Word count: 1,073

                                                                            March 10, 2004

 Settling up old accounts

                                  By: Lorenzo Dee Belveal   

This reporter was most interested to see Wendy Griffin’s March 1, 2004, account of the capture and transport of Roatan’s long-time resident fugitive-from-justice, Arnold F. Morris, back into the patiently waiting arms of the Fourth Federal District Court, Pinnellas County, Florida. It is to be sincerely hoped that Mr. Morris will now – at long last – be accorded the justice that is prescribed as just punishment for his accumulated outrages against persons and property over the past dozen-plus years at least, in the United States, Honduras and perhaps elsewhe

In the few days since Mr. Arnold Frederick Morris has been captured and transported to his incarceration in the United States of America, I have received a number of contacts inquiring when I will close out my “Honduras” Internet Site, http://ldbelveal.net which deals principally with Morris-gang frauds and related law-breaking in the real-estate business, etc., here in Honduras.

It must be assumed that the people writing to me are anxious for my web-site to be closed out and thereby remove the public embarrassment and functional  impediment it offers to potential commercial benefits to the Republica, from private, corporate  and sovereign sources. Presumably it serves to seriously stifle commercial potentials In Roatan and in Honduras generally.

I opened the above-captioned web-site some nine years ago, as a tool to fight the corruption and fraud that was then being inflicted on me by a conspiracy of commercial and official political crooks, who undertook to steal several pieces of Roatan land from me. The principals in this criminal ring included the previously–named Arnold F. Morris, the Bay Islands Judge of Letters, Fernando Azcona Schrenzel, Morris’ wife, Rita Thompson Silvestre de Morris, Morris’s step son, Ernie Emilio Silvestre and Modesto Gonzales (now deceased).

I launched my Internet site on November 20, 1996, and since then I’ve used it to exhibit a shameful collection of information concerning the thefts, frauds and illegal contrivances used against me (and others) in depriving us of our land. In the ensuing years thousands of companies and individuals have visited my website looking for information on Honduras. In addition to anonymous web “surfers”, a constant stream of individuals have written directly to me, seeking answers to specific questions related to investing and doing business in Honduras.

We have tried to make sure that each letter has been carefully answered.

With Arnold Morris now in the hands of Federal Authorities in Florida, U. S. A., it appears that I may be making some valuable progress toward reclaiming some or all of my stolen Roatan property holdings. But I hasten to assure everyone that I have no intention of closing my web-site until all three of the surviving criminals are dealt with and I have been made whole . 

In accomplishing this, I shall seek nothing less than return of the moneys I spent to purchase the land parcels that were later stolen from me; plus market-price appreciation during the time the thieves have been in constructive possession of my properties. Only then will this Site be closed out.

I earlier sought Judicial Reviews of the fraudulent land transactions conducted in the Roatan  Court of Letters, by Judge Azcona before he was removed for judicial irregularities. This was not accepted by the Corte Suprema as an ideal means of redress. As a result, the corrupted Judge of Letters was removed for his lapses, but his judicial errors were never addressed and corrected by the proper High Court judges. There was absolutely no judicial interest in returning the stolen land to its rightful owners.

Removing an errant Judge without rectifying his fraudulent orders is an absurd miscarriage of judicial supervision. At this date, it is clear that said judicial errors could not possibly have taken place without active or passive complicity of the supervising judges on the Corte Suprema de Justicia de Honduras. Those Judges, themselves, share culpability with the errant  Judge of Letters, Fernando Azcona Schrenzel, who personally engineered the deals, while serving as both Juez de Letras and Registrar of Propriedad Inmuebles in Roatan. In that situation, Azcona was actually functioning without judicial supervision of any kind! 

It has been stated earlier that during the years that I have kept my web-site open, it has attracted a large and growing audience. Reams of correspondence has come to us, seeking advice and specific information on the hazards of trying to do business in Honduras. We have meticulously replied to each such request for information. 

It is a certainty that our warnings about Honduras commercial pitfalls have resulted in the cancellation or redirection of at least many millions of dollars in foreign investments and international aid, over the years the Site has been open. We can’t even guess at the total involved, since most of those seeking commercial guidance have not provided us with hard numbers about their proposed projects. However, it has to be considerable.  

I detail these considerations to emphasize the negative potentials still present in this ongoing situation. 

I am eighty-five years of age. Needless to say, time is of extreme essence. If  I should die before we strike a reconciliation of this, my web-site entitled, “Central America and Honduras for newcomers” will remain continue to be open and operational for many years. In which case the financial damage to the Republica de Honduras – which is already appreciable - can only continue to grow.

This letter is written in the hope that we might find a mutually agreeable adjustment of these matters that will allow me to remove my Honduras Web-Site from the Internet. If I can obtain redress or repossession of my lands, I will have accomplished my purpose and will have no interest in further damaging Honduras and its citizens in interest. The “Commercial Warning” I have maintained will have served its purpose and it will be closed.

I hope we can resolve this, so it will not be necessary for me to leave the Site operational far into the future, if not in perpetuity.     

Ms. Griffin closes her account in Honduras This Week with the discouraging postulation that:

 “Honduran news sources have highly publicized the case of Morris, and have been scathing in their criticism of authorities for turning Morris over to US law enforcement agents. In the end however, it appears that everything was done following the letter of the law. It is now doubtful though, that Morris will ever be tried for his alleged crimes in Honduras”.

This victim concurs completely with her sentiment. Certainly the Honduras Judicial system has shown no inclination to rectify the shameful mess that the criminality of the Morris-Silvestri-Azcona combine and the tacit permission of the Honduras Judiciary  allowed to be created. But perhaps I can offer an incentive that will urge long delayed redress that should have – in all justice and equity – been afforded the shamelessly gulled victims years earlier.  

There is no statute of limitations on fraud; especially judicial fraud. 

I would invite the Corte Suprema de Honduras to examine the role its predecessor judges played in the Morris-Silvestri-Azcona conspiracy and, even at this late date, consider taking some long-delayed steps to rectify the clear and highly disgraceful wrongs that still disgrace the Honduras judicial system.

Justice will be satisfied with nothing less.  

Lorenzo Dee Belveal

<ldbelveal@terra.com.mx>

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