Article by PBI-Canada

On January 4, the Peace Brigades International-Honduras Project posted that it “continues working to achieve a 2021 full of social justice and respect for human rights.”

Its new year’s greeting included an excerpt from a poem by the late Uruguayan journalist, novelist, and poet Mario Benedetti who wrote:

“Don’t give up that life is that,

continue the journey,

pursue your dreams,

unlocking time,

run the rubble and uncover the sky.”

The full poem can be read in Spanish here.

Benedetti lived in political exile from 1973 to 1985 in Argentina, Peru, Cuba and Spain.

Those were the years of the authoritarian military dictatorship that followed the US-backed coup in Uruguay. The period was marked by violations of human rights, torture, and the enforced disappearance of many Uruguayans.

Similarly, Peace Brigades International has followed with growing concern the serious deterioration of human rights in Honduras following the coup in June 2009.

PBI studied the situation of human rights defenders in Honduras in 2012 and then opened a protective accompaniment project there in 2013.

In 2019, 14 environmental defenders were killed in Honduras, making it the most dangerous country per capita for environmental activists.

2020 ended with the murder of two Indigenous land defenders in Honduras: Felix Vasquez on Saturday December 26 and Adan Medina on Sunday December 27.

We share PBI-Honduras’ desire to see a more hopeful 2021.

For more on the life and politics of Benedetti, there is this article from NACLA: A Lifetime Believing the Unbelievable.