Military Coup

The week started out innocuous enough.  My assistant program manager came to La Masica for a routine site visit on Wednesday.  I had developed a respiratory problem due to the room in which I had been housed; I moved out, and the assistant program manager told me to call the Peace Corps Medical Officer.  On Thursday the PCMO told me to go to the Hospital DÁntoni in Ceiba if the problem persisted.  On Friday I packed my toothbrush and one change of underwear and came into Ceiba to see the ER doc.  Xrays and blood work determined that my body had not been permanently damaged but that my lungs were inflammed.  The ER doc ordered me to receive twice-a-day corticosteroid inhalation therapy treatments as well as oral steroid and IM meds for three days so I had to remain in Ceiba until Monday morning, in a hotel.  At 6AM Sunday morning President Zelaya was secuestered by the country´s military and spirited out of the country to Costa Rica from where he announced that he was taken at gunpoint from his official residence in his pajamas and threatened with death.  His wife was in hiding in the mountains.  Everything in Ceiba and all over the country shut down.  Of course I didn´t bring my camera to be able to film all the people gathered in the streets around the Ceiba Palacio Nacional shouting and yelling in protest.  The army posted soldiers all around the angry demonstrators.  The army imposed a curfew last night from 9PM to 6AM.  This morning, Monday, I went to the hospital for my last inhalation therapy treatment.  All Peace Corps Volunteers were notified last night by the Peace Corps Country Director to stay where we are until Tuesday morning at 8AM.  I´m still at the hotel and I am going downtown today to buy some underwear and another shirt.

This entry was posted in Everyday on by .

About Fortunato Velasquez

Fortunato Velasquez received his Registered Nurse's license from the State of California during the month that Neil Armstrong walked on the moon. On February 15, 2020, my friend and the director of the Fundación Señor San José in La Paz, La Paz, Honduras, Sister Edith Suazo Fernandez died at the age of 47. https://youtu.be/Poqcf0vn0qQ This a video of her funeral.

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

I accept that my given data and my IP address is sent to a server in the USA only for the purpose of spam prevention through the Akismet program.More information on Akismet and GDPR.