Hey - We Drove through Teculutan on Easter Sunday - Day before the shootout

Not sure what to make of this story. Seems scary like most police-drug related stories. As usual Juan Carlos does and excellent job of reporting -

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/23817817/

"GUATEMALA CITY - Guatemalan prosecutors were investigating Wednesday whether a reputed Mexican drug lord was among the 11 people killed in a shootout this week.

Guatemalan news media, citing unidentified police sources, have reported that Joaquin Guzman — the reputed head of the Sinaloa cartel — was killed in the gunbattle Tuesday outside a water park in Teculutan, a drug-trafficking stronghold in northeastern Guatemala.

Eight people died at the scene, and three others died later.

Drug prosecutor Geovanny Castro told a news conference that officials do not have any evidence that Guzman was killed, but they also can't rule out the idea because three of the victims have yet to be identified. Castro said samples have been taken from the bodies to perform DNA tests.

In Mexico, Attorney General Eduardo Medina Mora said officials were working with their Guatemalan counterparts to confirm whether any of the victims were even Mexican.

"Whether a Mexican drug lord was among those detained or killed is just speculation," he said.

Guatemalan police detained three Mexicans and three Guatemalans after the shootout.

Guzman was arrested in 1993 in Guatemala. He escaped from a Mexican jail in 2001 by hiding in a laundry cart.

He is now one of Mexico's most-wanted drug lords and is believed to lead the powerful Sinaloa cartel.

Wow... sound familiar - Very Insightful from Dr. Rotabi

"For example, there are cases when a child is abandoned with the district health nurse, midwife, or other trusted community leader. It is not uncommon for this individual who receives the baby to then seek a willing and able family to take in and care for the child. The receiving parent(s) may go to the local municipality to have a birth certificate issued with their family name indicating the adoptive parents as birth parents. A child may never be told that this transaction took place. This process of paperwork alteration would typically take place in a small municipality office, with nothing more than a clerk and a type writer. There would be no further documentation than an altered birth certificate. This is indicative of a society that has many non-formal practices and, as a result, these 'adoptions' are not tracked in national data (Rotabi, et. al, in press).

The Associated Press Story Casa Quiveras

Is it getting better or worse??

A full Moon Easter Procession

Okay- Yes this is a little off subject, but it is a wonderful experience... and How many people get to spend time in Guastatoya ??

Visiting with the kids

Wonderful loving children

Dear Diary

  Saturday was spent at a major conference that studies the change in adoption and it's impact. Hosted by Holt International and the Local Social Service Agency - Bienestar Social. 

  Very earnest and hardworking people showed their passion and commitment to serving the kids.  There was considerable focus on the need to de-instituionalize the kids. Evidence show that they blossoms emotionally and intellectually when place with adoptive or foster parents. 

 Set up many appointments for the coming week. Many who work for the government are on vacation after Wednesday, but they have offered to meet with us.  

  With 187 private orphanages and only 7 public, it is clear that the public sector wants to work with charities and Churches. 

 

The Kids are God's amazing gift

Day 2 Casa Fundaninos

Day 1 Guatamala City Photo Album - Jamie and Emilio

Day One Pics

Orphans and Casa Hogares

Diary

Diary Observations

" It's important for us to articulate the vision that talks about helping the babies where they are and reaching them with nourishment, nutrition, and of course, the Holy Spirit and witnessing Jesus Christ to them where they are. We are outside the political fray and want to assist the government. However, the government ultimately chooses to pursue things."




just wanted to tell you a little bit about this wonderful country. We keep learning more and more each day. The impression of the orphan industry is quite varied. There are those who think it will be a continuation of past initiatives and that the attorneys that provide the adoption services will ultimately go on and continue as if it's business as normal. Many others believe that the change will be more profound.

The perception of these baby meetings and these mass meetings of the babies with American adoptive parents took them to be potential for a number of years to certain hotels for meet and greet opportunities. The stories of children who were stolen from their mothers and those that were encouraged to get pregnant, stay pregnant, and have babies for compensation, are quite compelling and emotionally they are very challenging. The problem is, is that nobody has a good idea what the percentages are, how many are in the different categories, and how much it has really changed. It's important for us to articulate the vision that talks about helping the babies where they are and reaching them with nourishment, nutrition, and of course, the Holy Spirit and witnessing Jesus Christ to them where they are. We are outside the political fray and want to assist the government. However, the government ultimately chooses to pursue things.

This recent tumultuous history of this country is incredibly complicated and frightening. The perception of these various factions within the country that have very different interests is a concern. We heard the attorneys that specialize in adoptions referred to as the mafia lawyers, and that this was in essence an unorganized or semi-organized group of attorneys that were making a great deal of money and were unscrupulous and powerful and dangerous. Still very much a sense that if you're on the wrong side of any activity, your life would be put in danger and need to be very cautious in dealing with anyone who may have something to hide. The article that Greg had written was perhaps a bit viewed as perhaps a bit incendiary or potentially contentious, and we would need to be very cautious in how we pursued that line of reasoning and that thought process. All in all, a massively wonderful day. This is an incredible country, a beautiful place, wonderful people, and incredible natural resources, and just a real exciting place to be at this point in time.

March 12, 2008.

Day One

"Well we are changing planes in Houston. We arrived at Newark Airport this morning at 4:30 and are a little tired. One of the thoughts and concerns about the research project is that somebody had mentioned that the orphans in the adoption pipeline may have been grand-fathered into the adoption process and that many pundits are not as concerned or anxious or fearful that the tsunami of unwanted babies will occur. Part of me wonders if there may be a certain amount of business as usual, in other words, the 15 babies a day being exported to the US may be continuing and the transition to government supervision may be more of a soft transition or not the hard stop that we had been led to believe. That still begs the larger question, is there essentially a baby manufacturing component to the Guatemalan economy and my inexperience, my lack of experience in this area, makes me realize that I do not know or do not understand what the implications of that are, so those are my thoughts and will try to frame the research accordingly.