Friday - November 20, 1998
Update by STAFF:
A rumor that Continental Airlines is now flying into the San Pedro Sula Airport has been confirmed. Carlos Flores said yesterday that the FAA did approve commercial airlines to fly from the USA into the San Pedro Sula Airport, but only for daytime flights.
American Airlines, unfortunately, needs to re-build their airport
installations. They have a team from Mexico working on repairs and replacement; however, they do not expect to resume their operations in San Pedro for another two weeks.
O Ma R's Report
Friday, November 20, 1998
We were scheduled to show a Portugese TV station crew hurricane damages, but they left us as they say here in Honduras, "novia del pueblo" - like a bride from the boonies, i.e. all dressed up and ready to go nowhere since the groom never bothered to show up.
So in order not to lose the whole day, we decided to visit El Progreso again since we had discovered that the Dutch Marines were departing. In essence, they all have left the El Progreso area, so we are now back to square one. They took all of their equipment with them, and so the banana field workers are once again left without a reliable food supply. Don't get us wrong, WE SINCERELY APPRECIATE ALL OF THE HELP THAT THE ROYAL NETHERLANDS MARINE CORPS PROVIDED THE EL PROGRESO AREA. Our only regret is that they didn't leave any boats behind for supply runs. It would have been much more advantageous to Honduras had the Marines stayed for less time, but had left a couple of boats and engines behind. In other words, we suggest to donating countries and other organizations that it is more important to send Honduras tools and equipment than actual labor. In economic terms, it probably would have cost the Netherlands the same amount to have had the Marines leave earlier, but to leave some boats behind. In terms of Honduras, the boats would have had provided an ongoing assistance, whereas now all that is left are the fond memories. This incident reminds us of the old story of providing fish to eat versus teaching one how to fish. Perhaps some of our readers can help out this area by donating some boats to CODER II, to the city of El Progreso or its fire department directly. They definitely would be put to good use immediately, i.e. making supply runs up and down the Ulua river to flooded areas inaccessible by road.
Another example is the Blackhawks incident. For a few exciting days, the Office of Foreign Disaster Assistance spectacularily dotted the El Progreso skies with their presence. They made numerous emergency supply runs into the mountains, but now are based elsewhere. Obviously this sophisticated machinery is beyond Honduras' economic means, but we sincerely hope that other assistance that the United States armed forces provides includes leaving behind usable equipment for the local authorities.
A clarification note is meritous here. The banana field plantations that we refer to as needing food supply runs are comprised of independent farmers. The subsidiary of Chiquita, the Tela Railroad Company, has been supplying its employees directly with helicopters and boats owned by the company. Nonetheless, there are numerous independent banana farmers who sell their crops to Chiquita, but since they are not direct employees, they are not receiving any assistance from the Tela Railroad Company, who is busy enough taking care of its immediate employees. The independent farmers are being supplied by the local authorities, who lack boats and helicopters to ensure that they can continue to make supply runs.
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