Honduras: Potable water is coming to Guadalupe

Last Wednesday, grassroots leaders from Communities of Faith Organizing for Action (COFOA) in Honduras unloaded hundreds of meters of plastic pipe that they will help install to bring clean, drinkable water to 245 homes in the small village of Guadalupe, located in the mountains outside the Honduran capital, Tegucigalpa.

The next day, eighteen leaders visited the mayor’s office to thank him for this investment. Nearly two years ago, after visiting every family, Guadalupe residents gathered in a community assembly and voted to focus their organizing on getting clean water. After a series of meetings with the mayor, their negotiations finally broke through. The mayor committed funds to buy the water pipes, and the community committed their labor to help install them.

Access to drinkable water is a priority identified by COFOA communities across Central America. In Guatemala, COFOA communities are focusing their organizing efforts on the pollution of Lake Aticlan, one of the most scenic lakes in the world.  In El Salvador, more than half the 154 COFOA leadership teams have named water as a primary issue. Some are making progress, getting local mayors to partner with them to drill or reopen wells and provide water.

Access to clean water is a national issue. COFOA has been a long-time member of a national coalition in El Salvador fighting for a constitutional amendment making water a human right and national legislation managing the protection, use, and delivery of water. These efforts have stalled as political power has been centralized under the presidency of Nyib Bukele, which serves the economic interests of real estate, bitcoin, mining, and manufacturing companies.

To counter this centralization, COFOA is expanding its local power base by organizing additional communities, developments that are unable to secure water, and other improvements because they are not legally registered, as well as local development associations (ADESCOS). The goal is twofold. The short-term goal is to give local communities a voice to successfully access water. The longer-term goal is to build power and return to the national legislative table to secure a guarantee for every citizen to have access to drinkable water.

In the interim, we celebrate with the families in Guadalupe, Honduras, who, through organizing, have taken a big step toward providing water to every home in their community.