MISSION SAN FRANCISCO DE ASIS, Honduras (AP) First came Hurricane Eta. Then, Hurricane Iota, unleashing rains of biblical proportions on the hillside community of La Reina. As Iota hammered La Reina for four days, residents kept watch on the mountain above their 300 homes for signs that they should flee.
MISSION SAN FRANCISCO DE ASIS, Honduras
First came Hurricane Eta. Then, Hurricane Iota, unleashing rains of biblical proportions on the hillside community of La Reina.
As Iota hammered La Reina for four days, residents kept watch on the mountain above their 300 homes for signs that they should flee. Some left quickly when the downpour ceased. Ivan Varela resisted, hoping to protect the seven houses he and his brothers had built over the years with money they earned in the United States.
On the last night, as his parents prayed, Varela shot his pistol into the air to scare off thieves stalking the properties of those who already had evacuated. But soon he realized the battle was lost. Water was gushing out of the ground and the earth was starting to tremble. He called his brother in Florida.
After mudslide, priest builds a new town on narco land
ALBERTO ARCE and RODRIGO ABD, Associated Press
July 30, 2021
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1of35Friar Leopoldo Serrano celebrates Mass, broadcast via Facebook, at a chapel in Mission San Francisco de Asis, Honduras, late Saturday, June 19, 2021. Located on the border of the departments of Santa Barbara and Copan, his sprawling mission straddles the road that is one of the region s main drug trafficking corridors.Rodrigo Abd/APShow MoreShow Less
2of35Marian Castron, from left, Maria Castron, 25, and Jenny Castron, 19, visit their home devastated by a landslide triggered by consecutive hurricanes in La Reina, Honduras, Friday, June 25, 2021. The Honduran town was hammered in November 2020 by Hurricanes Eta and Iota and then obliterated by a mudslide.Rodrigo Abd/APShow MoreShow Less
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Friar Leopoldo Serrano celebrates a Mass broadcast via Facebook from a chapel in Mission San Francisco de Asis, Honduras, Saturday, June 19, 2021. Located on the border of the departments of Santa Barbara and Copan, his sprawling mission straddles the road that is one of the main drug trafficking corridors in the region.
Rodrigo Abd - staff, AP
Marian Castron, from left, Maria Castron, 25, and Jenny Castron, 19, visit their home devastated by a landslide triggered by consecutive hurricanes in La Reina, Honduras, Friday, June 25, 2021. The Honduran town was hammered in November 2020 by Hurricanes Eta and Iota and then obliterated by a mudslide.
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