Human Life International 7845 Airpark Road, Suite E, Gaithersburg, MD 20879 USA 301/670-7884 FAX 301/869-7363
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Human Life International 7845 Airpark Road, Suite E, Gaithersburg, MD 20879 USA 301/670-7884 FAX 301/869-7363 SPECIAL REPORT NO. 86 CHRISTMAS, 1991 ISSN 0899-420X OFFICERS/DIRECTORS Rev. Paul Marx, OSB, PhD President Magaly Llaguno Treasurer • PRO-LIFE MISSIONARIES JOURNEY TO CENTRAL AMERICA Rev. Barnabas Laubach, OSB Secretary Robert Lalonde • TROUBLE IN PARADISE— THANKS TO P.P. Vice President Rev. Matthew Habiger, OSB, PhD • YOUR TAXES TRAIN MEDI-KILLERS Special Assistant Michael Engler Special Consultant • H.L.I. MEETING STIRS COLOMBIA'S PRO-LIFERS Jean Guilfoyle Director o f International Studies • A MARXIST OIL SPILL WORSE THAN ALASKA'S Michele La Palm Director of Program Services William Marshner • DOCTOR SHOWS GOD'S PLAN FOR NATURAL FAMILIES Editor of HLI Reports James Miller Director of Research Rev. Raymond Mulhem Dear Pro-Life Apostle, Editor of Parish Notes Rev. Albert Salmon Consultant, Latin America Vernon Kirby August 13-19 found me in beautiful, resource-rich, mountainous, Director o f Publications volcanic and earthquake-prone Costa Rica. HLI and our branch, the FOREIGN ADVISORS Asociación para la Defensa de la Vida (ADEVI), co-sponsored a three- Ernesto Cardinal Corripio-Ahumada Mexico day Seminar on Morality and Sex Education in San José, the capital. Dominic Cardinal Ekandem Nigeria With me on the faculty were HLI's incomparable Barbara McGuigan from Jaime Cardinal Sin California and Ruth Stearns of Catholics United for Life. Philippines Archbishop Angelo Fernandes India Rev. Alphonse de Valk, CSB Costa Rica is the charming, democratic paradise of Central Canada H. P. Dunn, MD America. On his third journey to the New World in 1502, Christopher New Zealand Columbus named Costa Rica (Rich Coast), assuming the land was filled Sr. Lucille Durocher, CSJ Canada with precious metals. Her real treasures include aquamarine waters, Siegfried Ernst, Sr., MD Germany glistening beaches, sprawling inland valleys that give way to vast Babette Francis Australia green savannas, mountain slopes canopied with majestic trees, balmy Jerome Lejeune, MD breezes caressing stunning plateaus and, down below, dense jungle France Claude and Glenys Newbury, MD stretching out under a blanket of mist. South Africa Peggy Norris, MD England Josef Roetzer, MD NEVER-ENDING SPRING The country's botanical and biological resources Austria are second only to Cuba's. Merck, the world's largest pharmaceutical Philippe Schepens, MD Belgium company, is spending millions to screen plants, microbes and insects Johann Wilde, MD Austria from the lush tropical forests for possible uses in drugs. Costa Rev. Anthony Zimmerman, SVD Japan Rica has 12,000 square kilometers of protected lands. USA ADVISORS Virginia Evers Colorful, vibrant flowers flourish everywhere and thousands of John Finn Virginia D. Gager varieties of orchids dazzle your senses. Scientists are still Hymie Gordon, MD Carl N. Karcher discovering new and exotic flora and fauna. Costa Rica's soil is home Charles E. Rice, JSD to twice as many species of trees as are found in the continental USA. Ted Rowell Joseph Scheidler Elizabeth Stong Joseph Woltering At the heart of Costa Rica is a jagged, mountainous spine that runs through the country, tilting the landscape steeply on the BRANCHES Argentina Nigeria Pacific side; the sloping terrain, etched with fast-flowing rivers, Austria Paraguay Brazil (2) Peru gives Costa Rica an abundance of electrical power, which neighboring Canada Philippines Chile Poland (2) countries buy. Costa Rica Singapore Czechoslovakia (2) Sri Lanka Ecuador South Africa (2) The country enjoys a perfect tropical climate, a kind of never- Great Britain (2) Sweden India (3) Trinidad Kenya Uruguay Malaysia West Germany (please turn) Mexico Yugoslavia Pope John Paul II to Fr. Marx: 'You have much experience; you are doing the most important work on earth." 17 N ovem ber 1979 ALL GIFTS ARE FULLY TAX-DEDUCTIBLE. ending spring. Three outstanding wilderness areas (12% of the national territory) contain exquisite national parks and shelter almost all of the 12,000 varieties of plants, 237 species of mammals, 848 kinds of birds and 361 different reptiles and amphibians that are native to the country. Fascinating, too, are the 120 volcanoes (some are active), caves and hot springs. This diminutive country (smaller than West Virginia) is just 10 degrees north of the Equator. At the narrowest point (east to west), just 75 miles separate the Atlantic Ocean from the mighty Pacific; the widest span is only 180 miles. From north to south, Costa Rica stretches 275 miles. At 12,606 feet, Mount Chirripo is the highest mountain in Costa Rica. Twelve miles from San José is the famous Ojo de Agua (Eye of Water), a natural fountain that spouts 6,300 gallons of water per minute from an undergound river. Costa Rica's first export is coffee; she's second only to Ecuador in exporting bananas, and is the world's second-largest producer of macadamia nuts, after Hawaii. From her flat northern plains, the country also exports a great deal of frozen beef, mainly to Europe. A NATION WITH NO ARMY Invading Spaniards massacred the fiercely resisting Guaymi Indians. So few survived that Costa Rica today is unique among Latin American countries; almost all her people are of European descent, mostly Spanish. With 2.7 million ticos (the local name for the inhabitants), Costa Rica is one of the oldest democracies in the Americas. After a civil war in 1948-49, the nation abolished her army. The commitment to maintain peace and democratic freedoms has earned Costa Rica the reputation of being "the Switzerland of the Americas"; in fact, the varied terrain and the beautiful, sloping green mountains with their grazing animals do remind you of Switzerland. As early as 1848, the country established a free but compulsory educational system. Next to Chile, she has the highest literacy rate in Latin America (93%-plus), an extremely low infant mortality rate, and an average life expectancy of more than 70 years. Having a large middle class, Costa Rica is the most stable country politically in Latin America, and the best off economically, even if she does bear a fearsome $4 billion foreign debt. Kindly, peace-loving Costa Ricans took in 400,000 refugees from Panama and Nicaragua during the '70s and '80s. The government estimates 40,000 illegal Nicaraguan immigrants are living in the country. Former Contra guerrillas rob, rape and rustle. Planned Parenthood (PP) tells Costa Ricans they have too many people, but fully one-third of the land isn't being used; the year-round growing season could support many more people. Costa Rica's telephone system is one of the best in Latin America. There are six Spanish-speaking TV stations, including one operated 24 hours a day by evangelical sects; one English-language cable channel from the USA is now available in most of the central valley. There are more than 100 radio stations and three daily newspapers. In 1969, the International Planned Parenthood Federation (IPPF) established an affiliate deceptively called "the Asociación Demográfica" (AD), under the leadership of a "Catholic" doctor, Victor Morgan. The eloquent, very wealthy Morgan can be found lecturing for IPPF all over the world. (Strangely, his daughter appeared as a sincere volunteer at a meeting promoting chastity.) The man is subtle and dangerous. As in other countries, AD-PP networks with various groups, including the "gay" movement, which surfaced last year; AD-PP hides behind many fronts. Because it's had -2- little opposition, it's become very bold, suggesting a pornographic sex "education" program for the schools. Strangely, Abp. Román Arrieta Villalobos, a pleasant and gracious man, approved of it. However, the intervention of the papal nuncio and a group of alert Catholic laymen stopped it. A committee of the latter was to study the issue and propose a good program. According to the latest reports, though, they were unable to prevent the réintroduction of the AD-PP plan. The condom is advertised freely as the great preventer of VD and AIDS. An AD-PP- affiliated company calling itself "Pro Familia" (!) has highway billboards showing a father with one child, above the caption, "Have only as many children as you can make happy." The same company sells baby foods and baby clothes, but apparently believes it can make more money on birth prevention paraphernalia. A university law professor told me a doctor offered him 10,000 free condoms if he'd give them out to students at a campus fiesta. Who paid for them? You did, most likely, through grants from the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID) and tax- supported IPPF. KNOW YOUR ENEMY As in other countries, PP has its tentacles in the media and government, particularly in the health and education departments. I pleaded with all my audiences to know who their enemy is, told them about IPPF's tactics all over the world, and begged them to picket the home of Dr. Morgan (Costa Rica's Public Enemy No. 1) and the AD-PP headquarters— satan's nerve center in this beautiful land. The most common means of birth control are the abortifacient Pill, the condom and the abortifacient IUD (Copper-T), in that order. Strangely, there's no organized Natural Family Planning (NFP) program; a U.S. couple, the Timothy Robinsons, made a good start, but the bishops refused to support them financially, so they left to work with the great Fr. Aloysius Schwartz in Mexico. (By the way, please pray for him— he's gravely ill.) Besides the Archdiocese of San José, the country has five dioceses. I spoke to all the priests of the Archdiocese (80-90 men), with the Archbishop and his auxiliary present. They listened attentively as I described the anti-life situation around the world, the various activities of IPPF, and the remedies: promoting chastity and preparing people for truly Christian marriage (including NFP).