As a school teacher, he jetted off on a weeks-long mission to ease the suffering of some of the poorest people on earth.
But, even after three decades, Kurt Ver Beek still remains in the region he has grown to love, establishing a remarkable reputation for his unwavering commitment.
Having found a home in the Nueva Suyapa district of Tegucigalpa, the blue-eyed American soon recognized the overwhelming control of violent gangs in the troubled capital of Honduras.
The situation hit close to home when one of Ver Beek’s neighbors fell victim to a brutal murder, which the ineffective justice system hesitated to address, despite the perpetrator being widely known.
Ver Beek snapped and decided to hang up his missionary title and be the one man brave enough to face off against these feared criminals.
He founded an organization tasked with identifying bent cops and pushed judges to finally start filling up local prisons.
The group also started disguising witnesses and victims, so they were no longer scared to testify and would themselves help fight the city’s criminal underbelly.
Their heroics saw the power snatched from the vicious gangs and handed back to the justices – even taking down a powerful kingpin.
Ver Beek and Hernández started their work in Nueva Suyapa (pictured) where gang violence permeated the community
Ver Beek and Hernández were inspired to act when a member of their community was murdered, but the killer was never arrested. Pictured above are members of the puchos gangs arrested in Honduras
Carlos Hernández (left) and Kurt Ver Beek (right) founded the Association for a More Just Society (ASJ) to combat gang violence in Honduras. Pictured here together in 2015
Ver Beek’s life changed when he met local educator Carlos Hernández. The two were neighbors and set up the Association for a More Just Society.
They quickly expanded and what began as a small community effort turned into a complicated organization tackling the complex politics of crime in Honduras.
Ver Beek and Hernández had witnessed firsthand the violence by puchos members and their bloodthirsty leader Chelito.
They created a secret group as a division of ASJ to compel the justice system to incarcerate members of the puchos.
ASJ hired a lawyer and a private eye to root out which officers had connections to gangs.
The ASJ worked to protect victims so that they could testify against violent gang members. ASJ is pictured here helping a witness by disguising them to protect their identity
The puchos gang terrorized Ver Beek’s community. Pictured – members of the gang getting arrested by police
Ver Beek and Hernández embarked on a years-long journey to improve the criminal justice system in Honduras. Pictured here are police preparing to meet protestors
They provided resources to witnesses and victims who feared retribution, started holding gang perpetrators accountable and brought a psychiatrist in to prioritize their emotional and psychological health.
Ver Beek and Hernández recognized one of the core problems of corruption was that witnesses were intimidated out of testifying against violent gang members.
ASJ supported them and even came up with ways to shield witnesses’ identities who feared for their lives. They often covered them in cloaks to conceal their identities.
Their journey is chronicled in author and journalist Ross Halperin’s novel, Bear Witness: The Pursuit of Justice in a Violent Land.
‘In our typical criminal justice stories, the heroes are the ingenious cop who deduces this clue or the CSI investigator or the crusading prosecutor,’ Halperin said.
He added: ‘I think the reality of things is that a lot of that super cinematic stuff rarely figures in.’
Hernández went from running a small school to becoming an influential figure, talking to the media and working with politicians
Gang violence continued even when the perpetrators were known due to fear of retribution from gang members (pictured here getting arrested)
ASJ received backlash for working with former Honduran President Juan Orlando Hernandez. Pictured here after he was convicted of assisting in drug trafficking
Macario Pavon, a name Halperin made up to protect the source’s identity, was hired as a lawyer and worked with officers to arrest offenders of gang violence.
Pavon observed disturbing behavior from police, including barging into homes without warrants, abusing suspects, threatening people and even attacking prisoners.
Ver Beek and Hernández opposed the police’s violent ways but admitted that their hands were tied.
They then met with the Public Ministry to formalize a collaboration, and ASJ’s work in the justice system began to take off.
While visiting family, Ver Beek received a text that patrol cops had arrested Chelito and a group of puchos in a raid thanks to ASJ’s information.
Ross Halperin traveled to Honduras five times and conducted over 150 interviews to piece together his latest novel, which is available on May 13
But the violence still didn’t end, as Chelito’s death sparked an attack against Dionisio Diaz, a lawyer associated with the ASJ.
Diaz was murdered by two men on a motorcycle who pulled up to his car window and shot him.
Ver Beek was quickly notified of the tragedy and rushed to the scene to see his colleague leaning over his center console with blood on his cheek.
The tragedy put into perspective the danger involved in attempting to reform the criminal justice system in Honduras.
ASJ even had to make concessions by working with disgraced former president Juan Orlando Hernandez, who was later sentenced by the US Department of Justice for conspiring with drug traffickers to transport cocaine.
Halperin observed the way public opinion changed and how ASJ became associated with the disgraced former president.
‘ASJ without really intending to, gets kind of mired in partisan politics,’ he said. ‘And I think it’s been really interesting to see how, for lack of a better word, popular opinion has shifted with regard to them.’
Ver Beek lived in Honduras for over 35 years and persisted with his philanthropic work even in dangerous circumstances
A lawyer named Dionisio Diaz, who worked with ASJ, was assassinated in 2006 in an attack motivated by gang violence
Halperin told DailyMail.com that he was inspired by Hernández and Ver Beek’s desire to continue fighting for a safer Honduras despite obstacles
Ver Beek and Hernández haven’t stopped their work, and the ASJ estimates that as a result, murders in Nueva Suyapa have decreased by 80 per cent.
ASJ has expanded to other parts of Tegucigalpa too. The organization also began to combat sexual violence, working to bring 300 cases to justice, its website says.
Halperin confessed that despite the over two decades of work by the ASJ, Honduras still is a ways away from lowering crime rates.
The country hasn’t yet achieved low-crime statistics comparable to its Central American neighbor, Costa Rica.
‘Countries have improved, countries have transformed – and I do think ASJ has done things that have concretely made the country better,’ Halperin said.
He added that despite improvements, corruption is still present in the country, and gang violence hasn’t gone away.
Even though the journey is an uphill battle, Halperin said that one of the most impressive things about Ver Beek and Hernández is that they don’t give up.
‘Especially in Kurt’s case, at any point in time he could have just said, ‘Okay, I’m gonna move back to Grand Rapids and be a professor and stop fighting this fight, which is grueling,” Halperin said.
‘And they keep going and think they’re really proud of their accomplishments,’ he added, ‘but they also recognize how far the country has to go.’
Ver Beek and Hernández’s journey from friends and neighbors to quasi-vigilantes is detailed in Halperin’s new novel Bear Witness: The Pursuit of Justice in a Violent Land, now available on Amazon.
