An Academic Turns Grief Into a Crime-Fighting Tool
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TEGUCIGALPA, Honduras
NOT so long ago, Julieta Castellanos could walk to the corner market, order a stack of corn tortillas and two liters of Coca-Cola, then make her way home without a stray glance or an impromptu comment from anyone.
But getting around, she has found, is not so easy anymore. Dr. Castellanos, the leader of Honduras's largest university, is now under the constant watch of a team of bodyguards, and more often than not, a stranger who catches a glimpse of her signature silk scarves will wave her down with something to say.
"You are the people's hope," a taxi driver told her recently.
"I clip your quotes from the newspaper and keep them in my desk drawer," a co-worker confided.
"We are with you in your fight," a waiter said.
Since the murder of her youngest son, Rafael Alejandro Vargas, 22, and his friend, Carlos Pineda, 24, by the Honduran national police in October, Dr. Castellanos, 57, has emerged as an unlikely hero here: a civilian willing to wage a public war with drug cartels and their grip on the nation's institutions.
Her biting criticisms have become as much a staple of daily newspapers as the crossword puzzle. She has called the police force a monster and said it would be the fault of the police chief if she were assassinated.
Honduran leaders have taken note, and President Porfirio Lobo is expected to approve a top-to-bottom review of the national police soon, modeled on a proposal by Dr. Castellanos.
Many credit Dr. Castellanos with inspiring a call for change in Honduras, a country of eight million that has rapidly turned into one of the most violent areas in the world. Recent crackdowns on drug trafficking in Mexico and Colombia have driven criminals here. Poverty is rampant, shorelines are vast and impunity prevails.
Allies of Honduras, hoping that a growing sense of public outrage will force an end to the status quo, have intervened recently. Chile and Columbia have helped vet police officers. American leaders, concerned that Honduras could destabilize Central America if it does not immediately confront its insecurity crisis, have taken the unusual step of sending a former ambassador to Nicaragua, Oliver P. Garza, to work as a full-time adviser inside the Honduran presidential palace. And Vice President Joseph R. Biden Jr. is scheduled to visit Tegucigalpa next month.
First Published February 25, 2012 12:01 am
