Futility and hope in Ecuador: on getting educated by my baby girl
A letter from the director
Quito, November 30, 2005
Dear Friends of CASA,
This has been a year of change for CASA. I have relocated permanently to
Ecuador where I am newly married to the lovely and effervescent Zahira Elizabeth Shear
Quitiguiña, stepfather to the equally cool nine-year-old Camila (she quit ballet to pursue
karate), and the proud father of six-month old Nina Rafaela Shear Quitiguiña. Because of
these changes, CASA´s historical focus on Guatemala is being downsized (I am now
spending 3 weeks a year in Guatemala instead of 3 months) and our work in Ecuador is
expanding.
As you all know, CASA’s annual newsletter and money-begging project reports
traditionally comes with a poltical diatribe, written by yours truly, criticizing U.S. foreign
policy in Latin America and the effects of Neo-Liberalism and “Free Trade” on the
world’s poor majority. And believe me, these themes are all-the-more clear to me after
living this last year in Ecuador where 70% of people live in poverty.
And there sure hasn’t been a shortage of things to write about in 2005 either.
When I was in Guatemala with my wife in March, the country was shut down by
nation-wide strikes protesting the signing of the Central American Free Trade Agreement
(CAFTA). In one instance, the military police began shooting into a crowd of protestors
near Colotenango and killed a campesino activist at a road-block we had passed a only
few hours before.
Here in Ecuador, the year saw normal political incompetence and futility
tempered by the aspirations of the masses. A popular, non-violent movement overthrew
president Lucio Gutierrez in April, making vice-president Alfredo Palacio our seventh
president in eight years. Pachakutik, the Indigenous political party, is in a position to take
political control of the country. Violent street protests have halted the negotiation of a bilateral free trade agreement with the U.S.
In other news, the ongoing colonial relationship between the U.S. and Puerto Rico
was brought into sharp relief with the FBI’s assassination of Puerto Rican independence
leader Filiberto Ojeda in September. http://www.indymedia.org/en/2005/09/824994.shtml
On the global front, Hugo Chavez´s oil money and socialist vision are making the
concept of a unified South American economy more possible every day. And with
socialist Tabaré Vazquez in power in Uraguay, Evo Morales positioned to win the
Presidency in Bolivia, Ecuador cleaning house through a new electoral process controlled
by Popular Assemblies, and big-economy countries Brazil and Argentina firmly resisting
the Free Trade agenda, there is a real chance for structural revolution in South America
that could be precedent-setting for the rest of the world.
And of course there is W. and his buddies and their war. And the continued U.S.
military expansion throughout Latin America: the opening of secret forward operating
bases in Paraguay and Colombia, and the U.S. renting the airbase in Manta, Ecuador and
immediately installing a 3.5 kilometer runway (the longest in Latin America) that
everyone knows you only need for C-130 transport planes. You know the kind of plane
that moves thousands of troops and heavy artillery? Hmmmmm.
As always, there is a lot to write about. Perhaps, U.S. military plans for South
America will be my topic next year. But as those of you who are parents know, I just
don’t have time!
Instead, this year I’m just enjoying the miracle of watching my baby grow and
learn. And I’m learning a lot about myself from her too. Mainly, that in this big nasty
world there is always hope. And that no matter how sad, depressed, or down you are,
your baby’s smile can always fill you with pure joy.
Gilda Radner, the goofy comedian who made a name for herself on Saturday
Night Live in the 70s, said about having babies, “it is still the biggest gamble in the world.
It is the glorious life force. It’s huge and scary –it’s an act of infinite optimism.”
Marge Percy, the American poet said, “Life is the first gift, love is the second, and
understanding is the third.” Maybe, you need to be a parent to truly understand the world.
Or to be truly understanding. I guess I’ll find out.
Barbara Walters once said, “Parents of young children should realize that few people, and
maybe no one, will find their children as enchanting as they do.” But it’s not true. As
anyone can plainly see, Nina Rafaela is the coolest human being on the face of the Earth.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------So. With that said, I’d like to brief you all on what CASA has been up to this year and
what is in the works.
In 2006, besides our expanding rural development work in Ecuador (described
below), CASA will continue with all pre-existing site projects. We will have a volunteer
delegation in Puerto Rico in March working with the redevelopment effort on the island
of Vieques (formerly a USA Navy weapons testing site). In April, CASA will continue its
work in Guatemala with the Petenác Community Reconstruction Project (see project
description below),and we continue to work towards the economic and social
development of the refugee community of San Alfonso through our ongoing partnership
with the Saq’Jal Women’s Cooperative www.intercasa.org. In August, we will celebrate
the fourth year of the Vermont-Philly Youth Agricultural Exchange. Finally, in February
we plan to launch an experimental bio-diesel project here in Ecuador looking at biodiesel’s economic and energy possibilities in the context of rural local economies.
I also have two websites to check-out: www.intercasa.org is very out of date but
gives you an idea of our work and where we are coming from (I plan to revise by New
Year’s Eve), while www.chasquitreks.org is the site for my small business which focuses
on community-based tourism and beautiful hikes in the Andes. Please visit
www.intercasa.org in 2006 to read about the Puerto Rico and Vermont-Philly Projects,
project updates, Volunteer Work Delegations, scholarships, and news.
I appreciate your interest in CASA’s work and look forward to communicating
with you all more in regards to how we might collaborate on common goals based on
peace, sustainabilty, social justice, and hemispheric solidarity.
Yours,
Pete Shear
Director, Inter-American CASA