"Where is Atlasia when you need it?"
Days ago, a military coup in the Central American nation of Puerto Santos overthrew the nation's democratic government. News of the World presents this reportage, a local inspection on what is happening in Puerto Santos and how it affects the nation's people.Flores, Puerto Santos: Flores, Puerto Santos' capital, lies in picturesque surroundings, entramped between green hill slopes and the waves of the Caribbean Sea; its colonial city core and old fort overlook the city from a seaside, rocky hill. From up here, watching down onto the grand city of nearly half a million, nothing seems to have changed. No signs point to the convoy of tanks that canvassed through the city just last Sunday, nothing makes you think of the massive soldier presence in all of the city, of the blockade of all major highways running into the hinterland, of the nocturnal curfew and rationing of nearly all daily goods.
Via de la Resistencia Popular 17, along one of the main throughways from the city centre into the western suburbs, houses the Cuban embassy, whereto the President of Puerto Santos, Jose Luiz Obregon, fled during the coup. Hundreds of soldiers beleaguer the building, the road has been blocked, everything possible has been undertaken to shut out the President from his people. Just two streets further, in the Calle 7 Mayo, which houses the Presidential palace, Marshall Hermenegildo Rubio, leader of the coup of the third May, has taken residence. Daily television and radio programmes to the people of Puerto Santos are broadcasted from the palace, spreading a message of "law and order, that has returned to Puerto Santos" to a city in emergency rule.
It is a treacherous silence that rules the city. Further out, in the western, poorer suburbs, soldiers are parading around, protecting, it seems, what little there is left in the shelves of the stores, from a rush of those that lack nearly everything. "We were poor before this happened", an anonymous person on the streets tells us, "but there was plenty of everything, affordable for everyone. Now look at the stores: what little is left of bread, of meat, of gas, they sell it for thousands of pesos. And those who work, they have seen no paycheck in a whole week. How could they sustain their families, even if they had the money?" The churches feed the poor out here, but even they start to run into problems finding alimentaries. "As long as the roads and the port are closed, nothing will come to Flores. It is as simple as that. They will have to open our connections to the world, otherwise, half the city will starve before this is over", we learn from Padre P. It is a desperate situation in the city, that much tells us everyone we meet. There are few out on the streets, most stay at home, but whenever we talk with someone, we hear the same over and over again - "We need help. Please, anyone, help us." One seventy-five year old man touches us with a detailed account of his life. He says: "I have seen your nation invade other nations here in this area, and many times, the people of the nation did not want you in their country. Here, it is different. Where are you, where is Atlasia, when you finally need it one time?"
