wfn.org | WCC NEWS: Honduras: churches encouraged to stand by the people

["WCC Media" <Media@wcc-coe.org>]

World Council of Churches - News Release

Contact: +41 22 791 6153 +41 79 507 6363 media@wcc-coe.org
For immediate release - 10/08/2009 13:47:51

ECUMENICAL TEAM ENCOURAGES HONDURAN CHURCHES TO STAND BY THE

>PEOPLE

An international ecumenical team that visited Honduras on behalf
of the World Council of Churches (WCC) and the Latin American
Council of Churches (CLAI) has encouraged the churches in
Honduras to "accompany the people in their search for peace with
justice and the re-establishment of democracy".

Visiting the Central American country 2-7 August as a Living
Letters team, the ecumenical group stressed the need for
"Christian voices be heard […] in defence of human rights and in
support of humanitarian actions". This is urgent since "violence
has intensified with the passage of days" following the June 2009
coup that replaced the elected president by an interim
government. 

In a "Message to the churches of Honduras, Latin America, the
Caribbean and the world", the team called for the end of
"repression, arrests, forced disappearances and violence directed
against the population and especially against women". 

Living Letters are small ecumenical teams visiting a country to
listen, learn, pray for peace and share approaches to overcoming
violence. They are organized in the context of the WCC's Decade
to Overcome Violence in order to prepare for the International
Ecumenical Peace Convocation in Kingston, Jamaica, in May 2011.

According to the Living Letters team, the Honduran people "do
not accept the imposition of a de facto government". The team
therefore called for "the re-establishment of the constitutional
order as soon as possible", and stated that "the return of
President [Manuel] Zelaya" would open the way to hold "free and
legal elections […] within the framework of the constitution". 

On 28 June a coup by the military and civilian sectors sent
President Zelaya into exile. Roberto Micheletti, the speaker of
Congress and second in line to the presidency, was sworn in as
interim leader. The coup took place in the context of a power
struggle over President Zelaya’s plans for constitutional
change, which had been rejected by the Supreme Court and the
Congress. 

International condemnation has been near-unanimous. The
Organization of American States (OAS) demanded the immediate
reinstatement of the ousted President and suspended Honduras from
the grouping as the interim government failed to allow Zelaya’s
return. An OAS delegation is expected to visit Honduras for
mediation talks on Tuesday. 

"As a consequence of the political events, the need to heal
wounds and to seek reconciliation becomes apparent", the Living
Letters team stated. It called on the churches "not to resign
themselves to accept the present situation" as well as "to
accompany all people who suffer and to practice solidarity with
those in greatest need". 

Living Letters team members were Jim Hodgson, from the United
Church of Canada, Rev. Alfredo Joiner, CLAI regional secretary
for Central America, and Silvia Regina de Lima Silva, a
researcher at the Ecumenical Department of Research (DEI) in
Costa Rica. Noemí Madrid de Espinoza, administrative rector of
the Theological Community of Honduras and vice-moderator of the
WCC Commission of the Churches on International Affairs, was also
part of the team. 

Full text of the Message from the Living Letters team:
http://www.oikoumene.org/?id=7056

>Latin American Council of Churches
>http://www.claiweb.org

Additional information: Juan Michel +41 22 791 6153 +41 79 507
6363 media@wcc-coe.org

The World Council of Churches promotes Christian unity in faith,
witness and service for a just and peaceful world. An ecumenical
fellowship of churches founded in 1948, today the WCC brings
together 349 Protestant, Orthodox, Anglican and other churches
representing more than 560 million Christians in over 110
countries, and works cooperatively with the Roman Catholic
Church. The WCC general secretary is Rev. Dr Samuel Kobia, from
the Methodist Church in Kenya. Headquarters: Geneva, Switzerland.