Letter To Jeannette Schiess: Please Do The Right Thing

Dear Mrs Schiess,

I hope that this letter finds you well and trust that your family business is progressing nicely. As a North American, I am not exactly in a position to preach against South America’s latest version of Manifest Destiny, and, after all, it was my government’s CIA that assassinated your duly-elected President on September 11, 1973 and replaced him with one of the most brutal dictators known to history; just so we could have a person in power in your country, who would do our bidding.

And so I do not feel entitled to question either your business plans or those of your country. But I beg you to make an exception for Rapa Nui. I will take it on faith that your multi-national firm was originally not made aware that you were buying land that had been unlawfully stripped away by Agusto Pinochet from the only people (in your case, the indigenous Hito Rangi Clan) who were legally entitled.

But your firm had to have known the truth, before it embarked upon your $30,000,000 hotel renovation plan on that same land. Your firm had to have known that Rapa Nui People were being arrested and charged with trespass, for walking upon their own land.

The Chilean government has done so much to distance themselves from its shameful past under Pinochet, yet Chilean Minister of Interior and Public Security Rodrigo Hinzpeter’s latest plan, (to allow your enterprise to retain full title over the land and forgive the millions in loans to which you are currently in default, in exchange for a sham land-trust agreement), is both an insult to injury to the Hito Rangi Clan of the Rapa Nui People and could even be seen as a disappointing symbol of  Pinochet’s continuing corrupt influence. I am sure that neither you nor Minister Hinzpeter intended to engineer such a symbol.

I find it so American, that the Chilean Government places the statues of Rapa Nui on its currency, but is currently involved in trade deals with the U.S. which may involve the construction of a major shipping port on Rapa Nui, right in front of the hotel that you have built on land which does not belong to you.

In the U.S., we did many similar injustices to our indigenous people and rationalized some of the most heinous crimes against humanity in our history in very much the same way as your government and company are in danger of doing on Rapa Nui. You must know that this port will completely destroy the eco-paradise of Rapa Nui and its indigenous people.

Is the port of such monetary significance that you can even contemplate darkening your soul to such an extent? History is increasingly judging the U.S. harshly for their past human rights violations. But we are a big nation and thus, still seem to be able to slough off the shame with little more than an ex post facto apology. You, Mrs. Schiess however, have been personally cast as the one responsible for the present oppression on Rapa Nui.

I know enough (even sitting here in Denver, Colorado) to know that this is not true. No one person could or should carry such a burden of responsibility. But I also know that the person who has come to represent the face of the problem, can easily become the face of the solution; the face that saved the Rapa Nui People; the face of a person who did the right thing.

You and your country have an opportunity that we in the U.S. no longer have: to make significant  economic progress, with a semblance of conscience. Not incidentally, you must be aware that this mode of operation can translate into millions in public relations alone. Think about how the Chilean  government turned a mining disaster into gold. It can be done as well or better on Rapa Nui. It just takes a bit of heart and some imagination.

If I can envision it from here, I am sure that you have talented professionals working for you  there who can see it too, and can make it work. The only thing I do not know, is how this potential stacks up against the the certainty of cold hard cash that comes if you destroy Rapa Nui and The People, by building the shipping port.

I know that you have already calculated the potential profits from that course of action, but, in your final analysis, I beg you to subtract the potential lost souls of the indigenous people on Rapa Nui. I beg you to subtract the pristine beauty of a land which I know you have come to love. I beg you to subtract the eventual psychic costs to you, your family, and every other family in Europe and South America that models their business practices after yours. I believe that these costs can and should be tallied and only hope that your final balance sheet will allow you to do the right thing. Please save the Rapa Nui People.

Sincerely,

J. Brandeis Sperandeo Esq

(For those of you in the rest of the world who might feel left out, please refer to my posts of January 18, 2011, & February 23, 2011, for background.)

P.S. I just learned that, as of today, August 20, 2011, not only has Mrs. Schiess made no effort whatsoever to negotiate with the Rapa Nui People, but has in fact opened the bar of her luxury hotel, in direct contravention to the orders of the Court. I guess she feels that her money insulates her from having to gain a conscience or even comply with the laws of her country. We have the same problem with the super-rich here in America.

JBS

http://www.123people.com/s/jeannette+schiess

http://www.123people.com/ext/frm?ti=person%20finder&search_term=jeannette%20schiess&search_country=US&st=person%20finder&target_url=http%3A%2F%2Farticles.sfgate.com%2F2011-02-13%2Fnews%2F28532342_1_land-dispute-rapa-nui-easter-island&section=weblink&wrt_id=217

http://indigenouspeoplesissues.com/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=9085:rapanui-hotel-hanga-roa-appeals-court-rejects-appeal-of-schiesser&catid=53:south-america-indigenous-peoples&Itemid=75

http://www.123people.com/ext/frm?ti=person%20finder&search_term=jeannette%20schiess&search_country=US&st=person%20finder&target_url=http%3A%2F%2Fdiarioelnortino.cl%2F2011%2F02%2F18%2Fministro-hinzpeter-anuncia-acuerdo-total-en-isla-de-pascua%2F&section=blog&wrt_id=262