NetNews Usenet Archive 1992 #16/NN_1992_16.iso/spool/misc/activism/progress/5268

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Subject: NY Nica News Update #129, 7/19/92
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/** reg.nicaragua: 100.0 **/
** Topic: Weekly News Update #129, 7/19/92 **
** Written  8:42 am  Jul 20, 1992 by nicanetny in cdp:reg.nicaragua **

     NICARAGUA SOLIDARITY NETWORK OF GREATER NEW YORK
   339 LAFAYETTE ST., NEW YORK, NY 10012 [phone]
           WEEKLY NEWS UPDATE #129, 7/19/92

In This Issue: (articles are posted as responses to this message)

     1. US Aid to Nicaragua Still on Hold
     2. Germany Pledges Aid to Nicaragua
     3. Spain to Train Nicaraguan Police
     4. Land Disputes Intensify in Nicaragua
     5. Delay on Nicaraguan Anti-Gay Law
     6. Nicaragua: Student Strike, Ortega Plot, etc.
     7. Haiti: Repression Grows, Aristide Negotiates
     8. Ruling Party Defeat in Mexico Elections
     9. Two-day General Strike in El Salvador
    10. One-day General Strike in Guatemala
    11. Panama: Police Crack Down on Jobless
    12. US Planning Military Base in Bolivia?
    13. In Other News: Peru, Mexico, Colombia
    14. Upcoming Events in the New York City Area

These updates are published weekly. A one-year subscription is
$25. Back issues and source materials are available on request.
(Many of our source materials are available on Peacenet.) Feel
free to reproduce these updates or reprint any information from
them, but please credit us. We welcome your comments and ideas:
send them via Peacenet to <nicanetny>.

** End of text from cdp:reg.nicaragua **

/** reg.nicaragua: 100.1 **/
** Written  8:42 am  Jul 20, 1992 by nicanetny in cdp:reg.nicaragua **

1. US AID TO NICARAGUA STILL ON HOLD
The US government is continuing to withhold $116 million in US
aid to Nicaragua, following recommendations by Sen. Jesse Helms
(R-NC) and ten other Republican senators. The ten--who include
Connie Mack (R-FL), Robert Smith (R-NH), Steven Symms (R-ID), Dan
Coats (R-IN), Hank Brown (R-CO) and Strom Thurmond (R-SC)--wrote
a letter to US AID Director Ronald Rosken calling for aid to be
held back until various conditions are met, such as removing
Sandinistas from positions of power in the army and police. "The
Sandinistas continue exporting arms to rebels in El Salvador and
Guatemala," the senators charged, claiming that these shipments
are "personally authorized by the Ortega brothers." [LADB 7/17/92
from IPS, AFP, ACAN-EFE, CAHI]

Wilfredo Navarro, spokesperson for the far rightwing Independent
Liberal Party (PLI), announced July 9 that Sen. Helms had invited
a delegation from the ruling UNO coalition to visit Washington in
order to report on how US aid to the Chamorro administration has
been used. Navarro also said that Helms would send some of his
aides to Managua to "verify on the spot" if the Chamorro
government had carried out "democratic transformations" since
coming to power. On July 12, US Rep. Cass Ballenger (R-NC) and
two congressional auditors arrived in Managua to investigate the
use of previously disbursed US aid to the Nicaraguan government.
[LADB 7/17/92 from IPS, AFP, ACAN-EFE, CAHI]

President Violeta Chamorro has responded publicly to the aid
crisis with a mixture of bravado and blind faith. "Nobody
pressures me," she said of conditions set for release of the aid.
"I do what I feel like doing. I don't live in the United States.
We are Nicaraguans. I don't have a US passport." Chamorro told
reporters that she doesn't fear that without US aid her
government might fall, "because I know that all of you are going
to work more and work telling the truth and helping this country
to plant the corn." [ED-LP 7/13/92 from AP] Chamorro also
invited Sen. Helms to visit Nicaragua when he recovers from his
heart surgery and said she was certain that if he visits, "God
will humanize" him. [CAHI Memo 6/25-7/1/92 from Barricada
6/26/92]

** End of text from cdp:reg.nicaragua **

/** reg.nicaragua: 100.2 **/
** Written  8:42 am  Jul 20, 1992 by nicanetny in cdp:reg.nicaragua **

2. GERMANY PLEDGES AID TO NICARAGUA
On July 10, the head of a five-member German parliamentary
delegation visiting Nicaragua, Harman Rind, announced that
Germany would continue to provide economic aid to Nicaragua and
that "German economic assistance will not be subject to the same
fate as aid from the US." Nicaraguan Foreign Cooperation Minister
Erwin Kruger said the delegation promised their government would
pardon $360 million of Nicaragua's $800 million debt with
Germany; Kruger also said the German government had already
approved some $40 million in economic aid to Nicaragua for 1992.
[LADB 7/17/92 from ACAN_EFE]

** End of text from cdp:reg.nicaragua **

/** reg.nicaragua: 100.3 **/
** Written  8:42 am  Jul 20, 1992 by nicanetny in cdp:reg.nicaragua **

3. SPANISH GOVERNMENT TO HELP TRAIN NICARAGUAN POLICE FORCE
Deputy Governance Minister Joaquin Lovo announced July 9 that
Spain would provide assistance to Nicaragua for establishing a
new police training academy. Lovo said the academy will help
"professionalize" the Nicaraguan police force through provision
of nine-month retraining courses for current police personnel as
well as training for 400 new recruits. Spanish government
representative Pedro Garcia told reporters that a group of
instructors would soon arrive in Nicaragua to initiate classes at
the academy, and that high-level police officers would be sent to
Madrid for special training. Garcia called what he had seen of
the Nicaraguan police, "a professional police force, with much
desire to work but with few resources at its disposal." [LADB
7/17/92 from IPS, AFP, ACAN-EFE, CAHI]

** End of text from cdp:reg.nicaragua **

/** reg.nicaragua: 100.4 **/
** Written  8:42 am  Jul 20, 1992 by nicanetny in cdp:reg.nicaragua **

4. LAND DISPUTES INTENSIFY IN NICARAGUAN COUNTRYSIDE
Struggles over land have grown extremely tense in recent weeks as
combined army and police troops continue to violently evict
agricultural workers from land they are occupying. At the end of
June, 300 troops seized the Santa Josefina Hacienda in Matagalpa,
evicting the workers, arresting four members of the Farmworkers
Association (ATC) and badly beating one of the four, Marcia
Aguilar. Matagalpa police chief Capt. Cesar Altamirano led the
attack. Vilma Nunez of the Nicaraguan Center for the
Investigation of Human Rights (CENIDH) said her organization is
investigating the incident. The former owner of Santa Josefina
was Salvador Amador Kuhl, brother of the MINGO (Governance or
Interior Ministry) regional delegate who ordered the attack.
[CAHI Memo #235 from Barricada] The government recently returned
the farm to Kuhl, who ordered the eviction. The land was given to
agricultural workers by the Sandinista government; Kuhl had
stripped the farm of everything valuable and moved to Miami after
the Sandinistas took power in 1979. [Nicaragua Network (DC)
Hotline 6/13/92]

Speaking in Jinotepe on the 13th anniversary of the liberation of
that city from Somoza's National Guard, FSLN Secretary General
Daniel Ortega warned Sandinista activists not to "fall into the
trap" of blaming the army or police for evictions in the
countryside. "We shouldn't attack the police and the army, but
rather the judge who orders the eviction," said Ortega. [CAHI
#236 from Barricada]

** End of text from cdp:reg.nicaragua **

/** reg.nicaragua: 100.5 **/
** Written  8:42 am  Jul 20, 1992 by nicanetny in cdp:reg.nicaragua **

5. DECISION ON NICARAGUAN ANTI-GAY LAW DELAYED
Article 205 of Nicaragua's revised penal code, the law that would
outlaw "inducing, promoting or practicing" homosexuality that was
passed by the National Assembly on June 11, has not yet been
signed or vetoed by President Chamorro. The National Assembly is
in recess until Aug. 3, and apparently went on recess without
giving the legislation to Chamorro. Once the Assembly reconvenes,
she will have 15 days to sign or veto the law. If she vetoes the
article, the Assembly would need 47 votes to override the veto:
the measure originally passed 43 to 39. (If she does not veto the
article, it will become law even without her signature.)
[International Gay and Lesbian Human Rights Commission (IGLHRC)
Press Release 7/13/92]

Since it is unclear whether Chamorro will sign or veto the law,
we urge activists to demand a veto: Article 205 clearly violates
the Inter-American Convention on Human Rights and the Nicaraguan
Constitution, which guarantees the right to privacy and the right
to organize without discrimination. So far, international protest
has been strong: an activist in England reports that the woman
handling press inquiries at the Nicaraguan Embassy in London has
been snowed under by letters, phone calls and faxes. More work
can be done collecting petition signatures and letters from
elected officials. For up-to-date information on actions
protesting Article 205 call the IGLHRC's Latin America
coordinator Enrique Asis at 415-255-8680 or the Nicaraguan
Lesbian and Gay Rights Information Line: 212-475-7159.
Correction: The correct name for the Nicaraguan Collective of
Homosexuals is SHOMOS.

** End of text from cdp:reg.nicaragua **

/** reg.nicaragua: 100.6 **/
** Written  8:42 am  Jul 20, 1992 by nicanetny in cdp:reg.nicaragua **

6. OTHER NICARAGUA NEWS
University students and workers declared a "state of emergency"
on July 2 and went on strike to demand that the government
allocate 6% of the national budget for higher education as
required by the Nicaraguan constitution. On July 8, some 5,000
students marched through the rain to protest; a number of other
demonstrations were held and pro-university graffiti is appearing
around Managua. [CAHI #236 from Barricada, La Prensa]...
Sandinista deputy Luis Figueroa has charged that a group of
rearmed former contras and rightwing politicians planned to
assassinate former president and Sandinista leader Daniel Ortega
on July 17 at a march in Juigalpa in central Nicaragua. Figueroa
said the would-be assassins believed that killing Ortega would
improve relations between the US and Nicaragua and lead
Washington to unfreeze its aid to Nicaragua. Figueroa gave no
further details and Juigalpa authorities said they were unaware
of the plot. [ED-LP 7/19/92 from AFP]... The Honduran navy
reported on July 15 that it is searching for four Honduran
fisherpeople who disappeared after their boat was sunk by the
Nicaraguan Coast Guard in the area of Cape Gracias a Dios on the
Caribbean coast on July 9. Honduran navy spokesperson Lt.
Mauricio Aleman said that "the Sandinista soldiers sunk the boat
Miss Sybil with nine fisherpeople on board and captured another
boat, the Caribean Wabe, with 25 people." Aleman said the other
five people on the sunk boat survived and have returned to
Honduras. [ED-LP 7/16/92 from AP]... Workers are on strike at 15
private and state-owned banana plantations administered by
BANANIC. The workers blame the government for bankrupting the
industry. If the strike continues, more than 130,000 boxes of
bananas, destined for the European market, may be lost. [CAHI
#236 from Barricada, La Prensa]

** End of text from cdp:reg.nicaragua **

/** reg.nicaragua: 100.7 **/
** Written  8:42 am  Jul 20, 1992 by nicanetny in cdp:reg.nicaragua **

7. HAITI: REPRESSION GROWS, ARISTIDE PUSHES FOR NEGOTIATIONS
About 60 police and armed civilians attacked a meeting of 300
university students in Port-au-Prince on July 15, arresting
dozens and firing into the crowd, wounding seven. The meeting was
called by Haiti's largest student organization, the National
Federation of Haitian Students (FENEH), to protest the de facto
government established by a military coup last fall. [Inter Press
Service 7/15/92]  A week earlier a supporter of deposed President
Jean-Bertrand Aristide, Carl Henri Richardson, was arrested and
tortured in Jean Rabel in northern Haiti after his application
for political asylum was turned down by a US consular office.
The Washington Office on Haiti calls for faxes to de facto Prime
Minister Marc Bazin (011-509-34-1980) and phone calls to the US
State Department (202-647-6575) to demand the release of
Richardson and the students. [WOH Action Alerts via NY Transfer
News Service 7/15/92, 7/16/92]  On July 15, the Dominican
Catholic station Radio Enriquillo told reporters that the
Dominican government threatened to shut it down if it didn't
suspend its Creole transmissions, which reach a large audience in
Haiti.  The station previously dropped its Creole news program
and now only broadcasts songs and biblical passages. [El Diario-
La Prensa 7/16/92]

The new acts of repression follow a strong diplomatic offensive
by the Aristide government, which has named a 10-member
commission to negotiate with all sectors of Haitian society,
including the army and Bazin, in an effort to restore Aristide to
power.  The commission was to be preceded by an OAS (Organization
of American States) mission headed by OAS Secretary-General Joao
Baena Soares (although as of July 15 it was unclear whether the
mission would be allowed to enter the country). [IPS 7/15/92]
Aristide talked to Assistant Secretary of State Lawrence
Eagleburger in Washington on July 10 in an hour-long meeting
described as "fruitful," and AP reports that "top Bush
administration officials were said to be enthusiastic about the
[Aristide] plan."  Haitian observers feel that the Aristide
forces have seized the initiative and made a preemptive move
against US charges of inflexibility.  Port-au-Prince Mayor Evans
Paul says that business sectors can't get their businesses going
"without social peace, and there won't be peace without
Aristide."  Others suggest that George Bush wants an end to the
Haitian crisis before the US election campaign starts in earnest.
[Haiti en Marche 7/15-22/92]

But the US may be keeping other options open.  During the June
29-July 2 Caribbean summit, Prime Minister of Dominica Eugenia
Charles called for a military intervention in Haiti and an
ongoing military presence to ensure peace and security for the
rest of Aristide's term. [Haitian Press Agency 6/29-7/5/92 via
Asociacion Latinoamericana de Informacion]  Charles, known as the
"Iron Lady of the Caribbean," was a leading supporter of the US
invasion of Grenada in 1982.  (It should also be noted that
Eagleburger, who is increasingly involved in the Haitian crisis,
is a former US ambassador to what was until recently Yugoslavia.)

** End of text from cdp:reg.nicaragua **

/** reg.nicaragua: 100.8 **/
** Written  8:42 am  Jul 20, 1992 by nicanetny in cdp:reg.nicaragua **

8. Ruling Party Defeated in Mexican Elections
Elections for governors of two Mexican states were held July 12.
In the northern state of Chihuahua, the ruling Institutional
Revolutionary Party (PRI) quickly conceded defeat to the
rightwing National Action Party (PAN). Abstention was 40%. In
Michoacan, the vote count is going slowly and despite charges of
fraud and indications of a possible victory by the center-left
Democratic Revolutionary Party (PRD), the PRI is claiming that it
has won. The PRI has controlled Mexico's federal government for
63 years and has only admitted defeat in three elections for
state governor--all three to the PAN: Baja California in 1990,
Guanajuato in 1991 (where the PAN won a de facto victory after
elections there were annulled) and now Chihuahua. [Inter Press
Service 7/13/92]

PRD leader Cuauhtemoc Cardenas charged that one third of
Michoacan's 1.5 million registered voters were prevented from
voting or were wrongly or fraudulently registered. The PRD called
on its supporters to celebrate the victory of its candidate
Cristobal Arias [IPS 7/13/92], saying that with 60% of the votes
counted, it led the PRI by some 13,000 votes. [report from PRD
member Carlos Imaz on Peacenet] The PRI says that with 70% of the
vote counted in Michoacan, it had defeated the PRD 62% to 32%.
[IPS 7/13/92]

Mexican political analyst Mauricio Espejel said, "The PRI will
capitalize on its acceptance of defeat in Chihuahua to whitewash
its image in the area of democratization...." And "by clinging to
its claim of victory in Michoacan, it will try to liquidate the
political figure of Cuauhtemoc Cardenas as a possible opposition
candidate for the 1994 [presidential] elections." [IPS 7/13/92]
Cardenas narrowly lost the 1988 presidential elections amid
charges of widespread fraud by the PRI. Michoacan is Cardenas'
home state; he himself served as governor there for a term in
1980 before he leaving the PRI to form the PRD. [Pacific News
Service from Peacenet, 7/19/92]

Meanwhile, US President George Bush and Mexican President Carlos
Salinas de Gortari met in San Diego July 15 to announce a major
breakthrough in negotiations for the North American Free Trade
Agreement (NAFTA). "We are entering the top of the ninth inning
on negotiations," Bush told reporters before attending the All-
Star game that night. [NYT 7/17/92] The PRI's electoral defeat in
Chihuahua will prove useful in silencing US criticisms of Mexican
electoral fraud as the NAFTA talks progress. The PAN's victory in
Chihuahua is also not a threat to NAFTA, since free trade and
privatizations are issues on which the PAN and the PRI agree
completely. [IPS 7/13/92]

** End of text from cdp:reg.nicaragua **

/** reg.nicaragua: 100.9 **/
** Written  8:43 am  Jul 20, 1992 by nicanetny in cdp:reg.nicaragua **

9. TWO-DAY GENERAL STRIKE IN EL SALVADOR
In El Salvador, 150,000 workers held a two-day general strike
July 13-14 to demand an increase in the minimum wage (now $120 a
month), Christmas bonuses, and the participation of the business
sector in concertacion (social pact) discussions with unions and
government, and to protest a newly approved 12% value added tax.
(The business sector has so far refused to participate in the
talks.) An emergency meeting held just before the strike between
the unions--represented by the Intergremial umbrella group--and
the government led to a commitment to avoid confrontations during
the two-day protest action. [IPS 7/13/92; El Salvador Information
Office (ESIO) Radio News 7/13/92]

** End of text from cdp:reg.nicaragua **

/** reg.nicaragua: 100.10 **/
** Written  8:43 am  Jul 20, 1992 by nicanetny in cdp:reg.nicaragua **

10. ONE-DAY GENERAL STRIKE IN GUATEMALA
In Guatemala, a wave of strikes by public sector workers in
different departments of the government culminated in a 24-hour
general strike on July 13. The workers were demanding wage
increases and protesting the repeal of a labor law--passed by the
last administration--which granted them compensation for length
of service. The law has been replaced by one granting a yearly
bonus worth one month's salary. Some 80% of the more than 165,000
state workers stayed off the job during the strike, according to
FENASTEG, the public sector union federation. Facing the prospect
of another planned strike--this one for 48 hours--the government
reached an agreement with the workers on July 16, granting them
wage increases between 18% and 22% (the unions had demanded 83%).
[ED-LP 7/14/92 from AP, 7/17/92 from AFP; Cerigua Weekly Briefs
7/5-11/92]

** End of text from cdp:reg.nicaragua **

/** reg.nicaragua: 100.11 **/
** Written  8:43 am  Jul 20, 1992 by nicanetny in cdp:reg.nicaragua **

11. PANAMA: POLICE CRACK DOWN ON UNEMPLOYED
Tension is growing in Panama's Caribbean port city of Colon after
police killed a young passerby during a July 6 demonstration
called by the Colon Movement of the Unemployed (MODESCO). MODESCO
leader Itzel Tingling said the bullet that killed Marja Colonje
was actually intended for her, but that she managed to get out of
the way. The government is blaming MODESCO for the woman's death
and has ordered the organization's entire leadership arrested.
Two MODESCO leaders were arrested July 14 as they were leaving
the San Jose church, where they had taken refuge.

MODESCO--made up of young unemployed job-seekers--and the Broad
Front for the Salvation of Colon (FRASCO) have been organizing
protests to demand the government comply with promises it made in
May to bring jobs and investment to Colon and ban evictions from
state-owned housing. The once-prosperous city is home to 5% of
Panama's population and 25% of the nation's unemployed people.
[IPS 7/9/92, 7/10/92, 7/14/92] As MODESCO leaders were being
arrested, elsewhere in Colon employees of the "Green Bay"
assembly company in Colon's Free Zone locked in the company's
proprietors, accusing them of not responding to their demands.
[IPS 7/14/92]

** End of text from cdp:reg.nicaragua **

/** reg.nicaragua: 100.12 **/
** Written  8:43 am  Jul 20, 1992 by nicanetny in cdp:reg.nicaragua **

12. US PLANNING MILITARY BASE IN BOLIVIA?
A Bolivian legislator has charged that the US is planning to
create a military base in the Amazon on the pretext of fighting
drug trafficking. Gregorio Lanza reported that large US Air Force
transport planes have landed in the Bolivian town of Santa Cruz
more than ten times over just a few days. Lanza, who based his
report on an "important secret source," also stated that more
than 150 US soldiers are carrying out a top secret military
operation, supposedly to occupy an area in the region. The
Bolivian government admitted that it does not know the contents
of the huge crates seen being taken from the US aircraft. "You
don't look a gift horse in the mouth," said Bolivian Foreign
Minister Ronald MacLean.

** End of text from cdp:reg.nicaragua **

/** reg.nicaragua: 100.13 **/
** Written  8:43 am  Jul 20, 1992 by nicanetny in cdp:reg.nicaragua **

13. IN OTHER NEWS...
As many as 30 people were killed and 140 wounded in Lima, Peru
when Sendero Luminoso (Shining Path) guerrillas exploded several
car bombs in the wealthy suburb of Miraflores on July 16. The
bombings are part of a campaign by the Maoist insurgents to step
up attacks in the capital city. Police arrested two suspects in
the bombings. [NYT 7/18/92 from AP, 7/19/92 from Reuters]... In
Mexico on July 14, at least two prisoners were killed and six
wounded during a riot in the prison of Michoacan's capital city
Morelia. Police said the riot might have been an attempt by
prisoners to escape. [ED-LP 7/15/92 from AFP]... The FBI has
admitted that its agents kidnapped two Colombians in February of
1991 in Venezuela. The FBI said the two were taken out of
Venezuela on board a US boat and transferred to a US Coast Guard
vessel. The Colombian government is now demanding an explanation
from US authorities about the kidnapping, which it calls a
violation of its sovereignty. [World Perspectives from Radio
Havana Cuba 7/10/92]

** End of text from cdp:reg.nicaragua **

/** reg.nicaragua: 100.14 **/
** Written  8:43 am  Jul 20, 1992 by nicanetny in cdp:reg.nicaragua **

14. UPCOMING EVENTS IN THE NEW YORK CITY AREA
For more information, call NSN at 212-674-9499. Events listed and
flyers enclosed are not necessarily endorsed by the Nicaragua
Solidarity Network.

7/24-25 FRI-SAT - From Columbus to Castro, a conference to
examine 500 years of Euro-Yankee domination in the Americas. $15.
Medgar Evers College, 1650 Bedford Ave in Brooklyn. Call 212-330-
8277, 718-789-7322 or 718-629-2498.

7/25 SAT, 1-3 PM - Demonstration Demanding Amnesty for Puerto
Rican Political Prisoners and Prisoners of War, sponsored by the
Comite de Afirmacion Puertorriquena. 25 Federal Plaza.

7/25 SAT, 5 PM - Conference of Youth Against Police Brutality.
Sherman Day Care Center, 920 Sherman Ave betw. 162 & 163 in the
Bronx. Call 212-614-6482.

7/25 SAT, 9 PM - Casa de las Americas Moncada Day Dance with live
band Cultura 82. $10 donation. 235 W 23rd St betw. 7th & 8th.

7/26 SUN, 1 PM - Radical Walking Tour of Greenwich Village. Meet
at Sheridan Square. $6. Call 718-492-0069 for more information.
** End of text from cdp:reg.nicaragua **