The American First Lady, Mrs Hillary Clinton, rallied US troops while President Jacques Chirac of France was cheered by the Honduran people at separate stops in the hurricane-ravaged capital yesterday.
The visit by both dignitaries was not meant to be a competition but that is how it turned out when each wanted to land at 11 a.m. at Tegucigalpa's Toncontin airport. Instead Mrs Clinton landed at Soto air force base, 90 minutes north of the city.
The visits, both under three hours, were very different. Mrs Clinton was travelling as part of a previously scheduled trip to El Salvador. But last week aides felt that coming to the region without at least touching down in Honduras and Nicaragua would be "bad form". So a last minute schedule was pieced together. Mrs Clinton spoke to the troops who are providing relief efforts. Then she travelled by helicopter to the city airport, where she met the Honduran President, Mr Carlos Flores Facusse, before giving a press conference in the afternoon. Then, without having set foot on a city street, Mrs Clinton left for Nicaragua. By contrast, President Chirac, accompanied by his wife, landed at the city airport in a cargo plane, where he was met by President Flores. With a delegation of relief workers and French businessmen in tow, Mr Chirac took to the muddy streets for a tour of the most severely hit neighbourhood. At a barrio called Primavara, he emerged from his vehicle and literally crawled across mounds of sand and dirt to view the destruction. Soldiers pulled away twisted pieces of roof and debris in his path. Mr Chirac stood on a collapsed bridge while President Flores described the damage.
Displaying a personal warmth not always associated with him, Mr Chirac hugged children and kissed them on the cheeks. Crowds of people made homeless by the storm stood on the rooftops of what was left of their homes and clapped and cheered. Although he was running about an hour late, Mr Chirac stopped at a tented relief centre set up by the French Agency Samu Mondial in the district of Nueva Esperanza. There he entered a medical tent and emerged to shout "Merci" at French relief workers.
Among those accompanying Mr Chirac was Mr Thierry Bourbie, president of Suez Lyonnaise de Eaux, a French water company that has provided a water purification system for the country's largest hospital. "Providing water to drink is the biggest problem here. We feel we are a big company and humanitarian efforts are part of our mission," said Mr Bourbie. Set to arrive in the afternoon was the European Commissioner for Humanitarian Aid, Ms Emma Bonino. She was to meet several relief groups, including the heads of the Irish aid agencies, Trocaire and APSO.