Culture in the Balance - The Rio Blanco Maya
The valley of the Gualcarque River is a naturalist's paradise.
A walk down the only road toward the site of the proposed Agua Zarca dam and power plant offers the assurance that a look in any direction will yield a view more spectacular than the last.
This is a land of perpetual green where every little shrouded ravine reveals a rivulet of sparkling clear water hidden under leaves that can often be measured in feet.
Brilliantly colored tropical birds flit through heavily laden Mango trees above an undergrowth of Moras dripping with fruit, and an uncommonly odd insect or two dropping in for a free lunch.
The Lenca people are the largest indigenous population in Honduras, and the largest group who can legitimately be called Maya.
Ancestors of the Rio Blanco community have lived in the Gualcarque River valley for untold ages, possibly even before the Classic Maya era.
They still use traditional farming methods to grow their crops of maize, beans, squash, as well as coffee and cacao.
Some money is earned by selling their excess crops in town or to foreigners.
Lenca women use hand looms to weave vividly colored cloth from which they make their traditional dresses, and artisans make exquisite pottery by hand in designs uniquely Lenca.
A huge blow to Lenca culture is the loss of their native language.
For more than three thousand years the people spoke a Lencan Maya dialect.
Now a very few Lenca elders speak a few words, but no one can communicate in original Mayan.
The indigenous people of Intibucá and the rest of western Honduras now speak Spanish, and the children are taught only Spanish in school.
Spanish religion has also been adopted by most Lenca, though they do retain and cling to some of their traditional beliefs.
Though nominally Roman Catholic, most Lenca also believe in living spirits of nature, and some places are traditionally sacred.
One of the most sacred for the Rio Blanco Lenca is the Gualcarque River.
The Agua Zarca Dam project is a potential disaster for the Rio Blanco Lenca people.
It will flood the entire valley, inundating farms and villages, forcing the Rio Blanco populace to move elsewhere, but they have no place in which to relocate.
The land was given to them by Honduran law as their ancestral home and they see it as a treacherous land-grab and a betrayal by the government, besides the destruction of one of their most revered shrines.
The government says it will create construction jobs for the Lenca as well as bring cheap electricity to much of western Honduras.
The project is backed by huge political and money interests in Tegucigalpa, as well as China which has absolutely no interest in preserving Mayan culture.
The Rio Blanco Lenca have managed to arouse the attention of many Honduran citizens as well as several groups from UNAH, the National University of Honduras, and they have lobbied the courts for an injunction on the construction.
The courts have yet to decide on their fate.
Three thousand years of Mayan culture and ancestral rights to their homeland are being weighed in the balance.
Several politicians, banks and wealthy Hondurans stand to make or lose a lot of money.
The Rio Blanco Lenca Maya stand to save or lose their ancestral home and their way of life.
A walk down the only road toward the site of the proposed Agua Zarca dam and power plant offers the assurance that a look in any direction will yield a view more spectacular than the last.
This is a land of perpetual green where every little shrouded ravine reveals a rivulet of sparkling clear water hidden under leaves that can often be measured in feet.
Brilliantly colored tropical birds flit through heavily laden Mango trees above an undergrowth of Moras dripping with fruit, and an uncommonly odd insect or two dropping in for a free lunch.
The Lenca people are the largest indigenous population in Honduras, and the largest group who can legitimately be called Maya.
Ancestors of the Rio Blanco community have lived in the Gualcarque River valley for untold ages, possibly even before the Classic Maya era.
They still use traditional farming methods to grow their crops of maize, beans, squash, as well as coffee and cacao.
Some money is earned by selling their excess crops in town or to foreigners.
Lenca women use hand looms to weave vividly colored cloth from which they make their traditional dresses, and artisans make exquisite pottery by hand in designs uniquely Lenca.
A huge blow to Lenca culture is the loss of their native language.
For more than three thousand years the people spoke a Lencan Maya dialect.
Now a very few Lenca elders speak a few words, but no one can communicate in original Mayan.
The indigenous people of Intibucá and the rest of western Honduras now speak Spanish, and the children are taught only Spanish in school.
Spanish religion has also been adopted by most Lenca, though they do retain and cling to some of their traditional beliefs.
Though nominally Roman Catholic, most Lenca also believe in living spirits of nature, and some places are traditionally sacred.
One of the most sacred for the Rio Blanco Lenca is the Gualcarque River.
The Agua Zarca Dam project is a potential disaster for the Rio Blanco Lenca people.
It will flood the entire valley, inundating farms and villages, forcing the Rio Blanco populace to move elsewhere, but they have no place in which to relocate.
The land was given to them by Honduran law as their ancestral home and they see it as a treacherous land-grab and a betrayal by the government, besides the destruction of one of their most revered shrines.
The government says it will create construction jobs for the Lenca as well as bring cheap electricity to much of western Honduras.
The project is backed by huge political and money interests in Tegucigalpa, as well as China which has absolutely no interest in preserving Mayan culture.
The Rio Blanco Lenca have managed to arouse the attention of many Honduran citizens as well as several groups from UNAH, the National University of Honduras, and they have lobbied the courts for an injunction on the construction.
The courts have yet to decide on their fate.
Three thousand years of Mayan culture and ancestral rights to their homeland are being weighed in the balance.
Several politicians, banks and wealthy Hondurans stand to make or lose a lot of money.
The Rio Blanco Lenca Maya stand to save or lose their ancestral home and their way of life.
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