NATIONAL

Monday, August 30, 1998 Online Edition 121

TEGUCIGALPA -- After being held captive in the trunk of car 54 hours, Tania Facusse, Honduras' latest kidnap victim, was released on foot and unharmed near a private hospital in downtown Tegucigalpa. Initially, it was reported that a Lps. 5.5 million lempira ransom was requested, but apparently the kidnappers plans were foiled leaving them empty-handed.

The unusual course of events surrounding the abduction gave way to a series of doubts causing media speculation of a fake kidnapping. Presumably, Mario Facusse, the victim's father, staged the kidnapping to obtain free publicity for the new political movement he is forming within the National Party. Facusse quickly dismissed such rumors as malicious lies.

Although upon initiation of negotiations with the kidnappers the Facusse family requested no police intervention, the Bureau of Criminal Investigation (DIC) and the National Police Force were simultaneously conducting undercover investigations.

Shortly after her reappearance on Friday (Aug. 21), DIC Director Wilfredo Alvarado said the police were close to arresting several suspects in the kidnapping case.

Alvarado rejected reports that the Bustillo brothers gang, recent prison escapees accused of the kidnapping and murder of Ricardo Ernesto Maduro, carried out the abduction.

Monday night (Aug. 24), police forces mounted a massive search for suspects in the Colonia Hato de Enmedio, located in the western part of the capital. Six persons were detained, two of whom remain in custody: Luis Lopez, alias the Doctor and Angel of Death, and his alleged accomplice Rainiery Carranza. The other four people, including two officials of the armed forces, were released due to lack of evidence.

However, sufficient evidence appears to have been found connecting Lopez and Carranza to the kidnapping because they were immediately transferred to the Central Penitentiary and are still in custody.

Lopez, a trusted former security chief of several members of the Nationalist Party including presidential candidates Nora de Melgar Castro and Osvaldo Ramos Soto, had even gone to visit Mario Facusse while his daughter was being held to offer advise on how to handle negotiations.

Police are holding Carranza because he was trying to sell the vehicle were Tania Facusse was allegedly held. The car was stolen from Ramon Velasquez, who claims to know nothing about the kidnapping.

Human rights authorities believe the kidnapping was motivated by the desire to intimidate President Carlos Flores Facusse, a cousin of Mario Facusse.

It should be noted, however, that President Flores and Mario Facusse are members of opposing political parties. During the last political campaign for president, Facusse openly and strongly criticized his cousin, now president of Honduras.

San Pedro Sula police were placed on alert last weekend following a phone threat allegedly made by one the Padilla Bustillo brothers.

According to the daily La Tribuna, a call was received on Saturday (Aug. 22) around 10 p.m. at the offices of the Second Regional Command of the National Police from a man identifying himself as Padilla Bustillo, who warned that the brothers were going to attack police stations. Taking the caller seriously, police authorities immediately increased security measures at local police stations and at the San Pedro Sula prison.

Considered extremely dangerous, the Padilla Bustillo brothers -- Nahun, Santos and Adonay -- recently escaped from prison and have threatened police Col. Andres Urtecho and former Interpol chief Capt. Danilio Orellana who participated in the arrest of the three brothers and the deaths of two others. They also threatened businessman and politician Ricardo Maduro, who they allege placed a bounty on their heads in reprisal for the death of his son in a botched kidnapping.

German citizen Michael Schuster and his 5-year-old son Andreas have been reported missing, the daily La Prensa reported Tuesday (Aug. 25). Margit Schuster told law enforcement authorities that on Aug. 10 her 38-year-old husband took their son to visit a property they own in the community of Yaruca, near the Cangrejal River. However, Schuster and the boy never showed up, according to local residents.

Police haven't ruled out kidnapping, in part because the passports of the two missing persons were found in the Schuster home in La Ceiba's Menonita neighborhood. Nevertheless, authorities are also checking with immigration authorities to determine whether they left the country.

Contractors of the Seven Cities Project will begin work on Tegucigalpa's electrical distribution network the second week of September, which is expected to cause more traffic woes to drivers in the downtown area. Guillermo Zuniga, the project chief, said in a La Tribuna report Wednesday (Aug. 26) that they have just about concluded work in Comayaguela and will soon be ready to continue in downtown Tegucigalpa. Planned activities include the replacement of electric posts, transformers and other outdated electrical equipment in the city's distribution network.

In addition, it is possible that energy will be cut off more frequently due to the work. Currently, power is being cut off to certain parts of the city on a regular basis, usually between 8 a.m. and 2:30 p.m., reputedly to facilitate work. However, certain sectors have strongly questioned the power cuts, calling them "energy rationing in disguise."

Five bank robbers were killed and another two wounded in a gunbattle with the police in front of a Siguatepeque bank on Wednesday (Aug. 26).

According to the daily La Tribuna, law enforcement authorities received an anonymous tip that the Sogerin branch bank was being robbed. In just minutes the police had the street blocked, even before the robbers had left the bank. Ignoring orders to surrender, the thugs opened fired on the police who shot back, killing one of the thugs inside the bank and two others while attempting to flee.

Four robbers were seriously wounded and rushed to the Evangelico Hospital where two died. Police are investigating the possibility that a reputed eighth member of the gang escaped.

Attorney Elizabeth Chiuz Sierra this week was appointed Minister of Security, becoming the first person to hold this newly created post. The Ministry of Security will oversee the new National Police Force (the preventive police) and the Bureau of Criminal Investigation (the investigative police). A native of Comayagua, Chiuz held the post of Chief Government Prosecutor during the administration of Roberto Suazo Cordova and was president of the Honduran Bar Association from 1987-1988.

Monday, August 24, 1998 Online Edition 120

By BLANCA MORENO

TEGUCIGALPA -- The kidnapping of wealthy Honduran citizens resumed Tuesday (Aug. 18) with the abduction of Tania Facusse, the daughter of businessman Mario Flores and a cousin of President Flores. Coincidently, the abduction comes just five days after two members of a dangerous band of kidnappers broke out the San Pedro Sula penitentiary. (See related story in Week in Review).

Witnesses to the kidnapping stated that two gunmen intercepted Tania and her sister when they were forced to stop their car because a yellow bus that allegedly was part of the operation stopped in the middle of the road. At this moment, two masked gunmen approached the women's car, one of them breaking the driver's window with a revolver and forcing them to get out. Tania's sister managed to break away and was picked up by a passerby as she was running down the street.

The next day, it was reported that the kidnappers were asking for Lps. 5.5 million for Tania's return. Her family has not confirmed this version and has requested the media's cooperation in not obstructing negotiations with the kidnappers.

In statements to the press, the president asked the kidnappers for the safe return of his niece, while her father stated he will give them anything they want to get his daughter back.

In 1997, Ricardo Maduro Jr., the only son of a former Central Bank President and a wealthy businessman, died at the hands of his unskilled abductors who also asked for millions in ransom. Maduro's kidnappers, the Bustillo Padilla brothers, recently escaped from prison. There is speculation that these escapes were abetted by the police.

Tania's kidnapping a week later was immediately attributed to the escapees; a fact that is even more disconcerting considering the reputed police protection these outlaws enjoy.

Adonais Bustillo this week called a well known radio station and publicly threatened police officials he considers responsible for the death of two other brothers and the gang's capture, as well as Ricardo Maduro for allegedly hiring someone to kill them.

During another wave of kidnapping in the 1980s, several wealthy businessmen and members of their families were abducted and held captive, but unharmed, in underground jails for several months by Soviet-trained leftist guerrillas.

However, the current wave of abductions are alarmingly different from the Cold War incidents since they are clearly motivated by the desire for easy money and not by political ideologies.

The police, instead of devoting themselves to maintaining public order, claim that lack of equipment prevents them from pursuing criminals. They seem more concerned with receiving promotions than safeguarding the people.

Workers march against government

By ERLING DUUS

TEGUCIGALPA -- Thousands of union workers marched through the capital last Friday (August 14) to protest government economic policies and to demand an increase in wages.

The parade, which began in Comayaguela and concluded at the government buildings in downtown Tegucigalpa, was closely monitored by the police but the march was peaceful, and considering the seriousness of its intent, good-natured.

Marchers carried huge banners with messages that read "this evil government, destroying the poor little by little", "the misery and hunger of the nation is the work of economic liberalism," "while prices rise, salaries do not," "juvenile delinquency matches the delinquency of the Congress," "200,000 capital residents without homes," and many others.

According to Daniel Duron, the deputy secretary of the General Workers Union (CGT), government policies have created a situation in which 80 percent of the population is poor, and 65 percent very poor.

The labor unions understand the march as part of their fight against a government that they believe has turned its back on them. They are demanding a prompt response to 14 points as part of a dialogue aimed at relieving the poverty of the country, and establishing greater equality and justice in the country.

A central demand is that workers' salaries be raised, and if this is not done, they are promising a return to the streets. They are also stating their objection to plans to privatize the Honduran Telecommunications Company (HONDUTEL), the National Water and Wastewater Company (SANAA), and the National Electric Company (ENEE).

The marchers also expressed their opposition to the recent increase in the sales tax, and to the proposed reform of Article 107 in the Constitution, which would allow foreigners to own beach property.

Israel Salinas, secretary general of the United Workers Federation of Honduras (CUTH), is quoted by El Heraldo as characterizing the march as a notice and a warning to the entire society that solutions to the problems they are protesting must be found, and found quickly. The emphasis on dialogue is clear, but so is the threat.

Many young men from the Syndicate of Workers for Beverages (STIBYS) painted their faces and wore "Che" Guevara T-shirts. Their mood was grim, and their faces determined. Despite some display of Honduran gaiety amongst many marchers, it seemed a profoundly serious event.

There was also a march in San Pedro Sula involving approximately 400.

Communities show varied reactions to increased violence

By WENDY GRIFFIN

Delinquency is on the rise everywhere in Honduras. Even places where people previously slept with doors open to catch evening breezes, like the Bay Islands, Garifuna villages and the Mosquitia, are affected. No thing is of too little value to steal. Thieves have been seen climbing 9-foot cyclone fencing with barbed wire on top just to steal coconuts.

No one is exempt either. Seventy-year Garifuna women returning to their homes after gathering coconuts are stopped by men with machetes who demand that they hand over their harvest. Foreign women up to 70 years old have been raped. Groups of tourists with a local guide and tourists in airport taxis have been stopped and stripped of everything they have.

Some Garifunas now fly from San Pedro Sula to La Ceiba because of the many attacks made against personal cars in the El Progreso area, leaving the person who came with gifts for his family with nothing, not even shoes, says Flora Arana.

Curiously, a new "International Living" type brochure states, "You can walk the street at night at 2 a.m. without fear." A foreign resident, Jim Davis replied to this, "I pay two guards, and still feel I need to carry a gun when I walk to my own fence at 2 a.m., inside my own yard."

One reaction has been an increase in private security guards. People employing this solution should be sure to ask for the "hoja de antecentes" and an identification card before hiring a watchman. The "hoja de antecentes" tells if the person has a previous police record. Two private security guards hired in the Bay Islands, one for a bank, later turned out to be escapees from the La Ceiba jail. Both had been charged with theft.

Those who cannot afford guards, must stay home and "cuidar la casa" or watch the house. Internal tourism in Honduras is way down on the North Coast, and part of the reason is that if people go away on vacations, even for just a day to attend a grandfather's wake, for example, they can come home to an empty house. So, people stay home.

There is no 911 number your neighbors can call to alert the police and most of your neighbors don't even have a phone. There is no guarantee the police are there, or they have gasoline for their vehicle. So, when foreigners come back from vacations, they hear tales like those of Charlie Richardson, whose neighbors said, "First they took your TV, then your sofa, then your chairs, etc., and then they drove away." Fence posts, wire, louvered windows, cabinet doors are also objects to steal.

In some communities, there has been a return to vigilante justice. Asking a friend about the situation in the rural coastal community of Lombardia, she said, "Oh, didn't you hear about the war between San Juan Pueblo and Lombardia?" (Both are communities near Tela.)

Cattle rustlers from San Juan Pueblo had been stealing cattle in Lombardia and vigilante patrols were organized to seek the bandits and stop them. At least two potential cattle rustlers have died. This Honduran woman and her American husband own about 15 of the cattle involved. In Trujillo, neighbors pointed out a Ladino man. "Someone stole his cow. He heard about it and then he went to the man's house and killed him."

To protect their homes and crops, some people believe the Garifunas use witchcraft. "People say if you try to steal Garifuna's crops, you will instead end up doing them some good, like weeding them. This is because there is a spell on them," says Miskito Scott Wood. When thieves mysteriously die, like they burn up in their house or die face down in a local creek, people say, "Someone in New York paid to fix that person. It was 'maleficio,' witchcraft."

Foreign residents in Trujillo, perhaps not knowing how to contract a good witch, have tried more conventional ways of controlling the problem, such as organizing community meetings with the police and other authorities. One resident said, "The woman from the police in Tocoa came and listened to us, but that was all."

It was agreed to have meetings with the different neighborhoods to talk about issues like watching their children, notifying police who the thieves are, and to alert community members that this problem affects everyone. If theft is not controlled, tourists will not come and many jobs will be lost. Local politicians, police, the Public Ministry and business leaders agreed to attend these community meetings to talk to people, but have failed to show up most of the time.

In one of the most vocal meetings in Barrio Jerico, there was no feeling the Hondurans might be at fault. "This problem is caused by foreigners. They do not train us or hire us. They have the businesses." This reaction surprised foreign residents who employ dozens of Hondurans and have insisted that the National Professional Training Institute (INFOP) bring training programs to Trujillo, donated money, helped to pave the streets in Jerico, put in electricity, and bought gasoline for the police.

With nothing else working, some foreigners are leaving. The Honduran owner of Hotel Catracho complained, "My long-term foreign tourists have all left, gone to Costa Rica. They said it has become too dangerous here. There are no tourists and it will take a long time to recover from the reports of delinquency."

TEGUCIGALPA -- Many people believe that the warming trend here has been caused by wide-spread deforestation in and around the capital. But what serious measure have been taken to combat this trend?

Now, however, Mayor Cesar Castellanos, has inaugurated a program that would plant a million trees in and around the city during the four years of his administration. This project has begun with the planting of 2,000 trees in district number 6, with the same number soon to be planted in other districts later this year.

The mayor spoke of "reconstructing our environment with plants and protected trees...in order to return Tegucigalpa to its former condition of being surrounded by trees, and with a comfortable climate."

Castellanos further stated that seeing to the planting and nurture of these trees is one of the "major responsibilities of his administration."

He called on all sectors of the city to participate, and said that it is not just the streets of the city that need more trees and need to be cleaned up and transformed, but also "the air, the earth, the rivers, the schools, houses, and gardens."

The mayor also announced that he has reached an agreement with the city's Evangelical Churches to help plant trees, and said that school children from district six would be helping with the initial planting.

This initiative is a hopeful sign, but as the mayor certainly knows, there is much to be done.

The fossil remains of a man that date back to 1000 BC were recently discovered at a site called Las Sepulturas, about two kilometers from the Copan archaeological park, the daily La Tribuna reported Monday (Aug. 17). The discovery, made by a team of archaeologists headed by Dr. William Fash of the University of Harvard, is considered one of the most important finds in recent years. Several samples have been taken to the United States where researchers will subject them to tests to determine the ethnic identity of the individual.

According to archaeologists, the area in which the remains were found was a residential zone of the Mayan elite during the reign of Yack Pack, the last ruler of Copan.

Law enforcement authorities have initiated a nationwide manhunt for Nahum and Santos Padilla Bustillo, Manuel Alexis Rosales and Margarito Cardona following their spectacular breakout from the San Pedro Sula penal facilities last week, the daily La Tribuna reported. Authorities are also looking for Adonay Padilla Bustillo, who escaped from the new maximum security prison at Tamara two weeks ago.

According to the daily La Tribuna, early Thursday morning (Aug. 13) a dumptruck smashed twice into the brick wall on the east side of the prison, creating a gaping hole. Gunmen in the vehicle then fired several shots in the air to alert the four convicts, who immediately fled through the breach to a waiting car. Meanwhile, prison guards acted quickly to prevent any more inmates from escaping, firing several warning shots in the air.

The Padilla Bustillo brothers are charged with kidnapping and murdering businessman Ricardo Ernesto Maduro -- the son of prominent National Party politician and former Central Bank President Ricardo Maduro -- and kidnapping Roger Mauricio Valladares and Roxana Diaz. Cardona and Rosales are charged with several bank robberies.

The U.S. government has not suspended more than $30 million in financial assistance to the Honduran judicial system as claimed by attorney Mauricio Duron, according to U.S. Ambassador James Creagan in a report in the daily La Tribuna Sunday (Aug. 16). He added that $30 million will be given to Honduras to fight drug trafficking while another $2 million will be given to the new National Police Force.

Last week, Duron claimed the U.S. suspended aid due to the failure of the Reina administration to respond to a letter from several U.S. senators asking for information on the case of Gustavo Valle, a U.S. citizen recently convicted of murder. Duron is Valle's legal representative.

A 7-year-old boy from the community of Agua Fria, Nacaome on Monday (Aug. 17) became the second victim of hemorrhagic dengue fever this year, the daily La Tribuna reported. Previously, a young women from San Pedro Sula died of the disease earlier this year. Six other persons infected with the deadly disease, which is transmitted by mosquitoes, have recovered, according to health official Eliethe Giron.

More than a hundred law enforcement agents are currently participating in a massive anti-narcotics operation titled CORAL I in the Bay Islands. The daily La Tribuna reported that the contingent of 130 officers, which includes agents from the National Police, National Anti-drug Department (DNA), Special Operations (COBRAS), the Traffic Department and Interpol, arrived at Coxen Hole Sunday (Aug. 16) to conduct an island-wide search for drugs and stolen vehicles. As of Wednesday, the police had seized more than 80 stolen vehicles.

According to Lt. Col. Anael Perez Suazo, the duration of the operation will depend primarily on the amount of logistic support provided by the Mayor's Office of Coxen Hole.

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Monday, August 17, 1998 Online Edition 119

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The strike affected the customs check points on the Nicaraguan and Salvadoran borders as well as the nation's international airports.

Monday, August 10, 1998 Online Edition 118

American convicted of murder, U.S. suspends assistance

By BLANCA MORENO

TEGUCIGALPA -- The U.S. government has reportedly canceled plans to give $4 million in assistance to the Honduran judicial system due to the recent conviction of American citizen Gustavo Patrick Valle by a Honduran court.

On July 30, Valle and Francisco Antonio Salgado received 10-year prison sentences for the 1993 murder of Luis Roberto Canales Ramirez by Judge Francis Lizbeth Lopez Murillo of the Fifth Criminal Court, who determined there was insufficient evidence to convict the two men of first-degree murder. Valle has claimed that he and hired hand Salgado killed Canales in self-defense.

Two U.S. senators were apparently displeased with the sentence and using their influence suspended the economic assistance to the Honduran Supreme Court of Justice.

In recent years, the United States Agency for Development (USAID) has been involved in various projects for training judges with the idea of creating a legal system in which justice is quicker, more expeditious, and fair.

Many sectors have strongly criticized the United States' decision, questioning the motives behind it.

Supreme Court Chief Justice Oscar Armando Avila Banegas said Honduras will not allow itself to be blackmailed by the United States.

Meanwhile, the National Congress, has organized a commission for the purpose of responding to the U.S. action, which it considers unjust.

However, U.S. Embassy spokeswoman Marti Estell said the assistance was blocked by the U.S. Senate several months ago due to the slowness of the Honduran legal system in resolving this case, which has lasted more than five years.

Estell said that in light of the fact that a judgement has finally been reached, the funds for helping the judicial system will now be released, but that the United States will continue to monitor the case and has only asked that Valle receive a just an rapid trial. She added that her government is also requesting assurance that he will be treated fairly.

The whole incident began when Valle, the son of a Honduran father and American mother, inherited 150 acres of prime land near the community of Talanga.

On June 30, 1993, Valle was driving a local doctor home when two men shot at him from another car. Valle claims that one of these men was Canales.

Two days later in Talanga, Canales approached Valle and Salgado with a gun from behind and in the ensuing shootout Canales was killed.

Valle believes that Canales was probably just a hitman hired by someone who is interested in getting his land, which is some of the best in Talanga.

Many criminals known but not apprehended

By WENDY GRIFFIN

(Second of a 4-part series)

In recent years, many foreign residents and tourists have been robbed in Honduras. This is causing a significant drop in tourism in North Coast cities like Tela and Trujillo, which has placed numerous restaurants and hotels on the brink of bankruptcy.

"This is the worst tourist season in 20 years," stated one hotel owner.

Foreign residents are particularly frustrated by what they see as a lack of cooperation from the local police.

One spectacular robbery took place in the home of a foreign business owner. Her maid was tied up, her daughter threatened, and the wedding ring stolen off the finger of another American neighbor. The thief left and the victims called the police. They were lucky. Most foreign residents in Trujillo and Santa Fe do not even have phone service.

Within 24 hours, the police knew the man's name and where he lived. An orden de captura or arrest warrant was issued, but he was not arrested. The police said they left word with his family that he should come to the police station, since they could not arrest him in his home because to do that they needed a search warrant. To get that, the victims have to pay a lawyer to request one.

"At first they did not tell us there were two kinds of warrants," complained the women who lost the ring.

The police knew where the thief lived, where he moved, and when he went to live in Tocoa. They did nothing. Do not think they leave only gringos unprotected? This same thief was also known to have robbed the stereo system from a local discotheque owned by Hondurans, but they did nothing with respect to that case either.

Some people are so mad about theft they pay a lawyer to get the second kind of arrest warrant. A foreign resident of Trujillo who has started a marina business on the way to Castilla had some tools stolen by a worker.

He came back to see the worker selling the tools on the street. He went to the police. The police said he needed an arrest warrant. He paid Lps. 1,500 to get a lawyer to get an arrest warrant. By the time they finished all the paperwork, the man was gone.

But the robbery victim heard where the man was in La Ceiba. He went to the police there with the arrest warrant. The police said, "This has the wrong address for the man. It is old and it was issued in Colon. This is Atlantida. This warrant has no validity here." The thief was never arrested. Another foreign resident of Trujillo also paid L. 1,200 for an arrest warrant, but no one was apprehended.

Apparently, this is not unusual. The judge in Dulce Nombre de Culmi, Olancho where the Pech Indians live as well as many Ladino marijuana growers, said, "In this jurisdiction, basically, you can say that 100 percent of the arrest warrants are not obeyed."

The lack of enforcement by police has concerned not only the tourism sector, also hit hard by the new 4 percent tourism tax and 12 percent sales tax), but also the maquila factories. One Korean-owned company recently took out a half page advertisement expressing their security concerns following a recent robbery.

The rise in delinquency has been in part caused by worsening economic conditions in Honduras. Many small- and medium-sized companies were forced out of business by the structural adjustment programs, reports the National Industrial Association (ANDI). As the lempira falls, all imported goods and products made with imported raw materials rise in price. With basic food needed for a family of five running at Lps. 83 a day or L.2,490 per month and the average family earning L.1,000 per month (minimum wage), there is a serious problem.

On the North Coast, the increasing presence of drugs is also considered a factor. Crime is also being organized. Trucks come from San Pedro to buy stolen goods in Trujillo. If the distribution system for Garifuna handicrafts worked as well as the system for moving stolen cameras, then we would see some economic improvements.

Another factor in the increase of crime, particularly in the Trujillo region, is the sale of agrarian reform cooperatives. Of 58 cooperatives, 55 have been sold, notes Gloria Soler. The people quickly spend their money and are soon reduced to becoming thieves as they are unable to find jobs, having sold the land where they once worked and lived.

NEXT WEEK: Low salaries and fear of retaliation are the chief reasons the police often don't move against known criminals.

A U.S. citizen wanted for murder and fraud on Saturday (August 1) was handed over to U.S. law enforcement authorities just one day after his arrest in San Pedro Sula's Colonia Ideal by Interpol agents, the daily El Heraldo reported.

The fugitive, identified as Theodore Donald Young, was escorted to Ramon Villeda Morales International Airport by two FBI agents and two Texas Rangers where he boarded a flight bound for the United States. Police authorities believe that other members of a criminal ring to which Young belonged could also be hiding in Honduras.

Alleged human rights violator retired Army Capt. Billy Fernando Joya Amendola has been denied political asylum by the government of Spain, according to Spanish Ambassador Carlos Gomez Mujica in an El Heraldo Report Monday (August 3). Moreover, Dr. Ramon Custodio, president of the Committee for the Defense of Human Rights of Honduras (CODEH), affirmed that the Spanish government has given Joya 20 days to leave the country.

Joya, who is reportedly living in Seville, has been a fugitive from justice since Oct. 17, 1995, when the First Criminal Court of Justice issued a warrant for his arrest. A former member of the infamous 3-16 Battalion, Joya is one of 10 servicemen accused of participating in the 1983 torture of six university students in the early 1980s.

In February 1996, Joya presented a 500-page document titled El Informe B.J. Report, in which he presented his and the military's version of the events during the 1980s. At the same time, three local television stations aired a secret interview to discuss the report.

Francisco Morales Calix, editor of the Tegucigalpa daily El Heraldo, on Friday (August 1) was sworn in by Foreign Minister Fernando Martinez as the nation's new ambassador to Spain. On accepting the post, Morales promised to expand economic, cultural and social ties with Spain and to seek investment in the private sector.

At the same ceremony, Aristides Mejia and Roberto Ramon Massoni were sworn in as the new ambassadors to Costa Rica and Mexico, respectively.

Prison authorities have ordered guards to shoot any inmate attempting to cross the "dead zone" around the new National Penitentiary at Tamara following the escape of two dangerous criminals ...., the daily La Tribuna reported Saturday (August 1). In addition to placing several sharpshooters in strategic locations, security was strengthened last Friday with the arrival of 30 police agents from the Seventh Regional Command and 29 members of the elite Cobras battalion. Currently, there are just 313 inmates at the new prison.

A new study conducted by UNICEF has revealed that more than 50 percent of Honduran youths under the age of 18 -- approximately 400,000 -- do not study or work, the daily La Tribuna reported Wednesday (Aug. 5).

The study, titled "The youth of Honduras in numbers," also stated that 620,000 youths under the age of 18 work and that of this number only 56.5 are paid wages, while the remaining 43.5 percent receive just food and lodging.

Three thugs on Wednesday (August 5) held up six Italian tourists, near Taulabe, Comayagua, the daily La Prensa. The Italians, three couples, were headed north when the tour bus in which they were traveling was intercepted by the delinquents, who then proceeded to rob them and the bus driver of their money, jewelry and personal documents.

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Monday, August 3, 1998 Online Edition 117

TEGUCIGALPA -- Controversy, protests, accusations of racism and betrayal were brought on by National Congress President Rafael Pineda Ponce's announcement of a proposal to reform Article 107 of the Constitution so that foreign investors will be able to acquire land on Honduras' coasts.

According to article 107, "The land of the Republic, municipal, communal and private property, situated on the border zones with neighboring states and on the shores of both oceans for 40 kilometers inland, and on the islands, keys, reefs, cliffs, and sand banks may only be acquired and possessed with any kind of title by Hondurans by birth or corporations comprised of only Honduran stockholders and by state institutions, punishable by annulment of the respective title or contract.

"The acquisition of urban property within the limits indicated above, will be subject to special legislation.

"Property registrars are prohibited from inscribing documents contrary to these dispositions."

The announcement of reforms seeking foreign investment in the tourist industry of the coastal areas has been flatly rejected by Garifuna communities occupying much of the land along the North Coast. Cries of "Native peoples betrayed" from Garifunas could be heard outside the congressional building protesting the proposal to reform article 107.

Pineda Ponce recently presented a plan to make the constitutional reforms and later said that it would pass, "We can't continue contemplating the palm trees, sunsets and monkeys swinging from the trees."

Leaders of the Black Honduran Fraternal Organization (OFRANEH) sent Pineda Ponce a note, where they pointed out "Garifuna and indigenous groups, are skeptical about the motives for the reform proposal of the article in reference".

Moreover, they reminded Congress that Honduras is a signatory of the International Labor Convention 169, which among other things states that the government must respect the lands and territories of ethnic or indigenous groups, and after ratifying this international legal instrument there has been no political will to implement it.

Pineda Ponce argued that the National Congress will make the decision in the best interests of Honduras. To this effect, the National Agrarian Institute (INA) will title all ethnic lands by Nov. 30, and titles previously extended will have been revised. In consequence of this, indigenous groups will not be able to sell their properties.

But this didn't stop 300 North Coast residents from standing under the National Congress beating their drums and yelling insults, "Pineda Ponce, Pontius Pilate" with accusations that he is a racist.

The Honduran Council on Private Enterprise (COHEP), is in favor of the reforms, because it will attract foreign investment and the impact on the Honduran economy will be positive.

Meanwhile, a special high-level commission has been formed. The National Congress promised Garifuna leaders they will revise the reforms point by point. In a special meeting, Pineda Ponce, Foreign Minister Fernando Martinez and representatives of the OFRANEH reached an agreement to carefully analyze the content of the reforms.

The World Bank and the Inter-American Development Bank (IDB) have declared that their maximum efforts in Honduras and Latin America will be in the area of education. Before Honduras adds even more foreign debt to the monumental sum it already owes, the government needs to consider programs to reduce what is probably the most serious problem in education here -- the minuscule amount of time students actually spend receiving academic classes.

A foreign resident of Trujillo commented to me, "I think since he has worked for me, my watchman's daughter has never spent more than two days a week in class. Why is that?"

Each teacher in Honduras is authorized 30 days of "permiso." These days off with permission can be used for anything -- training classes, illness, a death in the family, fixing documents in government offices, taking care of sick children, whatever. When the teacher has permiso, no one takes over her class. There is no system of substitute teachers in Honduras.

Besides, these days there are dias de pago when teachers are paid. The way a rural teacher gets his or her salary is on a certain day, the pagador comes to a central city from Tegucigalpa to personally hand out the checks.

For some teachers, this means missing one day of class per month. However, for other teachers in rural areas, it is worse. Buenos Aires de Paulaya is 24 hours on foot or on motorcycle from Las Marias, Olancho. From here to Culmi, there is a baronesa ride of several hours only once in the morning. It often misses the last bus from Culmi to Catacamas, where the paymaster goes.

There are no banks in rural Honduras, so teachers must cash them in Catacamas. Stores are also limited in the rural region, so teachers must do their shopping while in town. Then, the entire trip must be repeated on the journey home. A week in every month can be lost to this process, especially if the check is late or was sent to the wrong department.

Some teachers abuse this system. Teachers in the Mosquitia say teachers can be seen hanging around Brus Laguna or Puerto Lempira, two weeks ahead of time, waiting for the pagador.

The Honduran government attempts to control the number of days teachers give classes by issuing a calendar showing work days and holidays. Many times schools just close saying, "Oh we decided to reopen after Easter on Wednesday" no matter what was on the calendar.

This is of course more common if it is a rural school with only one teacher. Many do not live where they work. On one occasion, several teachers were in town on Monday instead of at their rural school. When asked why, one replied, "Oh, I usually go on Tuesday, but this week maybe I'll go on Wednesday."

Not only is there no reprimand for this, but there are no reprimands for more serious cases. One Miskito teacher assigned to a Tawahka school spent most of the school year in Nicaragua, but he sent in his reports every two months so he got paid. This was reported to the departmental supervisor and then personally to the Minister of Education. Nothing happened to this teacher, except that his request to transfer to another school was approved. The Minister of Education involved in this incident is now wanted by the law on charges of selling teaching positions, particularly in rural schools with one teacher. Most of these teachers never even reported to their schools.

Is there no supervision? Very little. Supervisors are not paid for transportation, so they usually cannot afford to supervise schools. Also, with salaries so low, many supervisors have second jobs.

The sign on the supervisor's door in Copan Ruinas read, "Bring your reports to the bilingual schools where I teach in front of the Ruins of Copan." She is there from 7 a.m. to 2 p.m. Monday to Friday. How much time can she spend supervising 69 schools, under her authority, 64 of them with only one teacher?

Even if students are in school, they are often not in class. When going to schools to meet with teachers, we are told that the students are in a movie for "Day of the Spanish Language," or there are mariachis for the anniversary of the school, or they are getting ready for the election of the India Bonita or the Chica Jeans. There is a department festival of environmental songs, or the students are at inter-scholastic soccer matches.

Curriculum are written with a strict number of hours of class per day, classes per week, but these go out the window when it is marching season. Beginning in mid-July, students spend hours and hours in the hot sun practicing to march. The explanation was, "The 15th of September parade is the most important time of the school year. Here we can see the preparation of each school, the condition of their flag."

Given the above situation, how many teachers end up like a friend at the Normal School who said, "I need to miss this meeting. The whole bimester we have missed so many classes that I have nothing to grade on. I have to teach this one class, so I have something to grade."

Honduran schools have a need for many things -- classrooms, safe rooms, technical equipment, electricity, latrines, understandable books about Honduras, books written for children, but most of all they need children and teachers to be together in classrooms.

The former Supervisor of the Bay Islands and the Mosquitia, Fausto Miguel Alvarez said, "Every time the teacher talked to us of the problems of student absenteeism, we looked to see who had been absent more, the students or the teachers, and always the teachers had missed more days."

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Honduras This Week Online

(First of a 4-part series)

Over the last few months, there has been much discussion in the Honduran press about the new police and their relationship with the Department of Criminal Investigation (DIC). Previously, the police had been under military control, while the DIC is a branch of the Public Ministry. The Public Ministry also includes the fiscalia, the Honduran equivalent to the government attorney's office. This topic seems very esoteric until you need the police, for example, after a robbery.

The controversy exists because of alleged human rights abuses committed by the DIC's predecessor, DNI (National Directorate of Investigation). Like the police, DNI had been under the military and employed such tactics as grabbing people out of their homes at night for interrogations. The person might reappear or they might not. Rumors of people being pushed out of C-130's after interrogations abounded. The procedures that exist now and those being proposed are designed to avoid human rights abuses.

On the other hand, the FUSEP, the Honduran National Police, has no investigative ability. When a radio was stolen out of my house by a worker, Hondurans told me not to bother to report it to the police. There is no DIC office in Trujillo, the departmental capital of Colon, so there was no one to write up a report, look for fingerprints, or question suspects. So even though I knew who stole my radio and where it was, nothing could be done.

Many people have recommended that increased police patrols would be a solution to the increase in delinquency. But what happens if the police see a crime being committed? What the law says and what happens in reality are two entirely different things. The law states that if the police see a criminal in fraganti (in the act), then they can arrest him or her.

About a month ago, a Garifuna woman was waiting for a bus in Trujillo almost directly in front of the prison. A man came up and tried to steal her bag off her shoulder. First one strap broke. The woman pleaded with the man, saying that it contained her baby's diapers. The second strap broke.

I attempted to get the woman closer to the armed policeman across the street, "policia" written across his cap. The man threatened me. I complained to the police, the man and I both holding the only unbroken strap, "Why are you letting this man assault a woman here in broad daylight in front of you?"

The policeman said, "It is a matter between a man and his wife." Not really relevant, as they were separated -- former boyfriends are a frequent cause of death of former girlfriends, even though Honduras has laws to protect women against violence and theft.

An armed prison guard came out and said, "I thought he was kidding." Standing there, the last strap unhooked, I looked at the screaming, crying woman, switch blade in her hand. The policeman said helpfully, "Look if you want to press charges, you can go to the judge's office on Monday and we will be your witnesses." The mugger calmly walked away. The role of the police is to act as witnesses?

The woman also walked away, saying "I will not go to Iriona today. Tomorrow I will go to the court and get him arrested." Unfortunately, she will be in for a sad surprise. Warrants to arrest someone at their home, which also requires a search warrant, are not free in this part of Honduras.

A Canadian man in the Bay Islands saw a worker stealing tools from a house he was building. He went to get the police in his truck. The policeman saw with his own eyes the worker leaving the house with the tools. It still took Lps. 3,000 to get an arrest warrant (orden de captura), to pay witnesses to come to Coxen Hole to testify, and to replace the stolen tools, which were held as evidence.

"If you are wondering why the police never get the criminals off the street, it is because most people cannot afford to prosecute theft," he said. Some foreigners have decided to pay the legal fees to prosecute, but without any positive results.

NEXT WEEK: The police know the whereabouts of many suspected criminals, but do not arrest them.

Former President Carlos Roberto Reina last Friday (July 24) categorically denied that he appointed Gen. Luis Alonso Discua Elvir to Honduras' delegation at the United Nations for fear of a coup d'etat as reported by an AFP press report the day before.

"I said that as the succession to the post of chief of the Armed Forces approached, Gen. Discua acted correctly, in this way avoiding internal frictions in the military that could have led to a coup d'etat," Reina said in a La Tribuna report, adding that the circumstances had changed considerably by the time Discua received his U.N. post.

However, not everyone was satisfied with Reina's statements. Bertha Oliva de Nativi, coordinator of the Committee for the Relatives of Detained-Disappeared Persons in Honduras (COFADEH), stated that Reina should have sent Discua to prison rather than New York for his alleged involvement in the disappearances of political and student activists in the 1980s. Meanwhile, Defense Minister Cristobal Corrales flatly denied that the military had planned to overthrow the Reina administration.

Viagra, the new wonder drug developed in the United States to treat impotence, will soon be on the shelves of Honduran pharmacies, the daily La Tribuna reported Tuesday (July 28).

According to a source at the Ministry of Health, persons with a medical prescription may be able to legally purchase this drug as early as next Friday (August 10). One tablet will cost around Lps. 130 (US$10). Health authorities have estimated the demand for Viagra at approximately 2,000 tablets daily, representing Lps. 90 million in monthly sales.

To date, only Costa Rica has legalized the sale of Viagra in Central America.

Only 10 percent of Hondurans believe in Darwin's theory of evolution, according to a poll conducted by Le Vote last month and published in the daily El Heraldo July 21. Of the 500 people over 18 years of age interviewed, 87 percent said they believed in the Bible's creation theory with respect to the origin of man. Moreover, 85 percent of capital city residents with a university education believe in the creation theory.

Nearly all the people interviewed (99 percent) said they believe in God and 95 percent said that God has performed at least one miracle in their lives. Fifty-five percent said they belonged to the Catholic church, 34 percent to Evangelical churches and 10 percent to other denominations.

Only 15 days after being transferred to the modern "maximum security" prison facilities at Tamara, two dangerous criminals on Wednesday (July 29) escaped by first cutting one of the bars on the bathroom window in their cell block and climbing over two walls, the first of which is 10 meters high and lined with barbed wire.

The daily La Tribuna reported that the convicts were identified as Adonay Bustillo Padilla, who allegedly participated in the kidnapping and murder of businessman Ricardo Ernesto Maduro last year and in the kidnapping of Roxana Diaz, and Melvin Javier Castro, who killed another inmate while in prison on other charges.

The two men were part of the second group of inmates recently transferred from the out-dated Central Penitentiary in Tegucigalpa to the recently inaugurated (for the third time) Marco Aurelio Soto Penitentiary.

The Ministry of Health this week issued a health warning for the department of Valle following an outbreak of equine encephalomyelitis on a mountain near the community of Nacaome, the daily La Tribuna reported.

Vice Minister Elliethe Giron said the deadly viral disease has killed 10 horses and it is feared that the disease could spread to humans. Giron said there is no vaccination against this disease for humans, making it imperative to inoculate all the horses in the area. She added that the possibility of a human surviving the disease is less than 50 percent, while it has a 99 percent mortality rate in horses.