EscucharCARDENAS, Nicaragua - Aura de Jesús Obando, 58, squinted her eyes behind her crinkled complexion while she waited for the ``bus'' -- once an army truck --that would take her from Cárdenas -- the main town in the municipality that goes by the same name -- to the hamlet of Río Mena.
That day, she said, they were hopeful because the old truck, which also carries their agricultural products to the market, was running. ``That is because it hasn't rained today. Because, Oh, my God!, when it rains those roads are just impossible. Many have seen death closely in the face out there when they are wet.''
Aura de Jesús spoke while trying to get away from the hot sun under a tree in the Cárdenas park. Several other people were also waiting for the ``bus'', including Cecilia Briones, who was on her way back after taking her husband to the hospital in Rivas.
The man has a kidney infection and he also has a heart condition, but because a doctor rarely comes to their hamlet, it wasn't until he suffered a crisis that taking him to a hospital was arranged.
``You should have seen what taking that poor man to the hospital meant. Some men first carried him on their shoulders, then on a horse, because that day the bus wasn't running. They almost dragged him for three hours to Cárdenas and then it was another hour and a half to Rivas. Today the doctor told Cecilia that he has scant chances of recovery,'' Aura de Jesús told La Nación.
Residents in the region explained that health care is scant because there is only a small medical center in Cárdenas and the other towns are widely scattered and are seldom visited by doctors.
Harsh reality
``Calling a doctor? How? There is no way to do it,'' a resident complains. And this is so because, excepting Cárdenas, the other towns have no phone, no electricity, no potable water, not even roads. They are connected only by trails that the rains wash away.
Cárdenas is just a group of houses thrown together. It has a park of sorts and an old church which is usually closed. The town is just some 300 yards from Lake Nicaragua.
Old wooden hovels, hungry wandering dogs, mud-covered hogs, a horse pulling an ill-shaped wooden cart, a small grocery store, dirt streets... that's Cárdenas.
Over there, Diana Consuelo Estrada strives to teach five women how to knit.
``I'm teaching them how to knit. First, as you can see, we are dying the thread and then we do the rest of the work. We want to make a little money because things are bad here. I'm a single mother of two... Tell me what I can do to make a living,'' Diana says.
Productive activities here are few. Ronald García, who was waiting for the Río Mena ``bus'' also, talked about his small plot of land, where he grows beans, rice and plantains.
``But there is no way to take our products to the market. Sometimes we carry them on the bus, sometimes on a horse, but most of the time they are lost because we have no means to carry them. What one frequently does is to take them to the Costa Rican side,'' García asserted.
A road that would link the different towns of Cárdenas is the major demand of the residents in this region. A road that would spare Aura de Jesús and her little granddaughter the three hours on foot from the nearest ``bus'' stop to their home.
``Our most urgent request is that they build the road from Pueblo Nuevo Sur to Colón; it's some 130 kilometers (81 miles). A mission from the government visited us last week and told us that it will be ready in two months,'' said the Mayor of Cárdenas, Armando Torrentes.
Other requests include potable water, at least equipment to drill community wells; improving schools and health care.
In the words of the residents, ``to take this forsaken land out of the depths.''
Annexation?
José Calderón lives in Los Angeles, a little over 200 yards from the borderline, and from there he watches his Costa Rican neighbors in Santa Elena de La Cruz who enjoy running water and electricity. He has candles and gets his water from a river.
``Well, one would like... It's just a matter of a few wires and we would have electricity. Sometimes the Costa Ricans seem willing to help us, because our government never remembers us. It is as if this were a no-man's land,'' Calderón complains.
It is because of their needs, because they feel forsaken, that the leaders of the region met on June 5 and stated the idea of annexing the area to Costa Rica.
``One sees that the people on the Tico side have more things; they live better in a land of peace; here one always lives with the fear of war. Moreover, over there the government helps the poor; they have pensions; there are financial aid for housing and food coupons. It is not that one wants everything for free, just a little help to get ahead in life,'' Aura de Jesús continued.
On the Costa Rican side of the border, the school in México de Upala has 60 Nicaraguan students and a similar number attend classes in Santa Cecilia de La Cruz. The health centers in the area often provide care to Nicaraguan patients.
For these reasons, Armando Torrentes told a La Nación team that visited six towns in Cárdenas for two days, that the idea of annexation to Costa Rica was welcomed by those attending the meeting, even they know that it is something with no chance of becoming real. However, he pointed out, it was a way of setting pressure on the government of President Arnoldo Alemán. That way the authorities in Managua would turn their eyes toward this region which has been shouting for attention.
In spite of the visit of a mission from their government last week, the residents of Cárdenas said they will bide their time to see if the promises are fulfilled. If otherwise, they said, they will continue struggling to become Ticos.
From Cárdenas to Colón, passing through Los Angeles, Río Mena, and Tablón, many Nicaraguans state their interest in becoming Ticos, others did not know about the idea, and there are others who reject it right away.
After an hour on the mud road, crossing rivers and creeks, through lush vegetation and pitiless poverty, Aura de Jesús went on talking about her life, about the tortillas and tripe she cooks for her grandchildren, of her dream of progress and of her sad reality.
``One struggles, and struggles, but nothing changes,'' she finally said as she headed for her home, an old wooden structure in the middle of the forests of Río Mena de Cárdenas, Nicaragua.
