By J. Malcolm Garcia in San Pedro Sula, Honduras
12 p.m., July 8, 2016. San Pedro Sula, Honduras. Interview with Father Cesar Espinoza, a friend of Berta Cáceres. He has received death threats for his anti-mining stance.
“You don’t look like a man under threat.”
“How should such a man look?”
I don’t answer. I have no idea. I only have my imagination and movie images to go by. Jumpy, nervous, I suppose.
“You’re calm,” I say finally. “Very calm.”
“What would you have me be?”
Again, I don’t answer. Espinoza wipes his forehead with a bottle of water. He uncaps it, takes a sip and sighs.
Nightmares, Espinoza says, plague his sleep. He wakes up sweating. He has not sought therapy. That is a luxury he cannot afford. For a while, he broke down in tears in the middle of mass. He had backaches and headaches. That may be from age.
“Do I go about my life shaking in my boots? No, but if I’m driving and a car comes too close I am scared.”
