NATIONAL

Monday October 26, 1998 Online Edition 129

Reina's mother-in-law dies

Dolores Reina Fiallos Watson, the mother-in-law of former President Carlos Roberto Reina, died of natural causes early Friday morning (Oct. 16), the daily La Tribuna reported. She was 99.

Known as Dona Lolita, she was one of the leaders of the first feminist movement in Honduras and fought for human rights during the dictatorship of Tiburcio Carias Andino (1933-1949). In 1944, she took part in a march held in San Pedro Sula to demand the release of political prisoners and was one of the 30 demonstrators arrested.

Her parents were Gen. Jose Maria Reina, who was vice president of Honduras, and Dolores Fiallos de Reina, a school teacher. She was married to the late Charles C. Watson. She is survived by five children, 27 grandchildren, and 32 great-grandchildren.

Identity of remains confirmed

Human remains unearthed last year near the community of Las Piramides in Comayagua department are those of Hans Albert Madisson Lopez, one of 184 people who were allegedly disappeared, tortured and executed by the military during the 1980s.

Juan Carlos Diaz, who heads the Prosecutor's Office for Human Rights, told La Tribuna Oct. 14 that there is no doubt in his mind that the remains belong to Madisson even though it was not impossible to carry out a DNA test. He said the key to identifying the remains was a dental piece found at the site.

Of the 184 political activists, union leaders and students who disappeared between 1981 and 1988, only the remains of Madisson, Nelson McKay, Gustavo Morales, Amado Espinoza and Adan Avilez have been found and identified.

Majority of Hondurans poorly paid

A recent survey conducted by the Census and Statistics Bureau (DGEC) revealed that only 1.2 percent of Hondurans earn Lps. 10,000 (US$740) a month, the daily El Tiempo reported Tuesday (Oct. 20). According to the survey, 1.25 million persons or 59.8 percent of the nation's work force of 2.1 million have a monthly income between Lps. 100 ($7.4) and Lps. 1,500 ($111). The minimum wage is Lps. 1,000 ($74).

Record number of dengue cases reported

More than 17,000 cases of classical dengue have been reported through September of this year, according to Marco Antonio Pinel, director of the Health Ministry's epidemiology department, in a La Tribuna report Tuesday (Oct. 20).

Pinel said final figures will be much higher than previous years due to the large amount of rainfall the past few months that has contributed to the proliferation of mosquitoes, the disease's vector. He added that seven of the 18 people who have been diagnosed with hemorrhagic dengue fever, the more virulent version of the viral disease, have died.

With respect to other diseases, he said that 160,000 cases of diarrhea -- mostly children -- have been reported this year, an increase of 8 percent over last year.

Monday October 10, 1998 Online Edition 127

Garbage: "a disgrace and a national emergency"
Blamed are the volume, the logistics and the 'loathsome habits' of people who resist reform

Out-door grills and eateries right in the middle of Central Park provide a daily source of fresh trash.

By W. E. GUTMAN

TEGUCIGALPA -- It's easy, perhaps useful, to rhapsodize what can't be changed. Self-deception makes the obvious tolerable. Peddling illusions buys time. Neither makes the problems go away, however. Take garbage, for instance.

Nine months after Dr. Cesar Castellanos' triumphant ascent to the top municipal post, Tegucigalpa -- "ugly, dirty, noisy, polluted and foul-smelling" by his own account -- has made scant headway (see HTW 2 May 1998).

If the mayor deserves kudos for achieving what many privately deemed impossible -- playing on the fickle pride of his constituents -- his enthusiasm, drive and influence, alas, do not seem to have spread much beyond the city's center. A small quadrant extending a few blocks from Parque Central appears to be cleaner.

But the make-over is superficial in the extreme, clearly designed to placate visitors and tourists -- rather than inspire capitalinos -- and proving that when no one looks, leadership

and good examples often drown in the viscous sea of public apathy.

Some things simply do not change with the passage of time. Instead, they magnify and accentuate the city's ubiquitous air of squalor, decrepitude and misery.

A stone's throw from City Hall, beggars, cripples and ragamuffins cluster on the slop-splattered steps of San Miguel Cathedral, seeking shelter from the merciless sun, stealing forty winks, awaking, dazed and disoriented. In the dark of night, oblivious, stripped of all earthly possessions, they discard, perhaps in an unconscious but supremely liberating act of defiance, their only disposable assets -- the fruits of their bowels.

Around the corner, divested of his spear, his nearly severed right hand now mercifully amputated, the archangel stares in mute stupefaction at a snickering Satan. The symbols of his virtue and strength forfeited, he looks more vulnerable than ever perched atop a desolate, arid fountain where rubbish is routinely discarded.

Every morning, sanitation workers spruce up the area. By noon, corn husks, watermelon rinds, fast-food containers, plastic sacs, crumpled paper bags, candy wrappers and other unrecognizable flotsam and jetsam litter the plaza and the peatonal, tossed with sublime indifference by wave after wave of blank-faced passers-by.

The farther one drifts away from "downtown," the more garbage one can expect to find, uncollected for days, augmented by successive generations of pedestrians and motorists who view the streets as convenient, if not legitimate, dumping grounds.

"Garbage is a disgrace, a national emergency. It's not just an urban phenomenon. Anyone motoring on the highways and byways of Honduras will have noticed the mounds of refuse that line the roads, mile after sickening mile of scenic beauty," offered a high-ranking City Hall employee on condition of anonymity. [Mayor Castellanos declined to be interviewed].

"The problem is enormous," she said. "If garbage were a marketable commodity we wouldn't need coffee or bananas or pineapples. We'd transform both our domestic commercial base and our exports to a garbage-driven economy! The truth is that the logistics of garbage collection, removal and disposal in Tegucigalpa are insurmountable. We can't cope with the volume.

We lack the resources -- financial and technological -- to make significant headway. Worst of all, we're powerless against the loathsome habits of people who resist reform. You just can't legislate against indifference and sloth," the municipal worker concluded.

Capitalinos who elected El Gordito and sang his praises now have a different take on reality. "It'll be decades before Tegucigalpa ever becomes 'La Nueva Capital.'" Jaded, or supremely intuitive, with hindsight a proven barometer, they add, "by then, the mayor will have achieved his political aims and we'll all be right back where we started..."

Probe reveals corruption in games

An investigation of the VI Central American games has revealed numerous irregularities in the construction of the sports facilities, the daily La Tribuna reported Oct. 1.

According to a 130-page report prepared by the Comptroller General's Office, irregularities included the issuing of Lps. 15 million in unsecured bonds by the municipality of San Pedro Sula, the contracting of nonexistent companies, the lack of unsupporting documentation by the firm that provided transportation, payments made to local and foreign referees and judges who did not participate in the sporting event, and a Lps. 30 million variation in the price of the still uncompleted Olympic stadium.

Moreover, La Tribuna reported that the electronic scoreboard was invoiced by the game's organizers for US$400,000 even though it was donated to Honduras by the Cuban government.

Painter Leary dies

Prominent abstract-impressionist painter Salvador Leary, a Costa Rican native who made Honduras his second home, died on Monday (Oct. 5). He was 55. The painter, who was honored in San Pedro Sula two months ago for 35 years of artistic labor, is survived by his wife Suyapa and four children.

SPS businessman kidnapped

The personal physician of Carlos Alberto Mendieta Guillen, abducted four days ago by four heavily armed gunmen, begged the kidnappers Thursday (Oct. 8) to administer insulin and other medications that his patient desperately needs in order to survive, the daily El Heraldo reported.

The 70-year-old Mendieta, who has a diabetes condition and suffers from hypertension and heart problems, was snatched from his office in San Pedro Sula's Barrio Las Acacias Tuesday at gunpoint, beaten, and taken away in his own vehicle by the kidnappers. Although the kidnappers have called relatives of Mendieta on several occasions, they have so far not revealed their demands.

IHAH official dies

George Hasemann, head of the Department of Anthropological Investigations at the Honduran Institute of Anthropology and History (IHAH), died early Thursday morning (Oct. 8). The cause of death was reported to be cancer. Hasemann is survived by his wife, Gloria Lara Pinto, and children.

Monday October 5, 1998 Online Edition 126

Candido Amador Recinos (Photo by Eric Schwimmer)

Doors slam shut. Smiles fade from the friendliest lips. Amiable chats end abruptly at the mention of his name. His assassins are still at large. Their accomplices may include some of Copan's elite.

COPAN -- Wafting over the denuded carcass of this formidable Mayan city-state of yore is an immense pall of silent desolation. Scarred by time and neglect, jealous of the past, unwilling to bare their cryptic soul, temples and stelae, sacrificial altars and mausoleums preside in mute stupefaction over barren esplanades and dusty plazas once teeming with life.

It is in the shade of a centenarian tree overlooking the ball court, and under the watchful eye of a dozen Chorti lookouts posted strategically nearby, that Juan asked to meet me last March. Juan is not his real name. There's a price on his head. He knows too much but several visits with his people and two exposes recently published in this paper, he said, attest to both my loyalty and discretion.

"Secrets, like rumors, have a long shelf life," Juan quipped as he surveyed the landscape below. Mixing metaphor and gruesome actuality, he added, bowing his head, "and the truth is always the first casualty. Its remains are hastily buried. So it was with Candido."

A symbol of ethnic pride revived, Candido Amador Recinos, the charismatic Maya-Chorti leader, knew he was a marked man. His activism and fiery rhetoric would effectively seal his fate. Unheeded, subtle hints gave way to warnings. Warnings turned to threats. Candido first confided in members of CONNICH, a federation of indigenous groups. He then shared his fears and suspicions with fellow Chorti tribal elders.

"Candido told me that Rafael Gonzales and Gonzalo Cueva, both wealthy landowners in the Copan Valley, had vowed to kill him," Juan whispered in my ear, a slight quiver in his voice.

Someone did on the night of Saturday, April 12, 1997 as he walked home from Copan Ruinas to the neighboring community of Corralitos.

Born in a hamlet a few kilometers from Copan Ruinas, Candido spent much of his childhood in Morazan, Yoro, where his parents had moved in search of work and better conditions. Candido was an exemplary student. Focused, quick-witted and inquisitive, he took an early interest in his people, past and present. He held several jobs while attending school. He also sold newspapers in his spare time, reading every edition from cover to cover. After graduating, he returned to Copan and was promptly hired by the Archaeological Institute as a restoration technician.

In August 1995, Candido attended his first CONNICH meeting. His dynamism soon earned him a full-time seat in the Chorti elders' council, and he resigned from his job at the Archaeological Park.

A year later, he represented his people at a demonstration of the eight Honduran indigenous tribes in Catacamas, Olancho. Dubbed "Our Roots," the gathering was sponsored by the Honduran Fund for Social Investment (FHIS), an organization that channels aid to impoverished communities. Candido branded the demonstration as "a meaningless but highly visible government self-promotion ploy."

Candido was the invited to join CONNICH and was soon named a representative to the Bilingual Education Project of the Ministry of Public Education. He was also appointed secretary of CAHDEA, the Advisory Council for the Development of Honduras' Autochthonous Populations, a post he held until his death.

On the night he was killed, Candido and several CAHDEA leaders from Boca de Monte had stopped for refreshments at the small comedor/souvenir shop located across the road from the Archeological Park.

"The media were misinformed -- or bribed -- by landowners," said Juan. "Candido was NOT killed on the outskirts of Copan, as reported. He was killed at the home of landowner Rafael Gonzales, in the presence of Antonio Ramirez, Rigo Morales, and Gonzalo Andrade." Ramirez is an artist specializing in replicas of Mayan inscriptions. Morales is a livestock farmer. Andrade operates a tour-guide service. Evidence of a fifth accomplice, as yet unnamed, has recently surfaced. All are alleged to have been paid by Rafael Gonzales and other farmers angered by Indian claims to their land.

According to Juan, Candido's lifeless body was then removed and dumped on the road to Corralitos, where he was found. Two days later, Eduardo Villanueva, a government district attorney in charge of ethnic affairs, discovered blood and hair evidence at Rafael Gonzales' home. Juan continues to insist that Villanueva withheld the evidence, a claim Villanueva has acknowledged, contending that he had been awaiting the results of an FBI forensic exam. An FBI source familiar with the case has refused to confirm or deny Villanueva's assertion.

Juan also alleged that Villanueva had only gathered evidence found near the door of the Gonzales home. "Had he gone inside and inspected the rest of the house, he would have found more clues, more evidence. But, as soon as Villanueva left the premises, several women hurriedly mopped the floors and tidied up the house." Neighbors have told this writer on condition of anonymity that they had heard Candido's screams. "He begged for his life," said one.

Rafael Gonzales' car was then heard speeding toward Corralitos. One witness says he heard gunshots not far from where Candido's cadaver was discovered. A spent .22 caliber shell was recovered at the site. The autopsy revealed three .38 mm bullet wounds. Candido's body also bore multiple stab wounds. The medical examiner could not say whether they had been inflicted before or after he was shot. Candido had also been scalped.

Landowners and cattle ranchers took paid ads in several newspapers in support of Rafael Gonzales. The ads argued that Candido had been robbed of a large sum of "foreign aid money" with which he had been entrusted, then killed. Landowners then allegedly conspired with the police to implicate two common crooks popularly known as Tun Tun and Tin Tin. The pair first admitted to the murder then recanted, claiming they had been paid hush money by the farmers themselves. Tun Tun and Tin Tin, who had worked at millionaire farmer Ernesto Castejon's Finca el Cisne, were subsequently fired and brought before the police, jailed briefly and released for lack of evidence.

Candido's murder has been condemned by all of Honduras' indigenous peoples. It remains unsolved to date. The Maya-Chorti, who describe the investigation as "a travesty and a monumental hoax," have not forgotten and continue to demand justice.

"We want our enemies to know that Candido's death has made us stronger and more resolute in our struggle to recover our lands," Juan told me, as we parted last March, his hands on my shoulders, his fathomless Mayan black eyes burning into mine. "Make sure they get the message."

The press has called Candido's death "a contemptible political murder," and blames the crime on cattle ranchers and landowners. Human rights groups have also criticized the National Agrarian Institute, arguing that Candido would still be alive had it provided Indians with legal title over lands that were legitimately theirs to claim.

Redoubling their efforts to deflect further scrutiny, Copan and Ocotepeque landowners have since been pointing fingers at Juan, alleging that it was he who killed Candido in a Chorti leadership power struggle. The police have cleared Juan. This did not prevent Juan from weeping in my arms when we met again in August by the venerable old tree. He then took a crumpled piece of paper out of his pocket, unfolded it slowly and handed it to me. It read, in part:

"... Our ancestors took a wrong turn and followed a course so aberrant that they painted themselves into a cultural dead-end. I will not allow their posterity -- our people -- to be subdued and led to final extinction by today's conquistadors. I know this will earn me enemies. I know I might die at their hands. If I do, make sure everyone knows the truth...." The note was signed by Candido and dated April 10, 1997, two days before he was murdered.

Eighteen months have passed since Candido Amador's violent death. Evidence of foul play, incontrovertible and damning, continues to pile up, baffling some, turning others to stony silence.

At least 25 Indian leaders have been killed over land disputes in recent years. Is Juan next?

A fire presumably caused by a short circuit consumed the installations of Television Channel 54 early last Friday morning (Sept. 25), resulting in millions of lempiras in losses.

Alfredo Pineda, an employee of the station located in the luxurious Lomas del Guijarro neighborhood, told La Tribuna that he noticed smoke coming out of the main studio shortly after turning on the transmission console. Attempts to put out the fire with an extinguisher failed, so he called the fire department.

By the time the fire fighting units arrived, however, the blaze had completely destroyed the station, including two transmitters worth Lps. 1 million, video cameras, consoles, lights and other equipment; and the recording, post-production and main studios.

In a massive joint operation conducted last Thursday (Sept. 24), law enforcement officials arrested more than a dozen members of Los Chinchilla, a dangerous criminal band responsible for numerous car thefts, bank robberies, homicides and cattle rustling.

According to the daily La Tribuna, more than 200 agents of the National Police, the Department of Criminal Investigation and Interpol participated in the operation that took place in and around the communities of Florida, San Antonio, La Jigua and Sebastian in Copan department.

The U.S. National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) plans to establish a pilot laboratory in Honduras to study atmospheric conditions, according to Jose Abraham Rosa in a La Tribuna report Wednesday (Sept. 30).

Rosa, a Honduran-born scientist who works for the space agency, said the project could get underway next year and would cost around US$20 million. The laboratory would be built near the National Autonomous University of Honduras (UNAH).