Celso Berdon was a Filipino national who had worked in Chuuk for several years as a mechanic. He was employed by AWM, my landlord. He was a good guy. He married a local woman here and was part of the community. He did not have a criminal record and did not engage in that sort of activity, so there was no reason for any customs agency to want to keep him from entering their country.
The Chuukese have an expression; "until today", that illuminates their thinking. Nothing is certain, and our lives could end at any point. Where Americans say "I always do that" or "that's how it has always been", the Chuukese are more cautious. All we know is that it has been done like that, until today. Who knows, maybe tomorrow everything will change.
Until today, Celso Berdon lived in Chuuk. I won't be able to say that anymore, since Celso died today in the Chuuk State Hospital. He developed appendicitis, which burst, and underwent surgery at our only hospital. The toxins released by the burst appendix (or is it appendics) flooded his body, and the surgical team failed to clean it out. We knew that Celso would not survive a long stay in the hospital - nobody does here.
I tried to get Celso on a plane back home to the Philippines, where medical care is more advanced, and to get him to a facility where he had a chance to live. Our only airline is United, and most of the flights go through Guam, enroute to Manila, Japan, Thailand, and the U.S. Guam is a U.S. territory, so any flyer is likely to need a US visa.
Celso didn't want to enter the US; he only wanted to change planes there in order to go home. There was no intent to immigrate, just a medical emergency flight from Chuuk to Manila with a stop in Guam. But the U.S. State Department has a policy: anybody flying into Guam must have a US visa, unless there is some exemption. Micronesians and Marshallese have exemptions under the Compact of Free Association, but Filipinos do not. There is no exception for medical emergencies. PLUS, (and this is the real kicker) you must appear in person at the US Embassy for an interview in order to get a visa. Now, Celso was lying on his death bed, so his ability to go 400+ miles to Pohnpei for a face-to-face interview was compromised. Our government policy remains intact, no matter how absurd or uncaring it may be.
Celso died this morning, still at the Chuuk State Hospital. His widow and children will find a way to bury him - he does not own any land here, nor is he constitutionally able to acquire land here, but perhaps they can fly his corpse back home. I don't think the US government requires visas for the dead.
At a time when President Obama tells the world that our focus is shifting from the Middle East to the Pacific, and that we are looking for alliances, friends in this region, to start long relationships with, our bureaucrats are undermining any attempt to gain the trust of Pacific Islanders. It is obvious by the actions of our State Dept. that Americans don't want any foreigners to come within our borders. It is obvious that the image of Americans as caring people is a hoax. We won't even make an exception for someone who is dying from poor healthcare. Our "ownership" of the tiny island of Guam is used to control the travel of people who have no interest in immigrating to the US, and our attitude is so arrogant that we are turning away the hearts and minds of people around the world.
Back when Americans had the benefit of an image of "the good guys" who cared about the well-being of all people, who were always willing to come help in times of disaster, natural or manmade, and who followed a code of ethics that made people admire us, we could screw up and be forgiven. That image was lost years ago. We are not entitled to slack. We are becoming that nation that was once admirable, but which has fallen from grace, and other countries no longer trust our words. Putin is viewed as an ambitious, aggressive dictator whose intentions re Ukraine are automatically suspect. It is only a matter of time before the US is placed in the same category - our history of aggression can no longer be ignored.
I am disgusted at the lack of humanity within our national agencies. Policies are formulated without regard to their impact on real people in difficult situations. I understand that we face enemies who would take advantage of any chink in our armor, and we must remain vigilant about terrorists at our airports. But when policies appear on their face to be a "tough shit brown people, we are the big dog and we make the rules - if you don't like them, then stay in your little armpit of the world" type of pronouncement, then we truly deserve to be a target. I think we have to accept the risk of attack and make our immigration policies more in line with our history - if you are not Native American, you are descended from immigrants.
So, Celso Berdon lived in Chuuk, until today. Those of us who live here will miss him ....until today.
