The Black Vault

THE BLACK VAULT is any spy agency's most prized possession - those dirty and unaccountable funds that provide operational freedom outside of governmental scrutiny. They fund black operations - the stuff too dirty for any government to admit to.

How is the black vault funded, and what purpose does it serve?

"In the past, the CIA has been implicated in numerous scandals involving drug and weapons trafficking. From Vietnam and Iran to Latin America, the agency has repeatedly been caught importing narcotics and exporting arms for shadowy and subversive purposes."

"Citing an unnamed CIA source, a Washington Times article theorizes that U.S. officials were actively aiding organizations such as the Sinaloa cartel with guns and immunity in an effort to stymie Los Zetas. That’s because, according to the piece, the powerful and brutal criminal Zetas syndicate has the potential to overthrow the government of Mexico — and might be planning to do so."

Source: http://www.thenewamerican.com/world-mainmenu-26/north-america-mainmenu-36/8599-reports-cia-working-with-mexican-drug-cartels

What are black operations? What is the Black Vault? How is The Black Vault used? This, and more, in Jack King's new thriller novel: THE BLACK VAULT

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Island of Passion

Some time ago I stumbled upon a story about Clipperton Island, or Island of Passion (Isla de la Pasión | Île de la Passion), a deserted rock in the Pacific Ocean. Scant information about its history sparked my imagination and got my creative juices flowing:

"Clipperton's name comes from John Clipperton, an English pirate and privateer  who fought the Spanish during the early 18th century, and is said to have passed by the island. Some others say he used the island as a hidden base for his raids on shipping [...]"

"On November 17, 1858, under Emperor Napoleon III, the French annexed Clipperton as part of their South Sea colony Tahiti. Mexico reasserted its claim over the island, on December 13, 1897, occupying and annexing it, and established a military outpost on the island; it appointed military governors from that time, including Ramón Arnaud (1906–1915). The US again held it briefly during the Spanish American War  of 1898"

"The British Pacific Island Company acquired the rights in 1906 to Clipperton's guano deposits and, in conjunction with the Mexican government, built a mining settlement. That year, a lighthouse was erected under the orders of President Porfirio Díaz, and a military garrison under Captain Arnaud of the Mexican army was sent to the island. By 1914, about 100 people – men, women, and children – were living on the island. Every two months, a ship from Acapulco sailed to Clipperton with provisions. However, with the escalation of fighting in the Mexican Revolution, the atoll was no longer reachable by ship, and the island's inhabitants were left to their own devices.

By 1915, most of the inhabitants had died, and the last settlers wanted to leave on the US Navy warship Lexington, which had reached the atoll in late 1915.

By 1917, all but one of the males on the island had died, some in a failed attempt to sail to the mainland and fetch help. The lighthouse keeper, Victoriano Álvarez, found himself the last man on Clipperton island, along with 15 women and children. Álvarez promptly proclaimed himself king and began a rampage of rape and murder, before being killed by one of the recipients of his attentions, the widow of garrison commander Captain Ramón Arnaud. On July 18, 1917, almost immediately following Álvarez's death, four women and seven children, the last survivors, were picked up by the US Navy gunship Yorktown."

What a fascinating story this would make for a book, I thought, and then forgot all about it.

Time passed and I came across an article about a Colombian author:

"Restrepo is one of the many contemporary Latin American authors seeking new routes for political writing. They reject both overt realism and phantasmagoria. Instead, their novels wander down less defined, more suggestive tracks: mysticism, irony, meta-literary games, and dreamlike, melancholy sequences are all recurring elements."

This was enough to make me seek out some of her books. Lo and behold, one of them turned out to be La Isla de la Pasión, Isle of Passion, about Captain Arnaud and his wife Alicia, two of the inhabitants of Clipperton Island. Well told!

Aztec Literary Masterpiece

"Two literary pieces written in Nahuatl and attributed to Sor Juana Ines de la Cruz, which have been translated by experts, preserve the Indian cult of mountains in a disguised language, ethnohistory specialist Margarita Loera said.

The literary collection Mercurio Encomiastico, which includes the two texts by Sor Juana and others by 16 Indian chiefs of the 17th and 18th centuries, was translated from Nahuatl to Spanish by experts from the National Institute of Anthropology and History, or INAH, with the help of native speakers of that language, Loera said in a statement.

Juana Ines de Asbaje y Ramirez de Santillana, known as Sor Juana Ines de la Cruz, lived from 1648-1695 and entered the convent to pursue her vocation as poet, writer and playwright. She was called the 10th Muse and the Phoenix of America.

“The introduction to a play attributable to Sor Juana, but above all the literary pieces by native chieftains, reveal a pantheistic invocation of the forces of nature,” Loera said.

One of the oldest references to the myth of the “love between volcanoes,” of pre-Columbian origin, tells of the “relationship” between the Iztaccihuatl (Sleeping Woman) Volcano and Cerro Venacho mountain, both in central Mexico, Loera said.

What is most noteworthy about the transcript of the literary collection is the glimpse it give us of a language full of cultural disguises used by Indian leaders at the time to conceal the cult of mountains that they wished to preserve." MORE

Feast for the eyes

Europeans to feast their eyes. To sample such great Mexican icons as Rivera, Siqueiros or Orozco, Europeans had to cross the Ocean. Now, for the first time, one has only to cross the English Channel. Great Mexican prints are available for viewing at the British Museum in London. The exhibit has an interesting slant: Revolution. What else?

The current exhibition at the British Museum of Mexican printmaking in the early 20th century is the first ever in Europe. For most people, Mexico is more often associated with one of the leading art forms of Twentieth Century―the huge murals of “los tres grandes” of Mexican art: Diego Rivera, David Álfaro Siqueiros and José Clemente Orozco. MORE

Exhibit runs till April 5.

Diego Rivera: Emiliano Zapata


Diego Rivera: Frida Kahlo

Alux

Another great folk tale, this one from the Maya:

...farmers who had a cornfield used the alux as a guardian of their crops. It is said that the alux is a clay doll that guards the farmer's field, scaring away thieves and making jokes to all the people who pass by or stop to rest.

When the farmer finishes working the land, he destroys the alux, smashing it to pieces against a rock. In this way, he can freely return to working the land, because it no longer has a guard.

If it is not done this way, the preparation of the land that the alux guards will scarcely have begun when he starts to whistle or throw stones at the farmer whom he thinks is an intruder, which could cause a distraction that cause the farmer to cut his hand or foot with a rake or a machete.

More here

Bath house

Found this interesting piece:

It is said that a long time ago, when they were going to use the bath house for the first time, before anyone went in, they put a dog inside. And it is said, in the event that something bad was found in the bath, the dog was beaten and the evil was removed. Thus the evil would not attach itself to the people and nothing would happen to them.

Read more

El Señor de la Conquista in San Miguel Allende

Just a quick note that I am still alive. Been traveling off the beaten track - it may be hard to believe there are places in the world without any electricity, little else Internet access. I'm taking advantage of a short stop over in San Miguel de Allende to log in.

We are lucky to hit the El Señor de la Conquista festivities. Here's how it goes: every dancer creates his / her own costume, different costume every year. And, for every year of taking part in the dancing dancers earn 15 new feathers...

San Miguel de Allende, March 2