Honduras This Week Central America May 1999

U.S. streamlines residency process for Central Americans

WASHINGTON, D.C. -- Immigration and Naturalization Service (INS) Commissioner Doris Meissner announced May 20 new implementation rules for a special program under which certain qualified Salvadoran, Guatemalan and former Soviet Bloc nationals can apply for relief from deportation and permanent resident status through simplified and more accessible procedures.

These procedures are described in an interim regulation implementing section 2003 of the Nicaraguan Adjustment and Central American Relief Act (NACARA) of 1997.

NACARA allows beneficiaries to apply for suspension of deportation or cancellation of removal under the more generous standards in effect before the 1996 immigration law made the process generally more restrictive.

About 300,000 individuals are eligible: 290,000 Central Americans, including 240,000 Salvadorans and Guatemalans who are registered members of the American Baptist Churches v. Thornburgh (ABC) court settlement and approximately 10,000 Eastern Europeans.

Eligibles have been in the United States for nearly a decade and even longer in some cases.

The interim rule will be published in the Federal Register on May 21, 1999, and will become effective on June 21, 1999, after a 30-day comment period.

In a specially designed new procedure, the program will:

-- allow asylum officers, in most cases, to hear suspension claims in non-adversarial settings and to grant permanent relief without the need for the applicant to appear before an immigration judge;

-- simplify the application form for relief, minimizing the need for expensive legal counsel or burdensome searches for documents;

-- identify by regulation the "extreme hardship" standard for relief, which was previously developed through decades of judicial and administrative decisions; and

-- presume that those Salvadorans and Guatemalans who are ABC class members would suffer extreme hardship if returned to their native countries, greatly expediting the consideration of their applications.

"Consistent with the commitment President Clinton made when he visited Central America in March, the new program is the culmination of the Administration's efforts to create as accessible and straightforward a process as the law permits," said Meissner.

"We have concluded that the ABC class members' unique immigration history, deep roots in our society, and contributions to our communities mean that the overwhelming number of them are the people Congress meant to reach by providing relief under NACARA. The presumption of extreme hardship simplifies the process of achieving that goal," she said.

The interim rule incorporates many of the comments and suggestions submitted by the public in more than 400 comments. Almost all endorsed expanding the authority of the asylum officers to decide these applications and encouraged the INS to adopt a presumption of hardship that further simplifies the process.

The presumption of hardship is grounded in the common past experiences and present circumstances of Salvadorans and Guatemalans who are ABC class members within the scope and intent of NACARA. These Salvadorans and Guatemalans, who fled civil war and political violence, have all been in the United States for at least eight years -- many for much longer. They are a defined and limited group of people who have been known to the U.S. government for years.

Their "temporary" stay has been authorized by a series of statutory, administrative and judicial actions. During this time, most have developed deep roots in and made significant contributions to the United States. These common characteristics strongly predict that the removal of individuals who are members of the ABC class would cause extreme hardship, said the INS.

The presumption will simplify and expedite the consideration of ABC claims. The regulations nevertheless require a case-by-case review of each application, and allow the government to challenge the application for relief when there is no evidence of factors associated with extreme hardship (for example, where an applicant has no family in the United States, no work history and no ties to the community) or where evidence in the record significantly undermines the basic assumption on which the presumption is based (such as where an applicant has substantial resources in his or her own country).

Although the INS determined that a blanket presumption of hardship could not be supported by law, non-ABC class members may also meet the "extreme hardship" standard for relief, depending on individual circumstances.

The regulations apply to cases made before asylum officers and immigration judges. Both the INS and the Executive Office of

Immigration Review (EOIR), the office to which INS rulings can be

appealed, plan to train officers prior to implementation of the rule on June 21, to ensure that the new plan is applied consistently and fairly in each case, said the INS.

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Anti-corruption measures called key to LatAm democratization

WASHINGTON, D.C. -- Two keys to Latin America's continued transition to democracy are decreasing government corruption and reducing regional poverty and income inequality, says Mark Schneider, assistant administrator for Latin America and the Caribbean at the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID). Speaking May 19 at a Capitol Hill forum about the results of an anti-corruption conference held earlier this month at the Carter Center in Atlanta, Georgia, Schneider said governments can gain the trust of their citizenry by ensuring that where corruption occurs,

"the threat of exposure and prosecution are real," resulting in "less and less" of the problem.

But anti-corruption measures alone will not ensure public confidence in government. Inequality and poverty must be targeted as well, he said.

"Hopefully, we'll continue to see progress" in each of these areas, Schneider said.

Schneider said an international donors' conference, scheduled to begin May 24 in Stockholm, Sweden, to help the Central American victims of Hurricane Mitch, will succeed only if the global community is confident that the institutions of government, especially in Nicaragua and Honduras, are providing a full and public accounting of how donor money is being used.

The Atlanta conference, held May 5 at the Carter Center, attracted a large number of government leaders from Latin America, which demonstrated the importance of the corruption issue to the region.

Amplifying some of the conclusions reached at Atlanta, Schneider offered a shorthand definition of corruption and good governance.

Corruption, he said, equals monopoly plus discretion minus accountability. In other words, Schneider said, corrupt governments have a monopoly of power plus absolute discretion over their decisions, and they are not accountable for their actions.

Conversely, he said, good governance equals a dispersion of power, plus checks and balances, transparency and accountability. What this means, he said, is that dispersion of power strengthens local governments, supports decentralization of government, and encourages civil society to participate in government decision-making.

"If corruption is the abuse of public office for private gain," he said, "then the opposite of corruption is not merely anti-corruption, but the practice of good government."

Schneider said that in the last five years, USAID has changed its policy focus to seek ways to strengthen democratic transition by promoting the "relationship and partnership" between civil society and local government.

To promote openness in government, Schneider said USAID helped to create a Latin American journalism center to train the region's media in investigative reporting. That program, he said, is now "sustaining itself."

In addition, Schneider said, USAID helped establish an office for a special "press rapporteur" under the Organization of American States. Creation of this office, which was called for at the 1994 Summit of the Americas in Santiago, Chile, also helps promote press freedom in the region, Schneider noted.

Schneider also mentioned that USAID is funding what is called the "Americas Accountability/Anti-Corruption Project," which is now in its 10th year. The project supports anti-corruption efforts by government officials and assists non-governmental organizations (NGOs), especially existing professional and civic groups. Bilingual news about the project is available on the Internet at <http://www.respondanet.com>.

In what was billed as their "Final Statement" at the "Transparency for Growth" conference in Atlanta, a group of 32 former and current heads of government from Latin America and the Caribbean called corruption "one of the principal threats to democracy, growth and equity in the hemisphere."

Corruption, the leaders said, "distorts public services, deters investment, discriminates against the poor, and destroys public confidence in democratic governments."

However, they added that the "good news is that there are solutions" to corruption, and "improvements can begin immediately. But it takes civic courage and commitments from leaders, international lenders and other organizations, coalitions of businesses and NGOs in civil society to illuminate previously dark corners of government transactions. The antidote to corruption is information, committed leadership, collective action, and clear rules."

U.S. legislators urge passage of disaster relief bill for Americas

WASHINGTON, D.C. -- Members of the U.S. Congress from both parties are calling for passage of legislation that would provide about $1,000 million in emergency relief for the victims of Hurricanes Mitch and Georges, and also for victims of an earthquake in Colombia that killed nearly 1,000 people and caused up to $1,500 million in damage.

At a May 11 news conference on Capitol Hill, a group of Democratic legislators released a letter urging committee conferees of the Senate and House of Representatives to include the disaster relief as part of any final emergency defense spending bill to be considered by Congress this week. The humanitarian aid money was approved by the House in late March but is still pending in the conference committee, which reconciles differences in legislation between the two houses of Congress.

The $1,000 million in relief funds would go toward rebuilding such things as roads, bridges, schools and health clinics. In addition, the funds would help regional governments service debts owed to the World Bank and other development lending institutions.

Rep. Peter Deutsch (Democrat of New York) said that more than six months after Mitch brought unprecedented devastation to Central America, the hurricane relief funds are still not available because the emergency outlays are part of this year's defense spending bill. The amount allocated for defense spending is a matter of significant debate in Congress.

Deutsch said that an international donors conference to help the hurricane victims, scheduled for the end of May in Stockholm, Sweden, "will not be very successful if the United States comes to that meeting without specific appropriations" in emergency aid. Countries at that meeting are expected to pledge $5,000 million in disaster aid to the Americas. Besides the United States, participants at Stockholm are expected to include European nations, Japan, and South Korea.

Rep. Xavier Becerra (Democrat of California), a former chairman of the Congressional Hispanic Caucus, said he finds it difficult to understand why victims of a "man-made disaster" through war in Kosovo are receiving U.S. emergency aid while victims of a "natural disaster at the hands of a greater power are being treated differently."

Becerra said he is upset that the more than 1.3 million people in Central America who were left homeless, and the more than 20,000 who are either dead or missing and therefore presumed dead from Mitch, are not getting the same level of assistance as the Kosovar refugees.

"People in need, people in distress deserve our assistance if we believe it is an emergency," Becerra said. "We should not play games, we should not treat people" differently. "A life is important whether it's in Kosovo, or it's in Central America," he asserted. Becerra warned of massive illegal migration from Central America to the United States if the aid package does not become law.

Meanwhile, at the same event, the House Republican Conference, chaired by Rep. J.C. Watts of Oklahoma, issued a news release reaffirming the party's commitment to providing relief for the hurricane victims.

"It is important to help our neighbors suffering from the devastating effects of Hurricane Mitch," Watts said. "We know that the suffering is great, and Congress will make every effort to provide critical assistance as soon as possible."

The Clinton administration "continues to work with the leadership on both sides of the aisle in the Senate and the House" to get the legislation passed, White House spokesman Joe Lockhart told reporters in March.

However, the administration opposes putting into the bill compensating budget cuts called "offsets" proposed by Republicans that would reduce spending for an array of domestic and foreign programs. The administration argues that budget rules do not require such balancing cuts when the legislation deals with emergency funding.

Lockhart said the emergency aid for the Americas is urgently needed.

"The devastation there and the need for reconstruction and rebuilding is great and we need to move forward on this legislation," he said.

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U.S. hurricane experts keeping eye on storms for Americas
WASHINGTON, D.C. -- Hurricane experts at the U.S. National Weather Service in Miami will be ready to keep their colleagues in Central America and the Caribbean informed with up-to-the-minute reports on storm warnings when the next hurricane season officially begins June 1.

The weather service specialists are part of a United Nations-sponsored team that meets with emergency managers and meteorologists in the region, using hurricane data garnered from satellite photos 35,400 kilometers in space and from aerial reconnaissance, says Max Mayfield, team leader and deputy director of the Weather Service's Hurricane Center in Miami. The center is part of the U.S. National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration.

In an April 28 telephone interview, Mayfield said that his duties include keeping emergency managers and meteorologists, as well as the general public, informed about the annual threat to the region posed by hurricanes. Mayfield just returned from what he called an "awareness tour" of St. Maarten, St. Thomas, Antigua, and Grand Cayman Island. The big hit of the tour, especially with children, was the C-130 "Hurricane Hunter" aircraft, which transports hurricane experts into the eye, or center, of a storm to measure such things as air pressure and wind speed, Mayfield said.

Hurricanes -- tropical cyclones that reach constant speeds of about 118 kilometers per hour -- are an especially deadly subject for this region, following the devastation caused last year by Hurricanes Georges and Mitch. Georges rampaged through the Eastern Caribbean, while Mitch struck Central America, leaving both areas needing massive reconstruction jobs.

Mayfield said satellite images can only look down at the top of the clouds of a hurricane and don't give the detailed information that is provided from inside the eyewall, which in the case of Hurricane Georges was 32 kilometers thick. The eyewall, which is the area around the eye of the storm, is a circle of clouds and thunderstorms that contains the strongest winds of the system. Aerial measurements of Hurricane Mitch showed fierce winds of nearly 290 kilometers per hour.

New instruments developed in the last two years, he said, are providing information that the weather service never had before. Those instruments, Mayfield said, are showing that winds are much stronger just above the cloud surface of a hurricane than they are at an elevation of 10 meters.

The relevance of this for the general population, he said, is that winds can be much stronger in a mountainous terrain than at lower altitudes. In addition, people who hurry to the top of highrises as a shelter of last resort from hurricanes are at greater risk than if they were at ground level.

Mayfield said most of the hurricanes that cause loss of life and damage in this region are formed from pre-existing weather disturbances that move off the coast of Africa. During hurricane season, the disturbances begin every three to four days "like clockwork." The storm that turns into a hurricane has to move over warm water, which supplies a source of energy. Hurricane watchers say that the location of the storm's origin off Africa is less important than where it develops over the ocean.

Even with all the modern weather equipment, space-age technology and aerial reconnaissance, predicting hurricanes still remains an inexact science, Mayfield indicated.

"The sad fact is we're not really smart enough to know which (systems) are able to develop into hurricanes and which ones will not," Mayfield said.

Keeping that in mind, forecasts have been made that for the June-November hurricane season, the region will have 14 big storms and nine hurricanes, with four major hurricanes. However, he added, forecasters cannot tell where the hurricanes will make landfall or -- most importantly -- their strength.

Mayfield said the United Nations' World Meteorological Center has designated the National Hurricane Center as a regional clearinghouse for tropical storm warnings and has been mandated by the U.S. government to coordinate operations with other countries. This means, he said, that the center relies heavily on the contributions of other nations in the area to make its regional weather forecasts.

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Garza new U.S. envoy to Nicaragua

WASHINGTON, D.C. -- Oliver P. Garza has been nominated as U.S. ambassador to Nicaragua, the White House announced April 20.

A career diplomat, Garza joined the Foreign Service in 1971 and is presently serving as the U.S. Consul General in Guadalajara, Mexico.

Prior to his posting to Guadalajara, Garza's assignments included: Deputy Chief of Mission in Bogota, Colombia and Panama; minister-counselor for Administrative Affairs in Seoul, Korea; and special assistant to the Office of the Vice President (National Narcotics Border Interdiction System).

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Freight train service back on track in Guatemala

WASHINGTON, D.C. -- Three years after it was suspended, commercial rail service has been restored in Guatemala, with the opening of a freight line that investors hope will eventually link the country by train to Mexico and El Salvador.

The resumption of service between Guatemala City and a train station called El Chile in the town of San Miguel in El Progreso Department, about 53 kilometers northeast of the capital, was celebrated at an April 15 ceremony in Guatemala City. Speakers included Guatemala's president, Alvaro Arzu Irigoyen; U.S. ambassador to Guatemala Donald Planty; and Henry Posner, chairman of the company that has invested millions of dollars to get the train operating.

Because of the need to repair several major bridges and fix train track, restoration of service to the Atlantic port towns of Puerto Barrios and Puerto Santo Tomas will not occur for several more months, according to the Railroad Development Corporation (RDC). The Pennsylvania-based railway management and investment firm has formed a company in Guatemala, Ferrovias Guatemala, to run the railroad.

The reopening of the Guatemala freight train comes at the same time that rail lines plan to reopen in such countries as Nicaragua and Panama. Train enthusiasts and business entrepreneurs are hoping that one day all of Central America can be linked by rail, in order to move passenger and freight traffic.

An RDC press release said the Guatemalan project marks the first time this century that an entire country's rail system has been abandoned and subsequently reopened under private-sector management. If all goes well, the rail line will eventually offer passenger service, according to its investors.

Rail service on Guatemala's 800-kilometer system was suspended in early 1996. A 50-year contract to restore and operate the rail system was awarded to Ferrovias Guatemala in 1997. In mid-1998, the company began work to restore the system, but its efforts were hindered later in the year when Hurricane Mitch struck the country. Besides the Guatemala project, RDC is also a shareholder and operator of the Buenos Aires al Pacifico railroad in Argentina, which runs between Buenos Aires and Mendoza; and Ferrocarril Mesopotamico, which runs between Buenos Aires and Brazil, Paraguay, and Uruguay. The company also runs the Iowa Interstate Railroad between Chicago and Omaha, Nebraska, in the United States.

In his prepared remarks at the April 15 ceremony, Ambassador Planty said that in the other countries where RDC operates, train service has always been one of the most important means of transporting products. It is a service, he said, that offers efficiency and security at reasonable prices and gives Guatemalan businesspeople another way to sell their products at a competitive price to a national and international market.

Planty added that Guatemala is experiencing great socioeconomic changes, and is taking the correct steps to develop and integrate with the global commercial system. The reinauguration of train service at this time will help contribute to the nation's prosperity, he said.

Guatemala's President Arzu was quoted as saying that his country's restored rail service will allow products to be transported "in a manner that is more efficient, more effective, cheaper and more competitive."

Henry Posner, chairman of RDC and Ferrovias Guatemala, said at the April 15 ceremony that for him it was an "emotional moment to have the opportunity to preside at the reopening of a railway that most people had given up for dead."

He said that after years of little maintenance, loss of traffic, invasion by squatters, the abandonment of operations in 1996, and the destruction caused by Hurricane Mitch, "the idea of initiating commercial operations in 1999 was considered by many to be a fantasy. And yet, here we are today, moving freight traffic for the first time in three years."

The plan is ambitious, said Posner, "but not a dream." By mid-year, he added, the train will connect to the Atlantic -- and in the future "to the Pacific, Mexico, and El Salvador. The train is back."

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