Accord? Think again.

Yesterday's jubilant headlines suggest that the political standoff in Honduras has come to an end. If you simply read the headlines yesterday you may be led to believe that Zelaya is already back in power, and that the November elections would be recognized by all of the world's governments. But there is still once hitch: according to the agreement both sides would let the National Congress decide whether Zelaya would be reinstated. The Congress, however, seems to have no intention of calling the emergency session for the vote. Al Jazeera is reporting this morning that since Congress members are busy campaigning all over the country, there is no time to vote.

The National Congress, Roberto Micheletti, and the entire de facto government has continually insulted the Honduran people's intelligence throughout this political crisis. They seem to think that they can do whatever they want without consequence, despite the fact that most Hondurans favor Zelaya's return and dissaprove of the coup. After four months of constant protesting, despite the repeal of Constitutional guarantees and the crackdown on "dissidents," they can be assured the Resistance will not stay quiet.

It is hard to be over dramatic about Honduras's economic situation resulting from the coup and the global financial crisis. A slew of factors are coming together to form the perfect storm that could do as much economic damage as Hurricane Mitch, or knock it down to the level of Haiti or sub-Saharan Africa. Unemployment has skyrocketed; due to a non-existent rainy season most farmers lost their crops and the water reserves going into the dry season are essentially empty; due to lack of rain and high temperatures (the average high in October is 79 degrees; yesterday was 90, and it was as hot as most days this month) the coming wildfire season will devastate the forests; the de facto government has racked up huge internal debt for which the new government will be responsible to pay. The list goes on and on. An economist from the organization FOSDEH told me two nights ago that the percentage of the population living in poverty will increase from 59 percent to 70 percent this year alone. He said the statistics were enough to turn him into an alcoholic.

With this in mind, consider that my organization, ASJ, has asked each presidential candidate for their plan on how they intend to confront these problems. Less than a month before the elections no one has anything. Unbelievable.

Would you like to take a survey?

This week I had the interesting opportunity of helping to administer a survey in our colonia, Flor del Campo, regarding the situation of land ownership in the community. They survey was part of the Asociación para una Sociedad más Justa's land rights project, whose lawyers and community organizers accompany neighborhoods in Tegucigalpa and San Pedro Sula who are fighting for land titles. First, a little context.

Flor del Campo, like many communities in Tegucigalpa, originally formed more than twenty years ago as a land invasion. This is common, and still happening, as more and more people migrate from the country to the city to look for work. This phenomenon has caused many land ownership conflicts, in which members of wealthy families claim to own large tracks of land that encompass these land invasions, and take advantage of the situation to charge rent upon threat of burning down houses, or worse. Often more than one rich land owner lays claim to the same land, and community members find themselves paying rent periodically to five or six people. This instability has been responsible for countless murders of community leaders fighting for land titles. About five years ago ASJ successfully lobbied the government to implement a new law to clear up these problems. Essentially, if an occupied piece of land is in dispute, the government can expropriate the land, place a value on it, and charge the community members an amount pay for the amount of land they own. Once each homeowner pays this amount, he or she receives an official land title, proving he or she owns the land. This money is held in a bank account. Meanwhile, the people who claim to own the land fight in court. Whoever is ruled to be the proper owner gets the money in the bank account. Win, win, win.

Flor del Campo was the first neighborhood to go through this process. The goal of this survey was to find out how many people have received their land titles, and, if they have, whether they have used them to get loans for home improvement.

In a morning of surveying I encountered some eye-opening realities. A few observations:

1.) The hardest question for people to answer was, "How many people live in this household?" Some people had to count and recount after running out of fingers, others argued about whether a family member lived in the house or not, others simply said they did not know. Wow.

2.) With the surveys I did, the average number of people living in a household was between 9 and10. There was not one house with fewer than 8. These aren't 2,500 square foot suburban mcmansions, either.

3.) In all of the households but one, the highest number of family members employed was two. That means in the best case scenario, two people were supporting households of 10, 11, or 12 people.

4.) Only one household reported a monthly income of more than $250.

5.) At one house, a woman busy grinding corn for tortillas did not seem to know who owned the house, how many people lived there, or whether she even had a tortilla business. This is not a reflection on her intelligence...I think having a gringo in her humble living room/bedroom/kitchen was just too embarrassing for words.

Rainy season? Not yet.

The quick political update: talks between Zelaya and Micheletti have so far failed to bring any kind of resolution. Zelaya is still running his government and emitting decrees from the Brazilian embassy (this will be five weeks tomorrow) - which, sidenote, always has me wondering, what kind of bed situation is going on in there? Micheletti seems to be holding out for the elections and trying to get Zelaya and supporters to sign a document stating that his government is legitimate. I have no idea what November elections will bring, but there has been talk both of voting boycotts, and the government forcing people to vote.

One unfortunate bi-product of this mess is the early and sad ending of the public education school-year, after days and weeks and added-up-to months of missed classes. One of my English students, Dayro, stopped by yesterday... he is a senior and will be graduating this coming Saturday, but his highschool isn't holding a graduating ceremony or party or anything. He wasn't even given end-of-the-year exams. Nobody was this year - all students are being automatically passed through to the next grade.

On a more personal note - Andrew and I have been pretty busy lately. Andrew's work continues to step it up another notch every time he seems to get comfortable with something, making him seriously doubt any cultural stereotypes of a more laid-back work environment.

I started another round of English classes, this time adding an intermediate class for about 12 of my past students, which has been really fun. We've graduated to the past tense!!! We can talk about how we felt yesterday! I am trying to be a little more zen-like about my work environment, and not let the interpersonal weirdness and dynamics come home with me - now both of my initial co-workers have been fired, which was a sad and frustrating experience for all of us since there was little to no communication from the board of directors about that decision. My new co-worker is a former board member, very quiet, very male, very... quiet. We are very polite to each other.

The neighborhood news is that firecrackers are IN. Everybody has them. They could go off at any moment.

Our new country representatives (our bosses) arrived a few weeks ago and they are great!!!! And yes, they are probably reading this. But really, they are great. We had a team meeting last weekend at Valle de Angeles which was an absolutely fabulous break from work and the city, complete with a hike, good singing, food that we didn't have to cook, and an espresso machine.

What else is new.... hmmm.... well, I'm pregnant. That's pretty new. Bonus prize for those of you who read all the way to the end! Primero dios, we'll be bringing a little catracho home with us. Please, no curfew jokes.

Impasse

Two folks from our colonia who support the resistencia have died in the last week. On Tuesday a 65-year-old man who was buying food at a corner store in Flor del Camp was shot when the resistencia march encountered police. People from our church said the marchers were unarmed when the police began to fire. Last night a 24-year-old girl died from asthma complications after she was exposed to tear gas fired by police to disperse protesters. This all hits closer to home, though we didn't know either one personally.

Tonight Reuters is reporting on a presidential decree to suspend certain civil liberties, such as freedom of speech and freedom of assembly, in an attempt to quiet the resistance. Radio Globo, one of the only pro-resistance--though not always accurate--news sources, said that the decree also calls for the station to be officially silenced, along with Channel 36. We'll see this week if these reports turn out to be true.

The curfews at this point are only in place at night, but the suspension of civil liberties, if true, does the same thing in one fell swoop. Now the military and police can arrest anyone at any time.

Someone at church today said that we are "living in a time of shadows." For many who consider this fight to be against injustice and tyranny, these are dark days indeed.

This is what happens when the entire country goes shopping at once

Today the Micheletti government lifted the curfew from 10 a.m. until 5 p.m. to let the country stock up on food, water, medicine, gas, and whatever else people needed. Is this a sign that we should prepare to hunker down for at least another few days?

We walked to La Colonia, a big grocery chain with two stores nearby. We try not to shop there too much, preferring instead local venders, but some things are available only here--chickpeas, split peas, lentils, peanut butter, etc. Enough justifying.

It was crazy. Stockers couldn't keep up with demands, as people stocked up on essentials, such as rice, beans, tortilla mix, flour, meat; non-essentials, such as Coke, single serving sugary yogurt drinks, frozen fish sticks, pre-pureed beans; and things I wouldn't think of buying in a crisis, such as doll sets and drying racks. The most popular item: styrofoam Cup-o-Soups. That aisle had been ransacked.

The meat section had been totally picked through.

We didn't eat before we left. Big mistake.

The line we waited in for two hours. Hope we don't have to do that again for a while.

Curfew extended

The curfew was extended last night until 6 p.m. tonight, though some news sources are reporting that it will be lifted from 10 a.m. until 5 p.m., possibly for a pro-Micheletti march. We are going to take advantage of that time to visit some folks in our community.

Last night was an ugly night in Tegucigalpa. Tires burning, people shot, police repression...you can read about much of it at www.hondurascoup2009.blogspot.com.

Laying siege

The Honduran de facto government has essentially laid siege to the Brazilian Embassy, where Mel Zelaya has been holed up since yesterday morning. While there have been threats that soldiers may storm the embassy, the government continues to say it will respect the embassy's sovereignty. This is a big waiting game.

But in addition to the embassy, the government is essentially laying siege to the entire country, with a curfew that has been extended until 6 a.m. tomorrow morning. That will be 36 hours of continuous curfew, and with all of the demonstrations happening in various parts of the country tonight I would guess they will extend it again tomorrow. (We pray they won't.) Radio Globo is reporting that people desperate for food have begun sacking food distribution centers. Consider that many people here live day to day, buying only what they need for the day because it is all they can afford. Additionally, many people depend on the wages they receive every single day selling tortillas, fruit, vegetables, housewhares, etc., in order to buy the food they need. If everyone is in curfew, they don't sell. Add to that the fact that many of the corner stores where many people buy their rice and beans are running out of food, because the distribution trucks are not allowed on the streets. This is after only one day.

As we sit here eating delicious red bean veggie burgers, taking stock of the food we have saved up we can't help but recognize the privilege it is to have enough food to get through a week. Hope it doesn't take that long.