Reflection from SHARE delegation accompanying Juan Lopez's family and community in Honduras

9/25/2024

We seven SHARE delegates – Claire, Mary Anne, Kathleen, Scott, Sarah, Amy, and Paul – arrived in Tocoa, Honduras late Saturday Sep 21 st 2025 afternoon after a 7-hour ride through the lush, tropical countryside, ending with beautiful views of the misty mountains of the Carlos Escaleras National Park up above the beloved community of Guapinol where so many of us have been lovingly received by its defenders of water and life.

In the evening we joined our Honduran sisters and brothers at the day’s novena ceremony (a 9-day ritual of prayer by family and community to grieve and send a loved one on their way). There we shared loving greetings of hugs and tears with Juan’s spouse and younger daughter, members of the Tocoa Committee in Defense of Natural and Shared Resources (Juan’s organization), and many of the community that overflowed in the area in front of their house (I am not using many names here out of security concerns).

The service, led by a lay person, friend of the family and companion of Juan, was inclusive, participatory, and focused on our collective loss and a great friend, leader, and part of both a small family of four and a larger family including all of us. The Gospel reading was hard to swallow, as it was about loving and forgiving your enemies, but people made clear that forgiving doesn´t mean forgetting nor ceasing to seek after justice.

Today we sat in a circle with about 30 of Juan’s companions and partners in an open space at the San Alonso Foundation where we listened, and talked, for hours. We were led in meaningful songs of hope and struggle. Father Carlos, the parish priest, very given over to accompanying the people and promoting the Gospel of a very present God of life, shared how Bishop Henry Ruiz, of nearby Trujillo, met with the Pope, spoke of Juan and presented him with a photo of him, and, just yesterday, the Pope condemned Juan’s murder, and recognized him as. “a founding member of the pastoral care of integral ecology in Honduras.” He also spoke of a rotating plan for Juan Lopez to become known in all the parishes of the diocese. Others spoke about teaching about him in the schools, along with ecological concepts of caring for the earth.

Father Carlos also said that here we are part of a broad solidarity, that is not limited to just one group in one place. Scott then commented, “Solidarity is the tenderness shared between peoples that gives us the strength and hope to continue onwards.

A close companion of Juan said that Juan had no personal enemies, and that it is necessary to know who organized the plan, who decided that Juan should die, and who gave the order to kill him. She said that it’s not to think only that the local mayor may have had responsibility in his death, that he would only be one of those responsible. She said, “we are not talking about a simple matter; there are great national and international forces at play here,” and that, “this cannot remain with impunity, that there must be justice.”

She also said that Juan’s death would only have meaning if the megaproject of the mines and related facilities were shut down, and the government revoked their permits. These projects include the largest ore processing facility in Central America. “With all the people murdered, with all the families uprooted from their homes, the rivers and the mountains themselves will disappear.”

Others echoed the same concepts. Another great companion/friend of Juan expressed fear, and being unconvinced that the additional security measures afforded him would truly protect him, his family, and others (the night before we were with him, with his very young son running all around). He pointed out that the criminality resulting in murders remains with impunity. He agonizes over what would happen if he left the area, even temporarily. Who would carry on the work? He said, “the insecurity and the pain affect us all; it is a hard blow, to the head and to the heart.”

Another dear companion, who most of us who have been to Guapinol have met, also agonizes over this, saying, “I have two daughters, which I am not going to leave without a mother.” She said, “Xiomara (the president) was going to be a lovely figure bringing change, but here criminality continues.” She also said, “Juan prepared the way for us, but we never believed that he would be taken from us…”

So it continued, with hopeful messages interspersed with very difficult portrayals of their very difficult reality in this remote corner of Honduras.

They continue on, and it is striking and humbling how several there present spoke of the
importance of our solidarity, crediting us with helping to open doors that have been long closed (even if just a crack), with helping some of them to still be alive, and to believe that their cause of defending the water and the land can succeed. They also called upon us to seek to hold our own government into account as it sides with corporate interests more than with human rights and dignity, and that U.S. money invested here has great power.

There is much more that was shared there today, and companions in the group have more clarity about certain things, but these are the parts that stood out for me. Tomorrow we will visit Guapinol, possibly do a press conference, and continue with the eight day of the novena tomorrow. On Wednesday, the ninth day, there will be a walk through the town followed by a final mass. Only Claire and I will be here for that, as the remainder of the delegation must return to El Progreso to catch flights back to the U.S. the following day.

Please see the photo of Juan, below, that had him looking out at us throughout the day.

I am grateful for all of us, for all of you, for your love, commitment, and solidarity with our beloved sisters/brothers/companions in this land.

Paul Fitch
Tocoa, Colon department, Honduras
September 23, 2024