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France sent 3,500 troops to Mali in a rapid campaign to oust Islamists linked to al-Qaeda.

Human rights groups say what appears to be a successful campaign has come at great cost to the country.

Laura Lynch reports from Bamako.

Amnesty Int’l releases #Mali report: army accused of extrajudicial killings of civilians based on “ethnic” appearance.

— lauralynchworld (@lauralynchworld) February 1, 2013

They claimed it was retaliation for the French intervention in Mali.

They seized a large gas facility and took hundreds of local and foreign workers hostage.

Algerian government forces immediately launched an offensive against the militants.

In the ensuing violence, some 37 hostages died.

The BBC’s Richard Galpin was among the first western journalists to visit the facility since the hostage crisis.

“It’s pretty heavily damaged,” says Galpin, especially in the accommodation area, which was the first place attacked.”

“There is growing evidence that this was some kind of inside job,” Galpin adds. “They knew exactly where they were going … and appear to have known about a meeting of executives that was taking place.”

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The text below is a phonetic transcript of a radio story broadcast by PRI’s THE WORLD. It has been created on deadline by a contractor for PRI. The transcript is included here to facilitate internet searches for audio content. Please report any transcribing errors to theworld@pri.org. This transcript may not be in its final form, and it may be updated. Please be aware that the authoritative record of material distributed by PRI’s THE WORLD is the program audio.

Marco Werman: It’s been about two weeks since Islamic militants launched an attack in neighboring Algeria. They claimed it was retaliation for the French intervention in Mali. They seized a large gas facility as you recall and took hundreds of local and foreign workers hostage. Algerian government forces immediately launched an offensive against the militants in the ensuing violence some 37 hostages died. The BBC’s Richard Galpin went to the site yesterday. He’s back in Algiers and he was among the first western journalists to visit the facility since the hostage crisis. Richard, tell us, first of all, what does it look like right now?

Richard Galpin: Well there’s still… you can see the evidence of the fighting which took place there. In the accommodation block, the chunks of concrete missing… it’s been hit by shrapnel and by heavy caliber weapons. And then, we also went to the main gas compressing facility. And there you could, again, see damage; there’s fire damage, which apparently was caused by an explosion, in which a lot of hostages were killed, a bomb deliberately detonated by the militants to kill a group of hostages who’d been chained or strapped to the metal structure there.

Werman: So Richard, some people have been pointing to the possibility of this attack by these militants on the gas plant as being an inside job, a lot of speculation around that. What is the evidence?

Galpin: Well, I mean, I think there’s quite a bit of evidence. We spoke to the man who’s a general manager actually from the Algerian oil company who was one of the first people to be caught by the militants when they attacked the accommodation block. And he said that they knew there was a VIP area and they got just slightly confused about exactly where it was, and obviously under pressure he had to reveal the location. Another employee from BP, who was also briefly taken hostage but managed to talk his way out because he was Algerian, he also said the same thing to us, saying that they knew exactly where they were going. They clearly had very, very good information. The other thing that people point to, but we’re less sure about this, is that there was a meeting of senior executives, some of whom had flown in from abroad for a meeting about extending the plant. So, some people point to this, that perhaps the timing was no coincidence. And there are also reports that the local employees had not been particularly carefully vetted and one person who was employed at the plant was the brother of a leading radical Jihadist, Islamist, who could have had links with the people who carried out the attack.

Werman: Right, all very suspicious but none of it fully confirmed yet, as you pointed out. Now, one thing I think many people who follow the hostage crisis might not realize is just the utter remoteness of this plant. How long did it take you to get there, because I’m looking at a map of Algeria, it looks like from Algiers to Southern Algeria is about New York City to Miami Beach practically.

Galpin: It’s a very, very long way. And I think if I remember correctly, the local journalist we’d been working…. with here was saying that it is nearer to fly from Algiers to London than it is to go from Algiers to the far south of the country.

Werman: Wow.

Galpin: So it gives you a size. It is a huge country. It’s right in the heart of the Sahara. Very, very remote area. It is sand dunes, it is sand and rock, and that is basically it.

Werman: The BBC’s Richard Galpin back in Algiers after having visited the gas facility attacked in south east Algeria last month. Thank you very much for your time.

Galpin: Thank you.

Copyright ©2012 PRI’s THE WORLD. All rights reserved. No quotes from the materials contained herein may be used in any media without attribution to PRI’s THE WORLD. This transcript may not be reproduced, in whole or in part, without prior written permission. For further information, please email The World’s Permissions Coordinator at theworld@pri.org.

It was reported that a security guard and the suspected attacker both died in the blast.

One Turkish woman was seriously wounded.

Turkey’s Interior Minister, Muammer Guler, claims the attacker was from a domestic left-wing militant group.

Marco Werman speaks with Howard Eissenstat, assistant professor of history at St. Lawrence University about the attack.

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The text below is a phonetic transcript of a radio story broadcast by PRI’s THE WORLD. It has been created on deadline by a contractor for PRI. The transcript is included here to facilitate internet searches for audio content. Please report any transcribing errors to theworld@pri.org. This transcript may not be in its final form, and it may be updated. Please be aware that the authoritative record of material distributed by PRI’s THE WORLD is the program audio.

Marco Werman: Another attack on a Western target today, this one in Turkey. I’m speaking of a suicide bomber who blew himself up on the US embassy in the Turkish capital, Ankara. Here’s what one Turkish journalist told the BBC about what he saw.

Turkish Journalist: I was driving towards the embassy when there was this huge explosion and I saw ambulances racing towards the embassy only about five minutes after the blast, so there was a very quick response.

Werman: Along with the bomber, a security guard was also killed in the blast. No one has claimed responsibility for the attack, but Turkey’s prime minister is blaming an outlaw Turkish Marxist group. Howard Eissenstat is a St. Lawrence University in Canton, NY, who has studied Turkey for the last 20 years. So what can you tell us about this Turkish Marxist group? It sounds very 1970s.

Howard Eissenstat: Indeed it is. Its roots go back to 1978 and they’ve been active on and off along with a fair amount of factional fighting since then. They’re much in the tradition of the Red Army faction from the ’70s and see themselves as sort of a heroic revolutionary front that’s going to fight imperialism and radicalize the country in doing so. They don’t have significant public support, but they do have the capacity to maintain fervent loyalty among a handful of followers, and have carried out a number of spectacular attacks over the years, including a large number against American interests.

Werman: The interior minister in Turkey didn’t say why the government believes it to be this particular domestic group behind the bombing, but if you had to fill in the blanks for us, why do you think they’re getting the blame?

Eissenstat: Well, I don’t think that the Turkish authorities are saying something that they don’t have good evidence for. And the news reports that I’ve seen indicate that they found the body, that they’ve identified the body as someone who’s been affiliated with them for a large number of years, who’s been in prison for previous activities. So I suspect that is the case. This is a group for whom, you know, 1978 has stood still. They haven’t undergone tremendous ideological changes. They’ve certainly had factional fighting, but that’s largely inside baseball. They see the United States as an imperial power. They see Turkey as a colonial power that must engage in heroic national struggle against them. And they view the Turkish government as mere proxy for US interests.

Werman: How relevant are they to any Turks and their political beliefs?

Eissenstat: Really not at all. You will see some graffiti in Turkish European neighborhoods, but I think if we were talking about percentages, the Turkish public that have sympathy for them, we’re talking about less than a percent.

Werman: Hm, I gotta say, there’s several countries in Turkey’s neighborhood where tension and pressure could possibly affect things in Ankara. I’m thinking of Syria specifically. Do you believe you can exclude those connections to this bombing?

Eissenstat: I’m not an intelligence officer, so I don’t have direct knowledge. I would be shocked if either Syria or Iran was directly involved, or Hezbollah or directly involved in an attack in Turkey. When I was sort of making my own short list of possibilities in my mind this morning, they were all domestic.

Werman: Howard Eissenstate, a history prof at St. Lawrence University, thank you indeed.

Eissenstat: Thank you.

Copyright ©2012 PRI’s THE WORLD. All rights reserved. No quotes from the materials contained herein may be used in any media without attribution to PRI’s THE WORLD. This transcript may not be reproduced, in whole or in part, without prior written permission. For further information, please email The World’s Permissions Coordinator at theworld@pri.org.

Cachalia, an Indian South African, was a close friend to Nelson Mandela for more than sixty years.

Just as my father used to say, if you don’t fight injustice it’s like death, in a sense. You accept death. – Amina Cachalia

“You won’t like it here,” was the rumored message.

This comes in response to the impending expiration next year of work and travel restrictions imposed on Romanians and Bulgarians.

Now the Romanians have just unveiled their own cheeky ads aimed at Brits. If life is so bad in Britain they quip, “Why don’t you come over?”

Anchor, Marco Werman talks with Mihai Gongu, creative director and copywriter at GMP who wrote the Romanian ads.

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The text below is a phonetic transcript of a radio story broadcast by PRI’s THE WORLD. It has been created on deadline by a contractor for PRI. The transcript is included here to facilitate internet searches for audio content. Please report any transcribing errors to theworld@pri.org. This transcript may not be in its final form, and it may be updated. Please be aware that the authoritative record of material distributed by PRI’s THE WORLD is the program audio.

Marco Werman: Let me tell you now about another ad campaign that’s ruffled feathers this week. The tagline here is “Don’t come to Britain.” At least that’s what the rumored ad campaign would like Romanians and Bulgarians to think. The campaign hasn’t gone live yet, it’s just one of a slew of possible ideas that the British government is considering to slow immigration from Romania and Bulgaria when travel restrictions are lifted next year. But Romanians are striking back with an ad campaign of their own. Mihai Gongu is a creative director and copywriter at GMP, which produced some cheeky comebacks. Mihai, start by sharing some of the slogans that you’ve come up with this week.

Mihai Gongu: Yeah, I mean we’re trying out hand at British humor and some of the lines were “Charles has bought a house here in Romania” and “Harry has never been photographed naked once,” you know.

Werman: That’s pretty good.

Gongu: Or for instance, you know, “Our draft beer is less expensive than your bottled water” and so on. So there are a lot of possible arguments why they should conceive to come over to Romania instead because it’s–we may not like it in Britain, as they are saying, but we love it in Romania, I can guarantee you.

Werman: And Romania is also bragging in your campaign that you’ve got millions of women who look like Kate Middleton and even more who look like her sister.

Gongu: Exactly.

Werman: So what’s been the reaction in Romania?

Gongu: In the first 24 hours, I think 300,000 Romanians have seen the posters and commented on them, and shared them and so on, so that’s quite impressive, I think.

Werman: And you think those strong numbers are a reaction to the rumors of the British ad campaign?

Gongu: Yes, I do. I think our campaign has started to like start a bit of a bush fire and to get the Romanian pride going. And we actually made the online generator where people could make their own poster.

Werman: How did you feel yourself, not as an advertising person, but as a Romanian when you heard about the proposed British campaign and this tagline, “Don’t come to Britain?” Was it insulting?

Gongu: I wouldn’t say it was insulting. It was you know, a bit inspiring you know. We felt that it’s high time that Romanians give a [inaudible 02:07] answer and try to be the fighting partner in this unique war, you know, because typically the way that we are depicted in some of the media in Europe is negative, you know. So we were trying to defend also the decent, honest, hard working Romanians all over Europe who are paying their taxes and doing a decent job, you know?

Werman: So the campaign has gone viral and Romanians have even started posting their own slogans on Facebook. Tell us what some of those are.

Gongu: My favorite was something like if you come over to Romania, in centimeters you’ll be taller in kilograms, thinner and so on because you are playing with this conversion.

Werman: I mean it’s not like you need to start a campaign. It’s gone viral as we said on its own. Is Romania ready to receive all those guys in search of the millions of Kate Middletons you’ve got there?

Gongu: Yes, and the campaign has just started. And you’ll see some nice surprises in the near future, you know? We actually genuinely invite the British to come over here and we can welcome them, no problem. It’s a big country, Romania, for all them.

Werman: Yeah, so the Brits are saying stay away, but you’re saying that’s okay, come visit us instead.

Gongu: Exactly, yeah, exactly. They are saying you won’t like it here, their tagline. And the answer was okay, we might not like Britain, but you will love Romania.

Werman: Okay, Mihai Gongu, creative director and copywriter at GMP in Bucharest, Romania. Thank so much.

Gongu: Thank you so much as well.

Copyright ©2012 PRI’s THE WORLD. All rights reserved. No quotes from the materials contained herein may be used in any media without attribution to PRI’s THE WORLD. This transcript may not be reproduced, in whole or in part, without prior written permission. For further information, please email The World’s Permissions Coordinator at theworld@pri.org.

Below are a few selections from the ad campaign:

Now, on the eve of the Super Bowl, there is criticism that a Volkswagen ad due to be broadcast during the big game is racist because it features a white guy speaking Jamaican patois. This appears to be a spoof of a spoof: the lilywhite Minnesota office setting (complete with token Asian man) appears to be playing off NBC’s The Office, which has had characters faking Jamaican accents.

But Jamaicans seem happy that the ad is giving their nation and culture some free publicity. And they also seem to understand that in the ad, the joke is on the deeply unhip white office guys.

Also in the podcast: will a 15-year-old Icelandic girl get to officially use the name her parents gave her? A court in Reykjavik has decided.

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Photographer Rémi Ochlik who was killed last year in Syria at the age of 28 (Photo: Corentin Fohlen)

Many journalists have died covering the Arab uprisings.

Last year, 17 were killed in Syria.

One of them was award-winning French photojournalist Rémi Ochlik.

He was only 28-years-old.

Ochlik documented the revolutions in Tunisia, Egypt, and Libya.

Then last year, he headed out to Syria.

He made it to Homs late one night, as the city was under heavy shelling.

The very next day, on February 22, Ochlik was killed when a rocket hit the house he was holed up in with several other journalists.

American reporter Marie Colvin also died in the attack.

Ochlik is remembered by his colleagues as someone who felt invested in his mission: to tell the stories of the people at the heart of the conflicts.

One of his friends and colleagues is Belgo-Tunisian photojournalist Karim Ben Khelifa.

He runs a crowd-funding platform for visual journalism called Emphasis and has just published a book of photographs by Rémi Ochlik.

It’s called “Révolutions” and features Ochlik’s images of the Arab Spring.

Karim Ben Khelifa says it’s difficult to explain the urge many photojournalists like him have to risk their lives in war zones.

And in spite of the hardship of losing such a young and talented friend, Ben Khelifa says Ochlik’s decision to go to Syria was not a mistake.

“It is sad, but this how he decided to live and this is how he decided to die. And I think we can only be inspired by the commitment he had to the people.”

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The text below is a phonetic transcript of a radio story broadcast by PRI’s THE WORLD. It has been created on deadline by a contractor for PRI. The transcript is included here to facilitate internet searches for audio content. Please report any transcribing errors to theworld@pri.org. This transcript may not be in its final form, and it may be updated. Please be aware that the authoritative record of material distributed by PRI’s THE WORLD is the program audio.

Marco Werman: I’m Marco Werman and this is The World, a coproduction of the BBC World Service, PRI and WGBH in Boston. Many journalists have died covering the Arab uprisings. Last year, 17 were killed in Syria alone. One of them was award winning French photojournalist Remi Ochlik. He was 28 years old. Ochlik documented the revolutions in Tunisia, Egypt and Libya, then last year he headed out to Syria. He made it to Homs late one night as the city was under heavy shelling. The next day, on February 22, Ochlik was killed when a rocket hit the house he was holed up in with several other journalists. American reporter Marie Colvin also died in the attack. One of Ochlik’s colleagues is photojournalist Karim Ben Khelifa. He’s just published a book of Remi Ochlik’s photographs from the Arab Spring. It’s called Revolutions. Ben Khelifa describes himself as a conflict photographer.

Karim Ben Khelifa: I’ve covered a lot of countries the last 15 years and like most of us doing this job, I think Remi had a sense of purpose. He’s been photographing with a lot of emotions and managed to channel those emotions into his photography. He was someone good, he was someone young, passionate and compassionate. And as I explained for Remi, I think that’s valid for a lot of us is the remediation we have there is very unclear, but we feel we need to go there. We feel we need to photograph. We have this ability to transport people into stories, into realities. And photography is such a strong medium that you can speak to people in Japan, in Africa and here in the US. You can speak to basically anyone with photographs. So I think it’s very important to record and document what’s happening in the world and not everyone is able to go to war. So for the people who have that ability, they should do it. They should do it for the sake of the others.

Werman: Now you spoke with Remi a lot about what motivated him. If you had to describe him, what kind of guy was he?

Ben Khelifa: Someone very shy, someone very humble, extremely humble. He would hate to be in the center of the attention. As a star, Le Monde was contacting journalists on the ground in Libya just to see where the experience there. Le Monde is a big, big newspaper in France, very serious. And when they called Remi Ochlik to give his account he just said is it to talk about me or is it to talk about the Libyans? And it was about him, about his experience. And he said sorry, I’m here for the Libyans. So if you want to talk about them, I’d be happy…so it shows that the young photographers would pull out this kind of opportunities to talk about himself and his work, it was about the people and I think that’s a quality you need to have to do that.

Werman: Now this exhibit at the Art Institute of Boston and book of Remi’s photos, they depict the Arab uprising, the Arab Spring. It’s called Revolutions and you kind of get the sense that he began shooting the revolution in Tunisia as it began, and then he got caught up in it…on to Tahrir Square in Cairo, then Libya and finally Syria. What did he make of the uprising?

Ben Khelifa: I think the uprising no journalist has predicted what would have happened. And the domino effect of all those countries. So he tagged along that story and sticked to it in a very beautiful way. He was with the people. He was feeling their aspiration. He has been through you know, a tremendous experience and huge amount of danger, but he sticked to that story because he wanted to tell the story of those people…and paid the dearest price, his life.

Werman: We’ve seen so many photographs that have come out of the Arab uprising from Instagram to portraits, but what’s really striking with Remi Ochlik’s pictures is his dedication to the craft of photography. I think of the victorious Libyan rebels on the tank, it’s kind of like the light in that picture makes it feel like a painting. Or the man in the violent protest in Tahrir Square on his knees and fingers aloft in peace signs. How much was he journalist, how much was he an artist?

Ben Khelifa: Oh, there is no line there, you know. Art is something that is perceived by the others. It depends on your own motivation. I would never assume that Remi would think of himself as an artist. He was a journalist, he was a witness. Now, if people decide to look at it and find art, and find emotions and classify it this way, it belongs to the people. It doesn’t belong to him.

Werman: Now, there are three photos in the book that were actually recovered from Remi’s camera just after he was killed. They were recovered by photographer William Daniels who was also in Syria. So here are the pictures, I mean these were shot February 21, last year, and on February 22 Remi was hit by a rocket and killed instantly. When you look at these pictures now, Karim, what do you see knowing what you know would happen 24 hours later?

Ben Khelifa: It’s, it’s, it is terrible to put the fate of Remi with his photographs. I don’t think he would have liked people to kind of imagine the story that could go with that, that yes, this is a photograph of a funeral and that his last photograph was photographing other people dying for a cause.

Werman: This one features like 20 men hands crossed just looking at this coffin in the night.

Ben Khelifa: Yeah, and it is a tribute to himself.

Werman: This one, man in a kathia[?5:08] , a red kathia in the dark. You see just the head of his rifle kind of popping up over his shoulder. It’s almost like a ghost.

Ben Khelifa: Yeah, yeah, the last photograph Remi actually did, very haunting for anyone who knew him or anyone who knows that story.

Werman: I mean anyone who knew Remi was deeply disturbed by his death. He was young, a rising star, they say fearless; and many said the future was his. This for example, is from William, photographer William Daniels, who wrote “His death affected me a lot. He was becoming a little famous and I was sure he was about to work with magazines he dreamed of working for, like Time. We were excited about getting to Syria. I thought okay, we’re here, we’ve come for this to be inside Bab Amir, there was no time to think maybe we’d made a mistake coming.” So Karim, what do you think, was it a mistake for Remi to go there to Homs, to Bab Amir?

Ben Khelifa: No, it wasn’t a mistake. I mean everyone going at a war knows he can get injured, can get killed. It’s part of the decision. Remi was definitely not unaware of the danger. It is sad, but this is how he decided to live and this is how he decided to die. And I think we can only be inspired by the commitment he has to the people. He paid with his life, but no, it was definitely not a mistake.

Werman: Karim, thank you very much.

Ben Khelifa: My pleasure.

Werman: The book is title Revolutions. It’s by the late photographer Remi Ochlik. We were speaking with his friend and photojournalist, Karim Ben Khelifa. Thank you very much for coming in, Karim.

Ben Khelifa: Thank you very much to you.

Copyright ©2012 PRI’s THE WORLD. All rights reserved. No quotes from the materials contained herein may be used in any media without attribution to PRI’s THE WORLD. This transcript may not be reproduced, in whole or in part, without prior written permission. For further information, please email The World’s Permissions Coordinator at theworld@pri.org.

Rémi Ochlik’s photos of the Arab Spring are on exhibit at the Art Institute of Boston until February 22nd.

Every evening after work, Antonio Garrido takes care of the kids. His goats, that is. Two of them just gave birth and Barrido is busy bottle-feeding. “Animals are beautiful,” he says.

It’s work that represents the start of a new life for Garrido, who is from central Mexico. For years he and his wife lived in California, where he worked at a restaurant. Then, a decade ago, the couple visited Missouri and never turned back. Garrido says that his wife embraced life here. It was calm, no traffic, no street gangs. Garrido started a Tex-Mex restaurant, but then sold it to pursue what he did in his youth: farming.

Today, Garrido is a budding cattle and goat farmer with more than 100 acres of land, and he represents an increasing number of immigrant farmers taking root in the Midwest.

Latino farm owners are not new in places like California and Texas. But not so in Missouri, where immigrant-led farms represent just a tiny slice of farms overall. The operations are mostly small, with many immigrant farmers still working a second job to get by.

But a pilot project launched in January, and funded by the US Department of Agriculture, aims to support aspiring immigrant farmers in Nebraska and Missouri.

“You’re seeing an aging population and a lot of the younger folks in the labor market who are interested in farming tend to be folks from Latin America,” says Stephen Jeanetta, an assistant professor of rural sociology at the University of Missouri Extension and one of the project’s organizers.

The project consists of Saturday workshops at a southern Missouri library, with trainers coaching farmers on making business plans, networking and applying for loans. Hopes are that some farmers will become leaders and pass along what they learn.

Farmer Cirilo Salas is one of the trainees. On a recent morning he delivers breakfast to his flock of sheep. He is a natural at it, having worked farms all his life, from childhood in Mexico. But keeping livestock in the US does differ from Mexico, he says.

In Mexico, Salas was accustomed to letting animals graze freely. There was more land. But in the US, animals are fenced in and Salas must buy feed. It’s pricey.

Two years ago, when a major drought hit the Midwest, Salas lost nearly everything and had to sell most of his flock. To get by, he started working full-time at a feed company. And while Salas is in the US legally, the idea of seeking out government help intimidated him.

Russ Neill hopes to close the gap. He is a USDA loan agent who helps farmers recover from bad weather and get loans for land and equipment. He is also part of the immigrant-training project, which points farmers to USDA loan applications and other material available in Spanish. Neill says too often the language barrier creates a distance between himself and Latino farmers. “It is certainly a little frustrating,” Neill said.

Immigrant farmers can also face discrimination. The USDA is now compensating women and Latino farmers across the country who can claim that they were unfairly denied loans at some point from the 1980s up until 2000.

For farmer Antonio Garrido, operating a farm is more than a business venture, it is a source of pride. He once picked fruit as a teenager in California. Now, middle-aged, he just bought a new tractor. He remembers when the tractor was delivered to his day job, at an autobody shop. When Garrido went out to sign for the vehicle, his boss looked shocked. “You’re the one who bought the tractor?” he asked Barrido.

As for farmer Cirilo Salas, he soon hopes to become his own boss and farm full-time. When that moment comes, he vows to throw away his watch and work according to the sun.

Conservation groups and governments across Africa are struggling to police the poachers and protect the animals.

Now a wildlife conservancy in Kenya has purchased a drone to keep an eye on its precious residents.

Anchor Marco Werman speaks with Rob Breare, the head of strategy and innovation for the Ol Pejeta Conservancy in Kenya.

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The text below is a phonetic transcript of a radio story broadcast by PRI’s THE WORLD. It has been created on deadline by a contractor for PRI. The transcript is included here to facilitate internet searches for audio content. Please report any transcribing errors to theworld@pri.org. This transcript may not be in its final form, and it may be updated. Please be aware that the authoritative record of material distributed by PRI’s THE WORLD is the program audio.

Marco Werman: A word of caution for poachers beware the eye in the sky. The latest weapon against illegal ivory hunting in Kenya, is unmanned air craft. Conservation groups and governments across Africa have been struggling to police the poachers and protect the animals. But the stretches of land they patrol are enormous so a wildlife conservancy in Kenya has purchased a drone to keep an eye on its’ threatened residents. The conservancy crowd-sourced 45,000 dollars to help buy the drone. Rob Breare is with the Ol Pejeta Conservancy in Kenya. Breare says the drone will help keep an eye on endangered species at Ol Pejeta including 110 rhinos.

Rob Breare: We actually have quite a number of variety of rhinos. We’ve actually got four of the last seven Northern white rhino in the entire world in existence. Those animals actually have their own 24 hour armed guard to protect against poaching. The rest of them are very much spread around the conservancy but we know roughly where they are sort of patches are so we’ll be able to focus our drone flights and missions where the rhinos mostly spend their time.

Werman: Wow just four out of the seven of the worlds white rhinos. What about the others are they equally threatened?

Breare: Yeah equally threatened the Northern whites are a subspecies of the white rhino but the other ones you know at the moment I would say rhino are facing somewhat of a poaching onslaught. A lot of our sister conservancy right next door have been losing rhino regularly over the last few months. We can take our eye of the ball in one second and we really worry that we’re going to lose one of ours.

Werman: So the drone is going to be your eye in the sky. Who is going to be the eye on the ground looking at what the drone is looking at?

Breare: Well one of the big things we try to focus on is maximum simplicity. We can’t afford to have a fully qualified pilot sitting in the seat in HQ. What we’ve got is a very simple ground control system that is very much like a Google Earth interface point and click and what we’ll have is one of our trained members of staff sitting behind the laptop operating it. It’s incredibly simple.

Werman: So with this drone you spot poachers closing in on one of your rhinos then what do you do?

Breare: For us we’ve seen the drone benefits in three stages. The sheer deterrence factor, people know that there’s an eye in the sky they’re far less likely to try any poaching in the first place. After that for us it’s about observation. As you rightly say, if an incidence takes place our drone can do about 125 kilometers an hour so we can get it there very very quickly. That means we can guide our rangers in on the incidence and actually by having an eye in the sky for them it allows us to look after their protection and security as well. Ultimately, we don’t want it to be just about those poaching incidences we see this as a chance to track those animals collect some behavioral data and in even the long run help us with our tours and activities and things like visitor traffic flow.

Werman: Are there poaches you can identify from the air you think?

Breare: Our drone is equipped with a 20x zoom Sony block camera zoom so really very high resolution and we expect to be able to zoom in on faces from a reasonable altitude. We do obviously have individuals that we believe are involved in that kind of thing we’ll be keeping track. We are not the same as a military, we are not going for strike capability or anything along those lines. For us it is about deterrence and observation first and foremost.

Werman: So poaches are known to be pretty ruthless and determined are you worried at all about poaches shooting down your drones?

Breare: Well you know at the end of the day the drone is only about 10 feet long. It flies at 100 kilometers an hour at reasonable altitude so you’re going to have to have someone who’s quite a crack shot to be able bring something that small down.

Werman: Robert are you focusing on other animals or just rhinos?

Breare: No. No very much other animals. Our pets [sp] is home to a number of endangered species for example the Greby Sepra [sp] which there are only relatively few left in the world. We’re quite keen to chip and track a number of different species. It’s not just about protecting them hopefully that will give us some insight into animal movements and some behavior in the long run.

Werman: Rob Breare head of strategies and innovations for the Ol Pejeta Conservancy in Keyna and a drone to track endangered species is a great innovation Rob thanks for speaking with us. This is PRI.

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“It would be a lively pub,” says James Avery, a bartender at Mary Wards. “It’s one of these places you feel you can come to the pub, on your own, and have a bit of fun.”

But lately, Mary Wards hasn’t been as lively of a pub. Business is down, according to Avery, by about 20 percent. That’s in line with other rural Irish pubs.

The Vintner’s Federation represents Irish pubs, and the organization estimates the drop-off has been between 15-30 percent for 2012, although exact figures won’t be available until this April.

Farmers used to park tractors outside Mary Wards during lunch. The parking lot these days is empty during the day. (Photo: John Sepulvado)

The slowdown is being blamed, in large part, on transportation. Many longtime rural customers don’t want to drive to or from the pubs because they don’t want to get arrested for drunk-driving. The Irish government began implementing tougher drunk driving laws in 2005. The head of the Vintner’s Federation, Gerry Rafter, says it’s easy to understand the business hit by looking at the typical farmer.

“He might spend five hours in a night playing cards or chatting with his neighbor, and have two or three pints and drive home maybe on a bike, or maybe on a tractor,” Rafter says. “He’s not going out anymore. We need to keep the fabric of rural Ireland alive, and the pub is an important part to play in that community role.”

Some rural politicians have been quick to take up the call of the isolated farmer, as they push their local councils for looser drunk driving laws. The proposals vary, but generally most would allow local police or even bartenders to issue a type of rural driving permit, allowing the pub goer to consumer up to three drinks and still drive legally.

Kerry Councilor Danny Healey-Rae is leading the charge. He says because rural roads have lower speed limits and are less busy, slightly intoxicated drivers could still travel safely compared to their urban counterparts.

“They should be treated differently to the other general public that have more means of transport,” Healy-Rae says.

The problem is the numbers don’t bear Healy-Rae and others arguments out. Before the tougher drunk driving laws, there were about 400 crash related fatalities each year on Ireland roads. About 70 percent of those happened in rural areas between 9 p.m. and 3 a.m., prime drinking times.

Not one of those accidents, according to the National Roads Authority, involved a bicycle or tractor.

Meanwhile, in 2012 there were a record low 162 road fatalities in the entire country.

Many country roads in Ireland are barely large enough to fit one car on at a time. (Photo: John Sepulvado)

With those statistics on hand, the message from the government to the local politician has been ‘get real.’ Alan Shatter is Ireland’s Justice Minister, and he says the social lives of farmers don’t trump the possibility of drunk driving deaths.

“There’s no question, of this government, or indeed, any future government, facilitating individuals drinking in excess of the blood alcohol limits,” Shatter says. “Reducing fatalities on our roads must always take precedence over promoting the social consumption of alcohol.”

Kerry County councilors voted to let rural residents drive a bit drunker. The plan still needs central government approval, which Shatter has refused to grant.

Despite the objection of the central government, at least three other rural counties, including Galway, are considering similar measures to allow pub-goers to get special permits that would allow them to drive with a higher blood-alcohol level this month. While the proposals seem designed to highlight the plight of the rural pub-goer bartender James Avery says even if the law was changed customers would be resistant to driving drunk.

“Everything has gone too regimental now,” Avery says. “You’re being told to be home at such time. You can’t drink and drive. You’re relying on someone else to get you to the pub and from the pub? Why bother? Stay at home.”

Or, as one farmer at the pub put it, who is going to be dumb enough to go to the police station, tell the police they’d like to drink and drive, and ask for a special permit to do so?

People start lining up at 10 in the morning, and on steamy afternoons the lines can stretch well past the park gates. But at $.04 a scoop it’s well worth the wait, and Havaneros of all ages can be found eating upwards of 10 scoops per visit. It’s a treat, but it also provides a caloric boost to those who subsist on state rations of beans, rice, eggs, and bread.

The phenomenon began with Fidel Castro’s own love of ice cream. When the park first opened there were 54 flavors, including offerings like avocado and tomato. Pedro Zamora manages one of the lines in the park and he says Coppelia produces the best ice cream around.

“It’s very creamy, and made with quality ingredients,” Zamora says.

Problems with the US embargo make it difficult to get materials, but Coppelia has always maintained a high quality. It’s the cathedral of ice cream!” But these days the park usually only has two flavors — on this day guava and strawberry.

The park was named for Castro’s longtime aide Celia Sanchez. She was known for her love of dance, and Coppelia was her favorite ballet. The Coppelia ice cream park has also influenced Cuban pop culture… there’s a popular salsa move bearing its name, and the parlor played a starring role in one of Cuba’s best-loved films, “Strawberry and Chocolate.”

Coppelia’s enduring popularity is a source of great pride for Cubans. And there’s talk that Cuba might export the brand. Last March, Cuba’s close ally Venezuela announced that it’s planning a factory to produce Coppelia ice cream… though it’s not clear where or what flavors.

Salsa dance named after the park: