Honduras This Week Opinions and Editorials

Monday, December 30, 2002 Online Edition 50

EDITORIAL

Rivalry and security

In the middle of the year, the Chamber of Commerce invited members of the private sector to a meeting with Police Commissioner Coralia Coca de Rivera. The purpose of the meeting was to reveal to her the many problems we are currently facing due to crime.

We have actually held several meetings, pointing out our concerns in regards to the most dangerous areas detected, particularly the alarming amount of robberies registered in the last months. Despite this, we have seen no results.

All this was nothing but a waste of time. It turns out now that a new official has arrived with the purpose of creating a private security company, supposedly to protect our businesses. The idea is for businesses to become partners with this company only, which of course would cost us a lot of money.

Where else would they get the money to pay all the guards, patrols, motorcycles and the rest of the necessary equipment? Meanwhile, profits would go directly to the police chief and his partner.

The responsibility of individual security corresponds to the national police force. It was this entity which provided orders against sales vehicles entering dangerous areas, in order to do their work faster and more safely.

So what kind of job is the Commissioner exactly doing, I ask myself? I guess she is too busy blocking the way to Sub-Commissioner Borjas to perform her duties. Is she afraid of Borjas or is she involved in something so big that she must hide from the public eye? Is that why she is so angry about her colleague’s promotion? Does she feel smaller in the shadow of Borjas’ brilliance, self-assuredness and efficiency?

We certainly hope that by 2003, Commissioner Coca really focuses on the task she has been assigned to do, namely protecting the Honduran people. We expect her to provide a much better service to stop violence, crime and robberies in our country.

The Law Says ...

Traveling dogs

Dear HTW:

For eight years we have traveled in and out of Roatan with our pooch. We are residents. Before entering we were always required to have a current shot record from an U.S. veterinarian and a letter or form stating that the dog was in good health. TACA airline required that the dog be examined less than a week before flying off the island. This exam cost about $25.00 and was protection for the airline. But now upon arrival in Roatan, Americans are met at the airport by an inspector who tells us that our U.S. vet papers are not valid. We must now go to his partner, Dr. Bono, and pay US$90.00 to him before the dog comes in. Dr. Bono doesn’t have to see the dog however. What this $90.00 buys is never satisfactorily explained. Neither TACA airline nor the Houston consulate’s office understand. Is there some new law? The inspector insists there is such a law. If there is not, to whom can we go to stop the madness? A lot of money is being clipped here.

Marilyn Collier
Via Internet

Dear Marilyn Collier:

Sorry, I believe you are being victims of simple and raw corruption. There is no such legal charge as you stated it. My advice: Report this felony to the inspector’s boss and also to the ACS from U.S. Embassy here in Tegucigalpa and report criminal actions like that. Their phone number is (504) 238-5114 ext. 4400. Fax (504) 238-4357

Sorry and ashamed,

RUBEN D. ZEPEDA G
Former Judge and Attorney General

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LETTERS TO EDITOR

LIMIT GOVERNMENT TO ITS PROPER ROLE OF PROTECTING THE “DUE PROCESS OF LAW”

Dear HTW:

Brian Hopper’s letter to the editor of November 23 appears to me to be the same old new left, obsolete economic prattle we have heard throughout the cold war period. Yes, the United States does have a two party democracy that does primarily support the elite. What he and his ilk ignore is that, unlike Marxist states anywhere, the political system in the United States protects and nurtures the entrepreneur and individual property rights. Historically, this is the foundation of personal liberty and the wellspring of America’s prosperity. I seriously doubt that most individuals in the United States or Honduras would trade their liberty for Castro’s “free medical care, low AIDS’s rate, or high literacy.” Should they decide to try Castro’s solution to social problems, they would be subjected to a standard of living among the lowest in the world. Marxist economics simply does not work without repression of those freedoms that allow the individual to communicate, assemble, and to protect their families by creative effort in the marketplace.

As President Maduro recognizes, the principal role of the state is to protect the lives and property of Honduran citizens. If the crime situation in Honduras is reduced and Honduras becomes known widely as an island of stability, tourism will boom and economic activity will increase along with the people’s standard of living. As in the United States, the government is the principal problem. All too often, politicians and their cronies in the private sector corrupt the state, line their pockets and write the laws to protect their own economic interest. If Honduran statesmen seriously want to liberate their poor, they need to look at the small city-states of Asia as the economic model for the future. Restrict the government to its proper role of protecting “due process of law” and liberate the people to create their own future. This, of course, is the exact opposite of Castro’s vision for Latin America. This is why the strongmen and would be dictators of the region so often spew his “party line” as the solution to the regions problems.

John Chaney
Corrales, New Mexico
Via Internet

SECURITY FORCES SHOULD NOT BE COLLECTING GARBAGE

Dear HTW:

Yesterday, while driving on the main highway between San Pedro Sula and Tegucigalpa, I saw Honduras army personnel picking trash off the sides of the highway. Military and police personnel cutting grass and picking trash off the street sides in Tegucigalpa was the usual scene seven years ago, when I first came to Honduras.

This seems like an obvious degrading and misuse of police and military power. The national police and military have an important role in government than being street maintenance workers, especially now, during the zero tolerance and escalation of crime.

Many states in the United States use criminals under the gun to do these jobs. I would suggest Honduras leaves these jobs to the prison system and give this type of work to those that would rather commit crimes than work. Maybe, just maybe, having to work for nothing, would slightly entice them to do an honest day’s work for pay, when they are released into the public. Putting these people to useful work would help while away their time incarcerated.

If, while I was jailer, prison guard, law enforcement officer and Marine, I had to do this type of work, I’d have been extremely humiliated.

Jorge J. Cota – Weber
Siguatepeque, Comayagua

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Monday, December 23, 2002 Online Edition 49

EDITORIAL

Catrachos: Christmas from heaven, economy from hell

It not easy to run a country that is not willing to be run. A country that understands that it’s bad management is better than one modeled on other countries.

The national socio-economic load is more than deficient. Let us review some of the issues that ought to be reoriented. In the first place, our educational level is quantity and not quality oriented. The State’s investment is tied to international organisms.

From an international point of view, our nation is totally committed in the long term. And in the short term, we have financial institutions breathing down our back to make sure that no new ideas that might benefit our modest economy arise.

The State’s structure has no beginning and no end. Its’ existence merely obeys political design, an interpretation that can be seen as positive if taken from the perspective of the capacity of adaptation. The rest is all negative. The bureaucratic load makes no sense if it does not lead to national order. For example, taking advantage of available human resources; taking an inventory of the natural resources and its management; designing a national investment plan addressed at covering the issues of health, culture, water, electricity, telephone, media, training, international and national relations, justice, etc. All of the aspects mentioned above are obviously part of the reorientation we urge be undertaken as soon as possible.

We have found it impossible to create the formula for our country to stop begging, to cry less, to have a couple more of tortillas on the kitchen table.

Quoting a couple of philosophers who think that there is no God for all and everything. The poor of Honduras know God is deaf, but they love him anyway. World economy moves for the benefit of a few, under their understanding that the poor have no right what so ever, because they know nothing but to make children and eat... We, the poor, only receive ignorance as a gift, as a means to consolidate the future.

The forces of evil have been dedicated to demolish the human race in their modern laboratories. What will they do the day the poor disappear? Who will they sell their trash and lies too?

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LETTERS TO EDITOR

Privatization of state hospitals unthinkable

Dear HTW:

I just want you to know that I support Dr. Odessa Henriques, the President of the Medical Association and the other doctors who demonstrated, against the planned privatization of state hospitals. This is a trend, which is starting everywhere, including in Vancouver to privatize hospitals. But, nevertheless are health care in Vancouver is quite adequate at this time compared with other countries. But, I really believe that it is unthinkable that the Honduran government would privatize state hospitals, when so much of the Honduran people are living below the poverty line.

I am going to write to the president of the BC Medical Association, to seek their support for Dr. Henriques and her colleagues. If I can be of any further support in this matter please contact me.

Gerry Daubert
Vancouver
Via Internet

Monday, December 16, 2002 Online Edition 48

EDITORIAL

35 percent is a war tax

Nothing has been able to convince the national community in regards to the unilateral tax established by Nicaragua on Honduran products.

Nicaragua’s exhausting position stems not only from the ratification of the maritime border between Honduras and Colombia, but also industrial pressures from other Central American countries. These nations, faced with the free trade agreement with Mexico, sought new markets in Nicaragua, thus avoiding collapse.

Market success achieved by Central American -industrial men- cannot be attributed to low prices and free competition. Rather they bribed former Nicaraguan president Arnoldo Aleman so he would “patriotically” close frontiers to Honduran businesses in exchange for money.

President Ricardo Maduro declared last Saturday, December 7, that “we can not wait any longer for Nicaragua to eliminate the tax. The country (Honduras) has been way too patient already.”

Such a declaration is the subtle introduction to a future that does not smell of a united Central America. It’s the finale of the permanent joke played by businessmen who don’t hide their intentions of sending Honduras to the Cuban neighborhood. Everyone is playing with Honduras interests, except for the Honduran people themselves.

Not long ago we met with the president of the Federation of Industrial Chambers and Associations of Central America (FECAICA), Rafael Carrillo. He claimed to have convinced the National Association of Industrialist (ANDI) to petition the Nicaraguan government to eliminate the tax, and to have spoken to other regional presidents concerning the issue. However, he never said FECAICA could unite and take radical action to force the suspension of the unilateral 35 percent tax imposed on Honduras by Nicaragua.

The situation is clear. As a matter of fact, FECAICA’s half-hearted commitment in supporting Honduran industry greatly benefits businessmen in Guatemala, Nicaragua, Costa Rica and of course, El Salvador. It is no coincidence that each time they say Honduras could block products from Nicaragua; the big bosses of “the project to block Honduras” come out to say they have a ferry project in mind that would connect El Salvador and Nicaragua. What a coincidence!

Obviously, these ferry declarations are not a right, but rather an insult to international rights, just as El Salvador keeps on doubting The Hague resolution on the territorial demarcation to the international community. Meanwhile, our Ministry of Foreign Affairs is celebrating the victory of El Salvador both in the war of 1969 and in The Hague.

We haven’t learned yet that life in other countries is lived more intensely, and that their work teams don’t hesitate in hurting anyone who attempts to stand in their way. We also acknowledge a letter from the current president of Costa Rica, Abel Pacheco, addressed to Ricardo Maduro, on August 5th, in which he expresses his solidarity for FECAICA work. However, he also refuses to request positions that will lead to solving the problem once and for all.

If this is a Central American issue, why is everybody turning their backs on us in this neighborhood? So far, it is clear that Nicaragua will not suspend the embargo as long as it has the region’s support. In Central America, when it comes to supporting Honduras, a turtle delivers the paperwork to the wrong address.

The Law Says...

IMPORTATION OF FOOD PRODUCTS AND SAFETY IN HONDURAS

Dear HTW:

I am a travel agent from Canada who has eight clients thinking about going to Honduras in Feb/03. Upon reading the article under “The Law Says...” confiscated food products, the author asks about the San Pedro Airport and people being held up and robbed. You did not his question! These eight clients of mine have been thinking seriously of spending two weeks at the new Barcelo Beach Resort near La Ceiba, but I cannot in good conscience recommend your country without an explanation from you about this problem.

Is there no police protection at the airport? What about on the road between the airport and the hotel? It is quite a distance to be worried about being robbed. Please, can you address this worry of mine?

Pat Laframboise
Via Internet

Dear Mr. Lafanbroise:

Yes, there had being occasions of people being held up on the road but that’s not happening quite often. Regarding confiscation of foods please refer to the latest issues of rules by the OIRSA (Animal Sanitation International Organization) or better yet: The U. S. Embassy here in Honduras (Tegucigalpa) has a page as follows: www.usmission.hn. Furthermore you can call the ACS (AMERICAN CITIZEN’S SERVICES) (504) 238-5114 ext. 4400 fax 238-4357. If you call from the United States don’t forget to dial 011 before our area code.

The latest regulation has been to authorize the personal import of turkeys for the season (OIRSA)

Hope we have serviced you properly this time, I remain,

RUBEN D. ZEPEDA
Former Judge and Attorney General.

LETTERS TO EDITOR

TRUE REFORM DEPENDS ON HONDURAN CITIZENS

Dear HTW:

Congratulations to a well thought out article. I totally agree and enjoyed seeing this honest look at the truth in regards to the free markets. The article, “Trying to rationalize the origins of corruption” By Lorenzo Dee Belveal was good on that aspect, but I think it truly failed to point out the root of the cause of corruption. His analysis of how it starts and spreads, or how it operates in the Honduran political fields is accurate, but I felt it’s missing something.

If we looked at the United States government, we would have to honestly say there is some amount of corruption going on there as well. The one thing I believe we have to a large measure is moral accountability. But, to say that we need to be morally accountable says that there is a standard. So, perhaps it all starts by the fact that each Honduran needs to be taught that no matter if your rich or poor, alone, or in any state, what is right is right, and what is wrong is wrong. Mainly, stealing is wrong. Like Belveal said, “It is a crime, like theft...” So, the steps:

First, it has to start at the individual level. Every citizen has to be accountable to God and his fellow citizens.

This means, moral values have to be promoted, and criminals have to be found and punished. Secondly, concerned citizens force the different organizations, businesses and government agencies accountability to those whom they serve. There is much to be said about the free press and access of information in these regards. The Honduran government gets away with so much, mostly I think, because for the most part the people don’t know what’s true and what’s not.

The common people know little and care little of what is happening in their government. Unfortunately, perhaps they are simple minded, or perhaps the powers that be would want them kept that way. I’m not sure. The problems in Honduras are much to complex to analyze in one email. So, I would say that further education in the workings of the free market and the free press is needed in Honduras. The people need more motivation and enthusiasm to pursue these values, and demand more from those they elect. They also need to be empowered to do so. How, I’m not really sure, but we can start by working to help and promote whatever would help each citizen be held to higher moral standard, holding ourselves accountable to God, our families, and our communities. Only then, will true reform begin to happen.

Again, thank you for a insightful article, and let’s keep looking for and sharing those ideas that will have consequences in the minds of those who would read.

Josue Sierra
Miami, FL
www.josuesierra.net
Via Internet

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Monday, December 9, 2002 Online Edition 47

EDITORIAL

Don’t give up Police Sub-Commissioner Borjas!

The Police Sub-Commissioner for Internal Affairs, Maria Luisa Borjas has been the victim of an unfortunate decision. When she attempted to do something for the common good, she was suspended from her job.

The hero of many battles against drug trafficking and smuggling, Borjas was re-assigned to a modest position within the national police force. It has been said that her punishment derives from personal disagreements with another official.

The reason she was recently stripped of her power is unknown. Earlier this year, the sub-commissioner publicly denounced a lack of support within the police force, the reduction of the work team within her department, and the extra-judicial executions of well-known gang members by police officers.

The denouncements were made at time when violent crimes were flooding the news. These stories have led to an almost collective desire of revenge by illegal means, thus avoiding long, expensive judicial processes.

This good officer was suspended on the accusation of having committed a serious misdeed; she aired matters she should have discussed with her deaf superiors.

Borjas denounced 20 cases of extra-judicial executions involving members of the police. There might be many more, since it is estimated that nearly 1,500 extra-judicial executions of minors have taken place since 1998. Facing the police mentality that executions are the best way to take care of the crime problem, Borjas was obviously hindered in performing her duties.

We owe respect and many medals to officer Borjas. Unfortunately the payment for her correct behavior was suspension. A file with her name on it is open and suddenly all her defects are coming out for manipulative purposes.

From informal conversations held with people interested in the subject, we have noticed that the officer’s suspension flaunts a message of approval of what she openly rejects. The silence of the human rights organizations makes them an accomplice in this situation. It seems the matter has been consummated.

We do not approve of executions under any circumstance, as these actions contradict the spirit of the Republic’s constitution. If we seek a reason for these proceedings, all paths lead us to the sluggishness of the Honduran justice system.

We can not betray the good sense of our laws and pay officer Borjas in such a manner. On the contrary, she is a good representative of what the country yearns for justice with efficiency. Our judicial system is yelling for a reform, and hopefully this deficiency will not be the end of our Sub-commissioner.

LETTERS TO EDITOR

Dirt cheap prices in Honduras

Dear HTW:

Last Monday, November 18, my wife, my daughter and myself returned from an 18-day medical mission trip having served the folks in San Jose way up in the mountains close to La Paz, and also at La Barca, a crossroads village north of Yojoa. Before and upon our arrival we were briefed on the dos and don’ts for Americans in this country. I came across your newspaper “Honduras This Week “ and read with interest the Baptist’s letter to you and his opinions and then read the responses to his letters. In fact, I was just now on-line and read another letter about the same hospital builder. Here is mine.

I found that Honduras is no different from other countries when it comes to making a buck or Lempira. None of the cities impressed me any more than the big cities in my own state of Missouri. I’m a country boy and our team felt safe with the folks that live in the mountain regions. Sure there is crime, but where isn’t there. I feel certain that because we stood out as “Gringos” some prices were elevated, but when we converted to dollars the stuff that we bought was still dirt cheap. Our attitude was that these poor folks could use the extra Lempiras. The exit fees and tourist fees were something that was required and we were made aware of it in advance so none of us had any problem with it. My point is that once we landed in Honduras we were subject to the laws of Honduras. All in all we were treated with courtesy and received as friends. I will agree with the person that opinioned that the government should do more to reduce the high rate of crime so more visitors can come. All that tourists take back from Honduras is horror stories about the crime. We were not tourists except for one day in Tegucigalpa, the day before our return. We had a great time and can’t wait to return with another group of Medicos. Thanks for a good publication.
Robert A. Jones
Missouri
Via Internet

ALTERNATIVE COCONUT PALMS?

Dear HTW:

Thanks for the article on yellowing disease of coconut palms. I, like others, planted new coconuts at my property on the beach outside of Trujillo after Mitch. I bought over 100 Mapan coconuts from Dole in La Ceiba. Of course, we were told they were disease resistant. Another American outside of Trujillo also planted a similar number. Now little more than three years later, I am told that all of my neighbor’s coconuts have died and that I should expect all of mine to die. To date maybe 30 percent have died. What should I do? If there is nothing economically feasible to do to save the Mapans, what variety should we now plant. I have lost three years and several thousand dollars already.

Thanks for any research. There are many more people that want another article telling us what are the best alternatives to treat the palms we have or to advise us what to plant now.

Steed Scott
Via Internet

ETHNIC ORIGINS DOUBTFUL

Dear HTW:
Your recent article on a survey of ethnic origins in Honduras amused me. These surveys are not worth the paper they are written on, although perhaps they should be valued for the sociological insight they give into the indigenous mentality.

The indigenous of Honduras are, of course, at the bottom of social scale. “Indio” or “India” is a term of abuse or contempt so it is hardly surprising that that the average Honduran “Indian” denies that is in fact what they are. My wife, a Honduran woman and Deputy Director of the local college was interviewed in this survey. She proudly and happily admitted she was Lenca. She could hardly have done otherwise given her racial characteristics, the brown skin, the high cheekbones and straight black hair. But her interviewer all the same was surprised, nay shocked, that she should admit to being Lenca Indian. She remarked that nearly all those whom she had interviewed denied being Lenca, and had insisted on being called Ladino, Honduran or of Salvadoran extraction or whatever, anything but Lenca. She herself refused to be classed as such even though her skin was browner, her hair blacker and her eyes darker than my wife’s. As are about 80 percent of all those who live in this large area of Honduras’ western highlands.

Nigel J. Potter
San Jose, Marcala
La Paz, Honduras

Honduran tourists unwelcome in U.S.

By NIGEL POTTER

I am a British citizen with Honduran residency. I once worked in the United States for a couple of years and have visited the country several times as a tourist. Once I needed a multiple-entry visa, easily obtainable in London and now I do not need any visa at all. Either way I could and can come and go pretty much as I pleased. I would very much like to take my wife and children to see the wonders of the Grand Canyon and Monument Valley and so on. Unfortunately there is just one problem: My wife and children are Hondurans.

The cost and bureaucracy of trying to obtain a visa make it extremely unlikely we will ever go there as a family and the interview with the U.S. Counsel General John Jones (October 26, 2002) did nothing to raise our hopes.

I can see because of the “wetback” and terrorist problem the U.S. government has to maintain a strict control but it seems a pity to throw out the baby with the bathwater. In spite of all the controls, numberless illegal immigrants seem to the reach the United States without too much trouble whereas genuine tourists are practically denied entry. Fortunately the United Kingdom and Spain give a better welcome to my Honduran family which as tourists they can visit as easily as I can the United States.

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Monday, December 2, 2002 Online Edition 46

EDITORIAL

Public investment

Public investment is aimed at offering the country the kind of long-term development the private sector can’t provide, given its slow financial return.

For example, the type of development required in irrigation zones, that experience has shown us is imminent to assure food security. This package of invisible needs includes water, electricity and sewage systems, etc.

At the beginning of this administration, the central government was criticized for lacking an entity capable of long-term planning. An institution such as the defunct Ministry of Economic Planning, which was closed 1998.

Planning is not an easy task; it requires skill and methodology. The most important factor is having the will to make things happen and it is disturbing to realize there are certain persons who disrespect the country’s vision and impose whimsical goals that do not fit development schemes.

Let’s not underestimate other imponderable factors such as earthquakes, hurricanes, wars, the Monetary Fund, etc.

No one can do a better job than the government when it comes to carrying out major projects that will benefit future generations. The current lack of planning for future generations just reflects our poor performance and low self-esteem. We are responsible for the future of this country.

One budget analysis establishes that this task doesn’t pertain to the State anymore, it would seem international financial organisms have taken over.

Only in the last 10 years, the population has increased by million people. Reproduction is something we do well.

Indeed, does the future of Honduras depend on family planning? Judge for yourself. We have come to the conclusion that the expression “where two eat, so do three” is totally false. We must take care of our future, and this is directly linked to the quality of our current actions. That is why we must trust in short, medium and long term planning as a vital function of the national public administration.

Nothing is more valid than long-term public investment. It is particularly strange that financial organisms disapprove of public investment as a means of survival. They actually establish rules to generate immediate riches, which avoid state investment and that chiefly benefit importation.

Such is the case of electric energy, where pollution and mechanical equipment is preferred over building dams, a renewable source of energy.

It is urgent the Honduran government and its authorities commence development that will prevent the failure of the future Honduran economy.

The Law Says...

Confiscated food products

Dear HTW:

I just received a call from a friend and pilot, Captain Mejia. His son recently flew to Roatan and Customs kept a Butterball turkey he was taking to relatives for Thanksgiving. Is Honduras doing this now to its visitors? We understand that canned food is also being confiscated. I am concerned about this because I do send friends to Honduras with food for family and friends and if Honduras is doing this, then I will make efforts to curtail visitors, this is not right. My wife is going down to visit our daughter this month. Is Honduras not allowing visitors to take food?

I also learned that when you leave the San Pedro airport they are still holding up people? A friend of ours was held up and everything was stolen. How can we send tourists if they will be held up?

I would appreciate a reply to this email before I send friends next week with perishable products.

Captain Paul J. Holsen II
Via Internet

Dear Captain:

No law says you can’t bring foods to this starving country, with about a 70% or people living UNDER the absolute poverty barrier. In the case of the frozen foods, like the turkey, if the product is frozen and packaged properly, I see no reason why to impound it. As far as I know, there are no existing curves or bans against ANY product imported from the U.S. Sometimes people at a post like in customs and/or Migration, give a lousy impression of the REAL Honduras people. Sorry about that and I advise you to get in touch with the State Department to inquire further.

LETTERS TO EDITOR

TOURISM, ENVIRONMENT AND DISCRIMINATION

Dear HTW:

Klaus Borchert, in his article and his letter, illustrates the economic theory that more tourists are likely to come to Honduras if the prices were lower. Depending on the elasticity of demand, that may or may not result in a net financial gain for the country. However, according to a report by the United Nations, a race to attract tourists with the lowest prices has contributed to neglect of fragile ecosystems in many third world countries. Is that what we want?

Along with his money, the tourist has needs: security, transportation, natural resources, and sewage treatment. Economist, entrepreneur, and contributor to HTW, Lorenzo Dee Belveal has written eloquently of the adverse effects Roatan and its delicate coral reef have suffered as a result of too many people and insufficient infrastructure to manage the impact of said people on the island’s environment. Mr. Borchert suggests that tourists, guests and friends who come to Honduras should be exempt from all fees. If the amount charged to the tourist is less than the total costs (including overhead) of serving her, then Honduras will be worse off in the long run. Is that what we want?

Mr. Borchert complains of the 300 lempira per month charge to tourists (a little more than 50 cents a day). Another person told of traveling hours to visit a national park and then refusing to enter because of an 85 lempira (about five bucks) entrance fee. I suggest that these type of penny-pinching tourist go somewhere else. That’s not what we want.

I’m bewildered at the hypocrisy of those who criticize Honduras for it’s discriminatory prices. Depending on where you go in the United States, the amount you pay for entrance or service may depend on your age, occupation, gender and place of residence. Some state and local parks in the United States charge more for non-residents. Most state funded colleges in the United States charge more, sometimes as three times as much, for non-residents. Senior citizen discounts; student discounts; children under 12 eat free. While Mr. Borchert complains about price discrimination in Honduras, somehow the same practice in the United States does not bother him. Now that’s discrimination!

Once again hats off to HTW for it’s fair treatment of a topic.

Silencia Cruz
Via Internet

Web Edition Editor's Comment:
Within the European Union, Admission to many museums and monuments is free to E.U. residents only. Admission is charged to all others.

PEGGY BRINKLEY AND THE RAMIREZ FAMILY “TOPS”

Dear HTW:

I very much enjoyed the article about Peggy Brinkley; I have stayed at her hotel many times and have to say, “that is Peggy.” She has helped many groups that have come to work in Honduras as I have with a Medical group.

On the other side, the article concerning Erika Ramirez is very sad. If you need an outside opinion about the Ramirez family I can say they are “tops.” Erika’s father, mother and several of her sisters give volunteer help to the group that I work with. They have been translators for our medical clinic that works in the village of Chapagua, (near Trujillo) for quite a few years. Without their help, we would have had a lot of trouble with the language barrier. If you need any further verbal support for her family, just let me know.

Linda Miller Bluffton
Ohio, USA
Via Internet

ERIKA RAMIREZ TELLS THE TRUTH

Dear HTW:

I was very upset to read the story in your November 18, 2002 issue concerning Erika Ramirez and the problems that she has had. My wife (a Honduran native) and I visit Honduras every year, and I was fortunate enough to be staying at the same hotel as Erika in April of this year. I met her and some of her family, and they were extremely pleasant and friendly to me. Erika is very articulate and intelligent, and was a terrific representative for Honduras in the Miss Universe Pageant. I remember feeling sad to see this beautiful young lady and the three women traveling with her carrying their luggage to the street and flagging down taxis on her way to see President Maduro. She was “on her own”, and I remember thinking how she should have been better taken care of. I found her to be very sincere, and I believe what she is saying now, and I hope she succeeds in her brave effort to tell the truth.

Gary Mott
New York
Via Internet

Trying to rationalize the origins of corruption

By LORENZO DEE BELVEAL

In the absence of a case excusing the corrupt, perhaps an explanation of corruption as being an inherent, “natural” outcome in the very scheme of things is the next best thing.

Pedro A. Brizuela is the author of an “opinion” piece that appeared in the November 20 edition of La Prensa, and that insists that “the source of corruption has always been the free market”. Somehow, in Sr. Brizuela’s opinion, the tap-root of corruption is contained in the “law of supply and demand”.

This is not a new idea. Protagonists of Socialism and ranging from Eugene V. Debs, to Karl Marx and a long list of hangers-on sought to peddle the same message throughout most of the 20th century. Their thesis being that if we could just supplant the law of “supply and demand” with the law of “from each according to his ability, and to each according to his need”, we would magically replace the heartless “search for profit” with a more compassionate marketplace. Enticing as the proposition sounded, even its most passionate adherents were unable to make it work.

Socialism provided the cornerstone for the communistic experiment that Russia doggedly pursued for some seventy years and that, at the end, bankrupted the nation and prompted the death and dissolution of the U.S.S.R.

While the tragedies of failure proliferated all over the communistic world, capitalism - based on the natural forces of supply and demand - was producing a growing list of glowing global success stories.

Socialism is an enticing theory, but it fails at the point of “equalizing” the distribution of goods and services that the human family requires for its survival. More particularly, there has to be a mechanism to decide who has a “surplus” and who has a “need”. And then take from one and give it to the other - thereby satisfying the socialistic ideal. Nobody has ever succeeded in structuring a system that could meet even the most basic requirements of fairness and the requisite market efficiencies.

Allowing the forces of Supply and Demand to meet in the un-buffered marketplace provides a dynamic distribution point for both producers of products and potential purchasers of same. “Price” is the even-handed arbiter between sellers and buyers. Obviously, sellers will seek the best return for their labors in producing the products, and buyers will strive to obtain their needed supplies at the best (lowest) price available.

Price fluctuation is the regulator that smoothes out periods of shortage and oversupply: When excessive supplies are offered in the market, prices will fall, as sellers seek to clear their overstocked inventories. When supplies are sparse, buyers will have to raise their bids as they seek to obtain the supplies they need.

This confrontation between buyers and sellers is never-ending. Suppliers trying to make higher prices prevail, and buyers trying to make lower prices apply in the trade. In the process, the production of a nation is brought to market, offered for sale and moved into the hands of the buyers who require it. In the absence of monopolistic effects, government price-fixing or other artificial interference, it is an equitable, even-handed and highly efficient process. At the very least, it is preferable to any substitute marketing system humans have ever been able to devise.

Great commodity markets have existed throughout the world, for at least the last one-thousand years, facilitating commercial trade in everything from precious metals, to foodstuffs, spices, petroleum products, gemstones, vegetables, livestock and fibers - with which to feed, house and clothe the world’s burgeoning population.

It is at least remarkable that Mr. Brizuela’s apologia for corruption appears in a major publication of one of the most notoriously corrupt nations of the world. Except the shameful practices are not as easily explained away as he obviously envisions it to be.

Honduras corruption is widespread and devastating in its effect on buyers, sellers, private citizens and the political elite, alike.
Corruption is a cancerous growth within the national body. Its deadly effects penalize everyone, whether they occasionally profit from a corrupt act or not. The overall impact brings handicaps in every aspect of economic, social and political functioning.

And corruption is not a product of the “free market” or the forces of “supply and demand”, as Sr. Brizuela would like us to believe.

Corruption is the direct product of unprincipled political, business and social leadership. Corruption thrives because it is engaged in by the political and economic leadership, then it is replicated down the structural pecking-order. In due course, as in Honduras, “everyone is doing it. Whether the particular corrupt acts involve commercial bribes, subornation of judges, tax and import duty “deals” or any of a hundred other large or small transgressions against equity and fair dealing.

In short, corruption isn’t the product of any natural activity. Corruption is the result of corrupt, illegal, abusive practices on the part of corrupt people. It is a crime, like theft or murder, but it carries a lesser degree of opprobrium; especially after a nation - or a society - comes to accept it. But this doesn’t render it any less lethal to the state or nation so infected.

If anyone doubts this, take a hard look at Honduras. Decades of corruption have largely been responsible for bringing it to the state of penury is presently occupies in the roster of nations.

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