NATIONAL

Christ statue to be ready before year's end

Work is currently underway to erect a 20-meter statue of Jesus Christ that will overlook Tegucigalpa, and planners say it could be ready by the end of the year.

This week President Reina and Archbishop of Tegucigalpa Oscar Andres Rodriguez visited the site to observe firsthand progress on the work.

Reina, who donated Lps. 350,000 in government funds to the project, in a La Tribuna report described the work as a symbol of unity, faith, peace, harmony and solidarity. Moreover, he said the statue will be a sign of Central American unity.

For Rodriguez, the statue is also a symbol of Honduran unity, stating that the controversy it initially caused has died down and that the project is now receiving assistance from the Episcopal and Orthodox Churches.

The announcement in May that the Catholic Church would erect the statue sparked angry protests from the Protestant community, who claimed that the Reina administration was favoring one religion over others. Protestant pastors also said the money spent on the project could be put to better use elsewhere, given the poor state of the nation's economy.

Honduran sculptor Mario Zamora Alcantara has designed and will prepare the mold for the enormous fiberglass statue in Mexico. The project will cost an estimated Lps. 6 million (US$460,000).

For the second time Supreme Court rules Francois will not be extradited

By BLANCA MORENO

TEGUCIGALPA -- In a second disappointing decision for the United States government, the Honduran Supreme Court of Justice resolved not to accept the request for extradition of former Haitian police chief, Joseph Michel Francois, who is currently residing in Honduras and accused by the United States of drug trafficking.

In an extremely divided decision, the Supreme Court of Justice decided, after five hours of deliberations, to reject the request for extradition brought by the United States against Joseph Michel Francois.

Supreme Court President Miguel Angel Rivera Portillo announced the decision by the highest court to not approve the request of extradition of Francois, saying that "it was decided legally by the majority."

The judgement was based on the failure of the accusing party, a federal court in Florida, to complete all requirements necessary according to the treaty which exists between the United States and Honduras.

Miguel Angel presumes that the decision will be criticized by some sectors, but it is a decision of the highest court in the land "and it must be respected. We are a country of law," he added, "and the decision was made according to those laws and was not influenced by outside pressures. According to the agreements entered into by both countries (Honduras-United States) the necessary requirements were not filled."

The decision to not allow the extradition was based on Article One of the treaty, which lists two fundamental requirements: that the person was present in the place where the crime was committed, and that there is proof of this.

The final decision was five votes to four. The justices voting against the extradition were Rivera Portillo, Jose Maria Palacios, Armando Hernandez, Blanca Valladares, and Carlos Alberto Gomez.

The justices voting in favor of the extradition were Rigoberto Espinal Irias, Dario Montes Matamoros, Eduardo Gaugel, and Edgardo Caceres Castellanos.

ACCUSATIONS DON'T HOLD WATER

According to the resolution of Case Number 721 of the former police chief of Port-au-Prince, the members of the court debated all documentation provided by German Leitzelar, the lawyer who represented the United States, which included damaging statements by two convicts. The two men declared that Francois sold them illegal narcotics in quantities of 15 to 25 kilograms. The Florida Court accuses the Haitian of conspiracy against the U.S. government, as a result of using U.S. territory to sell cocaine and heroine. He is also accused of laundering money resulting from the drug trade.

On April 16, Justice Marco Tulio Alvarado, special judge in the case, also ruled against the extradition because of the lack of evidence against Francois who has resided in San Pedro Sula since April 1996.

Francois and the ex-mayor of Port-au-Prince, Franc Romain, were deported from the Dominican Republic after being implicated in a failed attempt to overthrow Haitian president René Preval.

WASHINGTON REACTION

The U.S. government urged Honduran authorities to take the necessary steps to facilitate the extradition of Francois.

"If there is immunity for Francois, that would mean that the government of Honduras is willing to serve as a sanctuary to narcotics criminals," responded State Department spokesperson Nicholas Burns.

He added that the Clinton administration was very disappointed about the decision in favor of Francois, who is accused of sending at least 33 tons of cocaine to the United States when he held the post of chief of police.

"We continue to believe that Francois should be extradited according to the current treaty between the two nations," he said.

In Tegucigalpa, U.S. Embassy spokesperson Marti Estell stated that the request for extradition was not a judgement of guilt or innocence, but is based in the "existence of believable charges against someone." Estell added, "the court's decision could be taken by some as an invitation to drug traffickers to consider Honduras as a place to hide from international justice."

Upon hearing of the court's decision, Francois stated from the Central Penitentiary, where he has been held since March 7, that now the goal of the United States "is to kill Michel Francois physically."

World Vision fights poverty and sub-standard housing

By RAYMOND GUTT

San Pedro Sula has been experiencing an industrial boom thanks to the thriving maquila industry. This industrial growth has created thousands of new jobs and has been the reason for a large influx of rural people to this industrial center.

But while this boom may be good for the economy, it has also led to a shortage of low cost homes. Utilities such as water, electricity and telephone have also been over burdened by the rapid growth of the metropolitan area. There are many marginal communities without running water or electricity.

Typical construction of the houses in these marginal communities is cardboard boxes and large sheets of plastic held in place by mud. The dirt floors become muddy every time it rains. Standing water in walkways is a breeding ground for mosquitoes. Cooking is done outside on crude wood burning stoves.

Twenty three years ago, World Vision International began its fight against poverty and sub-standard living conditions. The group's goal is to help needy people by training them to help themselves. World Vision first came to Honduras in 1974 and helped thousands of people along the North Coast after it was destroyed by Hurricane Fifi. In 1979, World Vision became a permanent part of Honduras, opening up a national office in Tegucigalpa. The program now has 23 area development projects in 14 of the 18 department of Honduras.

Emphasis is placed on providing medical assistance and training, educational programs and improving the quality of life. One hundred and fifty thousand of the poorest people in Honduras directly benefit from World Vision's programs. Medical attention is given to children and to the elderly. Many mothers receive basic health and nutrition training to learn about the prevention of illnesses and the use of different medicines. Educational programs are designed to lower the rate of illiteracy as well as to keep the kids off the streets and out of trouble.

Another project is financial. The program helps set up community banks and co-ops. These small banks can provide small loans of up to Lps. 20,000 at attractive interest rates for the benefit of individuals as well as small businesses. Other projects involve agricultural programs, construction and home improvement programs and emergency assistance.

Emergency relief projects help people recover from the effects of a natural disaster. Last November, when La Lima was devastated by floods, World Vision was there to lend a helping hand . Volunteers helped build latrines, provided food and then helped people build houses. Many people were living in tents made out of large sheets of plastic.

As in its earliest days in Honduras, you can count on World Vision in times of disaster. But, as 150,000 people know, the group is also here every day to help fight the constant battle against poverty and sub-standard living conditions.

LACSA jet brushes airport fence

The landing gear of a LACSA flight brushed the top of a chain-link fence at the southern end of Toncontín International Airport as the flight was preparing to land Monday evening (July 21), the daily La Tribuna reported. However, the plane landed without further incident and no injuries were reported.

In other related news, the Japanese Ambassador announced the same day that a team of Japanese experts will arrive in Honduras next month to begin work on a plan to improve and expand the airport.

One killed in assault of bank vehicle

Eight men armed with AK-47 assault rifles on Monday (July 21) killed a security guard during the holdup of a bank vehicle. According to the daily La Tribuna, a Nissan Pathfinder driven by Jorge Rodriguez picked up an estimated Lps. 1 million from the Continental branch bank in El Progreso, Yoro. While driving to San Pedro Sula, two pickup trucks intercepted the vehicle -- which did not have tinted windows or armor -- near San Manuel and fired when it refused to stop. At least 20 bullets hit the vehicle, most on the right side where security guard Fredy Albudin Caballero was seated.

After stealing the satchel containing the money, the thugs fled. An ambulance took the two wounded bank employees to a clinic in El Progreso, but Caballero died soon after arriving from three bullet wounds he received to the head. Shortly after the robbery, the police found one of the two vehicles used in the assault. As traces of blood were found inside the truck, police believe that one of the assailants may have been wounded.

Location of clandestine cemeteries confirmed

Human rights groups have confirmed the existence of four more clandestine cemeteries that contain the remains of persons disappeared by the military during the 1980s. According to a La Prensa article published Monday (July 21), the cemeteries are located on the ranch of retired Col. Amilicar Zelaya at Los Manguitos (near Amarateca Valley, Francisco Morazan); near the community of El Guante, Choluteca; on the grounds of the Special Forces Battalion (near Talanga, Francisco Morazan); and at Monte Redondo on Cerro de Opare. The cemeteries locations were reportedly given by persons linked to the 316 Intelligence Battalion, the military group responsible for the disappearances of many political dissidents.

Morris to serve as Nationalist campaign advisor

Dick Morris, a former political adviser and friend of President Clinton, has been hired by the National Party to take the reigns of presidential campaign of Nora de Melgar Castro, the daily La Tribuna reported Tuesday (July 22). Morris resigned from his post as Clinton's top campaign strategist during the Democratic National Convention in Chicago after the U.S. media reported his alleged involvement with a prostitute.

Drought threatens crops

More than 50,000 manzanas (35,000 hectares) of crops in southern Honduras could be lost due to a prolonged drought, according to Rafael Alegria -- an advisor to the campesino group (COCOCH) -- in a La Prensa report. The drought, caused by the El Nino phenomenon, could cause the loss of 40,000 manzanas of corn, 7,000 manzanas of sorghum and 3,000 manzanas of beans unless it rains within a week.

Alleged rights violator freed

Retired Lt. Francisco Policarpo Vasquez Molina, accused of illegally detaining and the murder of two political dissidents in 1982, on Wednesday (July 23) was released from jail, the daily La Tribuna reported. Judge Roy Fajardo, who is substituting for Celino Aguilar, based his decision on the lack of evidence and the fact that Vasquez was assigned to the traffic department in San Pedro Sula between 1980 and 1984. The two victims, Amado Espinoza Paz of Nicaragua and Adan Aviles Funez of Honduras, were allegedly detained and murdered in Choluteca. There bodies were exhumed in December 1995 at an unmarked grave near the community of Jícaro Galán.

Garifunas prepare second march to Tegucigalpa

By WENDY GRIFFIN

TRUJILLO -- Last October, Honduras' Garifunas marched on Tegucigalpa with seven demands, the chief ones being land titles and bilingual-intercultural education. The government accepted these demands and promised to give the Garifunas their land titles by August 18. However, the land titles will not be ready by this deadline.

For this reason, the Garifuna leadership of ODECO (the Organization for Community Development) is calling for a second march on Tegucigalpa Aug. 11 to pressure the government into giving them the land titles without having completed the "saneamiento" process. This process means looking at who is legally on what was formerly Garifuna land, who is there illegally, and decide what measures to take to recover illegally held land.

According to employees of INA (the National Agrarian Reform Institute), the agency in charge of the land titling process, they have run into difficulties completing the saneamiento process. This, they claim, is the cause of the delay in granting land titles.

The hottest spot in this land titling process is in the Garifuna communities near Tela. When the 1992 law declared areas apt for tourism use as "urban areas," the municipality of Tela annexed Triunfo de la Cruz and San Juan as part of its urban area against the strong protests of the Garifunas living there. At that time, the president of San Juan's patronato or citizen's group said, "We do not want to be part of Tela."

Triunfo de la Cruz is a Garifuna community which has had a collective land title for 25 years, reported members of the Garifuna Entrepreneurs Association of Triunfo. In spite of this fact, the municipality of Tela has sold 220 hectares of community land since 1993, denounced the Committee for the Defense of Triunfo's land (CODETT).

Last year the committee filed a complaint with the Attorney General for Ethnic Groups (Fiscalia de las Etnias) against the municipal corporation of Tela for the crimes of continued abuse of authority and graft for the sale of 48 hectares of land to the company Inversión y Desarrollo El Triunfo, S.A. (Investment and Development of Triunfo, Inc.). This land's reported sale price of 60 centavos a square yard for beachfront property is much less than its real value. The fiscal involved in this case was quoted in the Spanish papers as saying he did not rule out the possibility of a second law suit for fraud against the state, implying that municipal members kept the difference between the real sale price and the recorded price.

Since the filing of this law suit, three Garifuna leaders in Triunfo de la Cruz have met violent deaths. Oscar Bregal was shot and killed in his car while leaving the community on Jan. 7, said leaders of the Defense Committee.

Jesús Alvarez was shot and killed on April 7 while he ate with his small son at the Golden Fish restaurant in Tela. This Garifuna leader had suffered two previous attacks on his life, prior to the one that caused his death.

On May 2, 1997 two unknown gunmen entered the home of Santos Zacarias Santos and shot him 17 times with a 9 millimeter weapon in the presence of his small children and then fled. Honduran police have not resolved any of these cases. Anyone desiring more information on these cases can contact CODETT at tel/fax 43-2492.

In addition to land theft and murder, the Garifunas have also accused that the Marbella Resort in Triunfo was destroying a Mesoamerican archaeological site, where many corn grinding stones or "metates" had been found.

Previously the whole department of Atlantida was assumed to have been under the control of a non-Mesoamerican tribe known s Jicaques or Tolupans, but with this site and a site outside of La Ceiba from 200 AD, it is necessary to re-evaluate the location of the Mesoamerican-non-Mesoamerican border. Having hotels dig up archaeological sites during construction, in violation of Honduras' Cultural Patrimony law, does not facilitate this task.

The situation of Garifuna communities on the other side of Tela is no less critical. Garifuna communities use a wide variety of eco-systems -- low wetlands for rice cultivation; the beach for coconut and fruit cultivation; and hillsides for growing manioc "yuca," collecting firewood, handicraft materials and medicinal plants, and for hunting.

The president of the Community Association of San Juan reports that their wetland cultivation area has been lost due to saltwater intrusion, a not uncommon result of the destruction of mangrove, and other wetland habitats. Their hillsides have been lost to cattle ranchers and the Punta Sal National Park. Their beach is threatened as tourism expands and coconut disease spreads. Eighty percent of San Juan's population now lives in the United States, almost pushed into the sea as they are losing everything on land.

It is in this context that the Maltwood Cooperation, a Canadian company, is beginning its development of the Tela Bay project. These beachfront lands donated by the Honduran Institute of Tourism (IHT) traditionally belonged to the Garifuna community of Tornabe, according to leaders of the Garifuna organizations Lanigi Wanichigu of Tela and ODECO.

This project conceives 1,600 hotel rooms and condominiums in the mid to high price range. According to the IHT's brochure, the high point of this development will be Miami, currently a quiet Garifuna fishing village without electricity, a road, latrines, and where children still speak mostly Garifuna.

Tornabe, like Guadalupe, received a land title for their land through the U.N. Development Program (UNDP)'s Cultural Rescue Project. This land title did not include the land of Tela Bay. Felix Caballero, a leader of the Garifuna organization OFRANEH, said that "basically the U.N. stole the land from the people of Tornabe." On July 5, Garifuna leaders met with representatives of the Honduran Tourism Institute in La Ceiba to analyze the project and their position on it before the proposed march in August. Construction in Tela Bay is scheduled to begin in July, according to the local Spanish-language press.

WEEK IN REVIEW

Three bank robberies in two days

Six thugs last Friday evening (July 11) robbed more than Lps. 500,000 from the Banco Atlantida branch located on Tegucigalpa's Boulevard Morazan, the daily La Prensa reported. The thieves also stole the security guards' two rifles. The robbery was the 35th this year. Earlier that day, eight heavily armed thugs robbed an undisclosed amount of money from the Atlantida branch bank located in San Pedro Sula's Colonia El Roble.

On Thursday (July 10), five men armed with handguns and AK-47 assault rifles stole approximately Lps. 400,000 from the Continental branch bank located on San Pedro Sula's Boulevard del Sur.

Joint military exercises held in Gulf

U.S. and Honduran naval forces last Friday (July 11) began a series of joint military exercises in the Gulf of Fonseca, the daily La Prensa reported. The exercises are part of an exchange program between the two nations aimed at fighting drug trafficking at sea. Participating in the exercises are 70 Honduran naval personnel, 26 agents from the Public Ministry's drug enforcement division, and 30 U.S. navy personnel.

Casa Alianza, Health Ministry to fight AIDS

The Ministry of Health and Covenant House (Casa Alianza) this week agreed to fight the AIDS epidemic among street children together, the daily La Tribuna reported. The agreement was reached after Casa Alianza officials reassured health officials that their organization was not conducting massive HIV tests among street children in Honduras. However, they did admit to carrying out tests on selective street children who showed symptoms of AIDS and other venereal diseases. Last week, the health ministry hotly complained that Casa Alizana did not have the authority to test for HIV.

Germany to fund Mosquitia's conservation

The Honduran Forestry Development Corporation (COHDEFOR) on Tuesday (July 15) announced that the German government will provide 14.5 million marks for the conservation of La Mosquitia, the daily La Tribuna reported. The Honduran government will provide an additional Lps. 12 million. The announcement was made after MOPAWI, the La Mosquitia Development Organization, received an international award for its environmental work in La Mosquitia.

Search for survivors of shipwreck continues

Belizean and Honduran rescue vessels this week continued the search for survivors of the Devonne, a small motor launch that sank in the Gulf of Fonseca, the daily La Prensa reported. The launch, which left Big Creek, Belize on July 8, was carrying 12 Honduran and 2 Belizean citizens to Puerto Cortes when it ran into bad weather in the Gulf of Honduras. Although rescue teams found the vessel 12 miles from the Honduran coast, there is still no sign of its 14 passengers.

Meanwhile, Honduran fisherman on Sunday afternoon (July 13) rescued the seven occupants of the Nancy, which had left Belize for Puerto Cortes the day before and had been reported missing.

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New Moon weekly now circulating in Honduras

By BLANCA MORENO

TEGUCIGALPA -- While members of the Unification Church continue to invite couples to participate in a mass wedding this coming November, the media empire of Rev. Sun Myung Moon has begun publishing its one-year old newspaper Tiempos del Mundo in Honduras. According to an advertisement published in a local Spanish daily earlier this year, the firm News World Communications, Inc. plans to simultaneously publish the weekly in more than 30 Latin American nations and the United States.

Publisher of the weekly is Phillip V. Sanchez, U.S. Ambassador to Honduras from 1973 to 1975 and the publisher of the U.S. Spanish-language daily Noticias del Mundo. Other Moon publications include The Washington Times, Utimas Noticias (Uruguay), The World & I, Insight Magazine and Sae Gae Times (Korea).

The new weekly has sparked considerable interest in Honduran journalistic circles due to the attractive salaries it is offering. Starting pay at Tiempos del Mundo is reportedly Lps. 13,150 (US$1,000), compared to the Lps. 3,200 (US$250) paid to journalists in the local market.

"I would happily work for the Korean for only 500 dollars, since these are hard times and it doesn't matter where the money comes from," said one recent graduate of the National University's School of Journalism.

Tiempos del Mundo, which first hit the streets of Honduras July 3, is published Thursdays and costs Lps. 7. It is available at local newsstands.

Meanwhile, in response to growing criticism to their activities in Honduras, representatives of the Unification Church on Wednesday (July 16) held a press conference to dispel "rumors and speculations" about their organization and motives.

First, they said, the success of International Cause in fighting communism led to the implementation of a disinformation campaign by the latter. Among the lies spread by Communists, they added, was that Rev. Moon is an enemy of Jesus Christ.

Church officials also responded to criticism of International Cause for its involvement with the Association for the Progress of Honduras (APROH), an organization reportedly linked to the disappearances of political dissidents during the 1980s. They said that just because Rev. Moon sympathized with APROH members Roberto Suazo Córdova (former president), Gen. Gustavo Alvarez Martínez (former Armed Forces chief) and Oswaldo Ramos Soto (former rector) doesn't mean he (Moon) is responsible in any way for the human rights violations committed by them.

In response to threats from immigration officials to expel them or deny them visas, Church officials said their missionaries -- mostly persons of Korean or Japanese origin -- have every right to come here as long as they don't break the law, since the Honduran Constitution guarantees freedom of religion.

They concluded by saying that their facilities in the Colonia Altos de Miramontes are open to the public, claiming they have nothing to hide.

COHDEFOR donates Lps. 5 million to Indian land title program

By BLANCA MORENO

TEGUCIGALPA -- In an act without precedent, the Honduran Forest Development Corporation (COHDEFOR) delivered a check to President Reina this week totalling Lps. 5 million.

At a special public ceremony, Reina immediately handed the funds -- which COHDEFOR earned designing the forest management plans that saw mills and other businesses must now, by law, operate under -- over to the National Agrarian Institute (INA), which has promised to use the money to grant land titles to Honduran Indian communities in Ocotepeque and Copan departments.

Since taking office more than three years ago, the Reina administration has been plagued with complaints from Indian groups that large scale landowners were usurping tribal lands, and that the government was doing nothing to stop it. On at least seven occasions, members of the Pech, Lenca, Tawhaka, Garifuna, Miskito, Chorti and Xicaque Indian communities have marched on Tegucigalpa demanding land rights.

This is the first time in Honduran history that one government institutions has handed money over to another to support pro-campesino activities. Although the Armed Forces and the Police have commonly transferred funds between the two organizations, this has been done at an administrative level and the public for the most part never even noticed.

President Reina called the event one more indication that his administration is doing its job and bringing a rostro humano -- or human touch -- to every sector. Meanwhile, COHDEFOR director Rigoberto Sandoval Corea said the transfer marks an end to paternalism and the beginning of a new, better forest policy.

To date, COHDEFOR has designed 72 forest management plans for different companies under its Forest Development Plan (PLANFOR) and has enjoyed unexpected surplus earnings.

INA director Ubodoro Arriaga thanked COHDEFOR for its gesture of good faith and said that the Honduran government is finally taking its forest and land ownership policies seriously, using the wealth of the nation's forests to finance agrarian reform. He asked that the law continue to be enforced and explained that there can be no agrarian reform without the proper financing.

Since its implementation in July 1994, the new Government Forest Administration (AFE-COHDEFOR) has met with local governments in each of the country's 18 departments to revise programs for the use of natural resources and set up municipal and community nursery programs.

Can Honduran medicinal plants help treat AIDS?

By WENDY GRIFFIN

On the Honduran North Coast, a man with a good paying job like packing bananas for Dole earns Lps. 700 a month. Food for a family of five costs Lps. 63 a day, according to official government reports.

For the entire Honduran prison system, the total budget for medicines is Lps. 100,000 a year, even though dozens of prisoners are HIV positive. Obviously, with budgets like these, there is no room to buy drugs to fight AIDS. The new "triple cocktail", which reduces HIV blood levels to almost zero, currently costs $1 million a year. This is out of reach for 96 percent of the world’s AIDS sufferers.

Thus in Honduras there is more interest in seeing how native medicinal plants can help AIDS victims. One of the most promising plants is una de gato (unicaria tormentosa). The reason AIDS suffers get sick and die of illnesses like diarrhea, which most people overcome, is because AIDS destroys their defenses, particularly their T-4 white blood cells.

Nicole Maxwell in her book With Doctor’s Apprentice: Hunting for Medicinal Plants in the Amazon reports that part of how una de gato works is that it activates T-lymphocytes and macrophages. In addition it normalizes immunoglobins. Macrophages eat up harmful particles that could cause opportunistic infections. Immunoglobins are proteins in the body’s fluids that also combat infection.

Other studies show that no toxicity has been found, even with massive doses. Thus this plant helps build up the body’s immune system, the exact part of the body hurt by AIDS. This is why it has also been reported helpful in cancer cures.

Una de gato is a vine which grows on the North Coast and in the Mosquitia. It is also commonly used against bacterial skin infections, ulcers and toothaches. Jose Tifre, an AIDS counselor in Trujillo, says, "yes, una de gato does help."

This drug could be a God’s send to pregnant AIDS sufferers. Recent studies show that if the mother is given something to improve her immune system and the baby is delivered by cesarean and not breast fed, the infection rate is children is reduced from 30 percent to almost zero.

Garifuna communities in Honduras have been particularly hard hit by AIDS. In Santa Fe, there are 25 known cases of AIDS, most in their terminal stage. It is believed, says Tifre, that the rate of reported to unreported cases in Honduras is 1 to 30. There are only 5,000 people in the Santa Fe area, giving an HIV infection rate of almost 20 percent. This is not unrealistic. In San Pedro Sula in some industries, like seamstresses, watchmen, and food processors/sellers, the AIDS infection rate is 30 percent.

Given this situation, the Garifunas are open to suggestions. One night a Garifuna woman dreamed that a tea of bitter orange leaves, lemon leaves and matapalo would help her AIDS-stricken relative. Receiving cures through dreams from the ancestors is traditional among the Garifunas, so she recommended it. She was happily surprised when her relative improved greatly.

In Honduras 40 percent of those ill with AIDS develop a yeast infection of the mouth, throat and digestive system caused by candida albicans. This infection is called manchas blancas by Hondurans. This yeast, even without AIDS, depresses the immune system. Both lemon and bitter orange leaves fight yeast, and the lemon leaves are known to be specifically effective against candida, according to the book Plantas Medicinales Comunes de Honduras, available from Editorial Guaymuras.

The two major problems in Hondurans sick with AIDS are excessive weight loss (90 percent) and diarrhea (69 percent), according to Health Department statistics. The lemon leaves are known to kill bacteria. Matapalo probably does the same as it is recommended for kidney and urinary tract infections, among the top five most common illnesses seen at the hospital in La Ceiba.

Bitter orange has anti-yeast and anti-bleeding effect on the gastrointestinal system, as well as relaxing an irritated colon. It also has anti-fungus and antibacterial effects. By healing the gastrointestinal tract, these plants seem to help prevent extreme weight loss, which is caused by the body failing to absorb nutrients from food, partly due to the problems in the gastrointestinal tract.

It may also be recommendable to drink the lemon juice as well as the leaves, as lemon juice is used to cure dysentery, kidney infections, upset stomachs and body aches. Part of what is killing AIDS sufferers in Honduras is the lack of hope. If they had hope of preventing or getting better from the principal opportunistic infections, they could stay well longer, particularly if we could control the problem of excessive weight loss. While medicinal plants currently in use will not cure AIDS, perhaps they could make it more manageable.

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Things aren't as easy as they look at the U.S. Consulate

In the face of complaints, officials say it's a tough job they've got to do

By SUYAPA CARIAS

TEGUCIGALPA -- "We believe that the success of our section depends on understanding and satisfying the needs of the customer within the limits imposed by U.S. and Honduran laws and regulations".

This is part of a list of "values" that are displayed on two signs -- one in English and another in Spanish -- located at the entrance of the U.S. Consulate in Tegucigalpa.

These principles, however, don't quite coincide with the impressions of several Honduras This Week readers, who have expressed a variety of criticisms, from poor service to "mean" treatment on the part of consular agents, not only of Hondurans, but of U.S. citizens as well.

MISINFORMATION

But according to Consulate officials, things aren't as simple as they appear. First of all, they say those who are unsatisfied with the service provided are a small minority. Meanwhile, they add, whether an individual encounters a friendly or hostile welcome often depends on the kind of service that individual requires.

With 10,427 U.S. citizens residing in Honduras and another 108,000 who visited the country last year, consular services can range from something as simple as getting general information on Honduras to the long, complicated procedure of taking an adopted child back to the United States. Whatever the service, however, "we must implement the law."

The U.S. Consulate in Honduras offers U.S. citizens a variety of services to make their stay easier. These include the replacement of lost or stolen passports, information on taxes, help finding medical assistance, money transfers from the U.S. State Department and the location of individuals in the event of an emergency, as long as they are properly registered. The Consulate also distributes Social Security, Veterans Affairs and Civil Service checks and provides legal advice for Americans in trouble.

Although the main Consulate is located on Tegucigalpa's Avenida La Paz, officials also offer services one day a month in San Pedro Sula and La Ceiba.

GUILTY UNTIL PROVEN INNOCENT

"People are our priority," said U.S. Ambassador James Creagan before a recent conversation with Consul Greg Frost and Vice Consul Nick Giacobbe. Both Consul and Vice Consul deny any poor treatment of the public on the part of their consular staff, which numbers 15 in the section that handles the affairs of Honduran citizens.

Nevertheless, word on the street is that some officers don't even look at an applicant's papers before categorically denying him or her a visa, while one U.S. citizen was offended by the "sarcastic attitude" of the agent who didn't believe he was the real father of his newborn child. Another U.S. resident in Honduras complained that there are too many "Hondurenas running the place" and that consular personnel were indifferent when he tried to help a friend get a visa.

But another American who visited the Consulate for federal benefits was pleased with the service he received. "Everyone was great and prompt. They are very nice people," he said. An equally rave review was given by a former military officer who had come to renew his passport.

Frost says, "we have this legal concept where you are innocent until proven guilty, but in this job, it looks like you are guilty until proven innocent." Referring to some of the more "delicate" requests of some individuals, he said, "It's up to them to convince us."

Giacobbe says that for technical reasons and in the interest of saving time, a consular agent doesn't always have to look through every piece of paper presented to know whether an applicant qualifies for a visa or not. He added that even if an individual's documents are complete and in compliance with the law, it doesn't mean they'll get what they want. "The documents are only a means to an end. You have to look at the papers, then wonder about it. We see a lot of fraudulent papers running around." Many Hondurans ask for a mere tourist visa, but are really after the American Dream, he added.

Both Frost and Giacobbe agree that the process could be facilitated by reinforcing current information systems. "Many Americans don't know what their rights are," they say. Also, given their obligation to comply with both U.S. and Honduran laws, information becomes particularly important.

The U.S. Consulate in Tegucigalpa is open Monday through Friday from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m., except on U.S. and Honduran national holidays. During regular business hours, call 36-9320 or 38-5114. For after hours emergencies, call 36-9325 and the Marines will locate a duty officer to assist you.

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Key Chinazo witness comes home

TEGUCIGALPA -- After eleven months in a Miami jail, the main witness in the Chinazo passport scandal has returned to her homeland Honduras. Maria Martha Diaz Velasquez arrived in Tegucigalpa on July 4 ready to present to the Honduran courts the evidence she originally went to Miami to get, and to put what she called the "humiliating calvary" of her months in prison behind her.

It was Diaz Velasquez who originally exposed the Chinazo scandal last year. She said she had documents to prove that former government officials and renowned politicians had been making millions of lempiras in the illegal sale of Honduran passports to Asian immigrants. She also fingered her former husband, Nicaraguan businessman Rene Contreras, and the former Honorary Consul of Honduras in Hong Kong, Julie Ng, as the masterminds behind the scam.

On Sept 24 of last year, Contreras and Ng -- who are now married to each other -- were formally accused of abuse of authority, falsification of official documents and several other crimes, said a La Prensa report Wednesday (July 9). Although warrants were issued for their arrest, both remain at large.

Diaz Velasquez travelled to Miami on August 8 of last year to bring back documents she said would be crucial evidence in the Chinazo case. But on her arrival at Miami International Airport, authorities from the Dade County courts arrested her for violation of a custody ruling involving the three children she and Contreras had together.

Diaz Velasquez believes it was her ex husband Contreras who had her arrested in an effort to silence her testimony.

"I'm happy to be in Honduras," she told reporters on her arrival to Tegucigalpa's Toncontin International Airport last Friday afternoon. "There's nothing more beautiful than being in one's own land. I thank God because justice has been done, the law prevailed. It doesn't matter that it took eleven months, at the end of it all the truth won because here I am."

After a joyful reunion weekend with her three children, who have been living with their grandmother in Tegucigalpa since her arrest, Diaz Velasquez spent seven hours on Tuesday (July 8) giving testimony to First Criminal Court Judge Roy Edmundo Medina.

On her way out of the courthouse, she said, "All I can say is that I have delivered what I promised to deliver and that given the secrecy they've asked of me, I cannot give a declaration."

In a La Prensa report (July 9), she continued, "I am confident that justice will be done with a strong hand in this government. I ask the public to follow the case because it will be the people who demand that justice be done if it begins to look like things are being pigeonholed."

According to Diaz Velasquez, numerous government officials and political figures were on the receiving end of some Lps. 500 million in estimated profits from the illegal sale of 18,000 Honduran passports.

Vice President Guadalupe Jerezano said in a La Prensa report last Saturday (July 5) that Díaz Velasquez will receive protection from the Honduran government as the main witness in the scandal.

Diaz Velasquez has also received the support of local feminist and women's rights groups. The Visitacion Padilla Association for Women's Peace met her plane at Toncontin with signs reading "Welcome home! We love you!"

WEEK IN REVIEW

Former torturer dies in Toronto

Florencio Caballero, a former member of the infamous 316 Intelligence Battalion that is allegedly responsible for many of the disappearances and deaths of political dissidents during the 1980s, died Saturday (July 5) in Toronto, Canada following an operation, the daily La Tribuna reported. He had reportedly been suffering from a stomach ailment over the past six months and was recently hospitalized due to complications.

Caballero held the rank of sergeant in the 316, a military unit created by the late Gen. Gustavo Alvarez Martínez to fight subversive groups operating in Honduras. In one of the nation's most ballyhooed disappearance cases, Caballero was accused of torturing alleged leftist guerrilla Inés Consuelo Murillo. Along with Jose Barrera, Jose Valle and Fausto Reyes, Caballero later fled to Canada and applied for political asylum there. He is survived by his wife Susana and three children.

Four more banks robbed

Six armed robbers on Tuesday (July 8) made off with more than Lps. 200,000 from the Atlantida branch bank at the intersection of the Circunvalacion Avenue and Boulevard del Norte, the daily La Prensa reported. The bank is located near the entrance to the 105th Infantry Brigade. The robbery was the 32nd this year.

On Monday, an unknown number of assailants broke into the BanCorp branch located on the campus of the University of San Pedro Sula and stole two weapons. Meanwhile, two security guards are the chief suspects in the theft last Sunday of approximately Lps. 20,000 from the La Constancia branch bank in La Ceiba. Investigators have not revealed whether any money was stolen.

Last Saturday, six heavily armed gunmen stole almost Lps. 1 million from the Banco Atlantida branch on Comayaguela's 6th Avenue.

Quake rocks Puerto Cortes, ENP damaged

The north coast city of Puerto Cortes was rocked by an earthquake last Sunday (July 6), causing damages estimated in the millions of lempiras, the daily La Prensa reported. According to the seismograph at the National Autonomous University of Honduras (UNAH), the earthquake measured 5.4 on the Richter scale and its center was in the Gulf of Honduras. It occurred at 2:13 p.m.

The most serious damage occurred at the facilities of the National Port Authority (ENP), including the derailment of the port's 30-ton crane. As a result of the quake, ENP assistant manager Marco Antonio Hepburn told La Prensa, port services have been reduced by 50 percent. Meanwhile, the fire department reported that the quake destroyed at least 22 houses. No deaths or serious injuries have been reported as of Wednesday.

The quake also provoked panic during the regional soccer match between Platense and Belize, causing fans to flee the Excelsior Stadium and forcing officials to suspend the match for 30 minutes.

Flights to Guanaja may be suspended

Islena flights to the Bay Island of Guanaja may be suspended shortly due to the poor state of the island's runway, according to Arturo Alvarado, president of Islena Airlines Company, in a La Prensa report Wednesday (July 9). He said that in recent weeks heavy rainfall has seriously deteriorated the runway, and should the Ministry of Public Works, Transportation, and Housing (SOTRAVI) fail to make the necessary repairs soon, he will be forced to suspend all flights to the island.

Missionaries who overextend visas to be deported

Missionaries of the Unification Church who stay in Honduras beyond the amount of time stated in their tourist visas will be forcibly deported, warned Minister of Government and Justice Efrain Moncada Silva Tuesday (July 8) in a La Prensa report.

In recent months, large numbers of Moon missionaries have been actively proselytizing passersby in Tegucigalpa and surrounding villages and inviting couples to participate in the upcoming mass wedding to be officiated by Reverend Sun Myung Moon in Washington, D.C.

Moncada said the missionaries entered Honduras in April and early May and, like all tourists, were given the maximum stay -- 3 months. He added that extensions are not permitted.

Casa Alianza treats street kids like the children they are

A police officer frisks two sleeping street children on Comayaguela's First Avenue. (Photo by Masja Zwart)

By MASJA ZWART

Special to Honduras This Week

TEGUCIGALPA -- Fernando (16), Pablo (15), Erick (16) and Marvin (13) are squatting on the sidewalk, staring at the tower of wooden blocks in front of them. One by one the boys have to pull out a block from the tower and carefully place it on top. It takes them the utmost concentration and they don't even see the three policemen approaching until one of them pokes Marvin in his back, ordering the small boy to empty his pockets. The officer plucks at Marvin's pockets and pulls out a jar of resistol. Holding it up to the light the policeman examines the street kid-drug as if he has never seen a jar of glue before. One by one all the boys have to stand up. They sullenly obey, demonstrating a weariness that shows they have been through this routine before. Even the kids still asleep are frisked. They don't even stir when the officer goes through their pockets.

"That's what happens when you live on the street," comments Bolivar Zepeda when the police finally leave. "People will try to intimidate you and there's nothing you can do against it." The boys nod silently at the Casa Alianza streetworker when they resume their game. Zepeda is one of only a few people that come to talk to these street kids. He is the head of Casa Alianza's street department, consisting of nine men and women. In groups of two they walk the streets of the capital every day, talking to street children in the hope of convincing them to leave the dangerous streetlife and enter the Casa Alianza refuge in the center of Tegucigalpa.

Zepeda's team contacts over 600 kids each year. They know the names and histories of most of the children they meet, although every year there are about 200 'new faces.' With a bag full of games and a medical kit, the streetworkers set out day after day. They talk to the kids, play with them and help them whenever possible, sometimes referring them to Casa Alianza's medical or legal team. Giving the neglected children attention and understanding is the main tactic of Casa Alianza. It is amazing to see how those tough street kids open up when a Casa Alianza-team approaches them. "All they need is love," says Zepeda, "we treat them like the children they are, not like human trash."

'New' children can enter the refuge any time they want, finding a shower, a clean bed and three meals a day waiting for them. The 'familiar faces' however, first have to show their willingness to leave the street. They are expected to show up for one or more appointments with the streetworkers, before they can enter the refuge again. In these appointments the kids are forced to think about their future, their expectations and their motivation for leaving the street a second (or third...) time.

Fernando, Erick and their friends, hanging around the First Avenue of Comayagüela for example, already participated in the Casa Alianza program one or more times. They all dropped out, either from the refuge (second stage), the transition home (third stage) or even from one of the group houses (fourth and final stage). Whatever the moment or the reason for their dropout, the kids are always given a chance to return to the program, and many of them do come back. It is hard for children, after years of living on the street, to get used to a regular life again. To brush their teeth, take a shower, get up at a fixed time and go to sleep at night. Streetlife on the other hand is even harder and after a few months more than one dropout is ready to return to Casa Alianza.

Fernando and his friends from the First Avenue decide to try it again. After the policemen leave, they start talking about their life within the walls of Casa Alianza. All of them are sniffing glue and therefore entered Casa Alianza through way of the finca, a farm in the countryside where drug-addicted boys go to get rid of their habit. "We were always playing soccer," remembers Erick. "Yeah that was cool," agrees Fernando. "But do you remember the workshops in the afternoon. Those were my favorites."

However unpleasant the police intrusion on their game was, it did set the boys to think. Life on the street gives them the freedom to do what they want, but it's also hard and dangerous. The lack of food, frequent molestations by the cops or older bums and the boredom of just hanging around all day takes its toll. Five kids ask Bolivar Zepeda if they can return to the finca to try it again. "Sure," answers the streetworker, and sets an appointment with each of them individually for the next day. "But you know the rules right. How are you going to show up?" One by one the boys repeat the hour of their meeting at Parque Herrera and "I'll be alone and I won't have any glue on me".

"Do you think they're going to show," I ask Zepeda after we have said goodbye to Fernando and his friends. "We'll see," he shrugs. "The hard part will be to keep them inside the program once they've entered. Some of these boys have already made it all the way to a group house, but still dropped out. Sometimes it's our fault. These boys have a history of abuse and neglect. It can happen that after the first few months we stop paying them the attention they need, or we don't signal a crisis in time, and they're back on the street. Hopefully for them this time it will work."

Mini Summit prepares for July meeting in Panama

By BLANCA MORENO

TEGUCIGALPA -- The modernization of the 41 institutions that are working for the integration of Central America was the primary topic of a surprise "Mini-Summit" held this week in Tegucigalpa between President Reina, Salvadoran President Armando Calderon Sol and Costa Rican President Jose Maria Figueres.

The event was held in preparation for the Summit of Central American Presidents scheduled for July 11 in Panama.

Figueres said the region's leaders will streamline the integration process at next month's summit, and will also sign a new agreement on sustainable development, which will set forth new standards of balance between economic, social and environmental development.

The leaders will also take a closer look at integration initiatives that have been made so far in an effort to update and adapt them to a new, more modern and more global perspective.

"Unless we want to continue in the depths in terms of economic, we will have to put behind us problems with social investment and we will, of course, have to take better care of our natural resources," he said.

Meanwhile, Calderon Sol took advantage of the meeting to share the experiences of his recent visit to the United States, where he spoke about topics like the deportation of Central Americans and the proposed free trade agreement between Central America and the United States.

Calling deportation a very sensitive topic, he said many Hondurans in the United States need to legalize their immigrant status, especially with the new Immigration Law.

"We have spoken to the U.S. Congress and the political sectors to open up a space for the presidents of the isthmus and a strategy is being coordinated for all of the presidents," he said.

Calderon also believes the proposed free trade agreement is absolutely necessary because trade between the United States and Central America is greater than that between the United States and Russia, Egypt, South Africa or Argentina.

Reina says, "we must constantly review the agenda so that everything is aimed at the Central American integration that we have been talking abut for so long."

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Mainstream churches are wary of Moonies

By BLANCA MORENO

TEGUCIGALPA -- Dozens of Honduran couples are now preparing for the 20th mass wedding to be led by the controversial Reverend Sun Myung Moon this November in Washington, D.C. This has the Catholic and Evangelical churches worried and has sparked heated debate in the local media.

Leaders of Honduras' mainstream churches say the Reverend Moon's Unification Church is not only an anti-Christian sect, but also a front for a financial corporation that is seeking to control the world through brainwashing.

The Unification Church has held 19 mass weddings since 1960. Although the first united only three couples, the weddings have grown increasingly sizeable over the years. In 1983, 2,087 couples were married in New York while another Seoul wedding gathered 360,000 pairs in 1995. Other wedding sites include London, Tokyo and Essen, Germany.

The "Moonies," as Moon's followers have been nicknamed, teach that "perfect families" are the path to salvation. In order to be married by the Reverend Moon, couples must accept his message, carry his photograph and vow to remain faithful. They must also promise to live in peace, free of violence.

The Unification Church is currently seeking to unite 3.6 million couples in its November wedding. Its goal for Honduras is 450.

But the Catholic and Evangelical churches of Honduras fear the Moonies who have taken to the streets in recent months to recruit brides and grooms have motives that reach beyond salvation and the family. The Archbishop of Tegucigalpa, Monsignor Oscar Andres Rodriguez, believes the Reverend Moon is a false prophet who attempts to draw followers by brainwashing. Evangelican pastor Sergio Handal says the Moonies are overly aggressive and out to pervert the minds of humanity. Both churches have forbidden their members from participating in Unification Church activities.

Pastor Rene Penalba asked the Immigration Department to expel the Moonies from Honduras, but officials say they have every right to be here and hold valid tourist visas. Once these visas expire, however, the Unification Church missionaries -- mostly persons of Asian origin -- will have to leave the country.

This is the second time members of the Unification Church have come to Honduras. The first was in 1980, when they recruited a number of journalists and business, political and military leaders, telling them that Moon was the true Messiah and preaching an anti-communist, very democratic idealogy.

This led to the creation of the Association for the Progress of Honduras (APROH), which included among its members then Armed Forces Chief, Gen. Gustavo Alvarez Martinez, then President Roberto Suazo Cordova, former President Raphael Leonardo Callejas and business leaders Miguel Facusse, Abraham Bennatton, Benjamin Villanueva, Victor Artiles, Francisco Guerrero, Oswaldo Ramos, Moises de Jesus Ulloa Duarte, Martin Baide, Amilcar Santamario and Herman Allan Padget.

A heated scandal arose when the vice president of the "International Cause", Col. Bo Hi Pack, contributed $50,000 to APROH through mediary Roberto Suazo. The money was later returned after public outcry.

The Reverend Moon founded the Unification Church in Korea in 1954. Moon teaches that in 1936 he was approached by a vision of Jesus Christ, who told him he was the new Messiah and instructed him to fight for world peace. Moon has since founded a number of international organizations, including the Family Federation for the Unification of World Peace, the International Federation for Victory over Communism and the Confederation of Associations for the Unification of American Societies.

Moon himself is a multi-millionaire. He is a major stockholder in the New York Times, owns a 24-bedroom home on the Hudson River and a 16-meter yacht as well as banks and hotels in South Korea, Uruguay and Argentina.

He was also once incarcerated for tax evasion after an investigation by the U.S. Internal Revenue Service.

According to Moon, God today has three major headaches: communism, immorality and divisions within the Christian Church. He says his message of perfect families will overcome these "evils."

Slain car thief linked to Granados murder

Slain car thief Leonel Antonio Caballero Antúnez and not university student César Augusto Castillo Torres may be the real murderer of Gabriel Granados Gaborit, according to a La Prensa report on Monday (June 30). This new finding is based on the reexamination of evidence and in particular an anonymous tape cassette sent to the Department of Criminal Investigation (DIC) last November that describes how and who killed Granados -- a nephew of former first lady Norma Gaborit de Callejas -- near Ticamaya last October.

It was also revealed that Caballero, a police informant, was a close friend of several DIC agents and prosecuting attorney Dania Muñoz, who handled the Granados case for the Public Ministry. Moreover, the report said the most damaging testimony against Castillo was by Ofelia Bonilla Zepeda, a "paid" witness who is currently detained at the women's correctional facilities at Támara.

Caballero and Javier Galdámez were murdered May 31 just hours after last being seen with three DIC agents.

PARLACEN eats big chunk of regional budget

The Central American Parliament (PARLACEN) and the Central American Court of Justice consume 50 percent of the funds budgeted for 41 regional organizations, according to Honduran Foreign Minister Delmer Urbizo Panting in a La Prensa report Wednesday (July 2). The two regional institutions were recently criticized for offering little in return for the large amounts of money spent on them.

Bomb scare in National Congress

Threats that a bomb would explode inside the National Congress proved to be a false alarm, the daily El Heraldo reported. On Tuesday afternoon, an anonymous caller informed the fire department that a powerful explosive device had been placed inside the National Congress assembly hall and would explode at 5:30 p.m. However, a thorough search by the bomb squad detected nothing unusual inside the building.

In October 1996, a bomb thrown from a passing car exploded under the assembly hall, injuring three security guards and causing slight damage to the building. Grupo Hambre, a previously unknown terrorist organization, claimed responsibility.

Bank robberies continue

Six men armed with handguns last Friday (June 27) robbed an undisclosed amount of money from the BANCHRESER branch bank located on San Pedro's Sula busy 7th Calle, the daily La Prensa reported. The robbery was the 28th this year.

Meanwhile, the police arrested four of the seven persons allegedly involved in the theft on June 19 of nearly Lps. 1 million from the Atlántida branch bank on San Pedro Sula's Avenida Junior.

ASHONPLAFA praises journalists who promote reproductive health

By SUYAPA CARIAS

TEGUCIGALPA -- The Honduran Family Planning Association (ASHONPLAFA) celebrated its 34th anniversary last week by granting its prestigious Ofelia Mendoza Award to national journalists who have done outstanding work to promote reproductive, sexual, maternal and child health.

This year's awards went to Noe Pineda Portillo, an editorialist at the daily El Heraldo; Dr. Ruben Dario Fernandez, director of Channel 57's El Medico en Su Hogar program; and the National Radio Association of Honduras (ANARH) for its popular program Platicando con Usted. Honorable mentions were given to Ivonne Martinez, a reporter at the daily La Prensa, the Abriendo Brecha television news program, Abriendo Brecha reporter Roberto Reyes and the Center for Women's Rights (CDM).

ASHONPLAFA began granting the award in 1988 to encourage the Honduran media to look at and propose solutions to the reproductive health problems facing Hondurans today. This year's recipients covered topics including teen pregnancy, sexually transmitted diseases, street children, family planning and alcohol and drug abuse.

"We want the problems affecting today's families to be scientifically analyzed and resolved," said ASHONPLAFA director Alejandro Flores Aguilar at this week's awards ceremony. "There is currently a worldwide consensus on how essential information is for the protection of reproductive, sexual, maternal and child health."

Dr. Hector Orellana Sarmiento, president of the ASHONPLAFA Board of Directors, called the work of the winning journalists an apostolate in service of the people. "Only a well-informed and educated people will be aware of the decisions they make and frame them in the principles of honesty and morality," he said. "And who better than the country's journalists to carry out this noble mission?"

Ofelia Mendoza, in whose honor the award is given, was born in the village of San Juancito and worked her way up to the position of Technical Secretary to the International Family Planning Federation, based in London. In 1963, she returned to Honduras to encourage the foundation of ASHONPLAFA.

The Association's mission is to contribute to improving the quality of life of the Honduran family by providing a variety of products and services related to reproductive health. It operates through several regional centers, surgical facilities, clinics, laboratories and specialized libraries.