OPINIONS & EDITORIAL |
OPINIONS & EDITORIAL |
Monday, October 30, 2000 Online Edition 44 |
|
ERLING
DUUS CHRISTENSEN: 1940-2000
By
W. E. GUTMAN LOS
ANGELES -- Quoting from the Kabbalah as we spoke for the last time on
the phone this past August, Erling said to me in parting: "Search
and discover the root of your soul. If your mind races, return to the
place, return to where you were before the thought." I
will never know whether this was the kind of oracular banter that
kindred spirits trade, or whether it concealed the seeds of some darker
premonition. I know that, in pursuit of self-knowledge, Erling planned
to travel to India and Tibet before returning to Honduras. He died two
months later after a brief and gallant battle with cancer. He was 60. Eminent
colleague and friend, astute observer, relentless critic of human folly
and injustice, devoted teacher, Erling stood tall, a voice of reason and
rectitude amid the stridency of political demagoguery and the blandness
and hypocrisy of partisan journalism. His provocative columns in
Honduras This
Week bear witness to his intransigent respect for truth. WRITER,
EDUCATOR, PREACHER Erling
Duus Christensen was born in Esteline, South Dakota on July 12, 1940. He
graduated from Alden High School, Alden, Minnesota, in 1958. He earned a
BA in history from the University of Northern Iowa in 1962 and a
Master's from the University of Indiana in 1965. In 1970, he received a
Master's degree in Divinity from Vanderbilt University, Nashville,
Tennessee. An
Aristotlean-style educator, Erling had a dappled teaching career. He
taught at the college level for 12 years at seven different schools,
among them Chadron State College, Nebraska; Dean Junior College and
Cumberland College, Tennessee. He also taught secondary school for about
five years in Belize, Honduras and Los Angeles. He
spent a year as a guest lecturer in Peru and taught at various folk
schools in Denmark, North Carolina, Minnesota, South Dakota and
Tennessee. He
served as national chairman of the Folk School Association of America
from 1982 to 1984.
An ordained minister, Erling devoted seven years to the
Unitarian-Universalist Association and six years to the South Dakota
Conference of the United Methodist Church. Erling was also a prolific writer. In addition to
scores of newspaper and magazine articles, he published four books:
Danish-American Journey (1967); American Christianity and the American
Earth (1978); The Tragic Sacred Ground (1989); and Jesus Walks in the
Garden of the Parque Central and Other Honduran Essays (1999). A
posthumous anthology of his most recent works is currently being
assembled for future publication. Anyone wishing to contribute to this
effort is invited to make a donation to a special fund now being set
aside by Honduras This Week. He
is survived by a brother, Verner V. Duus, of Yahtahey, New Mexico, and
his sister, Sybil Duus Needham, of Tucson, Arizona. At his request, his
ashes will be divided and interred in Minnesota and Solvang, California. While
most of us accept the notion that what cannot be changed must be
endured, Erling insisted that what cannot be endured MUST be changed. It
is this defiance of all odds, this bold challenge against sloth,
indifference and timidity that come across his writings and his personal
ethic. He inspired, galvanized, jolted and even shocked his way into our
consciousness. All
who really knew him, admired his modesty, marveled at the frugality of
his lifestyle, and regaled in his erudition and the sharpness of his
intellect, will miss him deeply and for a long time to come. Erling
died all too soon but his life was a gift to us all. |
Dear
Mario, Our
sincere condolences to you and the Honduras This Week staff for Erling
Duus's passing on. For all of us that knew Erling from his first arrival
in Tegucigalpa from La Ceiba, we share the loss of
this good friend. We lived at the same time in the ApartHotel del
Rio, from his first days here and shared many talks and experiences. One
amusing one, was the day that by accident he left his lit pipe on the
sofa of his apartment, causing a fire that fortunately was limited to
that apartment. . . but even though he thought our insurance should
cover it, and in spite of his "dutchness" he helped with some
of the expenses of replacements and fixing it up again. For a short time
before working at the American School he taught English at our Oxford Language
and Training Center. During the time we lived in the same building, we
had long talks which led me to know the depth of his theological
learning, and through his articles in your weekly publication his gifts
as a writer. We will pray for the advancement of his soul in all of
God's worlds and share with you some words he found inspiring about our
"rational soul": "The
first condition of perception in the world of nature is the perception
of the rational soul. In
this perception and in this power all men are sharers, whether they be
neglectful or vigilant, believers or deniers. This human rational soul
is God's creation; it encompasses and excels other creatures; as it is
more noble and distinguished, it encompasses things.
The power of the rational soul can discover the realities of
things, comprehend the peculiarities of beings, and penetrate the
mysteries of existence. All
sciences, knowledge, arts, wonders, institutions, discoveries and
enterprises come from the exercised intelligence of the rational
soul." (Published
in "Some Answered Questions" (Wilmette:
Baha'i Publishing
Trust, 1984), chapter 58, p. 217) With
our sincere best wishes, Donald
and Gloria Drysdale Dear
HTW: We
are profoundly saddened at the untimely death of this gentleman.
We did not always agree with his views but we respected his
genius at getting across his ideas and putting things into perspective. Erling
Duus Christensen will be sorely missed.
We offer our sincerest condolences to his family at their great
loss. De mortuis nil nisi
bonum. Requiescat
in pace. Andrew
Wilson |
Privatization
changes Difficult
to accept is the formula that claims privatization equals a faster,
cheaper, better and more secure service.
Simply put, when a service previously owned by the government
becomes privatized, there is no guarantee that it will be improved. The
privatization of services in Guatemala and El Salvador has produced little
change. After the auction of
their airport corporations to private enterprises, the only changes
visible were the immediate and exaggerated charges for "new"
airport services. The only
"new" aspect of the same old services they were overcharging
for, was their name. These
privatization changes have proven to be so lacking that we are amazed at
the insistence of the World Bank that we do the same. That pressure placed
on our government has turned into a malign gesture that was one of the
reasons of the failed telecommunications auction. Let
us keep in mind, though, that businesses like HONDUCOR, HONDUTEL, SANAA,
ENEE and other public services are on that same black list of
privatization. Soon, they
will pass from public to private hands, and we fear the only thing that
will improve is their income. The
situation is soon to go out of control.
There is still no valid answer to the commercialization of these
services. While ownership of
any public service would give companies the rights of an economical
advantage, they should also accept the responsibility of responding to the
national need of said service. Divorcing
the state from basic services and public works is cruel.
In an ideal world, the state would handle the businesses mentioned
and control their costs so that all its denizens can afford them.
But the profit margins for the services are high, and that is also
something we must pay attention to. We
suggest that an interinstitutional committee should be in charge of
constantly evaluating the quality of these "privatization
changes." The committee
should not only be composed of different government agencies, but also of
representatives of private businesses, which are vital and important to
these new operations. Taking
that previous suggestion, there are other organisms which need to be
constantly observed and evaluated. Many
enterprises show our nation's face in the area they deal in.
There is no control over what good, or bad, facets these businesses
demonstrate. Furthermore,
a close watch must be set on the monopolies that could be created as a
result of the privatization process.
Any privately owned monopoly of a public service is a threat to the
consumers. Also, with a
monopoly, the government risks losing a little of its independence.
Therefore, that same government should take care not to simply hand
that kind of power out, and instead sell parts of the public services to
different owners. So
far, the privatization of our
country's government-owned services has not gone well.
The first auction held ended up in a catastrophe that left next
year's budget in a huge deficit. We
should heed these signs and learn from them.
Perhaps we should take pause, reevaluate, and continue the process
when we are better prepared to handle its consequences.
Chorti protestors sought justice and
observance of constitutional rights By CARRIE COMSTOCK, CHRISTINA ANDERSON,
SARAH BAILEY AND CHRIS O’BRIAN Special
To Honduras This Week We appreciated the attention brought to the Chorti Indians in last month’s paper. We would like to offer a different perspective. As a group of 19 North American students studying in Honduras we had the opportunity to meet with the Chorti Indians in Copan the day after the protests ended. Their stories and solidarity revealed to us the history and facts of this recent protest. In 1997, the Honduran government promised to purchase land for the Maya-Chorti Indians, some of the poorest campesinos in Honduras. The land was to be divided into small plots and distributed among landless Chorti families. After two years the Chorti were still landless. In order to pressure the government into acting on their promises, the Chorti organized a protest outside the Copan Ruins. Not only the home of the Chortis' ancestors and a source of cultural pride for all Hondurans, the Copan Ruins also attract tourists from all over the world. By prohibiting tourists from entering the park the Chorti forced the government to take action. On Tuesday, September 6, six hundred Chorti men and women camped outside the gates of the Copan Ruins. They effectively shut down the park's operation while never entering the ruins themselves. Although this form of protest is technically illegal, it is a common catalyst for mobilizing the government's bureaucracy. After two years, the Chorti had no other choice and presented the government with four demands. First, they called for the respect of the government’s treaty to consult the indigenous people on matters concerning them and to reinstate Gilberto Sanchez Chandias, special government prosecutor for indigenous affairs, who had been fired without any such consultation. Second, they insisted that the government act on its promise of providing them land. Third, the Chorti asked the government to begin investigations into the murders of over 50 indigenous leaders that have taken place in the past 20 years. No one has been brought to justice for these crimes. Fourth, the Chorti asked for a portion of the tremendous revenue generated by the ruins. The Minister of Security ordered the protesters to leave Copan by noon on Thursday, and negotiations progressed in hopes of avoiding conflict. An agreement was finally reached early Thursday afternoon, as Congress approved funds for the purchase of land and agreed to set up an office to investigate the murders of the indigenous leaders. The Chorti in Copan, however were reluctant to leave without documented proof of the agreement, and were still waiting for confirmation around four o'clock. Instead of waiting for proof of the agreement to reach Copan, the Minister of Security became impatient and sent the police force and army into Copan to remove the peaceful protesters. Several hundred police confronted the protesters with riot gear as a helicopter dropped tear gas throughout the area. Reports circulated claiming that at least seven police officers were seriously wounded and only two Chorti were mildly wounded. In fact, Dr. Juan Almendares documented only five mild injuries for police and numerous Chorti injuries, including broken bones, a broken jaw and at least one miscarried pregnancy. Another painful result of this situation was the animosity shown by the townspeople as they aided police in the violent removal of the Chorti. It was unfortunate that the Minister of Security chose this poor and marginalized group to begin a show of government power, reinforcing the disrespect for these people and their needs. Not only do the Chorti lack enough land to feed themselves, they also lack basic healthcare and education, both of which are guaranteed by Honduras’ constitution. This
situation brings to the forefront the need for the government and civil
society as a whole to look for ways to heal the racism and division that
exists. Until the government
begins to respond to the needs of its people such takeovers can be
expected to continue. We commend the government on legalizing its previous
agreements with the Chorti and we trust that it will now move forward in
resolving the Chortis’ grievances. |
FHIS
neglects Mosquitia reconstruction projects By MARIA
FIALLOS TEGUCIGALPA
-- In a recent public declaration doubling as a petition to President
Flores, municipal representatives of the Mosquitia denounced the lack of
the reconstruction projects executed by the Honduran Social Investment
Fund (FHIS) in the areas they govern.
In the document, officials are petitioning President Flores his
intervention with the Minister of FHIS, Moises Starkman to hasten approval
and execution of proposed projects. They claim that although 24 months
have gone by since Hurricane Mitch and several FHIS consultants have
visited the area, no social or infrastructure projects have even be
initiated in the Mosquitia. According
to the officials, although municipal governments in the Department of
Gracias a Dios have gone to enormous efforts to prioritize reconstruction
projects and have repeatedly urged the FHIS to take action, their efforts
have come to naught, causing them outrage at the fact that the Mosquitia
is always last on the government's list of priorities. The
document also expresses concern by the fact that "Jose Chepe
Leon," a former member of the Callejas government, whom, they contend
was highly corrupt, has now been placed in charge of FHIS projects for the
Department of Gracias a Dios without their former knowledge or consent. The mayor’s are also demanding that the National Emergency Committee maintain its presence in the area to define mitigating measures against possible future natural disasters.
|
Monday, October 23, 2000 Online Edition 43 |
|
The Editor, staff and employees of Honduras This week profoundly lament the tragic demise this week of Erling Duus Christensen and sent their most sincere prayers and condolences to the Duus family. |
HONDUTEL
fiasco Last
Tuesday, Oct, 22, the bids for 51 percent of HONDUTEL, the
government-owned company that holds the nation's telecommunications
monopoly, were announced. There
were many reasons for this auction. Among
others is the hope that the company that acquires HONDUTEL will bring a
badly needed technological boost to a telephone company that has a
400,000-plus deficit of phone lines.
Also, the sale of 51 percent of HONDUTEL would help solve the
nation's budget deficit of $300,000,000 and please the World Bank that is
pressuring for the privatization of state services. From
the beginning, we anticipated good offers from powerful companies like
AT&T, who is headed, in their Latin American division by Crescencio
Arcos, a former U.S. ambassador to our country.
The former official is on good terms with President Flores, and we
took for granted that HONDUTEL was destined for AT&T. But,
as the closing date for bids approached, only three companies stepped up
to the plate and AT&T was not one of them.
The three bidders turned out to be TELMEX, Telefoníca of Spain and
France Telecom. The rumors
floating at this point were that these three companies had agreed to bid
in unison and then split the pie later. While
all this was going on, at least US$15 million were spent uselessly on
audits, negotiations with personnel, studies and a poorly done promotion
of the company. Then,
on Tuesday, the auction failed. Only
one bid was made, by TELMEX, and it totalled to be one third of the
government's asking price. Government
officials left the negotiations in tears, the national press commented,
because next year's budget depended on this sale. There
are many reasons for this failure, but we do not believe that the wood
HONDUTEL is made of is rotten. The
problem is that the expectations and presentation of the business were not
handled properly. The
political maelstrom that has been brewing in the country does not create
an appealing environment to foreign investors. Besides
these two reasons, there was a lack of research to find companies, of a
high enough growth profile, willing to take the investment risk. Instead, the whole process remained a mystery.
In some instances, after our readers' inquiries, we searched for
information relevant to the auction, but speaking with government
officials involved in the auction of HONDUTEL proved to be difficult and
in vain. It
is a pity that our government drew up economic projects based on hopes and
not on facts, as is required in these modern times.
Have they never heard the phrase, "Don't count your chickens
until they've hatched?" It
is bad business to sell out of necessity because the bidder shall offer
whatever he or she desires with little fear of competition. Once
again we complain because the agencies that promote our businesses do not
work, in fact, they do not even exist.
Promotion was a vital part of the plan to sell Honduras' state
services, and no one did anything about it. We
again call on the attention of our authorities, so they in turn, pay
attention to whoever is handling the promotion of Honduran businesses.
Thinking
out loud in a souvenir shop Personal
reflections on the link between cause and effect By
W. E. GUTMAN TEGUCIGALPA
-- "Como va el negocio," I ask, as I inspect the trinkets --
most of them made in El Salvador and Guatemala. "Mas
o menos," replies the clerk, chewing on something. Typical
answer. I get that from
cabbies, waitresses, street vendors, shoeshine boys, ambulant preachers,
cops, thieves, and tawdry old whores who hustle not far from the National
Congress. Mas
o menos. Leave it to a
Honduran to pussyfoot, to equivocate, to find in vagueness and ambiguity a
refuge from precision or truth. "Mas?
O menos," I insist, accenting each word for effect. He
looks at me sheepishly. "Not
enough tourists," he laments. "Are
you surprised?" I ask. "What
do you mean?" "What
do you think I mean," I reply in the interrogative, delaying the
pleasure of responding in the declarative.
The store clerk looks at me with a mixture of bewilderment and
annoyance. I pause for
dramatic effect, then hazard another question. "What
in heaven could possibly attract tourists to Teguz?" Stimulated,
perhaps for the first time in months by the need to ponder an abstraction,
he takes a feather duster and proceeds to dust three rows of wood-carved
Don Quixotes. He doesn't have
a clue, I mutter under my breath. The
Man of La Mancha would have blurted out the answer for all to hear.
But conscious awareness of the obvious, in Honduras, is an
impossible dream. Across
the street, stretched out on the sidewalk, an old, toothless beggar woman
eyes me with suspicion through the shop's open door.
She's been occupying that filthy square of pavement for as long as
I can remember, her hand outstretched, her gaze quick and furtive, like
that of a bird of prey. Slung
over my shoulder, my camera makes her nervous.
I have frozen her abject commerce in time more than once. She fears another photo may suck the soul out of her. I
scan the shelves and pick up a cheesy replica of Maya King 18 Rabbit. I have no intention of buying it, only of marveling at its
ugliness. "You
like it? For you, only ..." The
price he quotes is 25 lempiras higher than that marked on the sticker. "Oh,
it's the old price. We forgot
to put on a new tag." Yeah.
I bet. Down
the road, on Avenida Cervantes, near the steps of City Hall where she now
whiles away hour after empty hour, Dona Nadie, the nameless one, the
gremlin‑like madwoman I wrote about almost two years ago, stares in
a void in which dwell monsters of her own making.
She curses at the world around her and the world scoffs. A
few feet away, propped against the wall, a man flaunts horrible
deformities at passers‑by. I
know that the mayor must virtually step over him to get to her office
every day but municipal priorities, somehow, have prevented her from
finding him and dozens of other cripples swarming the downtown area a
better place to endure their calamitous existence. Across
the street, on Calle Hippolito Matute, the narrow, windswept, slop-splattered
alley that hugs the rear of St. Michael's Cathedral, another man writhes
in madness-filled agony. Foaming
at the mouth, his eyes on fire, he crumbles to the ground and lets out a
ghoulish wail that the faithful, in their ecstatic state, do not hear. Wallowing in garbage, he claws at the demons that torment
him. He thrashes about, rolls
into the gutter and narrowly misses being hit by a passing car. Taking
it all in with chilling detachment, a young pregnant woman breast-feeds
her newborn as three older daughters -- sired by three different men --
learn the beggar's trade. Intent
on eliciting some reaction from the shop clerk, I rephrase the question: "The
North Coast and the Bay islands have beaches and world-class resorts.
Copan has the pyramids and spectacular mountain vistas.
Olancho and La Mosquitia are a nature‑lover's paradise.
What does Teguz have to offer?" The
shop clerk takes a sandwich from under the counter and proceeds to
demolish it with ogre-like bites. I
repress images of Paris, London, Rome, Madrid, and Vienna, each flanked by
magnificent rivers, as malodorous effluvia waft from the Choluteca, a
stinking miasma that doubles as a garbage dump and a public urinal.
I then mercifully subdue recollections of Carnegie Hall and Lincoln
Center and La Scala. I
intentionally disremember the Louvre, the Tate Gallery, the Prado, the
British Museum and the Met. The
Champs Elysees and Fifth Avenue and Regents Park fade from memory as the
sound of demented drivers beeping their horns rises to an unbearable
crescendo while noxious fumes fill the air. Of
course, such comparisons are absurd, patently unfair. I
then dispatch my mind's eye to survey the Parque Central, a Boschian
netherworld forever teeming with the bored, the aimless and the lost, the
worn out, the drunk, the despairing and the mercifully insane.
Then I recall, with horror and anger, the day when members of the
Cobra Commando fired at point blank range into crowds of demonstrators. In
a dizzying, desperate attempt to make a point, I share my thoughts with
the clerk. He belches
sonorously and without a trace of embarrassment.
His eyes are glazed over. I
know he hasn't heard a word. I
plead: "Now
do you understand?" He
motions with his hand. "Mas
o menos." It's
all right. Busy building
personal empires at their countrymen's expense, politicians don't have a
clue, either. Progress,
beautification, decorum and cultural refinement are not as lucrative a
pursuit as pilfering the national coffers.
Much could be done to bring hope, joy and, yes, even tourists, to
Tegucigalpa for the price of yet another luxury hotel built with
narcodollars.
CHEESY
ARTICLE Dear
HTW: I am a frequent reader of your newspaper "Honduras This Week"
and I frequently refer to articles published in it.
I am very surprised by the bad taste and lack of minimum courtesy
shown by Ms. Melanie Wetzel. As
I understand, she is a foreigner, has business in Honduras and studies
here, but that does not give her the right to speak to the world about
Honduras in the way she did in her so-called "article"
["The sordid world of Honduran Cheese," Oct. 16 online edition]. Minimal courtesy rules avoid us from expressing many terrible things we
see while traveling as a way of respect to our host.
I write you in the hope that this type of nasty writing does not
become the point of interest of your newspaper. Dr.
Reynaldo Melara, M.D. Dear
HTW: I am so disappointed to read the cheese article, it's obvious that this
woman writing about Honduran cheese didn't grow up in Honduras.
If she thinks that American cheese is better because it appears to
be cleaner, she is in for a surprise.
At least Honduran cheese isn't loaded with chemicals. I have been coming to your site every week but the quality of the
articles has gone down hill. Therefore,
as a proud "Honduran" that I am, I will not
come back to your site and will tell everyone I know to do the same. Angela
Maguire |
Where
have all the Liberals gone? By
MELANIE WETZEL I
don't know if I'm the first to say it, but it's a bad time to be a Liberal
in Honduras. Things are bleak
and getting bleaker by the day. What
makes the situation painful is that for the past four years or so, it has
been a great time to be liberal in Honduras.
The contrast has taken me by surprise. Four
years ago Carlos Flores was the president of the Congress and a likely
Liberal Party candidate for president.
I'll admit, I've been a Flores fan from the beginning.
As president of the Congress, he was involved in passing major
legislation in favor of women and children.
His speech when the Law for Childhood and Adolescence was passed
made me cry. He
was elected easily, and his inaugural speech was another touching one. His analogy of Honduras as a country where everyone was in
the same boat, but some were pulling on one side and others were pushing
on the other side rang very true for me.
I still get chills when I think of Flores saying, "Empujemos
todos en la misma direccion." We
all have to push in the same direction. It
has been a difficult four years. I'm
sure that President Flores would be among the first to admit that he
didn't accomplish all he set out to do, but his leadership was vital in
the aftermath of Hurricane Mitch, and his integrity has never been
questioned. It could have
been different, but it wasn't. Flores'
term is slowly coming to an end. We
are once again in the middle of heated campaigns for the internal
elections. As the hopefuls
began their campaigns, I kept waiting to see the candidate that would
catch my eye. And now, as the
inscription process draws to a close, all I can say is, "Isn't anyone
else going to run?" The
Liberal Party frontrunners are Jaime Rosenthal and Rafael Pineda Ponce.
Rosenthal is a business man and media mogul.
He seems to have plans and ideas that would be good for Honduras'
struggling private industrial sector.
But leg irons? From a Liberal? His
stance on many touchy subjects like human rights can only be described as
right wing. Rafael
Pineda Ponce is currently the president of the Congress, the same position
held by Flores before the last election.
Flores' record in the post was filled with innovative, if
controversial, legislation. The
Congress under Pineda Ponce will probably be more remembered for what it
didn't do (reform Article 107 of the Constitution), than for what it did
do. And, as his swan song,
Pineda Ponce passed a new law requiring that the Bible be read daily in
public schools. Aside from
the fact that this law, in my humble opinion, could easily be declared
unconstitutional, it most definitely has Honduras' liberal forefathers
spinning in their graves. The
speech that Pineda Ponce made when the law was passed was patronizing at
best, and religious discrimination at its worst. So
the leg irons are starting to look pretty good at this point.
So are opposition candidates.
While the Liberals are putting forth their most socially
conservative candidates this year, the National Party is going for youth
and liberal economics. The
most talked-about candidate for over a year has been Ricardo Maduro. Youthful and charismatic, he easily became the favorite.
He has experience in Congress and as former president of the
Central Bank. He's a
successful businessman, but aren't they all?
That seems to be a pre-requisite for running. In my desperation with the Liberals, I began to have leanings
toward Maduro as the best candidate.
It isn't uncommon, many Liberals seem ready to jump the fence on
this one. His
campaign, however, seemed to stall. For
weeks we heard nothing of Maduro, and I began to wonder if someone
shouldn't call him up and remind him that he was a frontrunner for
president of Republic of Honduras, if he would just come out and show his
face occasionally. Then the
bomb dropped. The Liberal
Party announced plans to impugn Maduro's candidacy based on the fact that
he was not Honduran by birth. I've
studied the problem, and I know a little bit about these things. This is a very complex legal question requiring the study of
various Constitutions and the application of legal doctrine about how
these Constitutions can be applied over time, and whether rights that have
been awarded can later be withdrawn.
I believe that even great legal scholars would have to sit for a
time and contemplate this situation before giving their conclusion. That's
what the Supreme Court is there for, if you ask me.
But we are now entering the third week since the impugnment,
counting down the remaining six weeks for the inscription deadline, and
the legal ball is still being tossed from the Election Tribunal to the
Ministry of Gobernacion to the Party headquarters to the media. The
situation is very tense, and I'm afraid that Maduro has buckled.
Instead of organizing a legal team, he is leading rallies.
Several times last week Maduro displaced the locos and the clowns
from Central Park to march for his right to be inscribed.
Then his followers began blocking traffic on major streets.
He has threatened from the very beginning that he will do
"whatever is necessary" and has stated publicly that he would go
as far as bloodshed to get his candidacy approved. Right
there he lost my support. It
is the wrong way to go about it. Having
the support of a majority of the public does not mean anything if you
don't meet the requirements. The
National Party has aligned itself behind Maduro.
There are other candidates to their internal elections: Elias
Asfura is a perennial candidate and is once again on the ballot, and so is
Rene Fonseca, a hard‑line conservative.
None of them have publicly decried Maduro's recent activities, and
they all support his inscription. So
I'm in a quandary. The
Liberals are giving us conservatives and the conservatives are giving us a
liberal who is only Honduran if you hold the Constitution at arm's length
and squint up your eyes. Then
the impugnments began to fly, and I began to wonder if, finally, it
wouldn't be determined that no one was Honduran at all.
Or that if once the dust settled Elias would be left as president.
Frankly, he looks like about the best option at this point. Luckily, I can't vote.
|
Monday, October 16, 2000 Online Edition 42 |
Europe
goes bananas The
European Community has announced that it will close its market to Honduran
bananas because of elevated prices. It
is a good strategy because in this way they benefit their former colonies
in the Caribbean and Africa. Europe
feels remorseful and compassionate toward these areas, along with a moral
obligation to protect them. Meanwhile,
they try to punish the United States and their main allies, looking to
weaken the northern nation through short- and long-term economic
pressures. Honduras,
as we have mentioned before, is not only an important producer of banana,
but it also has important scientific centers like the Honduran Foundation
for Agricultural Research (FHIA). This
agency's function is to control the genes and health of this most
wonderful plant in the world. Countless
have been the times Europe has asked current producing countries to put
aside the fruits of our labor in virtue of the protection of African
countries. Instead, like we
have done before, we suggest that our country find a different way to
solve these problems. In
return for the international aid it receives, Honduras should donate its
excess banana production to countries in need of it.
If there is no excess, then we must create it and in that way help
relieve some of the tension that broods over this global community. The
pending rivalry between the United States and Europe concerns everyone.
It's clear that the commercialization of the banana is done by the
United States and not Honduras. This accredits the world power with its exportation and not
our small nation. Even if we
tried indirectly to sell the fruit to Europe, our trade with them would be
financially null. Europeans
argue that their aid to Third World countries is of high quality.
Hondurans can argue that the fruit our country produces is of the
highest quality in the world. We
are a tropical nation, an ideal place for agricultural growth.
Added to this we have the best agriculture schools, like the Pan
American Agricultural School in Zamorano.
All this and we have not even mentioned the great efforts the
banana companies go through to keep their production free of
contamination. There
is no excuse for the banana policy in Honduras.
The poor, or almost nonexistent, state involvement in the
production and commercialization of the fruit is owed to free commerce.
The cost of changing this could mean an abandonment of those
companies, the loss of Honduras as a center of production, and the
denouncement of its government to the world for interfering with free
enterprise. We
are frightened that Europe is politicizing commerce.
This is a step backward in the progress of economic relations that
a poor world cannot afford. This
European proposal is a prologue to a decision Latin America could take. One good alternative to this Latin community in its search
for economic stability and rapid growth is to move all of its economic
exchanges with Europe to the United States.
A commercial blockade against Europe would bring the world to a
check; is this the new, surprisingly negative globalization of the planet?
Or is it a money war? We
have never heard anyone say this before, but hunger and the desire to live
make for some very strange happenings. |
|
Monday, October 9, 2000 Online Edition 41 |
For a young
democracy like ours, all this at the same time is too much.
Something is not working, and it seems to be a lack of coordination
in the social sectors of the country.
Coordination is tricky; it implies directing various, different
intentions toward a common goal, and at the same place and time.
The problem with our country is that, due to cultural distances,
the sectors involved cannot even find a common language to give things a
proper name. This makes the
coordination of Honduras seem like that of the Tower of Babel, where they
made a building so high, that the people at the top spoke a different
language than those at the tower's base. The
confrontation between the executive and judicial branches of the
government, which took place more than a month ago, shows the imperative
need to find solutions to the slow and poor justice system of our country.
There is a tyranny felt in the legislative branch, and an obvious
preference for a particular liberal presidential candidate. The discord has
reached all social circles. In
a traditionally Catholic country, even an obligatory 10-minute reading of
the Bible in schools has been a source of tension and strife. The waves of
opinion have been polarized, as much in the clamors of television as in
the concise written words bearing the most notable signatures. It seems as if
we are living in Cold War times, suffering from the effects of the
socialist strategy of "divide and rule." With soldiers
on bridges, patrols at sea and airplanes bearing different alarms, we are,
no doubt, the laughing stock of those who profit from the heat of crisis. We had a
relative and popular peace, but today we confront each other without one
national objective. Instead,
our objective is personal and it involves showing off who is the bravest,
or the angriest, or the most stubborn one of all.
Historically, we have not yet met a just person who wins all the
battles. Peace has
saturated America. We need
this time of peace to find new solutions and not fight over old
concessions. We need to
search for understanding and waste less energy on verbal violence; people
need to be inspired, not irritated. It
is a crime to subject a country like ours to great antagonism. Many times,
like a mother and father bear responsibility for their child, the leader
of a nation must bear responsibility for the state of his country. Because of all
this conflict, the weak international promotion of our country, in search
of markets and opportunities, has passed into myth. This is no longer done, it does not exist.
Honduras deserves better opportunities.
She deserves to be cleansed of negligent and irresponsible people
as well as cleansed of pessimists, because, with them, we are getting
nowhere. Mitch has passed,
and our obligation to widen our horizons is a reality that we must work on
before politicians divide us even more. |
|
Monday, October 2, 2000 Online Edition 40 |
Workers'
unions have rejected the government's most recent minimum wage proposal.
This means that the workers will make the sacrifice of a general
strike to apply pressure. In this way they plan to obtain the demands they are seeking. The
true opposition to the workers' unions comes from businessmen who plead a
serious economic recession plagues the country. Disregarding this former statement, in our opinion, these
businessmen, grouped into more than 250,000 small-, medium- and large
businesses, cannot afford to give a pay increase, particularly in the
small business sector since they are just barely getting by. The
majority of these "companies," more than 90 percent, are
operating out of the owners' very own place of residence. The
conflict is not a matter of money, it is a matter of whether an enterprise
can afford its payroll or not, and still have enough of a profit to allow
for the business to grow. The
tragedy in the workers' negotiations is their failure to see past the
money they want now. Woe
betides the future they do not plan for when they find they lack a social
security system that will allow them to retire. In
place of what they ask, we propose that they aim for getting a stronger
social security system, through the improvement of the IHSS. A good pension and health coverage should be the aspirations
of the worker trying to support a family. The
proposed mechanisms of negotiation of the labor unions can be seen as
totalitarian; counting on all the labor force of the country to work
toward a common goal. In the
past, we have commented that one of the greatest historical mistakes of
this country was the creation of a Labor Code that benefits only the
proletarians. These two
elements do not leave much room for fair negotiations to take place. The
Labor Laws of this country have been created to eliminate free competition
for labor. They lead the
worker to lose interest in improving his or her capacity and knowledge.
Take, for example, the United States, where more than 10 percent of
companies' income is dedicated to personnel development.
Proportionately, our country's enterprises do not spend more than
the 1 percent established by the law that they must give to the Institute
of Professional Training. It
is true that benefits to the worker should be evident if their job is done
well. These benefits should
be handled on an individual basis and not a communal one as the Honduran
Council of Private Enterprise suggests.
A company's earnings have natural parameters of risk, leading to
loss or gain. If the risks
rise with the fall of those earnings, it will just seem that much more
appealing to put all capital in a bank and save it risk-free. The raises demanded by the proletarians of the country in their communal proposal does not hold true to the nation's fragile economy. They are unaffordable and based on instant gratification with no planning for the future. Maybe 30 percent of the country's businesses can sustain a raise of that nature; but the small and mid-sized businesses will go down with it and we will once again be plunged into lawlessness. If
elected, Jaime Rosenthal Oliva could emerge as the most innovative
reformer Honduras has ever known. Will
a society crippled by apathy and vacillation acquiesce to his strong-arm
reforms? If so, can the
reformation heal -- or will it further cleave -- the nation?
All speculation will cease if he ever dons the presidential
sash. TEGUCIGALPA
- Presidential hopeful, Jaime Rosenthal Oliva, does not mince words.
He calls the shots as he sees them, unmoved by imputations of
callous rationalism and opportunism.
His is the refreshing "in-your-face" idiom of the
self-assured. He will not
hesitate to perplex or stun his opponents -- or the electorate -- with
bizarre, sometimes grotesque solutions to a host of deeply imbedded
socio-economic problems. Take
his much-publicized "national plan," in which he argues, among
other things, for a return to forced labor camps and the imposition of
capital punishment. Unveiled
with typical bluntness, these "remedies" continue to cause
consternation among members of the press.
Many believe they were treated to a bad joke. "I'm
dead serious," Rosenthal told this writer, visibly amused by his own
play on words. Baring a
rakish trademark smile, he added: "Nothing
else has worked so far, has it?" Evocative
of a darker age in Honduras' history, his blueprint against crime involves
a series of phased measures designed "to combat and root out urban
terror." One of his
first priorities will be to revamp "a slow, Byzantine, over-bureaucratized
judicial system bogged down in procedural minutiae."
Foreign elite police teams will be invited to train the local
constabulary. He will build
new, tougher prisons, "where criminals are put to work, not merely
left to whittle away the hours."
And, yes, he will mandate that 100-lb. iron balls be secured by
means of a chain to the ankles of the most egregious felons. "This
nation's moral compass is spinning out of control. There is a total absence of implied authority, the kind of
culturally ingrained discipline and fear-induced respect for law that
reflexively makes people do the right thing.
If you can't inspire good behavior, you have the duty to punish bad
behavior swiftly and decisively." Rosenthal
insists he is not advocating a return to the Carias regime, "when
dissenters and innocent people were wantonly persecuted."
He vows, instead, to go after "hardened outlaws," all of
whom will be "chained to a ball and forced to toil long and hard for
their keep." He bristles
at the suggestion that such outmoded methods would violate basic human
rights. "What
about the citizens' legitimate right to security and tranquility?" As
for the death penalty, he concedes, "We are not ready.
Our judicial system must first be cleansed and revamped from top to
bottom." Entrusting a
person's life to the chaotic, corrupt and inept legal machinery now in
place, he fears, would contribute to "the kind of discretionary
abuses or ghastly errors that further retard the cause of justice." Why
would anyone want to be president of a nation so riddled with problems as
to make it nearly ungovernable? I
popped the question at Rosenthal's palatial residence in Via Elena,
outside Tegucigalpa. "Your
question is the answer," he responded, with oracular aplomb.
"I am uniquely qualified, willing and ready to take this
nation out of the dark ages." This
is no idle claim. A graduate
of the prestigious Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Rosenthal is one
of the richest men in Honduras. Engineer,
international banker, newspaper tycoon, real estate mogul, he has launched
and managed diverse and complex ventures with skill and imagination. But
is he qualified to govern a nation congenitally resistant to change?
Rosenthal rejects the question as academic. "Yes,
ours is a conservative society. Yes, we are petrified of change.
But progress depends on change and change demands tenacity and
patience. To abandon hope
because change is a slow and laborious process would only play into the
hands of the enemies of progress." First
on his list of "must" reforms -- he calls it "the fulcrum
of Honduras' future" -- is education.
"Promoting education won't earn me many votes; I'd probably
win by a landslide if I ran on a 'welfare' ticket.
Everybody wants a handout. But
this is not what I'm about." Characterizing
his countrymen as "a people in a hurry to get nowhere," Mr.
Rosenthal blames "a climate of anti-intellectualism and an inept and
uninspired core of educators" for the "mediocrity of our college
graduates." Honduran
universities, he asserts, "produce consistently unremarkable, if not
incompetent, professionals. Vocational
schools turn out second-rate craftsmen.
We have a large pool of cheap labor but our workers are unfocused
and unproductive. Illiteracy
contributes to unemployment and poverty; substandard education keeps our
society stagnant and irrelevant." Vowing
to usher "an era of prosperity for all," Rosenthal plans to
build new schools and "import 500 of the best bilingual, computer-savvy
pedagogues money can buy to instruct our teachers and professors, and to
inspire a new crop of students."
An infusion of foreign capital will help revamp education, energize
employment and spur economic growth.
He also promises not to raise taxes, claiming that the sale of
various "ill-managed and corrupt institutions, efficient government
and a solid currency" would provide ample revenues.
In time, he believes, a healthy economy will eventually encourage
people to pay taxes, "because they will have a better education,
better-paying jobs and face a better future for themselves and their
families." Rooted
in a dual, dollarized economy that aims at eliminating the private
mortgage system while privatizing health insurance, utilities, and garbage
collection system, Rosenthal's modernization schemes are as bold as they
are controversial. Nor does
he balk at championing projects that have alarmed autochthonous and black
communities. He favors
construction of hydroelectric dams on the Patuca and Chamelecon rivers,
sanctions the exploitation of vast tracts of alpine forests for the
production and sale of lumber, supports the erection of wind-power
electric generating stations in La Mosquitia and advocates "new
incentives designed to energize tourism."
Properly managed and executed, he insists these projects "will
improve the environment and benefit the people." Indigenous
leaders and human rights monitors unanimously reject this claim -- a
"mindset" Rosenthal blames on "meddlers" such as the
press and non‑governmental organizations. "People
say what they're told to say. If
they feel persecuted, it's because do-gooders tell them that they're
persecuted. We can pander to
their patriarchal pretensions and keep them poor, quaint, alienated and
unproductive -- as they are in Guatemala -- or we can help them cross the
cultural and economic divide into the 21st century." Jaime
Rosenthal is an energetic, opportunistic idea person who hoisted himself
onto the political bandwagon the way he managed his multimillion-dollar
empire -- with stoic vigor and ruthless pragmatism.
His utilitarian solutions to serious, often intractable issues may
impress the elite but are unlikely to resonate with the masses. A
self-made man, Rosenthal is an old-fashioned capitalist and an inveterate
technocrat. Capitalism is a
dynamic and self-perpetuating force that works well in, and on behalf of,
capitalist nations. It has
fared less well in countries lacking vibrant democratic traditions or in
realms where the national wealth is jealously guarded by - and for the
sole benefit of - plutocrats. Political
observers here and abroad doubt that Rosenthal's entrepreneurial agenda
can alter the destinies of millions of money-strapped, weary, disheartened
Hondurans. Creating
controversy a la Pat Buchanan by engaging in rhetorical shock treatment
may titillate some diehards. His
pseudo‑populism, however, is as deceptive as his red shirt and as
misleading as the name of the un-"Liberal" Party he represents. On
the surface, his agenda suffers from unsettling contradictions, if not
serious flaws. For one, he
refuses to concede that the same effort put forth to improve education in
urban centers must also extend to rural areas where illiteracy is both
endemic and intractable. Nor
will he hesitate to invite massive foreign investments in prime tourism
locales, thus contributing to the dislocation of entire communities. As
for the mountains of garbage that are slowly submerging Honduras, the
aspiring president offers but nebulous solutions.
Predictably, he blames "culture and education" for his
compatriots' habits. He might
be right. But he doesn't say
how garbage discarded by well-bred and erudite Hondurans can be safely
reclaimed before it becomes an environmental disaster. In
fairness to Rosenthal, whose Promethean reforms have yet to be tested --
and owing the abysmal failure of previous administrations to yank their
nation out of the muck, Hondurans may ultimately have little to lose by
electing him. At worst, he
will join a long line of ambitious, greedy and ineffectual heads of state,
many of whom only went along for the ride to snatch a place in history and
pilfer the national coffers.At best, his audacious "Proyecto de Pais,"
with all of its disconcerting provisions, could galvanize Honduran society
and help it take, at long last, a hard and cathartic look at itself. Meanwhile,
it will be interesting to see if a man who lives in Babylonian splendor
can gain the confidence of a nation of paupers who have been repeatedly
and mercilessly abused and defrauded by their leaders. If
elected -- and if he puts his money where his mouth is -- Jaime Rosenthal
Oliva could emerge as the most innovative reformer Honduras has known.
Will Hondurans dare to let him do the job? *
* * The
foregoing interview was carried out with the participation of HTW
reporter, Suyapa Carias.
By Jorge Agurcia Tonite's
Toast: Here's to the descendants of
Spaniards and of English Pirates, may they drink good rum together and in
shameful quantities. After
a month of talk about pirates, I'm almost ready for a break.
I told my wife that I was writing another entry on the theme.
She gave me a look that would freeze
the balls off a brass monkey. There
remains, however, one last worthwhile entry ¾ in my opinion. The
question at hand is the stereotypical images that have been bred into
Hondurans regarding our fellows in the Bay Islands, and vice-versa.
At the risk of stoking the fires of controversy, I think it's an
issue that deserves addressing. In
his doctoral dissertation, which I have quoted before in this column, the
American anthropologist D.K. Evans states: "In
speaking with Ladinos [of Spanish mestizo
descent] on the north coast of Honduras one may occasionally hear the
inhabitants of the Bay Islands referred to as los piratas en las Islas de la Bahia ("the pirates in the Bay
Islands"). In the summer
of 1961 my wife and I met a young Ladino agronomist and his wife at our
hotel in La Ceiba, Honduras... When they heard of our immediate plans to
board a boat for the islands, the man, apparently very serious, warned us
that the islands were not considered a safe place to visit, especially the
island of Roatan. He assured
us that the people there were of mala
sangre (bad character), and were all descendants of cruel, bloody
pirates and escaped murderers. "The
islanders, on the other hand, with traditional stories and conventional
stereotypes of their own, agree that their islands are infested with a few
modern-day 'pirates.' They
insist, however, that the latter are to be found only in the offices and
uniforms of the 'Spaniards,' or Ladino officials and administrators of the
national government... "This
long-standing mutual fear and mistrust of one another has its roots deep
in the turbulent history of the area.
Specifically, it was from Port Royal on Roatan Island that the
buccaneer Van Horne led his bloody and successful raids in the 17th
Century against Spanish shipping and settlements in the Bay of Honduras,
and it was from the mainland of Guatemala and Honduras that Spanish ships
and troops later came to burn the settlements and drive out the English
from the islands of Roatan and Bonnacca [Guanaja]... "The
implication here is that diverse ethnic origins, historical events, and
past grievances have done their share in building and sustaining myths and
stereotypes which, even today [1966], promote mistrust and hostility
between islanders and Ladinos, and that such beliefs tend to limit
sociocultural contacts between the two cultures." Although
more than 30 years have elapsed since Evans wrote this account, and much
ground has been covered -- insofar as the mutual assimilation of
diametrically opposed traditions -- these stereotypes (and not the
differences, per se) still effectively present a barrier to growth.
Slowly we are coming to terms with the differences, and hopefully
they are now looked at more as complementary distinctions. I believe that globalization has had a hand in a change
that, lately, has wrought conditions of mutual respect between those
people on the mainland and those on the islands.
Despite the odd fellow -- more inclined toward tribal behavior than
toward maturity -- the majority of us are ready to learn and forge ahead. Maybe
by now we've come to realize that we are merely the children of two old
empires that once ruled the world; and that our future has little to do
with what language we speak or what our grandparents did for a living.
After all, we've had to grow up all on our own -- practically like
orphans -- and what we share is still a beautiful corner of the world that
deserves looking after. This will be done, together. Oh,
about freezing the balls off a brass
monkey... I know what
you're thinking so let me
explain: on ships of old, cannon balls were stacked on a brass contraption
called a monkey; whenever the temperature dipped beyond a certain point,
the contracting metal would cause one of the leading cannon balls to fall
off. A
sailing present.
Picture
a gigantic jungle in the middle of the Caribbean sea. Picture one small, domestic orange and white house cat living
in a protected environment of a safe casita
with six other brothers and sisters.
Then some things occur, like your owner is gone for eight days,
strangers are bringing food in now and then, no one is touching or loving
you, and you decide to go looking around. The
next paragraph is conjecture, but knowing there are many boa constrictor
snakes in the jungle perfectly willing and able to devour kitty cats, and
many square miles of places to get lost in should something make you run
away from your home grounds, it is not too out of line to say this young
kitty got good and lost. I
came home, counted tails and started calling for the missing one.
Three days and nights of periodic running up into the hills making
a fool out of myself yelling, "Ruth, Ruth, where are you?" and
nothing. Now, in the final
stages of desperation, I gave in and said my famous prayer to St. Jude,
apologized for bothering him with such a small request for a miracle, but
that I really needed his help. Now,
I have asked St. Jude for help on many other occasions and although he
does not always respond immediately or with an exact miracle formed
preciously as I ordered it, I have no doubts or complaints.
I am trying to say this is not fiction, I am a firm believer in St.
Jude and his responses, and knew help was on its way. Exactly
76 minutes later there appears Ruth, clean and healthy and ready to be
picked up and mutilated by his owner.
Thank you, St. Jude. E-mail
me if you would like a copy of the prayer to St. Jude. I
now believe I have seen every road rule infraction possible here in
Honduras, and I do not think my mentioning them in the column will cure
the problems, but it might make our readers a little more aware and
therefore alert them to some of the idiosyncrasies here abouts. I
drive the road between La Ceiba and Tela quite frequently and, due to the
schedule of my events, I usually end up returning to La Ceiba after dark.
This brings into play the use of high beam headlights.
With the advent of halogen and other outrageously brilliant
"off-road" lighting, it is now almost deadly to beam those
puppies into someone's eyes at high speed.
I found myself flashing hi-lo several times before an oncoming
truck would lower his for me. Then, when you think all is well, he blasts you with the hi
beams just as he is in your face, seemingly to say, "I got you
now." Perhaps
I am just paranoid and it is not intentional, but it sure is factual over
and over, trucks and autos as well would keep low beams on, then flash up
to high beams a little bit too soon.
So, watch out for that and grab the white line painted to your
right to keep yourself lined up on the road. Then
we have the signs and finally the lack of signs. You will notice great big signs that state "no maltrate
senales" or something like that.
What it means is do not mistreat the signs. This sign repeats every few miles, making it the most
important one. Then
there is the lack of signs like just before a giant rip all the way across
the highway. Like an
appendectomy scar with first a big depression then a rise of hard rocks
and fill dirt then another depression and the climb to the existing
original road. No flashing
lamps, no flapping flags, no cheap signs, nothing to tell you that you are
about to break your axle or burst your tires or bite your tongue off. So,
again, enjoy the countryside, imagine Mayan ruins beneath each mound of
dirt and don't miss the beautiful clouds all over the magnificent
mountains, but be careful. We
also want you to visit Guanaja on this trip. Don Pearly is the General Manager
of the Bayman Bay Club on the island of Guanaja.
His e-mail is <bayman@caribe.hn>. |
W.E.
Gutman, the author [of Personal reflections, Sept. 2 edition], never has
anything good to say about anything.
One wishes that God gives him a long life, because anyone with such
an outlook must be suffering hell on earth. Over
the last two or more years, I spoke to the publisher perhaps three or four
times. Now, if that is
considered harassment or doggedly lobbying, then I apologize to the
publisher, whom I think is an exceptionally good man.
One remembers an editorial he wrote in the Jan. 16 issue after the
devastation of Mitch, thanking America for its assistance to Honduras.
As an American citizen, I called and thanked him for the nice
editorial. However, if I
approached the subject of Mr. Gutman's articles, the publisher would quite
calmly advise me that I would have to speak to the editor, since
acceptance of articles was his department and at his discretion. A
function of free speech is to invite dispute.
(From the decision - 1949.) One
telephone call and one personal visit was, to the best of my recollection,
the only contacts I had with the editor.
Primarily, it was not about the articles Mr. Gutman wrote but under
the function of free speech, the editor would never print any viewpoint
that was contrary to Mr. Gutman's detritus. It
is with much gratitude to learn that the reason my articles were not
accepted was my unwillingness to trade lucidity, sobriety and coherence
for the privilege. However,
let's be truthful. The
editor, because of his liberal tendencies, will not print letters or
articles that have other viewpoints.
Even the New York Times prints articles or columns submitted by
William Safire. One remembers
Ben Bradley of the Washington Post who covered up the illegalities,
iniquities, and pure slime of the Kennedy era and used the power of his
paper to destroy the presidency of Richard Nixon.
Years later, when many things were learned through the Truth of
Information Act, Bradley gave his "dear brother-in-law" apology. Therefore,
don't preach to me about journalists and their seeking of the truth. Latin
had a rhyme, whose abbreviated version is "quis, quid, ubi."
The rhyme was the initial word of every possible question one could
ask. Therefore, I invite Mr.
Gutman to ask any question about my 30 years of experience in Honduras and
compare it with his experiences to determine the vacuous individual to be
consigned to obscurity and insignificance. One
reading his articles can easily discern that he is an "educated
journalist" and has a tendency to use 50-cent words.
Jesus, in The Sermon on the Mountain, and Abraham Lincoln, in The
Gettysburg Address, were known for the brevity and clarity of their
messages. In my education, I
was fortunate to have five years of Latin, four of German and three of
Greek, so my knowledge of root words is quite sufficient.
However, many people can't appreciate what Mr. Gutman is talking
about because of his verbalism. However, one remembers quite clearly that he promised not to
write any more articles for HTW.
We
couldn't let another week go by without letting you know how much we
applaud and appreciate W. E. Gutman's articles.
He is, without a doubt, one of the best journalists in Honduras and
Central America. He is always
on the mark, speaking truth when it is unpopular and even frightening.
We are often impressed with his accurateness and
straightforwardness. From
time to time, we see letters to the editor blasting Gutman for one thing
or another. While at times
these letters can be rather entertaining, often they show a complete lack
of knowledge and understanding of the subject of the article. With
that in mind, we felt compelled to let you know that there are many
readers who find Mr. Gutman refreshing in an age of media manipulation.
We were saddened when, for a time, he left HTW and now are much
relieved that he is back. We
have been readers of HTW since the 80s and have seen a lot of growth in
the newspaper since that time. Keep
it up!
As
my retirement from the National University approaches, I was surprised to
read C.F. Agurcia's article, "UNAH: Honduras' threat to the
future" which captures the reality of our university.
I am in agreement with him in distinguishing between two types of
faculty members: some dedicated to their job and others indolent and
absent. These latter stand
out and look to promote themselves by invoking the Faculty Statutes to
validate their rights, while they shirk their responsibilities. The future of this university, and indeed the country, is
disturbing, knowing that its future leaders are being "formed"
at this institution. Corruption
has us in the state as he describes.
Teachers show a lack of ethics when they claim to work full-time
and only show up a few hours a week (versus the obligatory 30 hours a
week); or when they do not prepare their classes because their other job,
usually also in the public sector, does not leave them the necessary time
for attending their students and class. Students
are "subsidized" for an endless number of years, the university
failing to enforce regulations regarding attendance. The university has turned into a day care center for youths.
It takes a student an average of 10 years to graduate with a
degree. It is unfair that
while there are Hondurans who do not have access to primary school, other
Hondurans who graduate from high school still have the privilege to enroll
in the University and then abandon classes, not show up, fail and repeat
classes, play cards, interrupt classes with rowdy music and conduct
propaganda of every nature, all on the government's budget.
This year UNAH has spent almost Lps. 800 million, next year it will
be at least a billion. The
tragedy is that no one stops this situation, the few of us who dare
question things are considered enemies of the university. Bureaucracy grows, faculty members seek promotions without
fulfilling their duties, employees request more wages without taking into
account merit, the government does not prohibit individuals from earning
two (or more) salaries on the government payroll. An
external evaluation of UNAH is urgent.
The quality of a university is directly proportional to the quality
of its personnel. Only when
the majority of students achieve Agurcia's sensibility will a solution be
found.
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Erling
Duus Christensen (left), pictured here with noted Tawahka leader Edgardo
Benitez, after conducting an interview for HTW.
