Pacific Notes
Pacific Notes
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Murders Shock Palau Forgiveness At Funeral - ADVERTISEMENT -
Palau President Tommy Remengesau described it as "a heinous crime that has never been experienced in the republic before." On December 22, according to a court affidavit, a man forcibly entered the home of the pastor of the Koror Seventh-Day Adventist church to steal a TV and VCR. But when the homeowners turned the lights on, "he began swinging wildly at the man and the woman with a large stick," say the court papers. "He then saw a young boy and he began striking the young boy in the head with the same stick." Ruimar DePaiva, 42, his wife Margaret, 37, his son Larrison, 11, were all killed. Their 10-year-old daughter was the only survivor. She was found later on a secluded road by two local residents. The attacker had blindfolded her, stuffed her in the trunk of his car, and took her to his home where he sexually assaulted her, according to the affidavit. Later, he strangled her and left her at the side of the road.
After a short investigation fed largely by the girl's recollections, Justin Hirosi, 43, was charged with killing all three DePaiva family members and then charged for kidnapping and sexual assault. Hirosi told police he had smoked crystal methamphetamine, or "ice" after work on Dec. 21 and later headed to the DePaiva home to rob it. Ruimar DePaiva was a pastor for the church and also coordinator of the SDA mission in Palau. The family was originally from Brazil and had come to serve in Palau in August, 2002. "I extend my apologies and regrets to the DePaivas that this tragedy took place here in Palau and we could not prevent it," said Remengesau during a four-hour state funeral attended by hundreds. The violent deaths of the missionary family was incomprehensible for this young nation, a peaceful string of islands in the Western Pacific with not even 20,000 people in its borders. The tearful funeral service culminated as the mother of the murdered pastor suddenly asked the mother of the alleged killer to join her at the altar. "Here we are two mothers," said Ruth DePaiva. "The mother of the victim, the mother of the perpetrator. I am sure the mother of Justin has prayed so many times for her son and I am sure her heart hurts terribly. We train them, we educate them, but they have their own minds," she said. Then Ruth DePaiva, a missionary in Brazil with her husband when she gave birth to Ruimar, perhaps did the only thing that could have let Palau start healing. She forgave. "I just want to take Justin's mother and let her know we will be praying for her... and for Justin." -Scott Radway Niue, The Samoas Heta Hits Hard Supertyphoon (cyclone) Heta smashed tiny Niue at the end of the first week of January, leaving at least 200 people homeless. The extensive damage has prompted fears that the storm may trigger a mass exodus to New Zealand. New Zealand Foreign Minister Phil Goff says Niue might not be viable if too many of Niue's 1,600 people decide to leave after the devastating storm. New Zealand High Commissioner Sandra Lee described the destruction as massive with the main town of Alofi being virtually flattened. Aid began pouring in to Niue within days of the storm, which killed one person and destroyed at least 90 percent of the infrastructure and agriculture. Meanwhile, power, water and telephone services are slowly being restored in both American Samoa and Samoa after Heta lashed through the two Samoas on January 4-5, leaving behind millions of dollars in damages. No deaths were reported.
President George W. Bush declared American Samoa a federal disaster area, paving the way for U.S. government disaster relief through the Federal Emergency Management Agency. Bush's declaration opens the door to U.S. emergency relief that is provided on a 75-25 percent matching basis. Immediately following the storm, Australia offered A$50,000 to Samoa for recovery efforts, while China, New Zealand and the U.S. also offered assistance. U.S. Federal Emergency Management Agency workers arrived in Pago Pago two days after the storm to work with territorial officials in recovery efforts. The storm caused cancellation of air travel for both Samoas for five days and also cancelled the planned 91st birthday celebration for Samoa's head of state, Malietoa Tanumafili II. At press time neither Samoa nor American Samoa had issued detailed damage estimates, but officials in both countries estimates that it was in the millions of dollars. Heta, which never made landfall, created strong winds that blew down power lines and roofs, uprooted trees pitching them onto homes, and created havoc in the two Samoas, while high surf pushed tons of debris onto the roads. Heta is the worst typhoon ever to hit Niue, according to reports. It's the first cyclone of the 2003-2004 season and is the first to hit the Samoan archipelago in over a decade. Cyclones Ofa in 1990 and Val in 1991 were the last major storms to hit both American Samoa and Samoa causing millions of dollars in damages. -Fili Sagapolutele Guam Former Governor Gutierrez Indicted Former Guam Governor Carl Gutierrez was indicted by a grand jury of the Superior Court of Guam on December 30. He is charged in two criminal cases as a result of an investigation by Attorney General Douglas Moylan. In the first, it is alleged that he diverted government workers and construction materials from government projects to build a ranch in the isolated Urunao Beach area in northern Guam. The other case involves the installation and connection of more than 2,400 streetlights on private property, presumably as political favors. He is charged with three counts of theft of property, and one each of theft of services and official misconduct. Also, indicted in the streetlight case was Clifford Guzman, former director of the Department of Administration. Guzman is accused of telling Jesse Garcia, former director of the Department of Public Works, that funds were available to pay for the streetlights-an estimated $700,000 for 2001. Former Guam Power Authority general manager Thelma Ann Perez, was indicted in November on charges related to the streetlights. Garcia, who is the brother-in-law of Governor Felix Camacho, has not been charged in the case. Gutierrez's attorney, Randall Cunliffe, says his client maintains that he is innocent, "and we believe that we will be able to establish that." Cunliffe is a first-term senator in the Guam Legislature. Moylan also charged that certain Guam police officers, and possibly others, have threatened witnesses providing testimony against Gutierrez in the Urunao Beach ranch case. Acting police chief Earl Aguigui confirmed that a joint investigation with the Attorney General's office into police tampering with witnesses was launched in early January in response to these charges, Pacific Daily News reported. In addition to Gutierrez and Guzman, eight other members of Gutierrez's administration have been charged-five already pleaded or were found guilty-in either the Superior Court of Guam or in federal district court for a variety of crimes ranging from unauthorized use of government credit cards and illegal distribution of prescription drugs to bid-rigging and accepting payoffs to approve real estate developments. In addition, Therese Hart, a former Guam Memorial Hospital associate administrator was charged in both courts for a questionable hospital settlement and pleaded guilty in federal court while the Guam Superior Court case is ongoing. -Frank Whitman Nauru Asylum Seekers End Strike A hunger strike involving more than 30 asylum seekers on Nauru ended in early January after more than a month-long protest. The International Organization for Migration, which runs the facility on Nauru, says most of the 33 mostly Afghan men agreed to end their protest on advice from representatives in Australia, according to Radio Australia. Most had sewed their lips shut to underline the seriousness of their protest against the Australian government, which they say has given them a "life sentence" on this tiny and nearly bankrupt central Pacific nation. Nauru President Rene Harris has asked the Australian government to send a medical team to evaluate the situation of the asylum seekers. In mid-December New Zealand journalists slipped into Nauru and exposed the hunger strike and deteriorating health condition of the detainees. The hunger strikers were among about 280 mainly Afghans still on the island after being denied refugee status in Australia two-and-a-half years ago. "A hunger strike is something you do when you have no other option," one of the hunger strikers told the Dominion-Post during the protest in December. "Believe me, we had no other option." Australian Immigration Minister Amanda Vanstone has repeatedly said that medical facilities on Nauru are more than adequate to deal with the hunger strikers. But the hunger strikers told New Zealand reporters that Nauru's hospital was unable to meet the demands of the detainees and doctors had refused their requests for further medical treatment. The United Nations warned before Christmas that the crisis on Nauru was becoming a human tragedy and called on the Australian government to find a dignified and humane solution to a hunger strike. It was "symptomatic of a general degree of despair that must be addressed with a view to responding humanely to what is becoming a human tragedy," United Nations Human Rights Commission spokesman Ron Redmond said. Prime Minister John Howard's "Pacific Solution" in September 2001 arranged for many of the 438 refugees taken on board the Norwegian freighter Tampa to go to Nauru. The Dominion Post reported that most of the detainees appeared to be in good physical condition. The detainees have been told by Australia to return to Afghanistan but believe they will be killed if they do so, people in the detention camp on Nauru say. -Giff Johnson Kosrae Road Danger Warnings Katherine C. Ewel, a senior scientist with the U.S. Forest Service and the Institute of Pacific Islands Forestry, has warned of the dangers to a pristine forest area in Kosrae if a new round-the-island road is completed. She issued a report to the Development Review Commission on Kosrae that describes the Yela forest area as one of Micronesia's greatest treasures that includes one of the few remaining Ka trees in the world. The Yela Ka swamp was listed as one of 14 "areas of biological significance" during a recent assessment of biodiversity in the Federated States of Micronesia, undertaken by The Nature Conservancy.
"The Yela watershed is the largest and perhaps the most valuable intact landscape remaining in Kosrae," Ewel says. "Left undisturbed, it will continue to provide a supply of firewood from its mangrove forest and fish from its offshore waters. With the largest remaining stand of Terminalia carolinensis in the world, the natural beauty of a wild and undisturbed wetland will attract tourists, even if seeing it requires hiking for some distance from the ends of the existing roads." If landowners agree to not allow access to their lands for the new road project, Ewel urges the government to reward them for "serving a common good." Conservations are worried that any road will bring with it garbage, pigpens, and the introduction of invasive vines, grasses, and weeds that could eventually choke the Yela watershed area. -Olivier Wortel Guam Powerful Congressman Visits Guam U.S. Congressman Dan Burton, Republican of Indiana, visited Guam December 14 to December 18. Burton is a senior member of the House International Relations Committee and its Subcommittee on Asia and the Pacific, and hopes to be chairman of the subcommittee "in the not-too-distant future." He is also chairman of the House Government Reform Subcommittee on Human Rights and Wellness. Known as an ardent supporter of Taiwan, Burton came to Guam in the midst of a visit to the Republic of China. He was met in Guam by Deputy Assistant Secretary for Insular Affairs David Cohen. Burton spent June 15 in Saipan where he met with Washington Delegate Pedro A. Tenorio and Governor Juan Babauta, and toured one of the island's garment factories. While in Guam, Burton toured Guam Memorial Hospital, Navy and Air Force bases, and met with government and business leaders.
A staunch conservative who opposed the recent Medicare bill, Burton said he would hold a hearing in Washington on local health care concerns during the first quarter of 2004 and that he supports increased funding for the region. "There's no question that more resources need to be devoted to health care," he says. "Our (health care) agencies in Washington get billions and billions of dollars. It seems to me that a few million sent out here wouldn't make a dent in their budgets." He also said he would support a visa waiver to open Guam to Chinese tourists. "I'm not a big fan of communist China," he says. But, considering the amount of business activity between the United States and China, "they're making so much money off the United States, it makes sense to me that they ought to spend a little bit of it here in Guam." Burton supports an increased military presence in Guam particularly in light of concerns over potential hotspots Taiwan and North Korea. He met with incoming Commander Naval Forces Marianas Captain Arthur Jackson during his visit. -Frank Whitman |
