Press Releases

Conference on Honduras 2010 Set for Copán Ruinas in October

CONTACT: Marco Cáceres, hondopost@yahoo.com

WASHINGTON, DC/September 3, 2010/projecthonduras.com/ -- The 11th annual Conference on Honduras will take place in Copán Ruinas during October 14-16, 2010 at the Municipal Conference Center beside the town's central plaza. The focus of the event will be education, healthcare, and community building. The aim was to present and exchange information on current and proposed grassroots volunteer projects to help the people of Honduras.

"We want to figure out how to improve and expand these projects, as well as encourage people to go out and create new projects," said the director of the conference, Marco Cáceres.

The Conference on Honduras series is the third part of projecthonduras.com's three-step strategic plan to build an alternative model of development for Honduras. During the past 12 years, the volunteer group has created an online portal at http://www.projecthonduras.com that serves as a clearinghouse of information on Honduras and has established a growing international network of people communicating via listserv forums on ways to help the country.

"We have more than 8,000 individuals in our Worldwide Honduras Network, and it's incredible to see the impact many of these private citizens are quietly making on Honduras," said Cáceres. "What we are trying to do with the conference is simply give people the chance to meet face-to-face, exchange business cards and information, and perhaps discover ways to complement each other's efforts."

The concept behind projecthonduras.com and the Conference on Honduras is based on the belief that developing countries like Honduras need to tap all of their "human capital" around the world in order to break their cycles of poverty and find ways to implement solutions to persistent problems. The Internet now provides the ability to quickly and cost-effectively organize masses of people and channel their experience, talents, and expertise into specific areas of need in a country. For further information on the Conference on Honduras 2010, see http://www.projecthonduras.com/conference. The conference will be presented by projecthonduras.com and sponsored by Special Missions Foundation, Inc.

Volunteers Needed to Teach at Jungle School in La Ceiba

CONTACT: David Ashby, +011 (504) 9991-5866, utilacays@yahoo.com

LA CEIBA, HONDURAS/September 1, 2010/Helping Honduras Kids/ -- The non-profit organization Helping Honduras Kids (HHK) operates a unique and free of charge, private Jungle School in the lower Cangrejal river valley, near to La Ceiba. Very few schools in Honduras are competely free, and this includes public schools. The school is located on a hillside among jungle foliage and is private so that the children can attend classes every day.

These children are from very poor families. They pay nothing to attend the classes, and they receive all textbooks (Santillana), uniforms, school shoes, backpacks, school supplies, milk, parasite treatment, vitamins, medical attention, clothing, shoes, donations of food to the poorest families, outings and a hot, nutritious noon meal (for many, their only meal of the day). Children wade or swim across the river or walk 1-2 hours one way on steep slippery trails to reach the school.

The Jungle School has 74 children enrolled in grades 1-6 and 15 in kindergarten. There are three teachers and a host of local and international volunteers helping out, so along with the cooking ladies, the HHK feeds more than 100 children each weekday. HHK's Hogar de Amor orphanage children attend this school. Most of these children have suffered severe physical, emotional and/or sexual abuse.

Dedicated local or international volunteers are needed to give vacation classes three days a week (from 9 am until noon, November-January) to keep the school open during the vacation period, so the children can receive educational stimulation and noon meals (a protein source in every meal -- milk, meat, eggs, and cheese,). The other two days per week would be spent helping the children at HHK's orphanage. What all these children need most is to know that someone cares. Is that someone you?

5 Honduran Men Charged in Drug Smuggling Operation

CONTACT: Jim Heading, +1 206-202-0777 (fax)

MIAMI/August 30, 2010/Media-Newswire.com/ -- On Monday, US Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) Homeland Security Investigations (HSI) special agents in Miami arrested Loreto Norales Herrera, 33, Vidal Castillo Marin, 44, Pedro Francisco Perez Lobo, 43, Jose Arnulfo Euseda, 32, and Fredy Ricardo Romero, 43, all of Honduras, on charges of cocaine trafficking.

They made their initial appearances in court on Tuesday and attended a detention hearing Thursday at 10 am before US Magistrate Judge John O'Sullivan.

The criminal complaint charges the defendants with possession with intent to distribute cocaine on board a vessel subject to the jurisdiction of the United States. If convicted, they each face a maximum sentence of life in prison.

On Aug. 3, at approximately 1:59 pm, the US Coast Guard Cutter Forward was conducting a routine maritime patrol in international waters off the Honduran coastline. During this patrol, the Cutter Forward approached a Honduran-flagged fishing vessel, named the Islena, approximately 15 nautical miles outside of Honduran territorial seas.

Later that afternoon, at approximately 6:25 pm, a Coast Guard team boarded the vessel and observed approximately 11 bales on the deck of the vessel. These bales field-tested positive for the presence of cocaine. Further investigation led to the discovery of an additional 77 bales, for a total of 88 bales on board the vessel. Each bale contained numerous kilogram-sized bricks of cocaine.

The five crew members were then transported to Miami and arrested by ICE special agents. The 88 bales of suspected cocaine were moved to a secure facility, where it was determined that the cocaine weighed approximately 2,529 kilograms (or approximately 5,565 pounds), worth a street value of $80 million.

This investigation was conducted by ICE's HSI Marine Smuggling Unit in Miami, the US Coast Guard, the Drug Enforcement Administration, the Federal Bureau of Investigation, US Customs and Border Protection, and the Miami-Dade Police Department.

This case is being prosecuted by Assistant U.S. Attorney Dustin M. Davis.

Physicians Respond to Appeal to Help Sponsor Healthcare Providers For Medical Brigade to Honduras

CONTACT: Edward McEachern, +1 (678) 277-3030, emceachern@jacksoncoker(dot)com

ALPHARETTA, GEORGIA/August 24, 2010/Jackson & Coker/ -- Several times during the year, Jackson & Coker co-sponsors -- with Jackson Healthcare Charities and Mission Predisan -- a medical brigade to Honduras to provide care to medically underserved communities.

On September 19, 2010, the groups will host the “Atlanta Walk for Honduras,” fund raiser to be held in Alpharetta, Ga. Employees of Jackson & Coker and other Jackson Healthcare companies, their family members, and community well-wishers will participate in a 5K walk to raise funds to sponsor the doctors, nurses and allied health personnel who will make the next trip to Honduras.

This year’s campaign offers a unique opportunity for physicians and other members of the medical community to support this worthy cause by sponsoring those who will be walking.

An e-mail was recently sent to over 300,000 professionals in the health care field, inviting them to make a financial contribution toward this cause. The e-mail included a video featuring Tony Rico, Senior VP of Operations and VP of Psychiatry at Jackson & Coker, who participated in a Honduras medical mission trip last spring. Based on his firsthand experience, he commented on how the medical brigade benefitted those who received medical care, and what made the trip so personally and professionally rewarding to Jackson & Coker representatives.

“It’s not an overstatement to say that the entire experience made a profound impact on everyone who made the trip. The sincere gratitude expressed on the faces of Hondurans who had waited months for specialized medical care was heart-warming and hard to forget,” Mr. Rico mentioned. The recent e-mail generated responses from physicians across the country. One heartfelt response was offered by Dr. Robert Krupkin, who had personally volunteered for medical missions service.

Dr. Kruplin remarked: “Having completed a one week medical mission in Guaimaca, Honduras, in July, and with plans to return individually in March of 2011, and with my own goal of raising money in Baton Rouge to benefit the church and clinic in Guaimaca, I would be honored to make a contribution to your mission for future help in that country. I would also be willing to volunteer to participate in future missions if the timing is mutually convenient. “ Jackson & Coker invites anyone who wishes to make a financial contribution to the Honduras mission to register their interest online and conveniently make a PayPal donation. Contributions are tax-deductible.

Any financial contribution to the Honduras mission will be matched by Jackson & Coker, and matched again by Jackson Healthcare. Thus, a $20 donation will result in $60 worth of financial benefit to the Honduras mission.

“We appreciate in advance all the help of those who choose to lend their support to this worthwhile endeavor,” Mr. Rico said. “The charitable funds will make it possible for everyone to be a ‘hero’ in helping the medically underserved, whether or not they participate in the walk on September 19th or actually make the trip to Honduras.”

Honduran Radio Reporter Shot in Latest Journalist Murder

CONTACT: Magnus Ag, +1 (212) 465-1004 x128, MAg@cpj.org

NEW YORK/August 25, 2010/Committee to Protect Journalists/ -- Honduran radio reporter Israel Zelaya Díaz was found shot to death on Tuesday along a rural road near the northern city of San Pedro Sula, the latest in an alarming string of journalist murders in the country. The Committee to Protect Journalists called on Honduran authorities today to conduct an immediate and thorough investigation into Zelaya's killing.

Zelaya, 56, a radio reporter for the San Pedro Sula-based broadcaster Radio Internacional, was last seen alive on Tuesday around 2 pm as he was talking with a man in a taxi at a gas station, the daily Tiempo reported. Local police found Zelaya's body later that day with two bullet wounds to the head and one to the chest, according to press reports. Honduran authorities have not yet disclosed possible motives or identified any suspects in the case.

Zelaya had not mentioned receiving recent threats, but his home was damaged in a fire of undetermined origin three months ago, according to Radio Internacional colleagues Carlos Rodríguez Panting and Jesús Vélez Vanegas. Zelaya reported on a wide range of local topics, including politics and crime, but he was not involved in investigative work, his colleagues told CPJ.

Eight journalists -- including Zelaya -- have been killed since March in Honduras, at least three in direct reprisal for their work, CPJ research shows. In July, a CPJ special report found a pattern of botched and negligent investigative work into the killings. Government officials have sought to minimize the crimes and play down the pervasive climate of impunity in the country, Carlos Lauría, CPJ's senior program coordinator for the Americas, wrote on the CPJ Blog this month. CPJ is investigating Zelaya's killing to determine whether it was related to his work.

"Honduran authorities must swiftly investigate Zelaya's murder, and bring all those responsible to justice," said Lauría. "With eight journalists now dead this year, the government must commit to thoroughly investigating all the cases, which up to now it has failed to do."