Trouble in Wounaan communities

I have written in the past about our outreaches to the communities of Rio Hondo and Platanares. But this week we learned of some serious conflicts threatening these villages.

Friday, as we were in Chepo looking for houses, we stopped by a friend's house. Diogracio is a leader in Rio Hondo, though he lives in Chepo and works there.

He has been at the forefront of a battle for these communities to receive the rights to their land. Several years ago, violence broke out with settlers who were moving in on land traditionally belonging to the Wounaan. Several Wounaan were injured, but no action was taken by the government.

Now, it has happened again.

According to Diogracio, a logging company has moved onto their land and is taking out their forest at an alarming rate. Those logging do not own the land, it's been claimed by the communities of Rio Hondo and Platanares, though the government has not officially recognized that.

When the loggers were confronted by several people from the community, it soon turned to violence. One logger was seriously injured. Now the community lives under constant fear of the loggers, who are heavily armed.

Though Diogracio and other community leaders have been working day and night to bring a resolution, the government has not yet responded or provided any protection to the community. The people are living in fear of attack. They are also going hungry as they cannot get to their farms to bring back produce.

I want to emphasize that this is based on what Diogracio shared with us, so I will try to reconfirm all this.

Please lift up these communities in prayer. Diogracio and other leaders have been sued, even though they were not present at the time these things happened. So their families are also afraid, not knowing what the future holds.

All we were able to do that day was to pray with Diogracio and encourage him to keep doing what he was doing. And keep praying.