Suyapa: Enduring patron saint continues to draw crowds

Caroline Knell
Honduras This Week

During the first two weeks of February, thousands of people from all over the country make a pilgrimage and descend upon the sleepy town of Suyapa, a suburb of Tegucigalpa, to celebrate the fair of the Virgen de Suyapa, patron saint of Honduras.

Standing a mere six centimeters tall and carved from cedar wood, Suyapa is believed to have performed many miracles and is one of the most powerful and important images in Catholicism. Despite her diminutive stature, she commands the attention of those who pour into the Basilica de Suyapa to catch a glimpse of her.

The figure usually resides in the smaller and simpler Iglesia de Suyapa, which stands in the shadow of its more impressive counterpart, the Basilica de Suyapa. However, on holidays, in particular the Feria de la Virgen de Suyapa which begins on the saints’ day (February 3rd) and continues for a week, she is displayed at the Basilica to accommodate the sizeable crowds that gather to view her.

The story of the Virgen de Suyapa varies slightly, but the essentials remain the same: In February of 1747, a Honduran farmer named Alejandro Colindres was returning home after work and for reasons that remain obscure, he got caught out after dark and had to make a shelter by the side of the road. In the middle of the night, Alejandro was woken by something digging into his side. Half asleep, he threw whatever it was down into the hillside below, only to be woken again to discover that the same object had mysteriously reappeared and was again digging into his side. This time he put it into his sack, and it was only on returning home the next day at sunrise that he discovered that this object was Suyapa.

Suyapa was then kept in a special place in the house of Alejandro’s mother where she remained until about 1780. It was during this time that her reputation grew as a miraculous image with healing powers and gained many devoted followers.

Nowadays, the market and fairground rides surrounding the basilica have almost become an attraction in and of itself. In hot pursuit of the large crowds the festival attracts, eager market traders seize the opportunity to cash in on the event. They sell mostly cheap souvenir items such as t-shirts, wallets, pens and mugs, all plastered with the image of Suyapa, seemingly making her a marketable brand.

Among items for sale, rather ironically, are numerous stolen goods, from pirate DVDs and televisions to clothing, all completely unrelated to the festival. In several of the stalls, posters of busty, bikini-clad models are displayed next to images of Suyapa, which seems to make a mockery of the patron saint and undermines the values and morals that she repre­sents.

And yet, Suyapa continues to remain near and dear to the hearts of many Hondurans as she has for well over 200 years. Her story and celebration, including peripheral fanfare, are tangible proof of her mysterious, enduring appeal.

Women inmates have hope for their future

Tess Gool
Honduras This Week

On Thursday, January 31st, Canadian ambassador to Honduras, Neil Reeder went to visit the National Women’s Prison for Social Adaptation (PNFAS) in Tegucigalpa to see how Canadian government funding of the Women’s Studies Office (CEM-H) benefits the women and what more is needed. The ambassador, impressed by the welcome he received, commented, “it is great that we can represent a faraway country; we do many projects to continue good relations with Honduras and we’re happy the aid from Canada is doing such good. We receive more satisfaction because of the moral impact and the feelings. We are willing to continue giving our support to this project.”

There are currently 149 prisoners, one of which is pregnant and three others have children under the age of two years (once the chil­dren turn two, they are turned over to extended families or the state). They range from 18 to 64 years of age and their sentences just as diverse, ranging from 12 to 80 years, for a variety of crimes: drug trafficking and dealing, kidnapping, murder and forgery.

The ambassador was taken around the prison, shown the various classes and projects, including a computer lab, lessons in reading and writing and a workshop where the women make handcrafted gifts. The handcraft project is funded by the prisoners themselves; CEM-H (to which the Canadian government gives funds) helps the prisoners sell the hand­crafts to make some profit.

CEM-H has helped the prisoners in a variety of ways through health education, including HIV, but also with legal advice. Funding is limited, with only three legal advisors who help the women with what they can. Cases concerning women who have been transferred from other areas become even more difficult as they can’t afford access to the necessary information required from other offices.

I was invited by CEM-H to visit PNFAS and was given free reign as to the subject matter I would report. It became apparent that my limited Spanish was not going to get me anywhere and nobody from the organization spoke Spanish. We established that there would be someone at the prison who spoke English. Once I got there, it turned out the only person who spoke English was a prisoner, Claudia Ferrari (her English, incidentally, was perfect). She helped me gather information, showed me around, translated the ambassador’s speech, Rosa Eugenia Pena’s story and explained her own. This article could not have been written without her help.

Claudia Ferrari

Claudia has been at PNFAS for six years; she was sentenced for 18 years for taking the identity of a man and check forgery of one million lempiras. Before going to PNFAS, Claudia ran and owned her own company ‘Ferrari Corporation’, which gave logistic support to foreign contractors. Claudia maintains that she is innocent, “I am the only person paying for the crime, the people who hired me turned out to be a ghost company and have disappeared.”

Claudia is clearly well-educated, intelligent, and is both warm and compassionate. In addition to English and Spanish, she speaks Italian and German and has been giving English lessons to other inmates, which would otherwise be a lesson of listening to audio tapes.

“The experience has been the best. In the life I used to lead, I never met with people of such strength and spirit than the people here. I never had to struggle before; now I have to…it has given me humility.”

“I have great support from my family and am very grateful. We have a lawyer reviewing my case and hopefully I will get my sentence shortened to 12 years, meaning I will have 6 months left to serve.” The wife of a Cuban-Italian, Claudia has two children; a son, 20, studies in the U.S. and a daughter in 8th grade who visits every 6 months. Despite her situation, she mentions how proud she is of her children, what high achievers they are and how she was concerned that they would go off the rails after what happened. She happily reports that they have remained strong throughout the ordeal of her incarceration.

Being a prisoner has inevitably affected her outlook on life. When asked what she would have done differently, she replies, “I would have used foreign contractors, not local.” She has hope for the future and is concentrating on moving forward, “I hope to be released by the end of 2008, go back to my husband, son and daughter. I want to further my work for the Catholic Church and help the girls with longer sentences once I leave. We need help from the president to pay more attention to presidential pardons for these women.”

Claudia has visibly been humbled by this experience and despite her regrets, is still able to remain positive and is greatly admired for her strength and sophistication by not only her fellow inmates but also by the members of CEM-H who accompanied me for this story.

Rosa Eugenia Pena

Rosa has been at PNFAS for six years and is serving an eighty year sentence for murder. Her husband and she were charged with the murder of their son’s wife. Rosa, from El Salvador, was visiting her son in Honduras. When the incident took place, she was at the crime scene and took the blame, along with her husband. “I am innocent and have always been very humble, my son committed the crime. He was killed after my husband and I went to jail; my husband and I are paying for his crime.”

Rosa does not appear to be a woman capable of hurting anyone, much less murder. She has had a roller-coaster ride, dealing with both her husband’s prison sentence and the death of her son. Despite this situation, she is still able to stay calm and accepts the events, believing that, “destiny brought me here (to PNFAS)” and with the help of CEM-H she has learned “about the law and how to prevent AIDS. I am a better person with self-esteem and have new values through CEM. I have found myself again.”

When asked about her hopes for the future, the pain is evident; she describes her life back in El Salvador. She used to work on her farm with her husband, making and selling cheese. She wants to return to this life and wants to forgive her son. While explaining this, she breaks into tears, still talking but obviously distressed by acknowledging her circumstance. She had no lawyer when she was charged, only a district attorney and has no support outside of the prison to help her with her case. “I ask for the government to review my case.”

PNFAS broke any stereo­type I had of a women’s prison, except perhaps their lack of funds. Everyone was receptive and friendly; the prisoners were approachable despite their situation and made an effort to communicate. There was a true feeling of community, sticking together and staying strong. These women, despite their circumstances, their lack of money and attention, have managed to come together and work to make the most of their situations.

World Wildlife Fund celebrates World Wetlands Day: “Healthy Wetlands, Healthy People”

Gilda Aburto
From WWF, Special to Honduras This Week

On February 2nd, the World Wildlife Fund (WWF) celebrated “World Wetlands Day,” designed to recognize the importance of these ecosystems for the survival of plants, animals and mankind. Sylvia Marín, regional representative of the WWF for Central America, explained that the importance of celebrations like these is, “to elevate the conscience of the population to the necessity of protecting the atmosphere and the different ecosystems that sustain life on our planet.”

The wetlands of the world are classified and protected under the guidelines of the Convention of Ramsar, an intergovernmental treaty established in 1971 in Iran, and signed by 158 countries.

These valuable ecosystems provide potable water for domestic, agricultural and industrial use. They help control floods; provide fish and the necessary conditions for rice fields. They also serve as natural filters for contamination from agro chemicals, sediments and other impurities and are an important source of ecotourism income. The wetlands provide aquatic transportation for its population and their products.

The coastal wetlands, like mangroves, offer protection against storms, preventing beach erosion and retaining the important orig­inal sedimentation of agricultural plantations.

WWF Central America has been a conservation leader of one of the most important wetlands of the entire region: the Mesoamerican Reef. The Agriculture and Atmosphere Program focuses on developing and implementing better handling practices in the intensive agricultural operations within the zone, like palm oil, citrus fruits, bananas and sugar that can have a negative impact in the coastal wetlands of Honduras.

WWF also forms strategic alliances with producers, agro industries and local governments, to develop, promote and adopt the best agricultural practices, specifically in Belize and Honduras. Of particular importance are the harmful effects of the agricultural fertilizers and erosion, which both threaten the delicate waters of the Mesoamerican Reef. Due to the deforestation of mountains and strong rains, agricultural activity becomes a threat to coral reefs and coastal ecosystems, due to the sediment and agro chemicals that flow into the sea.

“Taking measures to control the contamination is vitally important, “ explained Jose Vásquez, Official of Agriculture of WWF. “There are plantations relatively close to the coasts, and when it rains, waters torrentially drag fertilizers and pesticides, as well as part of the superficial layer of the ground which is then taken by the rivers on to the sea, where they are deposited in the coastal zones, clouding the water and affecting the reef.”

WWF has worked with farmers so that they take measures to use their crops as ground cover to help with erosion and to keep natural nutrients in the soil, reducing the need for chemical fertilizers, which harm both the reef and the atmosphere.

Through the Fresh Water Program, the WWF tries to coordinate efforts to mitigate the threats to water sources, to restore the quality and to maintain a good flow of the water, especially in the region of the Reserve of the Biosphere Mountain range of the Mines, in Guatemala. The WWF also develops integrated management of river basins in the Gulf of Honduras and Bocas Del Toro, in Panama.

In Belize WWF works in the conservation of mangroves, valu­able ecosystems that lend important benefits to the reef, because they filter and they retain chemical balance and sediments that flow to the coasts, and would cause the turbidity of the water and serious contamination.

Coastal mangroves protect from wind, acting as curtains that reduce the speed of coastal storms. They provide shelter to many marine species in the early stages of their lives.

There is intensive work with shrimp farmers in Belize to make sustainable practices in the waters they use for their activity, like treating the water in which they farm before it reaches beaches, potentially contaminating them.

On February 2nd, we were reminded to make a conscious effort to remember the importance of protecting the world’s wetlands. The WWF celebrated the day in hopes of seeing positive changes toward the sustainable treatment of these valuable and delicate ecosystems.

Life in Rural Honduras: Part 2
The Traditional Bio-fuel: Firewood

Robert Conklin
Honduras This Week

In Conklin’s previous instalment, (Feb. 2, 2008) he offers that firewood, the original bio-fuel, is still used by many rural Hondurans as a sole source for heat to cook and warm homes and contends that perhaps we should re-examine it as an alternative to oil. He illustrates the rituals of those who are dependent upon firewood as well as observes the differences between cultures that are dependent upon oil.

Nearly everyone in the family gathers firewood. Some contribute a stick or a branch every time they return from work. Others, usually the older children, are sent out to bring in loads on demand. Occasionally the lady of the house organizes firewood brigades of from six to twelve gatherers, some of them mere toddlers. The end result is a pile of sticks near the kitchen and sometimes posts, logs and branches scattered about the yard. Often, well into an evening when our lady complains that there is no firewood, a hasty collection of the woody material scattered about the yard is sufficient to satisfy the immediate demand.

There is no vacation from the demands of the wood-burning stove. Two to three hundred pounds of wood will be burned each week, fifty-two weeks per year; it´s not a weekend camping trip.

Firewood, to people in the northern United States, for example, was once used mainly for heating and sometimes, for cooking. It was not cut spontaneously, on an as-needed-basis as it is here in Honduras. It was, many times, cut a year in advance and allowed to dry. A home’s wood supply was easy to spot as it was usually stored on the side or in the back of the outside of the house, stacked about chest high, eight feet wide and forty-feet long.

The use of firewood does play a role in deforestation, but that role is complicated. Initial deforestation of large forested areas is from lumbering and then invasions by livestock and crop farmers. In the early lumbering days, forest residue is either burned or allowed to rot. Very little is used for firewood. This is also true of the livestock and cropping operations. Since these operations bring more permanent populations to the forest, use of firewood increases but does not exhaust the supply. It takes communities to begin making greater demands on the forests as providers of firewood. But when that process begins, it is as constant as the use of firewood is for the user. And the demand grows, until a cheap, convenient alternative presents itself. For much of the world, this alternative has not yet presented itself.

An interesting aspect of the role of firewood as an agent of defores­tation is its influence as an instigator. Firewood is gathered at the edges of the deep forests, clearing out the undergrowth at the edges. This park-like forest perimeter serves as a magnet for the stock farmer and bean farmer who are quick to exploit a vacuum. First come the beans and the cows, and even more aggressively, the coffee, under the over-reaching branches of the taller trees. Then, in short order the trees themselves are found to be inconvenient for the new enterprise, and they too must go.

It is not going to be easy to wean people from firewood. Solar stoves cook with sun energy, but they seem unable to win human hearts. Burning firewood directly is far more efficient than the other refined bio-fuels, after all the processing costs are factored. So, there are reasons to suspect that we will see cooking fires well into the future. It might be high time to commercialize fuel wood produc­tion, offering productive work for many, and to make the use of firewood more efficient and convenient.

A fire captures our attention. For at least a half million years, humans, and some of their ancestors who learned to use fire, grouped around campfires, cooked their food, ate, talked, and dreamed; that´s a long history of wood fires. Today, even urbanites in the indus­trialized world are mesmerized by a campfire. And maybe the zombie-like trance we see when sitting in front of a TV, eyes focused on the flickering light, in some way demonstrates the impact of the long history of humans and camp­fires.

I remember the radio-only days. More than once, I watched family members in the near-dark as they stared at the orange dial-light on our living-room radio. They gazed, transfixed as any kid watching TV or any ‘campesino’ staring into the glowing coals of a wood fire.

Honduras-IMF:
Agreement may be signed in March

Alvaro Morales Molina
Honduras This Week

According to Hondudiario.com, an online newspaper based in Tegucigalpa, Edwin Araque, the new president of the Honduran Central Bank, along with a group of Honduran negotiators, went to Washington D.C. last week to continue working on a new agreement with the IMF (International Monetary Fund) so that it can be signed in March this year.

Hondudiario.com explains that the basics of the agreement are that it consolidates the macroeconomics of several countries. Araque said on February 5th, they will have culminated a “standby” agreement with the IMF.

Araque explained, that “an agreement of this type includes a program based on financing the rights that have been chosen, the quota that Honduras maintains with the IMF.” The basic charac­teristics of the agreement are that it consolidates the macroeconomics of different countries, as well anticipates difficulties such as the price of fuels and the deceleration of the economy.”

Minister of Finance, Rebeca Santos said that wages, subsidies and the current situation with the National Energy Company (ENEE) are three subjects that are going to be discussed and agreed upon during the process of negotiations with the IMF. She indicated that what is most important now is the fact that the Technical Commission that represents Honduras has defended its program consistently.

On the subject of subsidies, Araque explained that the officials of the IMF accepted that measures taken by his government have allowed the government to partially contain inflation.

On-the-Spot Report
Super Bowl 42: The Best Super Bowl Ever?

Bruce Starr
Honduras ThisWeek

My first Super Bowl was, to say the least, an incredible experience. It brought back cherished memories when my dad took me to New York Giant football games at Yankee Stadium in the Bronx. Back then, the teams were coached by guys like Allie Sherman with legendary quarterbacks Charley Connerly, Y.A Tittle and Fran Tarkenton. Players like Spider Lockhart, Dick Lynch, Homer Jones and Pete Gogolak were the heroes then. It also meant going for years without world championship, quality teams.

But just how did this Honduran radio host and writer for “Honduras This Week” end up in Phoenix attending the game? It all started when members of the Maricopa County Sheriff’s Office (in Arizona, U.S.A.), one of the largest county sheriff offices in the U.S., came here to help improve and train police on both the mainland and on the Bay Islands. I invited them on my radio show twice to talk about all the good and selfless work they were doing to help the security and safety on our island as part of their international Partnership in Service and Justice Program.

After the shows, they reminded me that the Super Bowl was going to be in their county in 2008 and they were one of the key organizers for the event. They invited me to visit them in Phoenix and said they would help me arrange press credentials to cover the game. That was less than a year ago - it never left my mind that I might be able to attend my first Super Bowl.

When they returned with a another team of police officers six months later, the second group also asked me if I wanted to go, and of course, I thought about going again. But as it got closer to Super Bowl time, it was looking less and less like I would actually it. At the time, I was just getting 106.5 FM on its feet after taking over as manager just weeks before. The timing was not right.

That was about the time I watched the Giants play the Packers on that freezing cold day in Green Bay two weeks before the Super Bowl. I never expected the Giants to win (nor did many others), much less that the Giants would be traveling to Phoenix to play the big game. Even after I saw them win the NFC Championship, it still didn’t fully dawn on me that they were in the big game until minutes later when I heard the announcer say “the Giants are headed to the Super Bowl!”

I quickly called my contact in Phoenix to see what had to be done to go. After several calls, the next day, the NFL cleared my press credentials. I decided to take a big leap of faith, call the airlines and make my reservations. Two days earlier, the tickets were one price. That night, they were $150 less. Almost a no-brainer: I purchased the ticket.

Five days later and the night before I was to fly, I got a call telling me that although the NFL did clear my credentials, there was some difficulty getting all the necessary security clearances. Here I was, airline tickets in hand and uncertain whether I would actually get into the game. What should I do - take this chance to do something my dad never got to do in his lifetime, or stay home?

I went to sleep telling my wife I wasn’t going to go. I woke up in the morning comparing what it would feel like not going to what it felt like if I took a leap of faith. The overwhelming feeling was to just go and give it a shot.

I arrived in Phoenix late Saturday night, mere hours before the Sunday night kick-off. The next day, a friend took me to see another mutual friend and we were treated to a wonderful party with terrific food. He also whispered in my ear that he would come out at half time to give me his ticket so I could at least see half of the game. What a relief - and what a guy! My dream came true - I was going to the Super Bowl. It didn’t matter that it was going to be the second half. I was going and couldn’t have been happier!

With our VIP pass, we were escorted through a private entrance to a great restaurant and ate, compliments of the house - some of the largest, best-tasting shrimp I ever had (must have come from Honduran waters) along with sliced tenderloin and lots of other food I had not tasted in a long, long time.

In the middle of the meal, my friend received a phone call. He said, “Come on…let’s go!”

I looked up, “And leave this great food?”

He said, “Yes, right now. We have to go!”

“Oh my God,” I thought to myself. I gobbled up as much as I could and we left. “Where are we going?” I asked.

He told me there was a chance there might be a donated ticket for me to attend the entire game. I tried not to get too excited, but it was difficult.

After a vigorous pat-down, I walked past security guards. Upon entering the new University of Phoenix Stadium, I found my aisle, number 139. I looked down at the ticket. It said row 20. I was at row 59. I looked down at the field and asked myself, “Could it be I am 20 rows from the field?”

I found myself sitting in a VIP section behind the goalposts, only 20 rows from the field. A lady walked over to me after kickoff and placed a red bracelet on my wrist. She told me I could drink and eat all I wanted, just below the stairway. I headed down to find a table high with fresh, buttered popcorn and barrel of candy including M&M’s, both plain and peanut, nuts, and just about any other snack one could ever want.

In a section of mostly Giants fans, I was sitting on one of three Super Bowl cushions that eventually came home with me. I was truly in ‘heaven on earth’ and heard San Francisco Hall of fame quarterback Steve Young say the same thing several times over the huge sound system and scoreboard during commercial time-outs.

The 7 -3 Patriots lead at halftime was the second lowest halftime score in Super Bowl history, mostly because of the excellent defense by both teams.

Before I left on the trip, I had sent some e-mails telling some of my fellow football fans where I was headed. My oldest high school friend, Ken Hale, wrote back telling me he was going too, and would be in section 115. At half time, I took a walk. When I got to section 115, I tried to rush by the attendant to look for Kenny. It didn’t work. She stopped me and said I could not go down there without my ticket. I said ‘please?’ She said…’no!’ I told her my ticket was worth more money than the tickets in that section and said I was looking for an old high school friend who I hadn’t seen in years. I pleaded my case, “You can watch me go up and down the aisle. If I don’t see him, I will be right up.”

She looked at me for a few seconds and said, “Okay.”

I knew if Kenny was there I would find him, because he went prematurely grey at a fairly young age. So I looked for the guy with grey hair. On the way up, I saw someone who kind of looked like him. I hadn’t seen him in 15 years, so I was not sure. I yelled Kenny’s name across several people to see if it was him. He looked at me for a few seconds and then flashed big smile. I found my friend!

We had a great talk during the Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers half time concert. With another near miracle under my belt, I walked back to my seat and watched the second half, wondering if the Giants were going to stay with those Patriots after they woke up and started playing. I was not convinced.

The Giants played incredible defense, as they had most of the season, winning 10 in a row away from home, without a loss. They beat powerhouse playoff teams Tampa Bay, Dallas and Green Bay to get to the Super Bowl.

Then they scored a touchdown to make it 10-7. Then the Patriots scored to make it 14-10 with just over two minutes to go. The Giants needed to score a touchdown or they would lose.

The next two football minutes were the most exciting I had ever witnessed. The Giants received the kick-off, the receiver tackled immediately behind the 20 yard line. The Giants would have to go over 80 yards in just two minutes to win. The Giants’ prospects looked dim.

Eli Manning, the youngest of the quarterback Manning’s, had to pull every ounce of skill he had out of his pocket. Older brother Payton won last year’s Super Bowl against the Chicago Bears. Who would believe that with just over two minutes to go, Eli would be able to go 80 yards downfield?

After a terrible desperation pass, the young, inexperienced Giant quarterback started his attack down field. He threw pass after pass, first down after first down, one miraculous play after another.

The one true, unforgettable moment in this year’s Super Bowl? Manning escaping a pack of marauding, hungry Patriot attackers, hands grabbing and pulling at his uniform, only to shake loose, complete an almost impossible pass, setting up an easy touch­down completion to put the Giants in the lead!

The stage was set for another New England Patriot exciting, last second win. They needed a field goal to tie, a touchdown to win. I had seen them do just that several times in the last year or so. I was just waiting for the onslaught to begin. It never happened.

Michael Strahan and gang sacked Brady, pass after another went with receivers going empty-handed. Another Patriot miracle was not meant to be.

Eli Manning won the game with pinpoint passes to receivers who caught them with fingertip precision. As the clock ticked down, the stadium, filled with well over 40,000 Giant fans, started its celebration, an overwhelming experience. It ended with Frank Sinatra’s “New York, New York” bringing down the house, tears streaked down many faces.

Was it true? Yes it was....the New York Giants were the 2008 Super Bowl champs!