Page B4
{Jurtlnttò
(Ob s er
J u ly 12, 2000
¿Ehv ^Jnrtlaub (ßbeeruer
Metro/EL
A c c id e n te s
aéreos
en
C olom bia y
México dejan
32 muertos
San Cristóbal de las Casas/
Bogotá (AP/Efe) - Un avión se
estrelló en una zona remota del
estado de Chiapas, en el sur de
M éxico y sus 19 ocupantes
murieron, confirmaron ayer las
autoridades.
Los restos del avión fueron
hallados en una cañada, de muy
difícil acceso. Se confirmó que
no h u b o so b re v iv ie n te s,
informó la empresa Aero-Caribe
en un comunicado de prensa.
H ay cuatro niños entre los
fallecidos. Además murieron 13
pasajeros adultos y dos pilotos.
José Ferroso, gerente de la
oficina matriz de la empresa
AeroCaribe, que realiza vuelos
mayormente en el sureste del
país, dijo que todos a excepción
de dos de los pasajeros eran
mexicanos, según se cree.
D e a c u e rd o a la lista de
pasajeros, dos niños, Anthony
y Christopher McDade, habían
puesto en la lista a su padre, un
e sta d o u n id e n s e ,
q u ie n
aparentem ente no iba en el
v u e lo . Sin e m b a rg o , las
nacionalidades de los niños no
se d ie ro n a c o n o c e r de
inmediato.
El a v ió n es un b im o to r
Je tstre a m -3 2
de
tu rb o
p ro p u lsió n , h ech o p o r la
compañía British Aerospace.
N o hubo informes inmediatos
sobre la causa del accidente
ocurrido en un área remota e
in co m u n icad a del norteño
estado de Chiapas, unos 60
k iló m e tro s
al
su r
de
Villahermosa.
Sin embargo, el piloto reportó
malas condiciones de clima diez
m inutos antes de perder el
contacto con la torre de control.
El último mensaje del piloto fue
que él se desviaba levemente
de la ruta debido a mal clima,
dijo G erardo B racam ontes,
gerente regional de Aero-Caribe
en la capital estatal de Chiapas,
Tuxtla Gutiérrez.
En Colombia
Por otro lado, trece personas
m urieron y siete resultaron
heridas ayer al precipitarse a
tierra un avión dos minutos
d e sp u é s de d e sp e g a r del
a e ro p u erto co lo m b ian o de
Villavicencio, en el centro del
país.
El accidente se produjo dos
m inutos después de que el
aparato, un avión de transporte
mixto de carga y pasajeros,
despegara del aeropuerto local
con destino a Mitú, la capital
del departamento selvático del
Vaupés, en la frontera este con
Brasil.
La aeronave era un bimotor del
tip o D C -4 q u e cayó y se
incendió a un kilómetro de la
pista, luego de que perdiera uno
d e los m o to re s. C uatro
tripulantes y 16 pasajeros, entre
e llo s cin co p o lic ía s y un
soldado, habían abordado el
avión, propiedad de la empresa
regio n al C oral, que presta
servicio mixto de transporte a
te rrito rio s se lv á tic o s de
Colombia.
Los cuatro tripulantes figuran
entre los muertos, junto con un
policía y la esposa de uno de los
trip u la n te s, p re c isa ro n las
autoridades de Villavicencio,
distante unos 120 kilómetros al
sur de Bogotá.
Maribel Gomez and Friends of Honduras Looking for a home
Ç oN lItlB b TED S TORY
Maribel Gomez survived Hurricane Fifi in 1974, when she
was ten years old. That experience was a vivid memory
when Hurricane Mitch struck Honduras in October 1998.
She knew she had to help the people recover and rebuild
their lives.
In 1974, Maribel, her mother and younger brother and
sister lived in the small village o f San Luis La 6 - the number
designated the banana plantation. Her mother had a small
store. It was raining hard when her mother left early that
morning to open the store for business. Maribel awakened
about 6 am . to the roar o f the storm and saw that water was
rising rapidly on the floor o f the house. She had the
foresight to grab the money and gather her brother and
sister and head for the community center. She saw her
mother wading through shoulder deep water holding high
her most prized possession, her bicycle. Villagers climbed
into trees and onto roofs to escape the flood, but there was
no rescue. They had to survive as best they could. Maribel ’ s
family was fortunate. Her uncle sent a helicopter to rescue
her family. They got away from the flood but did not escape
the illnesses that followed. Maribel was very sick for two
months with typhoid and dysentery. Her brother andsister
had milder cases. The village was destroyed as was the
banana plantation. The government eventually moved
everyone to another area, but many did not survive.
Maribel remembers, “1 cried and cried. So many o f my
friends died from the illnesses that followed the storm.”
There was no medical care available for them.
When Hurricane Mitch struck Honduras, Maribel’s first
thought was ofHurricane Fifi: “I remembered how it felt.”
She knew she had to do what she could to help.
Maribel Gomez left Honduras for the United States in April
1984 because she had been targeted as a leader o f the
teachers union. She had participated in a protest against
the government which involved teachers from all parts of
the country. Their complaints addressed distressing work
conditions, low pay and the long hours teaching two sets
o f students - one school full in the morning, another one
in the afternoon, with an average class o f 60 students.
When Hurricane Mitch struck Honduras, Maribel pulled
Friends o f Honduras together by reaching out to people
in Oregon and Southwest Washington. Many wanted to
help the people who had suffered so much from the
destructive storm.
Organizing Friends ofH onduras was a natural step. When
she was growing up, she would look out for people who
needed help and give them items from her mother’s store
- without permission, o f course.
The organization has been working in the village o f La
Guacamaya to build two room, concrete block houses for
the families whose homes were destroyed. Friends of
Honduras buys the land and puts in a vegetable garden for
the family. The cost for land and supplies is between $ 1,500
and $2,000. With no electricity or other source o f power,
volunteers from the U.S. work together with the community.
The Hondurans and the Americans, working together, are
able to exchange cultures and languages and build
relationships.
La Guacamaya means a special place for saving special
treasures. There are many burial mounds near there, sacred
cemetaries built by the Mayan people about 500 years ago.
Today’s 750 residents o f LaGuacamaya are proudoftheir
town and the importance o f the sacred mounds. Most are
descended from the original people.
Maribel returned from her third visit to La Guacamaya at the
end o f January 2000. They were able to complete four more
houses. To date Friends ofH onduras has built a total o f
24 houses for 24 families. Twelve other families waiting for
houses have a community vegetable garden to use.
About forty more houses are needed to assure safe
shelter for each family. Plans are underway to see tTiat
everyone will have water and electricity. There is one well
for the community with six pumps located around the
village from which people draw water and carry it home.
The village has a grant for materials to pipe water to each
house with volunteer labor. Most o f the families will not
be able to pay the one-time fee o f 500 lempiras,
approximately $40, so Friends ofHonduras hopes to help.
Friends ofH onduras is developing ways for the families
to establish a reliable source o f income forselfsufficiency.
Maribel met with a group o f women in January to plan
making crafts for sale. Currently seeking a grant to
purchase a machine for making concrete blocks which will
lower the cost ofbuilding the houses, the men would also
be able to make blocks to market in neighboring
communities.
La Victoria de La Guacamaya is a small village 10 kilometers
up the mountainside from La Guacamaya, a part o f that
community with an additional 500 people. The residents
have small coffee farms around their homes, usually two
or three kilometers from the closest neighbor. Most o f the
coffee trees and houses were destroyed by devastating
landslides, which also destroyed the community center.
With the coffee plants that are left the residents are trying
to continue growing and selling coffee. The road down
the mountain is now destroyed; selling their coffee means
carrying what they can on horseback to where they can
take a bus to the city. After this long journey, there is little
profit. They are organizing and planning to solve their
problems: rebuild the community center so they can meet
and work together, have church services, hold community
events and store the coffee. Building a road that a truck
could negotiate would be important for their success.
Before Mitch occurred, Maribel was busy with her family
and had returned to visit Honduras only once in the
previous ten years. When the hurricane hit it was “like a
wake up call,” she says. “Always, I had wanted to do
something in my country and help the people who live in
such misery. Mitch made me decide to do what I had
wanted to do now and not push the thought aw ay.. It is
like a light inside me that makes me do this.
“I decided to get organized and organize people to do
something. W ith the help o f many people, 1 built a network
to get it done. I wanted to see that each family would have
a house. I wanted to see that the family could move in the
house and live there. Now I feel I am doing what I really
want to do: Helping people become self sufficient.”
F rie n d s
of
H onduras is a
n o n -p ro fit
organization. All
donations are tax
deductible, and,
w ith nonpaid
staff, almost all of
the
m oney
received goes to
the community in
Honduras.
For information,
ca ll
M aribel
Gomez at 282-
8526oremail her
atmaribelgomezl
@hotmail.com
Se necesitan padres temporales de crianza o padres adoptivos. Si está
interezado en adoptar o ciudar a uno de estos niños, llame a Judy Orellana
al teléfono 503/731-3147, ext. 2247.
Pablo II pide reducción de penas
Ciudad del Vaticano (Efe) -
Juan Pablo II reiteró ayer durante el
ángelus la petición de un gesto de
clemencia -la reducción de la pena-
con los p re so s y p id ió a las
autoridades de todo el mundo la
revisión del sistema carcelario, “para
hacerlo respetuoso con la dignidad
de la persona”.
Este nuevo llamamiento fue hecho
ante más de 30.000 personas reunidas
en la plaza de San Pedro del Vaticano
para el rezo del ángelus, una hora
después de que el pontífice visitara la
cárcel romana de Regina Coeli, donde
celebró con varias decenas de presos
el Ju b ile o , que es un año de
reconversión.
“Pensando en la condición de los
presos he pedido con ocasión del
Año Santo un gesto de clemencia. He
invitado a los legisladores de todo el
mundo a revisar el sistema carcelario
y el mismo sistema penal, en línea con
una justicia redentora del culpable y
no sólo reparadora del desorden
causado por el crim en”, dijo el
pontífice.
Oregon hosts Mexican health
professionals
CUMKIBLIÍ.ÜÍIURY
EURTutTsiRIhAWtOBStRYEB
A delegation ofhealth professionals from Oaxaca, Mexico, are visiting Oregon
this month as part o f a program to improve mutual understanding o f the health
care issues faced by people o f Mexican origin who live here.
The group o f 10 physicians and one nursing supervisor will visit public and
private sector health organizations in the tri-county area and beyond until July
21.
“This is a wonderful opportunity to learn about the differences and similarities
in our health delivery systems and develop an ongoing dialogue between our
countries,” says Michael Skeels, PhD, acting administrator, Oregon Health
Division. “W e welcome the visit and look forward to a successful exchange
program.”
Dr. Rafael Aragón Kuri, Secretary o f Health, State o f Oaxaca, leads the
delegation. The itinerary includes visits to county health departments, migrant
health clinics, major hospitals and community hospitals serving rural areas.
Delegates will leam about different programs, the health issues people from
Mexico face and will spend time with an Oregon counterpart from his or her
specialty area. They will meet with community representatives including
Centro Mexicano de Oregon, El Hispanic News and the Oregon Commission
on Hispanic Affairs.
The Oregon-Mexico Health Professionals Exchange Program is sponsored by
the M exicanCenterofOregon, Clackamas Community College, University of
Portland and the Department o f Human Services Health Division.
Leam Spanish
reading
the news
I
rZZ
Piense: Su hijo es inteligente,
saludable y encabeza la lista
para ir a la universidad. Le
encanta la trayectoria que su
c a rre ra h¿^ to m a d o . Está
haciendo muchas de las cosas
que planeó y hasta otras que po había planeado. Vivir
la vida en plenitud es fácil cuando tiene una familia que
lo respalda American Family Insurance. Llame ahora
mismo y platique con nuestros agentes amables.
sted tiene una familia que lo respalda
Comprobará por qué constantemente nos mantenemos
en el rangoA+ (Superior) según A. M. Best, la autoridad
en la punctuación de agencias de seguros. Después,
vaya... sueñe ...planee. Usted decida lo que haga
enseguida; nosotros estaremos aquí para ayudarle.
Toda La Protección Bajo Un Mismo Techo.
asBSÉsass t í i
La póliza que usted adquiera sólo está disponible en idioma inglés.
American Family Mutual Insurance Company and Subsidiarios. Madison, Wisconsin 53783-0001 www.amfam.com
y