Calvin Prof Sees Hope in Honduras

Kurt Ver Beek, a professor at Calvin College in Grand Rapids, MI., and advocate for peace and justice in Honduras, is hopeful that true democracy can finally come to Honduras following a military coup in June that forced the country's president Manuel Zelaya to leave by plane to Costa Rica, Ver Beek said in a press conference today that was broadcast over the Internet.

"We see the opportunity in Honduras to transform Honduras. Some changes need to occur, but I think we can help make it happen," says Ver Beek, who spends much of his time in Honduras and is co-founder of the Association for a More Just Society.

Just last week, the United States helped to broker a plan that creates a power-sharing government and could play a role in finally wresting power from the elite and giving others, especially the poor, more of a say in the management of their country, says Ver Beek.

"The next week will tell how things are going to do. My hope is that we can play a role in helping to build a democracy and a system that works."

Zelaya, the former president, secretly returned to the country and took refuge in the Brazilian embassy in Tegucigalpa several weeks ago. He apparently is hoping that the agreement hammered out by the US and Honduran officials puts him back into power prior to a presidential election in late November. But that is uncertain.

The CRC has missionary personnel in Honduras and officials have closely monitored the situation. Ver Beek says he meets with CRC missionaries regularly and that they are on the same page when it comes to asking for prayer in seeking a peaceful solution to the crisis. "Right now everyone is traveling safely and no problems have been occurring," says Ver Beek.

The press conference and accompanying Webinar was sponsored by the Christian Reformed World Relief Committee.

The coup in June was led by critics who charged that Zelaya wanted to change the Honduran Constitution to allow him to stay in office longer. Roberto Micheletti, a Honduran politician, was named to serve as president until elections are held.

Ver Beek works regularly with Calvin College students who are interested in doing missionary and international development work, especially in Central America.

Currently, AJS is trying collect one million signatures to a document that asks for the next president to institute a number of structural changes, including putting an end to corruption and finding the resources to pay for better education and health care for those 70 percent of the people who are living in poverty. People can log on to the AJS website: http://www.ajs-us.org/honduras.html to learn how they can put their signature on the document calling for change.

AJS, says Ver Beek, began in 2000 in response to the biblical call for Christians to "do justice" (Micah 6:8, Isaiah 56:1, Proverbs 29:7, Isaiah 10:1-2), with the goal of helping to create a "more just society" in Honduras and around the world.

AJS's specific mission, said Ver Beek, is to encourage Christian communities to engage in acts of justice and mercy close to home and globally. AJS is funded mainly by individual donors as well as by several private foundations and faith-based groups.

No one in the current political situation is without blame, said Ver Beek. Although  Zelaya did not do much to address the needs of the poor, he was the democratically elected president. His opponents were in the wrong by removing him by force.

"Both sides are right and both sides are wrong. There are no good guys here," he said.

Zelaya may be returned to the presidency to serve out his term, or a transitional group may be named to run the government prior to the presidential election. “It has been a crisis, but AJS sees this an opportunity for change,” he says, adding that both Zelaya and Micheletti ought to be put on trial to address laws both have broken and problems they have created.