conflicto armado en honduras

el articulo de un amigo mio Pavel N. de Honduras,

El gobierno golpista nos ha estado privando de la información, compañías como Cholusat, canal 8, Radio globo, TeleSur y CNN. han permanecido bloqueadas de todas las compañías de cable del país.

Ayer hubo una manifestación en casa de gobierno con aproximadamente 15,000 personas, cifras que no fueron publicadas por periódicos ni canales locales.

El día de hoy se soltó una represión en donde el ejercito retuvo campesinos, hirió personas, apresó y hasta existen ya unos casos de muertes... Hay periodistas internacionales heridos y capturados, todo el mundo habla de Honduras y nosotros no sabemos que está pasando.

Son muchos y muchas lo que ahora están escondid@s por temer a que esto se convierta en una continuación de la guerra fría de los años 80's.



A continuación la información que nos están ocultando:

http://www.telesurtv.net

guatemala

my entire travelling trip started 2 weeks ago in copan ruinas (where there is an archiological park of the old mayan ruins) ... went with 2 honduran friends from tegucigalpa on friday afternoon.... arrived in san pedro sula pretty late.... so what do we do!? .... well... .thought 2... and decided ... to try our luck with hich hicking..:)... it was so much fun... a truck driver (who only drove 20 km/h) .... gave us a ride.... so during 2 hours we were approaching the town of magic and hidden beauty..... by the time we arrived at around 11... there was no hotel open anymore.... but the amount of luck we had that day.. .we met a friend from tegucigalpa that moved to copan ruinas... and offered us to stay at his house..:)... went to see the ruins the next day... .enjoyed some good baleadas (typical honduras food).... and had a refreshing swim in the river nearby and returned to reality the next day...:) in my easter holidays I went to guatemala.... jeee.... so colourful.... religious and traditional ... it was incredible....after only 14 hours of busdrive (this is actually the time it took me to cross the ocean from europe to latin america).. we arrived in guatemala city-.... and went from there to antigua (little colonial town... .precious architecutre...) to see the procession ceremony from eastern ... .what does this mean?... well basically the entire town dressed up as something biblical.... carring heavy pieces of wood on which jesus/ maria.... ect... was reflected (always something biblical).... and this heavy monstrum was carried around the entire city during the nights..... as well there were "alfombras" (flower carpets) all over the town... which took days to built and minuites to destroy... kinda sad but sometimes beauty lies in the things that pass.. and not in the things that last..... from antigua we went to the lago atitlan.... first to santiago... a fisher town.... full of indigenous people... with their traditional clothes.... selling artesania all over the town.... increible...from there to san pedro de la laguna .... little hippie town... which a bunch of europeans and americans who try to take a break from reality ... relaxing and sharing the same anti capitalistic thoughts.... from there federica and I went to Lanquin and Semuc Champey... wow... wow... wow.... natural waterfalls in their full extent... it was breathtakingly beautiful.... took a quick bath.... swam in the waterfalls... it was a piece of paradise... the funny part for us was .... that at around 3 we had to go back to the next big town... to be able to catch a bus back to honduras the next day.... so from semuc champey we went to lanquin hich hicking.... from there we took a chickenbus with far too many people inside to coban... in coban .... we arrived pretty late.. and everyone said.. that there was no bus going to antigua or guatemala city... so we started to walk.... hoping for some car to give us a ride to guate.... when all of a sudden someone screams.... guate ... guate... so we got into the chickenbus... again far far too many people....and arrived late at night in guate where the next day we went back to reality called tegucigalpa...:)

little joys and glories

...today I brought 2 boys (both with the age of 14) to another Project, called "Proyecto Victoria". This project specializes on men (of any age) with addiction problems and "Mara" involement. This may sound very simple and easy but my last week, required blood, sweat and tears to reach this point.Last week on thursday, Kevin I. (used to be a former english student of mine who got kicked out of casa alianza because he sold marijuana to other kids inside the house but basically is simply a product of abuse and violence at home. he left his house by the age of 7 years and went to beg on the street. One year later he started to smoke marijuana and with 10 he started with resistol), 14 came completely drugged (inhaled resistol, tinner and smoked marijuana) to Casa Alianza. The was completly intoxicated. The started to hyperventilate, sweat, wanted to puke and could hardly speak. Comes a point after 10 minuite where out of nowhere he all of a sudden starts to cry. My first assumtion was violation. With time tough I started to realized that he was just toooooo stoned to think clearly and straight. give him any kind of Medication - no ... impossible that could have even killed him. so we took him to the emergency were they took his blood pressure and gave him an infusion to get him destoxicated. On the way back to casa alianza Kevin wanted to escape - again but I could convince him after almoast 2 hours of talking to him... that there are other options than to be on the street. He starts to tell me of what he has been dedicating himself to the last 3 months eversince they have kicked him out of the institution. Amongst those were selling drugs with the biggest drug dealer in Tegus, Erica C. (who now is in prison), robbed people with knifes (he assured me that he would never do me harm. for that he loves me too much and trust in me) and the rest of the time getting completly drugged and wasted to forget all the pain that his past has caused him. So after 3 months of living on the street, complete intoxication I got to convince him to come with me. We took exams, and at night he slept in Casa Alianza (in protection). On monday I took him together with Marvin another boy (havent been working with him tough I cant really tell you moving stories about him) to the Project where they had a couple of interview and today my little life saving mission was completed. At 8.a.m this morning I took him to the project, he gave me a last hug and wispered into my ears " Gracias Lucia, no huberia logrado sin vos". (Thank you Lucia, I couldnt have done it without you) on my way back I have to admit, a little tear came down my cheaks. I was moved.

Nicaragua

...Managua was a bit disappointing at first.... back to the reality of more poverty, street children begging on the street, no music on the street, people more cautious about walking on the street for the basic frear of getting robbed ... ectfurther more it was a saturday night we arrived.... so we thaught we ll discover what the city has to offer... the only thing we lived was music from the year 2000, people dancing "interesstingly"...:) ... so in the morning we decided to go to a city called Granada... left our backpacks in Managua and hit the road. when we arrived we were overwhelmed with Saara... a little town (well not that small after all ... had 120.000 inhabitants).... all covered in old colonial style.... every house had a different colour... wow... it was so cute.... people chatting the central park, artesanis exponing their art without having the fear of getting robbed.... so there we were, enjoying a nice little coffee with sunshine in a cafe outside... seriously ... this felt like being in Europe again...hehe... so we decided to go for a "touristic" tour... saw las "Isletas". which are little island groups in the lake of Managua.... was sooo beautiful, peaceful... observing indigenous people in their natural landscape.... the only problem the people there have to face is that the islands are bit by bit bought by Americans... meaning big gigantic houses...(one house per island)... and the unevitable consequence of course for those people is being exploited by the Americans. (making them work for them, for too little money compensation)From Granada we went to Masaya (little artesani town approximately 20 minutes from Granada).. was less spectacuar tough....even though I only had 3 days in Nicaragua... the people are incredibly friendly and welcoming... but the one thing I have to admit, that Nicaragua is more adapted to Tourism than Honduras. ... well.... but comparing it to Panama levels... .well its simply impossible... Panama (for reasons of having the Canal) ... is more developed and simply more touristy...but far less "Virgin" like than Honduras or Nicaragua.... The next trip is going to be Guatemala in Eastern for a week...:) yeahbuhuhihi

Panama

When we actually made it to wake up, I started realising on what a beautiful rastafari carribean island we stranded. The island where we spend the first night is called "Isla Colon" but our hostel/room (little house swimming on the sea) was on Isla Bastimentos (only reachable by boat). This island, I swear, was only populated by approximately 500 rasta(black) people. The rest of the island was forest and white sand beaches.

In the afternoon tough, we returned to Colon to start my open water dive license (which I could, luckily enough to Alex, make for free). Checking the equipment, getting on a boat, putting on a very sexy neoprem suit, mask, regulator, BCI, ... and when we finally were ready, i was, too be honest a bit nervous. Getting used to breath with a mashine is really really freaky at first. But once I got under water and got to regulate my respiration under water and we acutally slowly started to sink down to the ground. I was amazed by the big diversity of the ocean. Such a great diversity of fish, underwater life, plants. It s incredible. Did some basic excercise with Saara (who was acutally my dive master) and Alex (my dive instructor). After having done that the real fun dive could start. We stayed under water for around an hour. Peace, silence, only the water bubble that one hears and nothing else. Diving makes you forget about all the problems one possibly could have. It makes you get lost in a completly new world.

The next day basically looked the same only that in the moring we went horse back riding. Dont imagine it to be so easy. Its the exact opposite. The horses were supposed to be ready at 9 oclock. Apparently we were still too european, because by the time we came at around 9:30, there were only 2 horses ready and the other 2 that we needed, were still running around freely, not intending to be ridden any time soon. So imagine all the effort and time the locals invested to get to more horses. A little black boy actually got on a tree and hid with a rope and threw it down by the time the horse passed. Unluckily he missed the horse and seconds later did the horse disappear in the nearby jungle - we never saw it again. Anyhow 2 hours later, somehow 2 sattled horses turned up and the adventure was about to start. Horse back riding (something that seems so far back in time the last time I did it I think i was 10). Galloping threw a jungle for 1 hour. Threw mud tough because it was raining all morning. Arriving finally to these white sandy beaches, peace, no tourists none....simply us gallpoing in the sea (I know it s too much like a s wthe backgroundmusic.... but that came with the sound of the ocean... it felt like a really cheesy movie and I have to admit I LOVED IT). Saara (my traveling mate fell off the horse almost 2). Alex my surfinstructor (got kicked of the horse while galloping at high speed and almost got his head crunched by another horse behind him)... but other than that, everything went smoothly.
IN the afternoon a little dive to get down from the adrenaline high. Couple of excersises under water and actually my 4th dive was when i completed my "license" and had a little dance party under water. juhuuuuuuu

The next day, we were just soooo exhausted so we spontaneously decided to stay another night in Bastimentos and just do nothing but read, walk around ate, ate, drank beer and ate. The usual hang loose day. What more can I say

The next adventure part is about to start tough. We left the island and went down to the pacific coast. (rented actually a car and Alex who is a brit was driving --- yes, he did pull te the left every once in a while... but we managed without any accidents... which is the cool part.) anyhow we went down to Playa Venao on the Pacific side. (THE surfer paradise)... yes... I did acutally learn surfing too (because as it happens, Alex is a surf instructor too) :) .... tried hard to get on that board, while the waves were actually moving full speed.... got sunburned as hell and relaxed on the only bar nearby with some nice beer... looking out to that untouch surfer beach.... where there is seriously NOTHING but an ocean and our hostel.

Panama city the next day, simply made me fall in love. This city reminded me a lot of "Havana(CUBA)". Imagine this. Colonial houses, music on the street. Old man playing chess in the park. Kuna ladies (indigenous tribe from Panama, dressed very colourful and with a piecing in their nose) walking around the entire town. Men screaming "oh, guapa" on the street. Seriously, i love that city. Its incredible. NIghtlife is excellent and the food is fairly ok. Went to see the canal too. Was least spectacular tough. Big gigantic construction with fairies and boats. As we acutally only had 2 days, we rented a taxi who took us around the city within no time picked up our stuff, and went to the airport to continue our journey to Nicaragua.

crematorio

Last week I went with work to the dump hill of Tegucigalpa. This is basically the place where entire Tegus´ trash is found. While arriving I already had a strange feeling. I knew that the extend of poverty that I have know so far will not be anything compared to what I am going to experience there. Around 1,000 people ought to be found there who live IN the dump. These people are in a very dangerous place because of all the toxic substances they live around. Some of the problems existing in the dump are HIV, prostitution, drug addiction, alcoholism, and illegal abortions. The average life expectancy in this place is around 40 years. It was a very humbling and surreal experience to be there.
Just to make the picture a big more colourful. That day there were approximately 150 people looking for trash they can actually recycle. Amongst them plastic bottles (a bag full of those bottles is worth 100 Lempira which is approximately 3 Euros), simple plastic and metal.

When a truck arrived with "fresh trash" the major attention is drawn on the car. It is seriously a question of surviving. When I talk here about surviving I mean seriously surviving. People, dogs and zapilotes (big big big black birds who fight equally for food like the humans and dogs - they usually win for their size) fight for food like animals. The most popular trucks are the fast food chains. Of course, because they can actually find food.
It was a strange feeling standing up on that hill. Especially because with every new truck that came the earth started to move. (of course, because the hill was a trash hill)

The "architecture" was interesting indeed. Cartons stuck one into the other, which basically made up their accomodation. No running water, neither electricity. The kids I met and played with, told me that there was a nearby school. I doubt it though. And all of them told the same story. They are working here to help aliment their families.

When we left the dump hill I only felt dirty and shocked of the extent of poverty.

public hospital reality

Today I spent 8 hours in the public hospital of Tegucigalpa. Entering, heaps of people all waiting desperatly, in pain, for the doctor to attend them. The reason I went to the hospital was for a girl named Yessica Pelera, 16. Poor girl was raped by her own stepfather. And as it turned out today in the hospital, she is pregant from him. Already 4 and a half month ahead with her pregancy. So we accompanied her to the hospital, as this is as well a duty of the "educadores de la calle". Anyhow when we arrive we had to wait for 2 hours to get to see that doctor. He then sent us the the 5th floor where we had to wait for an x-ray exam. But when it was apparently our turn, they sent us down again, because here you have to pay for all the exams before actually receiving the service. When it was finally our turn, it turns out we have to go to "social service" before so they give us the ok that we can go to the cash desk. From the cash desk back up to the 5th floor and then again wait for another 3 hours. From there they sent us down again to the doctor from before in the emergency. I guess this is a pretty good preview why the country doesnt work, because
1. of all they dont work with computers and any kind of network but with paper
2. public health is not free of charge but you have to pay instantly
During all this day I felt on the one hand like the M.C. Escher picture with the many stairs which are connected with one and another and it just doesnt want to find an end.