Military Coup

The week started out innocuous enough.  My assistant program manager came to La Masica for a routine site visit on Wednesday.  I had developed a respiratory problem due to the room in which I had been housed; I moved out, and the assistant program manager told me to call the Peace Corps Medical Officer.  On Thursday the PCMO told me to go to the Hospital DÁntoni in Ceiba if the problem persisted.  On Friday I packed my toothbrush and one change of underwear and came into Ceiba to see the ER doc.  Xrays and blood work determined that my body had not been permanently damaged but that my lungs were inflammed.  The ER doc ordered me to receive twice-a-day corticosteroid inhalation therapy treatments as well as oral steroid and IM meds for three days so I had to remain in Ceiba until Monday morning, in a hotel.  At 6AM Sunday morning President Zelaya was secuestered by the country´s military and spirited out of the country to Costa Rica from where he announced that he was taken at gunpoint from his official residence in his pajamas and threatened with death.  His wife was in hiding in the mountains.  Everything in Ceiba and all over the country shut down.  Of course I didn´t bring my camera to be able to film all the people gathered in the streets around the Ceiba Palacio Nacional shouting and yelling in protest.  The army posted soldiers all around the angry demonstrators.  The army imposed a curfew last night from 9PM to 6AM.  This morning, Monday, I went to the hospital for my last inhalation therapy treatment.  All Peace Corps Volunteers were notified last night by the Peace Corps Country Director to stay where we are until Tuesday morning at 8AM.  I´m still at the hotel and I am going downtown today to buy some underwear and another shirt.

This entry was posted on 29. June 2009 at 17:45 and is filed under Everyday. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response or trackback from your own site.