Here
in DC, snow has been predicted several times already, but the snow that has
pummeled the northeast has not actually materialized here or has melted the
same day. But my sister in Philly, just 3 hours north, says several inches have
fallen there more than once already. A big storm was predicted for Sat. Dec.
14, but turned out to be only a light cold rain, at least in my Capitol Hill
neighborhood, so did not daunt the attendance at a Peace Corps function that
evening. The photo shows me at the Peace
Corps holiday party held at the nearby Eastern Market. It reminded me of
the Carter presidency inaugural ball that I attended years ago, a live band,
but wall-to-wall people making it hard for anyone to move, much less to actually
dance, though a few valiant folks tried, more or less standing and moving their
feet in one place. Very few people my age were attendance and the few I talked
with (shouted to) over the din were surprised to learn that I had served fairly
recently—they assumed that it was years ago in my youth, like most of them. One
young man had been in Cape Verde, a Portuguese-speaking African island that
sounds quite idyllic. I only saw 2 people I actually knew there and none from
Peace Corps Honduras.
Other photos include folks attending a potluck after a Christmas Eve Mass at my local Catholic community, Communitas, and my great-grandson De'Andre, age 6, with an electronic Christmas present and helping his grandmother, my daughter Melanie, rake leaves in my backyard.
Dec. 19 was older daughter Melanie’s birthday (I won’t say her age because it
makes me feel too old!), also the
anniversary of older son Andrew’s death, now 19 years ago. It doesn’t seem
that long. December is also the anniversary month of the death of my Cuban foster
son Alex 18 years ago. Except for marking Melanie’s birth, December is not an
especially festive time for our family.
Ordering
gifts certificates for my grandson
Andrew, named for his late uncle whom he never knew, now living with his
mother in Texas, I ordered them from Target,
his stated preference. The certificates were cancelled after the security
breech there and I had to send a check instead. Target really took a beating on
this at this crucial time of year, though perhaps they are at fault for their
lax security—or perhaps the hackers were just one step ahead. On-line
purchasing, like most things, is a two-edged sword.
Internet
surveillance and hacking, whether done by governments or non-governmental
groups, I consider a fact of life and not particularly shocking. Of course,
proper safeguards should be installed to the extent feasible, but the very fact
that the internet exists means that breeches will occur and I’m sure all
governments try to spy on each other and that they all have to constantly fend
off breaches from many sources, including from bad guys conducting cyber warfare.
As individuals, organizations, and nations, we have to accept such risks in
exchange for the benefits that the internet confers. At the same time, I can
see why some folks I know, including my own sister, refuse to connect to the
internet or use computers, though she does use a phone and is vulnerable there.
I
must express a minor and totally useless complaint about how early darkness arrives these
days, though I’m quite happy in June when the days are long. At least now, we
are on the upswing.
News
out of Honduras continues to be grim. General Mills heiress Marjorie Merriweather Post was
found stabbed to death in her luxury Honduras spa on Roatan, one of the
northern Caribbean islands. Her assailant was a young Honduran man whom she was
apparently trying to help kick a drug habit and who claims to have been her
lover, though she was some 20 years older, so that’s somewhat doubtful. He also
denies killing her though he was discovered by police driving her car and
covered in blood. Below is an article about a more common killing. The US State
Dept. has warned travelers to Honduras about the violence there and, of course,
the Peace Corps left for the same reason in early 2012.
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
HONDURAN JOURNALIST SHOT AND KILLED
Amnesty International Urgent Action
Issue Date: 10 December 2013
On 7 December Honduran journalist Juan
Carlos Argeñal was shot and killed by two unidentified men in his
house. Honduras is an extremely dangerous country for journalists, lawyers
and human rights defenders to carry out their work. A full and impartial
investigation is urgently needed.
At around 3 pm on 7 December, two armed men reportedly visited Juan Carlos
Argeñal’s house in Danlí, in the southern department of El Paraíso, and
shot him twice. Juan Carlos Argeñal was a correspondent for both Radio
Globo and Globo TV, as well as the owner of a local TV station and an
activist for the Freedom and Re-foundation Party (Partido Libertad y
Refundación LIBRE). In the months prior to the killing Juan Carlos Argeñal
had reported about corruption in local government.
In July 2013 Juan Carlos Argeñal told human rights group Committee of
Relatives of the Detained and Disappeared in Honduras (Comité de Familiares
de Detenidos Desaparecidos en Honduras, COFADEH) that he had been
intimidated because of his work. Juan Carlos Argeñal reported that he had
felt pressure from local authorities who summoned him twice concerning
broadcasting permits. He told COFADEH that he attended both meetings and
that he feared such requests had been provoked by his journalism.
|
|
[Sorry for extra space here, cannot close it.]
President Obama should extend a hand to brave Cubans, Washington Post Editorial, Dec, 11, 2013
President Obama's homage to Nelson Mandela on Tuesday was moving and heartfelt.
He celebrated a “great liberator” who demonstrated the power of words, ideals
and actions to change history. But the president added an awkward footnote to
his tribute in Soweto by stopping to shake hands with Raúl Castro, a man whose
regime, led for a half-century by his brother Fidel, has bashed heads and
broken arms to stifle freedom.
A handshake is a gesture, in this case one freighted with symbolism that
cannot be ignored. Tuesday marked the 65th anniversary of the adoption of the
Universal Declaration of Human Rights by the United Nations. On the streets of
Havana and other cities, a crackdown on civil society was underway. Mr.
Castro’s goons showed that they have not lost their taste for violence and
coercion to extinguish even the slightest protest or expression of free will.
We called attention two days ago to
the work of Antonio Rodiles, a democracy activist who announced his intention
to hold a human rights conference in Havana on Tuesday. In a letter to Mr.
Castro, he described a litany of harassment and abuse directed at him by Cuba’s
security forces and thugs under their control, who threatened retaliation if
the conference went ahead. Sure enough, the authorities followed through on
their threats. The home of Mr. Rodiles was cordoned off, and most of those who
came to participate in the conference were barred from entering. Then Mr.
Rodiles and several colleagues were arrested Wednesday.
According to a Reuters dispatch, about 20 members of the dissident group Ladies in
White “were pounced upon and quickly shoved into waiting vehicles by security
personnel and government supporters” when they arrived Tuesday at a busy Havana
intersection. The Miami Herald
reported that the group’s leader, Berta Soler, and her husband, former
political prisoner Angel Moya, “were hauled off by plainclothes police as they
headed” to the planned protest. Security officials also blocked the telephones
of several dissidents in an apparent effort to silence news of other arrests.
The popular blogger Yoani Sánchez tweeted Tuesday morning, “Like in a bad
horror movie, I am losing communication with . . . activists.”
Elsewhere on the island, there were
reports that independent journalists, filmmakers and writers were arrested. The
Herald reported that police left 16
dissidents bleeding and that six others were arrested when they raided the home
of Roger Curbelo, a member of the opposition Christian Liberation Movement in
the town of Puerto Padre. The movement was once led by Oswaldo Payá, the
dissident who was killed last year in a suspicious car wreck.
While Mr. Obama was shaking hands with Mr. Castro, courageous people
attempting to uphold Mr. Mandela’s ideals were suffering beatings and arrests.
The president ought to follow his handshake with a loud and unambiguous salute
to the real champions of human rights — those fighting for it on the streets of
Cuba.
Ethnic
divisions in impoverished South Sudan
have boiled over into an attempted coup and inter-ethnic fighting. As you know,
I was there in 2006. This time, the north seems to be not to blame and the
situation is fragile. The country only achieved impendence in 2011, after
decades of strife with the north, amid many hopes and celebrations. Now, the
State Dept. is warning American citizens not to travel to South Sudan and is
evacuating those already there. I’m broken-hearted because that new country has
so many problems already and doesn’t need any more war. Is it a matter of
principle and issues or just a power struggle? The new nation’s former
solidarity was its strength, now divided. Unity often fractures after opposition
groups unite against a common foe. It has happened in Afghanistan and Syria and
even happened in South Africa after Mandela’s efforts to reconcile with the
apartheid regime. Many in the ANC opposed such efforts, including his
then-wife, Winnie, who was also carrying on an affair with a more militant guy,
leading to Mandela’s decision to divorce her. I even saw it, to my surprise,
among the Mothers of the Plaza de Mayo in Argentina, two bereaved groups of
mothers marching separately, one considering the other too conciliatory toward
the government. While I would lean toward reconciliation in most circumstances,
there is a point where principle trumps reconciliation—with every observer of a
situation drawing that point at a different place.
Glad
that the mainstream Republican Party is finally pushing back against the
teapartyers and that ordinary citizens are finding their voice. Some Republican
office holders are realizing that catering to the extreme right-wing is not
necessarily going to keep them in office.
Finally,
despite the violence, I am now planning my Feb. trip to Honduras, my 10th
return trip since leaving the Peace Corps. More on that later.
No comments:
Post a Comment