FRIDAY JULY 30, 2010

6:30 P.M.— 8:30 P.M.

DJPC’s Office located in the Denver Inner City Parish 1212 Mariposa St. Denver, CO 80204

Free parking available on streets and in building lots. Beverages and  utensils provided. Bring a dish (with serving utensils) to share.

R.S.V.P. TODAY!!! 303-623-1463

New house goes up with old house behind

Carrying cement block and mixing mortar by hand in 95 degree heat can be torture. Or, it can be a small offering of hope and solidarity to a family living in a one room wooden shack. Moving block after block, separating rock into piles of sand and gravel, I concentrated on the task at hand and not my aching back. I could take a break, but I hadn’t come all this way to rest and I felt better when I was working as hard as I could.  There was so much still to be done.
My husband Peter and I were in Getsemani, a community of more than 130 families in the department of Ahuachapan, El Salvador, to participate in Habitat for Humanity’s Lenten build in honor of Monseñor Oscar Romero. Thirty years ago, on March 24, 1980, as he celebrated mass, Monseñor Romero was assassinated the day after he spoke out against poverty, injustice and publicly manifested his support for victims of political violence.  Monseñor Romero became a beloved martyr and catalyst for the ensuing 12 year civil war. Yet today, the majority of the country’s 6 million people still lack basic necessities such as potable water, electricity, education and employment. It’s estimated that more than half of Salvadorans also lack adequate housing. Through local affiliates such as this one in El Salvador, Habitat for Humanity has provided more than 1 million people in 90 countries simple, decent housing and a better life.

Denise in the sand pit

Peter and I, with 3 friends, worked as part of a large group of about 70 volunteers– college students on spring break, a  high school class and a church group– to build 30 houses in 30 days to honor Monseñor’s legacy. Thankfully, we were assigned to a house where the foundation had already been dug.  Some groups had to dig foundations in the rocky  dirt– over 100 lineal feet and 2 feet deep,  with picks and shovels.  We helped two masons by mixing concrete and mortar to their specifications, delivering it, filling joints between the blocks, bending rebar, moving block, leveling dirt and a variety of miscellaneous tasks.
Habitat’s houses in El Salvador are made of cement block, heavily reinforced with rebar because of the seismic activity in the area.  The houses are generally three rooms– a living area and two bedrooms, with a bath (toilet and shower) entered from outside. Most women use firewood for cooking so the “kitchens” are outside the house so the smoke can escape. Houses average about $8,000 and the interest free loans are repaid over 20 + years. Families and/or friends contribute hundreds of hours of “sweat equity” (i.e. labor) to build the houses.

Mom and two of her kids at build site

Our family’s new house was being built next door to their old, wooden one. Mom took care of 5 children, sold chocolate- covered bananas out of her house, while her husband worked in the logging business in another part of the country.  Family incomes in Getsemeni average between US$100 and $250 monthly, and many adults work as housekeepers, security guards and market vendors.
Peter and I have been on several Habitat Global Village builds (i.e. outside the US) and upon returning, we are often asked, “Did you finish a house?”.  The answer is always “no”, we just completed a small portion.  On this trip, our basic accomplishment was helping lay about 8 tiers of cement block.  That didn’t seem like much at all.
The truth was, I wished I were in the capital, participating in the mass demonstrations and celebrations of the 30th anniversary of the death of the country’s beloved Monseñor Romero. Instead, we were in a remote area, and I moved some block.  Some sand.  Some gravel.  Some dirt.  I watched the kids that will live in the  new house and hoped that it would represent a change for the better in their lives.
We were given T-shirts that said “Somos albañiles, no maestros de obra.” That means, we are workers (or masons), not master builders.”
When I looked up that reference, I thought about the importance of being a small part of a larger whole.  Here is part of the prayer, composed by Bishop Ken Untener and often called the Oscar Romero prayer:

Some neighborhood kids look on

It helps now and then to step back and take a long view
The Kingdom is not only beyond our efforts,
it is beyond our vision.
We accomplish in our lifetime only a fraction
of the magnificent enterprise that is God’s work…
We plant the seeds that one day will grow
We water the seeds already planted
knowing that they hold future promise.
We lay foundations that will need further development..
We cannot do everything, and there is a sense of
liberation in realizing this.
This enables us to do something, and to do it very well.
It may be incomplete, but it is a beginning,
a step along the way, an opportunity for the Lord’s
grace to enter and do the rest.
We may never see the end results, but that is the
difference between the master builder and the worker
We are workers; not master bulders
We are prophets of a future not our own

Find out more about Habitat’s trips outside the U.S. at www.habitat.org/gv

By now, most are aware of the terrible toll the recent earthquake has had in Haiti. Not only has it caused tens of thousands of deaths, it has also destroyed hospitals, schools, and government buildings, obliterating the country’s few health care and rescue services. The tremendous poverty and vulnerability made starkly clear by this disaster is but a legacy of Haiti’s long history of domination by powerful outside interests.

In 1804, Haiti became the first French colony to win independence and the first independent black republic. With stunning courage and at a cost of half their population, slave armies had alternately fought the forces of France, Britain and Spain to win their freedom. In honor of the island’s original inhabitants, they called their new country by its Taino-Arawak name, “Haiti” or “land of mountains.”

After this hard-won victory, however, France and Great Britain, later joined by the U.S., imposed a punishing economic boycott against the new nation. When Haiti finally achieved recognition by the French government in the 1860s, it was only by agreeing to pay 125 million francs to indemnify their former slave owners for the loss of their property. In addition, the French took control of Haitian finances to assure that timely interest-laden payments would be made. By the early twentieth century, Haiti’s burdensome debt obligation had turned what was once the richest colony in the world, into the poorest country in the western hemisphere.

U.S. hegemony replaced that of the French in 1910, when National City Bank of New York took over Haiti’s finances. When Haitian lawmakers balked at the arrangement, U.S. marines landed at Port-au-Prince, seized the half million dollars in the Haitian treasury and transported the funds to National City Bank of New York.

The marines continued in control until the 1930s when a professionally trained Haitian army took their place. In the decades that followed, a succession of dictators turned the army into a personal police force with the most notorious, “Papa Doc” Duvalier and his son “Baby Doc,” terrorizing their own population through paramilitary gangs known as tonton macoutes. Until finally ousted in 1986, Duvalier allies grew rich by embezzling government funds and seizing land from poor peasants. Public services fell into disrepair, illiteracy reached 90 percent, and poverty and malnutrition grew rampant. Because the regime remained staunchly opposed to Cuba’s Fidel Castro, however, it was rewarded with a steady flow of aid from the U.S.

In 1990, Haitian history changed. In the country’s first free and fair elections, voters chose parish priest Jean-Bertrand Aristide, who had worked many years in the slums of Port-au-Prince, to be their president. Upon taking office, Aristide promised to raise minimum wage, improve health care and education, and relieve misery in this country where one percent of the population owns half the wealth.

He faced stiff and often violent opposition among Haiti’s economic elites, however, who only ten months later backed the overthrow of their first legitimately elected leader. While Aristide was returned to office with help from the Clinton Administration, he was again ousted in 2004. The move was followed by a full revival of the debt-led model of trade and continued impoverishment of the majority.

Today, as the country struggles to recover from disaster, we must ask where recovery will take this country. Who will lead and what will the priorities be? Will elites continue to be favored over the 80 percent living in abject poverty? Or can humanitarians support a strategy where health care, education and a decent standard of living for all can be envisioned? In the midst of this great tragedy, it is up to those who care about Haiti to support a recovery process that can lead to a genuinely democratic system. In the absence of that support, only the most powerful interests will prevail – again.

Lynn Holland, Ph.D., is an adjunct professor of international studies at the University of Denver’s Josef Korbel School of International Studies and a Foreign Policy In Focus contributor, as well as a member of DJPC’s Salon Committee.

DJPC urges everyone to do whatever you can to give moral support and economic solidarity to the people of Haiti.  It is a country that has been beset by routine natural and political disasters for centuries, particularly within the recent century which included a US invasion in 1915, a brutal dictatorship under the Duvalier family, and dozens of devastating hurricanes.

If you would like to make donations to emergency relief, or would like update information about the earthquake in Haiti, one of the many organizations which DJPC recommends and supports as partners is The Lambi Fund of Haiti:

Lambi Fund of Haiti

PO Box 18955

Washington, DC 20036

Phone Washington: 202-833-3713

Phone Denver: 303-204-3964

E-mail:   info@lambifund.org

Karen Ashmore, Executive Director

Website information and for on-line donations:  http://www.lambifund.org/

Earthquake Flyer colorado

Jane Covode, Kathryn Rodriguez, Tommy Timm, Sarah Sloane and Denise Peine joined thousands gathered at the Columbus, GA Convention Center Saturday morning to hear introductory speakers, musicians and staffers of SOA Watch, the organization dedicated to closing the school. Three of us were there for the first time and we were all impressed with the numbers and enthusiasm of the participants, which ranged from college students to long time activists to members of various religious traditions. We joined in proclaiming our goal– to close the SOA/WHINSEC and to resist the oppressive policies that it represents; to stand in solidarity with our Latin American sisters and brothers and all those around the world whose lives are impacted by these policies; and to act in a tradition of nonviolence.

Anti-war protester at SOA photo by Sarah Sloane

Saturday afternoon we went to the gates of Ft. Benning where we heard various speakers reminding us of the immediacy and importance of our mission to close SOA.  Bertha Oliva from Honduras spoke about the repression, injustice, disappearances and deaths that have taken place in her country since the June SOA graduate-led military coup. In Colombia, U.S. military intervention intensifies as an agreement allowing U.S. access to seven new Colombian military bases was just signed by both countries, endangering the security and autonomy of neighboring countries.

Sunday morning was chilly and damp, reflecting the solemnity of the funeral procession. During this event, several people on stage chanted thousands of names of the victims of SOA/WHINSEC violence. The crowd responded with “presente”–meaning he/she (the victim) is here with us- and lifted crosses with names of the victims. The marchers slowly passed the razor wire fence surrounding the Fort’s gate, where people left crosses and other memorabilia.  Four demonstrators were arrested for “crossing the line” into the Fort.

Six giant “puppetistas” joined the march. This informal group of creative people crafted huge, realistic figures replicating the 6 Jesuit priests martyred in San Salvador. A mock “assassination” was held and then people with signs–love, hope, solidarity, equality, power, justice– arose to carry on the work of the Jesuits and other SOA victims.

SOA signs of hope photo by Sarah Sloane

The weekend was a powerful event for those involved with the continuing “lucha” for peace, human rights, and economic justice in Latin America. To learn more about SOA Watch, a grassroots organization that works year round to achieve these goals, see http://www.soaw.org.

To read the entire Urgent Action and send an Appeal to Amnesty International, please click here.

Funes ran on a party platform that pledged his government would: lower the cost of living and increase purchasing power; create more and better jobs with special opportunity for youth and women; defeat crime and increase family security; direct concentrated support to poor rural and urban families; and defend and support families in El Salvador whose primary wage earner has migrated. The platform calls for increasing the availability of and access to employment, housing, health, education, and safety so that all Salvadorans can live dignified, productive and happy lives in El Salvador.

Funes, who will assume office on June 1st, has his work cut out for him. These are ambitious goals for a number of reasons. Funes does not bear the traditional FMLN credentials, i.e. he was not a guerrilla during the civil war. So, he has to develop trust and cooperation within his own party. He must do the same with parties of the right who together have the votes to block legislation. The FMLN holds the greatest number of seats in the Legislature but not a majority. As the party platform indicates, the problems facing El Salvador are monumental. Additionally, the country has never adequately dealt with the legacy of war. Until it comes to terms with the root causes of its social and economic ills, which went unresolved despite 12 years of combat, making meaningful progress will be a formidable task.

Despite outgoing President Saca’s assurances two weeks prior to the election that public finances were stable and that “there is nothing to worry about,” there is a lot to worry about. The global crisis has significantly affected El Salvador. Exports and tax revenues are down, job loss has risen over the last eight months, and remittances are projected to drop by 13% in 2009. Fitch, Inc., the financial risk rating agency, has stated that El Salvador and the new Funes government will confront a “disproportionate impact” from the global economic crisis.

In the face of all these challenges, hope lies in the fact that Mauricio Funes is an intelligent, capable leader in whom the Salvadoran people have put their trust. He did not win on FMLN votes alone and people are willing to give him a chance. He is known as a pragmatist so will lead from a position closer to center than other FMLN candidates might have. He was painted as a pawn of Cuba and Venezuela during the campaign, but his professional history and comportment during and after the election show that he is very much his own person. It will be an uphill struggle, but with Funes’ tenacity, El Salvador does have a future.

Written by Harriet Mullaney for the April 2009 issue of The Mustard Seed

EPAF is a nonprofit civil society organization dedicated to the search, recovery and identification of the more than 15,000 Peruvians still missing from the 20 year internal armed conflict.  EPAF uses forensic anthropology to restore the identity of the missing and to create awareness regarding a problem that still affects thousands of families across Peru.

 Since 1994 the brutal murders of hundreds of women and girls in Ciudad Juárez and the city of Chihuahua in northern Mexico have been met with impunity.  Despite loud and persistent outcry from family members and human rights advocates across Mexico and around the world, authorities have consistently failed to adequately investigate, prosecute and prevent the murder and disappearances of countless women and girls.

However, just last week the Inter-American Court of Human Rights heard its very first case focused on gender violence (and third case ever to be brought against the Mexican government).  In this landmark case, the Mexican government  stood before the court for its failure to investigate and justly resolve the murders of three women–Claudia Ivette González, Esmeralda Herrera Monreal and Laura Berenice Ramos Monárrez.  The investigations into these murders (frequently referred to as the campo algodonero/cotton field murders due to the location where the women’s bodies were found in 2001) suffered from irregularities, corrupt practices and gross negligence from the start.

Following eight years of struggle and frustration for these victims’ families, we hope that this case serves as a breakthrough by providing them with the opportunity to attain justice for their loved ones’ murders.  Whatever the court’s final decision, we hope that this landmark case will chart the course for future reforms that will result in credible investigations and prosecutions to hold guilty parties responsible, bring badly needed justice and resolution for the families of the victims of hundreds of other unresolved femicides, and create robust programs to combat gender violence throughout Mexico.

It is anticipated that the court will deliver its ruling later this year.  As Mexico is a member state, findings and sanctions (like financial reparations for victims’ relatives, public acknowledgement of responsibility, measures to prevent similar violations in the future, etc.) of the Inter-American Court are binding.

Click here to learn more about this case being tried before the Inter-American Court.

Click here to read a letter (en español) from 50 Mexican and international human Rights NGOs calling for the Inter-American Court to make a decisive and strong ruling on the case of the femicides in Ciudad Juárez.

Click here to read the English translation of the letter.