Monday, March 21, 2011
Saturday, March 5, 2011
Back from Honduras, Amnesty’s 50th, Interpreting Again, Woman’s Day April 17 Article Update, Cuba, More on Gun Control/Rights, Haitians in the DR
Just back from Honduras, still in reverse culture shock mode. Will soon post my trip report and photos, though not immediately, as going to San Francisco for Amnesty International’s annual conference, this being the 50th anniversary of that organization, as well as of the Peace Corps. From there, will go on to briefly visit my kids Jonathan and Stephanie in Hawaii—it’s my birthday, Jonathan’s, and that of Steph’s husband Paul, all in the same week. Coming back, I plan to arrive the very same day as two visitors from Africa, a man from Kenya and a woman from Zimbabwe, both attending a four-month course in accounting and auditing offered annually by the Government Accountability Office (GAO). So, no rest for the weary. But this is an interim report. At least you know I am now back safely from a trip that, overall, was successful, though somewhat arduous, as usual.
While I was in Honduras, a government no-smoking policy for public places was announced. In the local Hispanic press here in DC, it says that people may not even smoke in their own homes, though I never heard that in Honduras.
On March 1, the official start of the Peace Corps 50th anniversary year, the Empire State Building in NYC was lit up in red, white, and blue lights.
My first post-trip interpretation assignment occurred at an ortho clinic. Sometimes unexpected events arise after the assignment is over. The 60+ patient had been driven there by a younger friend with a little daughter. But, after leaving the friend in the waiting room while the client was having x-rays and an exam, we emerged to find her gone. We looked for her in the parking lot in vain, then went back into the clinic to borrow a phone to call her. Reportedly, she said she had had to go to work and we were taking too long. My client claimed not to know how to get home, so we waited for the bus together and I waited with her again at the nearest metro station to catch the right bus to her home. Then I got on the metro to go home myself. Hope she made it. Not only did she have language and physical problems, but some cognitive challenges and appeared pretty helpless in deciding what to do after her friend had left. As she was waiting for her second bus, she told me, "Tomorrow, when that woman asks me to take care of her daughter before and after school, I will refuse--she left me stranded."
On the first anniversary of hunger striker Orlando Zapata’s death, government mobs interrupted a march of the Women in White shouting "¡Nada de zancadillas, le partimos la siquitrilla!", "¡pin pon fuera, abajo la gusanera!", [Never mind just tripping you up; we’ll split your backbone! Hey, ho, get out, down with the nest of worms!] Those who leave Cuba or who are considered disloyal are referred to as “worms,” reminding me of the Hutus branding the Tutsis as “cockroaches.” When I was last in Cuba in 1997, looking for my late foster son’s family to inform them of his death from AIDS, Cuban authorities refused to help me because he was a “gusano,” a worm. (I found the family anyway.)
German Catholic theologians recently called for an end to priestly celibacy and for allowing married and women priests. Bravo, I say.
Now, I’ve heard from Woman’s Day that the date of the article where I appear as a “late bloomer” has been bumped over to April 17 (not April 1). When the fact-checker called me beforehand, I learned that no mention of my book whatsoever appeared in my section, not even that I had ever written about my Peace Corps experience. Apparently that was because one of the other two “late bloomers” is an author and having two would be redundant! I’m very unhappy about that and protested about it, as you can imagine, though to no avail. We are not the masters of our fate! I was discovered through my book, they got a free copy of my book, but now the book cannot be mentioned because that’s the claim to fame of another subject? She apparently writes historical fiction set in Scotland, where she has never been, and she’ll get plenty of publicity for that. The magazine reportedly has two million readers. Not only did I frankly hope to sell more books via the article, why I participated and devoted so much time to begin with, but my book has several messages that I consider important and would like to put out to the reading public about grieving the loss of a child, being an older PC volunteer, and the little-known people of Honduras. I was lured into participating under false pretenses, bait and switch, as it was my book that first called me to their attention. I even gave up an interpretation assignment when their photographer was coming from NY to take my picture, since the ones I had submitted were unsuitable.
From the questions I was asked by the fact checker regarding the article, it sounded like too many editors had gone over it. I am reportedly identified in the article only as a “freelance interpreter.” Could they say “freelance interpreter and writer” or even just “freelance writer,” if they cannot afford another word—“writer” is actually a few letters shorter than interpreter? Then somebody might be moved to search for my book on Google or Amazon. The answer was “no.” And, as far as I can tell, there are no letters to the editor and they could scotch that also. But maybe there is an on-line feedback section that the public can see. If so, will mention my book there. Everything else in the article seemed to have gotten garbled, for example, that my son had died after surgery, not after an accident. That I slept in a hammock when my daughter visited, when it was she who did so. I was said to be very concerned about poverty in Latin America—well, yes, I am—but that is not the main lesson of my Peace Corps experience. It’s kind of cliché-ish to focus on poverty as a generalized, abstract concept (which I never do in my book or presentations) and on blowing out my birthday candles and making a wish to join the PC, which is apparently a big part of their story. That did happen, but, to me, is incidental, not key. And, if anything, the excesses of life in the USA impact me more than Honduran poverty and reverse culture shock, even now, on my annual trips, whenever I return is greater for me than the shock of going there. I cringe to think of what the eventual article will say and how far it may deviate from reality. They should have let me write my own damn story! As Jimmy Carter once said, “Life is unfair.” People now tell me you should sign an agreement before an interview. I was flattered at being asked and just assumed it would include my book. I thought this was finally my one lucky break, after confronting so many life challenges.
I do appreciate the New Yorker all the more now for the depth and, in most cases, accuracy and balance in its reporting. A Woman’s Day photographer can be flown from NY to DC to take my photo, but the same care was not taken with the text of the article. Isn’t the article supposed to be interesting and instructive for readers, as well as good for selling magazines? Of course, I find most articles in women’s magazines repetitious: dieting, cooking, child care, beauty, fashion, and pleasing your man, all of it tied in with advertising. At least in this article, an older demographic is targeted—a recognition of the aging population, something a little different and a reaching out to a new audience.
Of course, when I complained, the editors threatened to cut the article even more. They might even cut the whole damn thing! I realize editors are in full charge and they want to sell magazines and advertising most of all. I wrote for years for a small magazine, OT Week, at a professional association and even we were mindful of our advertisers and always tried to tie in with them, never to offend them, so I can only imagine what it’s like in a national women’s magazine with a two million circulation. Profitability is paramount and articles’ content incidental.
If misery loves company, another author commiserates: I'm so sorry about this. The one thing worse than not getting media attention is...getting media attention. What you are experiencing is TOTALLY TYPICAL and just goes with the territory. I had years with my first book of just this sort of thing. The only thing you can do to protect yourself is BEFORE the interview, get them to sign all sorts of agreements, which they will never do, but you can try.
I’ve been hearing and reading commentaries lately about the sudden drop in birth rates around the world, not everywhere, not yet in the Arab world, but even in developing countries, causing an overall aging of world population. European countries, Cuba, China, and Japan are examples, for better or worse, of birthrates well below replacement. Economics, education, urbanization are all cited as reasons, surely valid, but I haven’t heard any pundit mentioning the obvious, the increasing availability and acceptability of contraception. The pill, now 50 years old and used by an estimated 100 million women worldwide, surely is making a dent in the birthrate. UIDs, contraceptive injections, condoms, male and female voluntary sterilization, all have become more effective and accepted in my lifetime. Couples are opting to have only one or two children, or none, something rare among sexually active spouses in bygone eras. At the same time, more people are surviving and living to a ripe old age thanks to medical advances, so population aging has become a reality. Every medical advance, while welcome, comes with its own side effects. The only way that the US has kept replacement levels steady is through Hispanic births, something not appreciated by those wanting to rescind birthright citizenship and deport Latinos. Those Neanderthals should be glad young people are being born here who will support them as they age—not only financially, but by actually providing hands-on personal care in nursing homes and elsewhere.
WikiLeaks cables on Honduras reveal that Zelaya came into office being quite pro-US, just like his predecessors. But this changed when he decided that his alliance with ALBA (Hugo Chavez’s group) would help him extend his term in office. As a condition of accepting Venezuelan oil, he reportedly agreed to declare that the FARC guerrillas of Colombia were not terrorists. The cables paint him as an opportunist motivated not by principle, but by wanting to stay in power.
Some noteworthy developments regarding Cuba are that the government’s 10% tax on remittances has been lifted, leading to soaring remittances, which may help Cuba out of its economic doldrums. Another is the re-establishment of the cultural exchanges that took place during the Clinton years. Already, Cuba has more visitors from the US (Cuban-Americans) than from any other country except Canada. With exchanges once again permitted, the number of visiting Americans is likely to soar, since almost any endeavor can be considered a cultural exchange. My first visit to post-communist Cuba in 1993, totally on the up-an-up, was for a film festival, allowed then as a cultural exchange booked through a NYC travel agency, which, I suspect, is now back in the Cuba travel business. Most of Cuba’s POCs have now been released and have gone into exile in Spain, as per an agreement brokered by the Cuban Catholic church. And, at this writing, American Alan Gross, age 61, is on trial in Cuba, threatened with a 20-year sentence. AID contractor Gross, arrested in December 2009 for bringing electronic equipment into the country, has the same Cuban lawyer as the Cuban Five, five Cubans convicted of spying in the US in 1998. This hints that a prisoner swap may in the works.
Not only Cuba, but China, have been muting any reporting on the uprisings in the Middle East, not wanting to arouse memories of Tiananmen Square. And, internet reporting on what has been happened has been blocked. Can you imagine if hundreds of millions of Chinese rose up? That would be a far bigger challenge and harder to resolve than Egypt or Libya.
A blog reader had this to say about the last posting, on January 30: While retaining my basic “cold dead fingers” stance on gun control, I’ll have to say that the feds should firmly encourage municipalities, educational facilities, &c to promptly supply to gun dealers the names of people like Loughner who damn well shouldn’t be allowed near firearms. I believe, as well, there should be more information-filing requirements on gun shows.
I think you’re wrongly oversimplifying the Second Amendment business, though. We talked about its application to personal weapons stashes in my Con Law class in about 1960. There was no need to go beyond arming state militias at the Constitutional Convention because taking away people’s hunting and home protection equipment was unthinkable. It’s also true that in the days of black-powder-only firearms, the danger to public safety was way less. Unfortunately, from my POV, Scalia’s majority opinion in Heller was dangerously lame. It won’t take much to overturn it, especially if the forces of gun control choose their battle wisely. & then the pendulum will go in the other direction.
I think you spend too much emotional energy attacking the Republicans. Who bloody cares what Sarah Palin does or says or whines? Just ignore her. Also Boehner. You read the thing in the New Yorker – he’s a cutout; when it suits his masters to remove him from the scene, it’ll be done.
More on the gun issue from former Governor Howard Dean: We can both protect our second amendment rights and keep our communities safe from illegal gun sales.
I was given an "A rating" by the NRA eight times during my years as Lt. Governor and then Governor of Vermont. Guns and hunting are part of our way of life in Vermont. But I don't think any Vermonter or gun owners anywhere can argue against common sense changes to our background check system to make our communities safer and more secure.
And common sense changes are exactly what Mayors Against Illegal Guns is proposing that President Obama and Congress take action on right now. They have a two-part goal. First, we already have laws that make it illegal for guns to be sold to felons, drug abusers or the mentally ill. The problem is that states and federal agencies are not required to make sure these prohibited purchasers are included in the background check database. That must change.
Second, it's time to stop the sales of guns without a background check at all. Right now, anyone can go to a gun show and purchase as many guns as they want no questions asked, no background check, nothing.
It's common sense to fix these two loopholes and make America safer from illegal gun sales.--------------------------------------------------------------
The article below came in just after the last posting, but is still relevant, though who is focused on the DR or Haiti these days?
Dominican crackdown on Haitian migrants sows fearBy JACOB KUSHNER and DANICA COTO, Associated Press Feb 1, 2011
JIMANI, Dominican Republic – The Dominican Republic has deported thousands of illegal immigrants in recent weeks, sowing fear among Haitians living in the country and prompting accusations its government is using a cholera outbreak as a pretext for a crackdown. In the largest campaign in years to target Haitians living illegally in the Dominican Republic, soldiers and immigration agents have been setting up checkpoints and conducting neighborhood sweeps, detaining anyone without papers and booting them from the country.
Erickner Auguesten, a 36-year-old father of three who has been in the Dominican Republic illegally since 1991, said agents stopped him as he exited a hospital where his pregnant wife was getting a checkup. "When we left to get some food, the police pulled up and told me to get into the truck," he told The Associated Press in the border town of Jimani. He said a friend who works for the border patrol helped him sneak back in.
Hundreds of thousands of Haitians live at least part-time in the Dominican Republic, enduring frequent discrimination and the constant fear of being deported. A cholera epidemic in Haiti that has killed at least 4,000 people and sickened 200,000 has made matters worse.
Dominican officials eased border controls and halted deportations for humanitarian reasons after the Jan. 12, 2010, earthquake near Port-au-Prince that killed an estimated 316,000 people and devastated the already impoverished nation. But right at the one-year anniversary of the quake, the deportations resumed — with greater enforcement than has been seen since 2005. More than 3,000 people have been handcuffed and sent across the border in the past three weeks, including some legal residents who were simply caught without their documents, according to migrants and advocates.
"They grab them from the streets," said Gustavo Toribio of Border Solidarity, an organization that provides assistance to migrant workers. "They don't care if they have children, if they have property. They only ask them for their documents."
The government denies that any legal residents have been deported. Dominican immigration chief Sigfrido Pared defended the deportations, saying his country cannot be an escape valve for Haitians fleeing extreme poverty and political instability.
The United Nations estimated before the earthquake that some 600,000 Haitians were living illegally in the Dominican Republic, which has a total population of nearly 10 million. Dominican authorities say that number has since grown to 1 million, most of them there illegally. "It is very easy for some countries or some organizations to criticize the situation in the Dominican Republic," Pared said. "No (other) country in the world has a border with Haiti. No country in the world has a Haitian problem like the Dominican Republic has."
Dominican officials say the immigration crackdown is necessary to prevent the spread of cholera from Haiti, which shares the island of Hispaniola with the Dominican Republic. So far there have only been about 300 known cholera cases in the Dominican Republic — with one fatality, a Haitian migrant believed to have contracted the disease back home. Even in Haiti, the disease has slowed in recent weeks amid a nationwide treatment and education campaign. However infectious disease specialists warn that cholera could still rebound in Haiti, and the Dominican Health Ministry says it can't afford to take any chances. "The ministry is in charge of maintaining epidemiological vigilance and health control along the border, as in the whole country," spokesman Luis Garcia said.
Many Dominicans support the deportations, saying they are fearful of contracting the disease. "It's a threat to our country," said Secondino Matos, a 50-year-old truck driver. "They (Haitians) are our brothers — but not the illegal ones. This country is drowning in them already."
Spread by waterborne bacteria, cholera causes rapid dehydration but is treatable if caught soon enough. The key to controlling it is early treatment and making sure people have access to clean water and sanitation.
Dr. Robert Tauxe, a cholera expert with the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, praised the Dominican Republic for reporting its first cases so quickly and launching strong public education efforts. He declined to comment specifically on the deportations, but said there's little evidence that border controls, in general, can effectively contain the spread. "It's a little hard to point to success in that," Tauxe said.
Some activists allege that cholera is just an excuse, and the mass deportations are actually driven by racism and xenophobia. Dominican-Haitian Women Movement director Sonia Pierre noted that many road checkpoints are in areas that see only domestic traffic, and thus are unlikely to catch immigrants bringing the disease in from Haiti.
Many of the deportees have lived for many years in the Dominican Republic, and sending them back to Haiti increases their risk of exposure to the disease, she added. And when they inevitably try to return to lives and jobs, migrants could bring cholera back with them. "If they want to confront cholera, this isn't the way to do it," Pierre said.
Pared, the immigration chief, denied that officials are repatriating migrants who have been in the country for a long time. The Foreign Ministry and Migration Office said the operation is focused on Haitians who are coming into the country illegally, but there are tens of thousands in the country with no papers so it's often not possible to know who is a recent arrival and who has been there for years.
On a recent day in Jimani, dozens of trucks and people on foot lined up at the border crossing along a hot, dusty stretch of dirt road. Immigration agents briefly detained two vegetable sellers until a man in a passing SUV persuaded them to let the women go.
In addition to the deportations, Haitians say the crackdown is making their lives difficult in other ways: Bus and taxi drivers are now reluctant to transport them because authorities have been impounding vehicles carrying illegal migrants and handing out $270 fines. The increased border security not only makes it harder to cross but also has driven up the price of bribing Dominican border guards and migrant smugglers' fees.
Many Dominicans view their chaotic and impoverished neighbor with suspicion, even hostility. The country marks its independence not from Spain's departure in 1863 but from the end of a Haitian occupation two decades earlier. Darker-skinned Haitians are frequently discriminated against, and the Dominican Republic denies citizenship to people of Haitian ancestry born in the country by claiming they are "in transit" —even when many have been there for generations. Some even say the deportations don't go far enough.
Angelita Villaman, the leader of a neighborhood association in the city of Santiago, said she and others want all Haitians in their community gone by Independence Day in late February. If not, she says, she'll turn them in. "We regret their situation tremendously, but we can't handle them," Villaman said. "The entire world should take on Haiti's problems, not the Dominican Republic."
While I was in Honduras, a government no-smoking policy for public places was announced. In the local Hispanic press here in DC, it says that people may not even smoke in their own homes, though I never heard that in Honduras.
On March 1, the official start of the Peace Corps 50th anniversary year, the Empire State Building in NYC was lit up in red, white, and blue lights.
My first post-trip interpretation assignment occurred at an ortho clinic. Sometimes unexpected events arise after the assignment is over. The 60+ patient had been driven there by a younger friend with a little daughter. But, after leaving the friend in the waiting room while the client was having x-rays and an exam, we emerged to find her gone. We looked for her in the parking lot in vain, then went back into the clinic to borrow a phone to call her. Reportedly, she said she had had to go to work and we were taking too long. My client claimed not to know how to get home, so we waited for the bus together and I waited with her again at the nearest metro station to catch the right bus to her home. Then I got on the metro to go home myself. Hope she made it. Not only did she have language and physical problems, but some cognitive challenges and appeared pretty helpless in deciding what to do after her friend had left. As she was waiting for her second bus, she told me, "Tomorrow, when that woman asks me to take care of her daughter before and after school, I will refuse--she left me stranded."
On the first anniversary of hunger striker Orlando Zapata’s death, government mobs interrupted a march of the Women in White shouting "¡Nada de zancadillas, le partimos la siquitrilla!", "¡pin pon fuera, abajo la gusanera!", [Never mind just tripping you up; we’ll split your backbone! Hey, ho, get out, down with the nest of worms!] Those who leave Cuba or who are considered disloyal are referred to as “worms,” reminding me of the Hutus branding the Tutsis as “cockroaches.” When I was last in Cuba in 1997, looking for my late foster son’s family to inform them of his death from AIDS, Cuban authorities refused to help me because he was a “gusano,” a worm. (I found the family anyway.)
German Catholic theologians recently called for an end to priestly celibacy and for allowing married and women priests. Bravo, I say.
Now, I’ve heard from Woman’s Day that the date of the article where I appear as a “late bloomer” has been bumped over to April 17 (not April 1). When the fact-checker called me beforehand, I learned that no mention of my book whatsoever appeared in my section, not even that I had ever written about my Peace Corps experience. Apparently that was because one of the other two “late bloomers” is an author and having two would be redundant! I’m very unhappy about that and protested about it, as you can imagine, though to no avail. We are not the masters of our fate! I was discovered through my book, they got a free copy of my book, but now the book cannot be mentioned because that’s the claim to fame of another subject? She apparently writes historical fiction set in Scotland, where she has never been, and she’ll get plenty of publicity for that. The magazine reportedly has two million readers. Not only did I frankly hope to sell more books via the article, why I participated and devoted so much time to begin with, but my book has several messages that I consider important and would like to put out to the reading public about grieving the loss of a child, being an older PC volunteer, and the little-known people of Honduras. I was lured into participating under false pretenses, bait and switch, as it was my book that first called me to their attention. I even gave up an interpretation assignment when their photographer was coming from NY to take my picture, since the ones I had submitted were unsuitable.
From the questions I was asked by the fact checker regarding the article, it sounded like too many editors had gone over it. I am reportedly identified in the article only as a “freelance interpreter.” Could they say “freelance interpreter and writer” or even just “freelance writer,” if they cannot afford another word—“writer” is actually a few letters shorter than interpreter? Then somebody might be moved to search for my book on Google or Amazon. The answer was “no.” And, as far as I can tell, there are no letters to the editor and they could scotch that also. But maybe there is an on-line feedback section that the public can see. If so, will mention my book there. Everything else in the article seemed to have gotten garbled, for example, that my son had died after surgery, not after an accident. That I slept in a hammock when my daughter visited, when it was she who did so. I was said to be very concerned about poverty in Latin America—well, yes, I am—but that is not the main lesson of my Peace Corps experience. It’s kind of cliché-ish to focus on poverty as a generalized, abstract concept (which I never do in my book or presentations) and on blowing out my birthday candles and making a wish to join the PC, which is apparently a big part of their story. That did happen, but, to me, is incidental, not key. And, if anything, the excesses of life in the USA impact me more than Honduran poverty and reverse culture shock, even now, on my annual trips, whenever I return is greater for me than the shock of going there. I cringe to think of what the eventual article will say and how far it may deviate from reality. They should have let me write my own damn story! As Jimmy Carter once said, “Life is unfair.” People now tell me you should sign an agreement before an interview. I was flattered at being asked and just assumed it would include my book. I thought this was finally my one lucky break, after confronting so many life challenges.
I do appreciate the New Yorker all the more now for the depth and, in most cases, accuracy and balance in its reporting. A Woman’s Day photographer can be flown from NY to DC to take my photo, but the same care was not taken with the text of the article. Isn’t the article supposed to be interesting and instructive for readers, as well as good for selling magazines? Of course, I find most articles in women’s magazines repetitious: dieting, cooking, child care, beauty, fashion, and pleasing your man, all of it tied in with advertising. At least in this article, an older demographic is targeted—a recognition of the aging population, something a little different and a reaching out to a new audience.
Of course, when I complained, the editors threatened to cut the article even more. They might even cut the whole damn thing! I realize editors are in full charge and they want to sell magazines and advertising most of all. I wrote for years for a small magazine, OT Week, at a professional association and even we were mindful of our advertisers and always tried to tie in with them, never to offend them, so I can only imagine what it’s like in a national women’s magazine with a two million circulation. Profitability is paramount and articles’ content incidental.
If misery loves company, another author commiserates: I'm so sorry about this. The one thing worse than not getting media attention is...getting media attention. What you are experiencing is TOTALLY TYPICAL and just goes with the territory. I had years with my first book of just this sort of thing. The only thing you can do to protect yourself is BEFORE the interview, get them to sign all sorts of agreements, which they will never do, but you can try.
I’ve been hearing and reading commentaries lately about the sudden drop in birth rates around the world, not everywhere, not yet in the Arab world, but even in developing countries, causing an overall aging of world population. European countries, Cuba, China, and Japan are examples, for better or worse, of birthrates well below replacement. Economics, education, urbanization are all cited as reasons, surely valid, but I haven’t heard any pundit mentioning the obvious, the increasing availability and acceptability of contraception. The pill, now 50 years old and used by an estimated 100 million women worldwide, surely is making a dent in the birthrate. UIDs, contraceptive injections, condoms, male and female voluntary sterilization, all have become more effective and accepted in my lifetime. Couples are opting to have only one or two children, or none, something rare among sexually active spouses in bygone eras. At the same time, more people are surviving and living to a ripe old age thanks to medical advances, so population aging has become a reality. Every medical advance, while welcome, comes with its own side effects. The only way that the US has kept replacement levels steady is through Hispanic births, something not appreciated by those wanting to rescind birthright citizenship and deport Latinos. Those Neanderthals should be glad young people are being born here who will support them as they age—not only financially, but by actually providing hands-on personal care in nursing homes and elsewhere.
WikiLeaks cables on Honduras reveal that Zelaya came into office being quite pro-US, just like his predecessors. But this changed when he decided that his alliance with ALBA (Hugo Chavez’s group) would help him extend his term in office. As a condition of accepting Venezuelan oil, he reportedly agreed to declare that the FARC guerrillas of Colombia were not terrorists. The cables paint him as an opportunist motivated not by principle, but by wanting to stay in power.
Some noteworthy developments regarding Cuba are that the government’s 10% tax on remittances has been lifted, leading to soaring remittances, which may help Cuba out of its economic doldrums. Another is the re-establishment of the cultural exchanges that took place during the Clinton years. Already, Cuba has more visitors from the US (Cuban-Americans) than from any other country except Canada. With exchanges once again permitted, the number of visiting Americans is likely to soar, since almost any endeavor can be considered a cultural exchange. My first visit to post-communist Cuba in 1993, totally on the up-an-up, was for a film festival, allowed then as a cultural exchange booked through a NYC travel agency, which, I suspect, is now back in the Cuba travel business. Most of Cuba’s POCs have now been released and have gone into exile in Spain, as per an agreement brokered by the Cuban Catholic church. And, at this writing, American Alan Gross, age 61, is on trial in Cuba, threatened with a 20-year sentence. AID contractor Gross, arrested in December 2009 for bringing electronic equipment into the country, has the same Cuban lawyer as the Cuban Five, five Cubans convicted of spying in the US in 1998. This hints that a prisoner swap may in the works.
Not only Cuba, but China, have been muting any reporting on the uprisings in the Middle East, not wanting to arouse memories of Tiananmen Square. And, internet reporting on what has been happened has been blocked. Can you imagine if hundreds of millions of Chinese rose up? That would be a far bigger challenge and harder to resolve than Egypt or Libya.
A blog reader had this to say about the last posting, on January 30: While retaining my basic “cold dead fingers” stance on gun control, I’ll have to say that the feds should firmly encourage municipalities, educational facilities, &c to promptly supply to gun dealers the names of people like Loughner who damn well shouldn’t be allowed near firearms. I believe, as well, there should be more information-filing requirements on gun shows.
I think you’re wrongly oversimplifying the Second Amendment business, though. We talked about its application to personal weapons stashes in my Con Law class in about 1960. There was no need to go beyond arming state militias at the Constitutional Convention because taking away people’s hunting and home protection equipment was unthinkable. It’s also true that in the days of black-powder-only firearms, the danger to public safety was way less. Unfortunately, from my POV, Scalia’s majority opinion in Heller was dangerously lame. It won’t take much to overturn it, especially if the forces of gun control choose their battle wisely. & then the pendulum will go in the other direction.
I think you spend too much emotional energy attacking the Republicans. Who bloody cares what Sarah Palin does or says or whines? Just ignore her. Also Boehner. You read the thing in the New Yorker – he’s a cutout; when it suits his masters to remove him from the scene, it’ll be done.
More on the gun issue from former Governor Howard Dean: We can both protect our second amendment rights and keep our communities safe from illegal gun sales.
I was given an "A rating" by the NRA eight times during my years as Lt. Governor and then Governor of Vermont. Guns and hunting are part of our way of life in Vermont. But I don't think any Vermonter or gun owners anywhere can argue against common sense changes to our background check system to make our communities safer and more secure.
And common sense changes are exactly what Mayors Against Illegal Guns is proposing that President Obama and Congress take action on right now. They have a two-part goal. First, we already have laws that make it illegal for guns to be sold to felons, drug abusers or the mentally ill. The problem is that states and federal agencies are not required to make sure these prohibited purchasers are included in the background check database. That must change.
Second, it's time to stop the sales of guns without a background check at all. Right now, anyone can go to a gun show and purchase as many guns as they want no questions asked, no background check, nothing.
It's common sense to fix these two loopholes and make America safer from illegal gun sales.--------------------------------------------------------------
The article below came in just after the last posting, but is still relevant, though who is focused on the DR or Haiti these days?
Dominican crackdown on Haitian migrants sows fearBy JACOB KUSHNER and DANICA COTO, Associated Press Feb 1, 2011
JIMANI, Dominican Republic – The Dominican Republic has deported thousands of illegal immigrants in recent weeks, sowing fear among Haitians living in the country and prompting accusations its government is using a cholera outbreak as a pretext for a crackdown. In the largest campaign in years to target Haitians living illegally in the Dominican Republic, soldiers and immigration agents have been setting up checkpoints and conducting neighborhood sweeps, detaining anyone without papers and booting them from the country.
Erickner Auguesten, a 36-year-old father of three who has been in the Dominican Republic illegally since 1991, said agents stopped him as he exited a hospital where his pregnant wife was getting a checkup. "When we left to get some food, the police pulled up and told me to get into the truck," he told The Associated Press in the border town of Jimani. He said a friend who works for the border patrol helped him sneak back in.
Hundreds of thousands of Haitians live at least part-time in the Dominican Republic, enduring frequent discrimination and the constant fear of being deported. A cholera epidemic in Haiti that has killed at least 4,000 people and sickened 200,000 has made matters worse.
Dominican officials eased border controls and halted deportations for humanitarian reasons after the Jan. 12, 2010, earthquake near Port-au-Prince that killed an estimated 316,000 people and devastated the already impoverished nation. But right at the one-year anniversary of the quake, the deportations resumed — with greater enforcement than has been seen since 2005. More than 3,000 people have been handcuffed and sent across the border in the past three weeks, including some legal residents who were simply caught without their documents, according to migrants and advocates.
"They grab them from the streets," said Gustavo Toribio of Border Solidarity, an organization that provides assistance to migrant workers. "They don't care if they have children, if they have property. They only ask them for their documents."
The government denies that any legal residents have been deported. Dominican immigration chief Sigfrido Pared defended the deportations, saying his country cannot be an escape valve for Haitians fleeing extreme poverty and political instability.
The United Nations estimated before the earthquake that some 600,000 Haitians were living illegally in the Dominican Republic, which has a total population of nearly 10 million. Dominican authorities say that number has since grown to 1 million, most of them there illegally. "It is very easy for some countries or some organizations to criticize the situation in the Dominican Republic," Pared said. "No (other) country in the world has a border with Haiti. No country in the world has a Haitian problem like the Dominican Republic has."
Dominican officials say the immigration crackdown is necessary to prevent the spread of cholera from Haiti, which shares the island of Hispaniola with the Dominican Republic. So far there have only been about 300 known cholera cases in the Dominican Republic — with one fatality, a Haitian migrant believed to have contracted the disease back home. Even in Haiti, the disease has slowed in recent weeks amid a nationwide treatment and education campaign. However infectious disease specialists warn that cholera could still rebound in Haiti, and the Dominican Health Ministry says it can't afford to take any chances. "The ministry is in charge of maintaining epidemiological vigilance and health control along the border, as in the whole country," spokesman Luis Garcia said.
Many Dominicans support the deportations, saying they are fearful of contracting the disease. "It's a threat to our country," said Secondino Matos, a 50-year-old truck driver. "They (Haitians) are our brothers — but not the illegal ones. This country is drowning in them already."
Spread by waterborne bacteria, cholera causes rapid dehydration but is treatable if caught soon enough. The key to controlling it is early treatment and making sure people have access to clean water and sanitation.
Dr. Robert Tauxe, a cholera expert with the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, praised the Dominican Republic for reporting its first cases so quickly and launching strong public education efforts. He declined to comment specifically on the deportations, but said there's little evidence that border controls, in general, can effectively contain the spread. "It's a little hard to point to success in that," Tauxe said.
Some activists allege that cholera is just an excuse, and the mass deportations are actually driven by racism and xenophobia. Dominican-Haitian Women Movement director Sonia Pierre noted that many road checkpoints are in areas that see only domestic traffic, and thus are unlikely to catch immigrants bringing the disease in from Haiti.
Many of the deportees have lived for many years in the Dominican Republic, and sending them back to Haiti increases their risk of exposure to the disease, she added. And when they inevitably try to return to lives and jobs, migrants could bring cholera back with them. "If they want to confront cholera, this isn't the way to do it," Pierre said.
Pared, the immigration chief, denied that officials are repatriating migrants who have been in the country for a long time. The Foreign Ministry and Migration Office said the operation is focused on Haitians who are coming into the country illegally, but there are tens of thousands in the country with no papers so it's often not possible to know who is a recent arrival and who has been there for years.
On a recent day in Jimani, dozens of trucks and people on foot lined up at the border crossing along a hot, dusty stretch of dirt road. Immigration agents briefly detained two vegetable sellers until a man in a passing SUV persuaded them to let the women go.
In addition to the deportations, Haitians say the crackdown is making their lives difficult in other ways: Bus and taxi drivers are now reluctant to transport them because authorities have been impounding vehicles carrying illegal migrants and handing out $270 fines. The increased border security not only makes it harder to cross but also has driven up the price of bribing Dominican border guards and migrant smugglers' fees.
Many Dominicans view their chaotic and impoverished neighbor with suspicion, even hostility. The country marks its independence not from Spain's departure in 1863 but from the end of a Haitian occupation two decades earlier. Darker-skinned Haitians are frequently discriminated against, and the Dominican Republic denies citizenship to people of Haitian ancestry born in the country by claiming they are "in transit" —even when many have been there for generations. Some even say the deportations don't go far enough.
Angelita Villaman, the leader of a neighborhood association in the city of Santiago, said she and others want all Haitians in their community gone by Independence Day in late February. If not, she says, she'll turn them in. "We regret their situation tremendously, but we can't handle them," Villaman said. "The entire world should take on Haiti's problems, not the Dominican Republic."
Sunday, January 30, 2011
Woman’s Day Photo Shoot, Goodbye Barney, Honduras trip, PC Budget, Baby Doc, So. Sudan Vote, Alan Gross, Etc.
OK, folks, don’t hold your breath, but I’m one of a trio of so-called “late bloomers” being featured in the magazine Woman’s Day, April 1 edition, as I mentioned once before. The photos I had submitted apparently were not acceptable, so a local groomer and a photographer from New York were sent to take some better ones. We took photos at my house, the nearby Eastern Market, the local Riverby bookstore that carries my book, and in front of Peace Corps headquarters but were not allowed to go inside. Of course, only one photo will be selected. I hope they sell a lot of magazines, because that one little photo involved a lot of expense. I wonder if they will show our faces looking out of bright flowers to illustrate the late bloomer theme?
On Feb. 23, I attended a memorial Mass for a member of my small Catholic congregation, Communitas. His name was Barney, he was 45 years old, and he had Down Syndrome. Barney died of early onset dementia and other complications typical of Down’s people. It seems unfair that those born with such a disability should also be afflicted with early decline and death, but, of course, life is not fair. Barney was an ardent fan of the Washington Redskins and a pretty good Elvis impersonator. He was friendly and funny. For 20 years, he worked in a restaurant near his home and once hosted us at a luncheon there. He had devoted parents, two brothers, many friends, and a girl friend. He had a rich life and he enriched ours. Only in the last year, did he start going downhill fast. We will miss him. And I do feel for his parents, having lost their son.
Late on a Sat. evening, a friend and I noticed a middle-aged ordinary-looking white woman wearing a clean wool coat start laying down newspapers to sleep out on the sidewalk in a sheltered corner under an overhang. My friend ran over to give her an old quilt that she carried in her car, but the woman refused it. However, she did accept a proffer of a little cash. That night, it definitely got below freezing. I shivered, thinking about sleeping out in Honduras where it only gets down to about 45F, cold enough. I know of some shelters, but not near where the woman was located and, by that hour, they would have been full and have already locked their doors.
Won’t comment on the substance of Obama’s state-of-the-union address, as enough pundits have already done that, only to say that it’s refreshing for a change to hear an articulate, intelligent leader who enunciates his words clearly (unlike some current Republicans who seem to have marbles in their mouth). But, of course, the guy is not a magician.
Coming up is my annual Feb. trip to Honduras for participation in medical brigades and various projects. I won’t be returning until early March, so watch this space sometime after that. Now, at age 72, I don’t know how long I’ll have the strength, finances, even life, to continue with these missions, but plan to keep on going as long as I can. Each year, I wonder if this will be my last trip? And since I’m leaving soon, a lot of different items are gathered together in this posting in a kind of potpourri. Hope I won’t wear out your eyes or your patience.
According to the local Spanish-language press, Honduran President Porfirio Lobo is proposing the creation of model cities with amenities and without crime. Where, how, and with what funding this would be achieved, is not specified, but it sounds like an admirable idea, especially the no crime part. I do remember something similar being done after Hurricane Mitch, when so-called model towns were built at some distance from Tegucigalpa. In my book, I mention one I saw, Ciudad Espana, rows of identical little cinderblock houses. Last Feb. when I was in Honduras, I met a blind woman who comes into Teguc every weekend to sing and play guitar at restaurants with other blind musicians. She lived in Cuidad Espana with her husband and three kids and told me that stores had sprung up there and also regular bus service into the capital. Indeed, crime, she said, was less than in the city, so maybe Lobo is on to something At the blind school, she shared the room that I was already sharing with Martha and Julissa. I believe I’ve already mentioned on this blog that Martha, who had always been in poor health, died several months ago and that Julissa was unceremoniously returned to her birth family for the Nov.-Feb school vacation. Now when school starts again, she will be staying with other girls. I must take her more of the gloves she inexplicably likes so much—small comfort after such a loss.
The Hispanic press also mentions that Honduras is hosting an “Afro-descendant” summit in the Caribbean port city La Ceiba next August, with representatives from Brazil, Colombia, Costa Rica, Guatemala, Mexico, Panama, Peru, Puerto Ricao, and the US invited.
I was sent an article from the Wall St. Journal (“New Prize in Cold War,” Jan. 15-16, 2011) on a Cuban doctor defector. He was serving in Gambia and is now in Miami, as are five other Cuban defectors from his medical mission. Of course, he is not working as a physician now, but as a “surgical assistant." Passing the highly sophisticated-English language medical exam is tough, expensive (several hundred dollars), and I think then applicants still have to find residencies in this country and many hospitals reject foreign grads, even if they've passed the test. Of course, Miami is full of Cuban doctors not working as such--though most try to get into some sort of medical work. And their families back in Cuba do suffer reprisals, as this defector’s family has.
A reader also shared a terrible story about a young Canadian woman singled out for an extensive and intrusive airport search in Newark, down to her underwear. You have to wonder if it was just random, whether she had some special attributes (like a name similar to one on a no-fly list), or whether it was, as suggested, maybe prurient interest? I hope she will complain to the proper authorities.
A Sunni Muslim center in Cairo that had been in dialogue with the Vatican has cut off ties because of the Pope’s call for Christians being targeted in majority Muslim countries to stand-up for their rights non-violently, even though they have been attacked violently. The center, named al-Azhar, reportedly dubbed the Pope’s remarks “insulting” to Islam and Muslim countries.
I would recommend an article in the New Yorker (Jan. 24, 2011), “The Hot Spotters,” about how a few outlier patients use up a disproportionate medical resources. A case is cited of a grossly obese man whose care totaled $3,500,000 in a single year. However, experiments focusing on such high-utilizing patients, providing them social and other supports plus monitoring and education, have resulted in greatly reduced costs. Of course, as medical costs get reduced, so do payments to medical providers. As the article observes, “one man’s cost is another man’s income.” That is indeed the resistance to reigning in health care expenditures. Each profession, each interest, is trying not only to protect, but to expand its piece of the economic pie. I was acutely aware of that when I worked for an association of health professionals. But the brakes have been put on at last, not only in the medical sphere, but in general. Living on credit and projections of future gains, as we in the US and in the world have been doing, has reached a logical and inevitable end.
That hard reality has also hit the Peace Corps. Here’s somone confirming my worst fears, mentioned earlier, after the federal budget was not approved in the lame duck Congress:
Because of the on-going Continuing Resolution and the subsequent budget worries, Peace Corps Headquarters is scaling back on growth plans. The Agency will level off at 9,500 Volunteers this year and depending upon whatever budget is eventually passed, the overall numbers may drop again. The Obama Administration has told all agencies to scale back their growth plans. And that means you, Peace Corps!
Sorry, Rajeev. You won the battle (s) but you lost the war. [A reference there to former volunteer Rajeev Goyal, profiled in the Dec. 20, 2010 issue of the New Yorker, who had worked tirelessly and creatively to increase Peace Corps funding.]
R. Sargant Shriver, founder and first director of Kennedy’s Peace Corps initiative, has died at age 95, after suffering from Alzheimer’s for the last seven years. We former Peace Corps volunteers owe him a big debt of gratitude.
With MLKing Day just passed, I was reminded that my late former husband and I were in the massive crowd on that summer day when King gave his “I Have a Dream” speech. He was just a tiny figure standing in the far distance and we could barely hear what he was saying. Little did we know then that he and his words would rise to such prominence.
In all the discussion, drama, and argument about the Arizona shooting rampage, I find myself feeling some empathy for the young shooter’s parents. Surely they were concerned about their son, but he was legally an adult and their influence over him was limited. Commentators allege that “the mental health system failed,” but there is no coherent and comprehensive “mental health system” (that requires public organization and money—both taxes and “big government,” if you will) and even if there were, each and every act of violence cannot be prevented nor every person who enters treatment be made well. We do need a better system to reduce the number of firearms circulating, or, failing that, to prevent unstable people and criminals from obtaining firearms to the extent possible, measures gun lobbyists decry. What about giving gun manufacturers subsidies not to produce guns, like we do to farmers for not planting crops?
The giant Las Vegas gun show opened with gun enthusiasts buying up everything, fearing that the Arizona shooting may result more gun controls. Of course, gun-rights spokespeople say guns have nothing to do with shooting injuries and deaths. "The recent tragedy in Tucson was not about firearms, ammunition or magazine capacity," said Ted Novin, spokesman for the National Shooting Sports Foundation, "It was about the action of a madman." Since we cannot always control or predict the actions of “madmen,” or apparent accidents like the wounding of two students in an LA school, one critically, some controls on gun availability would surely help. My younger son was shot in the foot at age 13 when kids were playing with a handgun that the father of one boy kept in his bedroom for protection. Fortunately, my son’s injury, though painful, was something he recovered from in a few weeks. It could have been otherwise.
You would think Sarah Palin is the person injured now, not Giffords. “I’m so misunderstood,” she reportedly complained on the Hannity show. She’s been uncharacteristically and mercifully quiet since. Congressman Alan Grayson cites examples of threats that he and at least six other Democrats besides Giffords had received recently, including telephoned and written death warnings, being burned in effigy, and having had a coffin left. I haven’t heard of any Republican lawmakers receiving such intimidations, so calls to tone down the rhetoric “on both sides” have rung a little hollow. Only one side, it seems, has been cranking up the rhetoric and getting dangerously close to the point where it crosses over into action—“reload,” “take him out.” Free speech is not protected to the point where someone is free to shout “fire” in a crowded movie theater. Interestingly enough, although Scalia, the great originalist on the Constitution, delivered the 2008 DC gun rights decision that defined it as an individual right for the first time, in fact, linking gun rights to the second amendment didn’t begin until the 1970s with a push by the NRA. In 1789, when the second amendment was being debated, it was only discussed in terms of arming state militias.
I hope voters will react against the merely symbolic and unproductive House vote to repeal the health care law. It is one thing to propose constructive changes, another to take up valuable time with a repeal destined to go nowhere. And why did House Speaker Boehner refuse Obama’s invitation to ride to Arizona in Air Force One and to attend the China state dinner? Not necessarily because he’s a human rights advocate. Because he didn’t want to appear to be too chummy with Obama by breaking bread with him? If he were sincere about wanting to work in a bipartisan fashion, he might have taken the opportunity to accept Obama’s hospitality, using it as a chance to express or advance positions he favors. But, no, it appears Republicans are not really interested in working with Democrats, rather, bent on undermining the government to give themselves an advantage in 2012, even if it may hurt the country and the economy. At least, that’s how I read it. But some from both parties have now sat together in the chamber, a good sign.
Baby Doc Duvalier has returned to Haiti after 25 years in exile, after the current president, Rene Preval apparently allowed return. I was in Haiti soon after Duvalier was ousted, was an election observer when Aristide was elected in 1990, and returned there once more since. After Duvalier had left, people celebrated and breathed a sigh of relief that he and his brutal Tonton Macoute enforcers would no longer intimidate them. A new era was anticipated in Haiti. However, since then, matters have gone downhill and now some old-timers look back nostalgically to the Duvalier days when there was little civil strife, Haitian factories regularly turned out goods, and tourists visited. Baby Doc’s recent return to cheering supporters brings the threat of even more disruption to this fragile nation. And if Aristide comes back, as he is apparently considering, more disruption. I’m broken-hearted about all the calamities this poor, but once vibrant country, has endured.
A Haitian-American close the politics in his native country opines that Baby Doc will be indicted and tried. However, as with Pinochet, he will never serve time. He said that Duvalier had suffered a mild stroke last year, so his health might be the excuse to keep him out of prison. Finally, under pressure and amid credible allegations of fraud, apparently Preval has agreed to take the name of his favorite, Jude Celestin, off the run-off ballot, leaving it a contest between former first lady Mirlande Manigat and popular singer Michel Martelly.
No doubt, authoritarian Arab regimes (which describes most, if not all, of them) have been viewing developments in Tunisia with great alarm, and now demonstrators in Yemen, Algeria, and Egypt have been following suit. Regarding Egypt, Obama seems to be walking a fine line. And the fact that the Tunisia uprising was triggered or at least amplified via the internet cannot have escaped the Cuban regime, which will redouble its efforts to keep its citizens away from the internet, even if that slows economic development. Without internet and cell phones for the most part, and with an aging population, unlike the youthful Arabs, Cubans are less likely to rise up and, indeed, most of them probably don’t even know what’s taking place in the Arab world. Members of the old regime in Tunisia did seem to be trying to save themselves by hitching onto the new bandwagon, but many citizens saw through that effort and may have stymied their efforts.
Cuba’s self-described “Generation Y” blogger Yoani Sanchez was named for another international press award that she was unable to receive. About the pending mass layoffs from state industries, she has commented on her recent blog entitled “Daddy State and His frightened Children” (Jan. 10. 2011). Since ordinary Cubans do not have internet access, Sanchez is thought to hand off flash-drives to visitors to Cuba to post for her after their departure. She says she is “blogging blind” because she never gets to see her postings online nor are Cubans on the island able to view them. However, among Cubans with computer equipment, flash-drives may also be passed around hand-to-hand within the country.
Nina Shea, a friend from the right-leaning Hudson Institute think-tank, has had a long-running concern with Sudan. She has written an article in National Review online called “Don’t Forget Sudan’s Slaves” (Jan. 17) with some troubling information about ongoing slavery in Sudan, usually southerners abducted by northerners. When I was in south Sudan in 2006, I met a woman whose son had disappeared on a trip north, whom she feared had been abducted into slavery.
Now Ronald Reagan’s son and namesake has come out with a new book saying what we had often suspected, that his father was already getting Alzheimer’s during his second presidential term. I seem to recall some odd remarks by President Reagan at the time and reports of him nodding off during meetings. Older brother Michael Reagan, however, disputes this claim.
I come from a family of architects, so I read with interest an article in the Atlantic, Oct. 2010, called "Design within Reach" by Douglas McGray, about architect Chris Downey of San Francisco who suddenly lost his sight, but is now able to read raised plans printed by a special Braille-type computer.What did I tell you? I had said that if less than 95% voted for secession, I would be surprised. Now that it’s closer to 99%, I am not surprised.
January 21, 2011 NYTimes
South Sudanese Vote Overwhelmingly for SecessionBy JOSH KRON and JEFFREY GETTLEMAN
JUBA, Sudan — Nearly 99 percent of southern Sudanese voters have chosen to split off from northern Sudan and form their own country, according to preliminary results of an independence referendum conducted this month. The commission that ran the referendum said Friday that 98.6 percent voted for secession, and 1.4 percent voted for unity, according to more than 3 million votes cast, which brings the largest country in Africa a step closer to splitting in two.
The commission said that the results were still incomplete, and that they were being continually updated, though all indications point to the vote being overwhelmingly for secession. Election officials have also said that the turnout soared past the 60 percent threshold necessary for the referendum to be valid. The official results are due to be released Feb. 14.
“The last counties are about to report in,” said Aleu Garang Aleu, a spokesperson for the referendum bureau in the southern capital Juba. Voters in nearly every state in the south chose independence by 99 percent; in Eastern Equatoria, only 229 people voted for unity with the north out of 455,466 votes, according to the preliminary results.
But southern Sudanese living in northern Sudan were more ambivalent — 42 percent opted for unity and 58 percent for secession. Many southerners work in Khartoum, Sudan’s capital, and they may fear that secession will mean that they have to leave, though citizenship questions have yet to be resolved.
Now the wait begins. Southern Sudan will not achieve formal independence until July 9, when the United States-backed peace treaty that put the referendum in motion is set to expire. By then southern Sudan hopes to pick a national anthem and a name; leading contenders are Nile Republic and South Sudan.
But there are still a number of delicate and potentially combustible issues that need to be resolved before Sudan can peacefully break in two, namely how the two sides would share the south’s sizeable reserves of crude oil and what to do about the Abyei region, which straddles the north-south border and is claimed by both.
Fighting this month in Abyei claimed dozens of lives, and Western diplomats worry that the region could threaten what has been an otherwise remarkably peaceful and orderly referendum period.
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Envoy allowed to meet with jailed American in CubaBy PAUL HAVEN, Associated Press – Thu Jan 13, 2011
HAVANA – Cuba allowed a visiting U.S. State Department envoy to meet on Thursday with a jailed American contractor whose case has been a stumbling block to improved relations between the two Cold War enemies. State Department spokesman P.J. Crowley said Roberta Jacobsen, a deputy assistant secretary of state for Western Hemisphere affairs, met with Alan Gross, who has been jailed without charge since Dec. 3, 2009. Cuban officials including President Raul Castro have accused him of spying.
Crowley had no details on where or when the meeting took place. "We appreciate the fact that ... she had the opportunity to visit with him," he told reporters in Washington.
Meanwhile, a senior State Department official said Washington has heard encouraging signs from the Cuban government that Gross might be tried and allowed to return to the United States."I am cautiously optimistic because of things we hear that that would be the case," said the official. When asked if the optimism was based on direct conversations with the Cuban government over the fate of Gross, the official responded: "Yes."
The official spoke on condition of anonymity due to the sensitive nature of the case.
Jacobsen was in Havana to lead a U.S. delegation in regularly scheduled talks with their Cuban counterparts on immigration matters. She also met Thursday with several prominent Cuban dissidents as well as Jewish officials and leaders of the Roman Catholic Church, Crowley said.
Cuba reacted strongly to Jacobsen's decision to meet with the dissidents, saying it "confirmed once again that there is no change in the U.S. policy of subversion and meddling in Cuba's internal affairs."
The Foreign Ministry said Jacobsen was warned not to use the official visit as an excuse to meet with the dissidents, who Cuba considers to be mercenaries paid by Washington to destabilize the government. It called the meeting an "open provocation," a "flagrant violation" of international norms and an "offense against our people." U.S. government officials counter that they maintain a dialogue with members of "civil society," including those in opposition, in countries around the world.
The scenario painted about Gross by the senior State Department official — along with the visit with the prisoner — were the most encouraging signs to date that the case might be nearing a resolution, possibly with Gross being tried, convicted and sentenced to time already served, or granted a pardon or commuted sentence of some sort.
U.S. officials have said repeatedly that Gross's imprisonment is an obstacle to improved relations with Cuba.
However, the official cautioned that the encouraging words from Havana won't mean anything unless the Cuban government follows up, presumably by finally bringing charges against Gross so a trial can proceed."Words are nice and they are important, but in the end we have to see actions," the official said. "We have to see things happen to believe it is going to take place."
Gross, 60, a native of Potomac, Maryland, was working for a firm contracted by the U.S. Agency for International Development when he was arrested and sent to Havana's high-security Villa Marista prison.
Cuban officials accuse him of spying. The U.S. government says Gross was distributing communications equipment to the island's 1,500-strong Jewish community, though leaders of Havana's two main Jewish groups have denied having anything to do with him.
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A final thought to ponder: Life is sexually transmitted.
On Feb. 23, I attended a memorial Mass for a member of my small Catholic congregation, Communitas. His name was Barney, he was 45 years old, and he had Down Syndrome. Barney died of early onset dementia and other complications typical of Down’s people. It seems unfair that those born with such a disability should also be afflicted with early decline and death, but, of course, life is not fair. Barney was an ardent fan of the Washington Redskins and a pretty good Elvis impersonator. He was friendly and funny. For 20 years, he worked in a restaurant near his home and once hosted us at a luncheon there. He had devoted parents, two brothers, many friends, and a girl friend. He had a rich life and he enriched ours. Only in the last year, did he start going downhill fast. We will miss him. And I do feel for his parents, having lost their son.
Late on a Sat. evening, a friend and I noticed a middle-aged ordinary-looking white woman wearing a clean wool coat start laying down newspapers to sleep out on the sidewalk in a sheltered corner under an overhang. My friend ran over to give her an old quilt that she carried in her car, but the woman refused it. However, she did accept a proffer of a little cash. That night, it definitely got below freezing. I shivered, thinking about sleeping out in Honduras where it only gets down to about 45F, cold enough. I know of some shelters, but not near where the woman was located and, by that hour, they would have been full and have already locked their doors.
Won’t comment on the substance of Obama’s state-of-the-union address, as enough pundits have already done that, only to say that it’s refreshing for a change to hear an articulate, intelligent leader who enunciates his words clearly (unlike some current Republicans who seem to have marbles in their mouth). But, of course, the guy is not a magician.
Coming up is my annual Feb. trip to Honduras for participation in medical brigades and various projects. I won’t be returning until early March, so watch this space sometime after that. Now, at age 72, I don’t know how long I’ll have the strength, finances, even life, to continue with these missions, but plan to keep on going as long as I can. Each year, I wonder if this will be my last trip? And since I’m leaving soon, a lot of different items are gathered together in this posting in a kind of potpourri. Hope I won’t wear out your eyes or your patience.
According to the local Spanish-language press, Honduran President Porfirio Lobo is proposing the creation of model cities with amenities and without crime. Where, how, and with what funding this would be achieved, is not specified, but it sounds like an admirable idea, especially the no crime part. I do remember something similar being done after Hurricane Mitch, when so-called model towns were built at some distance from Tegucigalpa. In my book, I mention one I saw, Ciudad Espana, rows of identical little cinderblock houses. Last Feb. when I was in Honduras, I met a blind woman who comes into Teguc every weekend to sing and play guitar at restaurants with other blind musicians. She lived in Cuidad Espana with her husband and three kids and told me that stores had sprung up there and also regular bus service into the capital. Indeed, crime, she said, was less than in the city, so maybe Lobo is on to something At the blind school, she shared the room that I was already sharing with Martha and Julissa. I believe I’ve already mentioned on this blog that Martha, who had always been in poor health, died several months ago and that Julissa was unceremoniously returned to her birth family for the Nov.-Feb school vacation. Now when school starts again, she will be staying with other girls. I must take her more of the gloves she inexplicably likes so much—small comfort after such a loss.
The Hispanic press also mentions that Honduras is hosting an “Afro-descendant” summit in the Caribbean port city La Ceiba next August, with representatives from Brazil, Colombia, Costa Rica, Guatemala, Mexico, Panama, Peru, Puerto Ricao, and the US invited.
I was sent an article from the Wall St. Journal (“New Prize in Cold War,” Jan. 15-16, 2011) on a Cuban doctor defector. He was serving in Gambia and is now in Miami, as are five other Cuban defectors from his medical mission. Of course, he is not working as a physician now, but as a “surgical assistant." Passing the highly sophisticated-English language medical exam is tough, expensive (several hundred dollars), and I think then applicants still have to find residencies in this country and many hospitals reject foreign grads, even if they've passed the test. Of course, Miami is full of Cuban doctors not working as such--though most try to get into some sort of medical work. And their families back in Cuba do suffer reprisals, as this defector’s family has.
A reader also shared a terrible story about a young Canadian woman singled out for an extensive and intrusive airport search in Newark, down to her underwear. You have to wonder if it was just random, whether she had some special attributes (like a name similar to one on a no-fly list), or whether it was, as suggested, maybe prurient interest? I hope she will complain to the proper authorities.
A Sunni Muslim center in Cairo that had been in dialogue with the Vatican has cut off ties because of the Pope’s call for Christians being targeted in majority Muslim countries to stand-up for their rights non-violently, even though they have been attacked violently. The center, named al-Azhar, reportedly dubbed the Pope’s remarks “insulting” to Islam and Muslim countries.
I would recommend an article in the New Yorker (Jan. 24, 2011), “The Hot Spotters,” about how a few outlier patients use up a disproportionate medical resources. A case is cited of a grossly obese man whose care totaled $3,500,000 in a single year. However, experiments focusing on such high-utilizing patients, providing them social and other supports plus monitoring and education, have resulted in greatly reduced costs. Of course, as medical costs get reduced, so do payments to medical providers. As the article observes, “one man’s cost is another man’s income.” That is indeed the resistance to reigning in health care expenditures. Each profession, each interest, is trying not only to protect, but to expand its piece of the economic pie. I was acutely aware of that when I worked for an association of health professionals. But the brakes have been put on at last, not only in the medical sphere, but in general. Living on credit and projections of future gains, as we in the US and in the world have been doing, has reached a logical and inevitable end.
That hard reality has also hit the Peace Corps. Here’s somone confirming my worst fears, mentioned earlier, after the federal budget was not approved in the lame duck Congress:
Because of the on-going Continuing Resolution and the subsequent budget worries, Peace Corps Headquarters is scaling back on growth plans. The Agency will level off at 9,500 Volunteers this year and depending upon whatever budget is eventually passed, the overall numbers may drop again. The Obama Administration has told all agencies to scale back their growth plans. And that means you, Peace Corps!
Sorry, Rajeev. You won the battle (s) but you lost the war. [A reference there to former volunteer Rajeev Goyal, profiled in the Dec. 20, 2010 issue of the New Yorker, who had worked tirelessly and creatively to increase Peace Corps funding.]
R. Sargant Shriver, founder and first director of Kennedy’s Peace Corps initiative, has died at age 95, after suffering from Alzheimer’s for the last seven years. We former Peace Corps volunteers owe him a big debt of gratitude.
With MLKing Day just passed, I was reminded that my late former husband and I were in the massive crowd on that summer day when King gave his “I Have a Dream” speech. He was just a tiny figure standing in the far distance and we could barely hear what he was saying. Little did we know then that he and his words would rise to such prominence.
In all the discussion, drama, and argument about the Arizona shooting rampage, I find myself feeling some empathy for the young shooter’s parents. Surely they were concerned about their son, but he was legally an adult and their influence over him was limited. Commentators allege that “the mental health system failed,” but there is no coherent and comprehensive “mental health system” (that requires public organization and money—both taxes and “big government,” if you will) and even if there were, each and every act of violence cannot be prevented nor every person who enters treatment be made well. We do need a better system to reduce the number of firearms circulating, or, failing that, to prevent unstable people and criminals from obtaining firearms to the extent possible, measures gun lobbyists decry. What about giving gun manufacturers subsidies not to produce guns, like we do to farmers for not planting crops?
The giant Las Vegas gun show opened with gun enthusiasts buying up everything, fearing that the Arizona shooting may result more gun controls. Of course, gun-rights spokespeople say guns have nothing to do with shooting injuries and deaths. "The recent tragedy in Tucson was not about firearms, ammunition or magazine capacity," said Ted Novin, spokesman for the National Shooting Sports Foundation, "It was about the action of a madman." Since we cannot always control or predict the actions of “madmen,” or apparent accidents like the wounding of two students in an LA school, one critically, some controls on gun availability would surely help. My younger son was shot in the foot at age 13 when kids were playing with a handgun that the father of one boy kept in his bedroom for protection. Fortunately, my son’s injury, though painful, was something he recovered from in a few weeks. It could have been otherwise.
You would think Sarah Palin is the person injured now, not Giffords. “I’m so misunderstood,” she reportedly complained on the Hannity show. She’s been uncharacteristically and mercifully quiet since. Congressman Alan Grayson cites examples of threats that he and at least six other Democrats besides Giffords had received recently, including telephoned and written death warnings, being burned in effigy, and having had a coffin left. I haven’t heard of any Republican lawmakers receiving such intimidations, so calls to tone down the rhetoric “on both sides” have rung a little hollow. Only one side, it seems, has been cranking up the rhetoric and getting dangerously close to the point where it crosses over into action—“reload,” “take him out.” Free speech is not protected to the point where someone is free to shout “fire” in a crowded movie theater. Interestingly enough, although Scalia, the great originalist on the Constitution, delivered the 2008 DC gun rights decision that defined it as an individual right for the first time, in fact, linking gun rights to the second amendment didn’t begin until the 1970s with a push by the NRA. In 1789, when the second amendment was being debated, it was only discussed in terms of arming state militias.
I hope voters will react against the merely symbolic and unproductive House vote to repeal the health care law. It is one thing to propose constructive changes, another to take up valuable time with a repeal destined to go nowhere. And why did House Speaker Boehner refuse Obama’s invitation to ride to Arizona in Air Force One and to attend the China state dinner? Not necessarily because he’s a human rights advocate. Because he didn’t want to appear to be too chummy with Obama by breaking bread with him? If he were sincere about wanting to work in a bipartisan fashion, he might have taken the opportunity to accept Obama’s hospitality, using it as a chance to express or advance positions he favors. But, no, it appears Republicans are not really interested in working with Democrats, rather, bent on undermining the government to give themselves an advantage in 2012, even if it may hurt the country and the economy. At least, that’s how I read it. But some from both parties have now sat together in the chamber, a good sign.
Baby Doc Duvalier has returned to Haiti after 25 years in exile, after the current president, Rene Preval apparently allowed return. I was in Haiti soon after Duvalier was ousted, was an election observer when Aristide was elected in 1990, and returned there once more since. After Duvalier had left, people celebrated and breathed a sigh of relief that he and his brutal Tonton Macoute enforcers would no longer intimidate them. A new era was anticipated in Haiti. However, since then, matters have gone downhill and now some old-timers look back nostalgically to the Duvalier days when there was little civil strife, Haitian factories regularly turned out goods, and tourists visited. Baby Doc’s recent return to cheering supporters brings the threat of even more disruption to this fragile nation. And if Aristide comes back, as he is apparently considering, more disruption. I’m broken-hearted about all the calamities this poor, but once vibrant country, has endured.
A Haitian-American close the politics in his native country opines that Baby Doc will be indicted and tried. However, as with Pinochet, he will never serve time. He said that Duvalier had suffered a mild stroke last year, so his health might be the excuse to keep him out of prison. Finally, under pressure and amid credible allegations of fraud, apparently Preval has agreed to take the name of his favorite, Jude Celestin, off the run-off ballot, leaving it a contest between former first lady Mirlande Manigat and popular singer Michel Martelly.
No doubt, authoritarian Arab regimes (which describes most, if not all, of them) have been viewing developments in Tunisia with great alarm, and now demonstrators in Yemen, Algeria, and Egypt have been following suit. Regarding Egypt, Obama seems to be walking a fine line. And the fact that the Tunisia uprising was triggered or at least amplified via the internet cannot have escaped the Cuban regime, which will redouble its efforts to keep its citizens away from the internet, even if that slows economic development. Without internet and cell phones for the most part, and with an aging population, unlike the youthful Arabs, Cubans are less likely to rise up and, indeed, most of them probably don’t even know what’s taking place in the Arab world. Members of the old regime in Tunisia did seem to be trying to save themselves by hitching onto the new bandwagon, but many citizens saw through that effort and may have stymied their efforts.
Cuba’s self-described “Generation Y” blogger Yoani Sanchez was named for another international press award that she was unable to receive. About the pending mass layoffs from state industries, she has commented on her recent blog entitled “Daddy State and His frightened Children” (Jan. 10. 2011). Since ordinary Cubans do not have internet access, Sanchez is thought to hand off flash-drives to visitors to Cuba to post for her after their departure. She says she is “blogging blind” because she never gets to see her postings online nor are Cubans on the island able to view them. However, among Cubans with computer equipment, flash-drives may also be passed around hand-to-hand within the country.
Nina Shea, a friend from the right-leaning Hudson Institute think-tank, has had a long-running concern with Sudan. She has written an article in National Review online called “Don’t Forget Sudan’s Slaves” (Jan. 17) with some troubling information about ongoing slavery in Sudan, usually southerners abducted by northerners. When I was in south Sudan in 2006, I met a woman whose son had disappeared on a trip north, whom she feared had been abducted into slavery.
Now Ronald Reagan’s son and namesake has come out with a new book saying what we had often suspected, that his father was already getting Alzheimer’s during his second presidential term. I seem to recall some odd remarks by President Reagan at the time and reports of him nodding off during meetings. Older brother Michael Reagan, however, disputes this claim.
I come from a family of architects, so I read with interest an article in the Atlantic, Oct. 2010, called "Design within Reach" by Douglas McGray, about architect Chris Downey of San Francisco who suddenly lost his sight, but is now able to read raised plans printed by a special Braille-type computer.What did I tell you? I had said that if less than 95% voted for secession, I would be surprised. Now that it’s closer to 99%, I am not surprised.
January 21, 2011 NYTimes
South Sudanese Vote Overwhelmingly for SecessionBy JOSH KRON and JEFFREY GETTLEMAN
JUBA, Sudan — Nearly 99 percent of southern Sudanese voters have chosen to split off from northern Sudan and form their own country, according to preliminary results of an independence referendum conducted this month. The commission that ran the referendum said Friday that 98.6 percent voted for secession, and 1.4 percent voted for unity, according to more than 3 million votes cast, which brings the largest country in Africa a step closer to splitting in two.
The commission said that the results were still incomplete, and that they were being continually updated, though all indications point to the vote being overwhelmingly for secession. Election officials have also said that the turnout soared past the 60 percent threshold necessary for the referendum to be valid. The official results are due to be released Feb. 14.
“The last counties are about to report in,” said Aleu Garang Aleu, a spokesperson for the referendum bureau in the southern capital Juba. Voters in nearly every state in the south chose independence by 99 percent; in Eastern Equatoria, only 229 people voted for unity with the north out of 455,466 votes, according to the preliminary results.
But southern Sudanese living in northern Sudan were more ambivalent — 42 percent opted for unity and 58 percent for secession. Many southerners work in Khartoum, Sudan’s capital, and they may fear that secession will mean that they have to leave, though citizenship questions have yet to be resolved.
Now the wait begins. Southern Sudan will not achieve formal independence until July 9, when the United States-backed peace treaty that put the referendum in motion is set to expire. By then southern Sudan hopes to pick a national anthem and a name; leading contenders are Nile Republic and South Sudan.
But there are still a number of delicate and potentially combustible issues that need to be resolved before Sudan can peacefully break in two, namely how the two sides would share the south’s sizeable reserves of crude oil and what to do about the Abyei region, which straddles the north-south border and is claimed by both.
Fighting this month in Abyei claimed dozens of lives, and Western diplomats worry that the region could threaten what has been an otherwise remarkably peaceful and orderly referendum period.
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Envoy allowed to meet with jailed American in CubaBy PAUL HAVEN, Associated Press – Thu Jan 13, 2011
HAVANA – Cuba allowed a visiting U.S. State Department envoy to meet on Thursday with a jailed American contractor whose case has been a stumbling block to improved relations between the two Cold War enemies. State Department spokesman P.J. Crowley said Roberta Jacobsen, a deputy assistant secretary of state for Western Hemisphere affairs, met with Alan Gross, who has been jailed without charge since Dec. 3, 2009. Cuban officials including President Raul Castro have accused him of spying.
Crowley had no details on where or when the meeting took place. "We appreciate the fact that ... she had the opportunity to visit with him," he told reporters in Washington.
Meanwhile, a senior State Department official said Washington has heard encouraging signs from the Cuban government that Gross might be tried and allowed to return to the United States."I am cautiously optimistic because of things we hear that that would be the case," said the official. When asked if the optimism was based on direct conversations with the Cuban government over the fate of Gross, the official responded: "Yes."
The official spoke on condition of anonymity due to the sensitive nature of the case.
Jacobsen was in Havana to lead a U.S. delegation in regularly scheduled talks with their Cuban counterparts on immigration matters. She also met Thursday with several prominent Cuban dissidents as well as Jewish officials and leaders of the Roman Catholic Church, Crowley said.
Cuba reacted strongly to Jacobsen's decision to meet with the dissidents, saying it "confirmed once again that there is no change in the U.S. policy of subversion and meddling in Cuba's internal affairs."
The Foreign Ministry said Jacobsen was warned not to use the official visit as an excuse to meet with the dissidents, who Cuba considers to be mercenaries paid by Washington to destabilize the government. It called the meeting an "open provocation," a "flagrant violation" of international norms and an "offense against our people." U.S. government officials counter that they maintain a dialogue with members of "civil society," including those in opposition, in countries around the world.
The scenario painted about Gross by the senior State Department official — along with the visit with the prisoner — were the most encouraging signs to date that the case might be nearing a resolution, possibly with Gross being tried, convicted and sentenced to time already served, or granted a pardon or commuted sentence of some sort.
U.S. officials have said repeatedly that Gross's imprisonment is an obstacle to improved relations with Cuba.
However, the official cautioned that the encouraging words from Havana won't mean anything unless the Cuban government follows up, presumably by finally bringing charges against Gross so a trial can proceed."Words are nice and they are important, but in the end we have to see actions," the official said. "We have to see things happen to believe it is going to take place."
Gross, 60, a native of Potomac, Maryland, was working for a firm contracted by the U.S. Agency for International Development when he was arrested and sent to Havana's high-security Villa Marista prison.
Cuban officials accuse him of spying. The U.S. government says Gross was distributing communications equipment to the island's 1,500-strong Jewish community, though leaders of Havana's two main Jewish groups have denied having anything to do with him.
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A final thought to ponder: Life is sexually transmitted.
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