From Barrio El Centro? Yes, Proud, and then some!

A number of so-called dignitaries from the current government, as well as one from the tourism office, have insinuated that we (namely me) are foreigners…hum, hum, hum, mmmaa, mmmaa….Well; this seems to be the way things go in our country. But, these are issues that are merely random assumptions that serve only to make notoriety the name of the game for those who wish to point out what assume makes: obviously, an Ass out of U and Me.

So (mmmaa…), for this reason I, the intrepid I, dare to give birth to this screaming, mucus coated love-child of personal indignation and other’s crass ignoramus-ness, with the aim of clarifying my own pedigree breeding for those mediocre characters: it is worth the risk to ensure that they never again confuse a Panamanian with a Salvadorian - even though they might both be known as “Ian”.

Funnily enough (note, I am not laughing), this insinuation coincides with a request from our neighbors downtown who offer to declare us (me again, folks) a citizen of their little Barrio, when in reality, we have not neighbored the Choluteca River since we were but sprightly apples in young mother’s luminescing, moist eyes. So of course we do not accept this kind but misplaced invitation, and prefer to lie low in our own glorious trench. We refuse to go over the top.

This trench counts among its fallen soldiers the distinguished Princess and Lady of the Subscribed who were there in the last wretched months of vintage, fruity 1949, attending appointments in El Barrio Centro, in the house opposite the great, gregariously mustachioed Dr. Guilbert’s clinic, at the Palace of the Ministers, and the Palace of Communications. Palace life was most definitely for the princess. Oh did she love that royal ice cream and satiated her sweet tooth with glee.

That is to say, in the house of the Vega family which was a home and branch of the soap and candle factory “La Estrella” property of the industrial diplomat Guatemalan-Mexican Don Enrique Gutierrez de Leon and professor Daisy Minera Matus from La Ceiba…ol’ misty memory lane is one where the tram tracks often derail trains of thought. Oh well.

There occurred the highest honor for Mr Pediatrician, the lovely José Ramón Villena Morales, a citizen of Ocotepeque who settled in My Capital to help in the locality of the Gutierrez family, the honorable labor of the intellectual boy.

Some hours after the blessed birth, amid all the jazz heat of the purple smoking cigarettes, The Physician asked The Teacher about the name that should grace the boy, to which the teacher replied, in a clipped, clinical tongue, “I have for him 10 names, thus far…” The awkwardly mild conversation continued nonetheless.

All the following day in the high neighboring town atop the lofty zenith of the towering valley, the peaks rang with the announcement of the beautiful event, mentioning, in a whisper reminiscent of the playground Chinese and their games, the name was imposed by the one and only Dr. Villena.

We must now certify the presence of the distinguished ladies, friends of my mother who lived in the neighborhood. Dona Virginia Pineda was a hard-nosed, regal woman of credit who reported to us aspects of the pedigree charm of our area, where we proceeded to bury our youthful and musty paleontological navels. Therefore, the information is such that the citizens of my neighborhood was a roll call of the best and brightest; Clare Vega, Miguel Oqueli, the Zúñiga, the Marichal, etc... All, on the whole, have expired less one, note good sir. Close your eyes...guess away…

So it goes, in fewer words that have been used to explain this be now here he horses think fewer fewer words coming soon, what? If now the children from the neighborhood meet us at the general assembly of period drama that is life, this great community pervades my head, and it is clear that this area will only be whole and quorum with my presence. From now on I should inform you, strained, weak, but fighting, that you must obey and invade others of similar disposition, but allow me to besiege the Central Park, the church and the cathedral, the library, and the house of the General Francisco Morazan.

Likewise I order from now on that restructuring will be destroyed, and I must expel the corrupt mayors as they lose the right to travel through my glorious community. I make the side-order, aside from the gravy and peas, that in my neighborhood - the center, the clean heart of My Capital - that all the ones that have business within should be uniformed and well scrubbed in their personal hygiene. I prohibit the taxis and buses because I do not want them to contaminate my air. I will begin upkeep of all the beautiful, cutesy little houses and old, but far from plain Palaces.
I declare this neighborhood as the city of beauty in Central América. And so I notify to possible future leaders, Alvarez and Kike Ortez, that a mayor should don the top hat and swing the ivory handled cane, should submit awesome plans, or else should execute mine.

I will protect me with an I exercise commanded by my. No joke. All the corrupt, bankruptcy banks, steals knockers, reality clockers, are prohibited, finally, to cross into the most beautiful neighborhood of Tegucigalpa, cradle of large intellectuals, of course…you know who.

Public Relations: It’s the real thing

By ALEX OGLE

The soft drink giant Coca-Cola kicked off the huge “+ en positivo “ campaign on August 10.

Luz María Sabillón, Coca-Cola manager in Honduras, announced that the initiative would improve the lives of many young Hondurans.

Sabillón declared Coca-Cola’s aim was to make Honduras a “Country of Optimism in 2006.”

Coca-Cola representatives presented their project for the company and country amid an ominously ambient scene of twisting lights and smoke machines at the Chiminike Interactive Learning Center in Tegucigalpa.

Sabillón stated that the campaign was “without precedent,” adding that Coca-Cola wanted to “share with the adolescents our idea that a positive attitude makes the difference.”

Several corporate executives were joined at the launch by Honduran President Ricardo Maduro, and ex- president of Columbia, Caesar Gaviria.

The campaign seeks to obtain a million positive declarations from Hondurans. The goal is being met through the work of 1000 Coca-Cola PR activists and the placement of signature note pads in restaurants, malls, arcades and meeting places across the country.

The corporation has pledged to “build one sports-meeting-arts center for every 100,000 optimistic messages we can get.”

A Coca-Cola spokesperson stated that “the amount of money being invested is very significant,” but also noted that the investment was not more important than the goal of declaring Honduras as a “Country of Optimism.”

In reality, Coca-Cola spends $2.6 billion dollars a year in advertising.

According to the Stop Killer Coke campaign director Ray Rogers, such money is spent to create an image that has nothing to do with the reality of the corporation.

“The world of Coca-Cola is a world full of lies, deception, immorality, corruption and widespread labor, human rights and environmental abuses,” said Rogers.

“When Hondurans think of Coca-Cola,” he continued, “ they should think of a company that has brought not optimism but hardship and despair to many people and communities throughout the world. When they think of Coke soft drinks, they should think of them as the sparkle of death, and therefore unthinkable and undrinkable.”

The Stop Killer Coke campaign has succeeded in recent years in bringing attention to Coca-Cola practices around the world, in a large part through its website www.killercoke.org. Eight universities in the US, and eight in the UK and Canada have thrown Coca Cola products off their campus in protest.

Their struggle has brought the charges of continued human rights abuses and environmental pollution around the world to the corporation’s doorstep.

In a message to Hondurans experiencing the new “positive” Coca-Cola campaign, Rogers said “Coke will steal your water, pollute your environment, ruin the health of your children and try to enslave the fathers and mothers who produce and distribute its soft drinks.”

Across “Country of Optimism in 2006” paraphenalia, penned in youthful, hip Spanish to display how the corporation is down with the kids, it is written “Coca Cola wants us to catch its good vibe.”

The advertising campaign is set to continue for many months. Honduras may even find itself with a number of new “sports-meeting-arts-centers” as a gift from Coca-Cola.

The first in the line of many music events sponsored by Coca-Cola will take place on August 26, with a free concert in San Pedro Sula headed by popular reggaetton artists Wisisn y Yandel and Hector el Bambino who will also be joined by the Honduran reggaetton artists.

But the campaigns in more economically developed countries which attempt to dispel the myth of the altruistic, benevolent corporation will also continue to run.

The stumbling block for projects such as Stop Killer Coke that are attaining levels of success in the West may lie in the difficulty to infiltrate and organize in less socially-conscious nations where governments do not tolerate dissidence towards powerful corporations.

Rogers stated, “Coca-Cola is a big backer of President George W. Bush’s foreign policy in Central America, which supports governments and political leaders willing to suppress the masses in order to promote American corporate and military interests.”

After the ratification of the Central American Free Trade Agreement two weeks ago, which the Coca-Cola Corporation vigorously supported, it may prove to be even harder to confront the company in Central America itself. It remains a priority for these projects to concentrate on protest in the streets and school campuses of the West to affect change in other parts of the world.

htw-2
“Coca Cola wants us to catch its good vibe”

Honduras This Week:

In the past several issues of Honduras This Week there have been articles and letters strongly objecting to the paving of West End Road. As a counter point, I would like to offer the following information. In the year 2000, the people of West End voted overwhelmingly in the presence of the Municipal Counsel at a meeting outside the Baptist church to pave the road. The small group of gentlemen trying to dissuade the project, have put forth some very convincing arguments, but have failed utterly to attract public support. The reason is that the road does desperately need a permanent repair.

One argument against paving they claim, is that a paved road will somehow ruin the reef. I would remind them that each time it rains, tons of sand are washed out into the bay, sand that was dredged up from the other end of the island and used as road fill. This sand coupled with increased sewage run off, over fishing and a poorly regulated dive industry, are destroying centuries old coral, today. Paving the road and defining the boarders would benefit, not harm the nearby ecosystems.

The second argument they like to proffer is that tourists love the quaint anachronism of a village with sand boulevards and will be offended if the road is paved. Easy to forget about the tourists that stager and slip and struggle to keep their shoes dry as they negotiate their way around craterous mud holes throughout the rainy season. If tourism is to be driven away, it will be due to poor Municipal practices regulating and controlling rampant construction. The continued practice of building directly on the beach and iron shore will soon cause West End to loose our “Beach Front” identity permanently. Whether the road is sand, cement or paving stones won’t make much difference.

My third point is that due to all the new docks and business along the waterfront, the road does not truly run adjacent to a beach, with the exception of a few very short stretches where adjustments can be made. I have no idea why Mr. Etches and Mr. Drysdale have chosen to launch an attack Mayor Jerry Hynds two months before the election, but I assure you they do not have the support of the people that live in West End.

Sorry guys!

Mike Dewar
Mariposa lodge
West End Roatan
Don’t Ignore CAFTA’s Government Procurement Opportunities

Dear Editor:

The approval of CAFTA has created heated controversies and multiple analyses, some highlighting the positive consequences that it will have for the Central American countries and most of them, focusing on the negative impact that the approval of the treaty may have in their economies. The authors of the enclosed piece believe that CAFTA creates an unprecedented opportunity for businesses in Central America to seek U.S. procurement contracts. CAFTA’s Chapter 9 requires that Central American businesses be given access to market directly to the U.S. Federal and 23 state governments, and 7 sub-federal entities, while requiring that US businesses be given the same treatment in CAFTA countries. Accordingly, whether individually or partnering with local U.S. businesses, Central American businesses should not let pass the opportunity to participate in an equal position with US companies in a market that amounts to billions of dollars.

The authors, all of whom are based in Washington, DC, speak from experience:

• Dr. Laura Rojas served in the Cabinet of the Government of Venezuela from 1989 - 1993, where she was responsible for Venezuela’s trade and economic policy. An international consultant since 1994, Dr. Rojas has provided strategic advice and technical training on a range of international trade issues to North, South and Central American government officials, senior executives and business associations. Dr. Rojas has an MA in Public Administration from the Kennedy School of Government, Harvard University.

• Carol. L. O’Riordan, Esquire, a U.S. procurement attorney and founding partner of the O’Riordan Bethel Law Firm, LLP, is a consultant to the Inter-American Development Bank on procurement and procurement law, and has provided tutorials and seminars on United States procurement law at the request of the United States Department of State, the World Trade Organization, the Embassy of Chile and others. She has a J.D. from Boston University School of Law, and a B.S. from the Edmund J. Walsh School of Foreign Service, Georgetown University.

• Elvira Lérida, an international legal assistant at The O’Riordan Bethel Law Firm, LLP, is pursuing an L.L.M. in International Business Law at George Washington University School of Law. She has an MA in International Business and Foreign Trade (Escuela de Negocios Aliter, Madrid, Spain, 2001) and graduated from the Universidad Autónoma de Madrid, Facultad de Derecho, 1998.

We appreciate your consideration of the piece, and look forward to hearing from you in the near future.
Very truly yours,

Carol L. O’Riordan
The O’Riordan Bethel Law Firm, LLP
1314 19th Street, NW
Washington, DC 20036
202-822-1720
202-822-1721 (facsimile)
www.oriordan-law.com

Honduran Press for Sale

The Honduran press has become accustomed to the opulence of the current regime.

Characterized - quite strangely - as “doubtfully Honduran,” the current regime, looked upon by many as not a tyrant but a “sexy groupie”, has underestimated the “fourth power” of our society: the Honduran press. This trend is similar to other nations across Central America.

The current government located a “communications specialist” as the head of the Honduran press, and directed it along a brain-dead road. In other words, this regime did not find the press intelligible, but in a strangely metallic way, using dirty, dirty threats. It assured that trials against reporters would spread subliminally in a way that ensured many would go to jail if they confronted the current status quo.

The monitoring of the government never accounted for the reapplication of information, but acknowledged that the enemies of the regime must be eliminated, with extreme prejudice.

Luckily, journalists and publishers have not noticed how they have been subdued. Aside from the aforementioned, almost unintelligible analysis, the present regime has successfully taken care of placing their own men behind enemy lines, in newspaper administration and Journalism College posts.

The analysis of the government by Honduran journalists do not sufficiently broach certain subjects that should be approached - petrol, national borders, and the intentional disregard of crucial issues such as Central American integration, the refusal to protect Honduran commerce, and the initiation of foreign commercial proposals.

On the contrary, the Honduran press has fortified its base and lined its bloated stomach. It will soon begin showing off its energy and will rise like a monstrous salmon emerging from a winter’s slumber.

What we regret is that this behavior will influence the upcoming elections, especially for the National Party. To avoid punishment of the National Party’s future voters the current regime has been trying to keep away from this party like vegans running from brie, because this coalition could give the current cartel a bad image.

The harassment of good, honest Honduran journalists has not made its mark on us - the working press, the real cheese. The government has unmasked its hideous features, and that is exactly what we were expecting.

This regime will be marked as a strange one in history, and Ricardo Maduro will be little missed when he returns to the city of dreams, with his stump tail hanging limp between his cloven hooved pins.

What is most regrettable of all this is that, in spite of this decadent declaration, the modern world has found a, like, totally tolerant system in which to rate insanity.

We are dumbfounded that powerful colleagues in the press make unreasonable decisions and do not confront obstacles with the courage granted by their nation, forgetting that Honduras must come first.

We thank all our subscribers, readers and advertisers for the chance to share with you the honesty and decency of the Christian spirit of peace, of the righteous and free Honduran masses. We accept this challenge with joy. Like Dumbo and his feather, we can fly without those naysayers, and carry the surprisingly considerable weight of a baby elephant. Remember, that he or she will never forget.
The Hondurans of the national press will always be kind because we are so seriously committed to our country, to provide it with precise and honest information.

We have taken outrageous abuse for three years, and the bad news for the present government is that we have enough vigor and gumption to take what comes with open arms and feet firmly planted in the fertile soil, in their last, and final, year in office.

Our Story…Who Writes the Script?

History is not easy to write. An old adage tells us that until the lions have their historians, tales of the hunt will always glorify the hunter. When a country’s intellectual cloak is soiled and torn to rags by corruption, the outcome is the same.

To be narrators of a drama in which the protagonists are ourselves implies a one-sided presentation of history. For the most part, our history is other’s hysteria.

A corrupt protagonist does not have the right to make himself the narrator because rather than describing his actions he should be defending them; answering to the accusations proven against him.

Unfortunately, the Honduran way is to allow a man to step out of a public post and straight into a newspaper, joining a league of bad columnists who are eternally partial. Even an official ejected from administration for indecorous reasons is of an intellectual level high enough to guarantee him a degree of eminence. But while partial articles sell papers they do not maintain its essence. A corrupt office leads to a corrupted product.

There is nothing cheaper than putting these public intellectuals into made-up positions, and saying they are Hondurans leads everyone to confuse pain for glory. They toy with history like they toy with everyone else’s money. They are false and fickle, guilty of profound levels of manipulation and abuse of the Honduran intellect.

The funds to defend the corrupt are inexhaustible. For them, lawyers are always affordable. In this way they assure themselves continued media coverage without running any risks. Their pictures are permanently in the most prestigious papers.

They are harbingers of evil from the darkest depths of hell because knowing the truth, they deliberately distort it to further their own ends - hiding reality and conspiring against the course of history.

These writers of evil will not have their American visas revoked because they have taken care to stay loyal to a disgraced democracy.

This unfathomable phenomenon remains on our minds because it can never falter. These sentiments will serve as caption for the picture of the poor little children of my country, forever.

The Cheap Way of starting a Business on The Bay Islands

In the past many have tried to start a business on Roatan and because of the expense or legalities they were not able to. I myself had to get my investor residency, a corporation, business license, taxes and so on…

Well now I found out the easy way of getting started and of those who have used this method are still here and thriving with little or no resistance from the municipal or immigration.

Step 1: Find a naive and not so business savvy Honduran or Islander to front your business and obtain a business license under his or her name. Don’t promise or provide any compensation or partnership, just make them believe it’s for the good of the island. Remember to keep in good standing with this person because he or she will have to renew your license each year.

Step 2: Hire a lawyer to provide you with what is called a “Constancia”. This important piece of paper will get to through the legal loophole of obtaining your residency. Most reputable lawyers will not give you a Constancia so shop around. This document states that your residency is in progress even if you never intended to acquire you residency. If you should be called in to immigration you will just show them this document stating that your residency is in progress and they will leave you alone. If by chance they continue to harass you, then bring in your lawyer to argue your cause. I’ve heard that after couple of these meetings they will just leave you alone. Remember that immigration is understaffed and they have no department transportation. I talked to a Municipal Official and she told me that this is the normal way of doing things and many do it.

I wish I was told this! What a way to cut start up cost! Don’t worry about the competition giving you trouble, this has been a tried and true business practice. Good luck!

Fred Martinez
Sandy Bay, Roatan
Via Internet

Tourism, an evolving Science

Social Tourism is one of the several options open to tourists nowadays. It refers to the situation in which a person is interested in visiting a country and also in living and interacting with the society there directly, commonly by working locally or staying with a family.

The idea is to learn about the society, culture, and language of that group - learning of the nation’s highs and lows whilst at the same time enjoying the pleasures of its conventional tourist destinations at very low costs. This type of tourism is also apt for foreigners to contribute new knowledge to his/her new social nucleus.

These neo tourists are very nice…they can even be seen as relatives who we haven’t seen for decades! Many of them make the promise of coming back and they do; some don’t, but will remember a great experience for the rest of their lives. The thing is that, whenever they leave, we are, at least in our headquarters, filled with an overwhelming sense of nostalgia.

Fortunately, we have had the opportunity to share great experiences with i-to-i volunteers: the best guys in the world! Their enormous potential as people and professionals leaves its mark forever.

The company of these volunteers leaves us with a great deal, especially teaching us a love and respect for nature. They study our advances with eagerness and really hope for the best for all of us.

When they arrive, they don’t even want to talk about the college they come from. They are
enthusiastic and willing to help us in our complicated day-to-day work. They are the modern Peace Corps.

HTW has had the honor of working with incredible professionals, from the best universities of the world, who are very proud because we have paid them with not money but honesty, the best gift ever, for which they are very grateful.

From the foreign press writers we became accustomed to managing a higher level of ethics and style. It is true that we still have several problems of co-ordination, but our ability to overcome them is improving. What we now publish is a much more qualified perspective on events in Honduras.

We have had the honor of working with kids from Canada, USA, Australia, Indonesia, Ireland, England, Italy, Sweden, Switzerland, Germany...all of them with aspirations to learn about our culture. Though the learning curve can be an uphill climb with many obstacles to surmount - a sick stomach, a mugging, weight gain, weight loss, long walks, and survival in a Third World country - once overcome, its leaves our travelers wiser and happier for having triumphed over it. They take home well-earned, valuable, and exciting experiences.

Even now, we receive many emails expressing your love and your gratitude; some in English, some in Spanish...when we read them we know that they had a great time and so did we...we miss you!

Letter

Dear friends at Honduras This Week and the projecthonduras.com network.

I have just returned from Honduras after living a nightmare that began the afternoon of Tuesday July 26th. Helps International Ministries of Tegucigalpa and the World Baptist Mission Hospital in Guaimaca had been hosting several short term mission teams, primarily medical/dental brigades, construction workers, and children’s ministry volunteers. Basing themselves at the Hospital Bautista de Guaimaca, the teams were involved in construction of a church building and finishing the interior of the overnight ward at the new hospital. Volunteer Medical and Dental professionals worked with the Honduran medical staff at the hospital clinic, and many went out each day on mobile clinics to the rural mountains outside of Guaimaca. Non medical volunteers, primarily youth groups went along to minister to the children of the villages the brigades traveled to.

Tuesday July 26, mission team members from 1st Baptist Church of New Albany, MS, Crosspoint Baptist Church of Sumter, SC. a student leadership team with Helps International Ministries, and several staff members of the Hospital Bautista de Guaimaca were in a tragic accident as they were returning from a medical brigade in the mountains near Guaimaca. The pick-up truck that was hauling about 20 people, lost its brakes. The driver chose the upper ditch rather then heading off the side of the mountain. The truck rolled and landed on its side ejecting everyone out of the bed and cab of the truck . All 20 people were injured. (Three people were in the cab and the remainder in the bed of the truck.) Dr. Ron Feather from the 1st Baptist Church, New Albany MS. team was killed instantly. Many others were severely injured and were transported by ambulance or in other vehicles to the Hospital Bautista in Guaimaca. They were attended by the doctors traveling with them as well as at the Hospital Bautista in Guaimaca. 12 with extensive injury were transported to Hospital Viera in Tegucigalpa. 6 critically injured people were medically evacuated by air ambulance on Wednesday 7/27 to trauma center hospitals in Memphis, Houston and Columbia, SC). I would like to personally thank many of the subscribers to the projecthonduras.com network for coming to our aid or sending encouraging words after reading Wednesday morning’s La Tribuna. Maybe they recognized my name or the ministry Helps International printed in the article, or just wanted to see how they could help in this tragedy.

I would like to especially thank Michael Miller of the Micah Project, which is located near Hospital Viera, for lending us his internet telephone for team members could update their church and families in the states. (Actually Michael was already in the hospital emergency room being treated for dengue fever and gave up his bed for the accident victims). Teresa Searcy of SMART medical teams who appeared like an angel at Hospital Viera offering her cell phone, satellite phone, bringing water, food, and coordinating the Honduran Red Cross ambulances to pick up the air paramedics from the airport and transporting patients to the airport for their medivac flights.

I would like to extend a special thanks to the staff at Hospital Viera, especially emergency room head, Dr. Talavara. Dr. Talavara had arranged for medical specialists in orthopedics, head trauma, neurologists, surgeons, and additional staff to Viera to arrive even before the first ambulance arrived from Guaimaca.

Consul General, Ian Brownlee of the US Embassy in Tegucigalpa was a tremendous help in communication with the insurance companies for authorization of medivac air flights, contacting families stateside, sent the embassy physician and 2 American Citizen Services counselors to Hospital Viera.

I know I am leaving out many others who have been a great help and I wish to thank.

Updates and prior history are posted on the World Baptist Missions website www.wbmonline.org and Crosspoint Baptist Church www.crosspointsumter.org.

Blessings to all of you, and thank you for your continued prayers

Dan Downing
Latin America Field Director
Helps International Ministries, HIM.
Latin America Mission Project, LAMP
LAMProject@Yahoo.com
Via Internet

Gold, Interrupted: A Honduran tale that needs a happy ending

One of the direst consequences of foreign mine exploitation is a lack of respect for the environment.

A few centuries ago, countless European families became rich when a hill in Bolivia called Potosí was sucked of tons of silver and other minerals, a wealth so fabulous, that made those colonist people rich beyond belief. The Potosi exploitation was also accompanied by intense human abuse that has been registered in plenty of historical books. Today, in 2005, Bolivia is an impoverished society, suffering countless social crises that endanger this country’s very existence.

Well into the third millennium, in a time of advanced thought, progress and science, there is a version of “Potosi” right here in Honduras, an area in Olancho that is being deprived of tons of gold, before the local authorities’ very noses, who are charging, in the name of the “Honduran state”, an insignificant tax for the natural resource, without having, to date, paid its due to the legitimate owners, too easily shoved aside by a foreign company called “Entre Mares”.

Gold dust...the original owners remember how unknowingly they used sand with gold dust to cover the homes from they were eventually evicted.

In a few words, the neglect and dilapidation occurring in colonial times -in Honduras at least- did not end with the “Declaration of Independence”. To date, the same shameless exploitation, and senseless depredation of the country’s natural resources, is a privilege somehow reserved to foreign interests. Worse yet, this exploitation is happening with the help and support of the high echelons of Honduran society, where the lawyers that made these deeds possible move about.

This is the case of the San Martin Mine, better known as “La Caridad”, and whose name has changed a few times over the last decade. “La Caridad” is the proper name given to the mines by the men that discovered it, some of whom are still alive, all natives of the Siria Valley in Olancho, in the San Ignacio Municipality’s jurisdiction.

The current (and somehow foreign) owners of this Mine,(internationally)is an entity called Glamis Gold, which proclaims on their website that “their” gold is the cheapest in the world. With this promise, the company Glamis Gold also displays a map of the sector of Olancho showing the site of the mine, as their “property”. The San Martin Mine is not only being exploited in full. This exploitation is being conducted with a minimum respect for the environment surrounding the premises of the mine, as has been reported by the local media over the last years.

The history and legal labyrinths that made possible that these mines became 95% foreign property, is probably rooted in colonial times. As back then, depredation of the country’s resources offers the same results: the lack of defense of this nation’s best interests, the permanence of extreme poverty in most of the population *especially in Olancho) and the absence of true hope for the original owners of La Caridad, who as honest, well-meaning men, reported its existence to the local authorities to the then Mining entity of the state, today known as DEFOMIN.

Writing a good article about the “Entre Mares” case without mentioning individual names has the purpose of protecting the innocent, for there are plenty. Nevertheless, some of the names and the signatures on the legal papers that made Honduran gold a foreign property are still there. They are as real as the group of humble men whose families should at least be enjoying a comfortable life, for not only did they discover the gold, in their own land, these were men honest enough to bring the discovery to the local government instances. To date, several journalists have been found guilty of defamation, not because they lied about the deeds, but because they mentioned the Honduran names in a tone of condemnation, naturally finding it despicable that in a country as poor and needy as Honduras, its precious resources are going directly to foreign pockets.

Indiscriminate exploitation of the Caridad mine, which began on the recent eighties, indirectly affects all the inhabitants of Honduras, who suffer acute levels of poverty and scarcity, as most of the population does not even have running water in their homes and sometimes in their villages. It is only a privileged few cities and larger towns that get the vital liquid.

Curiously enough, the gold leaves Honduras like water, in an endless flow, while maras keep springing up, especially due to severe economic situation resulting from social neglect and lack of opportunity.

According to current Mining law, the only monies owed to the original owners of La Caridad is a tax that to this date sums up to around 4 million dollars, the only benefits that can legally be obtained for the original owners. But surprisingly, Entre Mares’ funds are frozen due to a dubious legal move that prevents the Caridad owners from getting what they are owed.

The original history of the mine’s discovery is good enough for Hollywood, but something need be done for it to have a happy ending. The original owner of the mine, a mysteriously wealthy and legendary man who lived in San Ignacio in the nineteenth century, took the secret of the site of the mine to his grave, promising to eventually divulge the site to a man or men charitable and good enough to own it.

Nearly seventy years later, a man in this same San Ignacio Municipality discovered the existence of the mine, guided by a series of mysterious signals. It was precisely this explanation that made the lawyers defending Entre Mares to claim insanity, making it easier for the state to keep the mine in foreign hands.

Today, the defenders of La Caridad are still waiting for their payment, and hopefully soon enough they will receive it. The only thing that still remains unclear is why the Honduran Congress allows a resource as valuable as gold to leave the country, when it could well represent one of the keys to the solution of this nation’s poverty.

Educating the Next Generation of Hondurans

By MARCO CACERES
projecthonduras.com

I was reading an article in the Wall Street Journal this morning while having my usual cup of espresso. The coffee was not as good as the San Rafael organico (from Copan Ruinas) which I brew at home, and at $1.54 it was certainly nowhere as cheap. But I digress.

The title of the WSJ article was, “In Latin America, Rich-Poor Chasm Stifles Growth”. The focus of the piece was poverty in Latin America and its correlation with education (or lack thereof). Obviously, this theme is not breaking news to anyone. It does not take a Harvard economist to figure out that the increasing gap between the rich and poor in the developing world is due primarily to inadequate access to good education by the masses. There are many other reasons, of course, but it all starts with education. That is why every candidate for a position of leadership tends to stress things such as education and training.

The problem is that when a candidate succeeds in his/her campaign for office he/she then is faced with the challenges of having to administer a bureaucracy and manage a staff. Suddenly, the individual is presented with a broad range of “operational” problems that need to be resolved. In no time at all, macro issues that are extremely important such as education and healthcare keep being pushed into the background until a time when they can be effectively addressed. Unfortunately, that time never seems to arrive. And before you know it, yet another generation of young people is growing up without the skills required to compete in the global economy.

The WSJ article noted that in 1980 Mexico’s economy was nearly four times the size of South Korea’s. Today, the Word Bank ranks South Korea’s economy as the 11th largest in the world. Mexico’s economy is ranked 12th. Look what has happened in 25 short years. A small Asian country with few natural resources has quickly overtaken one of the largest Latin American nations-one with huge oil reserves, a huge tourism industry, and an advantageous trade relationship with and proximity to the US.

What’s the difference? Well, you can start with education. According to the WSG, seven out of 10 Latin Americans drops out of high school, which is double the rate of industrialized countries and Asian countries like South Korea.

If Mexico is falling behind, then what do you think is happening to Honduras?

This is not meant as a policy critique, but rather an attempt to highlight a problem with which Honduras must deal. I accept that there are many “more pressing” problems for the country. I accept it. I also know that there will always be more pressing problems than education and healthcare. As long as this continues to be the case, ask yourself. “How many more generations are we willing to sacrifice?”

Without an educated and well-trained population, all those great things that we associate with Honduras are irrelevant. With all of its beautiful mountains, fields, rivers, and beaches. With all of its picturesque churches and plazas. With all of its wonderful music and food. With all the nostalgia associated with times and families gone by. . Honduras is nothing without its people, and its people are nothing without the ability to think, reason, question, and learn.

I will politely argue from here to Kingdom come with anyone who laughs at the thought that Honduras could be like South Korea. Give an Honduran kid a top notch education, good healthcare, some spiritual guidance, excellent nutrition, and a stable and loving family. Make no mistake; I’d be willing to put that child up against any kid in the world. I can provide you with numerous examples, starting with Darwin, David, Jarvin, Marvin, and Olvin of the Micah Project (http://www.micahcentral.org) in Tegucigalpa.

I invite you to attend the sixth annual Conference on Honduras in Copan Ruinas on October 20-23, 2005, where the main two themes will be education and healthcare. For information, see http://www.projecthonduras.com/conference.

Honduras: it’s up to Catrachos – there is no-one else

There is no doubt that Honduras has in the past been shaken by the worst of storms… barely did we enjoy two or three years of tranquility that once more we hear the workers of our factories cry out, another hurricane is approaching! And the desolate misery which faces us the following day… sandbanks, formed before the quay of La Estrella factory, tears, weeping - and then silence.

“Born as men of stormy heights, what more do we have to fear?” writes this one lecturer: that socio-political changes are looming, which no-one is capable of preventing, for having failed to take notice of what is upon us – the moment has passed, and we did not realize, that voting a foreign enemy of Honduras into power is possibly the worst form of protest and anger by our disenchanted people against the ill-treatment of our own politicians against their nation.

And who, if not the wise people of Honduras, is to determine the fate of our nation?

When the same lecturer refers to Honduran pessimism, the following image jumps to my mind: the shocking reality of some 125 thousand laborers who loose their jobs every year, who take to the streets, searching for new employment.

No nation in Mesoamerica has been more trampled upon by their own neighbors than its most macho people: we only need to recall Justo Milla, the two-fold invasion of our soil by Nicaragua, and El Salvador both in 1880 and 1969, the United States Marine Infantry in 1917, the constant emigration from the countries next-door into our own, the constant threat from Fidel Castro’s regime and, finally, nowadays the increasingly disguised economic aggression, which comes at us from various directions and different angles.

On the other hand, there are other factors which influence our country, like the CAFTA, NARCOTRÁFICO, REMITTANCES and the MAQUILAS… and petroleum, which accounts for over 20 percent of our economy through its importance for over 300,000 byproducts – a fact which is, however, often cynically ignored.

To find out where we are today, in these golden years of mischief, we can count with a Category 5 American Embassy headed by John Dimitri Negroponte – Category five which reaches the height of a Consulate General.

The new embassy’s “tenant” is an expert of economy who is in charge of controlling financial fraud - when what we need most is for him to hand us back the money which the corrupt have pocketed; to put these people away in secure prisons instead of confiscating their visas and let them keep the money of Honduras’ poor.

The problems of our country assume large dimensions, the corrupt and their bank deposits, birth rates, the fundamental lack of decent politicians, education, health care, the meddling of the Church in the political sphere of the country, and finally the decent Hondurans’ apathy before the apparent futility of political participation.

Despite the above, we should not surrender – how can we possibly admit to being a fatalistic society, as the lecturer claims, when in reality we are a lot more like TITANS, SURVIVORS of so many misfortunes… and no-one who has the bravery to survive in this manner can be anything less than a true COLOSSUS –

So this is the way I would see us, Catrachos.

Attention:

I am looking for a friend that I lost touch with about 20 years ago. His name is John A Padgett he is 35 years old his last known address was colonia de septiembre Casa S18 Comayaquela Honduras. he is from a very wellknown Honduras family (Padgett Family).

I have attempted to find John off and on for the past 20 years any information would be helpful. Im sure he would remember me Connie we were very close friends. Please respond via email onemom45@optonline.net

Thank you for your assistance.

All original articles and photographs published in Honduras This Week are protected by international copyright law. Reproduction, in whole or in part without prior written permission, is strictly prohibited. 

Published online by Marrder Omnimedia