Thursday, June 24, 2010

a mil por hora

KremlinRussia_E
� о�и�е «Тви��е�а» on Twitpic
Hace tan solo 18 horas el Presidente de Rusia, en visita al Estado de California, abrió su cuenta en Twitter ( @KremlinRussia_E ).  Al momento de escribir esta nota ya tiene 17,461 seguidores y posiblemente al finalizar de escribirla llegara a los 18 mil. O sea que va a mil por hora. Sin embargo el Presidente de Rusia sigue solamente a tres twiteros: Barack Obama, la Casa Blanca de los Estados Unidos de America y su propia cuenta de Twitter en idioma ruso. 

Wednesday, June 23, 2010

LETTER TO MY FRIENDS written on June 27th, 2009

WHAT IS GOING ON IN HONDURAS?
Dear Friend:
I just came back from Tegucigalpa where all the turmoil is happening,
and want to share my views.
The President is pushing for a poll (next Sunday) to propose for a new
Constitution that would allow him to stay in office longer and to run
for a 2nd term. Our constitutional tradition is: no reelection, once a
President never run again. Zelaya wants to change that to become at
par with Chavez, Ortega, Evo Morales and the guy in Ecuador. There
has been a strong opposition from the private sector, the political
parties and the military. Congress and the Judiciary are also against
changes in the Constitution, especially in what refers to duration and
re election.
Zelaya´s MO is to create chaos and confusion, provoke violence and
disorder to dissolve the Congress and suspend the elections to be held
in November 2009.
This coming Sunday a Poll will take place and it is expected that on
Monday Zelaya will cry Victory (regardless of the turn out) at that point
Monday one would expect reactions from the opposition that may be
fueled by instigators imported from Venezuela or Nicaragua.
Mel Zelaya´s game is to provoke enough violence, confusion and
despair to allow him to suspend what is called constitutional
warranties (Civil Rights) and impose a state of siege, curfews, exchange
controls, transportation controls and blockades, etc…
The private sector, the religious leadership, the military, the Judiciary
and Congress are cautious not to fall into the trap and let things
happen in a way that Zelaya has no chance to light the fuses.
I think this is a genuine episode of a realignment of countries in the
Hemisphere where ALBA members are opposed to ALCA countries.
Interesting enough, Honduras belongs to both groups.
What roll shall the US play in this? Is the US interested in what is going
on in Central America? Does Venezuela and Cuba foreign policies affect
US interests in the region? In Honduras? In Roatan?
Have you addressed this with your Congressman or Senator?
I personally believe the man at the American Embassy in Tegucigalpa is
too soft, too naïve and, being under a new Administration and with a
weakened NSC his interventions or reactions are already late or
unfruitful. Where is Negroponte?
……1-2-3……….
1. We Hondurans are capable of taking care of our business.
By mid next week we shall know what the majority want: live
poorly but in peace or ´´free from all means of oppression´´
and poorer.
2. Americans, Canadians and Europeans need to address
their concerns to their Representatives and Mission Members.
3- Lets help each other.
All the best,

César

Tuesday, June 22, 2010

WEST BAY ROATAN FIRE




FUEGO MARIA!
era el grito con que saludabamos el paso de los bomberos de San Pedro Sula, cada vez que habia incendio en la entonces pre-capital industrial de Honduras. Los bomberos retornaban el saludo alzando sus manos o tocando el casco con la punta de los dedos.
Generalmente los incendios se daban en bodegas y tiendas.
Las fotografias que les presento en nada se relacionan a los incendios en San Pedro Sula de mediados del Siglo Pasado, sin embargo tienen en comun la fascinacion por ver el fuego y sentir su calor en las mejias.
Posted by Picasa

FIRE ON THE SAND JUGANDO CON FUEGO


Posted by Picasa(c) César A. González R.

Sunday, June 13, 2010

RECO INCENTIVES SUBSIDIES AND TARIFFS

 As the blue private jet plane elegantly touched the smooth surface of Roatan´s airstrip, I[1] picked the latest issue of the Bay Island´s Voice. What initially looked to me in its front page as old pistons from a wrecked trumpet, I later learned that is a photograph taken of public utility´s exhaust pipes. 

14 questions immediately jump inside the mind of the reader.

According to recent reports the Government of Honduras (GOH) approved to subsidize RECO consumers under 150 kWh/month.  It has been informed by the local Voice Magazine that ´´ the way this would work is that Zolitur would hold two months worth of the subsidy, and the Central Government would replenish the money allocated by Zolitur´´ and goes on quoting RECO´s Richard Warren:

´´ We have been fighting for this for two years and currently have an application in with Zolitur´´ and,
´´ It´s taken us 2 years to convince the government that they would be giving money to a public utility, not a private entity.´´

The incentives.

As members of the community we need to ask:

Is this ok?

  • What is the size of the monthly ´´under 150 kWh billing´´ in terms of GOH money?
  • What is the sum of money to be held by Zolitur?
  • What is the procedure to ´´replenish the money allocated by Zolitur´´.
  • Is handling subsidies an activity permitted by Zolitur´s own Law?
  • Is RECO registered under Zolitur and beneficiary of Zolitur´s incentives?
  • What exactly are those incentives?
  • Does that include the capacity to import free of duties?
  • Is fuel included in the import duty exemption?
  • Is income tax included as one of the incentives?
  • What other incentives has RECO obtained from GOH, including Zolitur?


Is this OK!  with WTO regulations and Honduras standing?


Ask because the people of Roatán need to know.

The Subsidy.

Now, besides knowing all the answers to all the Q´s above and acknowledging the initiative is a good one and shall result in preventing renewed social unrest, I now ask:

  • Will the subsidy bring added consumption in homes were only 150 kwh were traditionally used?
  • Will the subsidy be applied in a bracketed method?
  • Will the subsidy create new or restore old jobs?
  • Will the added consumption (just like the triple saldo marketing scheme) actually bring about frustration and resentment in those whose bills will actually go up?




Resources:


A.   To help understand some of the language used by representatives and media here is some definitions and sources.


  • A public utility (usually just utility) is an organization that maintains the infrastructure for a public service (often also providing a service using that infrastructure). Public utilities are subject to forms of public control and regulation ranging from local community-based groups to state wide government monopolies. Public utilities can be privately owned or publicly owned. Publicly owned utilities include cooperative and municipal utilities. Municipal utilities may actually include territories outside of city limits or may not even serve the entire city. Cooperative utilities are owned by the customers they serve. They are usually found in rural areas. Private utilities, also called investor owned utilities, are owned by investors




  • An investment incentive is a subsidy given to affect the location of investment. The goal may be to attract new investment or to retain an existing facility.
  • A subsidy, in turn, is money given to a firm by government. This can take many forms: cash grants, tax measures, loans at below-market interest rates, loan guarantees, capital injections, guaranteed excessive rates of profit, below-cost or free inputs including land and power, and purchasing goods from firms at inflated prices. This list is not exhaustive, but includes the type of support used in virtually all subsidies. In this work, I use the EU term “state aid” as interchangeable with “subsidy.”
Kenneth P. Thomas, University of Missouri-St. Louis. http://www.globalsubsidies.org/files/assets/GSI_Investment_Incentives.pdf

B.  To know more about how S&I´s are handled in the United States click here: http://www.masterresource.org/category/policy-issues/subsidies/ ,
Elsewhere in the World research: Perverse incentives subsidies and sustainable development or, do your own keyboard walking.