Gran Colombian News, H1/1906

[The Rock Doctor]

What troubles you so?

[The Rock Doctor]

3 June 1906:  Cartagena

A knock on the door stirred President Rey Alizandro from the absent-minded daydreaming he'd been doing.  "Yes?"

The door opened to reveal his secretary.  "Senor President, Senora Alizandro asks if she may have a few minutes to speak with you", the older man said.

"My wife is here?"

"Your mother, Senor President."

"Oh", Rey replied.  "Send her in."

"Yes, Sir.  Shall I ring for coffee service?"

"Sure, do that", the president answered.  He heard the secretary's muffled voice speaking to his mother, and then she came into the office, high heels clicking on the stone floor.  Rey waited for the secretary to close the door before he stood and greeted his mother with a kiss on the cheek.  "I didn't realize you were back", he said.

"I arrived yesterday", she clarified. 

"But you weren't due back for another two weeks as I recall", Rey pointed out.

"Yes, dear", Mrs. Alizandro said with a huff.  "I came back early.  I'd seen enough."

"You didn't enjoy it?  I've heard marvellous things about the Galapagos."

His mother's eyes narrowed.  "So had I.  I thought I would step off the boat and see all the strange creatures described by Darwin in that nonsensical book of his.  But do you know what I saw?  The same loathsome animals you or I can see in any third-rate fishing port outside the city.  Goats.  Pigs.  Cats and dogs.  Cattle, for mercy's sake.  Cattle!"

"I'm...sorry to hear that", Rey replied uncertainly. 

"Don't be sorry", his mother snapped.  "Stop it.  You're the president.  Do something."

"Like what?  Mother, Puerto Ayora's an important coaling station.  It requires people, and those people need to eat.  That's why the goats and cattle are there."

"You only need one island for that.  The vermin are spreading everywhere, Rey, everywhere!  I did not spend weeks on a boat so that I could see island after island of poor people and their filthy livestock."

"Alright, mother.  I will do something.  Now, if you'll excuse me, I really have to get back to my job of governing the nation", Rey said.

"Of course, dear.  I'm joining your family for dinner this evening - you can tell me what you're going to do then", Senora Alizandro declared.

9 June 1906:  La Prensa Nacional

President Rey Alizandro today announced a first in Gran Colombia, the creation of a national park, to encompass much of the Galapagos Islands.  The islands, used as a coaling station for steamships travelling through the Pacific, are best known internationally as the subject of a heretical book by a Norman scientist, Darwin.

"There are a great many strange and exotic creatures placed by God only upon these islands", the president told reporters.  "While man has dominion over all animals in this world, sometimes it is wise to preserve and protect them, rather than exploit them.  This is one such case."

The park will cover the entirety of the islands, with the exception of the southern half of Santa Cruz and the western half of San Cristobal, where legally authorized settlement has taken place.  Squatters within the new park will be re-located, and non-local animals and plants will be systemically extirpated so that the park retains its authentic flavor.

End GC news for H1/06

[Borys]

OOC
LOL!
I hope "systemically extripated" is a slip of tongue :) - if not, the Colombians are getting more and more brutal by the day. What next - evisceration?
Borys

[The Rock Doctor]

Not a slip of the tongue, but it only applied to the animals and plants - not the squatters.  The squatters are (officially) being re-located.

[maddox]

What canal?

[Borys]

Not sure if it is possible to extripate plants - they have no tripes. Maybe you wanted to use the word eradicate? exterminate?
Borys

[The Rock Doctor]

I've seen extirpation defined as "searched out and completely destroyed", which is the context it's being used in.

Who said anything about canals?  Maybe the squatters are being relocated to the non-park portions of the islands...or the interior of Brazil...

[Borys]

Ahoj!
Me wrong. I read "extRIpation" for "extIRrpation".
Now all clear.

Borys

[Desertfox]

What troubles you so?

Columbian-Chinese relations.

[The Rock Doctor]

I don't think that warrants an "Oh s**t" just yet.  It's not like I'm asking for a mutual defence agreement.

[swamphen]

Were we the type of nation to lease its land out to foreigners, I'm sure the undeveloped yet equally good harbour at Guatanamo Bay would be a candidate for such an agreement.

Hmmm... ;)

or fast battleships like the Brandenburgers

Regretfully the Scharnhorsts have been delayed due to a combination of a major shipyard strike in early 1905 and delays in the availabilty of the required turbines...however work has, finally, resumed.

Nothing that can make it up the river is likely to be armored against a 19.4 cm shell, after all.

Meanwhile at Manaus, a grizzled old petty officer stops his work and begins banging his head against a wall.
"What is it, Carlos?"

"Somebody just jinxed us, I'm sure of it..."