In Central and Latin America, one quickly learns that life is lived rather differently than elsewhere. There is the cultural attitude of al ratito (later) or manana (tomorrow) which often means than even the most flexible ideas of efficiency are lost.
Then there are the governments and their leaders. Democracy is a fledgling and fragile concept here. Human rights abuses continue. A handful of wealthy families often control the country, and do so without conscience or regard for the less fortunate.
In a world of competing interests and interdependency, dealing with Latin America is not easy. If you happen to be the President of Ireland, acting in a role which is confined constitutionally and yet vague enough to allow creativity, the course can be exhilarating and treacherous.
President McAleese had her first encounter with the Latin milieu this week as she toured Honduras, and it was, as described diplomatically by several people, a learning experience.
She was, it must be said, severely overscheduled in her visits to the aid projects being conducted around the country by GOAL, Concern, Trocaire and APSO. The Presidential arrivals and departures became a high speed blur of transfers from planes to cars to helicopters. A plan to launch the President in a small boat for a 20-minute glimpse of damage in the northern part of the country was scrapped at the last minute, as the schedule was already off by two hours. The projects, of course, were all worthwhile, and meaningful to the Irish agency volunteers as well as to the Honduran families so desperate for help after the devastation of Hurricane Mitch last October.
In Santa Rosa de Aguan, in a village of 6,000, a place with a single telephone where 47 people lost their lives, colourfully dressed Garifuna men and women performed ceremonial dances and cheered Mrs McAleese as she traipsed down a dusty dirt road.
On a parched brown mountain in Comayagua, GOAL showed off its scheme to build 80 houses for female heads-of-household who lost their homes in the hurricane. Women displayed their techniques of handmaking roof tiles and bending steel girders for the homes they themselves will live in when the project is completed.
The 27 members of the Irish Army stationed near Trujillo appeared to rally from their wilting two-hour wait in the intense midday sun as the President's helicopter set down.Since January, they have been building a health centre and kindergarten that will be handed over to locals at the end of April. Dr Alan Woolhead, the army doctor in charge, spoke enthusiastically about plans for a health survey of 500 children in the village to determine whether the source of their slow physical development is the result of nutrition or disease or both.
Mrs McAleese's warmth was evident. She hugged elderly women, and struck up a conversation in sign language with a little deaf boy named Carlos in a settlement called El Pantanal.
"My brother is deaf," she explained to a local official, who, already stunned that her Spanish was impeccable, could hardly believe she was fluent in signing as well.
But good intentions do not alter the essential nature of the problems that haunt this land, and promise to keep it in dire poverty and debt for at least the next 15 years.
Corruption at most levels of government is still the norm and not the exception. President Carlos Flores is a less repressive leader than those in the past, but he too is not above reproach. Reports swirl of his volatile temper, and his American-born wife, Mary Flake Flores, has been known to seek assistance from the American embassy on occasions.
His nephew has been involved in several questionable business dealings. Some 12 families control the wealth and land of Honduras. By law, companies cannot own banks, only individuals can. Thus, the granting of credit is a private family affair.
So what is a president of a humanitarian mission to do? The Honduran unemployment rate was 40 per cent before Hurricane Mitch. Now it is much higher, and with the destruction of 80 per cent of the country's banana crops, its number three export, the future is bleak. Chiquita, the huge company whose subsidiary, Tela, operates here, acknowledges it has only enough equipment and seeds to replant half the fields. In places like La Lima, more than 7,000 employees used to plant and package and ship bananas. Now they are all idle, as the remains of the devastated fields rot.
Mrs McAleese came here essentially to cheer on the aid agencies and inspire the volunteers, and in that, her mission was a success.
BUT the future of Honduras lies in the government's willingness to gain credibility with the international community by convincing creditor nations and the IMF that money sent here will be spent wisely and legally. On that score, Mrs McAleese could only stay above the fray.
In many ways, although not devastated by natural disasters, Mexico will pose even thornier problems when Mrs McAleese begins her state visit on Monday.
She will be meeting President Ernesto Zedillo, the leader of a one-party government that is being increasingly criticised for human rights violations and for expanding the role of the military in civilian government.
In 1994, the Zapatista Army of Liberation (EZLN) began an armed uprising in the state of Chiapas, seeking recognition for the nation's indigenous people, who make up some 10 per cent of the nation's 98 million population. The rebellion was dealt with severely by the government. In December 1997, government-supported paramilitary soldiers killed 45 people in the village of Acteal in Chiapas, mostly women and children. President Zedillo condemned the attack, but he refused to meet Amnesty International. In 1998, a report by Human Rights Watch titled Implausible Deniability: State responsibility for Rural Violence in Mexico said impunity remains the norm for human rights violaters and supporters of the government.
Mrs McAleese will also have a rare and private meeting with the Mexican Council of Businessmen, a shadowy group of 38 leading capitalists that meets in secret and restricts access to outsiders. The business community's relationship with those outside Mexico is often strained; earlier this week, two of Mexico largest banks, Grupo Financiero Bancomer and Grupo Financiero Serfin, pleaded guilty in US federal court to charges of money laundering. In exchange for the negotiated pleas, they will be permitted to continue doing business in the US.
While the stated purpose of President McAleese's visit is to promote good relations between Ireland and Mexico, and to increase trade, she will again be entering a world where democracy is tenuous at best, and the rules of engagement are different. Without the cover of a humanitarian imperative, it is a mission replete with risk.
