OPINIONS & EDITORIAL

Saturday, November 30, 1998 Online Edition 134

Mitch and poverty dash hopes for progress
Two big hurricanes have destroyed the hopes of progress for Honduras: hurricane Mitch and hurricane Poverty. The former, as known by all of us, killed our economic dreams. Prior to that, for more than 50 years hurricane Poverty had already created two faces for itself: intellectual poverty and economic poverty. Although the intellectual poverty is not well defined or understood, it has permanently settled in our country in part because good education is available -- if at all -- only for the few who can afford it.

The problem is that not many can afford it. Among those who cannot afford it, is the National University, an educational institution where books are few and expensive, where students must get by on photocopies of chapters from textbooks that are usually outdated. There are a few schools, where laboratories and audiovisual materials are available, and education is considered an excellent investment source for future managers of Honduran companies and firms. There are some schools for the privileged, where parents are affluent, and while these provide distinct advantages, they often have their own short-comings. Very few schools of any kind in this country have anything close to an adequate library.

Even though education is a fundamental responsibility of the state, the struggle to accomplish it is enormous. There are complete generations who have not been able to attend school, and thereby the poor one is poor by conviction, but he is also a slave, for education is liberty -- liberty from ignorance. These were indeed our thoughts before Mitch. But Mitch has come and gone, and here we are, still searching for a solution.

Mitch is a two-headed giant just like the Honduran educational system. We will function from an infrastructure similar in nature to the photocopies used in our schools. From now on, our infrastructure will be made up of provisional roads and bridges that last 30 years, like the bridge of colonia El Prado that lasted from hurricane Fifi to hurricane Mitch. In other words, we will have an infrastructure designed only to get by, but getting by will take us at best up to the next hurricane.

We are still very slow to do anything and everything. It took us three days just to declare the national calamity and 30 days to appoint a national reconstruction cabinet. This time-table is much too slow for people living in shelters who need to eat, not to mention needing to be working and producing while finding a way to rebuild their life.

We make the following suggestions for the reconstruction.

1. Emergency driving regulations and restrictions should remain intact so as to give priority to heavy equipment operators working on repair projects.

2. International aid programs should be carefully directed, and regarded as a supplement to what we do for ourselves.

3. President Flores should appear regularly in the mass media, to provide moral support and encouragement to the people.

4. From now on, we should learn that it is important to give to the international community, for example donating our banana surplus to those who need it. We need to change our image from that of being an international beggar.

5. The solicitations of bids for the new roads and bridges to be built must be done quickly, and work begun in order to reactivate the national economy.

6. The campaigns for lifting our country should be based on the spirit that the Honduran is not begging for a handout, but just a helping hand to stand up and continue producing.

7. It is necessary to appoint a new cabinet based on technical capacity, and not on political connections and influence. This needs to be done at once, before those who are helping us at the present time begin to leave.
   

Next couple years critical for youth of Honduras

By ERLING DUUS

Many of the area bilingual students have returned to classes, which had been canceled since the hurricane. It is likely that this resumption, this going back to normal has been pretty difficult for everyone.

In the United States specially trained counselors in a situation like this would be brought in to help the students cope with trauma, stress and grief. Whether such individuals do any good or not is rarely evaluated. Its benefit is assumed. In the United States, we believe in counseling as implicitly as we believe in technology. Well, in fact they are almost the identical belief, for our faith in counseling is based on the assumption that there are certain "scientific" techniques that can be applied to enable people to cope with extreme shock or trauma, things not known by the laity.

Honduran teachers and students are coming back to school for the most part without such professional care, which is of course also true of the society. School life requires going back to the usual routine, assuming the credibility of the old priorities, and trying to ignore the fact that life has just been turned upside down and inside out. Classes continue, subjects are taught, examinations given, but there is a certain sadness, detachment, and anxiety that is in the air, is hard to talk about and hard to identify. Students know how to relate to each other at the playful, friendly, easy-going level at which they are most comfortable, but have little access to a form of interaction that involves revealing those experiences and feelings that may be as Wordsworth wrote, "too deep for tears."

Hopefully, various efforts are being made by teachers and administrators to facilitate some form of unburdening and catharsis. At one school, students were asked to write about their experiences and feelings. From this it became apparent that while only a few have suffered the loss of a home or the death of a family member, a good many have been emotionally traumatized. They have suffered a loss of innocence, and concomitantly, a loss of a sense of security. Many have had trouble sleeping; even a small rain-storm now terrifies them.

Something has also happened to their sense of resiliency, a quality which tends to be strong in the young, but cannot be taken for granted. Before their existed the hope, almost the belief that things could and would improve in Honduras. But now at the very core of anxiety, there is born the dread that the future may only bring a deepening of disaster, and that the nation is not destined to emerge out of the depths of poverty and corruption. Such thoughts are hard for everyone, but especially the young. For some, perhaps for many, there is an instinct to flee.

Some of the students are also talking about helping to rebuild, and re-create. They dream about the new Honduras. These sentiments, while genuine, seem inevitably to be tentative and fragile. This is a critical moment. During the next year or two, the idealistic young people of Honduras will either rally to the banner of the new country, or they will become deeply disillusioned by what they see happening. If the reformist zeal of youth is squandered, the country will be absorbed in piracy. The next two or three years will be amongst the most critical in the entire history of the nation.

Donor beware:
The politics of disaster
Disasters are good business. In the wake of Hurricane Mitch, all that can go wrong with global disaster relief must not be replayed in Central America

By W. E. GUTMAN

Vivid reminders of nature's inventive cruelty, disasters also hint at the fragility of life and foreshadow our own mortality. In so doing, they elicit horror and engender compassion, and relief agencies raise huge sums of money. Much of this aid never reaches those who need it most. To blame are the mechanics of disaster relief, the complex and largely asymmetrical logistics of coordinating on-site distribution and, less transparent, greed, and the political (or religious) agendas of some charitable organizations.

In Latin America, disaster relief has always had political overtones. Nicaragua's dictator, Anastasio Somoza, "expropriated" most of the relief money he received after an earthquake leveled Managua in 1972. He did so with the knowledge and tacit assent of his benefactors. This was a pivotal and decisive element in his downfall.

Mexico's difficulties in building houses for those left homeless by the crippling earthquake that hit the Distrito Federal in 1985 left millions estranged, embittered and hostile toward the ruling party.

AmeriCares, the New Canaan, Connecticut-based private relief agency, whose declared mission is to offer assistance worldwide "regardless of race, religion or political persuasion," became active in Guatemala in the early 80s and channeled donations to the U.S.-backed military regime. It also contributed to and took sides in U.S.-engineered armed conflicts and routinely flew its armada into ideological battlefields directly linked to U.S. strategic interests.

Whereas the United States withheld assistance to Sandinista Nicaragua, which had been devastated by Hurricane Hugo in 1989,AmeriCares couldn't get its planes in fast enough when Violetta Chamorro defeated Daniel Ortega. On February, 1990, barely three days after the election, the agency's first shipments brought in 23 tons of medical supplies. Nicaragua's ultra-right-wing Cardinal Miguel Obando y Bravo took possession of the first shipment and turned it over to the Knights of Malta, a militant Vatican surrogate, for distribution.

In the wake of Hurricane Mitch, tons of food from family pantries, used clothing and pharmaceuticals have been collected through grass-roots efforts by well-meaning groups and shipped, unescorted and unsupervised, to disaster sites. Mountains of supplies have been flown into areas where roads are impassable and warehouses, if any, have been pulverized. Soft drinks, chocolate bars, outdated pharmaceuticals and T-shirts are of little value to the victims. Much is of is eventually sold by local governments -- "monetized," in the parlance of disaster -- or channeled onto the black market.

Richard M. Walden, president of Operation USA, an international relief agency, cautions that "donors giving money to big charities should know that their gifts may not be used quickly to help victims. Most large nonprofits are likely to collect vastly more than they will ever disburse on immediate efforts...."

According to Walden, affiliates in the afflicted areas "are too small to absorb large quantities of money. Some big charities," he stresses, "such as the Red Cross, have policies that prohibit them from sharing donations with smaller relief agencies, many of which have been setting up good supply and health networks in Central America for years."

During her highly publicized visit to Honduras, Elizabeth Dole, president of the American Red Cross, said her organization had earmarked $6 million to Hurricane Mitch victims. Given the colossal fund-raising efforts, this seems like pittance for a corporate giant that boasted of donating over $100 million to victims of last October's Hurricane George. The American Red Cross swiftly responded in the American Virgin Islands, Puerto Rico and the Florida Keys. At this writing, the Dominican Republic, which sustained severe damage and was promised assistance, is still waiting.

The American Red Cross does not ship aid outside of the United States. It continues to accept donations, known to be intended for Honduras, without clarifying that it is the International Red Cross that offers worldwide assistance. It is American Red Cross policy to accept all donations without explanation.

So far, U.S. citizens gave the American Red Cross (on behalf of Hurricane Mitch victims) about $100 million dollars. More than two weeks after the killer storm hit Honduras the American Red Cross sent 40,000 pounds of beans and rice with a wholesale value of $14,000! The American Red Cross placed the rest of the money it raised in its domestic National Disaster Relief Fund.

How much of the funds collected by relief organizations go toward "operational expenses" or are funneled into "pet" charities is a jealously kept secret. A Connecticut-based international children's relief agency twice embroiled in scandals involving fraud and misappropriation of funds, is also currently accepting donations for "the victims of Hurricane Mitch."

Most of the funds collected by this organization go to "overhead," including six-figure executive salaries. Less than 10 cents of every dollar collected ever reaches the children but are disguised and pooled into "community projects" carefully shielded from prying eyes.

The Honduran Government has put together a list of urgently needed commodities. They include: antibiotics and anti-diarrheal agents, medical equipment, bulk foods common to local diets, water purification systems, new bedding, portable generators, construction material and farming machinery. "Little of this is likely to come from garage sale donations of well-meaning American families," Richard Walden concludes.

While the humanitarian response to the devastation in the Isthmus has been encouraging, relief from crushing debt and debt service payments are essential. More countries should follow the example of France, which is forgiving debts owed by Honduras and Nicaragua, and Cuba, which has canceled Nicaragua's. Likewise, Honduras and Nicaragua -- lest they lose popular support and invite the justifiable scorn of their benefactors, must insure that the aid they receive is fairly and unconditionally distributed.

Vigilance by human rights monitors and relentless scrutiny by the media will go a long way toward insuring that none of the aid disappears or is diverted.

Honduras has been damaged to an extent that is almost irreparable and engineers are taking the brunt of the blame. Of course there are irresponsible engineers, careless engineers and even dishonest engineers; such people are found in most professions, but what the public needs to understand is that the creation of the infrastructure of a country follows a process in which the engineer plays a subservient role. It is the politicians and bankers who control what gets built and where. The technology for building sound roads and bridges has been around for several generations. It is common sense to know that if one obstructs the flow of a river not only the obstruction is at risk but its effects will be felt upstream.

Over the last generation the expectations of Third World populations has grown enormously due mainly to better communications. People travel more and see on television the elevated standards of other countries, which they want emulated in their own country. This has placed politicians in a position where they were having to make compromises. In the end, the scarce resources have been spread too thinly. But developing countries did not have the resources themselves, and a third factor had entered into the process: lenders and donors.

Donors are in the same position as politicians: they also have to compromise scarce resources. Banks, on the other hand, are commercial enterprises and once a contract is signed they expect to receive the capital with interest. It matters little if the structure survives one year or a hundred years. So we must conclude that it is the system that should be blamed for the precarious infrastructure found in developing countries. What happened in Honduras is only a window of what could happen in any Third World country. What is obvious is that the process needs fundamental change. Both the First and Third World countries need to rethink their involvement in development.

Politicians of Third World countries need to educate the population; if they want First World standards then they must pay first world taxes. An overall tax burden of 50 percent literally means one works from January to June for the government only. Are we prepared to do it? If not, then politicians at election time should not raise the expectations of the public. Corruption as always needs further attention and here a first step would be to remove the incentive of immunity from the law that decision makers enjoy. A new attitude to expenditure on defense is long overdue in most developing countries. When the First World comes along with its new toys for the military, we should be strong enough to say, "no, thank you."

Honduran building codes have taken earthquake design into consideration for decades and the time has come for the codes to recognize climatic change as a reality and include wall and roof design to resist high wind loading and bridge design to consider a much longer storm return period. Furthermore, projects funded with public money, and this includes soft and hard loans, should have clauses in their terms of reference that oblige consultants to present their calculations for revision by an independent engineer. Aspects such as slope stability and river scour are all too often totally neglected. A tightening up of not only of the terms of reference for design but also of the standard specifications and the supervision of construction will mean that engineering costs will rise but this is negligible when seen in the light of the tragedy that the country is faced with today. Donors and lenders should support changes in this direction. They should also set themselves standards that assess the risk, not only of the loan but of the structure meeting its design life.

During the last 20 years, the trend has been to apply "housewife" economics where the lowest tender is awarded the contract. This myopic view has pushed engineers more and more into a no win situation. Today, if an engineer designs a bridge that spans the flood plain he will starve, because politicians are not interested in good design, they need "results," opening ceremonies are essential for them, they must be seen to be doing something and lending agencies insist on a good return for their investment, otherwise the loan is withheld.

A low-cost solution, like a bridge that spans the existing water course, is sufficient for these purposes. The time has come when engineering decisions have to be taken by hands-on engineers. This does not only apply to the ministries of developing countries, clearly it applies to the lending and aid agencies as well. The trend to send economists instead of engineers to evaluate projects is in urgent need of revision.

President Flores made a gallant speech last week, "Honduras before and Honduras after Mitch." These words are very profound and I wonder how many people, not only here, but in all the capitals of the world, have really grasped its meaning. We all need to contemplate upon these words before they are forgotten and then act with determination to break out of this unsatisfactory mould of development that Mitch so clearly revealed to us.

A.N. Peronius
via E-mail

I am writing to protest a rotten, lousy comment made by Erling Duus, in your 7 November issue. Duus laments about the death and destruction in Honduras, and even attempts to philosophize about divine retribution, si Dios quiera.

But then he goes on to say near the end of his politically-oriented and slanderous piece to cut-down not only the "rascal Belizeans", more pointedly he targets the United States, "...if nature were capricious and spiteful...she would have turned her fury on the United States..."

Besides this being so out of place, it is utterly uncalled for. My country will go above and beyond to help the people of

Honduras and Central America. We will do it because we have ALWAYS done it. We will even help our enemy in times of natural disaster. I believe we even sent aid to Iran after an earthquake. And there's North Korea. And Russia. And the list goes on.

You know, I thought this Euro attitude vis a vis the U.S. in Central America died with the end of the Cold War. It appears the nostalgic Duus yearns to rekindle some illusive empathy against the U.S.

In my five years that I lived in Honduras (as a Peace Corps volunteer and journalist) while traveling extensively to other Central American countries, I experienced little anti-Northamericanism. In fact, we were more revered than any trashy, not to mention obnoxious European and I was told so by many in many different ways in addition to witnessing deplorable behavior myself. There is also such a thing as a very ugly European. You and your kind do not corner the market on gentility.

So, Mr. Duus, hang it up, cause it just ain't so. Contrary to what you state, let me point out that you are one of those who thinks God teaches "salutary lessons."

EDITOR'S NOTE: Nationality cannot and should not be inferred by one's name. Mr. Duus, as well as Mr. Eric Schwimmer, Ms. Melanie Wetzel and several other HTW contributors, are U.S. citizens by birth. In fact, many Americans have European last names -- English, French, German, Polish, Russian, Italian and Spanish, to name a few -- but that doesn't make them any less American.

Moreover, both the U.S. and Honduran constitutions guarantee freedom of speech, and Mr. Duus is free to exercise this right, within the bounds of decency and respect, and this includes the right to comment on or criticize aspects of America and its society. Finally, while there may be some obnoxious Europeans -- as undoubtedly there are Americans or even Hondurans -- it should be noted that many are just as kind-hearted, caring, and supportive as Americans, which has been clearly demonstrated by the large amount of humanitarian assistance and support they have provided for Honduras, which has included monetary and food aid, participation in relief efforts, the pardoning of debt, and even a visit by the French president.

Saturday, November 21, 1998 Online Edition 133

Reconstruction or a new country?
There are many reasons why we can’t decide whether to just reconstruct or build a new Honduras with new horizons.

We know that within three years presidential elections will be held once more. The government must pay for this activity, and the cost is enormous. Furthermore, the change in government every four years that ideally might increase voter information, instead has the opposite effect. A great deal of disinformation and confusion is disseminated, which plays upon the natural disaffection the voters feel for the party and politicians in power. This situation does not excite our enthusiasm for the democratic process.

It is a fine thing that we are receiving support and aid from friends all over the world, but soon their attention will turn elsewhere, and we know that we will be pretty much on our own. The country is demanding change, and change is necessary, but all it takes for us to have nightmares is to imagine how we will be able to continue paying our staggering debt as we struggle with a damaged and unproductive economy, and the avalanche of new problems bestowed by Mitch.

The increase in delinquency and the low self-esteem of the Honduran people cause key government figures to commit errors that are quickly picked up by the press and denounced.

More than 60 businesses have in the aftermath of the hurricane requested suspension of operations for three months because they cannot continue in the market at the present time. Unemployment is rampant. Deportation of Honduran citizens from the United States is only temporarily suspended. Many of those who have been deported or who face deportation have been sending much needed money to their families in Honduras.

Investment in Honduras is safe because the country has an abundance of cheap labor and space; however, foreign investment has been slow even though returns are obviously excellent.

The social and judicial systems are closed and do not permit in any way for emergency cases such as Hurricane Mitch. Aside from all the above, we should remember that before the hurricane Honduras was in a state of extreme poverty, and therefore we have to face problems that were regarded as insurmountable prior to the deluge. Nevertheless, we must seek solutions. We must act. We may need to wait for President Flores' reconstruction plans to be approved and demand a staff of fewer political ministers while considering extending his term of office.

Beyond guaranteeing reconstruction, we should start worrying about making sure that changes taking place are for the good. While we need to act quickly, we need to be thoughtful as well as careful.

Politicians who for the moment have been keeping a low profile, and who thanks be to God haven't shown their faces since the hurricane, are probably at home enjoying their dreams about the capital city that will now fall, like a gift basket, into their laps.

I just surfed onto your site. You are to be congratulated on having one of the best news sites I have seen anywhere in the world. Our prayers to you and your countrymen during these terrible times.

Charles Horton
firo@communique.net

In Germany, like other parts of Europe, many families and businesses lost their houses, factories and belongings in World War II. However, depending on where you were living and sheer luck, perhaps you lost nothing. Also, millions of German families had to flee the Eastern provinces of Germany, and they lost everything. The German government, after the war, decided to equalize the burden of war, that is, the families or businesses that did not loose anything or very little were required by law, to financially help those who had lost their properties. This was done by putting a surcharge on their municipal taxes and by other means, on all property which was not damaged or lost and this money was used to compensate those who had lost.

Can something similar be done now in Honduras after Hurricane Mitch? It certainly would be difficult to do and administrate in a country like Honduras. For one thing, the discretionary income of many families, especially the ones who pay for private schooling for their children, is very limited. But there are, no doubt, many families who can afford to be taxed extra to help those who lost everything by no fault of their own.

It is, of course, always better that people help their neighbors and country voluntarily. The damage done by hurricane Mitch was catastrophic in almost all of Honduras. Because of this, it calls for extraordinary measures and laws to equalize the burden of hurricane Mitch as much as possible.

Rudi Kerkmann
San Pedro Sula

Saturday, November 7, 1998 Online Edition 131

A new city, a new country, the Phoenix ascending

A young woman washes clothing on what was once the street running next to the Río Chiquito in Barrio La Hoya. In the background is the Central Penitentiary, which was seriously damaged by flooding. (Photos by Eric Schwimmer)

By ERLING DUUS

At first, the hurricane with the banal name came in from the Atlantic near the Honduran-Nicaraguan border. It seemed that it would pulverize the Mosquitia, and then lighten up for its further journey west. But just as we prepared for that scenario, the hurricane launched north toward the Caribbean, and then began to move slowly in a direct line west. At that point things looked pretty good for Honduras. It seemed that Honduras might have mostly dodged the bullet of this deadly hurricane, and that either Belize or the Yucatan Peninsula would ultimately bear the fullest impact of the hurricane with the banal name. The entirety of Belize City, 75,000 people, were evacuated in dread anticipation.

But then, unaccountably, Mitch, like the bewildered golfer he was clearly named after, changed directions, and headed backwards in the general direction from which he came, moving east, and bending south. There he stopped. The eye of the hurricane with its l80 mph winds was now bordering the island of Guanaja. The ultimate nightmare, the most merciless assault of this storm, was thereupon visited on that island, as the swirling center of Mitch stayed with deadly focus in the proximity of that island for two days of hell. On shore, and in coastal lowlands from Trujillo to Puerto Cortes, there was heavy rain and strong winds. In Tegucigalpa, there was something ominous in the light and gentle, intermittent rains we had beginning on Tuesday and continuing into Thursday.

On Thursday evening the monster, having destroyed Guanaja, and thereby squandering the greater part of its fury, suddenly headed for the Honduran coast. By the time it had hit the main-land, it had been down-graded to a tropical storm, its winds no longer so mighty. What it now brought with it was continuous and torrential rains, which seemingly fell on the entire country. Perhaps somewhere between 25-50 inches of rain inundated the already soaked country. On the North Coast and the islands, there had already been three days of heavy rain.

In Tegucigalpa it had begun to rain hard early on Friday morning. This continued unabated until Sunday morning when the rain lightened considerably. Early Monday morning it stopped, and the laggard sun began to shine. But on what a scene. At no time in Tegucigalpa did we have wind of any consequence. One of the peculiarities of this storm was that the powerful winds were closely wrapped around the center, and diminished dramatically away from the center.

On Sunday, we began to walk around the city, sharing the streets with many hundreds, perhaps thousands of looters, and with the curious who had come out to see the suddenly awesome Rio Choluteca, and what it had wrought. We went back to our dry apartments, in a mood of sorrow and frustration, feeling over-whelmed, feeling that the scale of this event was beyond comprehension, feeling helpless and unfocused. It was good to sip a little rum then, and discuss philosophy with friends.

But then we hard the bitter news that gave focus, humanity, and ultimately perspective. Mayor Castellanos, "el Gordito," was dead in a helicopter accident while he was out surveying the damage to his city. Throughout the storm it had been encouraging and calming to see the mayor on television. He was honest, involved, concerned, but up-beat. His humanity always shown through. But now suddenly he was gone, and it was as if Tegucigalpa was delivered over to the furies. Tears withheld before now mingled with the rain on the streets and in the homes of Tegucigalpa. Weeping for the mayor, we could weep for the whole country, and for all the dead and the homeless. But hope too began to find a home in grief. We remembered his Nuevo Capital, and all the yellow garbage cans, and the women out on the streets in the early morning cleaning the streets in their yellow frocks. A new spirit had come into the city, and it might now, by the grace of God, become an inspired remembrance, and a call to new achievement, presided over by the enduring image of an energetic, courageous, and caring fat man, who wanted to save a city.

There is neither meaning or purpose to this sort of disaster. It is not an expression of divine retribution, God deciding to take things in hand and teach Hondurans a salutary lesson, particularly those folk in Guanaja, and deciding to let the rascal Belizeans get by with their sins for at least another season. There are many people who think in these ways, unfortunately. The severity of the hurricane on the other hand may well have been caused by global warming. There is, perhaps, the retribution of an outraged nature, but if nature were capricious and spiteful in human terms as many think God is, she would have turned her fury on the United States, where much of global warming originates, and not on a comparatively unoffending Honduras.

No, there is no meaning in this event. But there is a meaning that can rise out of the raging waters of destruction, a meaning which God can inspire but men and women must create. Remember the fat man and call it the "Nuevo Pais." The New Country. If Hondurans come out of this willing only to recreate the old, which in truth only a few really liked, then the great hurricane of l998, unfortunately called Mitch, will be nothing but loss.

An immense burden now falls upon the head of President Flores and all his government, as well as the people of the nation. "A new agenda," whatever that was will not get the job done. El Gordito had the better idea. A new city, a new country, the Phoenix ascending.

Time to reassess contracting system

Aside from the scores of important bridges destroyed, at this moment it is important to consider the future and reconstruction of Honduras.

Many contractors benefitted from juicy government contracts building bridges that do not meet the necessary standards and now is the time revise the current system that assigns contracts. To begin with, examination of the destroyed bridges would determine if they met the required specifications. The designs of the few bridges that withstood the storm could be used as a standard. We no longer want second-rate highways and bridges. The new bridges must be scientifically designed and constructed with the raging waters of a hurricane in mind.

In addition to suing the engineers and architects who sought only their personal benefit in detriment to the country, the new designs should be made of rock and concrete. In addition to being more durable, rock bridges require less imported materials and construction could begin immediately with very little protocol.

The older bridges of Tegucigalpa were constructed from rock, and despite their age resisted the hurricane, which is the finest seal of quality. Building with rock, aside from being more economical, would put to use the tons of boulders dragged to the riverbanks by the powerful current and lend personality to our cities.

Bridges of concrete and steel do not seem to be this country's solution now that Mitch has left us totally isolated, except by air. Urban planning should be based on durability. The government needs to learn once and for all to quit skimming the funds to line everyone's pocket and producing cheap infrastructure.

The pain suffered by the humble people of Honduras cannot be expressed in words. Our president announced earlier this year that we would no longer be international beggars and was encouraging us to work hard for what we needed, but the recent disaster has made us less than beggars.

Monday, November 1, 1998 Online Edition 130

Mitch causing devastation
Since Sunday, Hurricane Mitch has been pounding the coasts of Honduras. At the slow speed of 8 kilometers per hour, Mitch made its way toward the Bay Islands, first hitting Swan Island.

The Honduran government sent hurricane alert messages averting larger disasters. A state of maximum alert has been declared but not yet a national emergency. Meanwhile, all relief organizations have been ordered to provide emergency food rations and medicine to displaced persons.

At this time, few deaths have been reported, but televised reports have shown the devastation that Mitch’s destructive power has caused. The effects of this damage will be felt during the next harvest with dire consequences for the national economy. Basic grains will have to be imported for at least the next two years.

Aid has been timely. The U.S. Embassy and other foreign missions have offered their cooperation. The Minister of Foreign Relations has asked the diplomatic corps to hold aid campaigns in their respective countries to help provide the humanitarian assistance that Honduras will need.

Without doubt, this effort will most benefit Utila, Roatán and Guanaja as well as other Caribbean islands affected, such as the Caymans, and Jamaica that have been devastated by the hurricane.

All available resources are at this moment being used to salvage and stabilize our country. We know there are many more deaths, but for the moment we must handle this information with discretion. This is one of the worst natural disasters to affect Honduras yet.

The politics of martyrdom:
Carlos Luna becomes a symbol

It was not hard to kill Carlos Luna. High-powered firearms of the kind that proliferate in Olancho kill people readily. They are designed for that purpose. All that was necessary was to pass the hat among those who were most annoyed by his effort to enforce the law and protect the environment, and come up with enough money to employ the services of some young hitmen, who need such funds to maintain their life-styles as swaggering machos. Reportedly, Lps. 100,000 was the sum that paid for the deed.

On the evening of May l8 after the city councilman was leaving the municipal building in Catacamas following a late meeting, he was gunned down by a trio of youthful gunmen. A young woman who was employed as the secretary of the council, and who is a relative of the mayor, Freddy Alejandro Salgado, caught a stray bullet in the eye.

What happened next is a subject of much discussion in Catacamas. What is certain is that the badly wounded Carlos Luna was not yet dead. Apparently, at least an hour passed before any action was taken. There is a doctor in Catacamas on 24 hour call, but she was not contacted. There is no clinic let alone a hospital in this city of around 60,000 people. The mother of the wounded man who lived three blocks away was not notified. His wife and children were not informed. One vehicle into which the wounded were placed turned out to be without gas. Reportedly, some unidentified individual stopped by to say, "now we have you where we want you, you hijo de puta."

In any event, Luna was finally placed in the cargo area of a pick-up, while the young woman was placed in the rear seat of the double-cab vehicle, and the group headed for the hospital in the city of Juticalpa, over an hour away. At the beginning some individual rode in the back with the wounded and dying man, but this individual complained of the cold, and was taken into the cab. Somewhere, on the lonely road to Juticalpa, Carlos Luna died, alone.

This it seems is what happens to dedicated environmentalists in Honduras. But if it was easy to kill Carlos Luna, it is proving to be not so easy to kill what he stood for, to kill his spirit. And it may yet emerge that the powerful and well-protected people who paid for the evil deed have so outraged the citizens of Olancho, especially the common people, that they will not be able to continue to evade being called to account before the bar of justice, which is ultimately the tribunal of the people. Everyone in Olancho believes they know who the guilty are, and before long everybody in Honduras who cares will know too.

The issue as always was money. An illegal logging operation operating clandestinely and yielding huge profits was being conducted. Luna was able to gather proof about these activities, and was determined to have the people responsible arrested, and their operation stopped. An arrest warrant was drawn up for the man Luna believed was primarily responsible for the illegal logging, Jorge Chavez, a former military officer, resident of Tegucigalpa, and son-in-law of the President of the Congress, Pineda Ponce.

Had Chavez left his home on the day the warrant was arrested, he reportedly would have been arrested, but it is believed that he was tipped off and warned to stay in his home, where according to Honduran law, arrests cannot take place. A day later, it is further alleged, the warrant was revoked, on orders from the highest legal authority in the land. Five days later, Carlos Luna was murdered.

A few days following the killing, Chavez called the widow, expressed condolences, denied any involvement, and assured her that "God will bring justice." Sometime later, he was interviewed by phone on a Catacamas radio station, where he again proclaimed his innocence, and reiterated his confidence that God would see to the justice that Honduran judicial authority was finding difficulty effecting.

Few people, if any, in Catacamas believe that Jorge Chavez is innocent, but also nobody believes that he was plotting alone. A well-known wood-cutter of Catacamas is also widely suspected of being involved, indeed of being the individual who collected the money to pay the killers. This individual called Luna a month before his murder and threatened his life. The involvement of several others is widely suspected.

Following these events, an organization made up of outraged citizens of Catacamas calling themselves "The Friends of Carlos Luna" was formed. They are determined to see to it that the guilty are brought to justice, and that the cause for which he lived and died be advanced and brought to fruition. They have held demonstrations in Tegucigalpa and on the streets of Catacamas. Their members too have received death-threats. But their courageous work and dedication appears to be bringing results.

This last week the Bureau of Criminal Investigation, the DGIC, arrested and is holding Oscar Rodriguez Molina, age 22, alias "Machetillo," (little machete). He has been interrogated extensively and one supposes, with severity. According to a story in El Heraldo, the DGIC is well aware of the fact that the suspect and his alleged accomplices are but small-fish in this affair.

The officers of the DGIC have reportedly also received death-threats, but Henry Rodriguez, the coordinator of the DGIC, says that they are "not afraid," and will continue with the investigation, wherever it leads.

Meanwhile, the friends and family of Carlos Luna are looking ahead. They want the proposed Rio Patuca National Park established forthrightly without further delay by a foot-dragging government, and want it named the Carlos Luna National Park.

This would be a popular development, and would raise the name of Luna into the annals of the sacred dead of the land. It would serve as a banner around which Honduran environmentalists and school-children could gather. And the condition of the environmental movement here would be dramatized, a hellish twilight drama where the nation continues to swell with preserves and parks named after people who were killed for defending the natural environment, the patrimony of all Hondurans.

The crime against Carlos Luna begins to loom as the axial event, the defining circumstance that will force this government, politicians and leaders of all sorts off the fence to declare themselves and make clear where they stand, and whether or not they really care about the rule of law, about justice, conservation, and government of the people and by the people.

Politics for the most part are practiced everywhere in a sea of compromise and ambiguity. But there appears to be nothing about the events being considered here that lend themselves to either compromise or ambiguity. The people wait, but not passively. In the quality of their waiting, the mountains move.

Self-esteem needed for country to move forward

In the United States, self-esteem has become a well known pop phrase. There are those who strongly support the use, an integration, of self-esteem into all areas of life. Others think it is a bunch of crock. Still others adhere to the idea that having a sense of self-esteem is important, but that it should be earned.

Many Hondurans could use an injection of self-esteem. They lack confidence in themselves and in their country. But in order for a change to occur in the country,its people must first start earning their self-esteem.

If you have read anything about Honduras, you know about the long history of corruption. But watching daily life in Tegucigalpa, you see real life examples of a system that quite frankly isn't working. Yesterday, a friend told me that "The corruption won't change unless there is an atomic bomb, and then they bring new people to live in Honduras."

In a little over a month of living in Tegucigalpa I have been robbed once and yesterday I was almost robbed again. Another friend tells me that, "Robbers don't have hearts, families, friends; that they don't care for anybody. Since I have read "Les Miserable" I think this might not be true in all cases, but I doubt most of them have a well rounded and deserved sense of self-esteem.

Living in my neighborhood, here in Tegucigalpa, I have never felt in danger. However, the general population in the neighborhood spend their time getting drunk and smoking things I don't even want to know about. They tell me that this barrio (neighborhood) is mejor (better) than almost all the others in Tegucigalpa. They say that in the other neighborhoods there are only ladrones (robbers), and you can't go outside in the street because it is dangerous.

If I were in the United States, I would probably call the police to come stop the illegal acts in my neighborhood here; but knowing that all of Tegucigalpa's barrios are worse, I figure what's the point? They can't all go to jail. And if that is my view point after a little over a month, no wonder self-esteem runs a little low and confidence is nonexistent in a system that doesn't work.

I can't say this is fact, but I was told that, "Here, in Honduras, if a rich person kills someone, they can pay someone from the police, and nothing will happen to them." If that is the faith the majority have in the system of government and laws of Honduras, no wonder it is not working.

This country needs to change. It needs to earn a better self-esteem. Starting from the top, each person must decide not to take the easy way out of corruption and bribery. The laws need to be inforced, without loopholes or persons functioning above and beyond the law.

Until the populace as a whole sees that something has changed. Until they see that the leaders of the country are truly being leaders. Then and only then, will it be possible for the momentum in this country to change; for individuals to move in the same direction as the leaders, to say, "This is my country and it is a good country. And I can live a good, respectable, productive life here in Tegucigalpa, Honduras."

I agree with your correspondents regarding air fares to Honduras. I can fly from Florida to Europe for less money than it cost for the two hour flight to Tegus. This situation will only change if the Government of Honduras adopts an honest open sky

policy and finally allows real competition instead of airlines bribing someone in charge to maintain a monopoly of certain airlines and exorbitant pricing.

On a per mile basis, I can fly in the US for 70 percent less with special discounts than I paid for discounted fares to Tegus. Same airline, different profit margins. It is a pity that Honduran politicos allow this to go on, thereby sabotaging the greatest employer in the world: tourism. I guess the politicians get free airline tickets.

Tampa, Florida

I am a police officer in British Columbia, Canada. In the past two years we have had an influx of dozens of Honduran refugees. Unfortunately, the ones we are receiving, or at least coming to police attention, are those bent on selling crack cocaine.

Two years ago crack cocaine was not a known drug to our community; marijuana, heroin and at times LSD were the only narcotics that were prevalent on the streets. Then came crack a narcotic that in my 17 years is the most devastating, injurious drug that we have ever seen. The people who quickly become dependant upon the drug spiral into the world of doing nothing short of selling their soul, everything they own, and in the process doing whatever damage they have to within the community to get the next hit.

Interestingly, with other narcotics we are used to the sellers being addicts selling to addicts, but with crack the only sellers we deal with are Hondurans who we never find high on drugs or alcohol.

Canadian Immigration reports that of all the Hondurans who claim refugee status, only 5 percent ever attend their refugee hearing. The rest stay illegally on the "lamb."

I write this letter not in anger nor in frustration. I know well that the citizens of Honduras we in the police community are dealing with are not a reflection of the typical Honduran who migrates to another country; however, I humbly ask, "why?"

Why are we getting such an influx of people bent on criminal activity? We have arrested many boys and girls 12, 13, 16-year-olds that I can only speculate that some parents are blindly agreeing to some sort of immigration (plan) for their children by someone promising that their offspring will find the land of milk and honey. soon bringing over mom and dad.

I respectively ask this question without intent to insult nor harm any of Honduras' citizens.

New Westminster, Canada