OPINIONS & EDITORIAL

Monday, October 29,  2001 Online Edition 43

Teachers

The teachers strike has left us perplexed, and we have still not recovered from it.

The list of things we have lost as a result of the impatience of our educators is long. We mention, among others, our pride and our dignity. I have come from the home of a teacher, Mrs. Daisy, who had me asking her questions about dictionaries and books on the subject of opera. Mrs. Daisy was a teacher at a time when knowledge was more important than feeding one’s stomach. Many of the students from this era remember this, and remember their mentors with pride. They remember best the dedication of their teachers.

In our own education, which includes over 7 years in a university, we conclude that we have most appreciated the teachers who taught us things, and not the ones who always arrived late.
Fortunately we liked the challenges offered to us through our education, and we never lost our vigilance over our responsibilities as students. The teachers, with their consciences apparently above reprove, have first caused us to become annoyed, and later angered, contemplating the inefficiency, the effrontery, the disorder, the scorn, the lack of patriotism, the lack of dignity, the incapacity, the stimulation of ignorance of all of the teachers nationally.

In their slow steps, we saw them with newspapers tucked under their arms, but they had these to sit on, and not a one had brought a book to read. They were a confused mass, coming with hair unkempt, unshaven, shirtless, and talking incoherently, totally at odds with the needs and conscience of the nation.

Traitors to the children and youth of Honduras, to absolve themselves it is required that they demonstrate with seriousness that they are teachers and not clowns. 

Of the 60 days of work per year, they never have to work more than 23 hours per week. They are bringing down the level of thought and education in our country. I think that in the time of my mother, children went to school from 7AM to 12PM , and again from 2PM to 4:30PM. On Saturday they had school until 12PM as well, to learn nothing less than morals and civics.

And...starting with their strikes, to reduce theory, practice and time. Our country requests, implores and demands progressive education for its young.

And to think that, at one time, the teacher would go to the house of a student to speak with the parents over his schoolwork, and to know about how his student lives, so as to be able to support the student’s efforts. Today, the Honduran teachers want to ignore our society in favor of their greedy materialism.

And is it not true that our teachers have been the professors of the gang members? So how has it come to pass that we have so much more crime and violence in Honduras, about which teachers have been very closed mouth. Their attitudes are devoid of teaching value in terms of supporting the efforts of our society to obtain social peace. And where are these wonderful teachers when people are cutting down trees, building bars, taking the census, or when there are projects which can help with education and the community?

Is it by accident that the teachers seem to have nothing to do with the disorder here? Or is it that they only want to station themselves in front of school and put their hand out when the check arrives?

Why are they so indifferent to our country? What has our country done to them to cause them to adapt these negative attitudes?
So...What has Honduras gained with the teacher’s strike? Aside from nothing, they moved us with their faces as they asked for money without offering changes in return.

Thank God we have not been offered the Presidency of Honduras, because we have no doubt we how we would win this battle! As president, the first thing we would do would be to order that those teachers that don’t want to reorient and change their attitudes will be sent to drive taxis, buses, dump trucks and semis, which is not to denigrate these professions, but they are not scholarly ones.

PROBLEMS ON THE HIGHWAYS

Dear HTW:

Yes, “The Whining Gringo” is back. Except that today, I am so angry, I want to scream. It has become at least a bi-weekly occurrence between Cerro de Hule and Pespire, for some insane truck driver to dump his container onto the highway. More often than not the containers in question hold white sacks of flower or rice marked “U.S. Aid”.

Recently a family of eight was squashed by such a container as it slipped off of a flatdeck. Shortly thereafter, four people were killed in a car when a container struck their car while slipping off another flatdeck. Today a container fell onto the newly paved highway near Sabanagrande, the second one in two or three weeks. These avoidable mishaps cause severe damage to the (newly) paved roadbed, and cause traffic delays of one to two hours besides causing severe losses to life and limb and other property. When following these flatdeck trucks in traffic, one finds that only a small number of trucks have their containers chained, though most of them inadequately. The majority of containers are not at all secured by any means whatsoever.

Additionally there are buses on the highways who don’t care who gets run off the road, as long as they can pass and get ahead of the bus in front so as to scoop up passengers ahead of the competitor. Question: Are there too many buses licensed, as well as taxis? Why don’t bus drivers get cited for not carrying garbage receptacles and allowing their passengers to litter the roads with tons of refuse everyday? 

his writer’s windshield was splattered with leftover food items from a bus; he found it necessary to stop and clean said windshield. Let us not even touch on the subject of taxis and motorcycles in Tegucigalpa who seem to be able to obtain a drivers license only with the condition that 90% of their driving time will be spent passing on the right or cutting you off. 

Last year’s month of September, according to the newspapers, was the deadline for all trucks and buses to install mufflers or make repairs. Failing that, vehicles were to be confiscated. We live more than a half mile from the highway. Many of the same vehicles pass through here on a daily basis, sometimes twice a day. At times we think a large airplane is passing over us at low level.

These trucks sound the same today as they did a year ago, nothing changed. How do they get away with it? How many transito posts are they passing everyday without being cited?

Has anybody noticed the fact that only a small percentage of the Police motorcycles in use a few years ago are still in use? I have it from a good source, that the remainder are sitting in the police scrap yard with their cranking motors or other valuable parts missing. Question: who is in charge? It the “Nueva Agenda” Pineda Ponce promises look anything like what the Liberals have done in previous years of government, it can only get worse.
There is no hope. 

If the transito were to use their vehicles to patrol and cite or arrest lawless drivers and yes, even confiscate vehicles in severe cases, they would quickly amass so much money as to maintain a surplus of patrol vehicles and repair facilities. At the same time the roads would be made safe for law abiding drivers and pedestrians. Instead, abuse and harassment are still very much the practiced order of the day.

I was stopped one evening several weeks ago. I turned off the engine, energized the cabin light and presented my papers. While the police officer went through the usual routine of checking ID cards and license plates I was chewing on a cold stoagie. He returned to the drivers side stating that all was fine. However, he would have to site me for smoking in a vehicle.

My immediate response was uncontrollable laughter. We looked at each other for some time, whereupon he opened a page in a little book indicating with his finger the “statute” pertaining to the charge he laid. No one could have read the fine print in bright daylight. I replied that there would be no dinero, no mordida. He then inquired as to where I lived? I stated that my domicile was right here in the community, whereupon this traffic police man extended his hand with a smile and said, “Mucho gusto”. So much for law enforcement. In writing this letter I realize that no one will pay attention and nothing will change, but a little “whining” is good for the soul.

P.S. It is obviously a violation of human rights, when the government of Honduras collects taxes, pretends to mobilize a police force, (totally inept) and yet citizens of Honduras have to fend for themselves and must exist without benefit of law enforcement or protection from those who have absolutely no respect for other peoples lives or property.

Kurt Gruen 

FÚtbol no tragedy

Dear HTW

Honestly, don’t you think that labeling the loss of a soccer game as a “tragedy” is rather silly and in poor taste?

Anne Haehl
via internet

Monday, October 22,  2001 Online Edition 42

Foreign affairs:
Passport to the past

Our country has at its disposal very limited resources to put towards foreign services. And it appears to be difficult for our politicians to stop acting as obstructions to our foreign relations. Our foreign service team, with some honorable exceptions, is a hindrance to the future of Honduras.

The constant changing of Honduras’ strategy has become a systematic effort, whose purpose is solely to place preceding functionaries in a bad light.

One excuse for our problem is to say that our functionaries lack a school to provide a sufficient education for understanding how to function successfully in a changing global atmosphere. But the Office of the Chancellor agrees that we already have the solution for this in hand.

It is worthwhile to note that there are two administrative schools in Honduras with the capacity to play a role in the correction of the stated problem, and they are the School of Public Administration, and the School of Political Science. Of course candidates should count in their curriculum at least two foreign languages, and a year of experience in either the private or public sector.

But we are sad to say that this is not actually where things are headed today. We would like to outline some aspects of the current system of foreign relations that are problematic, in an aim to correct them, optimize them, prioritize them in time and space.

If the real whip of the Department of Foreign Affairs are recommendations, camaraderie, partisanship and a low budget, we should stop right here, as the case is closed. But if conducting affairs in this manner appears to be absurd, we have made an analysis that we need to start doing things not by cause of accident, but by scientifically using ideology capable of offering us a more opportune future.

At this point in our history we are offended to see foreigners travelling with special Honduran passports in their hands, without needing to get in line at immigration like us natives, and meanwhile we must wait for our turns to fight down to the underwear with customs agents.
A true description of our Department of Foreign Affairs is that it is as absolutely small as is possible, while in more developed countries foreign relations exists as one of the most complete and most attended to organisms of the state. These quiet organizations have the grandest plans, executed under an executive with a good head.

We are very far from validating our external activities. The chancellery does not have an analytical team, experts in treaties and negotiations, experts in foreign relations, and the worst is that our history of failure in every one of these areas is in plain view, right in front of our faces.

There is no guarding against people who have made themselves a part of our history in being drunks, die-hands and ministers of corruption. And our country intends to allow entry to a Russian mafioso, as a council ad-honerum, a person who does not speak the language, know the culture, nor know the national anthem.

One of the favorite criteria of the Chancellery of Honduras in evaluating candidates for positions is their political pedigree. They are not much interested in the person’s previous history, their education, or their emotional stability. Their personal resources, however, are very important, without which a candidate can’t survive. 

It is also the case that many of our ambassadors and diplomats have not returned to this country for many years, and have fallen behind the times. They have no system by which to get themselves up to date and continue in meaningful work.

Our country lacks the strategy and dynamics for external relations, and this is no secret. Our incapacity is enormous, and our own Minster travels constantly, acting like a ping pong ball, while his helpers and advisors are able to provide little help... what are the people in the Chancellery doing?

The communications from embassies with this country is practically nothing. What little information exists resides in wait of modest offers from private businesses.

We estimate that what occurred in New York has given a spin to world stability. In our perspective, the countries that are most independent in terms of their military and in terms of economics have the greatest chance to succeed in the near future...and those that already are in the most pitiful position have another destiny awaiting them.
At this moment, the road to success, throughout the world, is by acting quickly and without mercy. 

Our present and future government should break with our past history and make a commitment to concentrate on those things that are necessary to move our country forward in a responsible manner. Our Department of Foreign Affairs needs to throw out its old system today.

HIGH CRIME IN HONDURAS 

Dear HTW

How can a country with only 6 million people, smaller than most states in the U.S., have so much widespread and uncontrolled persistent violent crime. I can only come up with two conclusions: 1)ignorance; and 2)cowardice .I am a United States citizen that is married to Honduran wife, and it really disturbs me to hear what really goes on in Honduras. I can not understand how, with so much crime going on, they can just sit around and do nothing.

Where are the macho men I hear about in Honduras, that carry firearms and machetes, and have disputes that usually end up in violence? Everybody that knows a little bit about Honduras knows that there is a crime war going on there, but all you hear are the bad guys winning every gunfight in town, and no sheriff in town. 

If the police and the government can’t protect you, you must defend your self. In America it’s called “self defense”’ which means if you live in the wild, wild west, and you know danger is imminent, the next time somebody trys to rob you shoot first and ask questions later. Sooner or later they will get the message! You constantly hear about armed robberies, carjackings, muggings, home invasions and kidnapping going on over and over again, which usually end with the victim being killed and the killers getting away with loot, and police who can’t find them or can’t hold them. 

With so much crime going on, it’s not “how” you are going to become a victim of crime but “when”. I can’t understand, with so many warnings signs, why these killers are not being stopped dead in their tracks.(I just dream if I lived in Honduras and somebody broke into my house, I would smoke ‘em all). Not to mention the government, which is the biggest joke of all. 

All you hear in the news is about these bands that operate in the country, which are armed to the teeth with ak47 assault rifles and uzis, giving an impression of superiority, robbing banks and kidnapping.

This also happens in the US, where bank robbers try to rob banks armed to the teeth, but regardless of how many, three, four, six or eight, who cares, the cops group together 30 or 40 police officers and fight ‘em off until they are dead or captured. It’s a big shame that the government of Honduras, with the resources of the police and military, cannot bring a stop to these incidents (unless they themselves are part of it). 

And the last conclusion, which I hate to say, is maybe the people of Honduras are just plain ignorant and/or tolerate crime as an acceptable way of life with a barbaric mentality that we north american are not plain used to. 

Luis Hernandez 

Miami Florida
Via internet

MORE CRIME IN HONDURAS

Dear HTW

Now that Dr. Wilfredo Alvarado Madrid has been relieved of his position as head of the DGIC, it is hoped the new head of the DGIC will crack down on the terrorists that plague this former land of tranquility and kind and gentle folk. My brother was brutally murdered by terrorist in February 1998 and Alvarado had steadily refused our requests to bring in the eye witnesses and participants in this act of violence against a decent and honorable human being who loved Honduras and its people. 

I, too, remember the Honduras of old where one could roam the land and never have any fear of being murdered.

Terrorists are terrorists no matter what. Whether or not they destroy the World Trade Towers in New York or roam Olancho and other areas of this once peaceful country toting AK-47s and murdering and plundering innocent victims, they are in the same class but not necessarily in the same league as those of Bin Laden and must be eliminated by whatever means are necessary and at hand.

Corruption in high places has to be eliminated. Only the populace can kill this cancer by using their God given right to vote the rascals out of office. Only then can Honduras start to recover from the extreme poverty that is prevalent due to lack of tourism and the corruption in the government that gives Honduras the nefarious distinction of being the most dangerous
and corrupt country in our Hemisphere. These are not my figures but those of the World Banking Industry. 

President Flores has but little time left to take charge and send the best elements of the police and the military to clean house. This is the best legacy Mr. Flores can leave his beleaguered country.

A. Wilson
Via Internet

Monday, October 15,  2001 Online Edition 41

LAMENTING HIGH AIR FARES

Dear HTW

We are a family of six looking to travel to Honduras this summer of 2002, God willing for world peace. We would like to spend a week or so on the mainland, and another week or ten days in the Bay Islands. I have begun to research the airfares and I was surprised at how high they are. I thought perhaps it had something to do with the aftermath of the Sept. 11th Attack on America, but I have been told that these fares are always high. In fact, Honduras has a reputation for having one of the highest airfares in the area. This is very discouraging to us because airfare for six people adds up to a significant figure. 

We live in the Philadelphia, Pa area and were able to fly to Fiji last year for a round trip fare that was less than the round trip fare between Philadelphia and San Pedro Sula. Presently, we can purchase a round trip fare between Philadelphia and Madrid, Spain for $448.00!! As much as we would like to come to Honduras, it may be difficult to justify the cost of flying there. 

The NY Times travel section has great deals to Mexico, Costa Rica, Panama, and other destinations on a weekly basis. I keep hoping to find a deal that will entice us to come to Honduras. I would like to see the country first hand so that I can encourage the high school students where I teach to consider travel and homestays in Honduras. I would like to be able to tell our well traveled friends that Honduras is a great place to visit and a great value too. I don't know if you can provide any explanation as to why we are unable to find reasonable airfares between the US and Honduras. I welcome your response.

Ileana Stevens
by internet


POLITICAL IGNORANCE

It is very disappointing to see the ignorance of certain politicians and journalists. Recently they referred to the Bachelor of Arts Degree of the National Party Presidential candidate, Ricardo Maduro as if it was an Art Diploma like the ones they grant at the art schools in Honduras...and a politician made comments that he does not know where he did get his Bachelor's degree...and others were questioning Leland Stanford Jr. University as if it were a small branch of the Stanford University in Palo Alto California. When I was living in San Francisco, California I visited Stanford University. It is one of the best universities in the United States. As Gloria Leticia Pineda said, whoever gets a Bachelor of Arts or Bachelor of Science degree in universities such as Stanford, Yale, Harvard, Berkeley, Michigan Institute of Technology (MIT), Princeton, and Columbia to mention a few, are persons highly qualified in their field. In other words, these universities, speaking in vulgar Spanish, "are not a meal for any big mouth." The Bachelor of Arts involves inexact sciences such as journalism, psychology, pedagogy, philosophy, literature, economics, languages, anthropology, social psychology, public administration, business administration, and painting. The Bachelor of Science involves exact sciences such as civil engineering, electrical engineering, mechanical engineering, food industry, physics, chemistry, pharmacy, medicine, dentistry, math, aeronautics, space science, oceanography, botanics, veterinary and agricultural science.

Here in Honduras people open their mouths before really knowing about things. It is ridiculous that politicians and journalists commit these big mistakes because there are people who are smart enough and will not give opinions without being sure of the real facts. With the Internet we can get information about any topic we desire and we must remember the adage that "In a shut mouth flies don't enter" before we open our mouths to say nonsense and look like fools afterwards.

Going back to Stanford University, former Governor Leland Stanford purchased 650 acres of Rancho San Francisquito for a country home and began the development of the famous Palo Alto Stock Farm for trotting horses. He later brought adjoining properties to bring his farm to more than 8,000 acres, land that eventually became the Stanford campus. On October 1, 1891 Stanford University opened its doors. The Stanford's had an only child, Leland Stanford Jr., who at the age of fifteen was a tall, slender youth and very studious. He spoke French fluently and, on trips to Europe with his parents, developed his passion for collecting in art and archeology. The family was in Italy in 1884 when Leland contracted typhoid fever.

He was thought to be recovering, but on March 13 at the Hotel Bristol in Florence, Leland's bright and promising life came to an end, two months before his 16th birthday. Stanford, who had remained at Leland's bedside continuously, fell into a troubled sleep the morning the boy died. When he awakened he turned to his wife and said, "The children of California shall be our children". These words were the real beginning of Stanford University; it is the Stanford University in memory of Leland Stanford Jr., and because of ignorance some politicians and journalists think "Jr." means a small branch!...and this is why I tell them that it is better to put a zipper on the mouth before saying something about a subject they know nothing about. Whoever has ears...Listen...

Maritza Berlioz Frixione 


ENJOYABLE VISIT TO HONDURAS

Dear HTW

I recently visited Honduras after postponing 3 previously planned trips,due to the alarming escalating incidence of crime occurring in Honduras. This included tourists being targeted after leaving the San Pedro Sula airport and being robbed at gun point(armed robbery), which has occurred on several occasions, as well as tourists being shot and murdered, and another being raped at a national park, as well as US citizen permanent residents being murdered, including a casino owner in Tegucigalpa and a retired ex-cop who lived in Puerto Cortes.

Not to mention the US embassy screaming that US citizens avoid traveling in, living in, or investing in Honduras. However, call me crazy, brave or just plain stupid (the latter is probably more accurate) I went ahead with my travel plans. As I arrived at the San Pedro Sula airport and was requesting directions and safety advise from the personnel at the rent a car company I was doing business with, they, to make things worse, informed me to be very careful as I proceeded from the airport to San Pedro Sula, because the day before I arrived, a tourist was most probably followed from the airport as he departed in a taxi to San Pedro Sula, and was eventually shot and murdered in the process of being robbed. I later confirmed the incident, it being reported in all of the local newspapers. So I said "great." So I left the airport like a bat out of hell, making sure I was not being followed, and leaving a half a car distance from the rear of the car I followed. 

I finally arrived at my hotel and, to be honest, as soon as I arrived at the hotel I was met by the foremost most friendliest people, which almost immediately made me feel at home. They were very friendly and polite, and I started to forget all the bad things that I read and was told about Honduras. I even toured the city at night (of course in mainly all good areas, and in my car). I did not feel that unsafe. 

The next morning I toured the city again, ate at restaurants, shopped at stores and basically did whatever I pleased, and discovered how friendly and polite were the people of Honduras. I was treated with respect and was looked up to (try that while on vacation in New York or other big cities in the US). I even went to the movies at night and almost forgot I was in a third world country which is suffering from a crime war. The following morning I traveled to Puerto Cortes and as I was
arriving I heard on the radio about another US citizen being shot and murdered, and to make things even worse, guess where it occurred; in Puerto Cortes, the same city I was visiting and planning to stay at that evening. I said to myself, this is definitely a dangerous place to visit. However, I stayed anyway. 

The following morning I toured the city of Puerto Cortes and spotted several foreigners walking on foot alone by themselves, and I even followed one of them, walking alone, and in dark and isolated areas without a worry. I saw even more foreigner walking on foot the next day all over the city. I dined at night at a local seafood restaurant, and saw several more foreigners dining and enjoying themselves, and they did not looked worried a bit about the current situation. The next day, before departing to the airport, I got out of my car to buy a roll of film. I noticed 2 police officers from the la policia preventiva looking at me. They were traveling on bike and came in my direction, stopping close to my car. When I returned to my car I noticed there were approximately 12 police officers on bikes, all close to my car. As I got in and departed, not a word was mentioned to me, but I figured out later that they were there to protect me, or at the least were trying to make me feel safe. And to be honest, I did. 

Overall, my trip to Honduras was a good one. I really enjoyed myself. I think Honduras is not that unsafe to visit if you take the normal precautions you would in living in and traveling to any US big city. However, I feel its a great shame that a country with so many good people, decent and hard working, has to be tarnished by a few thugs who prey on people, as well as by a system of organized crime which takes advantage of the weak criminal justice system which Honduras is trying to overcome.

Jenny Hernandez
by internet

Elevating Tourism


Our aspirations to be a tourist destination are certainly not made any easier by our dependence on external factors. We are now being confronted by our dependence on the airline TACA, and the effect of the events September 11 on this very same entity.

It is well know that the events of September 11 have naturally started a reduction in regulated travel, affecting in many respects the resurgent and powerful tourism industry in Honduras. In referring to the dependence we have on TACA, we can summarize it by pointing out the obvious - when you travel on TACA and there is a Salvadoran and a Honduran in line, of course the Salvadoran will go first, regardless of whoever is first in the line.

We know that Honduras is one of the most interesting tourist destinations. For anyone that likes adventure, looks for new and fresh sensations, and wants beach, sun, sports, and wonderful people all in one spot, they need only to touch our soil. Honduras is the perfect vacation destination.
There are many ways in which one can know our beautiful country, and one would need a long life for us to describe every place that, in our consideration, is a living monument.

Steeped in both beauty and peculiarities, the many places within Honduras are unforgettable. When we think we have exhausted the list, new ideas come to us and we start to admire the details of our culture, emanating historical, natural and environmental value.

Few words of praise can really do justice to the beauty of our country and its people. Few are the editorials that we can write which can relate the magnificence of the land which has given us our lives.
The efforts of our authorities on tourism, anthropology, and history are admirable, although in light of their scant resources, they are not sufficient. In summation, this is the YEAR OF TOURISM, but it is a year that should be prolonged permanently, given the many opportunities that are at hand in our country.

In our future search for our destiny, we need to put ourselves behind whatever efforts are necessary to show our independence, and to avoid discrimination on the part of the aforementioned airline. And we will have to do a complete investigation, with the aim of learning if this airline's form of organization in this country is even suitable for us. And we need to do the same with the administrative companies of the airports.

It is not true that Honduras, talking about Honduras, has only itself to sell. One needs to take good measure, and here we need to count everything. We should mention that there is much that is very important here: restaurants, hotels, travel agencies, museums, beaches, rivers, the national parks, the police, our justice system, etc. We are not particular to the idea of acting like clowns with the tourists, showing our teeth to everyone. But we can take the opportunity to sit with these visitors, some of them without distinction, in our homes, and give them the type of treatment that one would like to receive oneself. We don't want to be seen as leaving out the day to day life in our good country.

Regarding tourism, our foremost insistence on attending to its fate should be a permanent state. We should believe in our product and identify with it. If one does not have confidence in oneself, the success of our project is doubtful.

For those involved in the tourism business, the investment in the tourism project should be permanent, and, why not, an obligation. We know of various involved businesses that maintain a healthy income, and they should be obligated to invest both nationally and internationally in the project of Honduran tourism. As well, we should obligate the airline companies to invest in this destination that is known as Honduras. 

Monday, October 8,  2001 Online Edition 40

Clean records...

Everything in Honduras brings with it its own price, without consideration being given to the cost implicit in this. The volume of documents that we carry around with us is indeterminable. At times one thinks it is a good idea to carry the birth certificate of one’s grandmother.

To start with, the records the Hondurans have are difficult to memorise. Imagine you have to know the following: your identity card, student card, National University of Honduras card, social security number, the national tax registry, government employee number, criminal investigations number, military registry, license number, home registration, birth certificate, passport number, immigration card, health centre card, card number for your favourite sport, etc...
As citizens, we should manage every movement we make according to various specifications. For this, our house needs to be one great archive, on the methods and proceedings of every different activity.

In the present analysis, we are not taking into account the institutions such as The Honduran Social Security Institute (IHSS) or the City Office of the Mayor, which already think that it is law that one should carry on ones shoulders all of the documents one has accumulated since birth; if not they will drag one by the tonsils in search of the data for every member.

With one simple keystroke of the computer, the states investigators should have immediate access to enough information to know exactly with whom they are talking. That this should occur was something argued over greatly in the past. In view of the present, and in view of the need for future legislation, one needs to have at one’s disposal all available information sources, allowing one to obtain a rapid profile of the person to whom on is talking.

In the future, will we be nothing more than numbers? To initiate the basic information of a person, what is needed is the data that is most pertinent, and of course we can hide a little information for the more delicate uses. We can at least have an up to date address, as well as social and socio-economic information. Thus, before the person boards an airline flight, the officials at immigration can have access to vital information, and avoid having on board airlines people with criminal backgrounds of any type.

The most powerful armaments for any person or institution is information. It is vital for the administrative body of the state to have good information It. Has been over 15 days since the terrorist attack against the twin towers occurred. It is only today that we heard the Department of Immigration of Honduras say that it is going to start a list of Afghan citizens living in our country. And I had thought that such a list was automatically available on a computer. What a stupid notion.

Absolutely we need to at any cost have our national institutions work to reduce the quantity of documents they generate The output of unnecessary paperwork in the state should stop. It is an unbearable expense.

An identification should be used for many things. The disorganisation that lives in our country does not have feet or a head. To group things and establish norms with respect to outcomes is a question of mathematics and statistical prognosticating. For lack of this, controls are necessary and archives even more.

Simplification is a permanent standard of the administration, but the beaurocracy benefits from misinformation. Changing the administration is not work for the politicians, but rather for the true technicians that give life to the juridical organisation of the state, both externally and internally. Only through this will there be the ability to do things with foresight.

To constantly examine how things are functioning is the work of the creative and dynamic members of an institution.

To be alert and to give information sufficient to avoid perversities like that which occurred in the case of Pat Donahue is part of our strategy. Obviously scientists of the public administration should be the future citizens directing state politics. And the military should not be an exception to this.

Dear HTW:

I was appalled to read (Week in Review, August 11) of the newly passed law requiring resident aliens to carry their passports with them as the only valid form of identification.

My husband and I moved to Honduras under the impression that the Honduran government was actively welcoming foreign retirees (or more accurately, our retirement incomes). The terms of our residency stipulate that we must change a certain number of US Dollars into Lempiras each month. Due to the fact that we are building a home here, we have contributed well above the required minimum amount of good old hard currency to the Honduran economy. We truly love Honduras, and enjoy living here. However, everything has it's "down side", and one of the negatives that we have had
to learn to live with is the knowledge that, as "gringos" we are automatically perceived as rich (we are not) and therefore attractive targets for robbers, thieves, burglars and, more recently, kidnappers. But what a horror to learn that this supposedly "welcoming" government has now seen fit to set us up as targets for another class of criminals -- those who would participate in the lucrative market for stolen foreign (especially
North American) passports!
Under normal circumstances I would never ask that my name be withheld from anything I had written. However, we are feeling particularly vulnerable just now and thus I do request this courtesy should you elect to publish this letter.

-Name withheld

P. S. Did anyone stop to consider the impact this law might have on the decision-making process of those who might be considering future moves to Honduras? Or has the Honduran government perhaps decided that it now has enough of us ex-pats (and our money) and could this be the first step in withdrawing the "welcome mat"?

Monday, October 1,  2001 Online Edition 39

New Armenia and La Cueva del Sapo

It is with little effort that one can travel by car to New Armenia, one of the most fascinating and curious towns in Honduras. Located in the south, with less than 20,000 inhabitants, New Armenia is near the border of Francisco Morazan department. It is surrounded by a beautiful topography of mountains, which changes in nature in every direction of the compass.

Many years ago, we sat under the waterfall located there, a trickle of water falling almost 50 meters, and turning itself into one of the most refreshing of massages, rivalling any jacuzzi.

In the streets there was much to conjecture at and our imagination was fueled by what we saw. Rock formations and volcanic slabs with strange incrustations, and white veins, formed from cracks produced by tellurigic movements. This is a valley of lava, stretching out to El Banquito, el Cerro de la Cruz, and other barrios, becoming a panorama not only living but as well educational.

Impressive was the color of the stone, predominated by a brick red, and the holes of a certain variety of rock seem to be made by both human beings and volcanic action. Of course, various of the boulders that lie unprotected on the slopes and along the river date back millions of years.

The inhabitants fantasize under the lights from the mountains, which appear like two strange ships over two sections of the city, and more than one person has assured us of having seen strange shadows lying over these strange artifacts.

We noted the presence of phosphorous in the earth, and some other elements that cause waterspouts and the raining of the fish in Yoro, as well as electrical discharges. Nothing secure, and nothing scientific.

Dozens of secrets exist in this town inhabited by families with Sephardic last names, none seeming more spectacular than Cueva del Sapo (Cave of the Toad), which is located some 500 meters from the highway and some 1,000 meters from the town.

Accompanied by Polo, our local guide, we arrived at the cave. Among the rock drawings there are beings with square heads, circles of various sizes, hands and beings with antennas. No doubt this rock art dates to prehistoric times, and in the environment there is an atmosphere of chamanico rites, and the toad is one of them. On the way, we had to get past a brush fallow, a barbed wire fence and a stone wall.

But the thrill of visiting the Cueva del Sapo was enormous... we know much about other cultures on this earth, but little of our own. The wonder that we have seen is exposed to the elements, without care, and the cavern is gradually being destroyed and the humidity overwhelming. Moreover, some visitors have already started adding some of their own drawings, confusing the original artwork with the new and causing it to lose some its authenticity.

We know of this spectacular marvel thanks to two articles published in our own news paper in the years 1992 and 1995. We are thankful that an archeologist has made a photographic record of the details of the cavern, because we believe at this point that in less than 10 years, the cave will have lost a quarter of its quality.

It is necessary to understand the citizens of New Armenia -- they are proud of their pueblo. While lacking restaurants or a hotel, they are none the less very hospitable. They are accustomed to hard work and know that their pueblo is worth a great deal. Long ago the inhabitants communicated with beings from the stars... today New Armenia stands out in our country, and is highlighted by an environment of global distinction.

THANK YOU HONDURAS

Dear HTW:

I have just returned to the United States after a three-week stay in La Ceiba and San Pedro Sula and I just wanted to say thank you to the people of Honduras who touched my life. After the attack on the U.S., many people told me how sorry they were about what happened, and how concerned they were about the U.S. I also wanted to say how much I enjoyed your country and the children I met in the different orphanages I went to. Thank you.

Charles Kirkhum
Waco, Texas

TEN FINGER POLITICS

Dear HTW:

One on one with Ricardo Maduro? You forgot to ask him how he got so rich, and please don't say he's a business man. Honduras is a poor country -- there is only one was of getting rich in Honduras, and it's called five finger politics. In his case, it would be 10 finger politics, right?

Igor Munoz
Via Internet

BANK SERVICE TAKES STEP BACKWARD

Dear HTW:

It appears that one of the oldest and largest banks in this country, Banco Atlantida, in the guise of improving service has taken a big step backward.

For the last four months, since joining an ATM collection of local banks, their ATM machines no longer accept foreign ATM or credit cards. They will now only accept local cards. Several attempts to bring this problem to their attention has brought the typical Honduran response - "They are working on the problem, there is nothing we can do, it will be fixed soon," etc.

Now, to use a foreign ATM or VISA card to obtain cash, you must go into the bank and wait in line for an hour or more. Not just any bank or just any branch of the bank, the bank must be able to accept the cards and the branch must be able to swipe the card through the machine. This is because VISA, as a security precaution, will not authorize ATM withdrawals called in via the telephone.

Now when people come to Honduras, they cannot use their ATM card in any machine but must bring either traveller's checks or cash. Traveller's checks can only be cashed at a bank during the week (another long wait in line) or at the major hotels at a reduced exchange rate.

In a country where you must pass an armed guard to go into Burger King or to get a donut because of all the thieves, it is not a good idea to carry a lot of cash (can't leave it in the hotel because the maids also steal and the hotels will do nothing about that problem). Because all foreigners are marked targets here, the thieves love the idea of all those targets with nothing but cash -- it makes things real easy for them.
It seems that the U.S. Embassy is correct in telling American tourists and investors not to come to Honduras as it is not safe for them.

Jack Ivy
Via Internet