Hello once again, dear readers. On this episode we will be catching a few quick glimpses the life of a foreign graduate student in Guatemala. For the past two weeks or so I've been following a routine (more or less) that I described in the previous post, that of taking the bus to the city, siting on my bum reading newspaper articles about murder, corruption, assault, embezzlement and fraud, taking the bus back to Jocotenango and on occasion (ok, more often than I probably should) having a few beers with my friends before heading off to bed to get ready to do the same thing the next day. I say that this is more or less a routine because I will admit that I don't actually make it to the capital every single day. Sometimes I get distracted. Anyway, in this post I want to throw out some random experiences I've had in the last few weeks, taken from my mostly mundane day-to-day life here.
First of all, for those of you who don't know, I got a strep throat infection two weeks ago. Not only that, but I had an allergic reaction to the infection (yes, that is possible, apparently). Imagine my surprise when, after three days of a ridiculously sore throat and a fever which I basically pretended not to notice in hopes it would go away, I woke up on a Sunday morning covered head to toe in a splotchy red rash. Thank goodness for my housemate, who knew exactly how to get a doctor's appointment quickly. Like any good child of the age of technology and the internet, I immediately looked up my symptoms online. I had overheard a conversation the previous day between a few foreigners about how one of them had contracted scabies in her hostel, and was worried that maybe that is what had caused the rash. Scabies are tiny little mights that burrow under your skin and cause a rash that itches to the point that after a certain amount of time anyone infected can't sleep because of the itching. Thank goodness, however, my rash did not fit the symptoms of scabies, and I crossed that off my list. The only things I could find online were rashes that once in a while show up with strep throat (which also fit with the sore throat I'd been suffering before) and scarlet fever. Luckily for me it didn't turn out to be scarlet fever and five days of antibiotics and antihistamines did away with the problem.
Downer number two of the last few weeks is that sometime on Friday afternoon (this past Friday, that is), someone entered our apartment and absconded with all the cash in the house. Which, unfortunately for me happened to be my cash. I realized on Friday night after coming home that the Q600 I had stashed with my toothbrush and other toiletries was missing and that, upon further inspection, my emergency stash of US$ was also gone. Nothing else was missing, thank goodness...my passport, ipod and computer were all as I left them. But my cash...all my cash except for a few smaller bills from Brazil and Argentina....was gone. I will say this has put a little bit of a crimp in my style, so to speak. It's a creepy feeling knowing someone has picked through your stuff in your own house while you were gone. Serious bummer.
On the up side, I've been able to get a lot done at the National Library here, and have made a few more contacts with folks that work in the news, both print and radio. And I've seen a lot of interesting things just sitting on the bus or strolling around in the historic district. The other day I was sitting in the Central Park in Zone 1, near the library, waiting for a friend. Seemingly out of nowhere (although I know he must have come from somewhere), a well dressed gentlemen of indeterminate age (probably in his 60s?) sits down next to me (after, of course, placing a handkerchief on the wall I was sitting on so he didn't get his trousers dirty) and asks in relatively good English, "Do you speak English?" Wary but intrigued I told him I did. He then begins to explain to me how he is an English teacher here in Guatemala City and that whenever he meets a native English speaker he tries to ask them certain questions he has about the language. Even more intrigued, I agree to answer some questions, and he pulls out two pieces of paper folded up like origami on which he has written (back and front) a slew of English phrases he has doubts about. For some he wants to know what they mean, for others how to pronounce it. Most are either phrases from an English translation of the Bible or from old songs or movies. Things like "left holding the bag," "drop me a line," or the difference between forbid, forbids and forbade. I must say it was one of the strangest conversations I've had here so far, especially when, after he was done asking me questions, he asked me out for dinner. The men here never really stop thinking about how to get a woman to go out with them, even if they are at least 30 years older than said woman and a complete stranger. A friend of mine explained that if you give a Guatemalan man five minutes of conversation then he automatically thinks he has a chance. Oddly enough I got another proposal for dinner only ten minutes later, after another man who saw me talking to the first guy sidled over an struck up a brief conversation with me about some other foreigners he just met who were riding their bicycles from Canada to Argentina. I think maybe I shouldn't be so friendly when sitting in the park in Guatemala City.
Finally, some things I want to get off my chest, so to speak, in terms of living in Guatemala. I really enjoy it here, especially because of the wonderful people I've met here. But here are some of my pet peeves which, forever after, will go unsaid.
1. potholes in the sidewalks
2. sidewalks wide enough to allow only one person to walk at a time (anyone coming the other way has to walk in the road)
3. black smoke coming out of the back of buses as you're walking down the street
4. ubiquitous smell of stale piss every 50 ft or so on the street due to most mens' use of walls as public urinals
5. crowding on buses that make it almost impossible to get off in the right place (although this is helpful when on extra-urban buses that are taking curves too fast, since you have less chance of sliding around when you're wedged in like sardines)
6. the lurking mental reminder that yes, actually, it is somewhat dangerous to walk around/ride the bus in the capital (although I have neither been party to nor witnessed anything yet...knock wood)
7. being taller than everyone else (while this isn't really that big of a deal [haha] it is sometimes weird when someone walking in front of me turns around, wide-eyed, to see what kind of hulking behemouth is casting a shadow over them)
Ok, that's it then, I'm done. I'm heading off to do a tiny bit of site-seeing this weekend with some friends, so there should be some interesting stories and pictures of the next installment. Until then, take care....
P.S. The title of this post is what the ayudantes call out to let you know where a bus is going. If you can't figure this one out, they're basically saying, "get your butt over here and get on the bus to Guatemala City!"
Wednesday, November 18, 2009
Friday, November 6, 2009
Kite Festival
Oh, good, you’re still here. That is, you came back. Ok, anyway, that is to say that I’m glad that someone is still reading this, despite my appalling lack of consistency in when I write.
Since I last wrote I’ve set up my base of operations in Jocotenango, a town just at the edge of Antigua, which is about 45 minutes from the capital. I posted about Antigua earlier, back in March I think. Some friends have a house here in Jocotengano, and I’m renting a room from them. Not only is it cheaper than a hotel, but a lot more fun. It’s definitely nice to have people to talk to or have dinner with after a long day riding buses into the city and sitting all afternoon at the library. And that’s basically been the routine the last week or two….get up relatively early, catch a bus to Antigua, grab some breakfast, hop another bus to Guatemala, find my way to the Centro Histórico, where the library is, and then between three and five hours pouring through the newspaper archives. Then a quick (and fabulously cheap) lunch, another couple of bus rides, and back to Jocotenango for a quick nap before dinner and/or a beer or two with the gang. Not a bad life, really, except for the bus rides. I almost lost it at a guy on the bus on Wednesday after he tried to grind up against me in a less than respectful way while we were all crammed together during an especially crowded section of the bus route. Buses here are not for the claustrophobic.
Last Sunday a group of us made the trip to Sumpango, a small town in the same department (Guatemala is broken up in to departments and then those are broken up in to municipalities) as Antigua. Guatemala does not have the same traditions as Mexico (that most of us in the States are familiar with) for the Day of the Dead. Instead, many Guatemalans follow the indigenous/catholic practice of decorating the
graves of their loved ones and flying kites over the cemetery. According to my guidebook, the kites are meant to represent the spirits of the dead. Two towns, Sumpango and Santiago Sacatepéquez, hold kite festivals on November 1st. The kites are made out of tissue paper, wood (looked like bamboo) and scotch tape, and the larger kites can reach up to 50 ft in diameter. Townspeople fly the kites smaller than twenty feet across in the afternoon (which unfortunately we missed due to some transportation arraignments). It really was an incredible sight. The bigger kites each had a theme. This year, at least in Sumpango, the themes seemed to revolve around the environment, violence against women, and indigenous heritage. The first photo is a view of the kites from across the soccer field, the second a little boy on top of a crypt in the cemetery, getting ready to fly his kite. The kites were really impressive. At first we thought they would try to fly the larger kites, but after a few conversations with some locals
(who more or less laughed at us when we mentioned flying the big kites) we realized that the really giant kites were just for show. I particularly liked a kite that took a famous Dalí painting and reworked in with an image of an indigenous woman. Oh, and in case you were wondering, in Guatemala, kites are called barriletes (the word for kite in Spanish changes depending on where you are). It really is impressive, isn't it, what you can do with some tissue paper and scotch tape?
Since I last wrote I’ve set up my base of operations in Jocotenango, a town just at the edge of Antigua, which is about 45 minutes from the capital. I posted about Antigua earlier, back in March I think. Some friends have a house here in Jocotengano, and I’m renting a room from them. Not only is it cheaper than a hotel, but a lot more fun. It’s definitely nice to have people to talk to or have dinner with after a long day riding buses into the city and sitting all afternoon at the library. And that’s basically been the routine the last week or two….get up relatively early, catch a bus to Antigua, grab some breakfast, hop another bus to Guatemala, find my way to the Centro Histórico, where the library is, and then between three and five hours pouring through the newspaper archives. Then a quick (and fabulously cheap) lunch, another couple of bus rides, and back to Jocotenango for a quick nap before dinner and/or a beer or two with the gang. Not a bad life, really, except for the bus rides. I almost lost it at a guy on the bus on Wednesday after he tried to grind up against me in a less than respectful way while we were all crammed together during an especially crowded section of the bus route. Buses here are not for the claustrophobic.
Last Sunday a group of us made the trip to Sumpango, a small town in the same department (Guatemala is broken up in to departments and then those are broken up in to municipalities) as Antigua. Guatemala does not have the same traditions as Mexico (that most of us in the States are familiar with) for the Day of the Dead. Instead, many Guatemalans follow the indigenous/catholic practice of decorating the
graves of their loved ones and flying kites over the cemetery. According to my guidebook, the kites are meant to represent the spirits of the dead. Two towns, Sumpango and Santiago Sacatepéquez, hold kite festivals on November 1st. The kites are made out of tissue paper, wood (looked like bamboo) and scotch tape, and the larger kites can reach up to 50 ft in diameter. Townspeople fly the kites smaller than twenty feet across in the afternoon (which unfortunately we missed due to some transportation arraignments). It really was an incredible sight. The bigger kites each had a theme. This year, at least in Sumpango, the themes seemed to revolve around the environment, violence against women, and indigenous heritage. The first photo is a view of the kites from across the soccer field, the second a little boy on top of a crypt in the cemetery, getting ready to fly his kite. The kites were really impressive. At first we thought they would try to fly the larger kites, but after a few conversations with some locals
(who more or less laughed at us when we mentioned flying the big kites) we realized that the really giant kites were just for show. I particularly liked a kite that took a famous Dalí painting and reworked in with an image of an indigenous woman. Oh, and in case you were wondering, in Guatemala, kites are called barriletes (the word for kite in Spanish changes depending on where you are). It really is impressive, isn't it, what you can do with some tissue paper and scotch tape?
Monday, October 26, 2009
Revolución
Well hello, faithful readers! Welcome back. It's been a while, I know, but better late than never, right? So here's a quick run-down of what's been going on with me and then on to a history lesson. I know you are all dying to learn more about the history of Guatemala, so I though I would oblige.
As for how my life has fared since the last post, here's the whirlwind tour. I finished up in Rio mid July and spent a few weeks back in South Bend. Early August consisted of a fantastic visit out east to the wedding of some of my favorite people and a horrifying cross-country drive that included flash floods and a two hour tour of about 500 yds of pavement just outside the border crossing into Canada at Niagra Falls. Let's just say that while I have nothing particular against Canada, I was not feeling very sympathetic towards maple leaves or hockey players during that trip. After this happy jaunt I took a plane to Oregon and spent two lovely weeks with my Poekoelan teammates. I spent the next six weeks or so around and about, sometimes in South Bend, sometimes in Nashville. Somewhere in there I went to a U2 concert in Chicago, drove down to Nashville, made it to another U2 concert, this time in Atlanta (which was incredible, by the way), and drove back up to South Bend only to hop on a plane to New York. I spent about a week in NYC with my fabulous Poekoelan family there and then ended up in Guatemala City. Now I'm sitting in a cafe in Antigua, listening to Manu Chau on the stereo here and enjoying the mix of English, Spanish and French spoken by the patrons and staff.
Last week was the 65th anniversary of the October Revolution here in Guatemala. So I thought I would include a little bit about a revolution that until last week I knew very little about. From 1871 until 1944, Guatemala had been ruled by a series of dictators, the most notorious of which was General Jorge Ubico. He ruled from 1931 to 1944 and was once described by a the Sandinista Tomás Borge as "crazier than a half dozen opium smoking frogs" (see the wikipedia article on Ubico for this quote...ah, wikipedia, friend to those who want a quick overview). Though obstensibly an elected official, Ubico was an authoritarian dictator who sought changes in the constitution to allow him to be reelected to the presidency indefinitely (hmm, so this isn't that new, is it?). Into this context comes the October Revolutionaries, a group of students, professionals and military officers. After a wave of strikes and demonstrations by students, teachers and workers and the murder of a teacher by Army officers during a demonstration, Ubico surrendered power to his generals and stepped aside in July of 1944. The following struggles allowed to younger officers to finalize a coup against Ubico and his generals on the 20th of Octoboer, and after this coup the officers, Jacobo Arbenz and Fancisco Javier Arana, called for a general election. The period that followed is often referred to as "10 years of Spring." These years of spring, however, didn't last in part due to the power and influence of the United Fruit company, the US State Department and others who opposed the extensive land reforms carried out during this period. Funny how politics in Central America still follow a similar pattern. The actors change, sometimes even the roles reverse, but leaders are still trying to change constitutional restrictions on reelection and coup d'etats still abound (despite predictions to the contrary in come circles). Journalists and commentators here bemoan the loss of the ideals that inspired the October Revolution and despair in the face of corruption and apathy and violence. It's hard to guess in what direction the country may be headed in the future.
As for how my life has fared since the last post, here's the whirlwind tour. I finished up in Rio mid July and spent a few weeks back in South Bend. Early August consisted of a fantastic visit out east to the wedding of some of my favorite people and a horrifying cross-country drive that included flash floods and a two hour tour of about 500 yds of pavement just outside the border crossing into Canada at Niagra Falls. Let's just say that while I have nothing particular against Canada, I was not feeling very sympathetic towards maple leaves or hockey players during that trip. After this happy jaunt I took a plane to Oregon and spent two lovely weeks with my Poekoelan teammates. I spent the next six weeks or so around and about, sometimes in South Bend, sometimes in Nashville. Somewhere in there I went to a U2 concert in Chicago, drove down to Nashville, made it to another U2 concert, this time in Atlanta (which was incredible, by the way), and drove back up to South Bend only to hop on a plane to New York. I spent about a week in NYC with my fabulous Poekoelan family there and then ended up in Guatemala City. Now I'm sitting in a cafe in Antigua, listening to Manu Chau on the stereo here and enjoying the mix of English, Spanish and French spoken by the patrons and staff.
Last week was the 65th anniversary of the October Revolution here in Guatemala. So I thought I would include a little bit about a revolution that until last week I knew very little about. From 1871 until 1944, Guatemala had been ruled by a series of dictators, the most notorious of which was General Jorge Ubico. He ruled from 1931 to 1944 and was once described by a the Sandinista Tomás Borge as "crazier than a half dozen opium smoking frogs" (see the wikipedia article on Ubico for this quote...ah, wikipedia, friend to those who want a quick overview). Though obstensibly an elected official, Ubico was an authoritarian dictator who sought changes in the constitution to allow him to be reelected to the presidency indefinitely (hmm, so this isn't that new, is it?). Into this context comes the October Revolutionaries, a group of students, professionals and military officers. After a wave of strikes and demonstrations by students, teachers and workers and the murder of a teacher by Army officers during a demonstration, Ubico surrendered power to his generals and stepped aside in July of 1944. The following struggles allowed to younger officers to finalize a coup against Ubico and his generals on the 20th of Octoboer, and after this coup the officers, Jacobo Arbenz and Fancisco Javier Arana, called for a general election. The period that followed is often referred to as "10 years of Spring." These years of spring, however, didn't last in part due to the power and influence of the United Fruit company, the US State Department and others who opposed the extensive land reforms carried out during this period. Funny how politics in Central America still follow a similar pattern. The actors change, sometimes even the roles reverse, but leaders are still trying to change constitutional restrictions on reelection and coup d'etats still abound (despite predictions to the contrary in come circles). Journalists and commentators here bemoan the loss of the ideals that inspired the October Revolution and despair in the face of corruption and apathy and violence. It's hard to guess in what direction the country may be headed in the future.
Sunday, June 28, 2009
Rio de Janeiro
Just a quick update. I know I'm a terrible blogger....you, dear readers, can't rely on me to write with any regularity. Can I use the excuse that I'm easily distracted?
Life in Rio is nice. To give some background, which I didn't really include in the earlier post, Jenn and I got down here a couple of weeks ago for a conference. We tried to get in as many tourist attractions as possible in the first week. So here's a quick highlight tour of Rio via the written word courtesy of yours truly. When in Rio you really should visit certain sites that, while touristy, would be a shame to miss. One of these is, of course,
Sugarloaf Mountain (Pão de Azúcar), which I believe I mentioned in my earlier post. The mountain sits next to Urca mountain at the far end of Copacabana Beach (well, not really at the end...Urca is at the end and then comes Pão de Azúcar), guarding Guanabara Bay. The photo of Sugarloaf on the left was taken from the top of Urca Mountain. Tourists can reach the top either on foot up a steep foot path or in a cable car first to Urca and then to the top of Sugarloaf. The views are amazing....we set out just before sunset to see the sun go down behind the Christ statue in the west. And of course a trip to Rio wouldn't be complete without a visit to Cristo Redentor, the massive sandstone statue of Christ the overlooks the city, gazing out towards the ocean. There's a train that takes you up
Corcovado Mountain to the statue (or you can take a taxi or walk up the road), and the view is well worth the trip. Just be sure to check if the clouds are obscuring the view. When it's truly cloudy or foggy not only can you not see the city, you can't even see the statue even when standing at its feet! Jenn and I also visited the Jardim Botánico, the botanical gardens started by one of Brazil's emperors back in the 19th Century. It's full of beautiful royal palm trees and other exotic plants and flowers, as well as greenhouses for orchids, bromeliads, and carnivorous plants. I included a photo from the bromeliad greenhouse below. There's also a garden for the blind, which uses of texture, sound and scent instead of color as the basis for the aesthetics of the garden. Oddly enough the cactus garden is right beside it, a detail that I thought was a little ironic. During the first week before the conference our sightseeing also included a trip to the neighborhoods of Santa Teresa, a bohemian neighborhood that sits on top of a hill near the city center, and Lapa, where much of Rio's nightlife takes place (at least if you're interested in Samba, Forro and other Brazilian music).
So I leave for now with this little glimpse of Rio. I'll do my best to update things tomorrow as well. Or at least in the next few days. Finding a quiet spot to concentrate on writing has become more and more challenging as the hostel fills up. The hostel I'm staying in has only been open for about six weeks or so and is only now getting a reputation for being a good place to stay. When I first got here it was relatively empty but right now it is almost at capacity. While staying in Guatemala in hotels or with friends I forgot what it was like to stay in a hostel with scores of backpackers who are only in a place for a few days at a time and who want to wring every bit of experience out of their trip before moving on. I have to admit sometimes it can get a bit overwhelming to be in the middle of all that when you are not approaching the city in quite the same way. That said, I have met some very interesting and friendly people here, and if any of you are thinking of visiting Rio I would highly recommend checking this place out. Ok, then, I'm off...até logo.
Life in Rio is nice. To give some background, which I didn't really include in the earlier post, Jenn and I got down here a couple of weeks ago for a conference. We tried to get in as many tourist attractions as possible in the first week. So here's a quick highlight tour of Rio via the written word courtesy of yours truly. When in Rio you really should visit certain sites that, while touristy, would be a shame to miss. One of these is, of course,
Sugarloaf Mountain (Pão de Azúcar), which I believe I mentioned in my earlier post. The mountain sits next to Urca mountain at the far end of Copacabana Beach (well, not really at the end...Urca is at the end and then comes Pão de Azúcar), guarding Guanabara Bay. The photo of Sugarloaf on the left was taken from the top of Urca Mountain. Tourists can reach the top either on foot up a steep foot path or in a cable car first to Urca and then to the top of Sugarloaf. The views are amazing....we set out just before sunset to see the sun go down behind the Christ statue in the west. And of course a trip to Rio wouldn't be complete without a visit to Cristo Redentor, the massive sandstone statue of Christ the overlooks the city, gazing out towards the ocean. There's a train that takes you up
Corcovado Mountain to the statue (or you can take a taxi or walk up the road), and the view is well worth the trip. Just be sure to check if the clouds are obscuring the view. When it's truly cloudy or foggy not only can you not see the city, you can't even see the statue even when standing at its feet! Jenn and I also visited the Jardim Botánico, the botanical gardens started by one of Brazil's emperors back in the 19th Century. It's full of beautiful royal palm trees and other exotic plants and flowers, as well as greenhouses for orchids, bromeliads, and carnivorous plants. I included a photo from the bromeliad greenhouse below. There's also a garden for the blind, which uses of texture, sound and scent instead of color as the basis for the aesthetics of the garden. Oddly enough the cactus garden is right beside it, a detail that I thought was a little ironic. During the first week before the conference our sightseeing also included a trip to the neighborhoods of Santa Teresa, a bohemian neighborhood that sits on top of a hill near the city center, and Lapa, where much of Rio's nightlife takes place (at least if you're interested in Samba, Forro and other Brazilian music).
So I leave for now with this little glimpse of Rio. I'll do my best to update things tomorrow as well. Or at least in the next few days. Finding a quiet spot to concentrate on writing has become more and more challenging as the hostel fills up. The hostel I'm staying in has only been open for about six weeks or so and is only now getting a reputation for being a good place to stay. When I first got here it was relatively empty but right now it is almost at capacity. While staying in Guatemala in hotels or with friends I forgot what it was like to stay in a hostel with scores of backpackers who are only in a place for a few days at a time and who want to wring every bit of experience out of their trip before moving on. I have to admit sometimes it can get a bit overwhelming to be in the middle of all that when you are not approaching the city in quite the same way. That said, I have met some very interesting and friendly people here, and if any of you are thinking of visiting Rio I would highly recommend checking this place out. Ok, then, I'm off...até logo.
Monday, June 15, 2009
A Cidade Maravilhosa
Finally, dear readers, I'm updating the blog! So hello from the Marvelous City, Rio de Janeiro! I've been here for about a week and a half, much of which was filled with attending panels at the Latin American Studies Conference that was held over the weekend. I've had a whirlwind week getting in the site before Jenn and my other friends in town for the conference headed back to the States. But it's been lots of fun. Rio is this incredible mix of urban neighborhoods and forested hills, some of which are home to favelas and others that are protected forests. The photo on the left I took from Corcovado hill, where the famous Christ the Redeemer statue overlooks the city. You can see Sugarloaf mountain in the distance, the tall hill in the upper left of the photo (it's hard to say if these are hills or mountains...the portuguese word is morro, pronounced moho, which means hill, but they are much more than hills as you can see). In addition to being one of the nicest places in the city to watch the sunset, Sugarloaf (Pão de azúcar in portuguese) is geographically fascinating. It actually has more in common with the geology of Africa that it does with the neighboring hill, called Urca. The hill is a key piece of evidence for the theory that Africa, South America, Australia, and Antarctica were all once part of one big continent back at the dawn of time.
I'm not really going to go in chronological order with my adventures here so far. My brain is too full...yeah, that's my excuse. Yesterday I wandered around the city center with a friend of my sister's she met when she studied Portuguese here two years ago. He gave me a fantastic tour of that part of the city. I probably should have read a bit more of Brazilian history before coming here, but I really had no idea about the depth of history here in Rio...pretty soon the city will be 500 years old. It was founded by Portuguese but the French also tried to get a foothold early on but were driven off. During the Napoleonic wars in Europe, the Portuguese monarchy moved their entire empire to Brazil and finally ended up settling down in Rio, making the city the imperial capital of the Portuguese Empire for about 40 years. Much of the historic buildings in the city center and other towns nearby, such as Petropolis (a town up in the mountains where the imperial family spent the summers instead of baking on the coast), are full of imperial Portuguese architecture. Think baroque, rococo, early 19th century Europe. I'll check some of my facts online, but I'm pretty sure I remember from our walk around the city that after the war with Paraguay, called the War of the Triple Alliance by most historians, slavery was abolished in the Brazilian territories and soon after that the Republicans (no, not those Republicans) kicked the monarchy out of Brazil. Also, interestingly enough, when Brazil moved the country's capital from Rio to Brasilia, the city of Rio became it's own state, Guanabara State, for a few years until the military dictatorship moved the capital of the state of Rio de Janeiro from Niteroi, the city across the bay from Rio, to Rio and abolished the state of Guanabara.
Ok, so that's the extent of your history lesson for today. I'm getting distracted, so I'll write more later. Until then, then.....
Thursday, May 21, 2009
Straight out of 24....
I don't know how many of you have heard of what's happening in Guatemala at the moment, but as a friend commented to me the other day, it's seems like it's been ripped out of the script of an episode of 24. Basically, a video was given to the press last week in Guatemala recorded by a lawyer who claims in the video that if anything happens to him the blame should be placed on the president of Guatemala, Alvaro Colom, Colom's wife, Sandra, and his private secretary. A week after the video was made the lawyer, Rodrigo Rosenberg, was shot down in the street while riding his bicycle a week and a half ago and the video was released to the press. Mr. Rosenberg claims in the video that he was in danger of being killed because of his connection to a businessman who was murdered, along with his daughter, in March. Rosenberg was this businessman's lawyer and he suggests that this businessman was murdered because he refused an offer by President Colom to play a part in certain acts of corruption. President Colom, of course, flatly denies any involvement and claims that this is another attempt to destabilize his government.
It's interesting to read the international news coverage of this. Here's part of what CNN posted about the issue on their website:
(This comes from an article entitled "Guatemalan leader should step aside during inquiry, foe says" by Arthur Brice, published May 14, 2009...click here for the whole article)
"It's the time-honored tradition in Guatemala that if someone gets in your way, there's likely to be a violent outcome," said Donald J. Planty, the U.S. ambassador to Guatemala from 1996 to 1999. Colom took to the airwaves Monday night to vehemently deny that he, his wife or the aide had any connection to the slayings. He promised a full investigation and said he would accept international help, asking the U.S. Federal Bureau of Investigation to become involved. A Guatemalan newspaper reported Thursday that an FBI agent had arrived in the country in connection with the investigation. But Rosenberg supporters say they don't believe the Guatemalan government can carry out an impartial and thorough investigation and want Colom out. [Otto] Perez [leader of the strongest opposition party] said Vice President Jose Rafael Espada could take over until the investigation is complete. "We are only asking that the state be strengthened," Perez said. "If he doesn't do this, we believe the situation will get worse." Colom said in an interview Tuesday night with CNN en Español that he has no intention of resigning or otherwise giving up power. He blamed the deaths on unnamed people who want to bring down his government. "It is evident that [Rosenberg's video statement] was written by someone who has been in on this plan to destabilize the government and for reasons that I don't know, because I don't know why Mr. Rosenberg mentions us in that video," Colom said. For Perez and other critics, that's not good enough. "The president has not wanted to confront this and has given evasive answers," Perez said. "Until the president confronts this, indignation will increase." Some analysts say Colom needs to get the nation under control immediately. "It's a very worrisome situation," said Planty, the former U.S. ambassador. "The country is in very serious trouble." There were rumors two to three weeks ago that the military might stage a coup, Planty said. "The security situation is out of control," he added. Heather Berkman, a Latin America analyst with the Eurasia Group consulting firm, calls it "a major political scandal." Larry Birns, director of the Council on Hemispheric Affairs, a Washington policy institute, agrees with that assessment. "It's very damning for the president. Very damning," he said. Fernando Carrera Castro, a fiscal analyst and executive director of the Instituto Centroamericano de Estudios Fiscales, said the upheaval could further tear apart a poverty-ridden nation trying to heal from a deadly civil war. The three recently slain Guatemalans -- Rosenberg, businessman Khalil Musa and his daughter -- came from the upper economic class. As a result, Carrera said, many wealthy Guatemalans are being "radicalized" against the government. Likewise, he said, many poor and disenfranchised Guatemalans also are becoming radicalized and are rallying behind Colom and the government. "I fear that this crisis will lead to violence and destabilization of the government," Carrera said from Guatemala City. "We all want justice. That is clear." Juan Tornoe, a Guatemalan who has lived in the United States for seven years, rejects what he says are efforts to forge a class divide. "The powers that be are trying to make it a social issue -- the wealthy against the poor," he said. "This is not a social issue. This is Guatemalans are fed up." Tornoe has personal connections with some of the key actors in the crisis. Rosenberg was his wife's law professor at La Universidad Francisco Marroquin, Tornoe said. And he said he went to high school with Gustavo Alejos, the presidential aide Rosenberg mentioned in the video. In his conversations with friends in Guatemala, Tornoe said, he sensed "a sense of desperation, of hopelessness." He believes people are fed up. "They're saying, 'OK. Let's do something. Let's not let this happen again and again and again,' " he said. Carrera, the fiscal analyst, holds out hope. The investigation, he said, will be handled by an independent attorney general who does not report to the president. And the probe will be conducted under the watchful eye of a U.N.-Guatemalan commission set up to investigate corruption and political violence. "That gives me more confidence," he said. But Perez and others note that the attorney general, Jose Amilcar Velasquez Zarate, met privately with Colom on Tuesday morning, the day after the scandal broke. The meeting was not disclosed until reporters uncovered it and questioned Velasquez on his way out. Colom's critics accuse the president of already meddling in the investigation. Colom and Velasquez said the meeting had been planned days ahead of time. "There is no interference in the investigation," Velasquez told reporters afterward. Guatemala has "a culture of corruption," said Planty, the former U.S. envoy. A just investigation is necessary, he said. "Until they fix it, they will limp along -- and that's the good scenario," he said. "They are in serious danger of becoming a failed state, if they're not already. There is complete impunity. Nobody is punished for anything." Rosenberg said the same thing in the video, bemoaning the "narcos, assassins and thieves" who have taken over the country. "Those thieves are sinking all of Guatemala," he said. "They kill people like dogs." The lawyer's niece, Mariela Rosenberg, said her uncle learned to accept his fate. "He had many threats," she told CNN en Español, "and when he saw it was inevitable, he taped a video." Radio journalist Mario David Garcia told CNN en Español that Rosenberg was supposed to detail his allegations Monday afternoon on Garcia's program, "Hablando Claro" (Speaking Clearly). Instead, his funeral was held that day.
It really is like something out of a movie. I talked to a few of my friend in Guatemala, and they are both horrified and at the same time not surprised. Politics there truly is, as the former ambassador states at the beginning of the article, violent. One friend said to me that he hoped that something would come of the investigation quickly, otherwise nothing would happen. After a few weeks the country's attention will be focused on something else and this episode will be forgotten. No justice, no truth, no nothing. And that, I think, is the most frightening part. That something like this, whether or not the president is as involved as Rosenberg claims in the video, can be swept under the rug and forgotten so quickly.
It's interesting to read the international news coverage of this. Here's part of what CNN posted about the issue on their website:
(This comes from an article entitled "Guatemalan leader should step aside during inquiry, foe says" by Arthur Brice, published May 14, 2009...click here for the whole article)
"It's the time-honored tradition in Guatemala that if someone gets in your way, there's likely to be a violent outcome," said Donald J. Planty, the U.S. ambassador to Guatemala from 1996 to 1999. Colom took to the airwaves Monday night to vehemently deny that he, his wife or the aide had any connection to the slayings. He promised a full investigation and said he would accept international help, asking the U.S. Federal Bureau of Investigation to become involved. A Guatemalan newspaper reported Thursday that an FBI agent had arrived in the country in connection with the investigation. But Rosenberg supporters say they don't believe the Guatemalan government can carry out an impartial and thorough investigation and want Colom out. [Otto] Perez [leader of the strongest opposition party] said Vice President Jose Rafael Espada could take over until the investigation is complete. "We are only asking that the state be strengthened," Perez said. "If he doesn't do this, we believe the situation will get worse." Colom said in an interview Tuesday night with CNN en Español that he has no intention of resigning or otherwise giving up power. He blamed the deaths on unnamed people who want to bring down his government. "It is evident that [Rosenberg's video statement] was written by someone who has been in on this plan to destabilize the government and for reasons that I don't know, because I don't know why Mr. Rosenberg mentions us in that video," Colom said. For Perez and other critics, that's not good enough. "The president has not wanted to confront this and has given evasive answers," Perez said. "Until the president confronts this, indignation will increase." Some analysts say Colom needs to get the nation under control immediately. "It's a very worrisome situation," said Planty, the former U.S. ambassador. "The country is in very serious trouble." There were rumors two to three weeks ago that the military might stage a coup, Planty said. "The security situation is out of control," he added. Heather Berkman, a Latin America analyst with the Eurasia Group consulting firm, calls it "a major political scandal." Larry Birns, director of the Council on Hemispheric Affairs, a Washington policy institute, agrees with that assessment. "It's very damning for the president. Very damning," he said. Fernando Carrera Castro, a fiscal analyst and executive director of the Instituto Centroamericano de Estudios Fiscales, said the upheaval could further tear apart a poverty-ridden nation trying to heal from a deadly civil war. The three recently slain Guatemalans -- Rosenberg, businessman Khalil Musa and his daughter -- came from the upper economic class. As a result, Carrera said, many wealthy Guatemalans are being "radicalized" against the government. Likewise, he said, many poor and disenfranchised Guatemalans also are becoming radicalized and are rallying behind Colom and the government. "I fear that this crisis will lead to violence and destabilization of the government," Carrera said from Guatemala City. "We all want justice. That is clear." Juan Tornoe, a Guatemalan who has lived in the United States for seven years, rejects what he says are efforts to forge a class divide. "The powers that be are trying to make it a social issue -- the wealthy against the poor," he said. "This is not a social issue. This is Guatemalans are fed up." Tornoe has personal connections with some of the key actors in the crisis. Rosenberg was his wife's law professor at La Universidad Francisco Marroquin, Tornoe said. And he said he went to high school with Gustavo Alejos, the presidential aide Rosenberg mentioned in the video. In his conversations with friends in Guatemala, Tornoe said, he sensed "a sense of desperation, of hopelessness." He believes people are fed up. "They're saying, 'OK. Let's do something. Let's not let this happen again and again and again,' " he said. Carrera, the fiscal analyst, holds out hope. The investigation, he said, will be handled by an independent attorney general who does not report to the president. And the probe will be conducted under the watchful eye of a U.N.-Guatemalan commission set up to investigate corruption and political violence. "That gives me more confidence," he said. But Perez and others note that the attorney general, Jose Amilcar Velasquez Zarate, met privately with Colom on Tuesday morning, the day after the scandal broke. The meeting was not disclosed until reporters uncovered it and questioned Velasquez on his way out. Colom's critics accuse the president of already meddling in the investigation. Colom and Velasquez said the meeting had been planned days ahead of time. "There is no interference in the investigation," Velasquez told reporters afterward. Guatemala has "a culture of corruption," said Planty, the former U.S. envoy. A just investigation is necessary, he said. "Until they fix it, they will limp along -- and that's the good scenario," he said. "They are in serious danger of becoming a failed state, if they're not already. There is complete impunity. Nobody is punished for anything." Rosenberg said the same thing in the video, bemoaning the "narcos, assassins and thieves" who have taken over the country. "Those thieves are sinking all of Guatemala," he said. "They kill people like dogs." The lawyer's niece, Mariela Rosenberg, said her uncle learned to accept his fate. "He had many threats," she told CNN en Español, "and when he saw it was inevitable, he taped a video." Radio journalist Mario David Garcia told CNN en Español that Rosenberg was supposed to detail his allegations Monday afternoon on Garcia's program, "Hablando Claro" (Speaking Clearly). Instead, his funeral was held that day.
It really is like something out of a movie. I talked to a few of my friend in Guatemala, and they are both horrified and at the same time not surprised. Politics there truly is, as the former ambassador states at the beginning of the article, violent. One friend said to me that he hoped that something would come of the investigation quickly, otherwise nothing would happen. After a few weeks the country's attention will be focused on something else and this episode will be forgotten. No justice, no truth, no nothing. And that, I think, is the most frightening part. That something like this, whether or not the president is as involved as Rosenberg claims in the video, can be swept under the rug and forgotten so quickly.
Wednesday, May 13, 2009
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