ERIC-SJ (Radio Progreso)

LOCATION: El Progreso, Honduras

EL Equipo de Reflexión, Investigación y Comunicación (Reflection, Research, and Communication Team; ERIC-SJ) is a group affiliated with the Society of Jesus (Jesuits) in Honduras, dedicated to researching and investigating human rights violations in Honduras. As they describe their mission, they exist to secure “human and institutional transformations that are conducive to relationships of horizontality and of respect for the rights of human beings, territories, and natural goods.” ERIC-SJ also operates a radio station, Radio Progreso, which has been a major voice for progressive Honduran civil society for decades. 

UUSC has worked with Radio Progreso/ERIC for years to support their efforts to draw attention to human rights issues in Honduras and to speak out against militarization and authoritarianism in the Central American country. In the wake of widely-condemned national elections in 2017 that returned former Honduran president Juan Orlando Hernández to an unconstitutional third term, ERIC’s team faced new threats of potential political retaliation and violence for their fearless human rights reporting.

As a result, UUSC staff accompanied ERIC’s team both on a speaking tour of the United States to draw attention to the human rights situation in Honduras and to help ensure their safety upon their return to the country. In the years since, UUSC has also worked with ERIC to spotlight other human rights problems in Honduras, raising awareness about threats to environmental defenders and oppose the criminalization of activists fighting to protect land and water in Central America. 

Image Credit: ERIC-SJ (Radio Progreso)