Gonzales, Kelvin Maynor (1985-2003)

Mennonite Weekly Review obituary: 2005 Apr 25 p. 3

text of obituary:

In Honduras, church aids families of massacre dead

By Tim Shenk
MCC News Service

LA CEIBA, Honduras — Honduran Mennonites, with the support of Mennonite Central Committee, are supporting family members of victims of a prison massacre, including helping with a funeral two years later.

Cesar Augusto Ventura was one of the people who had to wait for two years to bury a massacre victim — his nephew, Kelvin Maynor Gonzalez, whom he had raised as his son.

Gonzalez, 18, was imprisoned on charges of burglary and involvement with Mara 18, one of Honduras' feared youth gangs. On April 5, 2003, he was killed in a fiery massacre of suspected gang members by prison guards, soldiers, police and other inmates. A total of 69 people were killed, of whom 61 were suspected gang members, five were other prisoners and three were visitors.

On April 4, 2005, the bodies of Gonzalez and 11 other victims were delivered by Honduran authorities to a group of family members and laid to rest. For Ventura and other family members, the long-awaited funeral was a time of renewed grief and an occasion to demand justice.

"When we were there with the coffins, I just felt overcome with pain and suffering and hopelessness," Ventura said.

Honduran Mennonites helped organize the ecumenical funeral and have supported families in their grieving and in their search for justice. MCC supports this work through the Peace and Justice Project, a Honduran Mennonite organization.

Ventura was a single, adoptive father to Gonzalez and his older brother after the boys' mother emigrated to the United States. One day, Gonzalez was arrested for attempted burglary with four members of Mara 18, apparently in a rite of gang initiation.

Four months later, Ventura heard on the radio that prisoners were rioting at El Porvenir, where Gonzalez was awaiting trial and was killed.

"We went to the morgue here to see if we could identify the dead," Ventura said. "We weren't allowed to do it."

Ventura and other family members turned to the Peace and justice Project for help. The organization was already known for doing evangelism at El Porvenir and distributing toilet paper to prisoners. Staff members invited the families to meet and take part in grief counseling with a psychologist.

"It really helped us a lot, because it was right after it happened and there were a lot of bad feelings," Ventura said.

Ondina Murillo, the director of the Peace and Justice Project, said that throughout her work with family members, he job has been one of pastoral accompaniment.

"Our role has not been one of telling them what to do, but we have been companions, walking with them," Murillo said.