2 July 2009
It was a weekend of turmoil in Honduras, as several days of civil unrest culminated in a violent political coup on Sunday 28 June.
Roberto Micheletti was sworn in as ‘interim president’ after the elected leader Manuel Zeleya was ousted by the military, and expelled to Costa Rica.
The coup took place hours before polls opened for a referendum, when voters were to have their say on constitutional reforms.
Honduras is still under a cloud of unrest. Immediately after being sworn in, Roberto Micheletti imposed a curfew, and clampdowns on local media mean the public are in the dark about new developments.
In fact, much of the country has been literally in the dark, owing to widespread power- cuts.
Tearfund’s Honduran partners and staff are understandably worried about the knock-on effects of the coup.
‘Reporters and communications have been manipulated and controlled according to the interests of the government coup’, says a Tearfund representative in Honduras. ‘A great part of the country was without electricity during the day and we had no access to international TV.’
The coup is widely condemned across the continent and in the UN. But our staff are raising concerns that applying pressure to the new government, in the form of border closures, embargoes on petroleum imports and cutting off food supplies, is likely to hit poorest people hardest.
• Please pray that God will bless Tearfund’s Honduran staff and partners as they work through local churches to bring hope and reconciliation to families and communities.
• Pray for prudence and wisdom for world leaders, that any measures they apply will be guided by concern for Honduras’ poorest people.
• Pray for a speedy and peaceful resolution to the political crisis.
• Pray that God will give wisdom to the church, and enable it to respond to the crisis in a balanced, productive and connected way.