Better safe than sorry 

Urgent measures must be taken against the wave of crime affecting the country.  Once we asked a security expert what the best type of civilian home protection measures were: an alarm, a dog, an electric fence or barbed wire.  His response was simple:  ALL OF THEM.

While this was 15 years ago when an alarmist press denounced criminal acts in the country, the truth of the matter is that these acts are historically chronic, dating back to the time of Cain and Abel.

We do not wish to point the finger just at our country, but would rather say the problem is global.  It has become the norm to await the crime of the day, awaking an unprecedented morbidness in people not unlike that of self-complacency.

For our country, the criminal phenomenon is strongly linked to poverty and lack of jobs, as well as the loss of family values.  We could almost say that a large portion of this criminality is due to the press with its constant gratification of what the accused have gotten away with.

For example, stories on how a few bags of cocaine meant millions of dollars for the dealers, or how bank robbers got away with tens of millions of lempiras.  In other words: their attempts were successful, the bad guys have the money and have made a clean getaway.  Stay tuned for news on their next assault.

Add to that the fact that the few who are captured will be transferred to the local jail, where they will comfortably watch the TV they brought along with comfy pillows and plush quilts.  Why not?  It is vacation time for them, time for some R&R.  In other times, criminals paved the streets of Tegucigalpa.

We know that the efforts of police surveillance are improving, but that they are not sufficient.  We know that as each day passes, security control wanes because of the slow and impractical judicial system.  All these problems and more are being inherited by the new Minister of Security, Gautama Fonseca.

Still, much has been done by former Security Minister Elizabeth Chiuz Sierra to adapt to the urgent needs of the country.  Among those we can mention a more agile incarceration system, more vigilance in the police force itself, oral trials, competitiveness among the security institutions of the country and others.

This is a good hope.  Let us trust that soon Minister Fonseca will get the rusty gears to begin grinding again.  I have not heard better counsel than that to use all protective measures available; best if all at once.  Of course, it's better to be safe than sorry.  

XX 

By Jorge Agurcia
jagurcia@laconstancia.hn  

Day after day, day after day,

We stuck, nor breath nor motion;

As idle as a painted ship

Upon a painted ocean.

Rhyme of the Ancient Mariner, S.Taylor Coleridge

As these things go, I have misquoted in my article about fear (XVII) and I'd always been afraid of doing just that.  It was FDR and not Churchill who used the famous words, "you have nothing to fear but fear itself."  I apologize for the mistake; may it stand rectified.  Welcome aboard Mickey, and thank you, I really wish I could have heard those Fireside Chats.  It was a pleasure to hear from you, as it was getting a little lonely on the leeward course.

Speaking of loneliness, what could ever be lonelier than circling the globe single-handedly in a small boat?  Although hundreds have attempted it, and many have actually done it, there are three people who I'd like to mention in today's article.  The first person to ever complete a globe-girdling voyage, all alone, was Joshua Slocum.  The youngest ever to go at it was Robin Lee Graham.  And the wisest was Sir Francis Chichester.  Also, I should point out, all three were accomplished writers.

Joshua Slocum was born in the Bay of Fundy, Annapolis County in Nova Scotia ¾ by all accounts, a seafaring community ¾ on Feb. 20, 1844.  Throughout his life he felt the calling of the ocean and during his adolescence made repeated attempts to run away to sea, until he succeeded at the age of 16.  Despite inroads made by the steam engine at the end of the 19th Century, Slocum's soul belonged to sail.  In 1895, at the age of 51, he slipped out of Boston Harbor alone aboard Spray, a 37-foot sailboat.  Forty-six thousand miles later, he returned to the same pile mooring in the same dock he had left three years, two months and a couple of days before.

Robin Lee Graham's solo circumnavigation begun in San Pedro, California, in 1965.  It was well documented by National Geographic Magazine.  Although he took his time to conclude the trip, about 5 years, what is remarkable -- in my view -- is that he was just 16 when he began and that he sailed in a tiny 24-foot sloop (called Dove).  Along his 33,000-mile trek throughout the world's oceans he braved a storm that tossed him overboard one night, two toppled masts, and a near collision with a commercial steamer.  He also managed to get married and have a child, bringing both of them back to port with him, after having completed a rite of passage that few of us would ever dare attempt.

Sir Francis Chichester was 65 years old when he embarked on his voyage around the world.  Alone, on his 53-foot ketch Gypsy Moth IV, he completed the trip in 262 days.  Starting from Plymouth Harbor in England, he headed south, logging-in a 14,000-mile nonstop passage to Sydney, Australia.  Certainly a stalwart fellow with equally admirable wit: To the question,  "When were your spirits at their lowest ebb?" put to him during a press conference in Sydney, he replied, "When the gin gave out."

Despite pleas from family and friends not to continue on, Chichester persisted undaunted.  He came very close to losing his craft in a near capsize caused by a freak wave in the Tasman Sea soon after leaving Sydney.  He then ran before those same seas and winds that are famous for having challenged the clippers of the golden age of sail, despite a full crew aboard: the Roaring Forties and the Screaming Fifties.  He rounded the Horn on March 21, continuing on to reach Plymouth late in the day on May 28, 1967.  A remarkable achievement by any standard, not taking into account the man's ripe age and a bum leg that just wouldn't quit bothering him throughout the voyage.

Slocum was last reported heading for the West Indies in 1909 when he was lost at sea ¾ some say in the Bermuda Triangle.  Lee Graham lives happily on in the United States with his family.  Chichester was knighted by Queen Elizabeth II of England; tapped on the shoulder by the same sword that his namesake ¾ Sir Francis Drake ¾ was presented with by Elizabeth I in 1581.  He passed away in 1972, but his example is as enduring as the spirit and courage he displayed throughout his voyage.

Ayudeme por favor 

By DON PEARLY 

Once again, an open letter to the Ministry of Tourism.  We residents of Guanaja are seeing a lot of activity in the tourism sector but can only enjoy it vicariously from afar.  The Tourist Awareness Program is long overdue and can only help.

I was in Belize in about 1990 when they began a similar campaign.  I was preaching then and I still am today that tourism is the single easiest industry a country can develop.  God gave Honduras wonderful topography in its tall cloud shrouded mountains, its intriguing ruins and its magnificent Bay Islands.  Why not share them with the rest of the world?

As I always say, with a lot of care, the tourist industry will do nothing to harm the environment while creating a lot of improvement in the standard of living for the local inhabitants.  Paint a house so the tourist will enjoy it and guess what, the owner of the house gets a burst of pride that is sometimes picked up by the neighbor to the left and then to the right and soon an entire block of homes are fresh and inviting.

What help do we need way out here on destination Guanaja?  I am so very glad you asked.  Despite about three and a half attempts to keep the fisherman and lobster divers off of our beautiful dive sites, we still run into them occasionally and lately it seems more than before.

All of our hard earned money that went to installing the anchor buoys are making it easy for some thoughtless individuals to tie up their little canoes so they can poach the protected reef below.  I say "protected" because there are miles of verbiage on the books that designate the reefs as off limits for fishing and hunting and if someone would just "bust" someone doing an illegal act it would be all over.

Most of the local fishermen listen to our pleas and go further out for their work, but when they see others still doing it the easy way they slide back into their old habits.  If instead of them seeing a neighbor hauling in a boatload of snapper, grouper, lobster and conch, they saw his canoe being impounded and his catch taken away from him, they might finally get the message.

I know I sound like a hard-case and I do sympathize with the father trying to feed his family from the sea, but I am directing this to the semi-commercial operators who catch much, much more than their families can eat and come around selling the excess for a living.

When the concerned locals speak to the officials on Guanaja, I am told they get plenty of promises of help meaning they will begin to enforce the law, but when we see an infraction going down and call for assistance, nada.  Is it because they sympathize with the violator or is it they do not want to lose votes or is it something we are not aware of, such as a hole in the law?

Something, something is keeping officials from doing their job and that is what we need help with.  I know the ocean is a really big place, but when we lure the big fish and eels to concentrated locations to make the diving more enjoyable, it sets the scene for a "shoot the fish in a barrel" situation.

Don Pearly is the General Manager of the Bayman Bay Club on the island of Guanaja.  His e-mail is <bayman@caribe.hn>.

SPS CLINIC RECOMMENDED 

Dear HTW: 

Recently, I had an emergency with my back -- a slipped disk.  It took seven hours from West Bay to La Ceiba, with a stop at Anthony's Key Resort at their clinic for three shots to stop the pain.  I went to the airport, waited an hour there, continued to La Ceiba to a clinic.  There I was treated for one and a half days.  Then I left to go to San Pedro Sula to Centro de Diagnostio Neurologico y Clinica de Epilepsias.

I was treated there by Dr. Nelson Chinchilla Calix.  Within one day of treatment, I was able to get up with a walker and shower.

The total staff and doctors are very professional and the hospital is quite modern.  I want to convey to all the staff at Centro De Diagnostio Neurologico y Clinica de Epilepsias in San Pedro Sula what a great group of people they are.  I would highly recommend this clinic to anyone who had problems.  Honduras should be proud to have a clinic such as this one! 

Ron Cummins
West Bay, Roatan

CHEATED OUT OF PHONE CALLS 

Dear HTW: 

With regards to the Aug. 5th article, "IHT tourism campaign underway," I'd just like to say, "Thank you, Minister Abarca.  I needed the laugh."  Unfortunately, due to the nature of my business, it has been necessary for me to travel to and from Honduras for about five years now.  I have found the people here (i.e. taxi drivers, law enforcement officials, hotel personnel, etc.) to be opportunists at best.  The hotels alone have been, and still are, enforcing a double standard and they separate the pricing system regarding locals and foreigners.  The Maya, which I hoped would have had at least a little integrity, practices this ritual blatantly. 

Even Hondutel in downtown Tegucigalpa has joined the "campaign" to victimize and steal from tourists.  I've used other Hondutels within the country and have had little or no problem.  But recently, on two separate occasions, while using the downtown location I was cheated out of time on my calls.  And with this situation, time is literally money.  I would ask, and pay, for five minutes or more, get cut off at three, and then receive no reimbursement for the missing time.

When this first happened, I lost 60 lempiras, but chalked it up to a possible computer glitch or mistake on my part (even thought I had carefully timed the call on my watch).  The second time I got angry.  Not only had I again timed the call, but was cut off prematurely in the middle of a very important conversation!

Frustrated and a little angry, I approached the woman who had taken my phone order on this and the previous occasion with the problem.  After a while of me explaining the situation and seeing how utterly hopeless it was, I finally decided to leave.  This was really for the best anyway, because not only was I out of patience, but moreover I was really just sick of her arrogance and patronizing attitude.

By the time I walked outside and a few minutes had passed, I realized that I was pretty annoyed and that I wanted to go back and speak with a manager.  It was not so much about the money (though I was out another 60 lempiras), what really aggravated me was the smirk across that woman's face.  As if there were some inside joke I wasn't aware of.  And now that I had lost money for the second consecutive time, I thought it necessary to make an issue out of it, or at least try to.

When I reentered the building and made it to the cashiers booth, I saw through the glass something that seemed a little suspicious.  It seemed the same obnoxious woman who had insisted that I had indeed been on the phone for the full 5 minutes, was now being handed 60 lempiras by the same cashier I had paid earlier.  This was the exact amount I had paid and not been reimbursed for.        A kickback?  Who knows.  But I will say this was an unusually quiet afternoon with no other customers.  When the woman saw me, she became very flustered and nervous, immediately handing the money back to the cashier and then almost running to her desk.  I wonder why.  Naturally, I can't prove anything, but a Honduran business associate of mine who had worked for this particular Hondutel some time back, told me they had indeed been stealing from me, and probably others.  He also added that this was pretty common and that he was not at all surprised.

And you know what, Minister Abarca?  Neither am I. 

Arthur Bishop
Carle Place, NY

DISILLUSIONED WITH U.S. POLITICS 

Dear HTW: 

I, like many other hard-working American voters, gave up the great T.V. shows we normally enjoy and instead watched both conventions.  I am saddened to report that, in my opinion, voters are being duped again.  Despite the fact that the normal mudslinging was not present, the same tired old promises are being made again and again.  I have come to realize that both parties and the elected body thereof really believe that the American Public is stupid.

VP Gore and his show was much less entertaining and really stirred questions for me, a registered Democrat.  First, we all realize that a sitting President has the power to fire generals, admirals, and cabinet members, but he does not have the authority to fire the VP.  If Gore was really outraged at Clinton's conduct, why in the world didn't he just say so?  Instead, he came on strong about what a great man the President is.  Really!  The second outrage is the fact that Gore says, "I am my own man."  Are we really expected to believe this when both parties suck up special interest funding like a giant sponge?

I think that the Democratic Party made a very unwise decision during the Clinton scandals if they really wanted to hang onto the White House.  If Clinton had been impeached, Gore would have faced these elections as a sitting President with almost two years of experience and time to demonstrate his abilities to the people.  He could have cut off the tail that is presently wagging the dog, stepped slightly to the right and would have improved his chances to remain in the White House.  As it is, now not only does he have to drag his own baggage but must also be the faithful subservant and drag Clinton's baggage.

I have come to believe and support term limits and absolute reform of campaign finance.  Taking time to go back and read some history, I now strongly believe that the founding fathers did not intend for our elected officials to make careers of their respective offices.  Gore is, in my opinion, a classic example of a career politician.  The only job he really ever held was a reporter for a local newspaper and this for only a short while.  His stint in Vietnam is another bone of contention -- you can bet the farm that his 201 file had a star and the initials CI on it.  For the uninformed, in layman's language that means "Congressional Interest" -- handle with kid gloves, and keep out of harm's way.  But at least he served and didn't dodge the draft like his mentor.

When voters realize these things we can understand why they don't make the effort to vote.  Until such time as we have term limits, campaign finance reform, promises are kept, and the real benefactors are the American Public, we can't expect any better than we are getting.  Career politicians loose the understanding of the public.  They live the lifestyle of the rich and famous with private barber shops, health clubs, dining rooms, banks, post offices and too many other perks to name.  After a few years, they reach the stage in their career that they are no longer capable of relating to everyday problems of the folks back home.

At the end of the day though, I will do as I always have, I will vote for the one that I hope will live up to his promises and bring about real change and not just do enough to run for re-election.  I hope that all U.S. citizens here in Central America will do the same!  Don't give up hope!  Vote for the candidate of your choice, but please vote. 

M. Bell
via Internet

Child sex tourism law fails test case 

Canadian teacher accused of molesting one of his students on a field trip to Costa Rica cannot be charged. 

By W. E. GUTMAN 

A law trumpeted in Canada's Parliament as a deterrent to the sexual exploitation of minors abroad has failed in its first test case, allowing a teacher accused of molesting a 17-year-old girl during a school trip to Costa Rica to evade prosecution.

According to an Aug. 9 report in Canada's National Post, Bill C-27 (known as the child sex tourism bill and in force since May, 1997) stipulates that cases involving sexual exploitation cannot proceed unless the government of the country where the offense was committed formally requests the intervention of Canada's justice minister.  In a recent ruling, Costa Rica's Supreme Court declined to make this request.  This means that an Alberta high school teacher who was accused of fondling one of his Canadian charges during a field trip to Costa Rica last year will not face charges.

Critics say the case exposes the weakness of the law.  Similar extra-territorial bills in the U.S. and other countries do not require the involvement of foreign officials, says Bruce Harris, executive director for Latin American programs, Casa Alianza, the stalwart champion of children's rights in Mexico, Guatemala, Honduras and Nicaragua.

"Here's a teacher who abused his moral and legal responsibility over a child -- and he's off scot-free," Harris protested.  "Child molesters can take Canadian kids on school trips to countries where the laws are weak, sexually abuse the wards in their care and get away with it.  Is this truly the spirit of bill C-27?"

Writing in the August 9 edition of the National Post, Marina Jimenez says that "after she returned home from the April, 1999, school trip, the Alberta high school student complained to police that her teacher had fondled her, and the Royal Canadian Mounted Police (RCMP) arrested him."

According to Alberta Justice Department documents obtained by the National Post, the teacher confessed.

While Costa Rica has since amended its criminal code, sexually exploiting a 17-year-old was at the time not against the law.  "A person would be punished if the victim was under 12, unable to resist, and if violence or intimidation was used ...  None of these criteria were met," Lilliam Gomez, Costa Rica's special prosecutor for sex crimes, wrote in a letter, noting that the law has since changed.

Reynald Doiron, a Foreign Affairs Ministry spokesman, acknowledged that the Costa Rican decision is a "big disappointment" that ties the hands of Canadian law enforcement officials.  "The Canadian government can't do anything in this case," he said.  Doiron added that the implementation of the child sex tourism bill is being reviewed.  To date, no one has been prosecuted, while other countries with similar extra‑territorial sex tourism bills have laid charges.

"Under bill C-27, Canadians accused of having sex with underage prostitutes overseas can be prosecuted in Canada without a formal request from the foreign government where the incident occurred," writes Marina Jimenez.  "But in the case of sexual interference or exploitation of minors, the legal remedy is in the hands of foreign jurisdictions."

"The law is flawed and doomed to fail Canadian children," said Rosalind Prober, co-founder of Beyond Borders, a non-governmental organization that lobbied to have bill C-27 amended.  "I felt it was inevitable that this would happen.  Every parent of every traveling athlete should know that if one of their kids is sexually assaulted by a Canadian coach in China or any other country, the responsibility for getting justice would be in the hands of foreign authorities."

The incident in Costa Rica took place during a dinner-dance halfway through the school trip.  The teacher, whose name is being withheld to protect the victim's identity, kissed the student, asked her to sit on his lap and fondled her.  He took her back to his room, got out a package of condoms and told her "he was ready."  According to a Spanish translation of a document from the Alberta Department of Justice, "he pushed her onto the bed, put one leg over her and rubbed his body against hers."

The student gave the RCMP a videotaped statement and police obtained a warrant authorizing interception of the teacher's calls to the student.  According to the Alberta Justice document, she then called the teacher and "in the course of the conversation, the teacher did not deny the facts."

The teacher was arrested and taken into custody on April 22.  The Alberta Justice Department letter notes that the teacher submitted a statement admitting the accusations.  The Canadian embassy in Costa Rica exchanged a flurry of correspondence with local government officials about the case, emphasizing that Ottawa is committed to protecting the human rights of children and pledging "total cooperation" should the Costa Rican authorities request it.

Meanwhile, Costa Rica -- as are its sister Central American nations -- remains a popular child prostitution destination.  Casa Alianza has successfully prosecuted a number of cases but the problem is rampant.  Government apathy and a cluttered, corrupt judicial system conspire to thwart the organization's best efforts.

From U.S. corporate job to Honduran orphanage 

By SHANNON TAGGART

Special to Honduras This Week

PERSONAL REPORT 

This time last year, I had a corporate job, a car, a mortgage, a lawnmower -- all the things that an upper twenties professional is supposed to have.  But I also had a big void in my soul.  I couldn't quite put my finger on what was missing.  So I started searching for something different to do with my life.  After investigating hundreds of volunteer opportunities, I ran across one that really intrigued me: Nuestros Pequenos Hermanos in Honduras, home to 600 orphaned and abandoned children.

I didn't know much about Honduras.  I didn't know much about orphans.  My Spanish was marginal at best.  But something deep inside me told me to check it out.  So I came for a visit in late November.  From the minute I stepped off the plane, I knew that this would be an experience I would never forget.  In fact, I wasn't sure I was up to it.

Before long, I found myself bouncing around in the back of some stranger's pick-up truck, rolling suit bag by my side.  This time yesterday, I was nestled safely in my corporate cubicle, I thought to myself.  We wound our way past breathtaking countryside lined with intermittent patches of extreme poverty.  I sorted through a wide range of emotions, feeling self‑conscious and sheltered, as if I had lived every moment of my life thus far under a big cloud of naivete.

When we pulled up at Rancho Santa Fe, NPH's home 36 kilometers outside of Tegucigalpa, I took it all in slowly.  Dozens of neat little brick buildings with bright orange rooftops, tucked into gentle wooded hills.  The familiar squeak of playground swings mixed with the laughter of children.  Big sturdy pine trees standing watch over this small village.  The ranch had the feel of a national campground, filled with visitors for a giant family reunion.  But it suddenly dawned on me -- these children would not sleep near their parents tonight.  They were each other's family, a responsibility that seemed natural to them.

Some of the other volunteers took me first to Casa Suyapa, home to NPH's tiniest children, age six and under.  Within 30 seconds, a swarm of two-footers surrounded me with hugs and kisses and a million questions.  Where did I come from?  What was the United States like?  How many people were in my family?  Why was my hair so curly?  The barrage didn't stop.  I felt like a politician at a press conference.  But they were not asking to judge me or evaluate me.  They were just normal, curious kids.

At that moment, all the insecurities that come along with being a stranger in a new environment just sort of melted away.  These children loved and accepted me right from the start.  I've never experienced anything like it.  I knew right then and there that this was where I needed to be.  So, to make a long story short, I returned to the States, sold my house, quit my job, traded my briefcase for a backpack and here I am. 

Many of these little people have endured more tragedy in their short lives than most of us could ever imagine.  But they are so full of spirit and wonder, and still have the hearts of children.  The inspiration these kids offer does not come without its heartaches, though.  Take Maria (her name has been changed to protect the family's privacy), for example.  A sweet, shy little girl I met on one of my first nights back at the ranch.  She is only 10 years old, but her mannerisms are those of someone two or three times her age, someone who has grown up way too quickly.

At dinner that first night, she noticed that my plate was a little dirty.  "Here Tia," she said, "Let me wash it for you."  Before I could protest, she was at the sink, propped up on a footstool, scrubbing away at my plate.  She returned it to me spotless.  "There," she said.  "Much better."

I later learned some things about Maria's background that made her adult‑like persona easier to understand.  Her father died of AIDS in 1994.  After a long battle with the disease, Maria's mother also died last year.  Meanwhile, in the time in between, Maria's family lost its home and virtually everything else to Hurricane Mitch.

Then, I received another piece of information that hit me like a punch in the chest: Maria herself currently has full‑blown AIDS.  She is one of at least a dozen of our kids who are HIV positive.  We can only afford medication for half of them.  Maria is not among that group.  This little girl lives with a death sentence.  And she was worried about my dirty plate.

Don't get me wrong, these kids have their moments, just like any other kids.  They fight with each other and lose their tempers.  Sometimes they just don't listen.  But from what I remember, this is part of childhood.  What continues to amaze me, though, is the compassion and resilience they demonstrate time and time again.  Part of my job here is to act as teacher and mentor to these kids, but most days I feel like I am the one who has much to learn.

XIX 

By Jorge Agurcia
jagurcia@laconstancia.hn  

Tonite's Toast:

Here's to Tania Roberta, and to riding it out. 

In last week's column, we looked at wind speeds and gales.  Before that, we had examined sailing with fear as a welcome passenger on-board.  Now let's put it all together.

The more time you spend in open ocean, the greater the chances of getting hit by a gale.  One particular statistic -- that somehow sticks in my mind -- is that any vessel on a crossing in excess of five days registers a 90 percent probability of getting caught out.  Of course, this varies according to the region and the time of the year.  For instance, in and around Cape Horn, during the summer one can expect a storm every five days, but during the wintertime one may expect heavy gales every single day.

Granted, when cruising or only making passage, there is really no hurry to make good any particular destination, so the decision to reef (to reduce sail area by taking in canvas) is always much easier.  But for some reason, we still tend to postpone the task, be it because we find it unnecessarily unpleasant or because we cling to the hope of better weather right around the corner.

According to K. Adlard Coles, author of Heavy Weather Sailing, "when cruising in an ordinary way and not racing, a yacht should be reefed down progressively as the weather worsens, always in advance of immediate necessity...  It is obvious that the longer reefing is deferred the harder it is to do, and the greater the strain and risk of damage to the gear in the meantime."

Coles has had great success in many kinds of heavy seas and -- fortunately for us -- he's written his experiences down.  I highly recommend his book.  At the end of every chapter he draws patent conclusions gained on his excursions into bleak conditions.  There is much to be said for knowledge gained by reading in this case, because the ocean exacts a heavy toll on amateurs and non-believers alike, without prejudice to either.  Telling by the effects, the distinction hardly matters anyhow.

Once a gale worsens, and elementary reefing no longer makes for an adequate solution, the time proven solutions can be listed, as follows, with a short description of each.

Heaving-to is the traditional way of riding out a gale, by means of facing a vessel into the wind with her sails reefed but still up.  One may also put up a trysail or a storm jib, which basically offer less resistance to the wind.  The idea is to ride out the storm without giving up total control of the boat.

Lying a-hull is the next option, where a ship's sails have already been lowered and she is lying under bare poles.  The vessel is left to take her own position in the seas.  One trouble with lying a-hull is that a sailboat may be picked up by a large wave, and as she is being thrown to leeward, her keel or centerboard might "stab" causing it to capsize more readily.

Also, there are options that can complement lying a-hull, like dropping a sea anchor or streaming warps.  The former keeps the front of the boat into the wind, and thus restrains incoming waves from filling the cockpit (pooping).  The latter, however, calls for running with ropes strewn aft¾to slow the vessel down -- and is risky, as a following sea can easily come over that most vulnerable part of a ship, pooping the vessel and filling it with water.

Finally there are other, more unusual techniques, like dropping oil over the side in hopes of tranquilizing breakers about the vessel.  The use of oil in any gale can only help, but presents considerable side effects to the environment and makes for dangerously slippery decks.

In any event, regardless of our technological advances, the might of wind and sea remains to this day largely unbridled.  Mariners venturing out in small vessels will do well to heed the age-old comment that "any fool can carry sail on a ship."  A vessel cannot move unless she is first kept afloat, and only prudence will keep a ship afloat.

If anyone reading this has already found himself being laid over on his beam ends, or has seen his canvas reduced to tatters with a thunderous boom, or worse, found himself bobbing alongside a pitch-poled vessel, I believe you may be nodding your head in agreement.  There is no need for such an experience to teach one about safe handling; oddly enough, there is such a requirement to learn about prudence, that is, the timely application of safe handling.

Some skippers have never ventured out to sea, and yet they're charged with running their vessels in heavy gales.  One could easily think of this country as a vessel rounding the Horn.  I can't help but wonder about whom will be manning the next watch and what techniques he will apply in order to cope with seas ahead.  

Educational reforms imperative 

The efforts made by this country to develop an educational system that provides students with knowledge and experience is great.

These efforts must overcome enormous obstacles that seriously interfere with their good intentions, affecting the future of Honduras.

International cooperation has played an important role by assisting in this struggle.

The educational perspective of the country has many aspects, and we find that the organizational structure is disastrous.

Following are the most important aspects of the national education:

* Unmotivated and uninterested personnel.

* Lack of plans for improving the educational level of personnel.

* Poor supervision during regular work hours.

* Poor work plans.

* No admission plans or requirements for students.

* Lack of vigilance of the moral conduct of teachers within the  community.

* Poor spirit of cooperation on the teachers' part by permitting their work space to be filthy.

* Lack of adequate communications with authorities.

* Interference of politicians who assign posts and salaries.

* Lack of participation from the educational sector within programs of community development.

* Constant holidays, as well as the ignorance that Saturdays can be used for the development of complementary tasks in the formal education of the country.

The investment and efforts made by the country for the future of its citizens does not have the expected return.  Our society sees itself confronted by gangs, children living in the streets, beggars and high rates of illiteracy and delinquency.

Regardless of the aforementioned situation, there is a difference among bilingual schools.  They offer a higher level of education than that given by the state.

Education is dynamic and constant, therefore a work force is needed that understands these criteria.  Teachers have lost their credibility and leadership in this task.

We must go back to the drawing board and analyze the setup of the education of the country.  This is extremely important and cannot be postponed any longer.

READ THE BIBLE 

Dear HTW: 

In the July 29 issue, Alan Funes-Diaz wrote relative to the plight of a lady who was again pregnant when she was having trouble caring for the two she already has.  My letter will be an attempt to clarify why she, and many like her, unwittingly follow blindly rules made by men and not rules found within the Bible.  It is my hope and prayer that Alan will get this message to her and others, with the idea that she will not have two or three more after the third one, thereby slicing the few lempiras she has into smaller pieces.

Here is the solution, in as short a message as possible.  First, let's speak about Christians using no specific denomination.  All Christian denominations use the Bible, regardless of the particular version.  So let us simply refer to the Bible (one that has not been degenerated).  Now, taking this into the most important step is what is missing in most peoples' lives.  Instead of reading the Bible directly, these poor folk are depending upon a human being to tell them what is God's word.  So many denominations say you must do this or refrain from that (such as eating meat on Friday).  This was a man-made rule established many centuries ago when there was an abundance of fish.  No place in the Bible does it say you have to go to church seven days (nights) a week.  Period.  No place in the Bible does it say you have to have as many babies as nature provides.  This is a man-made rule which was established many years ago in one particular church so the size of the church would grow faster than others.

What does the Bible say?  Well, there is the entire solution to each person's question regarding their own specific questions.  Read the Bible for yourself.  Until your preacher (pastor or spiritual leader) shows you quite clearly in the Bible what is said, you need to disregard that particular rule.

If you know someone who desires a Spanish-language Bible and they are willing to write to me, I will bring some down to Honduras on my next trip to the village where we are building houses and I will get one delivered to you.  Please spread the message to my good people in Honduras: nowhere does God say you must have all the babies you can, or any words that could be interpreted as such.  Let's get the word out and let's begin to read the word.  It will begin to make many lives there better, healthier, happier and my people will have more food to share with each other.  A brother in Christ. 

Tom Doyle
Oakland, Md. 

EDITOR'S NOTE: Mr. Doyle's address is: POB 289, Oakland, Md, 21550, USA.

Drugs: A war no one wants to win 

The thriving drug trade continues to bolster the global economy.  Effortlessly reaped, easily sanitized, an inexhaustible crop of narcodollars has all but deadened the political will to bring the "drug war" to a victorious end -- an impending U.S. "intervention" in Colombia notwithstanding.

By W. E. GUTMAN 

The United States boasts the world's largest and fastest-growing prison population.  Over 50 per cent of the inmates -- their ranks have doubled in the past 10 years -- are serving time for drug-related crimes that account for better than one-third of all crimes committed in the United States.

Smuggled in hollowed concrete posts, frozen broccoli, sacs of coffee and crates brimming with exotic woods and aromatic spices, enough drugs reach the streets to keep an estimated 3 million U.S. addicts bombed out of their heads for two months straight.

And if the new lords of terror and high finance have their way (among them corporate leaders, high-ranking military officers and political bigwigs whose dominions stretch from the jungles of Colombia to Central American capitals to Sicily and the United States) the richest and most drug-dependent society on earth may never awaken from its psychedelic stupor.

Juggling deals that exceed the combined assets of Boeing, Texaco and Pepsi, funding political campaigns and controlling vast communications networks, the "narcocracy" has the power to turn the mighty and the well-connected into obedient co-conspirators.  The incorruptible, those whose influence or silence cannot be bought at any price, few as they are, are dealt with less kindly but with persuasive finality.  Intimidation by death is the language of choice in the drug trafficker's lexicon.  The message is the medium.

BOUNTIFUL HARVEST

Despite the lofty rhetoric and a number of high profile operations that helped net several drug kingpins and large quantities of contraband, there appears to be no political will to bring the drug war to a victorious end.  Powerful economic and geostrategic interests get in the way.  Western nations turn a blind eye to drug money laundering.  No wonder.  The harvest is bountiful: Over 90 percent of the estimated $500 billion drug market is reinvested in industrialized nations.  The rest goes to drug-producing countries.

Nor are the major international financial institutions particularly vigilant about drug money laundering.  Developing nations are ruinously in debt.  Those that produce narcotics (or serve as willing conduits -- Panama, Costa Rica, Nicaragua, Honduras, El Salvador, Guatemala and Mexico -- use narcodollars to pay off creditors who don't care where the money comes from.

Now comes word of another "intervention" in the making, one planned by the United States in Colombia.  According to the respected British daily, The Guardian, the Clinton administration is seeking congressional approval for $1 billion in military aid to the government of Andres Pastrana in Bogota.  The money is earmarked for a "low-level air war, 'advised' by the U.S., complete with Blackhawk helicopters, satellite surveillance and cluster bombs."

Says Amnesty International: "This is the same policy that backed death squads in El Salvador in the 1980s." It is the policy that started the war in Vietnam."

NARCO-GUERILLA

Colombia receives more U.S. arms and equipment than any country in the world (apart from Israel and Egypt).  In May 1999, the Washington Post disclosed that 200 U.S. military personnel were playing key roles in the war against the guerrillas of Colombia's popular resistance, who occupy an area the size of Switzerland.  Justifying a frontal attack on the resistance presented difficulties for Washington until the "War on Drugs" replaced the "Soviet Threat" and a new enemy was conjured: "The Narco-Guerrilla."

Disingenuous in the extreme, America's anti-drug campaign in Colombia dates back to the 1970s when Congress cut back U.S. aid to repressive Latin American police forces while increasing so-called anti-narcotics aid by about the same amount -- a sleight of hand barely acknowledged at the time.

"To keep the aid coming," writes Peter Dale-Scott in his book, Cocaine Politics, "corrupt Latin American politicians helped to invent the specter of the drug-financed narco-guerrilla, a myth."  Dale-Scott quotes a senior U.S. military officer who says that the way to counter "those church and academic groups that have slavishly supported the insurgency in Latin America," is to put them "on the wrong side of the moral issue."

The Guardian charges that, because coca was grown by the poorest peasants as their sole means of survival, the guerrillas they supported were attacked in a bogus "war on drugs" -- while the drug cartels and their allies in the military were strengthened.

"This has been U.S. strategy since the 1960s," says The Guardian, "when a secret U.S.-led 'Force X' infiltrated the guerrillas, committing atrocities that would have been blamed on the insurgency.  Pioneered in Vietnam by the CIA's infamous Col. Edward Lansdale, it was also used in Indonesia during the CIA-assisted bloodbath that brought Suharto to power."

LOSING CONTROL

It is evident that what Washington fears most in Latin America is not drugs but losing control of the critical north-east quadrant of the continent now that the Panama Canal is no longer under U.S. control.  Complicating the situation is the popular nationalism of the reformist government of Hugo Chavez in oil-rich Venezuela.  So far, the United States has been unable to control Panama by the open threat of an invasion similar in ferocity to that ordered by President Bush in 1990 on the pretext of arresting Gen. Manuel Noriega, head of state, drug dealer and former buddy of then CIA director George Bush.  Thousands of Panamanian civilians were killed in the U.S. assault.  If the popular resistance in Colombia can be "pacified," Venezuela may be restored to its traditional craven submissiveness.

In Colombia, however, matters have been getting out of hand.  A few months ago, a general strike all but paralyzed cities and towns.  Ten thousand indigenous protesters blockaded the south.  High school and university students walked out of class en masse.  Like most of Latin America, Colombia's economy is prescribed by the International Monetary Fund.  Almost half the gross domestic product goes to pay off most of the infrastructure, from telecommunications to the water supply, at well below its true value but at too high a price or domestic capital.

"The beneficiaries," The Guardian asserts, "are, as ever, U.S. and other western multinationals.  In that respect, it is simply globalization at work, a war of the rich versus the poor."

CIVIL REPRESSION

The Guardian goes on to point to "constant" violence, with more than 2,000 trade unionists assassinated and thousands of "disappeared" massacred by drug trafficking paramilitaries "who, like their counterparts in East Timor, are often indistinguishable from a military trained for civil repression."  A recent Human Rights Watch report confirms that army officers who planned and took part in paramilitary violence have been promoted and rewarded, and now occupy the highest positions in the Colombian military.

The United States is not alone.  Its favorite co-conspirator, the government of British Prime Minister Tony Blair, has approved weapons sales to the Colombian military.  British Petroleum (BP) is the most aggressive oil company in Colombia.  It is an open secret that BP has contracted British SAS soldiers to train Colombian paramilitaries.  Predictably, BP has denied the allegations.

The increasingly tangled webs of narcotrafficking in Latin America demonstrate that where powerful socio-economic and geopolitical interests are at stake, truth and justice are gingerly led to their death.  Chances of winning the war against a scourge from which impregnable elites continue to profit while corrupt and inept judicial systems turn a blind eye, are virtually nil.

Despite setback, activists pledge to close the School of Americas

By W. E. GUTMAN 

    In July 1999 the U.S. Congress voted 230-197 to cut funds to the U.S. Army School of the Americas (SOA).  The measure failed in the conference committee.  Companion bills calling for the closing of the SOA were introduced earlier this year and another vote took place in May.

    It had been hoped that the arrest in Guatemala of SOA-trained Col. Byron Disrael Lima Estrada for the murder of Guatemalan Bishop Juan Gerardi would galvanize public attention and bolster efforts to counter Pentagon and congressional supporters who continue to argue that SOA atrocities are a thing of the past.

    Congress voted down the amendment, this time by a 10-vote margin (214-204).  If passed, the measure would have permanently shut down the SOA and set up a congressional task force to investigate the impact of U.S. military training on Latin American soldiers in the area of human rights.  It would also have halted the instantaneous metamorphosis from the old SOA into a new surrogate, the Defense Institute for Hemispheric Security Cooperation.

    The re-christened establishment, like its former incarnation, will continue to serve as a combat training school of Latin American and Caribbean Basin soldiers.  Critics have called the scheme "political sleight-of-hand," "shameless trickery" and "cosmetic skulduggery" -- a name change with no effort to respond to growing public outcry and congressional concern over the SOA's link to atrocities.  SOA Watch more laconically characterized the subterfuge as "new name, same shame."

    The SOA roster of miscreants is as long as its 52-year history is bloody.  Graduates include CIA stooge and death squad leader Roberto D'Aubuisson of El Salvador, who engineered the murder of Archbishop Oscar Romero and led the El Mozote slaughter of 900 men, women and children; Col Juan Alpirez of Guatemala who, on orders of the CIA, assassinated rebel leader Efrain Bamaca; and the late Honduran Gen. Policarpo Paz Garcia, whose presidency was marked by a high level of corruption and unrelenting military repression.  It was under his leadership that the activities of death-squad Battalion 3-16 intensified.

    High-ranking Honduran SOA graduates who helped organize, with U.S. complicity, Battalion 3-16, include the late Gen. Gustavo Alvarez, and Gens. Daniel Bali Castillo, Luis Alonzo Discua and Juan Lopez Grivalja.

    Readers will recall the arrest, on 21 January, of Guatemalan Col. Lima Estrada, along with his son, for the murder of Roman Catholic Bishop Juan Gerardi.  According to a declassified U.S. Defense Intelligence Agency biographic sketch, Lima Estrada took Military Police training at the SOA.  He went on to head the infamous D-2 (G-2) Military Intelligence agency at the height of the genocide campaign in Guatemala's civil war.

    Bishop Gerardi was bludgeoned to death in his home by thugs allegedly linked with Guatemala's President Alvaro Arzu, two days after he issued a human rights report implicating the D-2 in human rights atrocities.  Based on thousands of testimonies collected by the archbishop's office, the report, "Guatemala: Never Again," provides a chilling chronicle of the mechanisms of violence.  In a chapter titled, "D-2: The Very Name of Fear," the report harshly criticizes the military intelligence agency headed by Lima Estrada from 1983-85.  It accuses the D-2 of playing "a central role in the conduct of military operations, in massacres, extra-judicial executions, forced disappearances and torture."

    The arrest of Lima Estrada adds to the heavy and mounting evidence against the SOA.  The school has come under increasing criticism by groups in the United States and Latin America who cite human rights and U.S. State Department reports that accuse SOA alumni of "grave human rights violations."

    The 78,000-member Leadership Conference of Catholic Nuns and the 13-million-member AFL-CIO are two in a wide spectrum of organizations and major publications that have persistently called for the closing of the infamous U.S. Army school.

    In correspondence with this writer, now Democratic Vice Presidential nominee, Connecticut Senator Joseph Lieberman, has expressed "displeasure with the school's history and legacy," and pledged to "support efforts to bring its most egregious graduates to justice."

    A mass demonstration is scheduled to take place in November at Fort Benning, Georgia, home of the SOA.  Twenty-three protesters drew 6-month jail sentences for taking part in last November's nonviolent rally that drew 10,000 human rights activists.  Actor Martin Sheen was among those arrested.

XVIII  

By Jorge Agurcia
jagurcia@laconstancia.hn  

"At the finals of the 1999 Improvised Poetry Competition -- the dust having settled -- there remained two contenders: Sir Percival Scott, KCB, KG, OBE, OPOF from Devonshire, England and Joe D. Schmoe, from Upper Montana.  The prize: US$250,000.00 for the best rhyme utilizing the word Timbuktu.

"Sir Percival's participation drew heady applause: 

"Across the blazing desert sands,
Rode the mighty caravans,
Camels driven two by two,
Destination: Timbuktu!" 

"And Joe's... oh well, not exactly PC, but certainly inspired...

"Tim and I a-hunting went,
And spied three maidens in a tent;
Since they was three and we was two,
I bucked one, and Tim bucked two."

-- as told by Brad Mills, Tegucigalpa 

Getting "caught out" in nautical terms, translates to getting hit by a gale or storm while out at sea.  The word "gale" refers to conditions of sustained wind velocity of 34-40 knots, Force 8 in Beaufort notation, or of gusts reaching 43 knots (momentarily Force 9).

Let's try to break all this down, and do beginners a service (most likely to refresh us all).

So, we begin with how wind speed ¾ and other speeds ¾ are measured at sea.  Wind velocities are usually expressed in knots, which refers to nautical miles per hour.  Overland, we use m.p.h. or k.p.h. to express distance traveled in time.  M.p.h. refers to statute miles per hour; that is, how many miles are made good while travelling along a straight line for an hour.

A gust is a brief increase in wind velocity, as contrasted to a squall, which may last longer.  A squall is defined as a sudden increase in wind speed by at least 16 knots, the speed rising to 22 knots or more and lasting for at least one minute.  The difference between the two is a matter of duration, as a squall can include several gusts.

Finally we arrive at the Beaufort scale, which is an attempt at classification of wind speeds.  The limits of wind speed are described for this purpose in knots, and are measured at a height of 33 ft. above sea level.  

Beaufort Number Wind Speed Limits  Descriptive Terms  

5                      17 - 21  Fresh breeze

6                      22 - 27  Strong breeze

7                      28 - 33  Near or moderate gale

8                      34 - 40  Gale or fresh gale

9                      41 - 47  Strong gale

10                     48 - 55  Storm or whole gale

11                     56 - 63  Violent storm

12                     64 +       Hurricane  

In Honduras, all this has two specific applications.  The next time you get caught out, you will know the difference between a gale and a breeze, provided you have a wind speed indicator fitted to your mast.  As with fish, however, you may be inclined to overstate the wind speeds you have recorded by picking a higher Beaufort number.  But don't feel bad about it, there is a scientific reason for this.  The speed limits above refer to "mean" or average wind speeds, and sailors are usually more impressed by the gusts than by the lulls, which result in lower mean velocities. Secondly, as it occurs to me, the scale is also applicable every time the local cable TV station cuts service in deference to a government cued cadena nacional.  Given the case, I could also suggest that one use a thermometer to adequately gauge the temperature of the air mass, but odds will have it on the warmer side of tepid-shucks, I've seen a few that would put a blast furnace to shame.  

Oral trials at last 

On August 9, the first oral trial chamber was inaugurated at the National University of Honduras.  This occurred with the support of the U.S. Embassy, the dean and professors of the Law School, as well as the board of directors of the university.  At the entrance, on the right, the chamber is in plain sight as a testament to the student body that our country now possesses a new strategic weapon for the future of civil rights.

Surprisingly, this chamber is equipped with modern audio-visual aids.  There is no doubt that time and effort were devoted to the construction of this chamber.

Ideally, there should be no need for courts and laws because all men would live in harmony.  But we do not live in a biblical utopia.  We must now confront many situations in order to establish an equilibrium in society founded on basic rights.

The advantages of oral trials are many.  They are shorter, and less bureaucratic.  Rights are in the public domain.  Favoritism and the law of the mighty and influential will be less evident.  Law will no longer be a mysterious profession.  With the help of computers, errors will be fewer and there will be a more practical use of the law.

Who can prove they are right and not who screams the loudest will be the letter of the law.  The jury will have direct contact with the defense and prosecution, as well as the persons being tried, and their independent decision will be a difficult verdict to appeal.  The people know better than the judge in what kind of society they want to live.

The press will have free access to all trials, and will act as impartial protagonists.  There will be no need to hide anything except the hands that stain the truth.

The first class effort and good example of the National University of Honduras will be appreciated and used for learning by many generations to come.

There is no time to loose Mr. Judge.  Declare oral trials open, for God and liberty.  The law and justice are on your side!

PROUD OF EDUCATION

Dear Editor: 

I am currently attending college in south Florida and as I was doing some research in some of HTW's previous issues I came across an article written by Erling Duus titled "Ministry of Education: thoughtful educators or incompetent bureaucrats" dated Dec. 7, 1998. In the article, he comments on how the schools put too much work on the students and give them very little freedom.

Just as this is Duus' opinion, I would like to give you the opinion of a student.  I attended Brassavola Bilingual School of La Ceiba from the third grade.  I did have to take 12 to 14 classes each year until I graduated from that same school in 1997, simultaneously taking biology, chemistry, physics, math and, don't forget, American and Honduran history.

I believe that choosing primary and secondary classes for students by the teachers is much better than choosing the classes themselves, as in the U.S. system.  From personal experience, I may tell you that having all this school work as a teenager keeps you from doing other things.  Taking all these classes also makes you twice as educated as any other student who is only taking seven to eight classes, as in the U.S. system.  I also believe that the Honduran educational system is much more disciplined, organized and effective to teach the students what they need to know.

I attended an American school for my freshman year of high school.  As I registered for classes, I was completely confused because the counselor asked me what classes I wanted to take.  All I could do was give her my school transcripts, and on my first day of school I realized that I was placed in all sophomore classes.

What does that tell you?  Students in the U.S. take the liberty of choosing classes they think they will be able to handle according to their capacity to learn.  In my opinion, this reduces the chance of the student to know what he/she is fully capable of understanding.

If students were given more freedom, they would choose to learn less, therefore making them less educated, and having to spend more money on college taking high school level classes.  I completely appreciate my bilingual education, the discipline of study and the few choices I had for my education, because now that I am attending an American college, I have more opportunities of succeeding in my career because of the high school education I received.

It saddens me sometimes when American students in my English composition class do not know how to pronounce certain words that are required college level vocabulary.  I am not trying to put down American high schools, but I do believe that if they were more disciplined with the students, then they would have the higher education they deserve.

Nadia C. Zelaya
via Internet

MORE ON DEATH PENALTY 

Dear HTW: 

I distrust the so-called "Prairie Populist's" logical strictures and the encapsulated knowledge that prompts his conclusion against the death penalty.  His conclusion undermines the basic law of murder -- there is a victim.  Who cries out for the victim, Mr. Prairie Populist?  Once you convict a murderer by hard evidence, then you smoke him or her.  There is no such thing as rehabilitation for such brutal slayers.  Let their minds be tortured as society throws the switch ‑‑ one less murderer to prey on the innocent and one less mouth to feed.

As to Duus's other misdirected thoughts, his prejudices and arrogance outstrip his capacity to be objective.  He knows little about Ronald Reagan -- I knew him as governor of the State of California -- he was anything but shallow minded or had a "shallow ideology."

What utter nonsense from the mouth that says, "Jewish."  Any reasonable person knows that "Jew", "Wap", "Gook", "Gringo", etc. are racist remarks no matter how the sentence is clothed.

I'm glad Erling Duus is leaving Honduras -- next thing you know he would have us believe that Eichmann's Auschwitz (Oswiecim) was fiction.  Extremism infects most societies -- a world of resentment and hatred generated by rapid changes and the breakdown of moral values (the Clintons are good examples).

We need to temper our disagreements with facts not fiction -- even then our perceptions may form contradictory viewpoints.  What say you Duus?  Still have your head buried in Texas sand?

Steve D. Wilson
via Internet

Dear HTW:  

In response to Mr. A. Wilson [Reader's Forum, Aug. 5 edition], I stated that it is indeed a tragedy to lose a brother that way, knowing who has done it and not being able to bring the murderer to justice.  If my brother would have been killed that way, my family and I would take very serious actions, hiring detectives, collecting evidence and presenting this to the authorities and president, and we would make an international scandal if nothing happened.

I support law and order, even hard punishments, but no death penalty, and stated why in my last letter.

The United States is a great country, no doubt about that.  The immigrants find better conditions to make a living as in their poor home countries.  But [the U.S.] is a police state.  Think about McCarthy and Edgar Hoover, and not only Sacco and Vanzetty were innocent.  Think about the Lindbergh baby trial and others.

About your family, I do not know your family so I don't understand what you want to complain about.  My family is not bad either, the Barons von Bree are going to the finest schools, too, some even in the U.S.  They were already Barons as Columbus found America.  However, I don't know what this has to do with the [issue].

As you said, some of us are right.  I do not take a pick, I simply took the privilege of commending Mr. Duus' article which I liked a lot.  Good luck to you, Mr. Wilson, in finding justice for your brother's killers.  I feel for you. 

Gottfried Baron von Bree
Tegucigalpa, M.D.C.

Dear HTW:

W.E. Gutman's  article "Mighty, but not almighty" [June 31 edition] was excellent.  It is a common belief that the head of a country must run the whole show.

To emphasize his point, even dictators have difficulty in gaining complete control since the opposition is driven underground but still exists.  The democratic governments allow the opposition to speak; the dictators try to eliminate it.

If one looks up definitions, the U.S. is not a democracy, it is a republic.  With the use of computers and high speed communications, the electoral college is obsolete.

Years ago, T.A. Edison tried to sell an electrical voting system to the legislatures: press a button for yes or no and the totals appeared.  Never happened, too efficient.

One of the major problems today is the lack of communication.  Even with sophisticated systems, the world has not improved in this respect.

One criticism: At times Mr. Gutman's plethora of esoteric and pedantic polysyllables is ostentatious and obfuscates his message. 

John P. Buser
Siguatepeque

The immigrants' saga 

More than 30,000 Hondurans try to cross the Mexican-U.S. border each year.  Although we usually find this activity as irrational and call it a painful experience, immigrating is one of the oldest activities of man.  In school we learn about nomads, who might have lived in trees, caves or temporary shelters, in other words they knew no boundaries.

With time, self-defense and ambition caused man to establish his own territory similar to other animals.  Thus boundaries are created to protect a family, home and objects of value.

Immigration has no exact pattern, people now immigrate for different reasons, fleeing from the law, searching for better opportunities and looking for protection.

It is very common to hear about deportees, or about an adventurous emigrant who was killed while sleeping on some train tracks and dreaming about his future.  Most of the time the future is in a prison or being deported time after time.

A classic example is a poor farmer who sells his land, house and life for a couple thousand dollars.  He then searches for a coyote and gives this unscrupulous person most of his money to be taken to the Mexican-U.S. border.  The rest of his money is gone by the end of the long trip.  Once at the border, there is the danger of being found by the police, or immigrant hunters.  Unluckily, their great odyssey is unrecorded because most haven't even graduated from grade school, and thus cannot write.

How do we avoid this spectacle?  We are angered and encouraged, but it is difficult to prevent people from immigrating.  The Berlin Wall, and the Great Wall of China come to mind, but we must somehow understand that there are legal ways to immigrate, even if it takes a long while to do so.  Then they can travel by plane, with a stewardess serving cocktails, a cousin waiting at the airport, and customs angered because everything is legal.  This opportunity is not for everyone.  While in London I overheard a conversation of two happy Englishmen, "I received a visa."  I heard the same in Rome.

We have always believed that each person has the right to their own decisions, but the legal principle is that where one person's rights end, the other's begin.

The saga continues, each person who attempts to cross the border could write a book about their adventures.  Each time an immigrant dies the body must be brought back at outrageous costs, an empty house waiting, and a soul that has been long gone...

To walk or to brave the bus 

By MELANIE WETZEL 

When I first came to Tegucigalpa, I thought it was great fun and adventure to ride the cheap urban transport buses.  I would ride the bus two hours every day to go to my Spanish class.  My time was much less valuable to me in those days.  I also occasionally rode the urban bus lines just to go sight seeing.

It is important to remember when you go sight seeing on a bus that the bus routes have a beginning and an end, and they don't go in loops.  I realized this when the bus I was riding pulled to the

side of a road up on a high desolate hillside outside of the city where about 15 other buses were parked.  I was the only passenger left on the bus at that point and the driver looked at me and shrugged questioningly.  I wanted to say, "Gee, doesn't this bus circle around and go back to the Central Park?" but I couldn't speak Spanish, so I just shrugged back.  I think he had a pretty good idea of what I wanted and he pointed me to the line of buses that were pointed down the hillside.

After five years of living here, I now consider getting on a bus to be just about as risky as using your fingers to push food down the garbage disposal.  The great majority of the bus routes pass through unsafe neighborhoods.  There are some routes that I would never consider boarding (ironically enough, I'm pretty sure that the bus that I rode to the end of the line is one of these).

The possibility of pick-pockets is one deterrent.  Physical comfort is another.  A bus in Honduras has no maximum capacity.  This is a fact that can be proven by the mathematical relationship between the force needed to compress those passengers already aboard and the force exerted by the people on the ground who really want to get on the bus.  Even if a bus appears to be completely and undisputedly full, one more person can fit.  And if he can fit, so can another.

Then when the buses start to have little races things get really exciting.  Each bus driver tries to get to the next stop first, to pick up the most new passengers.  But, and this is important, the longer the bus has to sit still to let on lots of passengers, the more likely another bus will pass it by.  The huge yellow Blue Birds go careening around corners so fast that those passengers who happen to be standing are trailing like streamers from their handholds on metal poles, with their legs flying out behind them.  These poor buses that began their lives as transportation for school children in industrialized countries probably don't know what to make of it.

I do continue to ride the University buses.  These are public buses, but since they have easier routes, the drivers tend to be less resentful.  Plus the majority of other passengers are also university students so they might tell me if someone's stealing my money, in hopes that I do their English homework for them out of gratitude.  But they still offer that little adventure travel edge.  Sometimes they don't come to a complete stop and you have to be pretty agile to jump on or off without twisting an ankle, or God forbid, rolling into a ditch.

I've pretty much come to the conclusion that if you have 30 lempiras in your pocket you should spend it on a cab, and if you don't have 30 lempiras, you should walk.

XVII  

By Jorge Agurcia
jagurcia@laconstancia.hn  

They went to sea in a Sieve, they did,
In a Sieve they went to sea:
In spite of all their friends could say,
On a winter's morn, on a stormy day,
In a Sieve they went to sea!
-- Edward Lear, The Jumblies

When I told my friends that I wanted to sail a tiny sloop down from Key West, through the Florida Straits by way of the Yucatán Channel, they inevitably asked, "But, wouldn't you be afraid?"  Of course I'd be scared.  The only things counting in my favor would be a floating vessel and a healthy respect for the ocean. 

Plenty of folks have done that crossing, and I very much doubt fear wasn't aboard with them; had it not been, they probably wouldn't have succeeded.   My friends were probably being too polite to ask me to have my head examined; but their question is fair anyhow.  Sailors live in an uneasy balance with fear, where too much fear can result in paralysis; and too little can lead to complacency and bad decisions. 

In normal circumstances, we use words like worry, respect and anxiety in an attempt to describe fear.  We seek rationalize these -- in turn -- to relieve the tension fear creates.  But it is not a perfect approach, since fear is tied to the uncontrollable -- the unknown -- and is therefore hard to pin down.  Wouldn't fear cease to exist if it were definable in terms of its causes?

In a recent war picture, one of the characters admitted to another that he was afraid of storming a bunker.  His commander said something along these lines: "I know, but the thing is, the only way to eliminate your fear is to go through with this.  Afterwards, if you survive, you will no longer be afraid."  Despite the empathic response, the soldier exploded, saying that he wasn't willing to buy such a backward arrangement, peppering his point with enough expletives to make a 16th-century pirate blush.  He was releasing tension, but the fear persisted.

In business, we often think up "worst-case scenarios" as a starting point for contingency planning (also as a way to desensitize ourselves from impending bad news).  We beguile ourselves into a situation of "if this were to happen we would then do this," without first admitting that the "if this were to happen" is at best a dicey call, and that the remedy is therefore just as dicey.  But it's the best we've got, and it gets us over the hump (who cares if we did it by fooling ourselves).

An old friend of mine, no doubt drawing from Frank Herbert's Dune, described fear as "the little mind killer."  Churchill told his people they had "nothing to fear but fear itself."  Volumes have been written about coping with fear, and I don't feel ambitious enough to attempt a definitive treatise on the subject here.  But I would like to point out some things about sailing with fear as an ally.

Most of the fatalities at sea occur when a skipper loses his head.  And not as result of getting it lopped-off by a jibing boom, mind you.  No.  The skipper freezes before a situation that renders him helpless, and immediately loses faith: he panics.  Next in the list is hubris, the tragic flaw.  Fatalities happen because the skipper thought too much of himself and didn't take adequate precautions.  The rest, about 10 percent, occur fortuitously, and there isn't a thing you can do to help it.

So that leaves about 90 percent of the time when we can do something about it, and that makes us powerful against fear; but ironically, it is humility in the face of potential disaster that enables us to manage it all with relative success.  And only experience can give a sailor his humility.  That is why the commander in that movie -- an experienced man -- said that having once confronted his fear, the soldier would no longer be afraid.  That's why it is a "backward arrangement," for we must first admit our helplessness and then go from there, looking to build a little confidence along the way... but not too much!

More support needed to renovate historic church

By LARRY SCHLESSER

Special to Honduras This Week

PERSONAL REPORT

Last year, my wife Nancy and I visited Roatán as part of our visit to Honduras.  When we went to church on Sunday, we picked Bethesda Methodist in Flowers Bay.  The people of the congregation were so warm and friendly that we were moved.  We knew they loved their church, but being built on the ocean shore, over the years the weather and storms had taken their toll on the structure.

Their community not being of means, they nevertheless did their best to maintain the appearance of the structure, but they did not have the financial ability to do some of the major work necessary to keep it sound for years to come.  The asbestos zinc roof, the wood structure holding up that zinc and the church ceiling all needed to be replaced because of age, weather and termites.  After several months of planning we decided to come back and do what we could to help.

Bethesda Methodist sits on the southwest shore line of Roatán in Flowers Bay, and is the oldest structure on the island.  It has reportedly been used for decades, if not centuries, by sailors as a landmark for navigational purposes.

According to some of the congregation elders, the cement-like walls, about one and one half feet thick, were made using local materials and techniques.  They said their ancestors dug a large hole in the sand, loaded it up with conch shells (after removing the conch to eat of course), then put wood on top, closing the pit.  Then they lite the wood and covered the pit with green palm leaves, thus creating an oven.  When the heat was gone, days later, they unburied what was left of the pile of shells.  They removed the burnt wood, and what they had was a cement-like substance.

The Islanders then built forms (just like when building a foundation), mixed the "cement" with sand, rock and water, and poured it into the forms -- cement walls.  They say it is much harder than brick, cement block or anything else they know of or one can buy.  Amazing stuff.

At this point -- somewhere between 150 and 350 years later, no one seems to know and virtually everyone I ask has a different answer, the Church sits with few cracks, chips or damage, badly needs a paint job, but the cement is just fine.

The original structure, captured in an old oil painting in the possession of Church Stewart, Ms. Nelda Adler, shows that the original entrance had a large bell tower that at some point was destroyed in a storm and replaced with a much shorter version, now without the bell.  It is the goal of the congregation to replace it.  The worn and weathered wooden doors, windows and glass need replacement and the building next to the church needs extensive work.

On Roatán, developer John Edwards (J.Edwards Real Estate) and builder Bobby Harte (Sea Star Beach Villas) have both given their support to the cause of our efforts, but more is needed to renovate this house of God and historic landmark.

Anyone interested in helping in the saving of these structures and helping in its renovation can send donations, large or small, to Methodist District Supervisor, Rev. Bernard Duncan, Methodist Church, Coxen Hole, Roatán, Honduras, CA.  Please mark any contribution you can make for the Bethesda Methodist Church‑ Building Fund.

WONDERS NEVER CEASE 

Dear HTW: 

I've lived in Honduras on and off for the past four years or so and I still see things that amaze me about the government.

I was recently joking with several friends after they paid their employees the decimocuarto (14th) month bonus that soon Honduras will have about 18 months to the work year.

We laughed about it, and here I am not one month later and, wonder of all wonders, the Liberals are proposing a 15th month bonus!  Think it will pass?

This is the only country I know of that continually adds months to the pay year instead of raising the minimum wage.  And we wondered what the politicians do all day.  Now we know.  Amazing. 

Scott Laakso
Copan Ruinas

GLAD TO SEE GRINGO'S SURVIVED 

Dear HTW: 

Nice to see that Gringo's Bar and Grill survived the ravages of Mitch.  We used to fly helicopters from Soto Cano up to Tela for a day at the beach and a good meal at Gringo's.  I was at the airport a few times in the month or so following Mitch but was never able to see how the Bar and Grill had made out.  Hope to be in the area in the near future and am sure that we will take a trip up to Tela and stop in at Gringo's. 

Mark Moran
via Internet

IT TAKES ALL KINDS 

Dear HTW: 

This is my reply to Gottfried von Bree's letter to the editor, published in the July 22 edition of HTW.  Mr. von Bree, using your philosophy regarding the death penalty, if a member of your family was slaughtered by one of the Olancho thugs, you would not only give the killer "un abrazo fuerte" but will also furnish him with whatever his needs are while he is incarcerated, such as cookies and candy and cigarettes, if he smokes, and take a turkey dinner to him for Thanksgiving and don't forget the nice ham for Christmas.

Yes, there were innocent people executed, Sacco and Vanzetti, and my brother George Wilson.  Are you familiar with the Sacco and Vanzetti case?  Are you familiar with the George Wilson murder?  If you are so sure of yourself, go live in Olancho and see how the real Honduran thugs operate.  Wake up and get your thinking cap on.  Don't be so naive.

Getting back to George Bush and Texas law, Governor Bush can only commute a death sentence if there is agreement among the 12 members of the panel that decides these matters.  He cannot unilaterally commute a death sentence.  That is the law in Texas.  If you don't like it, ask them to change it.

You made some doubtful remark about my country being "free."  It must be free or else why does everyone want to come here?  Look at all the illegal immigrants from Honduras who are here and are being fed and clothed by us taxpayers who are legal citizens of our country.  What do you suppose would happen if hordes of gringos invaded Honduras illegally?  Would you like to see that happen?

As for my family, we are cultured and well educated at the finest schools the USA has.  Scientists, engineers, writers, doctors, to name a few.  You don't seem to be able to grasp this.

As one comedian once remarked, "You drink your juice and I'll drink mine."  It takes all kinds to make the world go round.  Some of us are right, some are half right, and some are dead wrong.  Take your pick. 

A. Wilson
Pacific Grove, CA.