On the Promise and Perils of Democracy in Haiti

* © 1997 Irwin P. Stotzky. I wish to thank the officers and staff of the InterAmerican Law Review for their generosity in honoring me with the 1997 Lawyer of the Americas award. I am particularly grateful to Allyn Danzeisen for her energy and efficiency. I am especially grateful to Ian Hochman for all of his wonderful work in organizing the banquet. David Schiller deserves special thanks for editing the essay. Mistakes, of course, are mine alone. ** Irwin P. Stotzky is the 1997 recipient of the University of Miami Inter-American Law Review's Lawyer of the Americas Award. Irwin P. Stotzky is a Professor of Law at the University of Miami School of Law. He has served as an attorney and adviser to Jean-Bertrand Aristide and adviser to the Rene Preval administration. In these positions, he has been in charge of organizing the investigations and prosecutions of those who committed massive human rights abuses during the military coup period, between 1991 and 1994. This essay reflects the substance of the remarks Professor Stotzky made on April 11, 1997, at the banquet honoring him as the 1997 Lawyer of the Americas. It also reflects the ideas and themes of his recently published book, SILENCING THE GUNS In Haiti: The Promise of Deliberative Democracy (Dec. 1997)

Crassulacean acid metabolism in the Gesneriaceae

The occurrence of the Crassulacean acid metabolism (CAM) was studied in four epiphytic species of the Gesneriaceae: two neotropical species, Codonanthe crassifolia and Columnea linearis, and two paleotropical species, Aoschynanthus pulcher and Saintpaulia ionantha. Gas exchange parameters, enzymology, and leaf anatomy, including mesophyll succulence and rel­ ative percent of the mesophyll volume occupied by airspace, were studied for each species. Codonanthe crassifolia was the only species to show nocturnal CO2 uptake and a diurnal organic acid fluctuation. According to these results, Codonanthe crassifolia shows CAM-cycling under well-watered conditions and when subjected to drought, it switches to CAM-idling. Other characteristics, such as leaf anatomy, mesophyll succulence, and PEP carboxylase and NADP malic enzyme activity, indicate attributes of the CAM pathway. All other species tested showed C3 photosynthesis. The most C3-like species is Columnea linearis, according to the criteria tested in this investigation. The other two species show mesophyll succulence and relative percent of the leaf volume occupied by airspace within the CAM range, but no other characters of the CAM pathway. The leaf structure of certain genera of the Gesneriaceae and of the genus Peperomia in the Piperaceae are similar, both having an upper succulent, multiple epidermis, a medium palisade of one or a few cell layers, and a lower, succulent spongy parenchyma not too unlike CAM photosynthetic tissue. We report ecophysiological similarities between these two distantly related families. Thus, the occurrence of CAM-cycling may be more common among epiphytic species than is currently known

Reviews

AMBIO -A JOURNAL OF THE HUMANENVIRONMENTECKHOLM, ERIK P. DOWN TO EARTH :ENVIRONMENT AND HUMAN NEEDS.Published by Pluto Piess (London) under the auspices of theInternational Institute for Environment and Developmentat the invitation of UNEP, 1982.238 pp. R7 ,50 (pbk)ISBN 0-86104-381-2HAYNES, ROBIN (Ed.) ENVIRONMENTALSCIENCE METHODSPublished by Chapman & Hall, London 1982.404 pp. R27,85 (pbk)ISBN 0412· 23290·