Chimirri resigns, Hondutel raided, President's cabinet asked to resign

Photos: Proceso Digital, La Tribuna, Honduras

Much is going on today in Honduras.

The Honduran state-owned telephone company Hondutel was raided this morning by DGIC agents, the investigative arm of the Ministerio Público (similar to the FBI according to Aaron). Employees were evicted from the premises while the agents confiscate computers and other evidence.

I don't know what possessed me to turn on the local TV channels this morning. I must have a sixth sense! I never turn on the TV in the morning, but when I did today − what excitement! Although they have been talking about this issue all day, officials haven't given much concrete information to the press.

Hondutel has been the subject of tens of thousands of denuncias (official complaints) over the years, including most recently credible charges that Hondutel management is involved with tráfico gris (illegal phone traffic) to the tune of hundreds of millions of dollars in loss of revenue to the country. My article, Part 3: Swamp of Corruption in Hondutel includes a list of articles (both mine and newspaper) with background information.

While Marcello Chimirri, head of Hondutel, was in La Ceiba today, his luxurious home in Valle de Angeles near Tegucigalpa and his Hondutel office were raided. His computers, guns, cell phones, and (reportedly) telephone espionage equipment were confiscated. During the day, he resigned from his government position. Homes of other Hondutel officials have been raided as well.

Interestingly, President Mel Zelaya, related by marriage to Chimirri, is out of the country today while all this is happening. He has been accused of being a protector of Chimirri in the past while some members of the government and other organizations have clamored for Chimirri's resignation.

Chimirri is being investigated as a suspect behind the controversial taped telephone conversations among himself, President Mel Zelaya, and other high level government officials. The 11 taped conversations (in Spanish, of course) are available from user juanapueblo at YouTube. 'Juana Pueblo' is a female version of 'John Q. Public'.

Mel Zelaya has indicated that he would like to see Juana Pueblo put in jail for exposing the illegally taped conversations. I say Hooray! for Juana and whoever provided the tapes to her. When the laws protect the criminals and the system doesn't work, as it obviously doesn't, it is time for drastic measures.

News reports are thin on facts, but some have stated that these raids are not to investigate the charges of corruption and criminal activities of Chimirri and Hondutel which have been circulating for months and years without any appearance of a serious investigation but rather to investigate the illegal recordings of government officials! If only the government of Honduras would put such efforts into combating corruption as they do in investigating those who attempt to expose it.

One of the most disappointing things to me is that in interviews of various Hondutel employees and other government officials, they say, "The raid is an abuse of authority," etc. I would have hoped that the employees, who are bound to know at least some of the corruption in this organization, would be saying "Thank God that something is finally being done about corruption!" (Reader Mane, I know what you will be saying! ;-o)

I find it so ironic that if Chimirri was involved with these tape recordings, he may fall, not from his own alleged corrupt activities, but instead from exposing the conversations of other government officials.

So many potential pitfalls could result in nothing of substance from any of these investigations. The DGIC might not find the evidence needed, they might not be capable of interpreting the evidence or of developing a solid case. Evidence frequently disappears. Police and fiscalías are often accused of compromising cases for their own personal benefit. The courts often throw out cases against 'important people' for lack of evidence or technicalities − which is often attributed to the judges being bought. The fact is that high level government officials are rarely prosecuted and never go to jail. Will we see a change this time? I'm guardedly hopeful, but realistically, based on history, probably nothing will come of it.

However, President Zelaya, in a shocking act from Chile today, requested letters of resignation from his entire cabinet, all of the directors, and managers of all the decentralized government agencies! I don't know if this is a 'show,' or if Mel is losing control.

Proceso Digital reported that one of the first to submit his resignation was Yani Rosenthal, a proposed presidential candidate, whose family was implicated in the tráfico gris scandal.

What does this mean? Is he trying to get rid of the corruptos or trying to get rid of those fighting the corruptos? Honestly, at this moment, I'm still confused about what is actually happening here.

The war on drugs comes to La Gringa's colonia

Photo: El Heraldo and not from today

You know what I always say: There is never a shortage of blogging material in Honduras.

I was sitting here today thinking about what to blog about and, as usual, got sidetracked into other more interesting things. Finally I looked at a bunch of drafted articles for which I need more information or photos. Sometimes those drafts just get so old that I end up deleting them. Then I started looking at my recent photos for inspiration ('recent' is a misnomer because some of them go back to February!). I have a ton of chicken photos and videos but that is going to take more time to put together than I have today.

Still stumped, the phone rang. It was El Jefe warning me that there had been a allanamiento in our neighborhood just a couple of blocks from here. Allanamiento means a burglary or unlawful entry, but is also the term used for when the police raid and tear apart your house, presumably with a warrant. He wanted to let me know because they have been known to go to the wrong house on occasion...and just exactly what could I do if that happened???

El Jefe was calling from town. He heard all about it from a neighbor he passed on his way to catch a taxi and then from the taxi driver. The driver has a regular pickup of two school children every morning at the house in question. The taxista arrived to see a dozen or more heavily armed, bulletproof-vested, ski-masked police lurking about, possibly waiting for pick-up or drop-off to occur. (My comment was that if the taxi driver saw them, then they weren't exactly hiding to catch someone by surprise.)

I really, really wanted to go take photos. I mean, a drug bust in action! What more exciting thing can you think of. However, I doubted that I would be allowed to take photos and didn't particularly want the neighbors, if they were still there, to see me reveling in their 'misfortune,' not to mention that the police might decide I was a suspicious character and take me in for questioning!

The taxi driver told El Jefe that he knew the homeowner and was suspicious about him. He said the guy lived in a very small house in a poor colonia not too many months ago and now seemed to be living the good life. He said he didn't want to make judgments but he just didn't see any other way for this family to become so prosperous so quickly.

The driver was a wealth of information about other recent allanamientos. In one case in a nearby colonia, the home owners wouldn't open the gate for the police so the police threw a bomb into the gate! The driver said that there were a total of four allanamientos that he knows of. This could just be gossip, but I've found that taxi drivers usually have a pretty good grasp of what is going on.

I was happy to hear about this renewed effort against drug trafficking, though not so happy to hear that we have narcotraffickers in our colonia. I wasn't surprised though, because we have one vacant house that is said to belong to a Colombian drug dealer who left the country.

I don't put a lot of faith in rumors like this, just because it seems that anyone who is reasonably well-off is often a target of such rumors. But there is another vacant house in our neighborhood owned by a couple who also were rumored to be drug dealers. They moved away after the husband was shot in the street in town so maybe there is some truth to the rumor. OMG! Maybe all my neighbors are drug dealers!

Watching the local news tonight, I found out that the taxi driver's information was correct. Special organized crime agents had been brought in from Tegucigalpa to perform the raids. One suspect was killed.

In the recent past other La Ceiba raids have been unsuccessful in that the alleged criminals were tipped off and had already left the area or maybe even the country. That's disturbing since you know that only the judge, police, and fiscalía (district attorney's office) would have access to the information.

Holy moly! Guacamole!

Honduran avocado on left; Mexican Hass type avocado on right

My friend Eduardo brought me a half dozen of these gigantisimo Honduran avocados from his tree. This photo shows one of them compared to a normal sized Hass avocado. Oddly, though avocados are very popular in Honduras, you'll rarely see guacamole served.

The Honduran grown avocado includes an equally gigantic seed inside. The meat of the Honduran avocados is generally more yellow than the Hass and these were particularly deep yellow inside.

We had some company this weekend and I prepared Tex-Mex both nights. Chicken and chile quesadillas and beef tostadas. Yummy! I also made fresh guacamole both nights. The Friday night guest, Katrina, said that she doesn't like guacamole that much, but after tasting mine, she said that I make the best guacamole in the whole world.

Not being the modest type when it comes to cooking, I mentioned Katrina's comment to my Saturday night guest, Gail. Gail looked at me a little skeptically, but after tasting the guac, she said something to the effect of, "Wow! You do make the best guacamole in the world."

Here is my guacamole recipe as best as I can guess − I don't usually measure the ingredients. You might want to start with a smaller amount of spices and add more as needed.

La Gringa's Guacamole

3 ripe Hass avocados (or 2 Honduran)
1 very thin slice of onion
1 clove garlic
1 jalapeño pepper (use 1/4 to 1/2)
1 small leaf culantro (a little more if Mexican cilantro)
1 tsp. salt (maybe more)
1/2 tsp. cumin
tiny pinch of cayenne pepper
juice from 1/4 small lemon or lime
3 very small plum tomatoes or 1 normal tomato

Mince the onion, jalapeño, and cilantro very finely. Use a garlic press for the garlic or (my preferred method) liquefy it by mashing it along with Kosher salt with the edge of a chef's knife. Place these ingredients in bowl.

Cut the avocados in half. Remove the pits. Scoop out the avocado with a spoon, remove any dark spots or stringy parts, and add to bowl. Sprinkle with salt, spices, and lemon juice and lightly mash and mix ingredients with a fork. Not too much, though! Leave a few chunks of the avocado so the guacamole has some texture. Taste and adjust the salt and spices as needed.

Remove the seedy-liquid insides from the tomatoes and dice the pulp small. Add to guacamole and mix lightly. Serve with tortilla chips or in or on your tacos, tostadas or quesadillas.

Hints: When finished, the guacamole must be eaten immediately. More than a few hours in the fridge will change the flavor. Don't worry, with this guacamole, there is never any leftover anyway.

This guacamole isn't spicy at all, although you could make it that way if you like. The onion, garlic, jalapeño, and cayenne are just there to bring out the flavor of the avocados. Don't let the spices or lemon juice overpower the avocado flavor. Honduran jalapeños are mild, so just use a pinch of minced jalapeño if yours are very hot.

I often leave out the garlic, culantro, jalapeño, or tomatoes if I don't have them on hand. The recipe is flexible and will be almost as good if you leave something out − not the salt, though. Guacamole needs lots of salt.


Eduardo, if you are reading this, I tried to call you 25 times!