The giant dam

A giant hydroelectric project producing 704 megavolts worth of electricity has been suggested by neighbors Honduras and El Salvador and given the name El Tigre. In Honduran, El Tigre is a sly and cunning person, which makes you wonder if the Salvadorians have an ace up their sleeve.

The construction of the dam is inconvenient and it makes it evident that the Hondurans are not as wise as the Salvadorians.

There are several reasons for this. Constructing the floodgates on Salvadorian land will extend their territory and they will gain rights over the mirror of the water located on the Honduran side of the border. Where you find the turbines, you find the administration - and of course all that is found on Salvadorian territory. Accumulating and administrating the water in this way is a guarantee for the Salvadorians that they will have permanent access to water without any cost. Also, El Salvador has already invaded Honduras twice, which has led to a lack of confidence. Maybe they should even finance the dam, due to the damage inflicted on Honduras during their 1969 invasion.

The administration of the dam and its profits are not up for negotiation - they should belong to Honduras and the principal floodgates should be located one kilometer from the border - although the government can sell electricity and water to neighboring countries such as El Salvador.

The Civic Council of Popular and Indigenous Organizations of Honduras (COPINH) has pointed to the fact that the people of the area suffered a lot during the war between El Salvador and Honduras in 1969 and also during the Salvadorian civil war. It seems like the 20,000 people that will be displaced due to the construction of the dam have been forgotten since the project doesn't include any social development

The government will be doing its own evaluation after visiting the community of San Antonio in the department of Intibuca, and see the effects on the area from the 70 square kilometers of water. The Lempira dam could be an important project but our national sovereignty should not be called in question. The project should be financed either by damages paid by El Salvador or with Honduras' own resources. The country needs to look beyond the purely economic interests and reclaim our sovereignty.

Dear Editor,

At the moment I find myself studying in the USA, under conditions very different from those lived by many other Latinos. My decision was voluntary, favored by my own efforts and those of my family, by a bank account and an appointment at the U.S. Embassy.

I didn't hunger, I wasn't cold, I didn't walk for days and nights, I wasn't raped nor assaulted, I wasn't thirsty. I didn't cross the Rio Grande, I didn't get on a train, I wasn't locked up in a container, I didn't have nightmares, I didn't confront the language barrier or the fear of the unknown. Still, I often feel as if that had been the case - and how could I not feel that way when they are my people? When I see that coffee and milk color in a face on the street, I cannot help thinking of what they have gone through to get here.

Many of them know that, maybe, they have seen their family for the last time. Therefore, once in the U.S., they are torn between nostalgia and duty. They come to this country planning to stay only a couple of years. But once here, the plan changes.

Although they make good money compared to what they would make in their home country, it is never enough. "If I stay one more year, I could buy a house, send a car, save enough to start my own business…", and so they carry on until they never return.

When I walk to university, I can't help watching my people. They are on the street, repairing it, or fixing a garden. Then I can't help getting involved, because not getting involved would mean ceasing to exist, stop being myself. Because I certainly am, I am Latina in the country of miracles. A country that was built by immigrants. Just that we aren't English, Irish, Chinese, Italian or French - we are Latinos. And although we arrived late in the country built by immigrants, here we are, also building it, as one of the largest working powers, the one cleaning their houses or painting it, working in a restaurant, doing the dishes and preparing their tacos.

In a short period of time, I have seen it all. I have seen ladies holding on to their purses when a Latino walks by, I have seen them get drunk on the weekends trying to drown their sorrows, I have seen the children fighting to learn English in school since they only speak Spanish at home, I have seen the fear in the eyes of immigrants when they see the police, I have seen the frustration of not being able to leave the country, of longing for their family and their country.

Even more disturbing, I have seen Latinos shying away from me when I tell them I study at the university since they know that we are different, since they can't go back but I can.

According to the new immigration bill, anyone who lacks documentation will be considered a criminal; be it the mother with four children left behind, the husband working like a dog to support his family, the grandmother who sends remittances to her children and grandchildren.

I can't be indifferent in front of what is happening to the Latinos around me because I would feel a traitor. If I can contribute with translations or interpretations, the satisfaction is great.

The pain of many Latinos is so great - entire lives full of pain and nostalgia - and I ask myself how they can stand it. But then I arrive in Honduras and in the villages I see the houses that stand out from the rest, the prettiest with glass windows and nicely painted, and then I see the well-dressed children and then I understand. Their great motivation is the family that they left behind. This is one of many reasons why they have my respect and if it is within my possibility to help, it is my pleasure to do so.

Carmen Raquel Galeano Isaula

Via Internet

National vehicles

It has been decided that only half of the vehicles belonging to the government are allowed to circulate on any given day. The idea is to save fuel, but the move is nothing but a smoke screen and doesn't affect the consumption of national gasoline much. And although it is important to save fuel, it is just as important for the government to have access to its fleet of vehicles in order for it to carry out its functions.

Government responsibility, when it comes to the uncontrolled fuel consumption, is to be found on another plane. It has been unable to dissolve the traffic congestion on our streets when it could at least start an information campaign stimulating people to leave their car at home and use public transport or even walk.

Between Colonia Kennedy and Tegucigalpa's historic center, there is a five-kilometer drive, and an economical car should be able to make the trip five times on one gallon of gas. But the combination of traffic jams, a public transport system left in the hands of opportunist drivers, and the inability of the State to regulate the traffic in the capital city, turn a 30 minute errand into two or three hours of hell. Consequently, we are wasting hours of our time because of ignorance and negligence.

The rules set up for some 7,000 government vehicles will not help solve the problem. What would help is to issue a special government driver's license for public employees since the normal licenses can be bought or obtained in a number of ways, and to get rid of all the drivers which would mean big savings for the state. In the case of couriers, they should be driving motorcycles.

It is strange watching state officials driving large and fuel-consuming four-wheel drive vehicles on the city streets - vehicles that would be better suited for farm work. It is just as strange when they have a chauffer, as if they didn't know the town. Many high-level government officials seem to think that having a driver is what makes them worthy, rather than their capacity to perform their duties.

Dear Editor,

We would like to see if it would be possible to locate an old childhood friend that we haven't had any news from for some 20 years.

His name is Vicente Eduardo Portillo Gil and he was born in Honduras - not sure of the exact date. His grandfather on his mother's side was Cuban and worked for the United Fruit Company in Honduras. Our friend was born in Honduras and is of Honduran nationality and also his mother is Honduran.

Vicente Eduardo's grandfather took him to visit Havana in the early 1960s at the start of the Cuban Revolution when he was only a baby. Since the grandfather was Cuban, he was not allowed to return to Honduras and our friend Vicente Eduardo had to stay with him in Cuba. There he grew up and went to school like any other Cuban. He is of our age and should be between 45 and 50 years old today. He lived in an apartment together with his grandfather in the neighborhood Ayestaran. In the apartment also lived a few uncles who shared the same fate. This was where we got to know Vicente Eduardo, became friends with him, played with him and together grew up to be young men.

Some 25 years ago, his mother managed to go to Cuba to meet her lost son and after that meeting, Vicente Eduardo and his mother started a process for him to be able to return to Honduras. In those days, the '80s, Honduras didn't have any diplomatic relations with Cuba, which made things more difficult. But shortly thereafter, in the mid-'80s, he managed to return to Honduras, and since then we know nothing about his whereabouts.

We know that he had family in Tegucigalpa and in San Pedro Sula and a few relatives in New Orleans. Back in the '80s, we were a very united group of friends from the same Havana neighborhood and most of us went to the same school and the same church. The names of Vicente Eduardo's closest friends in Havana, including us, were Pepe Capellaja Gonzalez, who currently lives with his wife Betty in a small town north of Atlanta, Georgia, in the U.S. Then there is Alberto Noda, who is still in Cuba; Alfredo Pi, who we don't know anything about either but we think he managed to migrate to Miami; Alejandro Gonzalez Cima, who 18 years ago managed to leave Cuba for Mexico where he settled down in the country's capital. The two of us, Pepe Capellaja and Alejandro Gonzalez Cima, have been in contact and now we wish to see how we can find information about our good old friend from our Cuban childhood, Honduran Vicente Eduardo Portillo Gil. We would appreciate any news, or opinion on our idea you might have for us. In that case, please write to our e-mail addresses: alexcimarealestate@bellsouth.net and capallem@bellsouth.net

Thank you for your attention and a hug for all of you from Mexico and from Atlanta, Georgia.

Alejandro González Cima

Jose Julian "Pepe" Capalleja

González

Via Internet

Power and public administration

The word power has one meaning in developed countries and a completely different meaning in the developing world. In developed countries, power is not so much related to warfare as to commerce. In the Third World, power means servitude for the vast majority of people and kingdom for a chosen few.

According to former Liberal leader Modesto Rodas Alvarado, knowledge and capability can be found in any party. He never mentioned the fact that you need to demolish the public administration for sectarian benefits, and get rid of public officials from the opposition parties, like the current administration has done. Instead, he held the opinion that the Liberals didn't depend on government jobs since they knew how to find work in the private sector.

In the current administration, the serious difficulties facing President Manuel Zelaya are distracting him from his duties as a statesman. The people hassling him are his own party members, the private sector, the Catholic Church and society in general who turns to the government for assistance with everything. He also has to deal with a cabinet made up of politicians glued to the State because of their contributions in the election campaign, several of them making pretence of governing more than the president himself.

Zelaya might very well be a good person but unfortunately, that is not the road to success.

In his work plan, Zelaya has dedicated time and effort to the micro economy, leaving important issues to officials with a lower rank looking for fame, just to be discredited by the end of the day.

Another group that has made the liberal victory their own are the Honduran socialists that refuse to accept their weakness at the ballot box and use the Liberal Party as a springboard to power.

Zelaya's administration will need to re-evaluate the actual work team in order to assume a more confident leadership. Fortunately, there are brilliant and talented Hondurans who could form a more aggressive administration in favor of national interests. Those promoting the interests of a minority instead of contributing to the improvement of the government are mistaken.

Dear Editor,

It is very sad to read the article about the malnutrition in your HTW of the 1 of April, 2006 edition.

The main cause of malnutrition is the ignorance of healthy food in the daily diet and lack of self-discipline. People like to eat anything that is sweet, needs very little preparation, has a lot of fat and is widely advertised. These are processed foods.

Recently, I had to wait outside of a house whose neighbor was a small grocery store. It was 7:30 a.m. and a steady stream of clients came out of the store with a bottle of coke or similar drinks, sweet bread, bags of chips, cookies, a package of cornflakes and other unhealthy stuff. Some had bought orange juice in cartons which is also no good because it contains a lot of added sugar.

If these people are so ignorant on a healthy breakfast, their lunch and dinner probably is no better. The cost of the soft drinks would have bought 10 - 15 oranges or 3-4 lbs of bananas and for the box of 550 grams of cornflakes they could have bought 4-5 lbs. of of oats.

It is financially difficult for poor Honduran families to always buy the food which is optimal for good nutrition, but their diet could be improved very much with nutritional knowledge and self-discipline. For middle and upper class families there is really no excuse no to eat healthy. Cut out the processed foods and start eating fish. For them to read the latest book about healthy lifestyle and correct nutrition and to follow the rules most probably will save them ten thousand or even hundreds of thousands of Lempiras in medical bills. It may avoid the pain of being sick, lack of being able to function and early death of cardiovascular disease, cancer, diabetes, kidney disease and all the other illnesses that come after diabetes.

Think of the many millions of Lempiras which can be saved by the national health service and be used for education, housing and so on, if less people get sick. Needed now, is a program on health education especially about the right lifestyle and nutrition. In the last ten years, new and important discoveries have been made about which food is best for you to avoid sickness and early death. Now is the time to take responsibility for your own health rather than thinking that there is a pill or surgery for any sickness. If it upsets your lifestyle and habits now, think of how a serious illness may make your life miserable in later years.

Rudolf Kerkmann

La Ceiba

Via Internet

Dear Editor,

My name is Angie and I am looking for a man named Onyx Enrique Elvir - I call him Enrique. He went back to Honduras three months ago and I can't find him.We were togehter for over a year and then we had some problems. I miss him very much and I can't stop thinking about him. If I could just talk to him and make sure he is alright I would be so happy. I have looked all over the Internet for him but I cant find him. Please, could you help me? I believe he is from San Pedro Sula. His family has a small grocery store. His mom’s name I think is Adelaida. He has a brother named Carlos and I think that's his father's name also. If there's anything you can do or if you know anyone else that could help me. I would really appreciate it. My e-mail is yasmine1m@yahoo.com

Angie

Columbus, Ohio

Via Internet

The beginning of an Atlantic oil crisis

On April 26th, an editorial comment in the newspaper La Tribuna pointed to the strange intentions of the Nicaraguan government on the Atlantic coast above the 15th parallel, that is, part of Honduran territory.

Any such plans are entirely out of place since that area has been part of Honduran territory ever since it was granted to the country by Spanish king Alfonso XIII. Today Nicaragua is making claims because of the likelihood of finding oil, even letting two US companies proceed with the exploration in Honduran water.

The fact that Honduras doesn't protest makes one wonder what benefits Honduran politicians might gain from the deal. Why such consideration for those with expansion plans? Even the media mostly disregards what is happening.

Honduras has lost the majority of the territorial disputes it has been involved in, as in the case of the disagreement with El Salvador. Our neighbor now has the rights to both land and sea which were formerly Honduran, and is now planning to build a dam on part Honduran territory.

The La Tribuna editorial rightfully points out that Nicaragua shouldn't exploit an area that never belonged to the country. The right thing to do would be to order the Honduran marine to the 15th parallel and denounce Nicaragua's hostile attitude.

The Salvadorians have conquered lots of land and sea, without always being right.

On the other hand, Honduras never claimed anything but only lost territory since the country incompetently defended its century old rights. An official from the Honduran Foreign Ministry was once asked why the delimitation between Honduras and Guatemala hasn't been studied more closely - since it very well could be the most wrongful delimitation ever seen in Central America - and he simply responded: "No, no, that is history now!"

In order to make real history, we need brave and talented Hondurans.

Dear Editor,

In my recent article "Investing in a Retirement House," I mentioned that the cost of food in Honduras is similar to that in North America. This is true if you can adapt and buy food produced in Central America and avoid, if possible, imported processed food in fancy packages which are more expensive and for the most part not very healthy.

Luckily many things in Honduras are much cheaper than in the United States and Europe. The main reason, of course, is the low cost of labor.

Recently the differential on my old SUV Toyota Landcruiser developed an oil leak. The total repair costs, parts and labor (a new gasket) came to $47, plus $12 for new oil. It would have cost at least $550 in North America.

A tire on my car lost air. A new valve was installed at a cost of $3 parts and labor. I bought two new batteries, 110 amps., made in U.S. for $48 each.

This is why I can afford to keep my old car running. The minimum wage in Honduras is around $130 a month. About 80% of the people working in the tourist industry make only a little more than the minimum wage. Tourism tends to be in regions where no other better paying jobs are available. Double or triple the minimum wage can be made for example, in plants which make parts for cars.

So the higher the labor costs of a job (apart from material or parts) the more advantage there is to spend your dollars or euros in Honduras. It is one of the reasons why houses can be built at a lower cost here. Look in the internet for prices and locations. If you are retired or do not have to work any more, perhaps you want to sell your present home in North America for $300,000 and buy a similar house in Honduras for $130,000 or much less. The flat rate for a taxi ride within the city of La Ceiba is less that $1. Intercity bus services, for example between San Pedro Sula and La Ceiba (200 kms) is between $4 and $9 depending on comfort. Medical and dental services are much cheaper here. Maybe in Honduras you could afford household help or a companion for $100 a month plus room and board. The withholding taxes on the interest of a term deposit are only 10%. If you are sixty-years-old or above and a Honduran resident, by Honduran law, you have a discount of 25% on a wide range of services, among others for airline tickets even to the U.S.

If you are contemplating buying a beach front property or a piece of property close to the sea, do it now. Investors from Costa Rica and other places are moving in to buy these properties. Apparently prices in Costa Rica are up to five times the prices in Honduras. Soon only the very rich can afford to buy a property near the sea.

When buying property it is essential to compare prices of those which are given in varas for land and square meters for construction with those given in square feet only. One vara equals seven square meters. One square meter is 10.7369 square foot. One manzana equals 1.73 acres. The cost of building a house is somewhere between $32 and $40 per square foot depending on materials used and so on, plus 5% design fee. The square foot cost of a lot with all infrastructure done is between $2.5 and $8 depending mainly on location. The cost of a house in a condominium development will depend mainly on development cost and the developers' conception of how much profit they can get. There probably is an access road and perimeter wall to be built, a swimming pool constructed, green areas and so on.

There is a fair amount of housing developments going on in the La Ceiba area and it is a preferred area for foreigners to buy a house for various reasons. If you cannot yet buy a house, then buy a piece of land. Land prices rise much faster than construction costs. Prices are rising, the time to buy is now.

Drug cartels entering Honduras

On September 12th 1997, an airplane from the Mexican Inspector General was detained with 74 kilos of cocaine on board. The detainment confirmed that drug trafficking had penetrated the Mexican state since both the plane and the crew belonged to an aero-interception team whose principal mission was detecting airplanes transporting drugs.

On February 13th 2006 an airplane traveling between the Venezuelan towns Valencia and Barinas ended up in Tegucigalpa's Toncontin internatinal airport for unknown reasons. The crew was identified as Pedro Gomez and Cristobal Jimenez, names not coinciding with the official flight plan.

This information needs to be put in political context. There are rumors of Venezuelan president Hugo Chavez’s using national assets to buy immoral politicians in Latin America. The mysterious appearance of the airplane in Toncontin - seemingly a gift for someone - the escape of the strange pilots, the insistence that at least one member of Congress is involved in the affair, the possibility that they unloaded something during the night, the slow development of the case, the suspicion that the freight was support from Chavez to Mexican presidential candidate Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador - it’s all suspicious.

What is most disturbing about drug traffic is the high quantity of transport used. The cocaine processed by the Medellín and Cali cartels traditionally makes it way to the U.S. and to Europe through eight different routes - among those Bogota-San José-Tegucigalpa-Guatemala-Madrid and Bogota-Tegucigalpa-Miami-Tampa, and Honduran port town Puerto Cortes is also mentioned since sea transport is still the preferred mode of transport of the drug dealers.

In Europe there are nationalities known for being used as couriers, just like the Colombians in Latin America. The cartels sacrifice these humble people, while their own fortunes are legendary and make it difficult to work against them without having a really solid moral.

It is difficult to find official information in Honduras about the operations of the drug office. The country has diverted its funds to operations that don't really concern us since the levels of drug consumption and production are relatively low. The real problem, however, is the power that these gentlemen enjoy in Honduras: If they are put in jail not even the Pope could stop their release.

Dear Editor,

The landfill is a tragic eyesore for the capital city of Honduras. Families, especially children, and dogs, cattle and sopilotes (vultures), fight over each new truckload of garbage, dumped in what is called a landfill.

Experience has taught GAHA, Grupo Ambimentalistas Hondureno/Americano (GAHA) formed in 1995, that waste disposal should be under national control instead of individual cities; and that two major plants - one near Tegucigalpa and the other near San Pedro Sula - could take care of the majority of waste disposal in the country. The area surrounding the capitol is usually referred to as The South and the area around the other city is referred to as The North Coast.

The main objectives would be:

1. Handle the garbage disposal of the majority of The South and the North Coast.

2. Create 1,000 or more new jobs through the manufacturing of serviceable and saleable products, derived from proper waste disposal management.

3. Improve the environment and ecology of the country - now and for future generations.

4. Eliminate need for landfills.

A study carried out by GAHA in Tegucigalpa revealed that 54% of the waste was compostable. We based the greater financial income of that plant on the manufacture and sale, both in the country and for export, of organic fertilizer. Organic and natural fertilizers, which could be produced by the new plant, could considerably effect the country's balance of trade. Honduras expends $160 million dollars annually for imported chemical fertilizers and pesticides. However, GAHA has been advised, it would be extremely difficult to fight the influence created by the large amount of money generated by chemical fertilizers and the popular usage of those products in the country. This then would come down to what is better for Honduras and its citizens.

Further, our plans envisioned a waste disposal program that could produce electrical energy, especially in the North Coast plant. GAHA understands that this would be well-received.

GAHA's project is essentially an infrastructure landfill avoidance project, which will be designed to utilize 100 percent of the entire waste stream by converting it into useful products. The heart of the project will be the main plants, which takes in the solid waste and sorts it into basic categories - salvageable materials, organic compostables and electrical energy producible.

The benefits would me many. The solid waste problem becomes an opportunity for commercial exploitation to the eventual benefit of thousands. In lieu of simply dumping and burying resource materials of value and endangering the health of future generations, these wastes are converted into jobs.

The national benefit from the landfill avoidance projects will be derived from taxes paid to newly employed workers and the reduction of the amount of dollars that would have to be paid out for imported chemical fertilizers.

The agricultural benefits of a relatively cheap fertilizer are significant, not just in the economics of the avoidance of the use of more expensive chemical fertilizers, but in the anticipated greater production yield from the use of natural products. With CAFTA, Honduras could become the vegetable garden of the United States.

A major hurdle is the fact that Hondurans are averse to paying for services. To make this a long term sustainable development, a tipping fee based on the invested amount and ton handled is usually assessed against the household or industrial customers. As in the wont of Honduran nature, let the government pay for it. This is an additional reason why the problem should be national instead of municipal. Honduras as a nation can receive monies from international sources, whereas cities may not be able to do the same.

James McCarthy
"Gringo Olanchano"
Via Internet

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