Red Cross Experience
International Committee of the Red Cross
On Travelers' Advisories, Safety and Security on the Road
(Violence in Mexican Prisons)
PanEuropean wanted to know if I was with ICRC -
International Committee of the Red Cross
The ICRC is Geneva based and part of the International
Red Cross and Red Crescent Movement. Unlike
PanEuropean who was an air ops manager and pilot with the
ICRC during African conflicts, my experiences with the Red Cross
are as follows.
1962 certified Red Cross Water Safety Instructor -
and Emergency First Aid Instructor
Air Force brat -Eglin AFB, Florida - Life Guard Officers
Beach Club
1963/64 Life Guard and ski boat driver Lake Golbasi
at Red Cross/Special Services R&R facility near Ankara,
Turkey
1964 -1966 Red Cross certified life Guard and Water Safety Instructor
USF Tampa, Florida during undergraduate work
1966-1968 US Peace Corps volunteer Puerto Limon,
Costa Rica - selected because of Red Cross Water Safety Instructor
credentials and previous international experience.
During my Peace Corps training, I interned in Arroyo , Puerto Rico and
will never forget spending my first night at my site by sleeping on a cot
at the Red Cross. During my training there was a hurricane and
I worked around the clock for days cleaning up the mess and caring for
survivors.
As a U S Peace Corps volunteer, my task was to work with
existing agencies so that my work would be continued
when my two years of service were complete. I worked
primarily with the Red Cross for fund raising and community
development events, and trained Red Cross volunteers in
first aid and water safety.
I first hooked up with the Costa Rican Cruz Roja (Red Cross) when I
was a teacher and coach of the swim team for the Colegio de Limon.
We were invited to meets in the capitol - San Jose. We had no
budget to stay in hotels, and there still was a lot of
prejudice against blacks... - this was before the was road built from
San Jose to Costa Rica's major port - Puerto Limon.
In those days, blacks from Limon were required to obtain permission
from the government to travel to San Jose. Many hotels
refused to accommodate blacks. We stayed at Red Cross/bomberos facilities during our swim meets in San Jose.
With he help of the Red Cross, I made it possible for some of the very first black athletes to compete at sporting events in San Jose.
1968 - during my first international overland ride - San Jose, Costa Rica
to Los Angeles, California I had spent the third of my Peace Corps readjustment allowance available in country to buy a CB175 Honda and
then using my Red Cross Emergency First Aid and Water Safety credentials stayed most nights of the 4 month trip at Red Cross facilities in return for volunteering to assist regular Red Cross staff.
In the capacity explained above I have volunteered with the Red Cross in every Central American country and throughout Mexico.
Yes I was very near the Tlatelolco Massacre actually around 250 were murdered. I did what I could when it was over.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tlatelolco_massacre
Yes, I attended the 1968 Olympics in Mexico City.
1972 - returned to Mexico and toured for a year camping or staying at
Red Cross facilities in return for volunteer work. I taught several Red Cross Senior Life Saver courses and organized lifeguard services for many beaches on the west coast of Mexico.
1981-1983 while living in San Miguel de Allende, Mexico, I again volunteered for the Cruz Roja and working directly with the U S
consul , used my Red Cross credentials to enter various Mexican prisons
checking on and looking for U S citizens reported as incarcerated or missing. Most arrests of U S citizens are reported to the U S Embassy, but some are not. Depending on the political clout of the family and friends of the missing person, I would be asked to make inquiries by visiting various prisons.
The United States cannot interfere with he judicial processes of another
country - officially, but in Mexico, the Mexican Red Cross sometimes finds missing people in Mexican prisons.
In 1991, I purchased a ranch in Arizona and established a 501(c)(3) NGO and transitioned about 800 returned Peace Corps volunteers home.
Many had Peace Corps related compensable injury or illness. And, at my ranch I assisted 40 political asylum cases many of whom had been assisted by the Red Cross. Most were from the former Soviet Union, but not all.
I retired in 2004, rode 8 South American countries and settled in Buenos Aires, Argentina where I have been a permanent foreign resident for the last 10 years and own a business.
Currently, I am with rosa del desierto visiting friends on the west coast of Mexico.
PanEuropean - hope I answered your question - let us hear about your experiences.
Thanks for asking xfiltrate
PS I would like to share a funny story. During the first part of my Peace Corps training, we were at Southest Texas
state Teachers College San Marcos , texas and the former Director of the Peace Corps visited us. He gave a little
speech about how, as Peace Corps volunteers we had to be flexible.
He went on to say, you might find yourself in a situation like this - you are in your village and a small child comes up
to you and says her mother is having a baby. You run to where the mother is - in a small hut with not electricity and there she is - in labor - then Sarge Shiver (former Director of the Peace Corps) asked the group - what would you do? I was in the front row, as usual... and muttered
" I would calmly tell the woman to be flexible" Sarge Shiver has repeated this story and my answer many times.
I did in fact assist in a birth in Mazatlan, Mexico 1968 during my ride CR - California while volunteering and spending the night with the firemen of Mazatlan.
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