ED CLARK's (co-owner Hotel Paraiso
Real) Incarceration and Subsequent Death
page under
Construction
"The hottest
places in hell are reserved for those who, in times of great moral
crisis, maintain their neutrality."
Dante
The last known
photo of Edmund Clarke.
Taken during
Lic. Ruperto Alvarado Triani's initial interview
February, 2001
Ed is recounting
the history of the businesses ScubaCenter S.A.de D.V., and the
Hotel Paraiso Real, the accusations against him, and the actions
that have been taken against him.
I will never
forget the events of the day of this photograph. Like a knight
to the rescue, my lawyer Ruperto
had ridden to town to slay some dragons for my friend Edmund Clarke.
But worse was in store: in full view of Ruperto and Notary
#18, Dr.Amor,
at the latter's
circa 1950 Caleta, Acapulco hotel "The
Santa Catalina"Judiciales (much feared federal
police) entered without proper warrants, broke down Edmund's hotel
door room, and took him to jail in Zihuatanejo. Ed was subsequently
incarcerated till the end of his life some six months later...
This was the
view from Edmunds' last place of residence
Why did I care
about Edmund Clarke? He
contributed to the income of a poor community, of which he was an active
part of the ecology movement. He had survived Vietnam, and post
Nam (Hell's Angel to MBA), and was substantially intact. He had
lived with a impending death threat in Vietnam and now he lived
a fatal diagnosis over his head: terminal heart disease.
I never really
knew Ed that well. But I had a powerful interaction with him when
I showed up in town sometime in 1998 or so and walked by the Scuba
Center, where the white haired bemouth "El Abuelito"
(the grandfather) was often to be found. I stopped in to say hello.
Ed's partners Juan Barnard and his wife Mago, had rented on my
street as long as I could remember.
I was told
that Ed had had another heart attack and had been taken to his
Acapulco hospital and from there transfered by President Zedillo's*
private plane to see Zedillo's private physician. And this physician
had said to Ed: "I can do nothing for you. Go back to your
pueblo and prepare to die." People in the Scuba Center said
they were afraid that if they left him alone, they might come
back to find him dead.
*Zedillo had
done some scuba diving with the Scuba Center.
"Please
come to my house, Ed. I want to show you some material,"
I pleaded with Ed. I gave him Dean
Ornish's, a man I'd once
dated, book. Ornish had proved bypasses were significantly
avoided by diet and meditation
"What
the hell is this?" he uttered after a rapid purusal. "NO
*&^^% DOCTOR EVER TOLD DIET COULD HELP ME!" Yes, Ed was
pretty upset -- he's had five cardiac bypasses.
Ed altered
his diet completely, and Ed's abnormal cholesterol, et al. values
dropped to subnormal within two weeks.
I used to see
Ed after that, when I went out to hotel, either to conduct business,
since I represented the hotel, and in fact had invested in it
in its' first year, or just to hang out. "Here
come those (*&^% parrots," he used to say.
But right before
the millienum,
Ed spoke to me on more than one occasion that there was trouble
between him and his partner Juan
Barnard. I wasn't paying that much attention. What I remember
more, was in the waning moments of the end of twentieth century,
Ed was the only one who had an epipheny. In Jungian psychology,
they call it foreshadowing. He was reading a book I had taken
him about the death of a Buddist monk, and he started crying.
"I know
something heavy is going to happen to me right after the Millenium,"
he exclaimed repeatedly.
I was dancing
a lot, and I arranged for there to be a New Year's Party at the
Hotel Paraiso Real.
Hotel Paraiso Real in
the good old days
I made an agreement with Mago
that we would play tapes of dance music from 1950 on that I had been collecting on for
months. But that night, Mago brought in a live group and I never
got to dance to my music. I was pretty upset, and when I left
I remember asking Mago, "Why do you betray the people who
serve you?" Little did I know how prophetic were these words.
The call came
one day in the beginning of February 2000 as I sat at my Berkeley
desk. "Can your lawyer contact me right away? I'm in trouble,
Juan is making absurd accusations against me," said Ed down
in Zihuatanejo. Minutes later, Ruperto called the Hotel, where
Juan answered.
From that moment
on, I was identified as "the enemy" to Juan. Juan was
alleging that Ed was stealing money from the hotel. Juan would
call long distance and rant, demanding that I send to him the
original cashed checks I had written to Ed Clarke's bank account
for reservations made to the Hotel. I consulted my Stateside lawyer
as well as Ruperto, to hear: "You want to be accused of being
a accomplice in criminal fraud? Never hand papers to anyone except
when ordered to do so by supoena." When I told Juan that,
he started to threaten me.
I had to fly
to Acapulco to see Ruperto on the Armando
matter, so I was present when Edmund and Ruperto first met.
We were late arriving and Edmund was sweating. In an hour he had
to attend a stockholders meeting at the Scuba Center.
"Juan
called for a stockholders' meeting without notifying me,"
he showed Ruperto the publication in the local newspaper. "It
was just by chance than someone showed me this. At the same time,
he has me down for a citatoria (summons) in the Ministerio
Publico, (district
attorneys' office) where I am accused of threatening Juan and
his family with a gun in the lobby of the Hotel."
Ruperto rapidly
purused the material. "Pendejo," he said. "No
te precupes. (Don't worry.) The stockholders meeting is invalido.
These types of notices have to be published in a venue of mayor
circulacion (major circulation) like the Diario de Acapulco.
You just sit tight here and I'll be right back."
In no time
Ruperto had returned from visiting the M.P., who told him he threw
Barnard out of his office for "telling me how to do my job."
"The M.P.
will see you later, let's go to the stockholders meeting."
The stockholders
meeting thus never happened for two reasons, the second because the
Notary who was hired to "dar fe" (give witness)
was found to have alcohol on his breath. "You'll never practice
again in my town, you *&^%$!" said Ruperto, upon finding
him in this condition.
After Ruperto's
squashing Juan's movimientos against Ed, Ed went to the
Bay Area to try and take care of the fact that Juan had somehow
convinced Internic (the Federal agency who controls the registration of domain names on the Internet) to put the Hotel's web page domain under Juan's
control. Juan alleged President Zedillo had handled this matter
for him! In spite of the fact that Ed resubmitted all the original
paperwork to Internic, the change back to Ed was never attained.
While he was in town, he stayed some days with me, and I was worried
enough to encourage him not to return to Mexico at all. But Ed
was completely obssessed with resolving this ugly matter. And
so he returned, but as matters heated up, I urged him to flee
to Acapulco. We went down there and Dr. Amor offered him a job
as Director of the Hotel Santa Catalina. Soon Ed was esconced
in Acapulco, with a new computer and new friends. STORY CONTINUES...
