Pro-life lawyers oppose bill to legalize abortion in Dominican Republic

Members of the Military Police of Public Order (PMOP) take control of the Women’s Social Adaptation Center (CEFAS) prison in Tamara, 25 km north of Tegucigalpa, on June 26, 2023. The government announced last week that military police would assume control of Honduras’s 21 prisons for a period of one year starting July 1, as well as train 2,000 new prison guards after a vicious battle between rival gangs left at least 46 women dead in a prison near the capital Tegucigalpa. / Credit: Photo by STRINGER/AFP via Getty Images

CNA Newsroom, Jun 28, 2023 / 08:00 am (CNA).

On June 20, a confrontation broke out between rival gangs at the Women’s Center for Social Readaptation (CEFAS) in Tamara, a town near Tegucigalpa, the capital of Honduras, where dozens of inmates lost their lives.

The massacre was carried out by women belonging to the so-called “Barrio (neighborhood) 18” gang, who shot, stabbed, and set fire to the inmates of another criminal organization known as “Mara Salvatrucha.”

The Mexican newspaper El Universal explained the meaning behind the terms: “In Central America the word ‘mara’ is used colloquially for a gang; ‘salva’ refers to El Salvador; and ‘trucha’ (trout) is a slang term meaning ‘intelligent’ or ‘clever.’”

After what happened, the president of the country, Xiomara Castro, fired the minister of security, Ramón Sabillón, and assured that “drastic measures” will be taken.

The president tweeted she was “shocked by the monstrous murder of women in CEFAS, planned by gangs in full view and tolerance of security authorities. My solidarity with the relatives.”

The Mara Salvatrucha (also known as MS-13) and Barrio 18 are widespread criminal organizations mainly in countries such as Guatemala, Belize, El Salvador, and Honduras. Both gangs originated in Los Angeles.

Its members, often identified by full-body tattoos, commit crimes such as rape, drug trafficking, kidnapping, and murder.

The number of women who died is yet to be fully determined. 

In a June 20 statement, the public prosecutor’s office of Honduras said there were 41 dead. According to the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights in Honduras (OHCHR), there were 46. 

The bishop emeritus of San Pedro de Sula in Honduras, Ángel Garachana Pérez, spoke of even higher numbers than those confirmed by officials.

The Archdiocese of Tegucigalpa’s prison ministry demanded that the authorities clarify “this cruel event” and that “answers be provided for what happened.”

In addition, the bishop demanded that security be reinforced in prisons so that “it works effectively and in an appropriate manner.”

In a June 25 tweet, Pope Francis said: “I have been very saddened by what happened a few days ago in the women’s penitentiary center in Honduras. I pray for the deceased and their families. May the Virgin of Suyapa help hearts to open up to reconciliation and fraternity, even within prisons.”

This story was first published by ACI Prensa, CNA’s Spanish-language news partner. It has been translated and adapted by CNA.

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Missionaries of Charity leave Nicaragua on July 6, 2022. / Credit: P. Sunil Kumar Adugula

Managua, Nicaragua, Jul 7, 2022 / 15:00 pm (CNA).
The government of Nicaraguan President Daniel Ortega, which has been in power for 15 years, expelled 18 … […]

Belem, Brazil, Aug 20, 2019 / 09:30 am (CNA).- A hospital boat named the “Pope Francis” set sail this week in the Amazon River to bring medical care to rural populations.

“Just as Jesus, who appeared walking on water, calmed the storm and strengthened the faith of the disciples, this boat will bring spiritual comfort and calm to the worries of needy men and women, abandoned to their fate,” Pope Francis said in a letter sent to mark the ship’s launch Aug. 17 in Belem, Brazil.

“In addition to being a beautiful concrete gesture in view of the Synod of Bishops for Amazon, this river hospital is above all a response to the Lord’s mandate, who continues to send His disciples to proclaim the Kingdom of God and to heal the sick,” the pope said, according to Vatican News.

The hospital boat is the initiative of the Fraternity of Saint Francis of Assisi in the Providence of God in partnership with their local diocese and the Brazilian government.

The Brazilian Franciscans were inspired to create the floating hospital when Pope Francis visited their healthcare facility during World Youth Day in Rio de Janeiro in 2013. During the visit, the pope encouraged Friar Francisco Belotti to expand his religious order’s charitable works into the Amazon region.

The boat, 32 meters in length, contains an operating room and analysis laboratory, and is able to provide a range of medical services, including X-rays, vaccinations, electrocardiogram,  mammograms, and ultrasounds. The hospital began treating its first patients Aug. 18.

“Barco Hospital Papa Francisco” will travel along the Amazon River to reach people who live in communities in the Amazon only accessible by river.

It is staffed by 20 medical volunteers, 10 crew members, and a Franciscan boat director for each 10-day voyage.

Pope Francis, who has often spoken of the Church as a “field hospital,” added that the Church can also now be seen as a “hospital on the water.”

The pope connected the hospital boat’s launch to the upcoming Special Synod of Bishops from the Pan-Amazonian region, to be held at the Vatican Oct. 6-27. The synod’s working document, entitled “Amazonia: New Paths for the Church and for an Integral Ecology,” discusses the environmental and economic problems faced by Amazonian communities and pastoral approaches to the region.

“The Church cannot but worry about the integral salvation of the human person, which involves promoting the culture of indigenous peoples, talking about their vital needs, accompanying movements and joining forces to defend their rights,” the synod working document states.

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