Sick Eyes

In the seven months since he was overthrown as El Salvador's president, diabetic, aging (60) General Salvador Castaneda Castro has occupied a cell in the capital's drab concrete Central Penitentiary. Cut off from his hair dye and face powder, the vain old man has watched his mane resume its whiteness, his complexion its Indian bronze. Guards passing his tidy cell peer in to see their model prisoner seated on an army cot, thumbing through his meager four-volume library as he awaits trial on charges of "colossal graft."

Last week, when court officials entered his cell to take a deposition, General Castaneda spoke up: "I respectfully request my immediate release. My eyes are sick. I fear I am going blind." The court appointed two doctors to examine him. Their report: a boyhood injury has all but robbed him of sight in his right eye, and a mucous membrane is rapidly covering the left. They recommended immediate surgery. At week's end, the court had yet to approve the recommendation.

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