| Saturday, November 30, 1996 | |
WEEK IN REVIEW
Minister hospitalized for heart attack
Jeronimo Sandoval, minister of Communications, Transportation and Public Works (SECOPT), is currently hospitalized in a private medical center for heart problems, the daily La Tribuna reported. According to a relative, Sandoval was rushed to the hospital last Thursday (Nov. 21) after experiencing chest pains and respiratory problems. A medical diagnosis revealed that Sandoval had the beginnings of a heart attack, most likely brought on by stress and overwork. Only a couple of months ago, Sandoval was hospitalized for injuries received in a traffic accident.
SPS pays public for collecting trash
The Municipality of San Pedro Sula is paying one lempira for each bag of garbage turned in at special collection sites, the daily La Tribuna reported. The "Emergency Community Cleanup Operation" began Wednesday and concludes today. Mayor Luis García Bustamante said public collaboration is being sought due to the large amounts of debris and waste left by last week's flooding. The sites will only accept garbage in plastic bags.
GB donates Lps. 1 million to flood victims
The British government has donated US$84,000 (approximately Lps. 1 million) to the victims of flooding along the North Coast of Honduras. According to British Ambassador Peter Holmes in a press communique, the funds will be administered by the Pan American Health Organization (PAHO) to purchase medicines and other basic supplies needed by the Honduran government. The U.S. government has also made a $25,000 donation to the National Emergency Committee (COPECO) to buy food for disaster victims in the Sula Valley. On Tuesday, La Prensa reported that flooding has left nine dead, 60,000 homeless and an estimated Lps. 200 million in losses. Moreover, the health ministry reported a sharp increase in infectious diseases -- from 1,000 cases Monday to 4,000 the following day -- this week in the San Pedro Sula area and Atlántida department. Topping the ministry's list was respiratory diseases (1561 cases), followed by mycosis (1312), diarrheal diseases (707), malaria (459), conjunctivitis (320), and skin diseases (248). |
Liberals and Nationalists prepare for primaries
Honduran voters have a choice of 10 as they head for the polls tomorrow
By BLANCA MORENO
As Hondurans prepare to vote in tomorrow's primaries, the 10 presidential hopefuls of the National and Liberal parties spent the week in a mad rush to the campaign finish line, launching poll wars and verbal battles in the national press. According to surveys taken by both local and international firms, Liberal party candidate Carlos Flores is not only favored to win his party's primary; he would also win the presidency if next November's election were held today. In second place after Flores is North Coast businessman Jaime Rosenthal, a longtime player in Liberal Party politics and one of the wealthiest men in Honduras. Meanwhile, National Party candidates Nora de Melgar and Elias Asfura are neck and neck, coming out tied in last week's polls. The Nora campaign has taken on new strength since former president Rafael Callejas moved into her corner, joining the 1993 National Party favorite Oswaldo Ramos Soto in supporting the candidate who would become Honduras' first woman president. The effervescent race to the primaries has been marked with colorful slogans and musical jingles. The Flores campaign vies for votes to the tune of the famous dance hit "Macarena" while Nationalist candidate Roberto Martinez Lozano publicizes his own critique of the Reina administration to the tune of another popular hit, "El Venado." The following is a look at all ten of this year's majority party presidential candidates.
CARLOS FLORES With a campaign based on reconciliation and a message of hope, Carlos Flores Facusse, the current president of the National Congress, is making his second run for the presidency. Born in Tegucigalpa in 1950, his political career has been a long one. He held his first office in the Liberal Party at a very young age and has served in the National Congress since 1980. His first political disappointment came in 1983, when he was launched as a Liberal Party candidate, then replaced by another. Although he lost the 1993 presidential election to Callejas, he has been pinned as next year's favorite by a large margin. Flores is married to U.S. citizen Mary Flake, with whom he has a son and a daughter. His political movement, la Nueva Agenda, promises the reconciliation and unification of the Honduran people.
JAIME ROSENTHAL This is also the second shot at the presidency for prominent banker and businessman Jaime Rosenthal Oliva and his Movimiento Liberalismo Renovador. Born in San Pedro Sula in 1936, Rosenthal studied civil engineering at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and got his MBA at the Sloan School of Business, both in the United States. He is married to Miriam Hidalgo, with whom he has five children. Rosenthal's political career began in 1968 when he became a deputy of the National Congress. In 1985 he was elected Vice President under Jose Azcona, but resigned after two years due to political differences. He currently lives in San Pedro Sula and owns the daily El Tiempo newspaper and the new Channel 11 television network.
RAMON VILLEDA BERMUDEZ The son of former president Ramon Villeda Morales, Ramon Villeda Bermudez has held a series of public offices and is the current Minister of Natural Resources. He studied veterinary medicine in Italy and later specialized in tropical pathologies in Belgium, the United States and Brazil. Born in Santa Rosa de Copan in 1937, he is married to Rina Martin, with whom he has two children. He currently resides in Tegucigalpa. Villeda's political movement is called Movimiento Liberal Villedista.
JORGE ROBERTO MARADIAGA This is Dr. Jorge Roberto Maradiaga's second run for the presidency after serving for three consecutive terms in the National Congress. Born in Jacaleapa in an unspecified year, he is married to Yadira Ortega, with whom he has three daughters. Maradiaga currently lives in Tegucigalpa.
ANIBAL DELGADO FIALLOS Criticized for his "revolutionary tendencies," economist Anibal Delgado Fiallos has been involved with the Liberal Party since 1960. He also boasts a lengthy resume of participation in Cold War social movements, including the Integrated Liberation Movement of 1963, the Honduran Patriotic Front in 1979 and Popular Unity in 1986, and has served as president of the Committee for the Defense of Human Rights (CODEH). Professionally, Delgado Fiallos is a prominent political critic in the local press. He was born in Siguatepeque in 1936 and is married to Edenia Elvir Batres, with whom he has six children. Delgado Fiallos' political movement is called Nuevo Liderazgo.
TITO LIVIO SIERRA This Tegucigalpa dentist is the leader of the Movimiento Reforma y Justicia. Forty-three-year-old Tito Livio Sierra served as a consultant to former president José Azcona and has held several other public offices. In 1987 he was named director of Information and Propaganda Institute of the Liberal Party Central Committee. His campaign enjoys the support of former president Azcona.
NORA DE MELGAR After serving as First Lady from 1975 to 1978 and Mayor of Tegucigalpa from 1989 to 1993, National Party stronghold Nora de Melgar is making her second run for the presidency. In 1985 she was a National Party vice presidential candidate and n 1993 she cut her own presidential campaign short to back Nationalist favorite Oswaldo Ramos Soto. The widow of former president Juan Melgar Castro, de Melgar, whose movement is known simply as Nora, was born in San Marcos de Colón in 1941. Her campaign is backed by both Callejas and Ramos Soto.
ELIAS ASFURA A professional pharmacist and successful businessman, Elias Asfura was a National Party vice presidential candidate in 1994 and directed the Ramos Soto campaign from 1990 to 1992. Joining Nora de Melgar as one of this year's National Party favorites, Asfura is also president of the Karnel group, which owns a series of pharmacies and drug manufacturers, and owns a successful South Coast shrimp farm. He is married to Diana Mahomar, with whom he has three children.
HECTOR RENE FONSECA With a military career that spans three decades, Hector Rene Fonseca is a newcomer to the National Party, a fact for which he was nearly eliminated from this year's primaries. A veteran of the 1969 war with El Salvador, he holds a degree in management and is married to Deborah De Moss, herself of political renown for her service as a U.S. Congress consultant for Latin American affairs and supporter of ultra-conservative U.S. congressman Jesse Helms. The couple has two children and another on the way. Fonseca was born in San Pedro Sula in 1947.
ROBERTO MARTINEZ LOZANO Roberto Martinez Lozano has served on the Permanent Contingency Committee (COPECO), has worked for the Municipality of the Central District (Tegucigalpa and Comayagüela) and has served as Chief of Engineering for the Attorney General's Office. He has also worked as an assessor for the Ministry of Communication, Public Works and Transportation (SECOPT). Born in Arenal, Yoro in 1951, he is married to Gloria Maria Castellanos, with whom he has two children. |
| Saturday, November 23, 1996 | |
Five members of family massacred A dispute over how to split the loot obtained in a bank robbery reportedly led to the murder last Tuesday (Nov. 19) of six persons, five from the same family, the daily El Heraldo reported. According to witnesses, assassins Daniel Miranda -- a security guard at Banco Sogerin -- and Juan Carlos Castro began arguing with Edgar Alberto Garay over how to split money from a bank robbery. During the dispute, Garay threatened to turn the other two men in if they refused to give in to his demands. The three men then returned to their respective homes. However, the two killers put on bulletproof vests and ski masks and went to Garay's home. On opening the door, the killers shot Karen Deras (19) in the face and sprayed the house with gunfire using a Falk and an AK47. The other victims were Garay (24), Santo César Pavon (45), Mayra Perez Linares (20), Blanca Deras (54) and Nahun Rodriguez (23). Castro, who was captured by the police, said the killings would never have happened if the men hadn't been drinking. |
Callejas denies wife's candidacy Former President Callejas on Monday (Nov. 18) denied reports that his wife, Norma Regina Gaborit de Callejas, is seeking a seat in the Central American Parliament (PARLACEN), the daily La Prensa reported. A television news program reported Monday that Callejas is planning to run for the National Congress and his wife for PARLACEN under the Norma de Melgar presidential campaign. Callejas is reportedly running in place of Marco Tulio Gutiérrez. Members of both congress and PARLACEN have immunity from criminal prosecution and search and seizure. Callejas, president from 1990-94 and currently a member of PARLACEN, has been accused of abuse of authority and corruption, but has not been formally charged due to this immunity. So far, legal attempts by the Public Ministry to strip Callejas of his immunity so he can stand trial have failed.
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Medical intern strike concludes Hundreds of medical interns last Friday (Nov. 15) returned to the nation's public hospitals after reaching an agreement with health authorities, ending a 17-day strike, the daily La Prensa reported. The strike began when the Health Ministry announced interns will no longer be allowed to trade social service posts. To graduate, Honduran medical students are required to perform a one-year residency at the hospital or community health center to which they are assigned. Previously, a resident who was unhappy with an assignment in Tela, for example, was free to trade posts with a resident in another city. Now, rather than completely forbidding residents to swap posts, the School of Medicine of the National Autonomous University of Honduras (UNAH) has agreed to negotiate how and under what circumstances social service assignments may be changed. |
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When the ends justify the means: An interview
with a graduate of the School of the Americas By W. E. GUTMAN TEGUCIGALPA -- U.S. Senator Joseph Lieberman wants "the criminals identified and prosecuted." "Deeply concerned by its egregious human rights violations," U.S. Senator Christopher Dodd insists "time has come to determine whether it is serving our national interests and furthering our goals." "I can think of no earthly reason why our government should [continue to] use taxpayers' money to support it," echoes Congressman Sam Farr. "This is the 'smoking gun' we've all been looking for," asserts Congressman Marty Maloney. What these legislators are referring to is the U.S. Army School of the Americas (SOA) and, more specifically, recent revelations by the Pentagon that torture manuals have been routinely used in the School's curriculum. Founded in Panama in 1946 and now billeted at Fort Benning, Georgia, the SOA has trained over 60,000 Latin American soldiers. It has also sired a large number of thugs, among them Panama's Manuel Noriega; Roberto D'Aubuisson, who allegedly plotted the assassination of Salvadoran Archbishop Oscar Romero and led the El Mozote massacre of 900 men, women and children; Bolivian Gen. Hugo Banzer Suarez, who protected Nazi war criminals and developed a "plan" that became the blueprint for repression throughout Latin America; CIA stooge, Col. Julio Alpirez, of Guatemala, who supervised the torture and murder of Jennifer Harbury's husband, Efraín Bámaca, and ordered the assassination of U.S. citizen Michael De Vine; Argentine Gen. Leopoldo Galtieri, an architect of Honduras' death squad Battalion 3-16; and several Honduran generals, including Gustavo Alvarez Martinez, Daniel Bali Castillo, Luis Alonzo Discua, and Walter López Reyes (currently vice president of Honduras). Alvarez, SOA Class of 1978, was accused of taking part in the "disappearances" of dozens on Hondurans. He was also charged with abuse of authority, homicide, assassination, torture and hindering due process of law. In a recent interview, his widow, Lillian de Alvarez, justified her husband's excesses, saying he had "fought against disloyalty and terrorist organizations." Hundreds of high-ranking SOA graduates have since been charged in the wholesale torture, murder, rape and "disappearance" of hundreds of thousands of campesinos, clergy, trade unionists, teachers, students, human rights advocates and journalists. Others were implicated in narcotrafficking and money laundering schemes. Typically, their crimes were conveniently overlooked by the U.S. when the perceived hemispheric enemy was Communism. In September, in an unprecedented move to placate a growing number of SOA detractors in and out of government (and perhaps to deflect attention from a CIA mired in scandal and controversy) the Pentagon released seven SOA training manuals. The disclosure puts an end to years of speculations about the school's pedagogic objectives. It also establishes an air-tight cause-and-effect connection between the SOA and the atrocities some of its best students committed during the bloody Central American conflict of the 80s. In language devoid of ambiguity or paradox, the primers teach soldiers how to torture and execute guerrillas; pay bounties for enemy dead; use "motivation by fear;" intimidate the press; sequester "enemy" intelligence assets and their families; subvert and control rural populations; use blackmail and administer injections of sodium pentothal -- "truth serum" -- to extract information. So much for the "democratization" of Latin America. Characteristically, what the Pentagon did not do is apologize. Nor is the SOA eager to comment. Nonplussed by the Pentagon's disclosures, it steadfastly rejects any hint of wrongdoing. It continues to cling to a revisionistic rendering of reality that goes beyond selective amnesia. It's called exculpation by vehement denial. * * * It took nearly six months of
negotiations ably mediated by a mutual contact in
Honduras to locate an SOA alumnus willing to talk; it
took nearly as long to finalize the rules of engagement.
Because the subject categorically denies ever receiving
anything but "classic war college instruction,"
it became obvious from the outset that ruminating on the
errant training manuals would be fruitless. And, since
the more Lt. Col. (ret.) Roberto Nunez Montes first attended the Panama SOA campus in 1963 as a cadet. He returned in 1965 and took military intelligence courses. A former Military Intelligence Chief, and now a respected businessman, Nunez was cited by an America's Watch Report as the alleged mastermind in 1987 of a raid on the household of an alternate Honduran congressional deputy. I knew nothing else about the man before we met. Intuition and conjecture in the face of history did little to help fill in the blanks after we parted. What the interview lacks in incriminating detail is more than offset by Col. Nunez's disarming candor and steadfast convictions. His rhetoric is anchored in the unbending soldierly doctrine that, however abhorrent, violence, in wartime, is not only unavoidable but justified. As such, his arguments offer a stark insight into the military soul. His optic also adds a chilling dimension to the mood, legacy and contradictions spawned by the Cold War. **** RNM: I cannot comment on the Pentagon's revelations. All I can say is that when I attended the SOA in Panama these manuals did not exist. WEG: Could they have been developed later, perhaps in the seventies? RNM: I can't speculate; I never saw such a manual. WEG: Do you still have your manual? RNM: Nah! But I can tell you that the skills described had been finely honed in Latin America long before the SOA ever opened its doors. WEG: What do you mean? RNM: That the actions attributed to SOA-trained soldiers did not require special instruction by the U.S. They have always been part of counter-insurgency protocols. Which is why I doubt that such instruction ever took place. WEG: Who were your instructors? RNM: Most officer-level classes were taught by Latin Americans, not U.S. officers. In fact, U.S. officers never really made an effort to learn Spanish. They didn't know enough Spanish to save their lives, let alone teach in it. WEG: Did instructors -- U.S. or Latin American -- at any time offer courses in human rights? Were democratic 'principles and ideals' ever taught? RNM: Not that I remember. WEG: Do you deny that atrocities ever took place? RMN: Warring sides give different labels to the tactical components of a military operation. WEG: Military operation? RNM: Yes. You forget this was a war. WEG: Against civilians? You were not defending borders from foreign invasion. RNM: Civilians that have been subverted by outside influences are capable of overwhelming and destroying the infrastructure. They were dealt accordingly. WEG: Men, women, children? RNM: They were aiding and abetting the enemy. When seditious civilians bring aid and comfort to the enemy they must be eliminated. WEG: Clergy, teachers, journalists, campesinos? RNM: Yes. Priests, teachers, journalists, campesinos. They were Communists. They aided and abetted the enemy. They threatened the public order and imperiled the sovereignty. In so doing there endangered national security. A sovereignty is indivisible; it cannot share its powers with another body claiming sovereignty. Look, the American Civil War was fought over conflicting theories of sovereignty, with Lincoln arguing for the concept of indivisible sovereignty, and the Southern states arguing for a system of dual sovereignty. But the American Civil War was an intra-national conflict. Ultimately Lincoln prevailed and the U.S. eventually mended. Whereas ours was a war fomented by coercive outside ideological forces intent on subverting the whole region and.... WEG: .... And justifying the murder of priests because their vision of hope for the poor clashed with the interests of the plutocracy? Imagine, they were executed lying face down in the mud. RNM: Well? WEG: Justifying the rape and slaughter of nuns who taught children how to read and write? Justifying the disappearance of thousands of civilians because they happened to be in the wrong place? Justifying the gunning down of an archbishop who stood up for the powerless against the powerful? RNM: I told you, it doesn't matter if it was the Pope himself. War makes titles, status or celebrity quite irrelevant. They were Communists. They were working against the common good. They had to be neutralized. WEG: ... Or throwing people out of helicopters several thousand feet above the ground? Or using private houses as detention and torture centers? RNM: Yes, yes, yes! Madness! No one pretends that war is pretty. There was no other way. The main moral question is what was the RIGHT thing to do under the circumstances, not so much who did it, or how. Many praiseworthy policies are promoted for morally dubious reasons, and many pernicious policies are furthered with the best of intentions. WEG: Good intentions and an unshakable conviction in the morality of a cause do not singly or collectively make such cause moral, do they? RNM: It's up to philosophers, not soldiers, to argue the point. Ultimately, it will be necessary to ask to what extent the military actions of a debtor nation are driven by the policies and objectives of its creditor. WEG: Nations that depend on superpowers for their economic well-being can never be free, is that what you are saying? RNM: It's one way of putting it. WEG: Is there democracy in Central America today? RNM: I cannot say that there is for the trivial fact that it is civilians, not the military who govern. What we have now are amorphous societies ruled by improvisation. Take Honduras: The government has no national conscience, no doctrine, no planning. It has lost sight of its priorities. When everything is important, nothing is important. WEG: One last question, Colonel Nunez. What do you think about the incarceration of Honduran minors with adults? RNM: Inexcusable and stupid. Based in Connecticut and often on assignment in Central America, W.E. Gutman is a regular contributor to HTW. |
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| Saturday, November 16, 1996 | |
WEEK IN REVIEW Nicas capture Honduran fishing boat Nicaraguan patrol boats last Friday (Nov. 8) captured a Honduran fishing boat in waters claimed by both nations. According to the daily La Tribuna, the "Destine" and two other vessels were fishing above the 15th parallel when they were intercepted by two high-speed Nicaraguan launches. The "Leidy Leonor" and the "Caribbean III" managed to escape. Jose Antonio Gutierrez, director of Maritime Affairs at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, said the traditional maritime boundary between Nicaragua and Honduras is parallel 14° 59' 08".
Hundreds homeless after flooding
Heavy flooding along the North Coast has left hundreds of persons homeless and caused millions of lempiras in damages, the daily La Tribuna reported. Among the areas most heavily affected are La Lima in Cortes Department and Tocoa, Colon department, where heavy rains have caused the Aguán and Tocoa rivers to overflow, destroying citrus, banana, corn and rice crops and damaging the coastal highway. In Atlántida department, flooding destroyed bridges and roads, isolating 43 communities. Despite the damages, however, authorities attribute only one death -- a drowning -- to the flooding. |
Economy Ministry bombed two days after courthouse
Another terrorist attack!
Less than 48 hours after last Thursday's bombing of a Tegucigalpa courthouse, another explosion shook the Economy Ministry on the Calle Peatonal. According to eyewitness reports, four men parked a red pick-up on a sidestreet near the downtown Ministry at around 3:00 a.m. Saturday (Nov. 9). They walked to the entrance of the Ministry, placed a white plastic sack on the steps, returned to their pick-up and drove off. Seconds later, several sticks of dynamite exploded, leaving a hole seven inches across and four inches deep in the cement at the Economy Ministry entrance and breaking windows up and down the block. Unlike the courthouse bombing, which killed one and injured 24, police say no one was hurt in Saturday's explosion. So far no one has claimed responsibility for the attack. Meanwhile, police have yet to make any arrests in the courthouse bombing. A terrorist group calling itself "Justa C" has claimed responsibility for the attack, in which a U.S.-made M-67 grenade was tossed from a passing car around 11:00 a.m. Because the courthouse is usually busy in the late morning, police say the first attack was specifically intended to hurt people. Likewise, the second bombing was most likely intended to hurt no one, given the time at which it occurred and the placement of the explosives. Police say those who are behind the bombings know what they are doing, but have made no further speculation as to their identity. In a La Tribuna report Monday, Col. Rodolfo Interiano Portillo, commander of the Seventh Regional Command (CORE VII) called the culprits cowards and challenged them to make themselves known. Just three hours after Saturday's bombing, the "Pantera" and "Leopardo" special police forces took to the streets of Tegucigalpa and San Pedro Sula in a large-scale operation aimed at reducing violent crime. At random spot checks throughout the cities, officers pulled cars over and searched them for weapons and drugs, simultaneously identifying drunk drivers and stolen cars. Although some residents complain that the roadblocks are inconvenient, most say they don't mind a few minutes delay if it keeps the crime wave down. According to official reports, violent crime and automobile accidents dropped substantially in both cities during the operation. Police say they'll continue their anti-crime efforts through the end of the year, preparing for the Christmas season, which is marked by heavy drinking and subsequent rises in violent crimes. |
Ballots printed, Fonseca included Presidential candidate Hector Rene Fonseca's struggle with National Party authorities ended this week with the inclusion of his photo and political movement on the ballots for the upcoming primaries, the daily La Prensa reported. Earlier this year, the National Party Central Committee ruled that Fonseca could not participate in the primaries because he had only been a member of the party for a year, not five as required under party statutes. The National Electoral Tribunal (TNE) upheld the Committee's decision, but Fonseca went all the way to the Supreme Court, which ruled he has the right to participate. The National and Liberal Parties will hold their primaries Sunday, Dec. 1 |
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| Saturday, November 9, 1996 | |
Courthouse bombed: 1 dead, 24 wounded One person was killed and 24 wounded in a terrorist bombing of the First and Second Criminal Courthouse, located on the 8th Avenue, 12th Calle in Comayagüela. According to the daily El Heraldo, a grenade was thrown from a passing taxi at the courthouse around 11:00 a.m., exploding and killing a security guard. Among the wounded were five lawyers, a journalist and two television cameramen. Police Capt. Jorge Alberto Avila told reporters that the attack could have cost more lives if the bomb -- a U.S. M-67 grenade -- had not exploded next to a wall, lessening its effects. Attorney General Edmundo Orellana, who immediately visited the courthouse following the attack, said the bombing could be the work of organized crime and the rings of car thieves currently operating in Honduras. An unknown terrorist group calling itself Justa C took credit for the bombing, according to the television newsprogram Hoy Mismo. Tombs of disappeared persons to be exhumed The clandestine tombs of Manfredo Velasquez and Roger Gonzalez, two students who disappeared during the 1980s, have been located by judicial authorities, the daily El Heraldo reported. Law enforcement authorities believe that Velasquez, a member of a leftist university group who disappeared in 1981, is buried in Las Lajas, a small Choluteca community, and Gonzalez, a student of the INTAE business institute who disappeared in April 1988, in El Chilfon, Valle department. The exhumations, scheduled to begin this week, will reportedly be conducted by U.S. anthropologist George Hasemann.
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"We, the American people, will make decisions in a single election on a great number of issues that affect us, including the approval or rejection of new taxes, environmental protection, what social programs we want and how we will pay for them." U.S. expats celebrate election night
Ambassador James Creagan writes in the winner of each state during Tuesday's U.S. Presidential Elections. Creagan hosted the celebration of U.S. election night at a Tegucigalpa hotel, attended by nearly 200 persons. President Clinton, who won a second term in office, also defeated Republican candidate Bob Dole in a mock vote held at the cocktail, 140 votes to 47. By ROSA DELIA SANTOS TEGUCIGALPA -- Politicians, government officials, business leaders, diplomats and journalists celebrated U.S. election night -- and the victory of Bill Clinton -- at a special cocktail sponsored by the U.S. Embassy on Tuesday. Opening the event with a speech, U.S. Ambassador James Creagan called the election the definitive expression of democracy in his country. From coast to coast, the people of the United States went out to cast their votes for president and vice president, congressmen, senators, governors and state legislators. "We, the American people, will make decisions in a single election on a great number of issues that affect us, including the approval or rejection of new taxes, environmental protection, what social programs we want and how we will pay for them." The cocktail was held at a Tegucigalpa hotel, where guests were greeted by U.S. flags and campaign posters and bumper stickers from each party. In honor of the voting, the cocktail-goers held their own informal election, returning Bill Clinton to office with 140 votes over Bob Dole's 47. In addition to two null votes, embassy economic attaché Bob Ryle won two write-in votes. After Clinton's victory was apparent, the guests enjoyed a festive selection of hors d'oeuvres and fine liquors. 'Tacamiche' ordeal ends, get promised homes Following a struggle that lasted more than two years, a group of former workers of the Tela Railroad Company on Monday (Nov. 4) took possession of the new homes built for them by the government. According to the daily La Tribuna, approximately 500 Tacamiches -- named after the banana plantation where they worked -- marched the 15km separating their temporary homes in La Lima from their new homes in San Manuel, Cortes department. The conflict began in July 1994 when the Tela Railroad Company shut down the Tacamiche plantation and three others and left the land fallow. The dismissed workers refused to leave their homes on the plantations and planted corn and other crops. In February of this year, soldiers removed the last squatters from their dwellings and tore them down. The displaced Tacamiches then took refuge in a church and, after intense negotiations, accepted a government offer for new homes, four hectares of farm land, and monetary compensation. |
Whooping cough outbreak feared Health officials on Monday (Nov. 4) reported one case of whooping cough (pertussis) and 147 children under observation, the daily La Prensa reported. Most of the suspected cases are in the San Pedro Sula area, La Ceiba, Francisco Morazan department and El Paraiso. The only confirmed case was reported in Tegucigalpa. Due to the outbreak of the disease, the Ministry of Health this week conducted a vaccination campaign to inoculate children under 5 with DPT. Meanwhile, health officials confirmed 15 new cases of cholera -- including one death -- in the Jamastran Valley, El Paraiso department. Five hundred and sixty-four cases of cholera have been reported this year. |
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| Saturday, November 2, 1996 | |
Another controversial article passes Article 123 of the new Penal Code, whose wording is considered by many to be offensive to women, was approved last Wednesday (Oct. 23) by the National Congress. Taking advantage of the absence of the articles' chief opponent, Orfilia de Mejía, Congressman Rafael Pineda Ponce called for a vote and the article passed without opposition. Article 123 states that "Mothers who, in order to hide the disgrace [of an unwanted pregnancy], kill their child less than three days after birth, will receive prison sentences of between 6 and 9 years." Police oppose proposition A proposed referendum to increase the size of the San Pedro Sula municipal police force is opposed by the Public Security Force (FSP), the daily La Prensa reported. "We are against it," said Police Chief Col. Andrés Wilfredo Urtecho. The reason, he added, is because it is unconstitutional. Moreover, Urtecho said that because new taxes would be necessary to finance the municipal police, only taxpayers should be allowed to vote. Mayor Luis García Bustamante said the minimum amount that taxpayers would be required to pay for the new police force is Lps. 5 per month per family. No maximum amount has been established. However, the vote on the proposition, originally scheduled for Sunday (Nov. 3), on Tuesday (Oct. 29) was postponed until after the presidential primaries. Student vandals destroy govt property Demanding immediate payment of bus subsidies and a second "make-up" exam for flunkies, secondary school students of the Vicente Cáceres Central Institute rioted in downtown Tegucigalpa last Friday (Oct. 25), causing damage to buildings housing two government ministries. According to the daily La Prensa, around 9 a.m. the students, between the ages of 12 and 16, began throwing rocks at the Ministry of Finance, breaking several windows. Anti-riot police arrived about an hour later, dispersing the students who then went to protest in front of the Ministry of Education in Comayagüela. The school's principal, David Corea, said in the La Prensa report that "it's not a big deal, a few broken windows and one student injured. It's not an act of vandalism but rather a sporadic incident." In Honduras, students who flunk a class currently have one opportunity to pass it by taking a special make-up examination. This is known as "recuperación" in Spanish. |
"The children of poor nations are the principal victims of the outdated programs of international organizations," - Rigoberta Menchu Menchu: C.A. children victims of obsolete economic polices
By BLANCA MORENO Rigoberta Menchu, an Indian activist from Guatemala and recipient of the 1992 Nobel Peace Prize, said on her visit to Honduras last week that it's not enough to sympathize with the abuses suffered daily by Central American children. Instead, we must find a way to stop them. "The children of poor nations are the principal victims of the outdated programs of international organizations," she said. "If these organizations don't change the conditions they impose on the countries of Central America, the fight for the dignity of the children will be a lie." The indigenous leader insisted that lending organizations like the World Bank, the International Monetary Fund and the Interamerican Development Bank need to revise their "neoliberal programs" and change their "outdated economic strategies", which she says only worsen conditions in Central America and affect children worst of all. Menchu said she's not opposed to the globalization of the world economy because overall the trend is a good one -- as long as no economic policies are imposed that worsen the situation of the poor. Menchu visited Honduras from Oct. 24-27 to present this year's UNICEF Communication Award. While she was here, she met with President Reina to discuss UNICEF activities in Honduras and presented Congressional President Carlos Flores with a list of demands from Honduras' indigenous population. INDIAN VOICES During her stay in Honduras, Menchu also met with the Confederation of Indigenous Peoples of Honduras (COMPAH) and listened to their demands for bilingual education and better land legislation. They also asked to be included in the UN-financed study of indigenous education in Mesoamerica that Menchu is supervising. COMPAH includes members of the Chortis, Garífuna, Toulpan, Miskito, Pech, Tawahka and Lenca communities. As a United Nations Goodwill Ambassador, Menchu said she's encouraging the UN to monitor the situation of the world's indigenous population over the next several years. Her 15-month study on education in the region will serve as the basis for a series of suggestions to the UN on how to improve education in the Americas. Menchu announced that she plans to visit several of Honduras' indigenous communities in the next several months in order to prepare a special package of suggestions specifically regarding Honduras. She added that in 1997 a special UN committee will be created to listen to the demands of indigenous communities and mediate conflicts. Committee members will include Gabriel Garcia Marquez, the wife of former French president Francois Mitterand and Bolivian Vice President Victor Hugo Cardenas. RUNNING FOR PRESIDENT "If there were no corruption in the world, people would be freer. If there weren't so many political traps imposed by international organizations, there would be viable solutions to the problems that face the people of the world," said Menchu at a meeting on women's issues with Vice President Guadalupe Jerezano, chairman of the Government Office on Women. About rumors that Menchu may run for the presidency of Guatemala, she said it's possible that she may run in the future, but not for at least nine years. She said she wants to finish the projects she's working on now before beginning new ones. She also said if she runs it will be with the support of a well-prepared political team because she would take her candidacy very seriously. Meanwhile, if another indigenous leader runs, whether or not Menchu would support that candidate would depend on his or her politics. "Just because it's an indigenous man or woman seeking the presidency doesn't mean they'd have my support," she said. |
Guatemala Indian activist
Rigoberta Menchu Tum dances with a Garifuna after meeting
with representatives of Honduras' ethnic groups Friday morning
(Oct. 25) in Tegucigalpa's Barrio La Granja. The 1992
Nobel Peace Prize recipient visited Tegucigalpa to
present this year's UNICEF press awards. (Photo by Eric
Schwimmer.) 