It was reported in the newspaper here today that yesterday was the 100th school day that the public school kids have missed classes this year for all the various reasons they cancel school. A representative of the school board said it was actually the 85th day missed, as if that makes it better. The school year starts the first of Feb. and goes until the beginning of Nov. usually. That means classes started 34 weeks ago times 5 days per week equals 170 total week days during this school year. The students are supposed to have 200 days of classes to finish a school year.
Thus far they have gone to class 95 days by the counting of the school board, 70 by the counting of the newspaper, and classes normally end one month from now. At this point they don't know what they are going to do, either (1) give the kids a free pass and count the 90-120 or so days they go to school by the beginning of Nov. as a full year, (2) make them stay in school until Jan. and only have a couple weeks off before the start of the next school year, or (3) make them repeat the entire year. I cannot imagine they would do the last option, but who knows. I'm in favor of the second option, more school to make up the time, but of course all the kids are in favor of the first one of just pass us along to the next grade.
As I have said before, fortunately about 20 of the 31 kids who go to school attend a private school where they have not missed nearly as many days as the public school. 9 of the remaining 11 go to a public school with a Principal who does not follow all the strikes, but only some of them. Those kids have gone to school more than the numbers above for the schools in general. Only the two youngest boys living with me in our separate casa, Jonathan and Jaime, go to a regular public school that follows all the strikes.
Wednesday, September 30, 2009
Tuesday, September 29, 2009
US Embassy E-Mail
Just so you know I'm not making this stuff up, this is the e-mail I received.
Subject: Warden Message - State of Exception Imposed
Date: Mon, 28 Sep 2009 18:16:33 -0600
From: usahonduras@state.gov
U.S. Embassy Tegucigalpa
Avenida La Paz
Tegucigalpa, Honduras
To: All American Citizens
From: American Citizens Services Unit, Consular Section
Date: September 28, 2009
Subject: Warden Message – State of Exception Imposed
The Embassy advises citizens residing in and visiting Honduras that the de facto regime issued a decree suspending certain rights under the Honduran constitution on Sunday, September 27, 2009. This decree affects all people in Honduras, including non-Hondurans. Specifically, the following articles of the Honduran Constitution have been suspended for the next 45 days (until November 11, 2009):
Article 69: The right to personal freedom
Article 72: Freedom of Speech
Article 78: Freedom of Association
Article 81: Freedom of Movement
Article 84: The right to due process _
For the next 45 days, the defacto regime has stated that the local and national police, at times to be assisted by the military, will arrest individuals for the following reasons:
Disobeying announced curfew, or appearing to engage in suspicious activities Gathering in public without prior approval from police and military forces Carrying out media announcements violating the law or government resolutions , or offending human dignity or any public official
The de facto regime has also stated the following:
Individuals that are arrested for violating the above listed restrictions will be detained
All public installations which are occupied by demonstrators or which are occupied by persons carrying out activities prohibited by law will be cleared.
The de facto regime has been imposing a curfew of varying time periods affecting various cities throughout Honduras since Monday, September 21. It is expected that this practice will continue for the foreseeable future. The Embassy recommends American citizens monitor local television and radio for updates to constitutional and travel restrictions and other security measures. The Embassy strongly recommends that American citizens abide by these restrictions. Barring a change in the security situation or the imposition of a daytime curfew, the Embassy and the Consular Agency in San Pedro Sula will remain open to the public. Non-immigrant visa services remain suspended for all but emergency medical cases.
Honduran airports re-opened September 24 for domestic passenger flights and international cargo and mail flights. Most International passenger flights resumed on Friday, September 25. Those whose flights were cancelled due to the curfew should contact their airlines for further information.
The U.S. Embassy distributes its warden messages via email, and posts them on its website.
Subject: Warden Message - State of Exception Imposed
Date: Mon, 28 Sep 2009 18:16:33 -0600
From: usahonduras@state.gov
U.S. Embassy Tegucigalpa
Avenida La Paz
Tegucigalpa, Honduras
To: All American Citizens
From: American Citizens Services Unit, Consular Section
Date: September 28, 2009
Subject: Warden Message – State of Exception Imposed
The Embassy advises citizens residing in and visiting Honduras that the de facto regime issued a decree suspending certain rights under the Honduran constitution on Sunday, September 27, 2009. This decree affects all people in Honduras, including non-Hondurans. Specifically, the following articles of the Honduran Constitution have been suspended for the next 45 days (until November 11, 2009):
Article 69: The right to personal freedom
Article 72: Freedom of Speech
Article 78: Freedom of Association
Article 81: Freedom of Movement
Article 84: The right to due process _
For the next 45 days, the defacto regime has stated that the local and national police, at times to be assisted by the military, will arrest individuals for the following reasons:
Disobeying announced curfew, or appearing to engage in suspicious activities Gathering in public without prior approval from police and military forces Carrying out media announcements violating the law or government resolutions , or offending human dignity or any public official
The de facto regime has also stated the following:
Individuals that are arrested for violating the above listed restrictions will be detained
All public installations which are occupied by demonstrators or which are occupied by persons carrying out activities prohibited by law will be cleared.
The de facto regime has been imposing a curfew of varying time periods affecting various cities throughout Honduras since Monday, September 21. It is expected that this practice will continue for the foreseeable future. The Embassy recommends American citizens monitor local television and radio for updates to constitutional and travel restrictions and other security measures. The Embassy strongly recommends that American citizens abide by these restrictions. Barring a change in the security situation or the imposition of a daytime curfew, the Embassy and the Consular Agency in San Pedro Sula will remain open to the public. Non-immigrant visa services remain suspended for all but emergency medical cases.
Honduran airports re-opened September 24 for domestic passenger flights and international cargo and mail flights. Most International passenger flights resumed on Friday, September 25. Those whose flights were cancelled due to the curfew should contact their airlines for further information.
The U.S. Embassy distributes its warden messages via email, and posts them on its website.
Monday, September 28, 2009
Update
Mounting pressure and outrage over the human rights violations, and your prayers of support, have led to the possible rethinking of their opressiveness. According to the AP, Micheletti may soon get rid of his order which removed all the rights and freedoms of the people here. Thanks
http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20090928/ap_on_re_la_am_ca/lt_honduras_coup
http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20090928/ap_on_re_la_am_ca/lt_honduras_coup
Bad to Worse Human Rights in Honduras
There has not been violence, but the political problems here are terrible. The coup leader, Micheletti, is now pretty much acting like a dictator in running the country and taking away rights as he pleases without the congress voting on anything.
All the curfews have been dictated by him personally, not the congress. Last night, he declared that the right to free speech has been taken away, the right to free assmebly has been taken away, freedom of the press has been taken away, arrests without warrant are now allowed, all acts or speech against the current government or in favor of the ousted president, Mel Zayela, are now illegal and punishable by jail. He announced that the military took over and closed down the radio and t.v. stations that did not support his regime and broadcast info in support of Mel. All newspapers are also prohibited from publishing anything against him and his regime.
What countries of the world does this sound like? North Korea, Iran, China, Cuba, Venezuela, Sudan. Now add Honduras to that list.
Yesterday, the teachers had announced they would strike Monday and Tuesday in opposition to the current government. Striking is speech against the government and they could now be jailed for this, thus school is in session today. This is from the same government that allows teachers to strike about 1/3 of the time normally. Anyone who has read this blog for the past 2+ years knows how often the teachers strike without any repercussions from the government ... up until now. I am glad the kids are in school, but not that it is under threat of arrest of the teachers.
Analogy: Imagine if Obama declared the same in the US. No one could speak against him or his policies or his government. Fox news taken off the air. Rush, Hannity, Olly North all taken off the air and told they will go to jail if they speak anything against Obama. Anyone living in the US who says anything against health care reform can be arrested and jailed because that is speech against the current administrations policies. I wonder how those people who have warmly embraced Micheletti as the democratically appointed president of Honduras would feel about living under his dictated rules in our country.
Saturday, Oscar Arias, president of Costa Rica who was mediating with both sides before, trying to resolve the problem, told the AP that he cannot help any further because on Friday Mecheletti refused to allow him and representatives of the Organization of American States to enter Honduras to speak to him. Micheletti responded that it was a misunderstanding and they are free to come here to talk. They came yesterday, Sunday, and at the airport all were refused entry and forced to get back on their plane and leave the country. Micheletti's statement about this was that he was not ready to talk yet.
The international community is now probably going to turn up the heat and sanctions on Honduras. This is a very poor country that is very dependent on foreign aid from all over the world. These people who have been civil and going along with the whims of the current regime, although protesting against it, are going to break if things don't change and they have their basic human rights restored.
Don't worry about me, I don't go out and get involved in any of this political stuff. Though, having been born and living my whole life in a free, democratic country that allows all sides to openly speak their opposition to each other, it is difficult to watch all of this and live under it while the people in charge still claim to be "democratic." They have a lot to learn. The kids and I are all still safe here in the casa. We never went out at night anyway so the curfew has not affected us too much. Church has been cut short and the time moved up because of the curfews, but other than that we have not needed to get out for anything the past few days. We continue to pray for a peaceful resolution of this and restoration of all the human rights lost.
All the curfews have been dictated by him personally, not the congress. Last night, he declared that the right to free speech has been taken away, the right to free assmebly has been taken away, freedom of the press has been taken away, arrests without warrant are now allowed, all acts or speech against the current government or in favor of the ousted president, Mel Zayela, are now illegal and punishable by jail. He announced that the military took over and closed down the radio and t.v. stations that did not support his regime and broadcast info in support of Mel. All newspapers are also prohibited from publishing anything against him and his regime.
What countries of the world does this sound like? North Korea, Iran, China, Cuba, Venezuela, Sudan. Now add Honduras to that list.
Yesterday, the teachers had announced they would strike Monday and Tuesday in opposition to the current government. Striking is speech against the government and they could now be jailed for this, thus school is in session today. This is from the same government that allows teachers to strike about 1/3 of the time normally. Anyone who has read this blog for the past 2+ years knows how often the teachers strike without any repercussions from the government ... up until now. I am glad the kids are in school, but not that it is under threat of arrest of the teachers.
Analogy: Imagine if Obama declared the same in the US. No one could speak against him or his policies or his government. Fox news taken off the air. Rush, Hannity, Olly North all taken off the air and told they will go to jail if they speak anything against Obama. Anyone living in the US who says anything against health care reform can be arrested and jailed because that is speech against the current administrations policies. I wonder how those people who have warmly embraced Micheletti as the democratically appointed president of Honduras would feel about living under his dictated rules in our country.
Saturday, Oscar Arias, president of Costa Rica who was mediating with both sides before, trying to resolve the problem, told the AP that he cannot help any further because on Friday Mecheletti refused to allow him and representatives of the Organization of American States to enter Honduras to speak to him. Micheletti responded that it was a misunderstanding and they are free to come here to talk. They came yesterday, Sunday, and at the airport all were refused entry and forced to get back on their plane and leave the country. Micheletti's statement about this was that he was not ready to talk yet.
The international community is now probably going to turn up the heat and sanctions on Honduras. This is a very poor country that is very dependent on foreign aid from all over the world. These people who have been civil and going along with the whims of the current regime, although protesting against it, are going to break if things don't change and they have their basic human rights restored.
Don't worry about me, I don't go out and get involved in any of this political stuff. Though, having been born and living my whole life in a free, democratic country that allows all sides to openly speak their opposition to each other, it is difficult to watch all of this and live under it while the people in charge still claim to be "democratic." They have a lot to learn. The kids and I are all still safe here in the casa. We never went out at night anyway so the curfew has not affected us too much. Church has been cut short and the time moved up because of the curfews, but other than that we have not needed to get out for anything the past few days. We continue to pray for a peaceful resolution of this and restoration of all the human rights lost.
Wednesday, September 23, 2009
Some Freedom Today
They finally took away the curfew today (temporarily). We were allowed to go out for 6 hours, 10 am - 4 pm. I tried to go to the supermarket to get food, which I normally do every Tuesday. The traffic and lines in front of 4 differnt stores I went to were horrendous to say the least. I was at a complete stop in traffic for a half hour, a block away from the store I usually go to. When an opening finally allowed me to pull through and get out of the area, I could see about 1000 people in front of the store waiting for it to open. I went to the other stores and all had the same thing. I have no patiences for huge lines and we still have food in the house, so I headed for home. All the gas stations had long lines as well spilling out into the streets which caused the traffic to back up all over town. I figured I would try again after a couple of days on Friday. Gigo also went to the supermarket with the girls and they had more patiences than I did. They waited in line from 10 am and finally got back to the casa at 3 pm. Each time a person left freeing up a cart, the next person could go in with it.
When I checked the news this afternoon, the headline from the AP was exactly what I saw here: "Curfew-trapped Hondurans seek food amid crisis" http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20090923/ap_on_re_la_am_ca/lt_honduras_coup
One line from that article really sums up how I see most of the people feel here: "Many Hondurans feel caught in the middle of a fight between two leaders — neither of whom they support." That says it all. I don't think there are that many people who actually like Mel Zeyala and probably even fewer who like Micheletti.
The casa in San Pedro Sula is 4 hours north of the capital, Tegucigalpa, where most of the political problems are. There are rallys and protests here, but nothing like what is going on down there. Today was somewhat normal for 6 hours, just jammed with everyone going out at the exact same time to do the same things, get food and gas. Life inside the casa is just like any other Saturday or Sunday. No school and if you don't listen to the TV or radio you would never know there are any problems going on in this country. I think thats a good thing.
When I checked the news this afternoon, the headline from the AP was exactly what I saw here: "Curfew-trapped Hondurans seek food amid crisis" http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20090923/ap_on_re_la_am_ca/lt_honduras_coup
One line from that article really sums up how I see most of the people feel here: "Many Hondurans feel caught in the middle of a fight between two leaders — neither of whom they support." That says it all. I don't think there are that many people who actually like Mel Zeyala and probably even fewer who like Micheletti.
The casa in San Pedro Sula is 4 hours north of the capital, Tegucigalpa, where most of the political problems are. There are rallys and protests here, but nothing like what is going on down there. Today was somewhat normal for 6 hours, just jammed with everyone going out at the exact same time to do the same things, get food and gas. Life inside the casa is just like any other Saturday or Sunday. No school and if you don't listen to the TV or radio you would never know there are any problems going on in this country. I think thats a good thing.
Tuesday, September 22, 2009
Curfew
We are still stuck at home in the casa due to the nationwide curfew that started yesterday afternoon and will continue until at least tomorrow if not longer.
The interim president, Micheletti, in a letter in the Washington Post today, arguing that he did not take power in a coup, said that, "Coups do not allow freedom of assembly. They do not guarantee freedom of the press, much less a respect for human rights."
Freedom of Assembly: At this moment it is illegal to leave your house and go out in the streets. The government closed all the airports and borders.
Freedom of the Press: The public radio station broadcasting support for Mel Zayela was taken off the air.
Respect for Human Rights: The supporters for Mel gathered in front of the Brazil embassy were disbursed with tear gas and battons as were rallys here in San Pedro Sula (ditto Freedom of Assembly).
It seems that Micheletti's definition of what freedoms are taken away after a coup is exactly what has been taken away here and now.
Very unfortunate for Honduras and the people here who have to live under repression from the government from carrying on their daily activities or speaking out against the people in charge. Reminds me of the news stories from Iran, but this is Honduras where I live.
http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20090922/ap_on_re_la_am_ca/lt_honduras_coup
The interim president, Micheletti, in a letter in the Washington Post today, arguing that he did not take power in a coup, said that, "Coups do not allow freedom of assembly. They do not guarantee freedom of the press, much less a respect for human rights."
Freedom of Assembly: At this moment it is illegal to leave your house and go out in the streets. The government closed all the airports and borders.
Freedom of the Press: The public radio station broadcasting support for Mel Zayela was taken off the air.
Respect for Human Rights: The supporters for Mel gathered in front of the Brazil embassy were disbursed with tear gas and battons as were rallys here in San Pedro Sula (ditto Freedom of Assembly).
It seems that Micheletti's definition of what freedoms are taken away after a coup is exactly what has been taken away here and now.
Very unfortunate for Honduras and the people here who have to live under repression from the government from carrying on their daily activities or speaking out against the people in charge. Reminds me of the news stories from Iran, but this is Honduras where I live.
http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20090922/ap_on_re_la_am_ca/lt_honduras_coup
Monday, September 21, 2009
Honduras Gov't.
The ousted president of Honduras, Mel Zelaya, returned to Tegucigalpa today and is organizing his people to take back the government. Keep an eye on the news for updates because my internet connection may be cut soon.
News as of Tuesday morning:
http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20090922/ap_on_re_la_am_ca/lt_honduras_coup
News as of Tuesday morning:
http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20090922/ap_on_re_la_am_ca/lt_honduras_coup
Friday, September 11, 2009
Día del Niño
Yesterday was Children's Day here in Honduras. Unlike the U.S. where we only have Mother's and Father's day, they also have a special day set aside for children. The kids all had parties in their schools and were alowed to wear regular cloths rather than their normal uniforms. In the afternoon after they got home, a local radio station came to the casa and broadcast live for about an hour or two. They had a piñata, cake and food for the kids and gave each of them a gift. They also let several of the kids talk on the radio and sing along with a couple of songs. The kids were all very excited. The visiting groups will continue throughout the weekend. There are groups scheduled for today, Sat. and Sun.
The kids at Amor y Vida got a visit from the San Pedro Sula professional soccer team, Maraton. There was an article in the paper today about the visit and this photo of the kids with the players.
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