A website
for returned Peace Corps volunteers put out a call for photos of volunteers
mounted on animals during their service. Most posted so far have been photos of
volunteers in their 20s (mostly from the 1960’s) posing or clowning atop camels,
tortoises, or donkeys. I submitted one from the cover of my Honduras Peace
Corps memoir, Triumph & Hope,
where I’m riding a horse for actual transportation between remote villages in
2002, at age 64, as shown above.
The
other photos are of me and my African visitors with another visitor, Karl, an entomologist from Hawaii who
works with my daughter Stephanie there. He came here to examine the Smithsonian’s
insect archives. Also shown, Mother’s Day gifts.
After Rep. John Lewis met with Afro-Cuban
dissident Antúnez, finally breaking
through the boycott he had faced from the Congressional Black Caucus, I sent a
thank-you letter to the congressman, along with a copy of my Cuba book, Confessions. To my great surprise, Lewis
sent me a thank-you letter for the
book. I’ve sent my book unsolicited to a number of academic and public figures
and none has ever acknowledged receipt, so I’m grateful for Lewis’s effort.
Sister Helen Prejean is a friendly, unpretentious woman
with whom I was privileged to have had a memorable conversation years ago. She
is an outspoken advocate for abolishing the death penalty and recently
testified in the penalty phase of Dzhokhar
Tsarnaev’s trial. I have a signed copy of her book, Dead Man Walking, and saw the film of the same name. It was brilliant
move by the defense to enlist her testimony.
Summer has definitely arrived in Washington
after a too-short spring. We’ve even had one day with a high near 90F. But to remind myself that it could be worse,
as it often was in southern Honduras, I checked the high temperatures in
Choluteca, near my old Peace Corps site of El Triunfo, and found them reaching
or exceeding 100 F daily. Yes, I
remember the days of sitting in front of an electric fan (if there was
electricity) with a wet rag on top of my head a sipping from a bottle of
purified water.
Peace Corps volunteers have often complained of adverse
reactions to the antimalarial
prophylactic and treatment medication melfloquine,
said to sometimes produce hallucinations and nightmares. These claims have been
supported by Dr. Remington Lee
Nevin, who specializes in the evaluation of adverse reactions to antimalarial
medications, particularly the neurotoxic quinoline derivative mefloquine (previously marketed in the United
States as Lariam®). Now the Peace Corps reviews anti-malaria options
individually with volunteers before assigning them to any one type. Fortunately,
the antimalarial drug we took in Honduras was chloroquine,
with fewer side effects, still shaped my dreams, as per my Honduras Peace Corps
memoir, Triumph & Hope. Of
course, prophylactic choice is not arbitrary—it depends on the malaria strain
to be prevented or treated.
Assemblymember Rodneyse
Bichotte Ends
Four Day Hunger Strike As New York State Assembly Passes Resolution Against
Persecution of Dominicans of Haitian Descent, May
5, 2015
Amnesty
International USA welcomes the [NY State Assembly] resolution and calls on all
members of the Assembly to stand in solidarity with Dominicans of Haitian
descent who have been stripped of their nationality. The story of Yolanda, whose parents
were Haitian, is typical of the stories of discrimination faced daily by those
of Haitian descent. Yolanda is a survivor of domestic violence, but was denied
the right to lodge a complaint and file for child support because she didn’t
have an identity card. Yolanda’s children, though born in the Dominican
Republic, were denied birth certificates because of their Haitian ancestry. She
is unable to register her children in the civil registry.Amnesty International USA has been campaigning on behalf of Yolanda, and her family as well as the hundreds of thousands of similarly-situated Dominicans to end the stateless crisis. AIUSA welcomes the resolution in the New York State Assembly and urges its members to stand in solidarity with all those in the Dominican Republic who are facing discrimination and statelessness.
We have a June 15 deadline approaching when stateless persons might be unduly deported from the only country they know as their own.
Dominican Republic action
Social Media ready: http://owl.li/KvgSS
Friendly-URL: http://www.amnestyusa.org/End-Statelessness-For-Dominicans-of-Haitian-Descent
See also Letter
from The Dominican Republic — Harper’s,
May 2015 issue, "Displaced in the D.R., A country strips
210,000 of citizenship," By Rachel
Nolanhttp://harpers.org/archive/2015/05/displaced-in-the-d-r/
Here, for DC residents, says a reader: Direct
flights to Cuba from BWI approved. AA to
charge $775 r/t. At least four Florida companies are approved for ferry service to Cuba.
The approximately 5-hour trip will probably cost somewhat less than airfare and would be a pleasant way to travel. Of course, the Cuban government would have to allow such service. As per my book, Confessions, my daughter Stephanie and I traveled to Cuba in a small sailboat overnight back in 1994. We had something of a rough ride over many hours and came into an unlit Havana dock where we used flashlights to maneuver into port. Below is the article about the anticipated service.
http://www.sun-sentinel.com/business/tourism/fl-havana-ferry-approval-20150505-story.html
However,
there's a wrinkle that exiles have pointed out: anyone born in Cuba, even if
now an American citizen, is prohibited from entering Cuba by boat, presumably
to prevent them from spiriting their relatives away. The Cuban regime is likely
only to permit visitors of non-Cuban backgrounds to enter via ferry.
From Foreign Policy:
State Dept. Reports No Progress on Restoring Ties With Cuba
The State Department cannot cite any progress on a key step in the Obama administration’s policy of restoring ties with the Cuban government: the opening of a U.S. Embassy in Havana.
Officials testifying before a Senate Foreign Relations subcommittee on Tuesday [May 5] noted continued disagreements between Washington and Havana over the level of access the Cuban government will give U.S. diplomats to island residents if an embassy is opened. That has fueled some concerns that the initial burst of diplomatic progress between the two countries may be stalling.
“Right now we are still … in the midst of negotiations to establish diplomatic relations,” said John Feeley, the principal deputy assistant secretary of Western Hemisphere affairs at the State Department. “That is a process, and that will take some time, and honestly, I cannot tell you when that will happen.”
Feeley and two other State Department officials appeared on Capitol Hill to brief lawmakers on the department’s budgetary priorities for operations in the Western Hemisphere.
State Dept. Reports No Progress on Restoring Ties With Cuba
The State Department cannot cite any progress on a key step in the Obama administration’s policy of restoring ties with the Cuban government: the opening of a U.S. Embassy in Havana.
Officials testifying before a Senate Foreign Relations subcommittee on Tuesday [May 5] noted continued disagreements between Washington and Havana over the level of access the Cuban government will give U.S. diplomats to island residents if an embassy is opened. That has fueled some concerns that the initial burst of diplomatic progress between the two countries may be stalling.
“Right now we are still … in the midst of negotiations to establish diplomatic relations,” said John Feeley, the principal deputy assistant secretary of Western Hemisphere affairs at the State Department. “That is a process, and that will take some time, and honestly, I cannot tell you when that will happen.”
Feeley and two other State Department officials appeared on Capitol Hill to brief lawmakers on the department’s budgetary priorities for operations in the Western Hemisphere.
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Cuban human
rights do
seem off the table at the moment—no one is talking about them except exile
groups. Citizens’ rights don’t flower automatically from an economic opening,
as has been evident in other countries. Most Cuba observers have been busy praising
the accords. French
President Francois Hollande visited recently,
promoting economic engagement, excoriating the US for past isolationist
policies toward Cuba, and failing to meet with dissidents. Meanwhile, Raul
chided the US Interests Section in Havana for giving free journalism classes,
something he characterized as “illegal” and a violation of sovereignty. Still
he must be happy about the increased number of American visitors.
In public, Fidel Castro
has always feigned a distain of wealth, intimating that he shares the humble
lifestyle and privations of his citizens. However, as stated in my book Confessions, “Fidel Castro has accumulated
multiple residences, yachts, and vehicles, holds a Swiss bank account, and,
according to Forbes, is one of the
world’s wealthiest heads of state.” (p. 18) My own observations have been given
detailed corroboration by Juan Reinaldo
Sanchez, who served as Fidel’s body guard for 17 years and finally
escaped the island in 2008. His book, The
Double Life of Fidel Castro, not only reveals details of the many luxuries
the dictator demanded and enjoyed, but shows the lengths he went to hide his
private privileges.
1.
Guatemala:
2%
2.
Dominican
Republic: 2%
3.
South
Korea: 3%
4.
Cuba:
3%
5.
El
Salvador: 3%
6.
Vietnam:
3%
7.
The
Philippines: 4%
8.
China:
5%
9.
India:
5%
10.
Mexico:
28%
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