Guatemalan Headlines

As any news follower would know, yesterday produced an amazing story that many have expected for years and was a near certainty in the past weeks. Kosovo, formerly a region of Serbia, declared unilaterally its independence from Serbia and formed a new nation. In its declaration, the country, behind prime minister Hashim Thaci, said that it desires to be a part of the family of democratic states around the world. The United States, EU, and other countries around the world are expected to fully recognize the Kosovo as an independent sovereign nation. Since 1999 Kosovo has been under control of the UN so this isn’t as if the country suddenly decided to secede. Still, it was pretty amazing to watch the news yesterday and see the people celebrating in the streets peacefully. In Kosovo, there are only 2 million people, of which ninety percent are Albanian Muslims, and the region did not quite fit into the rest of Serbia if you can remember the US/NATO incursion over there during President Clinton’s years. I personally am happy for the country and this is the first time in my life that I can remember the formation of a new country. Unfortunately I do not remember the fall of Berlin Wall (not that I was too young, I guess I just did not watch it), and am not really sure which countries have been declared since that time. So for me, this is first. Congrats Kosovo! Still this brings up some interesting questions: Is it okay for a region to declare independence if its habitants are completely and utterly different than the rest of the country in ethnicity, religion, and culture? Or is this setting a terrible example that it is impossibly for different cultures to get along under the same government? Maybe we should just go back and reclassify the nations of the world based on commonalities. After all it is important for people to feel as if they have a home they can their own. So why don’t we give the Kurds a country, the Palestinians, redivide Africa into its tribes, and give the indigenous of Guatemala its own government? I am not really sure how I feel on these issues but I do know they require more thought on my part, and I do feel strongly that as a society we need to learn how to get along, have mutual respect for our fellow human beings, and learn from each other, and live peacefully together. Yet if peace comes out of the creation of a new country, it is worth it.

On this note, I also want to give you some brief headlines of what is going on in the world of Guatemala.   

At least 1.2 million Guatemalans do not have an identity: More than ten percent of the country is not registered here. Guatemala has one of the highest percentages of unregistered births. There is a movement being started to register people. The primary reasons reported for the high percentage are: general discrimination, geographic barriers, internal migration, a lack of tradition to register, poverty, and internal armed conflict.

Congress Decides to Give More Funds to the Construction of the Airport: Believe it or not, if you were to fly into Guatemala, you would see a beautiful airport under construction. Apparently, the costs have exceeded expectations (surprise, surprise) and many were advocating to stop construction on the airport. Yet the government decided to extend more funds and finish the construction. There were numerous editorials written on this subject and I agree with the ones that have declared that the airport is the single most important tool of tourism and it needs to be the best it can be.

Bus Killings: During the past two weeks, more than 25 bus drivers and helpers have been killed on their routes. The reason for the killings has been that the bus companies and drivers were unwilling to pay the exorbitant sums that gangs were charging to pass through their areas. The government has said that the crimes were organized and that they expect more of the same. Many bus drivers protested by not driving their routes for days, and mass protests were held in the streets of Guatemala City. Some drivers have declared they will not return to work. As you can imagine, the transportation system was in shambles for a few days but most routes have returned to normal, violence and all.

Roses for Valentine’s Day: Guatemala sells over 85 percent of its roses to the United States. In total it sells a ridiculously high number to the States….so for Valentine’s Day you may have received roses from Guatemala.

Death Penalty Reaffirmed: The death penalty has been under suspension for the last seven years here and during this past week Congress allowed for the use of the presidential pardon which effectively makes it permissible to start killing people again under the President’s orders. If you want to know my opinion, the death penalty is wrong in every which way. It does not serve justice, it is not economically viable, it is political by nature, and it does not serve as a deterrent (all of this is according to various studies except the moral part).

Violence, violence, violence: There are reports every day of murders, lynching (yes they still do that here and with pictures in the newspaper), gang and drug related deaths, etc.

Suprising Amount of Presidential Coverage: Everyday there is a story about the presidential campaigns in the States. I feel like there is more Barack coverage than anything. Probably has the same slant as newspapers in the States but I guess that’s what momentum does for a candidate.

Some nice stories: Not too many, but I will be sure to report on them as I find ones that catch my eye. For example, for Valentine’s Day, there was a story about a couple who had been married for 66 years. They have, get this, 12 children, 62 grandchildren, 103 great-grandchildren, and 5 great-great grandchildren. How ridiculous is that! And this only goes to show that people get married young and have lots of kids in Guatemala especially in the rural parts.

Signing off, Avi