Displaying items by tag: Honduras

Many Hondurans are celebrating what they see as a rare instance of accountability for corruption among the nation's ruling class. Juan Orlando Hernandez, the country’s former president, has been sentenced to 45 years in prison after being convicted on drug and weapons charges. He had been found guilty by a Manhattan jury in March of accepting millions of dollars in bribes to protect cocaine shipments destined for the USA, despite his public stance against drug trafficking. Hernandez, who served as president from 2014 to 2022, maintained his innocence at the sentencing, claiming he was wrongfully accused. Prosecutors had sought a life sentence, arguing that his actions facilitated large-scale drug trafficking and associated violence. They said he had used drug money to bribe officials and manipulate election results in 2013 and 2017. His brother, Tony Hernandez, was also sentenced to life in prison in 2021 on drug charges.

Latin America continues to be a continent enduring profound suffering. 

Alongside some background articles about current affairs in parts of the continent, IPC’s Latin America Director – Yanira Gonzalez – has drawn together some prayer points to focus our hearts and minds on the needs of the people of Latin America.

The effects of the pandemic after a year on the continent have been devastating: deaths, unemployment, increased poverty, depression, domestic violence. Pray that the church will be a prophetic voice in this crisis announcing hope, grace and forgiveness. Latin America needs to hear God’s voice.

During the course of 2021, nine Latin American countries will hold elections, with five—Chile, Ecuador, Honduras, Nicaragua, and Peru—selecting presidents.  In particular, the Chilean and Peruvian elections will be taking place during the coming weeks.

The Chilean elections have already demonstrated the turmoil that 18 months of the pandemic have brought to many nations as Chile's centre-right ruling coalition failed to secure a critical one-third of seats in the body that will draft the country's new constitution.

With 90% of the votes counted, candidates backed by President Sebastian Pinera's centre-right Chile Vamos coalition had won only a fifth while independents picked up the most votes. New proposals will require two-thirds approval and without a third of the delegates, the government will struggle to block radical changes to the constitution unless it can forge new alliances.

At the time of writing this article, the result of Peru’s election remains unclear.  Peru’s left wing candidate Pedro Castillo, a relative newcomer to the political scene, has claimed victory in the after clinging on to a narrow lead as the lengthy vote count ended, although his right-wing rival has pledged to fight the result and has yet to concede.

Castillo ended the count 44,058 votes ahead of Keiko Fujimori, who has made allegations of fraud with little proof and has tried to get some votes annulled.

The result of the ballot held on 6 June has not been formally announced by electoral authorities, but Castillo hailed the win on Twitter.

As tensions increase, United Nations Human Rights chief Michelle Bachelet expressed her concern.

"Electoral institutions and the decisions they make must be respected and accepted," she tweeted.

 "If the rules of democracy are not accepted before, during and after the elections, it can create dangerous cracks in social cohesion."

Please pray for deeply divided Peru.

Pray: for Colombia’s ongoing protests against increased taxes, corruption, inequality, lack of opportunity and health care reform, proposed by the government of President Ivan Duque Marquez to stop.  The protests have claimed dozens of lives since the end of April, 2021 in Bogota and other main cities. Pray that God will touch the heart of government and demonstrators with peace.

Pray: for a continental movement of repentance from the shedding of innocent blood supported for many abortion laws approved by governments in Latin America. Pray for mercy! (Psalm 106:38 And shed innocent blood, even blood of their sons and of their daughters,/; and polluted the land with blood. Proverbs 6:16, 17... These six things the Lord hate: yea, seven are an abomination unto him: A proud look, a lying tongue, and hands that shed innocent blood.)

Please pray for a practical solution for the USA – Mexico Southern Border Crisis.

Pray: for the welfare of 21,000+ children incarcerated in US-run shelters awaiting immigration clearance, and for their families facing stressful processes and uncertainties.

Pray: for protection and rescue of trafficked children whose freedom and innocence have been betrayed (Matthew 18:10)

“Unauthorized immigrants are now running head over heels toward the Border Patrol in a most unlikely pattern of controlled anarchy.”  The San Diego Union Tribune May 7, 2021)

In Venezuela, a meeting of the National spiritist council, sorcerers, federation of ancestral religions, shamans, yatiris and governmental leaders of the continent is being summoned for a strategic proclamation of the Bolivarian* movement in Latin America. They want to establish not only a more leftist agenda, but spiritism as an endorsement of popular socialism to activate a revolution in our nations. We invite you to pray against all witchcraft and invocation of ancestral spirits that want to take over Latin America.

*Bolivarianism is a mix of pan-hispanic, socialist and national-patriotic ideals fixed against injustices of imperialism, inequality and corruption named after Simón Bolívar, the 19th-century Venezuelan general and liberator from the Spanish monarchy then in abeyance, who led the struggle for independence throughout much of South America. 

The Bolivarian Revolution is a political process in Venezuela that was led by Venezuelan President Hugo Chávez, the founder of the Fifth Republic Movement and later the United Socialist Party of Venezuela (PSUV).  According to Chávez and other supporters, the Bolivarian Revolution seeks to build an inter-American coalition to implement Bolivarianism, nationalism and a state-led economy.  (Attribution: Wikipedia)

Please pray for the spirits of darkness, ideological, political and occult, to be bound along with their human actors who want to destabilize and destroy Latin America and all freedom-loving nations.

Pray: that God would raise up leaders with integrity, godly inspired to bring transformation to their nations.

More / Sources: AS / COA, Reuters, The Guardian

The US homeland security secretary said they are expelling most single adults and families but not unaccompanied children. An average of 565 lone children are crossing the border daily. The highest number of families come from Honduras, the most unstable Central American country. Many lone children come from Guatemala, where youth population and unemployment are high and smuggling networks are developed. The transition from Donald Trump to Joe Biden has persuaded would-be migrants that a limited window now exists for US entry. In the Trump years human traffickers were thwarted, but they are now eager for more. Also, two major hurricanes have inflicted severe human and economic damage in Central America. Taking to the road to find a better life is dangerous, especially for children. Most flee from violence, corruption, and poverty all around them. Doctors Without Borders said 75% of migrants with children were fleeing threats of violence, including forced recruitment by gangs.

Category 4 Hurricane Iota began devastating Nicaragua on 16 November. It is the strongest storm on record to reach Nicaragua ‘We are in the hands of God. If I have to climb up trees, I’ll do it’, said a farmer in Guatemala. ‘We don’t have food, but we are going to wait here for the hurricane that we’re asking God to stop from coming.’ It came. Swollen rivers burst their banks, roofs flipped onto the streets and electricity poles have been downed. In Honduras the mayor of Wampusirpi said, ‘We are flooded everywhere, we need food and water. We lost crops when hurricane Eta struck two weeks ago.’ Pray for the residents of Central America which is still partly flooded, farms destroyed and debris from Eta everywhere. The wind tore the roof off a makeshift hospital. Patients were evacuated, including intensive care and two women giving birth during the first rainstorm.

Brazil, Colombia, El Salvador, Honduras, Mexico, Puerto Rico, and Venezuela have colossal crime rates which undermine growth, threaten human welfare, and impede social development, according to the UN and World Bank. The region registers 40% of the world’s murders despite having only 9% of the global population. One in four Latin Americans was assaulted and robbed in 2018. Wealthy Brazilians have to provide their own security. Pray for the church and the police to bring security and peace to Brazil’s vulnerable population. Massive street marches in Argentina, Mexico, and Brazil protesting against violence have made it difficult for politicians to avoid dealing with the issue and, in many countries, tackling crime is a central theme in political party platforms across the region. Pray for God to raise up strong, wise men and women with God’s anointing to lead the countries back to His purposes.

President Trump calls the ‘migrant caravan’ an invasion of the USA. . A desperate 2,600-mile walk from Honduras with children and a few possessions is an odd invasion. Honduras has suffered much since President Hernández’s fraud-marred re-election in 2017. As resistance to him persists, scores are killed by government security forces. Also gangs and drug trafficking cause one of the highest rates of homicide. Some are fleeing not because of crime or political oppression, but because of economic inequity and lack of opportunity. Scripture says we should care for the widow, the orphan, and the stranger. Pope Francis said, ‘It is hypocrisy to call yourself Christian and chase away refugees, those seeking help, someone who is hungry or thirsty. If I say I am Christian, but do these things, I am a hypocrite.’