OT Government lies about severity of flooding in Mexico.

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We received this from the administrator of a school near Mexico City: I am writing this to ask for your prayers in regards to what we are finding ourselves involved in at this time. It seems that Puebla Christian School (Near Mexico City) has become the center of contact for various groups to work with the relief aid in the face of the massive flooding that has been making the news the past week. And it appears what is coming out on the news is only a small picture of what has really taken place. Last Friday I sent out a letter to parents of our students sharing that we had some people working in the area of the flooding that were going to try to take in food and if they would like to donate we would be a collection point. Well Monday we sent out two different loads of what came in. Much needed money is also starting to come in as well to purchase food.

The big concern in this project is that the government has said that they do not want or need any kind of outside international aid but they can handle it themselves. There is extreme pride and it also allows a lot of cover up of suffering that they don't want outsiders to be aware of. So it is fairly common that the government relief agency here in this country will intercept any food or supplies going to a needy area and take it away so they can either deliver it themselves or sell it and never deliver it to the hurting people. Corruption is very deep. But yesterday Manuel our pastor, Paul Lere, (the Circuit Director for this part of Mexico with Unevangelized Field Missions) Bruce Morock, (our close friends working with us at PCS) John DeCoster (a fellow CAM missionary) and another Mexican believer took two pickup loads of beans rice and corn and headed out to the mountain areas which were hardest hit and totally cut off.They were able to make it most of the way to the northern mountains here in the state of Puebla before they ran out of road. In many places along the way for the last 30 miles whole sides of the mountain had come down and the road was hanging rather fragilely on the side of the mountain. All along this last 30 miles they saw Indian men standing along the road hoping to be able to get some supplies. At one point they came to a place where the road was gone and there was a huge lake that had been created in the landslides. It was there in front of them where the road used to be. But they had cut a road through the mud, around the side of the mountain, through a corn field and they had a caterpillar type tractor pulling trucks and pickups through the makeshift road they had created. After waiting in line for 3 hours they were pulled through and were able to go on to the end of the road where a whole mountain side had disappeared. At that point they met a pastor of one of the UFM churches and 29 men that had hiked out a 4 hour hike (in dry weather) to meet them and get the food. (Many of the villages have had pay phones put into them in the last 3 years so the Mexican run phone company could make money.) The pay phones are cell phones and rather expensive to use but those that are working are coming in very handy. That is how the Totonoc Indian pastor had finally gotten ahold of our pastor. These 29 men all had burlap bags that they could fill with what ever was given them and each one had a strap that they tied around the bag and they looped it over the top of their head. Then they can walk for hours carrying these bags that may weigh as much as 75 to 90 pounds. But the 29 men were just the right number to totally unload the pickup without any thing left over. Where they stopped to unload there were about 250 to 300 men waiting around, hoping the runners they had sent out would be able to find some assistance and that food would be coming for their village. The men waiting from the Unevangelized Field Missions church, whose pastor had hiked out on behalf of his village, had not eaten for 5 days, and some of the people back in some of the villages have been out of any food for 7 days. The thing that is happening is all of these mountain villages are cut off from any transportation except on foot and so they had no food coming in. So they are sending out runners from these villages now that the rains have stopped and the rivers have dropped enough to cross when they can finally get out (we have finally had 3 days of sunshine) and the runners are trying to contact friends, family or any one who will come with food for their village. When the guys stopped to get permission to go in there with food, they had to stop at a place like our county seats, and there were hundreds of men standing around the government buildings begging for government assistance because they had no friends or family to assist them by bringing food and they did not have money living back in those hills to buy what was available in towns that did have food. But our pastor and the other men with them were able to provide food for the two pastors they met, and the Totonoc pastors were going to share the food between 6 villages in each area they pastored in. Then as they were driving out they saw another pastor from an even more remote area walking slowly along the road. As soon as they recognized him they pulled over and he shared that there were desperate needs in his village and he was trying to find some way to buy corn to take back to his people. Paul Lere still had 1000 pesos in his pocket that he had taken to hopefully be able to hire some mules to carry things in, not knowing there would be 29 people at the one drop spot. So he said, Get in the truck, and we will go see what we can find." They drove out of the area to another town that had corn for sale and were able to buy 500 kilos of corn with that money. That is about 1200 pounds of corn for 110 dollars. The pastor said he only wanted corn right now because of the desperate situation in his area and corn would go further than any thing else that could be bought. He said with corn they could make mush for the little babies, they could make tortillas, corn soup, atole, and a number of other things that would provide the greatest amount of energy. So this little Totonoc pastor was just praising the Lord for God's provision.

Well, I have gotten a little carried away and have not really gotten to the heart of what we are asking prayer for. Manuel and the UFM missionaries came back last night with a real burden for the area where there has not been any roads into ever. It is an areas where they still go in by foot or by airplane. This area is very romote, but UFM has about 30 churches in this area with a large number of believers. No runners have come out nor has any word been heard from this area for 2 weeks time now. So today we have been helping our pastor coordinate an air lift of 3 tons of food to Poza Rica down on the coast north of where we go to the beach. This is the area of the heavy flooding and Poza Rica is north of Nautla where we go. The military has promised that if we could have the food down there by tomorrow that they would use a military helicoptor to go into the area that has not been heard from in 2 weeks. The military has run out of relief food and so they are flying around in some areas taking supplies into the troops that are digging out larger cities that have been hard hit with, but have very little food for people in the mountains. So they are indicating that they will take and fill up a helicpotor and fly into these remote areas if some one will accompany them.

So our prayer request is for Jonathan Smith. He has volunteered to fly in with the military to deliver this food. (We think they will let him as he is a Mexican citizen who has served some time in the Mexican military when he was just out of high school) He has flown out of the Puebla airport this afternoon with 2 tons of food and then another ton will be going out at 6:00 in the morning. Jonathan will be sleeping in the hanger in Poza Rica tonight with the food and then flying out tomorrow into the area mentioned. Our prayer is for his safety in travel, for his safety in the wait until he can fly out, that the military will carry through with their promise, and for his time in the village. It is very likely that they will just drop him off and leave when they get there and so he will be in there until he is able to get out on foot or they can get another load of food and get the military to go back to the same area and pick him up. He is very anxious to do this because he grew up through about age 12 in this area and so he knows the area and possibly some of the people. But there is some real apprehension on his part as well because of all of the unknowns. We are not sure how long he will be gone. But at this point it seems to be the only way that UFM is going to be able to get in and see if the people are ok in these remote areas. The UFM missionary that has lived there was in San Antonio at the time so he is very worried about what has happened. As you know, Jonathan's wife, Linda, is rather fragile emotionally. So we have invited her and the kids to stay with us while Jonathan is gone. Pray especially for Linda as one of Jonathan's bigger concerns when he lef, was her emotional well being. So we will have 7 of us staying in our little house for a period of time, but Matthew is excited to have a couple of big brothers. We are especially praying that things will go smoothly. God answered so many prayers yesterday with the men that went in. They came back really praising the Lord for how He went before them and for the churches they could help. So we really believe that God can and does override the government when we pray and so we are really praying that Jonathan will be able to work with the military in such a way that they will carry through with what they have promised. We are also looking at possibly taking a team in some time next week to help in some of the most needy areas. If that is the case it will probably consist of Paul Lere, Bruce Morock, myself and some our bigger stronger high school boys. The proportion of devastation will match anything that was seen in the hurricane that hit Honduras and Nicuragua as whole mountain sides have slid down into canyons, no crops remain in many of the areas, and many of the homes have been swept away. In fact, the government is saying that there are about 360 dead now, but the men that were waiting at the place where the food was dropped off yesterday told that just about 2 miles before they arrived at that point there was a village of about 500 people. The entire village is nowhere to be found, and when the military went in to check things out, they said the smell was so bad that they just said there was no one alive and they were not even going to look and they hiked back out. The Indians were telling Manuel and Paul that there truly is no sign of life, but the smell of death is overwhelming.

But the concern of UFM is that these people are not only needing aid now. It will be something that will go on through the next few months. With all crops destroyed, they can replant, but they need seeds or seedlings to start over with. It will take a while for things to grow to the point of producing something to eat, and many of them lack any type of shelter. So as UFM assesses the situation, they really hope to be able to find some help to come in and work along side these people for a period of time. Only the Lord knows what will take place in the next couple of months but we leave it in His hands. Well, this has gotten much longer than I had intended, but I just wanted to write and bring you more information and ask you to pray and ask others to pray. Each and every pastor the men talked to yesterday said that many people are turning to the Lord because of the tragedy, so God is truly bringing good from this situation. Well good night for now and pray with us for Jonathan during the next few days. We will keep you updated on what develops.

I am adding this just before sending it. We just received a call from Jonathan and he has made it to Poza Rica safely and has the two tons of food with him and he will sleep on it tonight. We have another ton of it going out in the morning at 6:00. But Jonathan has already made contact with the military general there and has struck up a good relationship with him. The general has assured him that they will work with him in the morning and well get any food out to the areas they want tomorrow. He has 15 helicoptors at his disposal and he sees it as a good time to give his men some training and he has access to fuel that he would not other wise if there was not an emergency. They feel a sense of urgency in that there is another tropical storm delevloping in the Gulf and if it come toward the coast of Mexico that area will be completely socked in by Friday or Saturday at the latest. Plus another tropical storm will bring a lot of rain to the area again and without food it well mean the loss of many more lives. So we ask that you pray with us especially all day during the day on Thursday that God will work in a special way. It has become a special opportunity for the Mexican believers to demonstrate the love of God to the people around them as they share of the food they are receiving instead of hording it all to themselves. Thanks for praying. Pray also for more money. We have used up all that we have available in buying the 3 ton of food today and we would like to send 2 more ton tomorrow if God should provide the funds.

-- walt (walt@lcs.k12.ne.us), October 14, 1999

Answers

Where and to whom do we send money for food for these people? Little Red Hen

-- Maggie Germann (maggiem@nehp.net), October 14, 1999.

Sorry I left that out. Here is the address:

UFM International
     P.O. Box 306
     Bala Cynwyd, PA 19004

Phone: 610-667-7660 Fax: 610-660-9068



-- walt (walt@lcs.k12.ne.us), October 14, 1999.

MEXICO

Published Wednesday, October 13, 1999, in the Miami Herald

Don't exploit floods, Zedillo asks

Some Mexican candidates casting blame

BY JOHN RICE Associated Press

TEZIUTLAN, Mexico -- With Mexico's presidential campaigning overshadowed by disastrous flooding, President Ernesto Zedillo has warned candidates against trying to use the tragedy to win political points.

But the government's handling of the crisis has already provoked criticism, with political challengers attacking the establishment and governing politicians lashing out at one another.

A long list of ``should haves'' has surfaced. Dam gates should have been opened earlier; more people should have been warned earlier; deforestation should have been prevented; and homes on dangerous hillsides should have been evacuated long ago.

Victims of last week's flooding and mudslides, which killed at least 350 people, are clamoring for food and water. Hundreds of rural communities remain isolated.

``We do not want to think that those who are speaking out about this disaster are doing it, not out of concern for the people, but for personal political interest,'' Zedillo said Monday on a visit to the hard-hit mountain city of Teziutlan.

CANDIDATES SPARRING

Even as Zedillo's words made banner headlines in Mexico City, bickering continued among candidates for the July 2000 presidential election. Zedillo's former interior minister, Francisco Labastida, widely believed to be the president's favorite, was criticized on the front page of a major daily for putting his name on emergency aid packages.

Supporters of former Puebla Gov. Manuel Bartlett, who also is seeking the ruling party's nomination, reported that the Labastida packages were distributed to mudslide victims in Puebla state who showed their voter credentials.

Labastida's campaign staff said Tuesday that the packages had been handed out because they were immediately available and were distributed by the federal Family Development Fund, an agency headed by Zedillo's wife.

A spokeswoman for the agency had no comment Tuesday.

Labastida also has pledged the equivalent of $100,000 from his campaign fund to relief efforts and postponed his campaigning to focus on the disaster. He called on his rivals to do the same.

Carlos Ramirez, a political columnist for the El Universal daily, wrote Monday that Labastida was the only one of the four ruling party contenders given the presidential go-ahead to participate in relief work.

The move, he said, was intended to boost support for Labastida at the cost of his closest rival, Roberto Madrazo, whose home state of Tabasco is still suffering from widespread flooding.

FEELING NEGLECTED

Madrazo supporters criticized Zedillo for ignoring their Gulf Coast state on his tours of the disaster zone. On Tuesday, Zedillo was visiting rural communities in Veracruz state.

In Villahermosa, the Tabasco capital, the people have had to settle for ``crumbs,'' flood victim Adela Mayo said Tuesday. Her neighbor, Nely Suarez, noted that Zedillo had twice visited Tulancingo in Hidalgo state, ``but us -- we can go to hell.''

The governor of Veracruz state put the blame squarely on one man: himself.

``The natural human response is to blame someone for what happened, and here, my dear friends, the only one responsible is myself and my collaborators,'' Gov. Miguel Aleman told reporters Monday.

He said there were many lessons to be learned from the disaster and signaled that state authorities ``should respond as quickly as possible, not only in these moments of emergency, but to prevent this from occurring again.''

-- Old Git (anon@spamproblems.com), October 14, 1999.


I caught real quick your perception that a pay phone was an evil "cuz the phone companies want to make profit."

Selling food is also appropriate. Food is bought. It buildeth economies as do pay phones so the people do not earn a pathetic living by selling a chicklet from a blanket spread out at the park.

-- Paula (chowbabe@pacbell.net), October 14, 1999.


Walt, upon reading your sad post, I could hardly imagine what the situation must be like. People from my church and neighboring churches have been trying to help rebuild homes in the countries you mention as having been hit also by floods, and I am sure that when it is feasible, there will be many of your northern Christian neighbors going down with their tools, and having earned their own expense money, to help to rebuild. It is great that you have such faith and are all willing to expend yourselves in a perilous situation in order to help to feed others. I will give a copy of this post to my pastor tonight at church, and ask him to have special prayer for you on Sunday and thereafter. May the Lord bless and help your people.

And disregard anyone like Paula who posts garbage...not everyone is compassionate and decent. She needs your prayer also!

-- Elaine Seavey (Gods1sheep@aol.com), October 15, 1999.



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