Honduras Political Crisis - Update #1

Dear Friends,

We hope that this post finds you all well. We will be sending out our next newsletter in a couple of week and I'll wait until then to tell you more about how we are doing, but please know that we are well. We write tonight to ask you to pray for an urgent political crisis that is developing here in Honduras.

The current president of Honduras, Manuel Zelaya, has called for a referendum vote this Sunday on whether or not to hold a further vote that would seek to seat a constitutional assembly and in effect, re-write the constitution. Following in the footsteps of Chavez in Venezuela and Ortega in Nicaragua, president Zelaya hopes to eliminate term limits and install himself as dictator of Honduras. The rest of the democratically elected government stands in opposition to Zelaya and his plan. We hope that this will be enough to stop him, but we are especially concerned about recent developments. Last night, the top military officer here in Honduras bravely told the president that he would not carry out the executive order to hold the vote (the Army's traditional role here when there is a vote) since the Supreme Court had declared it illegal. He was summarily fired and the chief officers of the Army, Air Force, and Navy all resigned in a show of solidarity with them. The defense minister also resigned. The president has positioned troops around his residence in the capital city in Tegucigalpa and the Attorney General has called for his dismissal.

Please join us in praying for the stability of the country and for the safety of the people here, and also for the long term stability of the work here at Loma de Luz.

Here is an article from the Wall Street Journal about the crisis: http://online.wsj.com/article/SB124597369604957305.html

Sunday may prove to be a particularly dangerous day here in Honduras for the Honduran people if the crisis continues to escalate. We do not believe that our family is in any danger (we certainly won't be traveling Sunday). Please pray for the people of Honduras:

-for safety in the midst of this crisis for those that are demonstrating and for whatever may happen Sunday

-for the rule of law to be upheld

-for wisdom for the chief of the armed forces and for those in positions of power within the government

-for this fragile democracy to hold fast

If you are interested in finding out more, I'll post some updates on the blog at www.davefields.blogspot.com over the next few days. Thank you for your prayers.

Dave and Marinajo Fields
Hospital Loma De Luz