From The 'Thank God, I'm An American' Files
Last week, Reineir Alcantara, a 26-year-old forward on the Cuban Football (soccer) team defected while the team was in Washington, D.C. to play in a tournament. His defection was no small feat given the security that had been imposed by Cuban officials. Officials who were undoubtedly still smarting after seven members of the Cuban Under-23 soccer team defected in Tampa last march. The team officials (the number of which had been increased to 1.5 team officials per player) had collected all the players' passports and visas when they arrived in D.C., had the phones disconnected in all the players' hotel rooms, and imposed rules requiring a team official be with a player at all times when they were not in their rooms.
On their second night in the hotel, the team had gathered in the lobby after practice as directed, and were milling around waiting to go in the dining room for dinner. When the coaches got distracted looking in the windows of the hotel's gift shop, Alcantara jogged down a hallway to a service door and sprinted to freedom. He estimates he ran full speed for 6-8 blocks through the streets of D.C. until, convinced that he was not being pursued, he collapsed on a bench and caught his breath. He then hailed a taxi and said the three English words he had been practicing, "Drive far, please," emphasizing it with hand gestures. Thirty minutes later, the cab driver loaned his cell phone to Alcantara to call a friend in New Jersey. The friend instructed him to go in and stay at the McDonald's they were parked in front of until they arrived from New Jersey to pick him up. The Somalia cab driver refused to accept the cab fare, and instructed Alcantara that when he got inside just to say 'Big Mac Combo'. As he pulled off the driver said in attempt at Spanish what Alcantara thinks was "Bienvenida a América" (Welcome to America)
The next day, his friends took Alcantara shopping for a few essential clothing items, toiletries, etc. On the way home, the party made one additional stop. When they came through the store entrance, Alcantara collapsed sobbing, repeating over and over the question, "¿Yo he alcanzado el cielo?" (I have reached heaven?). The store entrance they had come in had put the group in the fresh produce section of the neighborhood Safeway supermarket!
Alcantara explained later to the Spanish-language media that since he was old enough to remember he, and every one he knew in Cuba, was "always hungry, scraping to get by and waking every morning obsessing about where they will find dinner." He added, as a somewhat embarrassed explanation of his melt-down in the grocery store, that even if people had money (which they didn't), store shelves in Cuba were always bare.
I suggest we should all hold that thought until we sit down to Thanksgiving dinner. God Bless America!
The Latin American Idol's Homecoming
This from the October 14th edition of Panama's major daily newspaper, La Prensa:
Margarita Henriquez, the newly crowned Latin American Idol, returned to Panama from the contest site in Argentina to a hero's welcome. Hundreds of cheering fans mobbed her on her arrival at Tocumen International Airport. The welcoming party was headed up by President Martin Torrijos. After a short welcoming ceremony, the teen singing sensation from Los Santos joined the President in his limo to head up a motorcade that wound its way through Panama City as thousands of people lined the route to cheer on the 17-year old star.
The parade ended at a stage that had been set up on Via Transistimia, where she was greeted by a majority of the luminaries of Panamanian music, including Panama's most famous entertainer, Reuben Blades, who also serves as the nation's Minister of Tourism. To the delight of the thousands of celebrating spectators, Senorita Henriquez then serenaded them with a selection of the songs that had propelled her to victory on the show.
The event was carried live on nationwide TV, and Panamanians who could not attend the celebration in person were transfixed to their televisions. After the ceremony and her performance, wild celebrations were set off throughout the country, the likes of which have not been seen since the country won its first-ever gold medal in the Summer Olympics.
A Fascinating Observation
There is a small publication here in Panama that collects and translates (into English) articles and essays by Latin American writers from many different disciplines and areas of expertise. This exerpt was from an article written by one of Peru's leading psychiatrists, Dr. Arturo Rameriz. The central thrust of his essay was that laymen do not really understand depression and, therefore, tend to be unsympathetic to those who suffer from the disease.
He observed, "The sad person tends to look for hope in anything. The depressed see hope in nothing. The sad person may cling to the idea of a better tomorrow. The depressed often hope that there is no tomorrow."
Don't Let The Rest of The World "Guilt Trip" The U.S.
This synopsis is from a recent article in the World News Section of the Miami Herald's Central American edition outlines a nation's financial woes.
Last year, this country won the U.N.'s "best country to live in" poll, with its residents rated the most content in the world. The stock market was booming, the housing market was soaring, cash-rich corporations were on expansion and acquisition sprees across Europe, and the population enjoyed one of the globe's highest per capita incomes. Residents were being encouraged to buy into a more luxurious lifestyle by buying houses and cars that were financed by 100% loans at low interest rates (rates that were adjustable based on the country's currency). A popular financing option offered a packaged deal - a new house and two new cars on one note. It seemed that everyone in the economy was on a win-win roll.
Suddenly soaring inflation and crippling interest rates were compounded almost overninght by a collapse of the banking systems. The country's decision to convert, over a period of just a couple of years, to a complex debt laden economy exacted a heavy toll. The stock market has been temporarily (?) shut-down, businesses are closing right and left, and unemployment is soaring. Classified advertisements sections in the newspapers are mushrooming with owners offering to pay thousands of dollars to anyone who will just take over their payments (monthly payments had increased drastically as the nation's currency fluctuated wildly).
The population at large is incensed by "corporate and banking executives who have retreated behind closed doors and the government which has been making daily announcements about government corrective actions being taken, most of which are incoherent." The country's Prime Minister has acknowledged that it will take the nations years to recover.
The country being described in the article is Iceland. Just for your information, the previous week the almost exact same story in The Herald was about Ireland. And, for the last several months the talk was all about the same scenario being played out in Spain. Appears that it makes no difference what language you say it in, "If it sounds to good to be true..." So, the next time you hear some 'talking head expert de jour' babbling about the U.S. being the cause of the economic woes in Country X, throw a shoe at your TV.
A Fiesta That REALLY Makes No Sense
On October 11, there were celebrations around the country whooping it up over the U.S. military overthrowing the Noreiga dictatorship. There seemed to be more U.S. flags in the country than Panamanian flags.
But wait a minute. Didn't the U.S. invasion occur in December of 1989? Oh, the coup where the military originally grabbed power was on October 11th (1968). OK, let's try this again. What does the U.S. involvement have to do with the military coup date of October 11th? Oh, if there hadn't been a coup on October 11, 1968, then in 1989 the U.S. wouldn't have ....? Wait .. wait ... One more time, the U.S. had nothing to do with the October coup, right? So, on October 11th we wave American flags because .... Well, never mind. Probably a language barrier thing. Jeez!
The Panama Canal - A Primer
The Panama Canal is approximately 50 miles (80 kilometers) long between the Pacific Ocean and the Caribbean (often referred to by Panamanians as the Atlantic). The waterway was cut through one of the narrowest saddles of the isthmus that joins North (Central) and South America in the early 1900s.
The major problem in building the Canal was presented by the mountainous terrain of the Continental Divide that cuts through the isthmus. Rather than attack the daunting (maybe impossible) task of excavating down to sea level through a mountain range, the engineering design solution was to create a man-made lake (one of the largest in the world), Lake Gatun. A series of locks were then designed - compartments with entrance and
exit gates - that raise ships coming from either ocean up 85 feet (28 meters) above sea level to the level of Lake Gatun. After a ship traverses the lake, the process is then reversed on the opposite end. The water used to 'flood' the locks also comes from the lake, by gravity through a system of electronically controlled culverts.
A significant portion of world trade, some 13 to 14 thousand vessels a year of all nations (without discrimination) transit the Canal. The Canal operates 24 hours a day, 365 days a year, and employs over 9 thousand people.
Figures just released for the last fiscal year, which ended Sept. 30, reveal that the total income for the Canal Authority was just over $2 billion. Canal tolls were $1.18 billion, the remaining income coming from revenue received from the sale of electricity generated from the canal's hydroelectric plants, as well as the sale of water to various municipalities.
This year Panama has launched a major multi-year, multi-million dollar project to construct a second series of locks in an effort to reduce the frequent back-up of ships waiting to pass through the canal, and to encourage more traffic. in the past, cruise ships, for example, have avoided scheduling trips that transited the canal due to scheduling uncertainties.
Politics And Really Strange Bedfellows
On the eve of the 40th birthday of the military coup of October 11, 1968, leaders of the Partido Panamenista are demanding that the government investigate more than 100 crimes committed during the military dictatorship, crimes that involved then-opposition leaders and are still unsolved. The country's period of military rule began when a group of National Guardsmen overthrew then-president Arnulfo Arias. It lasted until December 1989, when the America military invaded the country and arrested Manuel Noriega.
The country's modern constitution bans any type of military, and to this day, the Panamanians are strongly opposed to, to the point of near paranoia, anything that even smacks of a military presence. Recently there was a public outcry merely because a proposed reorganization of the national police force caused the organization to too closely resemble a military organization.
Where does my reference to strange bedfellows come in? An investigating committee has suggested that President Martin Torrijos should ask the forgiveness of the victims' families. President Torrijos? Why, President Torrijos! The committee said that "the President should acknowledge, as head of state, the terrible violations that his father, Omar Torrijos, committed during his term of dictatorial rule."
Till Next Time. Pura Vida!
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