Corazon a Corazon calls it quits

To all my friends and supporters - there comes a time to close the book, to throw in the towel. It is with a heavy heart that I came to the decision that it is best that I step away from the work I took on in Honduras.

We appealed for justice and received injustice. We spoke truths and received lies, innuendoes and accusations. We sought to serve as Christ commissioned us to do and were called money launderers, thieves, and conspirators in our efforts to pursue that service. As a result of following the call to service our secretary was murdered, as was her husband. Three of our crew were imprisoned illegally on trumped up charges with absolutely no truth. Thanks be to God, these men are now free, witn no apologies, retractions or follow up stories in the newspapers which were so quick to chronicle our misfortune. As a consequence of our presence, the Honduran newspapers reviled us and accused us of profiteering, carrying cocaine and using the landing crafts illegally, though we were never under any contractual obligation to use the boats in any particular fashion. Is it finished?

I have met with Robert Izdepski, the director of Sub Ocean Safety (SOS), as well as the board of directors of SOS this past weekend in New Orleans. Bob is a fine man with a heart for the people of the Moskitia and in particular the divers of the Moskito Coast. These are men who have been crippled from decompression injuries caused as a consequence of unsafe diving practices commonly used by unscrupulous fishing companies, which are interested only in maximizing the number of dollars they make from their lobster catch. While I have worked only on the Honduran Moskito coast, Bob knows both sides and SOS is considering taking over from me as I step back out of the picture. 

It is my hope that the US Army CID, the Department of Justice and the Department of State will allow me to step aside and pass the baton to Bob Izdepski, and that the boats will be transferred to the watchful stewardship of SOS before the next attack upon my small band is launched. I have many enemies ??? and seemingly few friends. I am weary of the load ??? mental, physical, and financial. I am not turning my back on the effort or, having taken the plowshare, looking backward. I have wearied of the task and I am asking the SOS group to continue.

My family and friends ask me to forget this effort. How can I forget the accusations my government has made against me? How can I forget the lies the US Army CID told the Procurador General of Panama about me, and the lies told by the spokesmen of US Army Southern Command to the news reporters? I cannot and will not forget the shallowness of purpose I have witnessed in the US embassies in Panama and Honduras, and will never forget the shoddy receptions I received by our public servants on the staffs of the US Agency for International Development in Panama and in Honduras. Those bridges are forever burned and gone.

I am proud of the work an all-volunteer group of committed amateurs did in our low budget attempt at disaster relief. I am honored God selected me as an implement to serve the needs of those suffering victims from the disaster of the hurricane and the sufferers of disastrous policies of repression by nation-states. I pray that Sub Ocean Safety can succeed where I have failed. I am copying this to the US Army, in the hopes that they will see the wisdom of allowing me to withdraw from the field of battle, which is obscured with the smoke of their lies and contaminates the nostrils with the stench of their own rottenness.

I am hopeful that Sub Ocean Safety's board of directors will take the boats to which the Army gave Corazon A Corazon clear title in April of '99 and which have been utilized as outlined in numerous e-mails and presentations to the US Army. I am hopeful our Army's Southern Command and CID will drop their persecution and I eagerly await their long delayed excuse for an investigation report on exactly what I stole or conspired to steal, and what money I laundered. I challenge them to act responsibly and admit they had personnel who acted irresponsibly and maliciously in what has become a costly and mind boggling investigation of a religious zealot. There have been only three trials thus far ??? it is time they get on with the game, or like myself withdraw from the field of battle.

I solicit your prayers for SOS and Bob Izdepski and would encourage any of you with a heart to give to contact SOS and send cash, as those boats cost a fortune to run and this profiteer can no longer afford the luxury of running them and being called a crook and thief at the same time.

IHS Steve Foster MD

Dalton, Georgia