Urban Planning
... a Total Failure in Teguz

A few years ago, John Glenn, the astronaut, gave the city of Antigua, Guatemala, enough money for the authorities to eliminate all electric pylons, water pipes, phone cables and other street clutter, and conceal these systems in underground tunnels and chambers. Delicate topographical work had to be done in order to restore the ruptured antique roads afterwards, exactly the way they were.

This is how Antigua maintained the world heritage status of which it has always been proud.

We have always considered Tegucigalpa to be one of the most original Central American cities because of its unique architecture and personality in all aspects. Our city’s disgrace has been its functionaries and mayors. It is important to mention that these mayors have never felt anything for wounded Tegucigalpa given that they weren’t even born here. They came as invaders and, in revenge, destroyed it.

In the late 30’s, Tegucigalpa disposed of certain buildings, which quickly succumbed to the destructive ambition of man. These buildings included the old American consulate, the building on the opposite corner of the Central Park which was once Banco de Honduras, and the TACA building in the 50’s. These architectural marvels were criminally replaced by inferior buildings, and indeed the contempt shown for the law by their developers was such that even their parking spaces were illegal.

To our understanding, at least two of the lost buildings were not common ones, they were real palaces, built by constructors at the height of their powers.

Regarding the drainage chambers, we understand that part of it is under the old presidential house and runs through to the old Ruben Callejas Valentine gymnasium. As you can see, Tegucigalpa was also a pioneer in drainage chambers.

The situation is that, in our city, the problems keep appearing and growing with no solution whatsoever. On this point, knowing that manpower is cheap, we could have built so many proud new structures. In other words, we would not only have the chambers alluded to, but also tunnels for a subway - a solution for the complicated traffic of Tegucigalpa – funiculars, and truly valuable infrastructure displays.

The composition and landscape of our beautiful Tegucigalpa is socially very important to all of us. Even though Hurricane Mitch destroyed most of our city, most damage has been caused by its inhabitants.

Sometimes we don’t care about problems, such as the loud noises in the neighborhood. Up till now, we consider the fact that there is no solution for the problem of the street vendors and their stalls. It is a sad fact that the personality of our capital is not taken into consideration by these unlicensed merchants, and those who serve the interests of Tegucigalpans with intellectual poverty.

We need to think deeply about our capital… its past sacrifices and present agony are intolerable.

NOPE, NO VAMPIRES HERE!

In response to Mr. Gutman’s “Deny Vampires Blood”, in the October 30th edition of HTW, I would like to say the following:

Mr. Gutman is a hopeless liberal ideologue, who will twist and distort any given set of facts or circumstances in order to hammer a square peg into a round hole, regardless of the consequences. Further, he has a seething contempt for Honduras. In the hundreds of his articles and letters which I have read in HTW throughout the years, I have yet to see one positive comment about our beautiful country that was not made sarcastically.

The reasons why I favour the death penalty here in Honduras, and I am against it in the U.S. have nothing to do with hypocrisy, or that Honduran life is cheaper than American life, or with vengeance, or even with the “orgiastic ecstasy of retribution”, as Mr. Gutman asserts. No, none of the above. The reasons, as I carefully explained in my letter, are because crime in Honduras is of a different nature than it is in the U.S.; i.e. crime here is more premeditated, better organized, better orchestrated, and therefore more sinister. In addition, the Honduran criminal justice system is completely overwhelmed by the avalanche they are facing. The police are outgunned, outnumbered, out financed, the prison system is totally inadequate, and President Maduro’s “zero tolerance to crime” has proven to be a complete failure.

The fact of the matter is that I wish the death penalty was not necessary ANYWHERE. If we had the resources to fight the crime epidemic that the U.S. has, I would be appalled by the idea of the death penalty, but as things stand, I don’t want to see the thugs and murderers released back into society, ready to engage in still more horrific crime. My sympathies are with society, Mr. Gutman. Where do your sympathies lie?

I challenge Mr. Gutman to give Hondurans any reasonable alternative to capital punishment. Failing that, he should allow us to protect ourselves, without the benefit of his liberal diatribe.

Juan Gonzalez
Via Internet

A Success Story in Progress

By DON PEARLY

If you really want something done, ask a busy person. This is the case with Ms Kathryn Tschiegg, RN who is the founder of CAMO, Central America Medical Outreach, a non-profit 501 (c) organization with an outstanding track record. Founded in 1993 their achievements are far too enormous to try to mention but suffice it to say they have saved life after life and brought comfort and improvement to thousands of Honduran families. They are into dental, audiometry, surgical; eye surgery, mammography, orphanages, general health, gastric cancer, medical education, prosthetics, pediatrics, medical teaching and we bet psychiatric programs.

CAMO is a Christian-based, non-denominational organization who exists to provide medical education, supplies and equipment to the impoverished regions of Central America. They accomplish this by systematically soliciting funds and by acquiring the services of professional medical people from all over the world. Sounds familiar, well it should as it is the same basic pattern followed by many NGO and individual groups or individuals with the same good intentions but somehow they have made it work better than most of the others.

Why does it work so well, ask Miss Kathryn by going to www.camo.org as she is very wiling to share her experiences with you while she spends her time improving her group’s quality of services and bringing state of the art medication and equipment to Central America. Nice job super nurse Kathryn and your fine dedicated staff.

Democracy, a System in Crisis

By ARMANDO MARTÍNEZ

When one observes the political platform, from a distance and merely as a citizen, one can not help but to wonder why the same individuals keep running for office term after term. Why do these individuals proclaim themselves as the solution to our countries problems, when they have spent the last term doing absolutely nothing of benefit for the general population? How is it possible that a country as poor as ours has to devote such a great deal of financial resources to maintaining an oversized government? How is it possible that politicians should engage in endless debates about ballot functionality and not realize that the problem is not the procedure for the citizens to fill out the ballot, but the vast and ridiculous number of choices on the ballots themselves?

Politicians now-a-days, as mentioned in a report presented by Dante Caputo ex-minister of the Argentinean government and member of a team gathered by the United Nations Development Program (UNDP), have an enormous responsibility, not only to their countries but to democracy itself. Caputo stated in his team’s report that after a serious study of the socio-economical factors of Latin America an astonishing 45% of the citizens throughout the area believed that their countries problems were more likely to be solved by the placing of a dictatorship than through the continuance of a democratic government.

Caputo urges the political breed of Latin America to be witty and forthcoming to the reality of the diverse problems in their countries and to leave their mark in history by stating solutions to them, having as their main concern the benefit of the vast majority and not the selfish interests of the less than 20% that control most of the country’s wealth.

Democracy, the most sublime expression of politics and government, a system where the people’s will enables a series of individuals to take decisions for the vast majority keeping their best interests in mind, is now definitely facing a crisis. This crisis is not a product of the time elapsed since its origin, but a man-made fabrication. This crisis is the result of an unethical and to a certain degree immoral line of political behaviors. The disbelief in the system comes not from the faults in the system, but from the inadequacy of those within the system to make the choice of empowering the citizens to achieve their own well-being.

As the political parties rally towards their internal elections and have their eyes set on next November, where the fate of the next four years of our country’s leadership is decided, their time to make a choice draws nearer.

These are definitely serious times and we need serious people to guide our country. We need serious people with serious proposals to achieve the benefit of the general population. We need serious people to take serious actions against common and white-collar delinquents. We need serious people because we have serious problems to solve.

Some of us, the citizens, believe that politicians should be greatly concerned with the widely spread discomfort towards democracy and should take affirmative action to raise the citizen’s expectations towards electing another candidate into the presidency.

After all, the presidency is greater than any individual or political party and exists with the sole purpose of achieve its citizens well-being.

The Death Penalty would work fine if 3 things happen.
1. Use it Swiftly
2. Use it Often
3. Televise it. (do away with the Lethal Injection, Use the Electric Chair, Hanging, or Firing Squads
But, bleeding heart Liberals love the Criminals and hate the Victims. Remember, Those who have been but to death will never commit another crime again. So, the Death Penalty does Deter Crime..
Repectfully Sumitted by:
Thom, US Army, Airborne Retired SFC E7
Now residing in San Pedro Sula
Remember: A Friend Is Always a Brother, but A Brother Is Not Always a Friend.

Corruption and War...

Public appointments are considered by many functionaries as an opportunity for personal enrichment, a philosophy far removed from the natural thriftiness of the Honduran community.

A post in public administration means a lifetime opportunity for many. It is well known that the instability of such a post is a great factor in influencing the appointee in his or her decision whether or not to choose corrupt practices during the brief and uncertain period during which he or she will be serving.

Those who have chosen to take on the administration ethically will be considered as inconsiderate and will go down in the history books as those who did not take advantage of the opportunity when it was given to them. If this is an institutionalized problem, then we clearly have to start from the inside of the Honduran political parties.

There are many politicians that have worked in nothing apart from the public administration; nonetheless, they have these huge mansions to envy, besides all the amazing expenses they require to live through each day. These people are never investigated and they never will be...they are the “needed politicians.”

This scourge works on worldly basis, not only in Honduras. It is exaggerated how maliciously winning a national election affects the decisions over well known judgments and the future of a person who knows corruption very well. In other words, this is a politically corrupt favoritism.

Each time we speak of corruption, it is equally important to dream about how things could be better. For politicians, to have control over corruption is to keep their followers to heel with the promise of an automatic pardon.

Next to this is the need to clarify our debts and to have control of public confidence. It is important to point out that, instead of improving the mechanisms for controlling and reducing corruption, some of them have been canceled due to the lack of the appropriate budget.

Any effort towards ending corruption is well appreciated. We welcome President Maduro’s efforts in bringing to destitution these customhouse functionaries, sending a message to all in the public administration: corruption is not worth it.

CHANGE THE PUBLIC ADMINISTRATION OR...
IMPROVE OUR POLITICIANS

The deal is that the actual government has reached its third age and is theoretically defined as “more expenses and less investments,” thing that will be inherited by the next government. This anguish could make the runners for the nest government start dilapidating poor Hondurans’ budget. To the public administration this is cureless endemic.

Maduro’s government adopted the right posture as a technical government by not firing the public employees via economical benefits. If this had happened it would have meant the immediate operative outlining of the state, due to the high costs of the economical benefits in our country.

The third year not only means that the government is ready to be less radical about the coming actions, but to benefit its candidate in the next elections.
The “savings” made by the government for its partisans will precisely be useful to benefit the upcoming elections.

From now on, the actual president will have to choose his candidate, which will have to be an unconditional one…in case he wins, he will not question his mandate but approve of it.
Regarding this government, we do not understand where it is going to place all the angry reporters that were manipulated and harassed not knowing that the press, auto denominated the fourth power, is and organ that will decide the balance of the elections. In other words, we are expecting and asking ourselves if this government will accuse neutrality and wash its hands in benefit of no one.

What is actually true is that as a general measure, the municipalities will try to demonstrate their agility and work next year…this is the only way to convince the voters, through work well done.

Besides the above mentioned, there will be more dinners, more fun, more football, petroleum will decrease its most merchants will have a happy hour in their freight-cars…a well controlled riot.

It is once again proven that what we need in the public administration is professional and qualified personnel in immovable conditions, except for the acts of corruption in such way that in the change of government only the ten “trustworthy” posts will be available. On the other side, the rest of the personnel has to concentrate in its administrative career and be constantly trained.

Politicians are politicians and sometimes they are needed. The thing is that they have to respect the schemes of the public administration so that they won’t be judged and in malice be deprived during the structural decision of the government.

If this government understands that being technical and not political is the best way to demonstrate its quality it will un-doubtfully be when they work without expecting any compensation.
This is how the great worker gets his prize. This the responsibility granted to the Honduran people and this is how they have to pay for that confidence placed in them.

Dear Editor:

The writer of this editorial is living in a dream world. There are alternatives to oil and all of them are either too expensive, more polluting than oil or are such ridiculous ideas that they shouldn’t even be contemplated. Oil is the cheapest, most abundant power source on the Earth. All you have to do is knock a hole in the ground and pump it out. There are trillions of tons of it to be had and it is located in most parts of the planet. If any of the other power sources were as economical or more economical than oil, one can be sure that governments and large corporations would be exploiting it. Obviously, they are not. The closest they have come is with the hydrogen generator but it is so dangerous at this time that it is just in the experimental stages. And this silly idea about electrical vehicles is a laugher. Where do you think the power source for electrical generation comes from to charge the batteries? And I don’t suppose that there is a more polluting industry than the battery industry. Of course, when a government must buy all of it’s oil and soaks the public with exorbitant charges for the product, then you have a problem. That’s why you need for free corporations, in competition with others, to handle the work.

The main reason that gasoline is so expensive in most of the world, forgetting the governments who are gouging their citizens (maybe gente would be a better word) is because large populations like China are now buying up a large percentage of the crude, causing the on-hand oil stocks to fall, causing a shortage and higher prices. The answer is to find and pump more oil.————By the way. I have read, recently, where a Russian viral scientist estimates that one billion earthlings will die this year from the bird flu. That’s about 15% of the population. Maybe that will lessen the demand for oil and cure the problem for some of us who make it through it.———-Of course, I do not expect to see this letter on your website but I couldn’t let it go at that. —-Garrobo

John White
Fredericmtown, Ohio USA
ezell@bright.net
Via Internet

Loving Lucy

Little Lucy and Liz

By DON PEARLY

One fateful night in the quiet village of Copan an altercation between two inebriated men turned into a running gun battle. Ironically neither of the men was injured but in their wild chase a little girl named Lucy Hernandez, while tending her bread stand in the front of her home, was struck in the head by a nine millimeter bullet.

It was without a doubt a life threatening wound and the girl went into convulsions on the sidewalk. Not having the proper facilities to tend to her she was whisked to the public hospital in San Pedro Sula. She was taken there in the Red Cross ambulance only after her guardian Mrs. Aguilar found the money to put diesel into the vehicle. Her age on the hospital entry documents stated she was approximately seven to nine years of age.

Much to everyone’s delight and surprise, everything was done properly and in a timely manner, and little Lucy remained alive. After fifteen days and nights of intensive care she was released and returned to her home in Copan. Thanks to the help of Mrs. Aguilar and Liz Nutter Valladeres, a local shop keeper, Little Lucy is back tending to her duties and chores.

We met with Lucy at the Convention on Honduras and immediately knew why she was thought to be seven or nine years old when in actuality she is sixteen. Due to a long life of malnutrition and lack of proper health care her growth was very stunted. Liz and Mrs. Aguilar now have an immediate goal and that is to teach Lucy how to read and to write. It is a bit complicated because she cannot enter the public school, which is free, because of her actual age. She has passed that window of opportunity and her only hope now of getting a basic education would be her enrollment in a private school preferably a bi-lingual school. For this she needs tuition and materials as well as decent clothing. We asked Liz if she would remain in the middle of this saga and allow us to publish her e-mail address in case someone or some organization would see their way clear to help little Lucy. You may contact Mrs. Aguilar or Liz at justoatiempo@yahoo.com

PART II
PETROLEUM...
A NASTY FRIEND

A fifty-fifty share in the distribution of resources will never exist for poor countries; on the other hand, the cruelty of the producing magnates will increase every day. Cleary their target is a barrel of petroleum that has a sustainable and integral price of $100, and there is no doubt about it - we are on our way there.

It is hard to accept there are no substitutes for petroleum. Plants working with alcohol as fuel have been recently created. Petroleum can theoretically be made from carbon or anything that contains it, including straw, vegetable residue and turf. It was possible for the German empire, during World War II, to produce five million tonnes of synthetic petroleum, created by taking high quality carbon and altering it with high-pressured hydrogen. Another procedure is to combine water and carbon, obtaining synthetic gas. Nonetheless, the electrification of vehicles has been recorded, so it will not last in the market.

Alchemists deserve our acknowledgement, particularly because of the super catalysts that they called ‘philosophic stone’.

There is no doubt that the most elaborated processes of petroleum production create products with a better body and rendition, at unimaginable costs. However, there will always be others at lower costs, but that are incredibly inconvenient for the multimillionaire magnates of petroleum. Added to these great interests are other valuable alternatives of energy production such as eolic, atomic and hydraulic energy. But natural gas has the most promising potential because of its relation to carbon, synthetic gas, acetylene and cyanhydric acid.

To this list we should also add other possible substitutes: sodium sulfite batteries, lithium and lithium telluride batteries, zinc and air batteries, fuel batteries, gasoline fuel batteries, the Klein transformer and many others…but the potential is almost non-existent as there is no political support.

But writing these notes is not an exercise in quantum or analytic chemistry - our main objective
e is to remind those who have found satisfaction in being cruel to humanity that we are aware of this moral disaster and that we will never forget their cruelty.

Our opportunities are scarce and very little will save us. It is not about avoiding death because of AIDS, it is about the scandalous love for money demonstrated by the companies that have abusively taken the petroleum granted to us by God.

We believe it is not only about searching for alternatives, but about looking for a plan B at all times. This fuel problem will ruin our lives. The time will come when none of us will have even a cent to contribute to this holy mass.

DENY VAMPIRES BLOOD

Juan Gonzalez wants his cake and eat it too (Letters, HTW, Oct. 16,2004).

In pleading for the introduction of the death penalty in Honduras, he turns a ponderable opinion and legal argument into a sinister parody by admitting, with bare-faced hypocrisy, that he is against it in the U.S.

Is Mr. Gonzalez suggesting that Honduran life is cheaper, more expendable than that of Americans? Does he forget that extra judicial executions already take place in Honduras at the hands of a constabulary gone amok? Has he no understanding for the intractable socio-economic ills that have plunged Honduras in a miasma of misery and discontent, and spawned the monsters that he now wants destroyed? Has he forgotten that Honduras, a dismal Third World nation masquerading as a democracy, has endured successive dynasties of gluttonous plutocrats whose diseased governance produced a dysfunctional society corrupted by political chicanery, monumental ineptitude, apathy and gross indifference toward the poor?

Yes, Honduras has a huge crime problem. And like the U.S. — a lone renegade among civilized western nations which still puts people to death – Honduras will discover, like the U.S., that executing a criminal satisfies the vengeful bestiality of a few people but does NOT deter crime. Putting people to death is an obscene trivialization of life and an admission by society that it doesn’t know how to cope with the problems it has created.

Last, Mr. Gonzalez’s suggestion that executions be held in public is an outrage and further evidence of a man consumed with hatred and interested only in the orgiastic ecstasy of retribution.
I hope that cool heads prevail in Honduras. The vampires must be denied their pint of blood.

W. E. Gutman
Journalist
Los Angeles

A Bleak Future for Education?

Children face several barriers to a good education in Honduras.

By Miah Gibson

Last Friday the National Autonomous University of Honduras (Universidad Nacional Autónoma de Honduras – UNAH) celebrated 47 years of autonomy. As the University took the spotlight, I took the opportunity to explore the largest of Honduras´ two public universities and learn a little more about this country´s education system.

I began talking to a professor of photography who works in the Arts Faculty at UNAH. Over the course of the conversation I learnt that the students performing in front of me represented a very select few who attend university in Honduras. Further research uncovered a National Report on a Child Labour Survey conducted by the International Programme for the Eradication of Child Labour in May 2002, which indicated that only 3.8% of the population aged between 18 and 45 were attending university in 2002. At the secondary school level, coverage is about 35% which means that more than half a million young people do not have access to secondary school education. Considering that children (persons younger than 18) make up over one-third of Honduras´ population, it´s disturbing to consider that so few are receiving a solid education.

It must be acknolwedged that a child faces several barriers to a good education in Honduras. Perhaps the most significant barrier is cost. As a public university, UNAH draws its funding from government grants, student fees and donations. Honduras´ other public university, the Universidad Pedagógica Nacional Francisco Morazán is also under the administrative control of the Ministry of Public Education. Although fees to both these universities are subsidised by the government to a large extent, many families are still unable to afford them.

The same may be said of primary and secondary schools in Honduras. According to the study mentioned above, 10% of children never go to school at all because their parents simply cannot afford the public system. This is despite the fact that primary education in Honduras is free. The sad reality is that for some Honduran families, the contribution of a child to the family business or family income is neccessary just to survive.

For the families that can afford the public system, what will it offer them? Often a lack of resources, large class sizes and ill-qualified teaching staff, according to Omar Alvarez from the Hillcrest School and Cristiana Banegas from the Discovery School, both of which are located in Tegucigalpa. At all levels of education, from primary to tertiary, public institutions have experienced a serious funding shortage in recent years. Teaching materials and equipment are in poor condition and often out of date. Without adequate resources, schools simply cannot provide the level of education required to prepare students for the skilled workforce.
Significantly, in order to be a primary school teacher in Honduras one is not required to undertake higher education, but instead complete a specialized secondary school course. Some teachers are employed before they even finish high school. This lack of staff education is reflected in the low wages paid to staff and the poor quality of teaching evident at many primary schools. Teachers also face the additional burden of large class sizes – some with up to 80 students.

For a small percentage of children and young adults in Honduras however, life is quite different. Honduras has four private universities and many more private primary and secondary schools. The cost of undertaking a subject at a private university is around 3000% higher than at a public university and the discrepancy between private and public schools may be even greater.

Naturally, the difference in education standards is overwhelming. The Hillcrest School maintains several large and well-equipped computer laboratories and from four years of age, students are engaged in interactive and computer-based learning. At the Discovery School class sizes are limited to 15 students and the curriculum is accreditted by the Southern Association of Colleges and Schools (SACS) and administered by the Department of Defence in the USA. Every student who has completed secondary school at the Discovery School (and most from the Hillcrest School) has gone on to study at a private university in Honduras or at an overseas institution.

Thus from an early age, children are directed to follow one of three paths; education at a private school followed by a private university, education at a public school and then a public university or, for the majority, mixed and inconsistent schooling, usually finishing at the end of primary school. This divide, it seems, is clear and practically unbreakable. As Mr. Alvarez explains; “there is a class emerging that wants more from education than the Government system can offer. Unfortunately though, private school education is outside the income of most Hondurans. It’s just a fact. I doubt that even 5% would be able to afford it”. Ms. Banegas agrees, “the divide is really huge. We´re talking about two different worlds here.”
There is another obstacle to a good education for many Honduran children that is perhaps even more destructive. According to a report by the US Library of Congress, “with few exceptions...private education is popularly viewed as a profit-making enterprise. Great skepticism remains regarding the quality of education that private schools have to offer.”

In public schools this mistrust has broadened into a general sense of apathy towards education. Several members of the teaching staff at a public school I visited noted that parents were often unsupportive of their child´s education, frequently removing them from class and complaining when they received homework. Taking into consideration the lack of Government support for public schools, it is not suprising that some parents are impassive towards their child´s schooling.

Some positive steps have been taken by the Honduran Government to address this problem. The Honduran Community Education Programme was formed to provide educational services in poor rural areas and directly involve parents in administering educational services.

The success of this programme is yet to be determined. One thing is certain though, Honduras needs more of such intiatives; without the support of the community, education faces a bleak future.

Dear HTW,

This letter is in response to Mr. Matthew William’s well written and well intentioned position against capital punishment being reinstated in Honduras,  printed in the September 25th edition.

Mr. Williams makes easy comparisons between the U.K., the U.S. and Honduras, as though they were culturally and socially equivalent.  As some one who has lived in both the U.S. and Honduras for many years, I would like to assure Mr Williams that making such comparisons demonstrates a lack of incite and comprehension of the issue.

Mr. Williams says that “most murderers commit their crime while in a state of extreme mental agitation”, i.e. crime of passion.  Yes, in Mr. Williams’ world this is widely accepted as fact, however, in Honduras all evidence points to murders being far more premeditated, usually prompted by revenge, gang loyalties, or monetary gain.

He says that “the death penalty has no effect on levels of violent crime”.  Well, in Honduras, we have no death penalty at the present time, and the level of violent crime is astronomical and growing worse daily. Everyone who lives here knows numerous murder victims personally, and knows many families who have lost husbands, wives and children to murder.  This is not the case in developed countries.  Honduras, in fact, is the third most violent country in the Western Hemisphere, after Columbia and Salvador. 

President Maduro’s policy of “zero tolerance to crime” has proved to be a colossal failure, gangs are asserting more power, control and influence all the time, and if nothing changes the status quo, Honduras will soon find itself in a state of anarchy.

Another fact of life in Honduras is that, few people will ever testify against murderers, even if they personally witnessed the crime and they know the perpetrator.  Why?  Because they fear retaliation by the perpetrator’s family or of his fellow gang members.  Mr. Williams fails to understand that here in Honduras, the entire concept of justice is far different than it is in his world.  Here, few people care what the facts of a case are.  The entire emphasis is rather who the murderer is, who the murderer is related to and associated with, and this line of thinking has a tendency to undermine the fabric of the law itself.

Mr. Williams notes that in the developed countries, murderers are usually at the lower levels of the social spectrum; people with mental disabilities, ethnic minorities, and the economically disadvantaged. When these people are arrested and face the justice system, they find themselves at a disadvantage. – The opposite is true in Honduras.  Most Honduran police and prison guards earn less than $100 U.S. per month. When the most dangerous and violent murderers are arrested here, they are often able to buy special
privileges, intimidate the prison guards, and in some cases are actually released by prison authorities in order to protect their own personal safety.

Mr. Williams needs to understand that the U.K. and the U.S. have one societal reality, but it does not necessarily follow that the rest of the world lives by the same.  I am against capital punishment in the United States; yet I pray that Pepe Lobo becomes the next President of Honduras, initiates the death penalty, takes a hard line against the most dangerous elements here, and cleans up this mess once and for all.  Further, I would like to see executions broadcast on television every night, to demonstrate to the young wanna-be delinquents where their chosen career path may take them.

Juan Gonzalez
Via Internet

Networking in Copan

By MARCO CÁCERES
 
I have been studying Honduras from afar for seven years.  That is the amount of time that we have been building the projecthonduras.com network and staging the annual Conference on Honduras.
One of things that I have observed is that the reasons people tend to give for what ails the country are usually symptoms of deeper problems or issues that have simply not been addressed over years and decades.

These “symptoms” can of course also be considered problems in-and-of-themselves… take the problem of corruption, for example.  But it is important to understand their true nature in order to be able to effectively deal with them. 

If you focus on symptoms of an illness or disease, you may only succeed in masking the symptoms without really curing what causes them in the first place.  You may feel better in the short-term.  However, the symptoms will eventually return.

At the Conference on Honduras on October 21-24 in Copan Ruins, more than 200 individuals will meet to exchange information on specific efforts in which they are engaged to treat some of the ailments that create the symptoms that are popularized in the press, in public forums, and at private social gatherings.
We will compare notes on projects to improve access to good education, expand access to quality healthcare, and support the general empowerment of families and communities.  We will take this information and the personal relationships we establish and find ways to build on what is already being done.

The logic is simple, and that is that those who are working to help Honduras are probably better able to accomplish their objectives if they have a powerful network of contacts from which to choose.
In life, it is who you know that truly helps one move forward.  It can be family, friends, acquaintances, or colleagues.  It can be someone you meet on the street.  The same is true when you’re trying to solve a problem or reach a goal.  Unfortunately, I think at times too much emphasis is placed on raising money, and not enough on raising awareness and mobilizing people.  We are attempting to shift the emphasis... at least a little.

I am always amazed when, in referring to the Conference, people ask… “Well, yes you say that it is about networking, but what do you hope to accomplish?”

Perhaps I have lived in Washington, DC much too long.  Around here it is all about “networking”.  Networking is a way of life.  It is what you do to affect change in the US.  It is how you find a job.  It is a lifeline, without which we would all be spinning our wheels working in isolation.

So if you’re planning to attend the fifth annual Conference on Honduras, please remember to bring your business cards, lot of material regarding your project(s), and a tremendous amount of energy and desire to market yourself over the course of four days.

If you have any questions about the Conference, e-mail me at hondopost@yahoo.com or visit http://www.projecthonduras.com/conference.

The Conference on Honduras 2004 will be presented by projecthonduras.com and sponsored by Special Missions Foundation, Inc. of Georgetown, Texas.

Has the Port Corporation Put Honduras Under Seige?

A new law for the sea is being put forward for aproval by Congress. This initiative is subject to The National Commission Overseer of the Public Services who in turn depends on the National Congress.

We need to observe the development of this project to see if the technology is a suitible proceeudre of management and organisation. It has been represented by the same executives that regulates worldwide activity like international business. Likewise, that representitives of private enterprises who regulate and list seemingly everything.

The Corporation will have their own judicial proceedure like a capital city capable of attending to the needs of its country. This jurisdiction is presumed in all the marine ports of the country. This initiative is filled with wonderful terms and a lot of money for all parties.

Only there is a small detail to be monitored and this is: If we grant the Honduran marine ports to these companies what other ports are accessible to Hondurans that will not have extraterritorial measures imposed on them.

On the one hand Hondurans are determined to respect their national soil, on the other hand the managers of Honduran airports belong to a subsiduary of The San Fransico Interaiports. At any moment in the best interests of the mentioned company, it may decide to suspend activities for a period of time or even to disqualify an airport. Being that these facilities are granted they might refuse to collaborate with the authorities of the country, for example in a criminal investigation. What forces them to collaborate?

As the authorsation of the admisistration of the marine facilities blossoms the country is not foreign to the isolation of our property as that is the main theory of globalisation- the administration will be run by foreigners according to their will.

The authorization in blossomings of the administration of marine facilities of the country is not foreign to the isolation of our property that being the theory of globalization will be administered internationally by foreign hands to his free will. Here we are sweating in order that they do not include to the territorial sea in the administration of them previously.

Our freedom will be determined and this is not against the unconditional right of man to be free. Theoretically it is the Honduran state that is intimidating the Honduran people by imposing these measures. We will have to demand from the Honduran state why they are committing such an outrage against our freedom of movement. What are we doing in this county? Who governs us?

Being that our freedom determined this will not be this against the universal rights of the unconditional freedom of the man and theoretically ... is it the Honduran state the one that intimidates the Honduran imposing these measurements?. Will we have to demand Honduran to the Honduran state for committing an outrage against his free mobility?: what are we doing in this country? who administers us?. where is this irrespeto born?...

In conculsion we only have the terestrial borders left or we will be completely cornered. It is our understanding that it is the Military men and the analysts of the Chancellery obligation to warn the idiots that sell the mother land, by doing this they obtain the favour and attention of the Honduran people.

In conclusion already only we still have the terrestrial borders to be completely cornered. To ours understanding is the Military men and the analysts of the Chancellery who for law and for obligation must warn not alone the idiots it sells mother lands but also to obtaining the favor of the attention of the Honduran people.

Jealously the Manufacturers’ National ANDI-affiliation has denounced the flaws in the authorization and has besides, already begun efforts in alerting this rash authorization.

Come the first damage; the increase of imports, which damages the national competitiveness in a way which goes against the world economy. In addition to this, the economic power of the private national company is decreasing and with this the power of the central government.

Go as the first damage the increase of the imports besides the fall in the national competitiveness opposite to the world economy. In addition to previous the economic power of the private national company is decreasing and in this there has much that to see the political ones of the central government.

We continue to dread what a group of improvising contractors did with the territorial negotiation of the river Motagua with Guatemala. They did not leave us even a small margin of the river that once completely belonged to us...

POLITICAL FIRE

The main principle of the structure of national elections is to be presidential. So many undesirable people have fallen under this umbrella. We are aware that a presidential candidate can be anything but desirable. On the ballot paper there is only space for the president, the mayor, and the Diputados. There is a new proposeal to imporove the election process.

Only five parties are against the new proposal. Being the Liberal party, the National, PINU, DC and UD. Of these parties only two have the majority they have disputed for better and for worse the power of the country. This phenomenon makes the political organization of the country less democratic since they always have 80 % of the control over the smaller parties, nonetheless we do not think that there is monopoly of power in the country only in the domineering economic groups of the country.

The role of the parties once they have control of the power is the oppression of their adversary by taking away the benefits of the public administration even the acquisitions. If you come to a blue desk wearing a red tie you will be out of the game.

Besides the honorable exceptions, the benefits of the public administration are systematically restrained to the loosing party. The government that we are just overcoming in time is one of the most compromised to certain economical groups just the way that it has been exposed in the media.
Due to bipartisan serious opportunities are taken away from the 40% of the Honduran population who support the opposition party who are not in power.

The polarization of the national society seems not like a phenomen, but natural and necessary. The deploarable thing is that in both cases there is a crime waiting to happen due to corruption or marginalization.

Next to the industry of politics there are certain concealed effects in its design, for example the economical groups of the country exists in both parties at the same time, the militaries, the beneficiaries of the contracts of the state, the public employees, public organizations, working movements, churches and more. But we have to be aware that those who have the most success are related to the decision makers of the Congress or who are close to the president.

A great electorate without any secure representation are women. Their proposal is based on not participating in the active democratic process of their government. Their weakness is big and they don't support each other, the voters are focused on attending the matters that are taking place in the traditional political parties. Women have decided they would rather have a desk job than submit themselves to the public vote. As it happens in the developed world countries have chosen the fact of giving the quotas of power to women seems more like an international organization than the national will. The legitimate rights of the woman resides within herself. My mother understood this better than anyone and she without help went out on the streets to search for suppport to give her a role in society.

The end of the parties is not the societies division, on the contrary it only adds their interest it makes sure to attend them in the best of their possabilities. Service in the public administration has nothing to do with the politicians, but they insist that is a part of their booty.

To the Editor;

I am disappointed in the narrow minded points of view expressed on this article. While I agree whole heartedly in regards to the problems of violence and abuse experienced by this group of citizens, you failed to address what sort of counseling or physiological assistance is available to homosexuals?

I realize this is a difficult issue to address, and the horror of the violence committed against these victims is terrible. But granting homosexual activist groups legal recognition will not alleviate the problems and suffering of the homosexual community in Honduras, or anywhere else in the world.

What needs to happen is that corruption needs to be addressed in Honduras-across the board! All perpetrators of violence, against any citizen or individual, should be prosecuted. Such violence should not be allowed. Help needs to be made available to homosexuals. The country needs to be educated regarding the nature of being homosexual, the lifestyle choices and consequences, and then made conscious of this and empowered to help and respond with compassion, not violence.

Ignorance begets violence. To further increase the ignorance of the Honduran people with the information these "pro-homosexual" organizations will disseminate will not improve the circumstances these people find themselves in.

Finally, your article left out all elements, research and facts related to the effects the homosexual lifestyle can have on the social structure of our country. Fact is that granting special rights to the homosexuals will not change their suffering. It will only further break down the already damaged social structure of our society.

I would challenge HTW to look to Europe, Scandinavia, and the Netherlands and see what has happened there-countries that have legalized or normalized homosexual marriage. Look at the divorce rates, before and after, and look at the over moral state of being for their residents. Let's be honest with your readers, and tell them the whole story. You missed out on educating people on what is really going on.

Best,
Josué Sierra

Dear Editor,

I have visited Honduras (La Ceiba) many times and love it very much. I, however, agree with another article by an individual (a gringo) who stated that in comparison with other Central American countries, Honduras is not that amenable to accepting foreigners. I think that Honduras is missing the boat and feel that if it could be more "friendly" as in Costa Rica, the economy of the country would be considerably enhanced. It is my personal desire that this become a reality in the whole of Honduras.

Norm
Via Internet
Dear Editor,

I was reading your editorial in last weeks edition of Honduras This Week and the events that happened to Bruce Harris. I believe that people in positions of responsibility as he was should be even more conscious of how their behaviour effects the lives of others. Many celebrities do not seem to be aware of how much influence they have over young impressionable children. It is a shame when influential people abuse their power to take advantage of those who cannot defend themselves. The ongoing case in the United States involving the pop star Micheal Jackson is a prime example. It has yet to be proved whether he is guilty of the accusations made against him or if the families of the children are taking advantage of his fame and reputation for monetary gain. Whatever the outcome his reputation will never return and he will be forever labelled. Likewise Bruce Harris will never be able to return to his former life and will probably have to lead a very subdued life. We should continue his message of healing and not his actions.

Sincerely,

Mr I. Freely. Idaho U.S
Via Internet

So let it be with Harris

Poetic commentary by W. E. Gutman

Friends, journalists, self-righteous critics,
Lend me your ears:
I come to weep for Bruce Harris,
Not to bury the truth.
The sins of men live after them;
The good they do is swiftly forgotten;
So let it be with Harris.
The noble media
Has told you that Harris is a villain:
If it were so, it is a grievous charge,
And grievously has Harris paid for it.
After all, the gentlemen of the media
Are honorable men.
So are they all, all honorable men -
Who preside at Harris' public inquisition.
He is my friend, faithful and just to me:
But the media say he's wicked;
And the media IS an honorable institution.
Harris devoted 15 years
On behalf of children,
Never once veering from his task.
He fought gallantly and at the peril of his life
To help redeem society's chaff:
Is this in Harris a mark of iniquity?
When poor children cried and died,
Harris wept.
I saw his tears with my own eyes;
Evil should be made of sterner stuff:
Yet the press says he acted
With depravity;
And the press IS always fair and upright...
You all read about his exploits and travails.
Harris boldly went after criminals,
Depraved cops, cruel prison wardens,
Against crooked lawyers
And illicit adoption brokers,
Against inept and two-faced officials
And corrupt politicians -
All of whom, hammer and nails in hand
Now smell the sweet aroma of revenge
In the face of tragedy.
Yet reporters and commentators
And the pious rabble
All say Harris is a sinner;
And, sure, they are all honorable men.
I speak not to disprove the bare facts;
Harris owns up to them
With bravery and candor.
No, I am here to speak what I know.
What I know is that Harris is human.
The world did admire him once -
And not without cause.
What cause prevents the world
From feeling his shame and pain?
O judgment! thou art fled to brutish beasts,
And men have lost their reason.
Bear with me;
My heart beats in Harris' chest,
And I must pause till reason
And compassion prevail.
And let he who has never gone astray
Cast the first stone.