OPINIONS & EDITORIAL |
OPINIONS & EDITORIAL |
Monday, July 26, 1999 Online Edition 167 |
Red alert for the green movement Later, sadly, not so far away we discovered that besides the damage done by Mitch, there is another type of destruction going on, this one caused directly by men. The first is that local fishermen use permanent, mile-long fishing nets that kill everything in their path, including dolphins, and have even become an obstacle for boats. This unchecked, unnatural practice creates an ecological unbalance of potential irreversible consequences in this fragile life supporting system. Another undiscriminating fishing or killing method is an age-old system that uses rock walls called gaviones and the sea tides themselves to bring any fish in and when the tides go down, trap them. We know of the ecological struggle between the shrimp farms and the environmental organization for the Gulf of Fonseca, CODDEFFAGOLF, where both accuse each other of ecological degradation and where authorities are absent. Amid this eco-battle, a world renowned environmental foundation recently awarded the Goldman Prize to CODDEFFAGOLF President Jorge Varela for meritorious achievements in the struggle against the gulf's destruction. Varela has shown an understanding and a capacity to work worthy of the prize, but has made little or no progress with the fishermen with whom it has been impossible to set honorable ground rules in favor of the Golfo de Fonseca's ecology. Up to now, we can say that the shrimp farmers are better informed and more interested in an environmental equilibrium to cooperate with CODDEFFAGOLF authorities. But the situation on the Honduran part of the Golfo de Fonseca looks bleak for the next five years or so because the government is unaware or acts that way, and does nothing to regulate fishing methods and enforce environmental laws. The area is semi-arid and considered the hottest in the country. This was caused by generations of forest predators who, after destroying their environment and enduring self-inflicted droughts and famine, were relocated by past governments to other parts of the country to continue their work. Something similar could happen to the vital mangrove forests and fishing grounds. A few years ago we suggested to an international lumber company that wanted permission to cut down the remainder of our virgin forest in La Mosquitia, to plant their own trees in this area and then to harvest their own product. They left the country when they could not get a permission to destroy our natural heritage. The shrimp farmers, it seems, have enough already and show a willingness to respect the natural borders. Meanwhile, CODDEFFAGOLF must find a solution, maybe with international conservation organizations, to the fishermen's situation in the already unbalanced environment in the south. Together they should find the answers in favor of the Golfo and perhaps work in conjunction with Nicaraguan and Salvadoran authorities and fishermen, who are all intertwined in the area. If the Honduran government's example is followed and nothing is done, we shall find one day that the sea is dead. And where would all these people go then? Please visit our sponsor
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UNARMED MINORITY Dear Editor: After living in Olancho for three years, I believe the title of this article [Insecure Olanchanos arm to the teeth, July 10 edition] should have read "Unprotected Olanchanos arm in defense." As a foreigner I felt that I was the "unarmed minority." J.R. Hansen Dear Editor: Before I leave Honduras I would like to respond to Sr. Marco Caceres article ("Movement," June 19) about what he thought could be done to improve Honduras. I found his reflections interesting and would like to add a few of my own. I am a Canadian who has spent the last year and a half in Honduras. Some of the people I have come to know were local and foreign teachers who, like many Hondurans, had to work at several jobs in order to make a living. The money simply isn't there for education along with many other services which are basic in more developed countries. It will be interesting to see if and when such fiscal resources can be made available in this country (without it being usurped by corrupt individuals). What I admired during my stay here were the strengths, resilience and the friendliness of the Honduran people, especially after Mitch. I am particularly impressed with how the poor manage to survive because they are the majority in this country. I wish Sr. Caceres could have said something more about them (albeit a growing middle class is important), including improved health and educational services. During my time here I found it difficult to accept (although I can understand) why and how so few Hondurans can have money while so many live on a subsistence level. There is a wide gap between the rich and the middle class, on the one hand and the many poor, on the other. In the future, if the poor ever become more educated they are not going to work as servants and laborers for a few lempiras per hour. How will the rich and middle class relate to a majority of educated poor? Crime, safety and corruption are also major issues. Guns and guards abound by necessity. A high poverty level and few, poorly paid enforcement personnel do not help the national situation. There does appear, however, to be a gradual growing concern with air, land, water and noise pollution. It was not all that long ago that there were major issues in my own country. In Canada, we continue to struggle against foreign influences on our television programs, music, culture and in printed materials. Honduras has been described to me as something like the wild west with one foot in the last century and the other in the current one. I suspect, therefore, for these and other reasons that Honduras has much more time to develop national infrastructures, educational and health resources as well as enforcement standards. I sincerely respect the courage, resilience and the determination of most Hondurans. Beside Spanish, they have taught me much. I wish I could have been part of it longer. Adios. Albert Leering |
Monday, July 19, 1999 Online Edition 166 |
POLICE INEPTITUDE Dear Editor: The point-blank, cold-blooded execution of 14-year-old Noe Alejandro Alvarez Ramirez by a uniformed prison guard in Tegucigalpa last May allegorizes with chilling realism the chronic ineptitude of Honduras' constabulary. This latest case of impunity and criminal disregard for life by an agent of the State underscores the acute and habitual shortage of competent and trained law enforcement personnel. It is also a compelling reminder of the escalating climate of violence and lawlessness that is sweeping the country -- a phenomenon not lost on would-be visitors and investors. Noe's murder is not an isolated incident. The pages of Honduras' recent history are splattered with the blood of minors, many of them street children, "extracted" from society by trigger-happy law enforcement officers. As a member of the press and a long-time observer of Central America, I appeal to the Government of Honduras to conduct an immediate and thorough investigation into this most recent and scandalous incident. I further urge that Noe's killer, a prison guard at the Penitenciaria Central, be prosecuted to the fullest extent of the law and that Noe's family be generously compensated for their loss. W. E. Gutman TRANSPARENCY AND DECENTRALIZATION Dear Editor: I thoroughly agree with Mr. Duus's article of June 5, Help! What is Decentralization? Rather than use the same words let's define them in more concrete terms. Transparency could mean all funds will be audited monthly and only authorized by a person not having "immunity." It is not difficult to count the number of bags of cement, or cement blocks or number of rebars used in a project. Much of the information for building is available so it is simple to estimate the costs of the project. Auditing should be continuous during a project, not after everything has been completed. Decentralization is another vague term. In a country the size of Honduras, the central government should have the control and responsibility for electricity, water, roads, and only taxation for schools. The government could approve the funding for all these projects but the actual use of funds should be approved and accounted for by a group not having immunity. The school situation id different. All money should be distributed on the basis of population. Honduras has many different groups. For example: Lencas, Garifunas, etc. Each department should have a school board elected by the people in the department. If it's all Garifunas or Lencas or Chortis that is their choice, funding should be audited by both a government official and the school board. The central government should publish all the sources and amount of income. The legislature should publish and approve how much is given to each department. All funds given to departments cannot be used by anyone with immunity. The severe problem, and international knowledge of Honduras, is that to often money is not used or accounted for. Honduras can and will rebuild with the amount of aid it is receiving. To the rich and powerful I offer one quote, "The boast of heraldry, the pomp of power; all that wealth and power e'er gave, await alike the inevitable hour. The paths of glory lead but to the grave." John P. Buser
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Intellectual disparity But this democratic instrument has backfired since its inception. For decades this system, unique to Honduras and a few other nations, has been politicized and systematically corrupted, hindering true academic progress. If anything else, this practice teaches many students and teachers alike to be delinquents. Power games and money grabbing reach every level of authority and the student body, in which teachers are removed or replaced at the whim of the astute parasites who live off this system, using students as mere puppets. Many a bright professor has been removed from his or her post to be substituted by an inept and corrupt former student who still has no degree, but who has a Masters in manipulation. Today, the eradication of this system, which is just a legalized stupefying drug, was offered on a silver plate to the teachers, but there was no cohesion as usual, and the students, backed and instructed by some of the aforementioned teachers, won the round again, believing they saved the university from privatization, when in reality they sunk it more into the dark ages. More than 60,000 students have maintained the status quo because in their minds it is better for them and the country. In reality, the best thing would be to raise the academic standards, which would probably reduce the number of students and corruption by half.
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Monday, July 12, 1999 Online Edition 165 |
Enough of soap It is not that we have anything against these soap operas from other countries. We respect their idiosyncracies and besides, their customs are not altogether different from our own, but they are different, in the end, as is their way of speaking. These culebrones (big snakes) as they are sometimes called in Spanish last about four months that seem an eternity and have even invaded the homes of Spain, Italy and other European nations. They have that certain "no se que" that keeps many awake worrying if such and such is aware that the girl really has the hots for another man and not for him, the chosen one, who usually is blue-blooded. Besides, the other girl, the good one who is the maid, learns seven languages to become the leader of her small town and to take revenge on the bad guy who scoffed at her when she was younger and stupider. And on and on these fantasies go, which in the U.S. are called soap operas or soaps because the commercials from the sponsors are directed toward the housewife, so most of them are of soap, a soap so strong it is tough enough to take on the army... But this discussion is not directed against local channels or the cable companies. The issue here is that we, as cable users, called in to give our opinion on having to see said programs on our paid cable service. We said that if we wanted to see these shows, we wouldn't have to pay because they are free by just hooking up our T.V. antenna, which picks up the telenovelas complete with soap and all. To our surprise, it was explained to us that CONATEL, the National Telecommunications Corporation, allowed the transmission of cable with the condition that local and national channels be included in the programming to broadcast our own programs and thus, culture. The downside is that beside some news and sports programs, national television production is zero, zip, nil. The good intentions of keeping national channels on the T.V. sets for the good of our identity is marred by the fact there is no such thing as national channels. National programming is almost all foreign. This is the dilemma, that these tricky concessions benefit only the traditional network owners. A revision of this well-intentioned law is overdue. Television shows of a true national harvest should be fostered and nurtured. It is as incredible as the plot from the novelas that there is no programming in our country to broadcast our own culture and national talent. The investors of these gargantuan networks are too complacent and find that forcefully subjecting Hondurans to canned, unsupervised foreign sssssoap is much easier and cheap than to produce anything of national value. CONATEL must make reforms and protect national productions and not businessmen who take advantage of this practice.
COVERUP Dear Editor: Why is a Honduran fighter jet doing low-level, high-speed passes over a civilian airport and populated area? Why are the people not told the truth -- that the pilot lost control, struck the asphalt runway, sparks flew and the plane began shaking uncontrollably and the pilot bailed out. There must have been several dozen witnesses to the events that took place and the Air Force wants to quiet this truth down. Only small fragments were found at the dive site but the asphalt in the underbelly fragments should answer any doubters, aside from the controllers, other pilots, passengers watching from the far end of the restaurant and the security guards who were all talking about what had happened, as well as the tower. The more they cover up, the more let us all bring to light. What does Honduras need with fighter jets in the 21st century anyway -- the time for such foolishly expensive military luxuries is now long past and let's all hope a mature nation emerges from a long adolescence and abandons military toys and adventures. Steve Foster, MD SEEDS OF OPPORTUNITY Dear Editor: I have been reading, with great interest, Wendy Griffin's thoughtful and informative articles on post Mitch reconstruction in Honduras. Fortunately, the tragic legacy of Mitch also includes the seeds of opportunity to build a better future. In terms of the rebuilding of the built environment, I hope that sensitivity to cultural imperatives will be seen as an important foundation for the new construction. Replacement of destroyed homes is required on such a massive scale that imported, mass-produced solutions can seem very tempting. However, the challenge is to build well, housing and infrastructure, which also respects local culture and reinforces community and national identity. Along the same theme, the potential of reconstruction as a route towards job and skill creation was well expressed in your editorial of July 5. As a volunteer adviser with CESO (Canadian Executive Service Organization), it has been my pleasure to travel, on assignment, in many parts of Honduras. It was also with sadness that this year I visited many areas devastated by Mitch. An architect by profession, I have been impressed not only by your country's outstanding archaeological heritage and landmarks but also by the potential visitor attractions to be found on the local scene in vernacular buildings and distinctive life styles. Santa Rosa de Copan is an example. In addition to natural beauty (with which Honduras is so abundantly blessed), in the world-wide context historical/cultural attraction gives the marketing edge in the competition for tourist revenue. The character of the large-scale reconstruction now underway will have considerable impact on the image of Honduras which greets visitors from overseas and is retained in their memory. I hope it will prove to be a positive, transforming, regeneration to the benefit of all Hondurans. Howard V.Walker
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Honduras needs help for reconstruction (The following editorial is republished with the permission of Noticias del Mundo of New York.) Toward the end of 1998 the government of Honduras expected to announce a substantial real growth, the containment of inflation, the achievement of a low fiscal deficit and a reduction of the external deficit, as well as increase in net international reserves. Last October Hurricane Mitch ended up those projections. According to the Economic Commission for Latin America and the Caribbean, the total damage suffered by Honduras amounted to $3,794 billion, about 70 percent of the gross domestic product, and the cost of reposition is estimated at $5 billion, almost 100 percent of GDP. Honduras' Central Bank estimates that damage to production has caused a cut back in the real rate of growth of GDP and widening of the external deficit in the current account, as a result of a substantial lowering of exports and an increase in imports. The reduction in fiscal revenues, added to the spending in investment, will generate a fiscal deficit of about 8.4 percent during 1999. With the implementation of its Master Plan for National Reconstruction and Transformation (PMRTN) the government of Honduras expects that for 2001 the country will have recuperated most of its losses; that the GDP per capita would be similar to the one forecast in 1998 -- before Mitch -- and that the social indicators would show the first positive results of the planned reforms. Also, significative advances are expected in 2001 in the areas of environment; an efficient management of risk; larger democratic participation, including social audit activities; and a progressive growth of the ability of women and ethnic groups to fully participate in the different aspects of the country's socio-economic life. The government of Honduras estimates that reconstructing and invigorating the productive sector requires a total financing of more than $1 billion. Of this amount, the external funds required add up to more than $851 million, of which almost $500 million would come from donors and the balance would be loans, with a national counterpart funds about $161 million. The PMRTN transcends the short-range horizon, as it considers that repairing that damage caused by Hurricane Mitch could not be completed in a few years, says the Honduran government. It also points out that implementing the development strategy it has adopted requires a long-range process of transformation of the social, political, cultural and economic structures of the nation. But none of this has the prospect of becoming true if the United States doesn't lead in making the necessary international assistance possible.
Well known by hundreds,unknown by thousands By DON PEARLY Special to Honduras This Week LA CEIBA -- There is a man and his wife who help hundreds of people every week. They are both doctors who reside in La Ceiba but work also in Belfati, Loma De Luz and other areas. They conduct business from their personal clinic, from their spiritual music store, from the prisons of Honduras, from make-shift clinics and in a half-way house for HIV-positive patients. They work with their church but do not restrict their efforts to their congregation. They work for nominal fees or for nothing. They never look for a return on their work and they do it for God and their community. Their names are Dr. Hector and Dr. Dina Gomez and their clinic is at Ave de Julio, 10-11 Calle EDIF., Hinson-Grossman in La Ceiba. They are unique people and a pleasure to speak with. They are both knowledgeable doctors and keep up with all of the current advances in medicine and science. They are dedicated to helping the sick and never ask anyone for help except one person. That person or more properly, entity, is God. Dr. Gomez says they do not solicit money or supplies from anyone but rather get together with their pastor and congregation and pray to the Lord. As if by magic they pray and shortly thereafter they receive almost exactly what they prayed for. They have such faith it is wonderful just talking with them. In Honduras, the feeling is that any money available for the fight against AIDS and HIV should be spent on the prevention of the disease. This is, of course, an intelligent and excellent approach. However, what is to be done with the victims that already have the disease? There is no money to take care of them, to feed the homeless, to provide curative medicine, to house them or to ease their physical pain. The two doctors have attacked that problem by personally providing a house for them to spend their time in. This is out of their pockets and donations that as I say, magically appear. According to Dr. Hector Gomez, there are 103 victims in the La Ceiba area alone. Three of them have no family to care for them, so they live full time in this clean neat house the doctors have set up. If you need a wonderful family doctor or two, give the Gomez team a try. Forty percent of anything they earn from treating you or your family will go toward their charity work at the prisons or at their other clinics and half-way houses. Don Pearly is the general manager for Bayman Bay Club on the island of Guanaja. |
Monday, July 5, 1999 Online Edition 164 |
An ounce of prevention In the calm right after the storm, we suggested that all our bridges be rebuilt of stone and concrete. But this and other petitions that would uplift the spirit, work ethics and, most importantly, the idle hands of our poor people, went unheard. The geniuses that plan our difficulties were too busy working and turned a deaf ear to our suggestions, which had as an inherent ingredient: hard manual labor on the part of the Honduran people. This is something everybody talks about and knows very well but is not really applied in the necessary scale. The best proof for the countries that have helped us, of our thankfulness and willingness, would be that we ourselves would pick up the tools and built. God knows there is a surfeit of the unskilled labor needed to take on such a job, most of which, goes north in search of work. What is so difficult about rounding up a thousand strong men and women, to give a number, and build a bridge in a month, for example? Is it an idea bound by oriental philosophies or monopolized by industrial nations? A start, which was proven false by subsequent Liberal governments, was the original FHIS, or Honduran Fund for Social Investment. During its inception in the Callejas administration, the program organized masses and community groups, including women alone, to work the hard but united way. Where are these masses huddled now? Wouldn't they solve our and their own problems with this advanced concept of community work for the minimum wage or food? But we have to say the magic moment has been lost. This administration has stunted any momentum the unemployed workforce had with red tape and rhetoric. The people have fallen once again into the routine, the rut, of listening to politicians blab away and hearing bad news about this and that. A few bridges will not connect the people with their destiny in a prosperous nation. Either someone is fooling the president or he is fooling himself. The unescapable truth is that the power does lay in his hands to take this administration into history as the rebuilder of bridges and roads or as the pivotal transformation factor of society itself. It is time to motivate and organize. It is time to show more leadership to guarantee the better future that has been promised. Just because criticism has been moderate, it does not mean there is no room for more. It is by far, better to do it now than later. Prevent instead of lament.
HIGH AIRFARES DUE TO GREED Dear Editor: In reading about the airfares to Honduras, I just noted in a travel ad in the Miami Herald the rates for travel to Panama, Costa Rica, Nicaragua, Guatemala, Belize and Honduras. Of all Central American destinations, La Ceiba Honduras was the most expensive. The most logical deduction: greed! Just like the postal increase. Just like the outrageous aduana duty on motor vehicles. Those that can make a difference are just pouring salt on the wounds of my adopted country. Mick McCrary Dear Editor: Yes, indeed, it is time that people start complaining about the high prices we have to pay to visit my dear Honduras. I've been living in the USA since 1979 and I have not been able to spend a Christmas with my family in Tegucigalpa due to the crowded flights and high prices these airlines are charging. We need to have our own Honduran airline, one that can provide more than one flight per day, one that can accommodate all those thousands of Honduran who live in the USA and are looking forward to spending their vacations with their families. I truly enjoy reading your newspaper over the Internet; however, I believe your web page should be updated more often. Thank you for keeping the Honduran people living in the USA informed! Carmen Karpienski San Antonio, Texas Dear Editor: I think Honduras should have its own airline like it once did. TACA, for example, has very bad service and American Airlines has ridiculous prices. Silvie Calix via Internet OIL PIPELINE CONFUSING Dear Editor: I've been reading your paper via the internet for some time now. I would first like to take my hat off to you for a job well done. Your paper is informative and speaks to many interesting subjects regarding Honduras. I've been to Honduras many times during the past few years and absolutely love the country and its people. Your most recent article (Travel and Tourism, June 21, 1999) mentioned a two-mile oil pipeline project out of the pristine Bay of Tela to awaiting oil tankers. It shocks me that the government of Honduras, or the people of Tela would allow a project with such a potential risk for environmental calamity even be entertained, let alone implemented. Especially when, as I understand it, one of the reasons Congressional [reform of Constitutional] Article 107 has yet to be ratified is that indigenous people of the coast believe that large hotel projects on the Bay of Tela could be environmentally damaging. I'm confused. If the people of Punuare (also mentioned in the same publication) can vote out drinking establishments; I would think the people of Tela could also not allow this project. Allowing this type of project will certainly not do much in the way of attracting the much needed tourist dollars and local employment that the Tela Bay area desperately needs. Norris Wright
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Use your power as a consumer to buy Honduran By MARCO CACERES There is a local clothing store whose motto goes something like "An educated consumer is our best customer." It's a great motto, and one that I think we lovers of Honduras can use to help the country nearly every day of the year. As George Vallejo recently reminded me, we should just make a habit of buying Honduran products whenever we can. I know, I know...I may be treading on delicate ground here. I am aware of the moral dilemma of buying Honduran-grown fruit from U.S. companies that pay "poverty wages" to their Honduran employees in Honduras. I am aware of the even greater moral dilemma of buying Honduran-sewn clothing from U.S. companies who have been linked to sweatshop factories in Honduras. However, I also know that right now what most Hondurans need are jobs that provide at least enough of a wage to feed their families. If through my buying habits I can help gain one additional job for a Honduran worker, I will be grudgingly happy with that even if the conditions of his or her employment are not pleasant. Until Honduras' government and business community are able to offer better job options to its people, I do believe that a bad job is better than no job at all, particularly at wages of Lps. 24 to Lps. 29 a day (compared to Lps. 16 a day in other Honduran job sectors). In my opinion, this is the sad reality. I will leave it to others whose primary concern is to ensure the rights of workers to take the lead on that issue. My primary concern is to ensure that Hondurans have access to any and all opportunities for earning a wage. The next step, I grant you, would be to ensure "quality opportunities." But we're so far away from that right now. With that said, I think it's important for everyone to make an informed choice before purchasing something from Honduras or made or assembled in Honduras. Each one of us has certain sensitivities with regard to Honduras. One of mine is the depletion of our natural resources, such as our minerals and our forests. Consequently, it is likely that I will avoid purchasing products made from Honduran wood. As much as I love the look and smell of Honduran cedar and mahogany, I cannot easily disassociate these pleasures from my image of smoke rising from the forests around Tegucigalpa as our plane makes its final approach to Toncontin airport. I cannot disassociate these pleasures from the image of Tegucigalpa's scalped hillsides. Honduran silver and gold? These are easier. I have no great passion for jewelry and other adornments to begin with, and so especially not for anything made from these minerals. I also have no great love for reptiles. So it's a safe bet I will not be purchasing any Honduran milk snakes any time in the foreseeable future. My big contributions to the Honduran economy have regularly been cigars, beer, bananas, and cotton clothes. I've done this without even thinking about it. Whenever I buy a cigar, it's definitely a Honduran brand: Don Melo, Hoyo de Monterrey, Santa Rosa. Whenever I buy beer, I look for Salva Vida first and Port Royal second. If there's only Nacional, fine. In their absence, I'm off to Ireland. Whenever I buy bananas, I push aside the Del Monte stuff and look for the Chiquita. Remember, Del Monte gets its bananas from Cameroon, Colombia, Costa Rica, Ecuador, Guatemala, Indonesia, Mexico, and the Philippines. Not Honduras. Same thing with pineapples. Del Monte gets its pineapples from Costa Rica, Hawaii, and the Philippines. Not Honduras. Melon? You got it. Del Monte melons come from Costa Rica. Not Honduras. Lastly, let me say that I do not own GAP stock. I simply like the clothes the company produces. The fact that so much of it has a "Made in Honduras" label on it is coincidental. I confess that I feel good that 90 percent of my wardrobe originated from my homeland. It's the kind of high I get whenever I smoke a cigar. The "connection" is made and I am momentarily transported back to La Ceiba, where my soul resides. I am continually searching for hard information about GAP's operations in Honduras that would make me change my mind about buying its products. Something that will convince me that my clothes are the end-result of inhumane conditions, rather than simply what we in the developed world consider poor conditions. I've not yet found this information. I will keep looking. In the final analysis, you are free to make up your own minds about products from Honduras. I merely plant the idea in your head that you use the tremendous power you have as a U.S. consumer for a constructive purpose. Educate yourself and be conscious of how you can adjust your buying habits to help Honduras. Marco Caceres is the co-founder of
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