On or about the 6th or 7th of July (2014) Yesenia Rodriguez was electrocuted by a high voltage electricity cable as she walked through the street coming from her house.
The electricity on this street is free. This street is located on the top of a large hill, or a small mountain, and is not a street that is listed by name on any map that I am aware of.
Everyone who lives on the sides of the hill also has free electricity. The same can be said (free electric) for the other hills near this hill. The water is also free.
Tangled and weaved electricity cables or lines are everywhere and its just a part of life in these places. I’ve been shocked a number times and have connected power to my house on countless occasions when the cables came apart or burnt-out. Exposed power lines can be seen on the insides of every home in this area and its just a way of life. Its not like in the United States where little toys have sticker-labels warning little kids to not swallow the plastic toy (ridiculous).
Here little kids just know not to touch electric wires in their house and outside in the street.
Houses are built on top of each other and sometimes narrow cement walkways and stairways, 15 to 30 feet above the ground, interface with other houses, walkways and hills. There are typically no railings or other protection. If you fall off you could easily fall to your death, especially if you are a child. However, no one ever falls off not even little kids at ages 4, 5 and 6.
That being said, sometimes accidents do happen in which no amount of skill, balance, insight or strength can save you from. If something breaks or malfunctions sometimes it may result in death and that is what happened to Yesenia Rodriguez last month (July, 2014).
On that very same day I walked, and also road my motorcycle, over the same high voltage cable that killed Yesenia. I did so many times throughout the course of that day.
Why?
Because daily life is not the same for all cultures and societies. In the United States it may be, depending on where you live, more comfortable to spend your days primarily indoors (unless you work outdoors).
Most people here in this area are outside in the daytime, or at least intermittently. Many people here go to bed late and wake early. In between those times you’ll likely find them outside, several (and likely many more) times each day. It’s also invariably hot inside many houses here or the houses lack the breeze of the wind and often times can be filled with pesky mosquitoes.
In any event, I was not electrocuted but Yesenia was.
I was there ten (10) minutes or so before she was electrocuted and I had just picked up (on my motorcycle) my surrogate son (he’s not my wife’s son either), age 5, (he sits between me and the handle bars) and we were off to collect a bit of money.
Its raw capitalism here. Products and services are swapped at every moment of the day and money is constantly changing hands. I’m not talking about anything illegal, I’m referring to simple products such as, though not limited to, a mop (which is called ‘swape’ here, you say it in English like ‘swa-pay’, and its a Dominican, not Spanish, word made from the English words SWEEP and MOP).
In any event, my surrogate son and I arrived back, with the motorcycle, about ten (10) minutes later and as is normal and not atypical, we passed pedestrians at just an inch of length without hurting, harming or offending them because that’s just the way people drive and walk here and to try to do it the American way would only cause and accident (and it does), we soon noticed that something was wrong.
There are always crowds here but things looked different. As we drove further in I parked the motorcycle and noted that there were black holes in the street which looked like they were the result of small explosions which had been ignited in the road through holes which were drilled first.
I soon discovered that a power line (electricity) had blown up and electrocuted Yesenia.
She did not die though, she lived.
For a number of days there was talk that her leg would need to be amputated. News then followed that she would be able to keep the leg. However, not long after it was then ascertained that the leg must go. The leg had suffered much damage from the electrical jolt of the power line.
The leg came off.
Then on the 9th day of this month of August (2014), about a month after the electrocution, and at 29 years of age, her heart stopped and she died.
Very sad.
Up until Yesenia’s death I myself, and many others, were suffering from a virus called Chikungunya (or Chikunguña in Spanish).
Chikungunya was one of more than a dozen agents the United States researched as potential biological weapons.
Chikungunya is usually found in Africa and southeast Asia. However, in April (2014) cases began being reported in the Dominican Republic.
I developed a fever and my joints, particularly those in my hands, began to swell.
Then one day I woke and rose from my bed and I felt like (or at least what I imagined to be) a 100-years-old man. The muscles in my back felt as if I hadn’t stretched them in years. I could only slightly move or walk. I began stretching exercises immediately and told myself to man-up.
In many cases those who are infected with Chikungunya develop a harsh rash on their skin. My wife also became infected with Chikungunya and developed a savage and grating rash on her face, head, neck, back and chest and to a much more marginal degree on her arms and legs.
The skin rash was like no other and a person sometimes developed small volcano-looking blisters on their skin. A massive mountain of skin pushed upwards with a blister or blood at the tip of its precipice.
I felt that I myself had lucked out because I did not develop a rash myself (not everyone shows outward signs of the rash segment related to the virus). However, weeks later (Chikungunya can stay with you for months, and sometimes years) I broke out with the skin rash but mine, though somewhat uncomfortable, was more comparable to Polymorphic light eruption (PMLE). Something that people sometimes get from the sun. I refrained from itching it and, luckily, I didn’t turn my skin into a mass of bloody holes like many others have who were infected with Chikungunya.
You read that Chikungunya is spread by mosquitoes but almost everyone in the Dominican Republic will tell you that that is simply not true. Not just the unfortunate (who a great in number) who lack education but you’ll also hear it from attorneys, reporters, media staff, teachers, the churches, the pharmacies, bank employees, telephone operators, and computer programmers including front-end developers.
What do they all say? They say that it the Chinese have spayed something in the air in the Dominican Republic which has caused the Chikungunya outbreak.
The Chinese are vital to the economy of the Dominican Republic as it is the gateway for Chinese products to US and European markets. The Chinese have also invested a great deal of money in the Dominican Republic.
Do you think Chikungunya is spread by mosquitoes or is it something in the air (regardless of whether or not it put there by the Chinese )?
If you’re an American this sort of stuff may likely sound somewhat crazy to you and you may be thinking of images of tinfoil hats and chemtrails.
Did you know that similar things are happening in Africa? Not with Chikungunya (Chikungunya is nothing new to most of Africa), but with Ebola.
In Liberia word is being spread from community to community that doctors are spreading Ebola. Doctors are chased with machetes and sometime killed. Many in western Africa are claiming that Ebola does not exist other than as a virus that doctors are spreading. Its been reported that many patients are suffering only from Malaria until doctors arrive spreading some other sickness.
I have no personal experience with Ebola so I will not offer any comment here regarding the virus. I’m also not indicting that doctors are spreading Ebola or that Ebola doesn’t exists. I’m also not implying that Chikungunya in not spread by mosquitoes nor am I implying that the Chinese have ever had anything to doing with helping the spread of Chikungunya.
What I can tell you is that once you leave the United States and enter places such as black Africa or black Latin America you soon, if you spend enough time there (and not at the tourist areas and not being lead around by past-their-prime losers who prey on dumb Americans), learn that mysterious, inexplicable and impossible-like things happen which are not capable of being explained in rational American terms and standards.
In black Africa and black Latin America curses are real things and people die as a result and their lives are destroyed. Witchery, a practice often interlaced with rituals and Saints of the Catholic Church, can kill, cause sickness and bring financial ruin to those who have been cursed. I’ve seen it with my own eyes.
One particular case involves a child who was mistakenly cursed by an adult over jealously. Curses can be placed by acquiring coins, paper money and clothing (but not food, although a curse can be passed by giving food to the intended victim) which has been previously handled by the intended victim.
The curse was placed on a child (as form of revenge, sort of) and the child was set to die in three (3) days.
However, an error or mistake occurred (e.g. a tangible item belonging to another child was used in the curse) and a friend of the intended child victim died three (3) days later.
There’s no evidence of murder, no perpetrator who stalks the victim in the night hours and hits them over the head or throws them over a cliff to their death.
Typically, the victim just drops dead or becomes weak and dies.
Please exercise your free speech in the comments section below. There are no stipulations of political correctness on this blog. Speak your mind, give us your thoughts, both objective and subjective. Share your ideas, hunches, inklings or your expertise. Please provide recommendation and corrections if you spot errors in fact within the blog report. Lastly, remember that posting a comment is much like casting a vote, so please do so.
Lucas,
I’ve always vaguely accepted the situation, I suppose like most other folks here, but after reading your commentary and watching the video, I now know with absolute certainty — I have led a VERY SHELTERED and PRIVILEGED LIFE here in the U.S.A.
The part about the video I found the most difficult to understand and accept was the fact that, although Ms. Rodriguez was still alive and the electric-power-related activity was still occurring, none of the many bystanders in the area tried to quickly move her out of further danger even a few inches by use of a non-conducting implement such as a leather belt, article of clothing, plastic chair or dry wooden board.
It appeared that no help was rendered to the poor young lady by the onlookers until about the 3:15 minute mark in the video.
Bruce wrote:
Bruce, I don’t understand either why none of the bystanders tried to help her. I’ve thought about it many times now for weeks.
She was nice person and if its possible that someone deserved something like this I can think of many people here who might but this young woman was absolutely not one of them.
All I can say, while being respectful to others who live in this area, is that if I would have been there at the moment that the incident happened I would have risk my life to save hers. I just left this specific area minutes before it happened and returned minutes after it was over. If I was there I would have even kicked the power line out of the way with my foot (even if it meant electrical shock to myself). I would have even yanked her body out of the way (again, even if it meant electrical shock to myself).
The only signs of help I saw on the video during the incident was at approximately the 1:12 minute mark of the video a wooden board can be seen flying through the air towards the power line in an attempt to move the power line away from Yesenia.
I really would have tried to help her. I’ve always helped people here, and they’ve helped me too.
My wife often calls me “Banco Ademi” which is a bank in the Dominican Republic. Their slogan es, El banco que da la mano (or The Bank that gives you a hand):
Reference regarding a majority of Dominicans not willing to believe that Chikungunya (or Chikunguña in Spanish) is spread by mosquitoes:
Major ‘barrier’ in fight against Chikungunya
Thursday, June 12th, 2014 at 12:00 PM
Excerpt:
The reluctance of Dominicans to believe that Chikungunya is transmitted by mosquitos is proving to be a major headache as health officials continue to battle the disease.
“One of the major barriers is that people are reluctant to believe that the mosquito is involved,” District Medical Officer Dr Candia Jacob told a panel discussion on the disease in Cottage on Wednesday night. “If they are not convinced, they are not going to do much…”
She pointed out that the matter has gotten so bad that environmental health officers have taken to threatening people with the law if they don’t get rid of containers that breed mosquitos.
“We have the environmental health officers actually having to go to homes and overturn the drums,” she stated. “They literally take up on themselves to empty drums, turn them over … and threaten people that they going to put them in jail.”
She noted that even sick people who turn up for medical treatment don’t believe the disease is transmitted by mosquitos.
http://dominicanewsonline.com/news/homepage/news/health/major-barrier-fight-chikungunya/
I only reference this article to verify that I am telling the truth regarding what most Dominicans believe about Chikungunya.
However, having said that, I also want to point on that I don’t trust this news outlet or any other news outlet which published their news, primarily, in English in the Dominican Republic.
Another example is DominicanToday.com which published in English which claims to be, “The first and only english language online news publication in the Dominican Republic.”
The problems is that they don’t represent the opinions of Dominicans and invariably their stories and articles are written with American logic or with what I call an American eye. This news outlet is run by Dominicans from the United States and written by ultra-liberal Dominicans who know more about, and understand more about, the United States and Americans than they do about the Dominican Republic and Dominicans.
Postscript:
For the record, I don’t know what to believe regarding Chikungunya.
I know I’ve had it (been infected) and that I likely still do have it.
I’m not sure if mosquitoes are spreading it in the Dominican Republic, or not. I just know that you can be infected with Chikungunya within the Dominican Republic.
Ebola?
U.S. Air Marshall assaulted at airport (Lagos, Nigeria) with syringe filled with unknown substance and then boards flight to Houston, Texas.
See the following sources –
Sept. 8th, 2014- KPRC Channel 2 News – Houston, Texas:
Air marshal stabbed with needle in Nigerian airport, flies to Houston
Sept. 9th, 2014- The Washington Times:
U.S. air marshal assaulted in Nigeria with filled syringe
Sept. 9th, 2014- The Blaze:
Federal Air Marshal Attacked in Nigeria With Needle Containing Unknown Substance
Sept. 9th, 2014- The Washington Post:
More than 400 under surveillance for Ebola in Nigeria’s ‘oil city’
Excerpt:
Nigerian Ministry of Health announced on Monday that 477 people are under surveillance for Ebola in the oil city of Port Harcourt.
Until recently the outbreak in Nigeria was almost completely confined to Lagos, where the first case of Ebola was brought by a Liberian-American, Patrick Sawyer, who died days after arriving in the airport in July.
Sept. 9th, 2014- The Washington Post:
FBI: Air marshal attacked with syringe in Nigeria
Excerpt:
Joseph Gutheinz, a former special agent with both the U.S. Department of Transportation Office of Inspector General and the FAA’s Civil Aviation Security division, said the air marshal should have instead been quarantined in Nigeria until authorities had a better idea of what was in the syringe.
“The idea of a possibly infected person flying on a commercial flight is bizarre to me,” said Gutheinz, who now works as a Houston-area attorney. “There are a lot of questions unanswered here. My focus is what procedures are they following, if any.”
…..
Sept. 9th, 2014- The Washington Post:
U.S. air marshal boarded flight to U.S. after syringe attack in Nigerian airport
Excerpt:
The World Health Organization announced Tuesday that West Africa has more than 4,000 confirmed, probable and suspected cases of Ebola. The virus is mostly concentrated in Liberia, Sierra Leone and Guinea, with just 21 of those cases in Nigeria. But officials in Nigeria are cautious about the epidemic within their borders; this week, the country’s health ministry announced 477 people in the oil city of Port Harcourt are under surveillance for Ebola.
Sept. 10th, 2014- The Washington Post:
Nigerian agency: Video doesn’t show syringe attack
Excerpt:
Nigerian aviation officials say a preliminary review of security video shows no evidence that a U.S. air marshal was stabbed with a syringe at the airport in Lagos (LAY’-gohs).
The Federal Airports Authority of Nigeria reported Wednesday that its officials and U.S. Embassy personnel have reviewed the security footage. The video shows the U.S. air marshal’s movement on Sunday.
Sept. 18th, 2014- Reuters
Eight bodies found after attack on Guinea Ebola education team
Excerpt:
Eight bodies, including those of three journalists, were found after an attack on a team trying to educate locals on the risks of the Ebola virus in a remote area of southeastern Guinea, a government spokesman said on Thursday.
“The eight bodies were found in the village latrine. Three of them had their throats slit,” Damantang Albert Camara told Reuters by telephone in Conakry.
However, Guinea’s Prime Minister Mohamed Saïd Fofana, speaking in a television message that had been recorded earlier, said 7 bodies of 9 missing people had been found.
…
Since then the virus has killed some 2,630 people and infected at least 5,357 people, according to World Health Organization (WHO), mostly in Guinea, neighboring Sierra Leone and Liberia. It has also spread to Senegal and Nigeria.
Authorities in the region are faced with widespread fears, misinformation and stigma among residents of the affected countries, complicating efforts to contain the highly contagious disease.
Fofana said the team that included local administrators, two medical officers, a preacher and three accompanying journalists, was attacked by a hostile stone-throwing crowd from the village when they tried to inform people about Ebola.
Sept. 21st, 2014- Reuters
Sierra Leone burial team attacked despite lockdown
[video: http://reut.rs/1urcJcv]
Excerpt from article:
(Reuters) – A team burying Ebola victims was attacked in Sierra Leone’s capital on Saturday, a member of parliament said, as a small group defied a three-day lockdown aimed at halting the worst outbreak of the disease on record.
In one of the most extreme measures since the epidemic began, Sierra Leone has ordered its population of 6 million to stay indoors as volunteers circulate to educate residents about the disease as well as isolate the sick and remove the dead.
Residents have mostly complied with the measures announced by President Ernest Bai Koroma earlier this week. On the second day of the lockdown, the streets were mostly deserted, except for ambulances and police vehicles.
The attack on the burial team on Saturday occurred in the village of Matainkay, some three miles from the Waterloo district of Freetown.
…
Ebola has infected at least 5,357 people in West Africa this year, mainly in Sierra Leone, Guinea and Liberia, killing 2,630 of those, according to the World Health Organization. More than 562 people have died in Sierra Leone.
…
A chartered 747 jet, carrying the largest single shipment of aid, including protective gear and medications, to the Ebola zone to date and coordinated by the Clinton Global Initiative and other U.S. aid organizations, departed New York’s John F. Kennedy International Airport on Saturday afternoon bound for West Africa.
Former President Bill Clinton praised new efforts from the United States, Britain, France and other countries to fight the epidemic. “We’re still a little behind the curve but we’re getting there,” Clinton said on Saturday.\
…
Volunteers and healthcare workers are often viewed with suspicion by locals who blame them for infecting the communities they are meant to be healing, slowing the ability of authorities to contain the disease.
Friday Kiyee, head of a Monrovia Ebola burial team, said that earlier this week locals placed a roadblock to prevent the collection of the decomposing body of a 29-year-old victim.
“Sometime we go into a community people will tell us they need an autopsy, and at the final stages you will see them blocking road. We don’t expect for our own brothers to behave this way,” she said.
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