Tiptoeing through political tension

27. September 2009 by Fortunato Velasquez.

The toque de queda is not 24 hours these days, but it is still imposed nightly, arbitrarily it seems, 6 pm to 6 am yesterday, or 9 pm to 7 am tonight.  Most commerce here in La Paz is back to its usual pace.  The de facto government in Tegus is still rattling swords at the Brazilians, making unenforcable threats.  I think they know that if they storm the Brazilian embassy to arrest President Zelaya the mierda will hit the fan, not only internationally but locally.  Meanwhile, my chicken pen for the orphans has hit bureaucratic obstacles; perhaps a metaphor for the national condition.  Tuesday I leave for the mountain aldeas with profesores from the Instituto Lorenzo Cervantes to supervise final year secondary students preparing for their Bachillerato en Salud Comunitaria diplomas present information from an HIV/AIDS workshop I prepared for them that they in turn will present to their mountain student peers.  Wednesday I leave for a 4-day taller in La Esperanza, Intibuca to be focused on Maternal Health and Child Malnutrition in Honduras.  Kwashiorkor and Marasmus syndrome are not unknown here.  That information I will put to good use, along with my three Honduran counterparts attending with me, in follow-up visits for children diagnosed with malnutrition and discharged from the hospital to the rural aldeas where ignorance and illiteracy run rampant.  After I return, I hope to post photos from my week-long mountain trip to the mountain aldeas above Comayagua last week, as well as pics from the taller at Intibuca.  Life goes on, while the politicos make fools of themselves.

Posted in Everyday | 1 Comment »