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Letters
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We recently spent a day in a small village in the campo on a bus trip organized by the Center for Global justice. Although we had heard about the living conditions, water issues, and border crossings, actually seeing and visiting with families under the trees at a picnic in the campo brought the problems they face home to us in a very personal way. The opportunity for a sincere and open exchange with an attitude of caring and respect from all made this a day we will never forget. We hope the Center can offer this trip again, and we encourage people to go and meet the people of the campo. Joyce
and George Carlson Editor, Currently, there are seven houses under construction within a block of my house. A major problem for the workers and for the residents is a lack of sanitary facilities. This situation is degrading for the construction workers and a health hazard for the neighbors as workers are forced to relieve themselves in the bushes, and having human feces left around is not the most salutary situation. Of course, there should be regulations in force (and I don’t know if there are) requiring construction managers to supply portable sanitary facilities on job sites. But let’s not wait around for local government to do what we can do. If everyone contracting for a house were to require their contractor to supply portable facilities (and see that they are emptied in a timely fashion) the dignity of the workers would be enhanced and so would the general sanitary level of San Miguel. Gregory
Diamant Editor, Having read the article by Jim Karger [February 24, 2006, issue of Atención, page 9] very thoroughly several times, I feel I am qualified to comment on one statement in particular, the statement that before the Amigos de Animales came into being homeless animals were electrocuted. This is not true, and I will do my best to elaborate on the reason this statement is untrue, although I will affirm that Jim was most probably misinformed. This does happen. In early 1998 the Department of Ecology came into being (Jim Karger, Arno Nauman and Sudheer Amembal had not come to San Miguel at that time). In that period a cooperative agreement was reached between Ecology and the SPA, Society for the Protection of Animals, to attempt to find original owners if possible, and, if not, to send the animals to the crematorium in León. To this purpose SPA built numerous jaulas as temporary shelters for these animals and put the word out to owners that their lost animals could be found at the SPA Shelter. At this time I was the director general of SPA, and though I must admit I was so busy I did not go personally to León to verify that the animals were being put down humanely, I was assured that such was the case. This cooperative effort lasted less than a year, for many reasons I won’t bore people with now. I will say, however, that I was an officer of the SPA from the summer of 1987, with seven administrations as director general, and animals at SPA were always put down humanely. I am not just quoting things I was told—I was there! I do feel the need, in all fairness, especially to those people who are relatively new to San Miguel, to clarify this matter of the method of putting animals down. Believe me, SPA has been enormously grateful for the positive things the Amigos have done to contribute to the welfare of animals. This task is too much, of course, for one organization, especially in a community such as San Miguel, which is growing at such a spectacular rate. Jane
S. Welch |