OPINIONS & EDITORIAL

Monday, September 24, 2001 Online Edition 38

The love of Central America
(Third of three parts)

It is beginning to look like Aleman will loose the upcoming election because of corruption, and he worries that any day he could be the target of an attack by the Sandinistas.

His hardship is tremendous; he has an inescapable commitment to the world community to maintain democracy in Nicaragua. It torments him insufferably, not letting him sleep -- poor Aleman, your pillow is a sack of dollars.

But don't sleep too much, wake up and once again think of your neighbors to the north who are, among other things, using advertising agencies for, of course, their image. One rapid movement can turn upside down those promises you have made to them, and cause them to demand the occupation of your country, with the rational being that Daniel Ortega already has come and is sitting on the throne. You know that the violence, although only verbal, to keep a country occupied. Something like the bread and circus of the imperialists of Roman antiquity.

Demand then, from your friends to the north, that for the general well-being of the new triangle, they must investigate all of the operations of the state of Honduras; your objective is to demonstrate to the Sandinistas your power over Central America.
Obviously, and of course Aleman, never disclosed and never will disclose this same type of information about El Salvador or the investors at the negotiating table with Arnold Aleman, but Daniel Ortega is there, cleaning the desk with Aleman. He will not be removed, he is attentive, knowing that some good scent in the air is the right opportunity to get rid of the Reina brothers and the ridiculous "Toyita," the worst ambassador that Honduras has ever had in all its history.
Aleman says of the economic conspiracy, never installed in Central America.

For those in the north, it was easy to take possession of the Honduran market in as much as the majority were lying down with their tongues hanging out, awaiting financial resuscitation for their businesses, or good capital to put in the national and foreign banks.

Aleman encountered, among these marvelous businessmen of Central America, a group that was very supportive and delighted by his economic aspirations. As a start, he is being offered great amounts of dollars steadily and regularly to keep a closed border with Honduras in retaliation for the Honduran Congress' ratification of a maritime delimitation treaty with Colombia, which is only an excuse. But to the extent that more restrictions are imposed on Honduran commerce, his bag will be larger then those of Ortega and Somoza.

Aleman and Ortega, second class citizens, know that they are really bad neighbors. Costa Rica, knowing this, is starting to plan a wall of division between the two nations. The Nicaraguan regime and the Salvadorans are expansionists, and don't reject the idea of coming to rob the pine trees of Honduras. As well, they have in common in their history that both countries have been victorious in their wars with Honduras.

Here there is "only one hair in the soup." The plans for the invasion and control of Honduras should be perfect. A perfect comedy of error if they plunge into Comayagua and enter a base that is called... that is called... it seems to me that they call it Palmerola.

Once again the Foreign Ministry of Honduras is in error. From rumors and our own intuition, we know that the espionage in our country has occurred in all of the our ministries and government agencies. Here is where we are loosing our control, military-wise, for what use is information from the Ministry of Tourism? If Aleman has fears about invading Honduras, what is he trying to do with so much information about Honduras?

Possibly what Aleman is always lamenting, that on which he did not count, is that a powerful apparatus would guard the steps, at every level, of the Hondurans. But the miracle is coming and the "hondurrenimetro" was invented for those advantageous neighbors and associates, the Salvadorans.

Nothing is happening -- we are not in pain. The only problem is that with the noise of the cars one is unable to hear the sound of ones own voice.
In conclusion, our losses are of great value, we are betrayed by ourselves, our neighbors, the communists, the groups of national and international oligarchies, the president of Central America, the diplomats of Central America, our enemies, our nerves, three goats and two catfish.
The rule of Tegare says, "it is no easy task to manage men; to force them to change, that is very simple."

That which is offered to us is always for tomorrow... tomorrow... tomorrow... It is not our manner to awaken ourselves early and work like donkeys. Because the economic depression is worldwide, it would be boorish. And if we see those troublemakers: greet them and be amiable. What else do we want? Where does one send the donkey, one ties him to the ruler.

KEEP UP GREAT WORK

Dear HTW:

We love your publication! We used to live in the Bay Islands and it is nice to see references to them throughout the paper! Keep up the great work.

Karen and John Walch
Phoenix, AZ

WHERE'S THE PROOF?

Dear HTW:

Honduras This Week is a free press and I laud them for printing controversial issues, a sign of good journalism. I must take issue with remarks made by Karen and Colin Glenn that (sic) "we are often surprised that you give some of your readers a great deal of space to air their vituperative opinions of writer W.E. Gutman."

Mr. Gutman also makes some extremely vituperative remarks; i.e. condemning a decent and honorable man that is John Dimitri
Negroponte, former ambassador to Honduras in those trying times of the early 1980s. Negroponte comes from a very distinguished family in Boston and is an extremely intelligent person who never would knowingly condone any acts of terrorism conducted either by U.S. government personnel or other elements who were allied with us. I say "us" because I was an employee of the United States along with others of my countrymen. My conscience is clear and I have no qualms about doing my best for my country and for the Honduras of that era.

Unless you have lost a loved one, my brother George Wilson, to scum who are the dregs of the human race, you cannot fathom the grief we feel at his brutal murder. You know nothing of me nor I of you, except for the remarks you made in HTW. I feel sorry for your misguided attitude and the dearth of facts. It is your right and prerogative to lean in whichever direction you choose. I take a more conservative view of life and now more than ever at the terrible events which occurred in New York and Washington and Pennsylvania.
Although the Glenns never met Mr.Gutman they seem to revel in his remarks concerning the events that took place in that era when Honduras was trying to stay neutral while elements of the Sandinistas of Nicaragua and the FMLN of El Salvador were trying to subvert the normal lives of the people of Honduras.

To the Glenns: You say you met and spoke with Ambassador Negroponte. In what capacity? Were you employees of the U.S. government or were you reporters? Regarding the 3-16, did you actually see any of their members brutally murder anyone in front of your eyes or did you believe the plethora of rumors that abounded at that time? Who are you to deny him the position of ambassador to the UN? That is best left to the Congress of the United States. Since I was involved in the operations that took place at that time, I can safely say that I have no qualms and
would never be nervous, as you and Mr. Gutman put it, should I be called to testify at his confirmation hearings.

You have to be in the trenches to know what is going on and I certainly know what was going on and can safely say I never saw any member of the 3-16 murder any citizen of Honduras nor torture anyone. There may have been rogue elements of the 3-16, but those were terrible times. There also were patriots who fought valiantly to protect their country from disaster. Maybe the Glenns misconstrue patriotism with something sinister.

I refer to the National section of HTW, dated Sept. 17, 2001, on the very first page and note that none of the human remains unearthed at the former El Aguacate military base in Olancho belong to persons who disappeared during the 1980s. These remains were examined thoroughly by forensic anthropologists and were determined to be the remains of former Nicaraguan Contras.
It is very easy to slander someone without having substantial evidence that this person did indeed commit horrible crimes. You must also take into account that any ambassador takes orders directly from the secretary of state or the president of the United States of America.

It is you who are sadly mistaken and not I. I worked hard and diligently in the service of my country along with the Hondurans, 3-16 Battalion members and others, to interdict Ortega and his thugs and the FMLN of El Salvador. We were successful in keeping those unsavory characters out of Honduras. Were it not for our combined efforts, Honduras may very well have had a tough fight on its hands in keeping out Ortega et al.
Mr.Gutman must harbor some hatred or resentment against Ambassador Negroponte to smear this decent and honorable man with slanderous and calumnious balderdash. Where is the proof, Mr. Gutman?

A. Wilson
Via Internet
 

Attack on progress and prosperity: 

Will it fuel a new arm's race?

By CARLOS MONTOYA and EVA L. BROOKS

The attack on the World Trade Center in New York City and the Pentagon in Washington, D.C. was well-planned -- probably for a long time, well-executed, brutal, with total disregard for human life.

These attacks were meant to be a slap in the face of America's prosperity, which is to a great extent the
consequence of globalization and American military might. 
They were also an attack on America's struggling effort toward world peace, of American influence and especially of the influence brought about by America's well-intentioned effort to support and help and attempt to win over or form an alliance with poorer nations of this world. It was an attack on all of civilization.

Let us be conscious of the fact that these attacks by the Islamic fundamentalists were also oriented against Christianity, Judaism, Buddhism, Hinduism -- in short, against all those who pray to a God different from that of Islam. Do the 114 chapters of the Koran teach terrorism? Do the parents of Muslim children teach "fight, hit, kill, don't just discuss your differences?" These are philosophical questions -- and right now it is a luxury to ponder those.

As the 20th century drew to a close, the Cold War receded into history and the world lessened its commitment to military spending and embarked on a course, slowly, but surely, of demilitarization and disarmament.

You can be sure that now, at the beginning of the 21st Century, militarism, including nuclear stockpiling, ICBMs and President Bush's plan of a missile shield will be revised, and trillions of dollars allocated to them. We grieve, not only for the destruction of lower Manhattan in which almost 5,000 people are believed to have perished, but also for the billions, more likely trillions to be spent to contain Islamic fundamentalism and other
real and imagined enemies of peace, prosperity and development.

What does this mean for Honduras? We can't know at this point, but we can speculate. We fear that the funds earmarked by the World Bank and the International Money Fund and many other organizations set up to help developing nations out of poverty, or at least minimize the plight of poor education and health care, inadequate diets, sub-standard housing and mental illnesses -- all a consequence of poverty -- will be cut off or at best curtailed. Funds designed to help will be redirected and budgeted toward defensive and offensive weapons.

The move toward globalization that aimed and, in part, succeeded to lessen poverty world-wide (while of course also creating vast fortunes for developed nations) may be minimized or deferred for the time being.

America's resolve to carry on is evidenced by the opening of the Stock Market on Wall Street in New York six days after the devastating attack, even though the telephones are not yet working and cars are not permitted in lower Manhattan. The cost of rebuilding the World Trade Center could run into the billions of dollars.

The energy, organization and the intent to rebuild, to restore and to plan the prevention of future attacks can only be admired. Yet, it is so scary, there is talk of retaliation, of tit for tat, which if carried out could and would kill millions of people of every color, race and economic background.
The question is: In this coming battle will the developing world -- the most needy of the family of man -- again be forgotten and neglected?

Those of us who work in the tourist industry, especially on the island of Roatan, are often concerned that tourism is hindered by our (undeserved) reputation related to the "dangerousness" of visiting us and also the mainland of Honduras.

Well, we live in a very dangerous world: Criminals are everywhere, and hijacking commercial airlines is not a new occurrence. The devastating attack on the United States and elsewhere may happen again -- in the States or anywhere in the world. No one is safe!
Perhaps Honduras and the Bay Islands are as safe as any other place on this globe.
Carlos Montoya is the publisher and Eva L. Brooks the senior editor of Bahia Magazine.

Monday, September 17, 2001 Online Edition 37

The day after

People of the world were moved as they saw three planes slam into the twin World Trade towers of New York and the Pentagon of Washington.

It was a well-planned strategy that crashed two planes into the towers, distracting the attention of U.S. defense mechanisms there while a third plane crashed into the side of the Pentagon.
Terrified and astonished, we watched on TV sets as both buildings collapsed. While we gathered courage to watch these scenes, we also prayed to God that the souls of those merchants of death responsible pay an eternity of damnation for their actions.

It has taken a lot for us to understand why this has happened. For a long time, the world will recognize Sept. 11 as the day the twin World Trade towers went down in their search for freedom.

They may have wounded our American Dream, but they will never hurt the America of right, of democracy and of justice.

This is where we want you, America, never again failing. These terrorists will pass into a forgotten grave, remembered by no one other than their brethren.

Every day we will remember the importance of peace among all humanity. This peace is so fragile thanks to those who do not find a place in their own societies.

We Hondurans will remember this act of infamy and weep as if it had occurred in our own country. The great country to the north is not alone. In the midst of its fine structure are many Hondurans who have left their sweat, love and tears in this country that is like our own. We are all Americans and we were never, not even by tectonic plates, separated. The prehistory of the world begins precisely in Honduras and the North America of which we are naturally a part.

This cowardly defeat is also ours. The difference is that we have many paths to recovery, while they, aside from robots, have died and will remain forever dead.

It is sad to have to accept this diabolical act. But we will, with the Bible in one hand and a sword in the other.

God bless America.

EDUCATION KEY TO STOPPING CHILD ABUSE

Dear HTW:

Latins have the erroneous reputation of caring for their children and having no child abuse. Here, in Honduras, just walking down the streets puts the lie to that reputation. What is child abuse? Outside of the accepted version of beating, child labor, there is also having too many children so that each child does not get adequate food, clothing, health care, education. If a couple or a single parent has just enough resources to give one child what it needs, having two or more children diminishes the amount of resources so as to abuse all the children.

Females start having children almost as soon as they are able, at 14 or 15 years of age. They are not mentally, physically or financially able to care for their children. That is a form of child abuse. Males have children with different females and then just leave without supporting their children. That is another form of child abuse. Many females are raped by their fathers or older relatives. More abuse. Females who can no longer care for their children throw them out on the street. You can see these children running the streets, little food, no education or health care, stealing to stay alive and getting high by sniffing glue. Again, child abuse.

If they live to make it to an older age with any kind of a mind left, the males stay alive by doing backbreaking, unskilled work. Females normally turn to prostitution. Both only know that they must steal and fight to stay alive. Man is a social animal and these street children need to belong to something. That is one of the reasons that there are so many different gangs forming who practice robbery, rape and murder. That is all they know. The only people that seem to care for them are the foreign aid workers.

It is common here for a woman to have three or more children by different men and for men to have as many children as they can by different women. When these children (half-brothers and half-sisters) grow up not knowing who one of their parents is, it is very probable that they will have, unknowingly, incestuous relations which produce children. It has been proven that people who are too closely related have a very large proportion of deformed and handicapped children.

What can be done to stop the abuse of these children? First: Education -- both men and women need to know about birth and disease control, no matter what the Church says. All the Church cares about is having more bodies to feed their coffers. The Church does not normally care for the children of an incestuous relation.

Second: Education -- single mothers are the prime source of education for their children. They must teach birth control, they must teach female children about and to respect their bodies. They must teach male children to respect and to take more responsibility toward their sexual partners and any children produced. 

Third: Education -- females must be taught that being sexually provocative is not the best way to get ahead in life, education is. Males must be taught that being "macho," having many sexual partners and having many children is not being more of a man, it is being more of an animal.
These children have one chance to grow up, don't take it away from them.

Jack Ivy
Via Internet

DEMOLITION OF TEGUS

Dear HTW:

I agree 100 percent with your editorial, "Demolition of Tegus." I am an American married to a wonderful women from Tegus, and what you said about the destruction of Tegus is right on the money! I have stated many times to my wife that, "Tegus is a beautiful city", but the trash, air pollution and beggars, don't do the city any justice at all.

If the people of Tegus would take some pride in what they have, take charge of their neighborhoods and clean the place up,
Tegus would be a wonderful place to visit. I am sure more people from the United States would visit.

But, people from outside Central America just see the crime, pollution, corruption, and this why they don't visit, they just think, "Oh, just a old nasty Third World country -- they don't know nothing."

I have spent time in Honduras. I am currently in the U.S. Army serving in Germany and getting ready to retire in a few years, and would like to retire in Tegus, but with "The Demolition of Tegus" going on, I just can't do it! I hope and pray that one day Tegus sheds that concept of destruction and brings back that Tegus of the past.

Tony and Lourdes Overway
Germany

A somber celebration

Both with silent looks and spoken words, the inhabitants of The Goose express their empathy with the people of the United States of America. The terrorist attacks that downed four planes in New York City, Washington, and Pennsylvania have shocked the entire globe; and the paralyzing misunderstanding of the events that have transpired has also been felt here.

Today is Sept. 15, Independence Day around these here parts. One hundred and eighty years ago, our forefathers signed an act in Guatemala City that freed us from the Spanish monarchy and allowed five small, independent states to choose the course of their own destiny. For a time, people tried to keep these states together to form a stronger generation. They failed, and now is not the time for regrets.

Well, after almost two centuries' worth of turbulent decades where wars were fought and power shifted at the flip of a quarter, the sovereign Republic of Honduras still stands. That should say something by itself. Honduras still stands means Hondurans still endure. The times we live in now are indescribable in terms of the challenge for our tiny nation and our small global community. We must take heart, though and endure, as our ancestors have told us to do.

The entire planet mourns for lost lives and the international threat on peace that has occurred. The anniversary of our independence is happening only four days later. What are we supposed to do, celebrate or mourn?

The founding of the Republic of Honduras should be celebrated. It is a reminder to us of why we exist as a nation and why we continue to exist as such. To sit behind closed windows and morbidly watch the television screens filled with explosions, fires and crumbling buildings is to inadvertently praise the terrorist's work, to admire their craft. The TV sets should be off and parents should be speaking to their children about civic values.

By celebrating Sept. 15, I do not mean "Go out and get drunk." The world is in a crisis and there is no excuse to party. A celebration of Central America's Independence Day is a celebration of the values of all free nations: freedom, security, patriotism, honor and fraternal love.

Instead of wasting several lempiras on killing brain cells, we should all go out today and do one positive thing for our country. How about picking up the trash in front of your house or in a nearby park? Celebrate "Quince de septiembre" by going out and buying a hamburger for a street kid. Celebrate this day by telling someone you know about our national heroes (we have those). But, most of all, celebrate this day by showing the monsters who attacked the global serenity that positive actions are better than negative ones. Show these dregs of humanity that good is, was and always will be stronger than evil.

As for myself, I will begin my celebration today by saying a little prayer for those lost in Pennsylvania, in Washington, D.C. and in New York City, as well as for their families. No one deserves the pain they are going through. After this, I'll go out and see what I can do to help my city become a better city. If there is still time after that, then I'll find out how I can help my country to become a better nation. 

Monday, September 10, 2001 Online Edition 36

SUPER JOB

Dear HTW:

Just wanted you to know you have done a superlative job creating a highly professional web site. It paints Honduras in the light that it deserves.

Tom Joerg
Via Internet

THANKS FOR HELP

Dear HTW:

Thanks for publishing the information about the fire at the Utila Hyperbaric Chamber and the contact information for donations! We're working very hard to get the facility rebuilt, and we truly appreciate the generous help we've been receiving from many quarters.

There was one little inaccuracy in your information, though; the Bay Islands College of Diving was not destroyed in the fire! We lost our shop and classrooms, but are still in operation in a rented building right next door. The boats, all the safety equipment, and most of the dive gear survived, and we're going strong!

We still offer the widest selection of recreational diving courses in the country on a daily basis and have two trips per day for certified divers. All our dive safety courses are still available, and our career development programs are unaffected.
Thanks again for your help in informing your readers about the tragic fire and our efforts to rebuild and continue to serve the community, and thanks also to everybody that has generously helped us in our efforts!

Rick Reno
PADI Course Director
Bay Islands College of Diving
Utila, Bay Islands

HONDURAS, "THE LOST CONTINENT"

Dear HTW:

According to the AFT/Tico Times, "Honduras, with a population of just 6 million people, is one of the most violent countries in Latin America." The streets are not safe in the capital of Honduras. Some places people are not safe in their own homes where anarchy is rampant (for example the Olancho district). Law enforcement officials have lost their focus and make horrendous mistakes at the cost of public support. Corruption is evident on every level of government.

So the politicians sweep up this dirt and hide it under the rug so that no one politician is held accountable. After all, thefts, greed, apathy, corruption need to be hidden so as to save the politicians' hide -- never mind the public safety. Fortunes are being spent chasing violators of vaguely written laws against every day human activity dealing with the government on any level. Meanwhile, the murderers, narcotraffickers and rapists wander freely in a society that has lost control of its function to protect its citizens.

The blame lies with the politicians who have funds for their "secret projects." Part of the problem is that we are living in a time when our advanced technology makes it possible for a relative handful of totalitarians (oligarchy) to subvert a democratic society and gain control of a vast numbers of its members. The apparatus of authority is only as good as the people who run it. This is applicable to Honduras where you have a dysfunctional corrupt government with elitists imposing and enforcing their will on the masses for personal gain -- egalitarian distribution of power and influence is not in the cards.

So, Mr. President, what happened to all those promises you made to get elected? Crime has increased 469 percent during your tenure. The papers scream their evidence in your face: "673 children, teens murdered since 1998."; "Gangs responsible for 16 girl's deaths."; "American citizen William Patrick Donohue's murderer was released on a technicality."; "Judge, ex-police chief named in kidnapping ring."; "Tourist murdered, another raped near park."

My brother George M. Wilson was also murdered during your tenure and even though we had evidence against the murderers a corrupt judge did nothing but sit on the evidence until their is no evidence. Mr. President, the people who elected you are dependent on the authority vested in you to resolve those hundreds of innocent people murdered as well as our brother George M. Wilson's murder. Their loved ones cry out for justice. If you do nothing the social order you presume exists will disintegrate (if it hasn't already).

May I suggest the following: Institute martial law in the district of Olancho, San Pedro Sula and Cortes as starters. Pick the best disciplined and trained military personal to patrol these regions with authority to search (with metal detectors) arrest and prosecute those who have assault weapons. Interrogate the convicted murderers for accomplices and if they do not cooperate hang them from the nearest tree for a few seconds. If they still refuse then hang them as a lesson to others (with 5 billion people on this earth who needs these scums). A stretching of a leader's neck will loosen the tongue of his gang.

Steve D. Wilson, Ph.D.
Via the internet

GUTMAN COMMENDED

Dear HTW:

Although we rarely take the time to write letters to the editors of the various publications we receive, there are times when it is necessary to respond to comments from other readers, specifically ones found in your Aug. 11 edition. While we applaud HTW giving space for readers to express their opinions, we are often surprised that you give some of your readers a great deal of space to air their vituperate opinions of writer W.E. Gutman.

We have never met Mr. Gutman, but we must tell you that we are very impressed with his knowledge of Central America and therefore we feel compelled to respond to the letters of Aug. 11.

We realize that Mr. A. Wilson is dealing with a great deal of grief in the loss of his brother in Honduras. We sympathize with his plight of not being able to bring the murderers to justice thus far. However, his letter attacking Mr. Gutman's article about John Negroponte is an onerous one. If Mr. Wilson truly believes the Battalion 3-16 to be "patriots" then he is sadly mistaken. What we don't understand is how people who really should know the facts come out so strongly in support of indefensible acts.

We lived in Central American for 9 years and have met and spoken with Mr. Negroponte. We are also dismayed that he has been nominated to be Ambassador to the United Nations. He was very much involved in the turmoil of the 80's in Central America and in no way deserves to represent the U.S. in the UN. Mr. Gutman hit the nail on the head when he noted that if Mr. Wilson did indeed serve under Negroponte, he should be very nervous about what the hearings might bring out.

We write this letter to commend Mr. Gutman for his excellent article on Negroponte and know it to be quite factual. His response in the same publication should be sufficient to quell the attacks by Mr. Wilson and other detractors. We hope you continue to print articles by Mr.Gutman even though at times it apparently brings you plenty of scathing letters denouncing him.

Karen and Colin Glenn
Portland, OR

The love of Central America

The relations of President Flores Facusse with his counterparts in Central America from the start have not been the best. While others in Central America play with words with the intent of defrauding all, President Flores prefers speaking precisely. This politician exercises the right to be almost rejecting toward the other presidents. An acquaintance related that when President Francisco Flores of El Salvador was talking with President Arzu of Guatemala, he referred to the fact that he had spoken with President Carlos Flores, who had expressed the following: hey, did you know that God spoke to me, and he said...

The oligarchy of Central America now consists not only of the 14 old families of El Salvador plus Quetzaltenango and Guatemala. Right now they count among themselves new styles, the Hondurans tenants, and a couple from Nicaragua, who have taken Arnoldo Aleman by the straps, causing him to impose the famous 35 percent tariff levied on all Honduran produced goods imported by Nicaragua. In this manner, exports from El Salvador and Guatemala increased in an enviable manner, counteracting therefore the losses incurred by way of the advance of the Mexican market.

The ambition of the group of oligarchies of Central America smells of their ecstasy, and is focusing on Nicaragua. By whatever manner and with whatever internal settlements are necessary "the team" drags along with it the formula applied in Guatemala, because that is the where the balance lies. They move only at their own convenience.

El Salvador can be moved on behalf of its own causes, those of Guatemala and those of the new associate, Nicaragua. They have made ready for Nicaragua their best team of investigators. Honduras is completely on guard, with all of the ministries of the country, both international and national, vigilantly taking aim against the crude politics at work against it. There is no more mercy in Central America and for better or worse confidence has been broken. No more hurricanes, no more earthquakes, we want political and military power over the region. We will cut down he who acts against us, the Nicaraguans, with their stockpile of cheap Russian arms.

The Honduran counterintelligence caught a pair of Salvadoran diplomats in the Hospital Militar in Tegucigalpa completing an exchange of money for classified information of the Armed Forces of Honduras, and ordered them to leave the country. The Ambassador of El Salvador wants to halt the investigations and is offering no apologies. The rules of diplomatic immunity do not require those caught red-handed to offer explanations or make confessions. The situation is lamentable for Tegucigalpa, which has been confident that El Salvador would not return to the doings of the war of 1969.

What Tegucigalpa does not understand is that the sacrifice made by El Salvador is for their good ally, Arnoldo Aleman. And also that at the highest level, there are rich Honduran investors, and they too will need to be investigated.

Aleman continues to be corralled, and evidence of espionage by ones allies does not guarantee at any moment that one has won or is going to win a war, because for Honduras war is not in our plans. Honduras will be capable of commanding a surrender before firing a shot.

Monday, September 3, 2001 Online Edition 35

Crimes against humanity must not go unpunished

By W.E. GUTMAN

"Life succumbs in the contest against death but memory triumphs in its struggle against oblivion." Tzvetan Todorov (The Abuse of Memory)

History is the science of the misfortunes of man. The savagery of the 20th century gives this axiom convincing weight. Surely, previous centuries were not spared the madness. France and Great Britain, once the leading colonial powers, occupied and subjugated nine-tenths of Africa, Oceania, the Indian subcontinent and large chunks of southeast Asia. Before them, the Spaniards and the Portuguese cowed and dispirited indigenous peoples from the highlands of Mexico to the windswept moors of Tierra del Fuego. They stole their gold, ensnared their souls with promises of the hereafter, and put them to the sword if they objected to the thievery or resisted "salvation." The aftershocks of the "conquista" are still being felt five centuries later. As for the United States, we are left with the legacy of two capital crimes: Slavery and the near-extermination of aboriginal Americans.

The past century, however, has by far surpassed its troubled precursors. A look back forces us to reach a devastating conclusion. It was the century of great human catastrophes: two world wars, fascism and nazism, the atom bomb -- not to mention the "circumscribed" genocides that bled Biafra, Rwanda and the former Yugoslavia. The Ottoman Empire engaged in the wholesale slaughter of Armenians. Japan committed mass murder in China and Korea. Germany nearly cleansed Europe of Jews, gypsies and other "undesirables." Mussolini's Italy massacred the Ethiopians. The otherwise peaceable Czechs are remembered for their excesses against the Germans of the Sudetenland. Even tiny, squeamish, squeaky-clean Switzerland dipped its hands in blood in an effort to fatten its national coffers and defend its neutrality. Neutrality, history reminds us, is the crassest form of cowardice.

Barbarism reached its apogee with the advent of communism, an ancient quixotic doctrine falsified and corrupted by its high priests and disciples. Ignited in 1914 and nearly extinguished in 1991, communism not only predates Nazism and fascism, it survived and surpassed them in the sheer magnitude of crimes, terror and repression. As a political philosophy, communism has existed for centuries, if not millennia. Plato's Republic advances the notion of an ideal city-state where money and power would not corrupt men, and where wisdom, reason and justice prevailed. Thomas More's Utopia, lays the foundations of a secular kingdom come. Before them, Isaiah and Jesus preached love, compassion and sharing.

To mankind's detriment, the communism the world has endured does not dwell in some abstract realm of ideas. It is real. It spurted out, disfigured and pernicious, from its fetid womb, to be coddled and reared by mass murderers such as Lenin, Stalin, Mao, Ho Chi Minh, Pol Pot, and Ceaucescu. It ushered a reign of repression that, at paroxysmal intervals, was marked by fits of unimaginable terror and madness. The death toll in its wake is
staggering: USSR -- 20 million; China - 65 million; North Korea - 2 million; Cambodia - 2 million; Vietnam -- 1 million; Africa --1.7 million; Afghanistan -- 1.5 million; Eastern Europe - 1.5 million; Latin America - 200,000.

Readers chagrined by this writer's preoccupation with human rights abuses in Latin America are correct on one score: Communist genocide has yet to receive the legitimate and lucid scrutiny it commands, either from an historical or moral perspective. After all, nearly 100 million people perished, victims of extrajudicial assassinations, enslavement and
exterminations.

I cannot explain -- nor do I condone -- this oversight. Perhaps we have been numbed by the sheer mathematics of death. Perhaps the inevitable focus on today's killing fields tends to dim yesterday's affronts. Selective amnesia helps us cope with today's horrors by shutting out past ones. There is only so much the psyche can endure.

Like Maxim Gorki, an observer of the madness and misery that was czarist Russia, I too have been "stupefied and tormented" by man's inventive cruelty. Like him, I thought about it and tried to comprehend it. Like him, I ultimately gave up. A holocaust survivor, a casualty of communism, a witness to human hatred and savagery on four continents -- I can offer no explanation. Absolute evil is unfathomable.

Where my critics err, I respectfully submit, is in advancing the dialectical argument that failure to punish one crime justifies the commission of another. Two wrongs don't make a right. They also lurch perilously close to moral apostasy when they suggest that, for the sake of "reconciliation," the past should not be revisited.

There is no statute of limitation on war crimes. War criminals are prosecutable and punishable. So are the intellectual authors who sanction or orchestrate atrocities from the safety of their offices. The trial of Slobodan Milosovic at the international tribunal and Peru's call for the extradition from Japan of Alberto Fujimori are an encouraging first step. Others will be found. Crimes against humanity cannot be tolerated and they shall not be left unpunished. Humanity must commit to this mission or humanity is lost.

EDITOR'S NOTE: As of this issue, W. E. Gutman is leaving on an extended sabbatical.

Wide awake in Central America

(The names mentioned here are fictitious or homonyms)

It is intolerable that in the 21st century war continues to exist as the art and method of resolving differences and/or conflicts. No truth can be found in the notion that through war we will ultimately obtain world peace. 

What is true is that the tension in which lives he who makes his earnings from public and political blackmail has the Central American press in a state of shock. And we also all know that it is a question of great wealth that has precipitated tension in Central America. Observing, we see this effrontery arrive beating the drums of war -- all for money.

To deal with the aforementioned, we need only to briefly analyze the politics at play in Central America, something that is difficult as one uncovers actions that are based in the mythical-ridiculous, and which are very hard to swallow.

As a preamble to what we intend to relate, two members of the Embassy of El Salvador were recently caught red-handed spying on us for their own self interests. We are certain that the problem of espionage goes beyond the present trouble, including, as participants, primarily Nicaragua and, in third place, Guatemala.

In view of this, we can only make some approximations regarding this problem, because we don't have the best of information. But it should be publicly manifest that we have tried to raise this issue with President Arnoldo Aleman, through the Dairio La Prensa of Nicaragua, without any response, for which we must assume that he has total responsibility for this undertaking.

It became evident from the time that President Callejas was in office that various alliances were formed throughout Central America, with the Northern Triangle composed of Guatemala, El Salvador and Honduras being given much attention. Not as a standard for future relations, given their favorable structure, but rather because of the personal ambitions of the various presidents in their turn, standing out among these an appetite for black gold: petroleum.

The goal was the monopolization of black gold in the Northern Triangle and logically this monopoly would have customers in addition to the triangle itself, such as Nicaragua and perhaps Costa Rica.

This honeymoon was very effective in Honduras, and so the Honduran treasury lost more than Lps. 80 million in potential tax revenue. To redirect this capital toward Guatemala required a small amount of participation by Nicaragua and, of course, control of large part of the petroleum in Honduras, with El Salvador being left out for reasons that are obscure.

The economic activity in Central America by essentially an axis of Guatemala and El Salvador has been evident since the war of 1969.
When we hear the word globalization, these countries already have united their forces and their nexos are Vatican alliances. And thus we could mention families such as: Castillo, Klee, DeSola, Gutierrez, etc. The modest list of Hondurans in the aforementioned are Rosenthal, Maduro, Callejas, Rivera, etc. There is nothing inherently bad here, only premeditation and the taking advantage of an industrial window of opportunity.

The oligarchy continues to apply the same concept: Form a government in which the power supreme is exercised by a small group of people from the same social class.
Another deed that stands out as fascinating in the history of Central America is without doubt the case of the sale of GUATEL. In this case there was a union of the most economically powerful groups in Central America, who presented themselves at the bidding for GUATEL, were granted the same without discussion, and following which they directly sold it without any difficulty to TELEMEX.

Today, Guatemalan authorities and high-level banking officials continue to ask themselves how it came to be that such a brilliant negotiation was snatched from their hands. The Guatemala treasurers still continue to wonder about a lot of things -- those opportunities that exist outside of the scope of law.

With what rapidity and brilliance are given the excuses for the Mexican consortiums that have come to demolish, without mercy, the fragile marketing of Central America. Watch how Bimbo levels all the independent bakeries of Guatemala and El Salvador. And following the Bimbo group come Sabritas, Electra, banks, and the psychological war needed to convince the public to use Mexican products in favor of those of better quality.

As a response to this they are studying new alliances in Central America, but on this occasion, they are excluding Honduras, which will be like a rat for a cat.

The alliances with Honduras already don't function. Honduras is a market in which one needs to have presence to saturate it: it is not productive. A variety of small businesses have rapidly succumbed to the buyers from El Salvador and Guatemala who have opened a window ostensibly because on the patio one can't breath.

We are almost talking about commercial whitewashing and money laundering. The high-level operations do not report earnings to any country, and the capital that they are moving throughout Central America is in huge quantities. The Central American bank only observes, in spite of knowing that they should open small windows to the public, but instead wait motionless like a second-rate bank. Such are the pressures felt by the most powerful bankers in Central America.

Although the industrialists and bankers of Guatemala maintain a strategic alliance with El Salvador, when it comes to international conflicts they prefer to sleep outside of the house but with a cellular phone in hand. he Salvadorans are more willful...