structuration of commissions of the Environmental Networks Coalition.
- In July, we had a representative participation in the meeting of the Central America Franciscan Family JPIC
- An event to go is the HFF JPIC National Meeting for December 15-16, 2018.
Ana Victoria López
Honduras Franciscan Family JPIC Coordinator