Please join us for an evening of discussion and reflection on Cooperative Culture!
The world we live in greatly favors domination culture. We see this culture in our work places, in our government, in our schools, and even in some of our houses of worship. We are constantly presented with organizational structures that divide, and alienate us. Ways of living and working that focus on control, authority, and management.
Detainees in Newark's detention center, Delaney Hall, are subject to work grueling jobs for only 1 dollar a day, if they are even paid at all. Despite the many demands for change, the GEO group refuses to take any action to improve the work conditions in Delaney Hall. This mistreatment has led to a labor and hunger strike of 300 migrants within the detention center. With the strike in effect, the guards have imposed both physical and mental torture to those imprisoned. When these conditions were revealed to the public through a letter by the migrants, a group of protesters gathered around Delaney Hall; they are still continuing their efforts to have the workers' conditions improved.
President Trump's deportation demands throughout his second term in office have caused an 80 percent increase in deportation flights, leading to mass carbon dioxide emissions. ICE's flight operations have accelerated the already imminent climate crisis. In fact, there was an 88 percent increase in ICE flight emissions from 2024 to 2025. In addition to the harmful impact on the environment, ICE imposes dangerous tactics to the detainees on board; they are often chained or placed in body-restraint suits. After the suffering endured while in flight, ICE has been sending detainees to cities and countries that are dangerous and are known to pose a threat to them upon arrival.
Though the original teachings of protecting the environment originate in the Bible, documents such as Laudato Si and Fratelli Tutti continue to promote ecological justice today. Forces such as capitalism are disrupting peace and driving exploitation of natural resources. Conflicts over natural resources must be solved with moral, cultural, and pastoral responses in collaboration with legal and economic frameworks. Many prominent members of the Catholic Church, such as Juan Antonio López, have worked vigorously to protect the people and the environment from capitalistic systems that are destroying the peace and planet. Holistic work like that of Juan Antonio López makes people targets to those who hold immense power and wealth. Tragically, Juan Antonio López was murdered in Honduras on September 14, 2024, for his activism. His death proves that peace and justice must work hand in hand for the common good.
Honduran authorities arrested former mayor Adán Fúnez and two others for allegedly masterminding the 2024 assassination of environmental activist Juan López, a prominent opponent of a controversial mining project. The case highlights ongoing violence against environmental defenders in Honduras, where activism remains highly dangerous amid corruption, impunity, and conflicts over natural resources.
this article coherently summarizes the devestating reality of central american countries overlooked inspite of international warfare in the middle east and aisa demanding attention
To expand its gold mining operations in Copán Department, MINOSA (a Honduran subsidiary of US-based Aura Minerals) began deforestation of the Cerro Los Hornillos mountain, a site of sacred and historical significance to the local Maya Chortí Indigenous community, in July 2025. Community members questioned the authority under which the company was operating and denounced MINOSA for failing to consult affected peoples prior to initiating work in the area. They expressed concern that the destruction of Cerro Los Hornillos could affect the geological integrity of the mountain area and vital waterways. So to protect the well-being of the environmental and the health of the community, in September 2025 residents installed a peaceful encampment at the foot of the mountain to block any expansion of gold mining into the Cerro Los Hornillos.
The corporation has the office of the public prosecutor and other state law enforcement on its side. On February 12, to help MINOSA expand its mining operations (even though it did not have express permission from neither the Secretariat of Natural Resources and Environment nor the Honduras Institute for Geology and Mining), the Honduran military arrived at Cerro Los Hornillos to assist MINOSA in its deforestation by holding back the encampment of environmental defenders. On February 24, six encampment defenders had to appear at a court arraignment on charges of usurpation (illegal trespass/occupation). On May 5, they would appear in court again as a judge determines whether the public prosecutor has enough evidence to move the case forward.
Despite the severe social and environmental risks that this project poses, MINOSA is moving towards exploitation without any sign of institutional oversight.
Recent elections in Honduras have returned right-wing leadership to power, with immediate implications for the autonomy of Indigenous communities.
Along the Pacific coast of Guatemala on plantations subcontracted by Chiquita, agricultural workers with gaunt faces thread their way between banana trees, rubber boots sinking into black mud, machetes sharpened and strapped to their belts. They know the day will be long: 10 hours, sometimes 12, for a paltry wage – often below the legal minimum.
Although these plantations are certified by Rainforest Alliance (as “safe” for workers and the environment), researchers heard the same accounts from workers over and over: extreme fatigue, inadequate pay, unprotected exposure to chemicals, restrictions on the freedom of association.
The fungicide Mancozeb—banned in the European Union in 2020 after being classified as an endocrine disruptor that’s toxic to reproduction—is routinely sprayed on the banana fields. Without any warning to the workers, the crop dusters fly very low, and the yellow acidic powder falls straight on them. The certification body Rainforest Alliance has granted an exceptional authorization for its use on Guatemalan plantations until December 31, 2028, citing the need for “rigorous disease management” of the Black Sigatoka leaf disease. Other fungicides, herbicides and insecticides are applied throughout the growing cycle, both from the air and workers applying them with backpack sprayers.
This report by Public Eye takes us deep inside the plantations where the global economy meets the silence – and often complicity – of local institutions. It’s a world where thousands of people labor in near-total invisibility. Here, Guatemala’s brutal history is still being written with a machete; it’s a story not of progress, but of sweat, pesticides and drug cocktails to alleviate workers’ aches and pains.
(You can learn about alternative trade organizations that partner with worker-owned banana farms at EqualExchange.coop )
Join us in Washington D.C., April 20–22, 2026, as we draw on our shared faith traditions to inspire one another, and call on Congress to commit to Protecting People, Peace, and Planet!
to register click here
