RONCO in the News: Archives
Challenge to Death and a Tribute to Life
RONCO assists the Organization of American States (OAS) with demining in Nicaragua
NICARAGUA, Jan. 2000 - Minister of Defense Jose Antonio Alvarado, military officials, and reporters visited the work site of the Third Demining Force over the weekend near the Presillas bridge, at approximately 270 kilometers from the highway that links Managua and Rama City. The demining work began in 1997, although it was detained partially in 1998 due to Hurricane Mitch, and is responsible for the extraction and destruction of 2,447 mines over an area of 5,635 square meters.
The deminers of the National Army risk their lives every day. To decrease the danger, strict safety programs have been developed, so that the risk may be the minimum possible. Just in case, the soldiers and their commanders benefit from life insurance that none of them want to see activated.
During the visit soldier Bismark Trujillo detected something metallic in the work area. He marked the spot with a plastic yellow letter X, and left the area. Then soldier Zavala entered, as the official Prober. With a large titanium rod, he began to determine by touch, whether or not the object was a mine, while being very careful not to exert the amount of pressure that would be necessary to detonate a mine. All present watched with some tension in the air as Zavala continued his exploration. As it turned out, the object was a piece of wire, and all breathed a sigh of relief, as the false alarm was confirmed.
According to the commander of the Third Force, Capt. Antonio Castellon, over 8,082 metal objects have been found which were "false alarms" as well as the nearly 2,500 mines. Although the false alarms often have caused the force to loose time, none of Castellon's four platoons of deminers, accompanied by safety personnel, technical dogs, and their international commanders, plan to leave their work in the zones of Chontales and Rama City until they are declared free of these murderous devices, mines.
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