Buried in the Style section of yesterday's Washington Post is this fascinating account of the life and times of Allen Andersson, millionaire, Latin Americanist, philanthropist and free thinker, who, by his own admittance, had a heavy hand in sponsoring ousted Honduran President Manuel Zelaya's victory over his rival (and now presidential front runner) Pepe Lobo in 2005.An excerpt from the article:
As Honduras convulsed this month over Zelaya's ouster -- in his pajamas -- in a military coup, Andersson spoke for the first time about what he proudly describes as the "shenanigans" he orchestrated in the final days of the 2005 upset. It is a saga sprinkled with heaps of cash, private detectives, sting operations, attack ads, internecine squabbles and Andersson's epic grudge against Zelaya's wealthy, dashing opponent, Porfirio "Pepe" Lobo, whose last name means "wolf" in Spanish. In short, Andersson had a blast.
"I just had a taste of blood in my mouth," he says, suddenly balling his right hand into a fist and bringing it crashing down onto a glass coffee table. "My mission was not to avoid poverty or bankruptcy or disgrace; my mission was to beat Pepe Lobo.
The Post's Manuel Roig-Franzia has Andersson come off looking fairly eccentric, which, by most accounts, he probably is. At the same time, Andersson, a former Peace Corp Volunteer in Honduras, a tech-tycoon who earned millions and spent most of on or through his non-profit organization (the Riecken Foundation, which the article does not mention by name) shares some compelling insights into his ideals and passions in this article. Hopefully someone is already cajoling him into writing his memoirs.
UPDATE: Other bloggers have covered the piece, including Brad Reese at Network World, Three Wise Men, and a big Zelaya fan at The Virginian.
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