Sunday 02
March 2003
REMINDER:
Enrique remains your friend!
Another (very biased) editorial by: Michael Jean Nystrom-Schut
I fled a record winter snowfall in Indianapolis last week to be back here in San Jose. Coming in from the airport, I sensed that the heat was intense, especially compared to where I'd been huddling lately.
After briefings and de-briefings from brother Duke, I discovered the arrival was just in time to see things very likely start to heat up in the case involving my friend, Enrique.
Right away, this: If I hear one more time "why doesn't he come out and say or do something?" I think I am going to revolt!
Come on! He's both saying and doing. If you ask me, he has been handling things about our money, and doing so about as well as can be done, though he's in "sly fox style," especially given the lousy hand of cards he has been dealt to play.
This week now past, Duke and I sat for hours in the living room and talked about what is happening. The soon-Doctor Duke is just as much a Sherlock Holmes as he is a medical man - what a logistician, the guy!
Multiple meetings with those who have bits and pieces of knowledge have produced many interesting new insights, some of which right now must be temporarily suppressed.
But it all continues to support the reasoning that we should remain staunch supporters of Enrique.
…So what about Jay? While I like Professor Brodell (AMCOSTARICA) personally, it's frank disappointment the way he has handled the body of coverage on Enrique. It's not sat well with many, that strong editorial bias of his, and so too, the picture of our friend, spread out there next to Luis, day after day, week after week…
Que feo! You know the mug shot; we nearly all do by now! This good friend of ours, Enrique, who is wanted, all right, but not in the way some may want him:
This is the picture of a good man, though he looks better in real life!
He's done no wrong. He's an honest friend to us all.
…I also noticed right away, this thing: where did all the creditors go? San Jose seems to have been drained nearly dry of them. Has that caught anyone else's attention?
What would happen if Enrique were to make things flow back the other way? In some small way, would it be good for our beloved Costa Rica?
I still wish for nothing but the best for this adopted country of mine. And hang anyone who hates the place. Just leave us if you don't like it here! |
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Viva Costa Rica baby! And let Enrique come back home to it! And soon!
Capable lawyers and others (some you know, some you don't) keep working on his behalf, and legal channels are being exhausted while new avenues are being paved still.
Like it or not, this thing simply had to play out like it has; there was no other way for it to go.
Through it all, if you don't agree that he would have been some kind of moron to come out and show himself then you are living in another dimension of space-time.
What would you really do, if you were he, that is?
Bob Kelly (really not such a bad guy at all) still wants to see him arrested in the U.S. He and I have quibbled about that since my return. But I think even angry Bob would cut Enrique some slack if we were to start to see the tide turned in the next little bit of time.
I have it on good authority that Bob really likes Enrique...
As for Jack Caine, though I have yet to meet him, he seems to be going in a positive direction, and the Class Action thing might be an option in the coming months.
Fraud filers and legal impediment players, though, are only stirring up an already muddy mess. I am speaking of the Kearson's (IRCCR) of the world.
As for the UCCR, and Jose Miguel Villalobos, we all sense by now that this part perhaps could have been or still can be handled somewhat differently. This is manifested by the lack of financial support emerging for the current course of action involving him.
So who's perfect? No one.
If you knew John Manners like we do, you would admire him; he's an exceptional human being. John and his beautiful family remain personal friends, but frankly where did some of these people come from who were/are recently calling the shots over there?
As for the "contract," I'm sorry but…
Sorry, but what…? Everything can be fixed, and JMV is a very capable man.
We are wise to hold off, though, just a bit yet, and see what might come to pass. In the meanwhile, contributions are safe in both sets of hands (Hank and John)…
If you ask me, my two renegade pals, Duke and Hank, are as solid as they come. Egos having been dismissed, they have selflessly sacrificed incredible time and energy in this ongoing fight; it's felt endless, and come at virtually no charge to anyone else.
Totally gratis…
There's another guy out there, too, whom I admire greatly. He's done so much to work behind the scenes. We would be light-years away from knowing large parts of the macro picture if it weren't for him. As much as anyone, he is working to fix this thing.
Who is this guy? Duke, who is prone to giving everyone a name, calls him B. Gold. The man is, in many ways, larger than life to us.
I'm getting to more of the good stuff, but let me also say that Rainer will always be another giant of a man to me; he's a rare treat. And this guy Skip is as sharp as they come, too. What a match for the Duke-ster, whose raw logic continually needs to be balanced and checked, loose cannon that he can be.
Then there's the "other brother" (Osvaldo). Have we thought much in terms of how marvelous his inspiration to us has been? I admire his courage, and the way he has handled this whole thing…and all from behind the "big prickly fence" at that!
Having rambled on about some of the great and not-so-great players we've seen in this, my prime-time hero in it all remains Enrique himself.
Enrique has been on the hot seat from the very beginning. No one of us has the imagination to conceive of what he has gone through, and what he is going through still.
So, for God sake! Why not be gentle on him?
Who of us knows how we would "play it," given his dealt circumstances? The critic's pens have flowed and their mouth's have run, but I think we can be assured that history will say whether he handled things well.
What's going to happen next? Who knows? I have a most informed hunch that says we will see some interesting developments in the very near future…and I mean soon! What, for example, would it mean for us to see the jailhouse door soon swing out, just as it has swung in for those of the Cuban's camp?
I also think more will unfold before the end of the first week of April…
My friends! This thing is hardly over.
And as for a lingering question or two: where is our money? How many times has that crossed our minds?
Well, it's out there…intact, and safe.
Will we see all or most of it ever again? If Enrique has anything to do with it, yes, we will. Odds are (speculation alert!) that this will happen.
So, as we endlessly introspect and reflect on it all, whom did we finally decide was really behind all of this?
Wouldn't we like to know! Though it's not the Canadians. It's not the prosecutor. And it's not Sr. Pacheco. It's not plenty of people we've suspected in our ongoing and unfolding research.
Not anyone we have openly suspected until recently, in fact.
But I am quite sure it will come out, partly because the truth almost always has a way of doing that, and partly because vicious and snoopy bulldogs like "the Duke" have a nose for getting down into the debris, and ferreting out the dirty stuff. (Just how does he do that?)
Remember that history usually comes to shed a blinding light on what was previously only in the pitch of dark.
And if it does come down to a petty, jealous banker or two, I feel sorry for them. Wouldn't we be quick to toss them in the category of those virus-causing computer hackers who invade our private files and bring our lives crashing down around us?
How much worse are these guys?
We creditors (we've never been investors) are on the whole a smart, strong, independent group of people (sorry Abel!). Between all of us, we have unraveled much of the mystery that lurks in the background of this Great Mess. A host of the secrets have now fallen, and one by one, it's easy to predict that they will continue to do so.
Hey! All of this has been quite an experience, hasn't it? It's been an encounter with life that goes on and on still.
Like any healthy human, I had to do my personal closure on all of this (have you?). It's reshaped me some, taught me many, many things about people, life, the Universe and other realities (have you learned anything?).
I determined to make all my changes positive ones, and that's not been an easy task. This means that I live in the real world, and get over any illusions that might exist in that world.
Ego, too, must be removed from this. Who gives credence to this illusion anyway? What's important is that we work together and work separately to do whatever we can to aid and assist our friend…this will serve to self serve in the end…
We can disagree all day long, but stick together we must.
I believe when Enrique is allowed to re-enter the business world, and re-open his operations, that we will all then see what the man is made out of. How can anyone judge him until he is first cleared, and then given his chance?
If I were he, I would be strained in knowing how many have discredited him, and written him off as less than honorable, as a low-grade con man.
That would discourage me, I think, though it must be asked, will it do the same to him?
When he is once again allowed to do so, I predict he will take care of business in typical Enrique-like fashion, and demonstrate the cloth of strong character that he is made from. These words are part of the big record; so we shall see.
You may not agree - that's fine - but he hurts inside more than just about all of us. He is dismayed at all of the pain and destruction this has caused. Too much has been said that does not support this.
I'll send him my positive thoughts (prayer?) and I'll also be patient, and cooperative, and understanding. He did not bring this on himself, so I have never been mad at him. It's not Enrique who is to blame.
You of the fair weather flock tend to piss me off when you decide you know things about him that you haven't taken the time or energy to verify, or support.
Get in his shoes; walk a bit.
Then cut our man some slack. Give Enrique his due. Remember, he's still your friend, whether you know it, or whether you don't.
Michael is a
freelance contributor. The opinions expressed here are his own
and do not necessarily reflect the opinion of
insidecostarica.com.
Write
Michael at: michael@insidecostarica.com
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