VTMBH Article: Body
Dozens of families of Flight 587 victims convened yesterday in front of the National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) as the first hearings began on the plane crash that claimed 265 lives last November in New York. Protesters arrived in Washington on a cold and rainy afternoon to demand that the hearings be moved to New York where the majority of the victims families reside.
It is much easier for the NTSB to move its hearings to New York than it is for us to move all of our families to Washington. We demand that these hearings take place in New York, said one protest organizer Fernando Mateo, who is president of the group Hispanics Across America.
Early in the morning, demonstrators boarded charter buses in Washington Heights and the Bronx for the journey to Washington. Hearings were scheduled to begin today in LEnfant Plaza and last until Friday.
The Flight 587 Memorial Committee strongly criticized Mateos presence as a protest organizer. Committee President Rufino Hernández Lendof accused Mateo yesterday of opportunism. Not one drop of the victims blood belongs to Mateo, said Hernández Lendof to a different group of victims families who traveled to Washington to participate in the hearings.
Others called for unity. The message, not the messenger, is whats important, said Héctor Algarroba, director of the HHS foundation, which works with Dominicans in the United States and in the Dominican Republic. What we want is unity. The important thing is not that the hearings take place in New York but that the NTSB hands over a complete list of the victims so that we can communicate among each other, explained Algarroba, who lost his parents in the crash.
Disagreements among these organizations prevented the formation of a centralized movement that represents the interests of the victims families.
I am here because I lost my only daughter and granddaughter to the crash. I want to know if this was the fate of God or something else, said Viola María Méndez, who traveled to Washington with Mateos group.
Members of the group, which included Dominicans, North Americans, Venezuelans, Chileans and Uruguayans, criticized the NTSB for generally failing to make information available to victims families. The lack of information has characterized the investigation of Flight 587, say family members.
Long Island residents James Monte and John Hartiarn, who lost their sister and step-daughter respectively, read about the protest in the newspaper and decided to take part.
We hope to find out the truth about what caused the accident, but the NTSB has released very little information. The families dont count for anything in this investigation, said Monte, who became involved with the Flight 587 Memorial Committee. We need to establish ourselves as a unified force because it could take up to five years for them to release information.
Demonstrators later traveled to the Washington, D.C. office of Senator Hillary Clinton, where they were met by Tamera Luzzatto, the Senators press secretary. Luzzatto informed the group that the Senator was working with Rep. Charles Rangel to compile a report of the hearings. That report will be presented in an open community forum in Washington Heights in an interactive discussion with simultaneous interpretation.
At the protesters suggestion, the event will also be broadcast live in the Dominican Republic. This shows the success of our journey, said Mateo.
It is much easier for the NTSB to move its hearings to New York than it is for us to move all of our families to Washington. We demand that these hearings take place in New York, said one protest organizer Fernando Mateo, who is president of the group Hispanics Across America.
Early in the morning, demonstrators boarded charter buses in Washington Heights and the Bronx for the journey to Washington. Hearings were scheduled to begin today in LEnfant Plaza and last until Friday.
The Flight 587 Memorial Committee strongly criticized Mateos presence as a protest organizer. Committee President Rufino Hernández Lendof accused Mateo yesterday of opportunism. Not one drop of the victims blood belongs to Mateo, said Hernández Lendof to a different group of victims families who traveled to Washington to participate in the hearings.
Others called for unity. The message, not the messenger, is whats important, said Héctor Algarroba, director of the HHS foundation, which works with Dominicans in the United States and in the Dominican Republic. What we want is unity. The important thing is not that the hearings take place in New York but that the NTSB hands over a complete list of the victims so that we can communicate among each other, explained Algarroba, who lost his parents in the crash.
Disagreements among these organizations prevented the formation of a centralized movement that represents the interests of the victims families.
I am here because I lost my only daughter and granddaughter to the crash. I want to know if this was the fate of God or something else, said Viola María Méndez, who traveled to Washington with Mateos group.
Members of the group, which included Dominicans, North Americans, Venezuelans, Chileans and Uruguayans, criticized the NTSB for generally failing to make information available to victims families. The lack of information has characterized the investigation of Flight 587, say family members.
Long Island residents James Monte and John Hartiarn, who lost their sister and step-daughter respectively, read about the protest in the newspaper and decided to take part.
We hope to find out the truth about what caused the accident, but the NTSB has released very little information. The families dont count for anything in this investigation, said Monte, who became involved with the Flight 587 Memorial Committee. We need to establish ourselves as a unified force because it could take up to five years for them to release information.
Demonstrators later traveled to the Washington, D.C. office of Senator Hillary Clinton, where they were met by Tamera Luzzatto, the Senators press secretary. Luzzatto informed the group that the Senator was working with Rep. Charles Rangel to compile a report of the hearings. That report will be presented in an open community forum in Washington Heights in an interactive discussion with simultaneous interpretation.
At the protesters suggestion, the event will also be broadcast live in the Dominican Republic. This shows the success of our journey, said Mateo.