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- From: nicanet%nyxfer%igc.apc.org@MIZZOU1.missouri.edu (NicaNet NY)
- Subject: NicaNet NY Weekly Update #151 12/20/92
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- Via The NY Transfer News Service * All the News that Doesn't Fit
-
- Nicaragua Solidarity Network of Greater New York
- 339 Lafayette St., New York, NY 10012 (212) 674-9499
-
- WEEKLY NEWS UPDATE #151, DECEMBER 20, 1992
-
- In This Issue:
-
- 1. Nicaragua Still Seeking US Aid
- 2. Sandinista News Program Kicked Off Government TV
- 3. Strike Wave Slows Down in Nicaragua
- 4. UNO Chooses Candidate for Nicaraguan Assembly President
- 5. Nicaragua's 1992 Growth Rate Far Below Predictions
- 6. Nicaraguan President Visited by UN Secretary General
- 7. Salvadoran Civil War Officially Ends
- 8. Mexico: US vs. Alvarez Machain Laughed Out of Court
- 9. Haiti: Regime Steps Up Repression of Youth
- 10. Solarz and Torricelli Advise Clinton on Haiti Policy
- 11. Army Burns and Destroys Guatemalan Communities
- 12. Mayor Murdered in Honduras
- 13. Honduran Banana Workers Strike Standard Fruit
- 14. Union Leader Assassinated in Peru
- 15. Indigenous People Attacked in Ecuador
- 16. Panamanian Vice President Quits
- 17. NAFTA Is Signed; Asia and Eastern Europe to Join?
- 18. Puerto Rican Election Recount: Environmentalist Gains
- 19. Contragate: CIA's George Convicted, Poindexter Still Free
- 20. Judge Rules US Prisons Not Fit for POW Noriega
- 21. In Other News: Cuba, Venezuela, Colombia & Uruguay
- 22. Upcoming Brigades and 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 accessed through NY Transfer;
- back issues are also available on NY Transfer's OnLine Library.)
- 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 NY Transfer to <nicanet%nyxfer@igc.apc.org>.
-
- 1. NICARAGUA STILL SEEKING US AID
-
- Nicaraguan President Violeta Chamorro has begun a new diplomatic
- offensive to seek US funds for her government. Chamorro announced
- on Dec. 13 that she would send Presidency Minister Antonio Lacayo
- to Washington the following weekend (Dec. 19-20) to urge the
- release of $50 million in 1992 aid still frozen. Lacayo will also
- have the task of exploring the prospects of US aid for next year
- with the new team of President-elect Bill Clinton. [El Diario-La
- Prensa (NY) 12/14/92 from AP]
-
- 2. SANDINISTA NEWS PROGRAM KICKED OFF GOVERNMENT TV
-
- On Dec. 17, Nicaraguan state-run TV station Channel 6 decided to
- shut down the Sandinista news program "Extravision," saying it
- had not paid $120,000 it owed the station. Extravision director
- Manuel Espinoza said the program was closed "for political
- motives" and that the debt charge is simply a pretext to stop the
- broadcasting of the daily news program on state TV. Ernesto
- Robleto, the government's information and press director, said
- that a year ago the government had negotiated with Espinoza and
- reached a solution to the problem, which he termed "strictly
- business."
-
- Robleto explained, "The government cannot subsidize Extravision
- and we told them that they had to pay an installment of 100,000
- cordobas ($20,000), and they didn't comply... everything has a
- limit." Luis Angel Berrios, president of the National Union of
- Journalists (UPN), Nicaragua's most important reporters'
- organization, called the closing of Extravision a "trampling of
- freedom of the press." If the problem with Channel 6 is not
- resolved, Espinoza has the option of showing Extravision on
- Channel 4, the new Sandinista station [Diario Las Americas
- (Miami) 12/19/92 from EFE], which according to what seems to be a
- rightwing news service used by Diario Las Americas, is
- characterized by its reduced visibility, even in the Managua
- area. [DLA 12/19/92, "Del Noticiero Nicaraguense"]
-
- 3. STRIKE WAVE SLOWS DOWN IN NICARAGUA
-
- On Dec. 3 and 4, a protest by National Workers Front (FNT)
- members who were trying to block major streets in Managua was
- broken up violently by Nicaraguan police; a number of workers
- were detained briefly. The actions were part of a national strike
- wave called by the FNT, which according to Nick Cooke of the
- Central American Historical Institute, appears to be having
- trouble getting off the ground. A partial strike in the hospital
- sector continued, meanwhile, and customs workers won a settlement
- the union called "highly positive" after agreeing to hold a one-
- day work stoppage on Dec. 9. A strike in the sugar mills ended
- Dec. 5 with a partial settlement of the union's demands and an
- agreement to continue negotiations. A strike at the electric
- company (INE) also ended after a series of negotiations. [CAHI
- Memo #257, 12/3-9/92]
-
- On Dec. 12, police freed 200 workers who had been arrested after
- occupying a government building to demand the payment of back
- salary owed to them. The workers were released after negotiations
- between the government and the FNT, while former president Daniel
- Ortega urged the union to not provoke clashes with police. [La
- Jornada (Mexico) 12/13/92 from EFE, AP]
-
- 4. UNO CHOOSES ITS CANDIDATE FOR NICARAGUAN ASSEMBLY PRESIDENT
-
- The National Opposition Union (UNO), Nicaragua's 12-party ruling
- coalition, elected Social Christian deputy Luis Humberto Guzman
- as its candidate to replace Alfredo Cesar as president of the
- National Assembly, legislative sources announced on Dec. 18.
- Guzman, head of the Social Christian bloc in the Assembly, will
- run in the Jan. 9 elections for Assembly president against
- socialist Gustavo Tablada of the so-called "center group" of UNO
- deputies, which has aligned itself with the government against
- the more rightwing UNO deputies led by Cesar. [DLA 12/19/92 from
- EFE]
-
- On Dec. 13, the Nicaraguan Social Christian Party proposed a
- patriotic treaty to save Nicaragua, consisting of abstention from
- all political campaigns of attacks, counter-attacks, virulent
- discourses, use of demagogy, strikes, terrorism and all
- activities which promote instability in the country. [La Jornada
- 12/13/92 from EFE, AP]
-
- 5. NICARAGUA'S 1992 GROWTH RATE FAR BELOW PREDICTIONS
-
- On Dec. 4, the government issued a report on economic performance
- for 1992 which showed that the annual Gross Domestic Product
- (GDP) growth rate this year will only reach 0.4%, far below the
- target of 4% to 5% set at the beginning of the year (and even
- below the 1.25% expected growth rate for this year cited by
- Foreign Minister Erwin Kruger on Nov. 13 (see Update #147)).
- Government economic planners project GDP growth of 3.4% in 1993.
- (In November, Economy Minister Julio Cardenas had said "the
- economy will grow between 4 and 5% at least" in 1993 (see Update
- #147.))
-
- For 1993, the government's public investment program is projected
- at $280 million, 56% of which will go to infrastructure, 26% to
- promote production, and 16% for social projects. According to the
- report, next year the government plans to expand programs in
- education, health and family planning in an effort to bring down
- the rate of maternal mortality and slow population growth, which
- is estimated at about 3.4% per year. [LADB 12/18/92 from AFP]
-
- 6. NICARAGUAN PRESIDENT VISITED BY UN SECRETARY GENERAL
-
- President Chamorro announced Dec. 14 that UN Secretary General
- Butros Butros-Ghali would arrive in Managua Dec. 16 for a brief
- visit. Chamorro said the arrival of Butros-Ghali "is good news"
- and constitutes "support for Nicaragua." Chamorro said she would
- lunch with the UN chief on Dec. 16 and would discuss various
- themes with him. [ED-LP 12/15/92 from AP]
-
- 7. SALVADORAN CIVIL WAR OFFICIALLY ENDS
-
- On Dec 15 in San Salvador, after the FMLN rebels demobilized
- their last contingent of some 1,800 combatants and turned in
- their last cache of weapons to the UN, both the government of
- President Alfredo Cristiani and the followers of the FMLN
- celebrated the official end of the civil war in separate
- celebrations. The joint official "Act of Reconciliation" was
- attended by UN Secretary General Boutros Boutros-Ghali and US
- Vice President Dan Quayle. Also in attendance were Presidents
- Violeta Chamorro of Nicaragua and Jorge Serrano of Guatemala. At
- the ceremony, Quayle announced that the US would forgive $446
- million, or 75% of El Salvador's debt resulting from the war.
- [ED-LP 12/15/92 for AP, WP 12/16/92, Proceso 542-12/9/92]
-
- Even with the debt relief, however, the situation is far from
- promising. Economic policymakers have been unable to stabilize
- the exchange rate, which exceeded 9.30:1, a 15% increase since
- June. The inflation rate reached 17%, the highest since December
- 1990. Unemployment is at 52% and only 30% of those employed
- receive enough to meet their basic needs.
-
- There are some 260,000 families without land in a country of some
- five million people. Two percent of the population controls 60%
- of the arable land. According to the accords, a total of 407,000
- acres is to be distributed. All state properties exceeding 2.47
- acres are to be distributed and private landlords who volunteer
- will have their land purchased for redistribution. While those
- with poorer quality land are willing to sell at the government
- offer, the better land belongs to big landlords who are demanding
- a higher price.
-
- In early 199l there were some 48 land occupations by peasants.
- On Oct. 22 of this year the FMLN issued a statement calling on
- peasants to cease land occupations to facilitate the accords.
- With the new efforts toward "concertacion"--reconciliation of all
- sectors of Salvadoran society--the FMLN also considers strikes,
- as well as factory occupations, as obstacles to fulfilling the
- accords. [Proceso 542-12/15/92]
-
- 8. MEXICO: US VS. ALVAREZ MACHAIN LAUGHED OUT OF COURT
-
- In uniquely embarrassing development for the US government, on
- Dec. 14 in Los Angeles US District Judge Edward Rafeedie
- dismissed as "suspicions and hunches," "whole cloth" and "the
- wildest speculation" US prosecutors' case against Mexican
- gynecologist Humberto Alvarez Machain. The US had charged that
- Alvarez Machain assisted in the 1985 torture death of Drug
- Enforcement Administration (DEA) official Enrique "Kiki" Camarena
- Salazar in Guadalajara. US officials paid Mexican police officers
- to kidnap Alvarez Machain in April, 1990, and bring him to the
- US, in defiance of US-Mexican extradition accords. When appeals
- courts threw the case out, the government won a Supreme Court
- decision last Jun 15 upholding the US's to kidnap foreign
- nationals in violation of international laws. [New York Times
- 12/15/92; Washington Post 12/15/92]
-
- But once Alvarez Machain went to trial on Dec. 2, it turned out
- that the government didn't have a case. After two weeks the
- prosecution team rested without establishing any of their
- charges: that Alvarez Machain was present when the murder took
- place, that he had used a syringe found at the murder site, or
- that Alvarez or anybody else had injected Camarena with drugs to
- keep him alive during the torture, since the autopsy found no
- sign of drugs or of punctures. The witnesses against Alvarez
- Machain were mostly convicted criminals who received a total of
- $2.7 million for their testimony. [La Jornada (Mexico) 12/13/92]
- Moreover, as Judge Rafeedie revealed on Dec. 16, a Mexican
- informant told US investigators last September that Alvarez
- Machain was the wrong man. Rafeedie scolded the prosecutors for
- not sharing the information with the defense, as required by law.
- [NYT 12/17/92; WP 12/17/92] Judge Rafeedie was appointed to the
- federal bench by Ronald Reagan. [WP 12/17/92]
-
- After his acquittal on Dec. 14, the US Immigration and
- Naturalization Service (INS) seized Alvarez Machain and held him
- at the Los Angeles airport, claiming that he was an illegal
- immigrant. He was finally put on a plane for Mexico just before
- midnight without being allowed to see his lawyers. [NY Daily News
- 12/16/92 from AP; WP 12/16/92 from Reuter] Upon his arrival in
- Mexico City, the doctor was interrogated by the Mexican attorney
- general's office. Mexican investigators said they wouldn't bring
- charges against Alvarez Machain in the Camarena case, but that
- they would seek extradition of two DEA agents, Antonio Garate and
- Hector Berrellez, in the doctor's kidnapping. [WP 12/16/92] The
- Camarena trial is continuing for Alvarez Machain's codefendant,
- Mexican businessman Ruben Zuno Arce. [NYT 12/15/92]
-
- 9. HAITI: REGIME STEPS UP REPRESSION OF YOUTH
-
- The de facto Haitian government, installed by a military coup in
- the fall of 1991, has been moving recently to consolidate control
- over the state university. In late November Education Minister
- Max Carre disbanded the elected student-faculty councils at the
- teachers college and the two liberal arts schools; in December,
- the government closed down two of these schools, announcing that
- they would be reopened with new enrollments. On Dec. 1 the
- Education Ministry replaced the dean of the agriculture school;
- when the students demonstrated that day, soldiers beat more than
- sixty of the protestors. Eighteen students are still missing. On
- Dec. 12 police arrested two students from the teachers college.
- They remain in custody, as do three high school students arrested
- Nov. 27. The government followed up the repression with the Dec.
- 10 appointment of Gerard Bissainthe as rector of the university.
- Bissainthe worked as information minister in the first government
- formed after the coup and is a well-known opponent of university
- autonomy.
-
- The repression at the university seems in line with the designs
- of de facto Prime Minister Marc Bazin, a longtime US favorite who
- was appointed to his current position by the military last June
- and who has been working hard to impose direct control over a
- number of government agencies, including the Tax and Accounting
- Office, the Education Ministry and the Electoral Council. Losing
- support from army head General Raoul Cedras--who made remarks in
- November about "personalist" and "electionist" polticians--Bazin
- may be trying to build up his power base in the hopes of keeping
- his position if elected President Jean-Bertrand Aristide returns
- to office. [Haiti Info Bulletin #9 12/19/92]
-
- Two human rights coalitions, the Haitian Platform for the Defense
- of Human Rights aand the Private Development Organizations
- Committee (Inter-OPD), released a report on Dec. 10 detailing
- government human rights abuses since the coup. The groups say
- they have documented 1,867 illegal executions as of November
- (they estimate that a total of 3,000 have taken place), 5,096
- illegal arrests, and 2,482 illegal searches with damage to
- persons or property. They say 45% of the victims were under the
- age of 25, with 15% under 15. In a recent case, armed men rounded
- up seven youths north of Port-au-Prince on the morning of Dec. 6,
- shot them and buried them. One, 20-year-old Jean Sony Philogene,
- survived and escaped; later in the day, five armed men found him
- in the Canape Vert hospital and shot him dead while his
- grandmother was visiting him. The military explained later that
- the young men had been drug dealers. [Haiti Info Bulletin #9
- 12/19/92; Inter Press Service 12/10/92]
-
- 10. SOLARZ AND TORRICELLI ADVISE CLINTON ON HAITI POLICY
-
- The Washington Post reports that "many prominent Democrats" are
- urging Bill Clinton to make a "dramatic gesture" on Haiti before
- his inauguration in order to forestall an "exodus from Haiti on
- the scale of the 1980 boatlift that brought thousands to this
- country from Mariel, Cuba." The Clinton team has outlined a
- variety of options, including a tightening of the year-old trade
- embargo against Haiti or the use of UN military intervention to
- restore the elected government. Other options include dropping
- Aristide, describedMIRROR as "a radical priest with anti-American
- leanings" whose "strident populism led the Haitian armed forces
- to seize power." (Bazin, by contrast, is described as "well-known
- and well-regarded in the United States.") In this plan, former
- president Jimmy Carter or former UN ambassador Andrew Young would
- be sent to warn Aristide to be "more cooperative" or lose US
- backing.
-
- The Post reports that the Clinton people are asking for advice
- from several members of Congress, including Rep. Charles Rangel
- (D-NY), Rep. Robert Torricelli (D-NJ), ex-Rep. Michael Barnes (D-
- MD), and Stephen Solarz (D-NY), who recently visited Haiti.
- [12/20/92] Torricelli is the author of the anti-Cuba "Torricelli
- Bill"; Solarz, driven from Congress in the fall by the House
- check bouncing scandal and by Latino voters in New York City, has
- been a forceful proponent of Bush-Reagan military interventions.
-
- 11. ARMY BURNS AND DESTROYS GUATEMALAN COMMUNITIES
-
- From Nov. 21 to Dec. 1, some 450 members of the Guatemalan
- military carried out an operation in the northern Ixcan area
- directed against the 600 residents of the civilian communities of
- Cuarto Pueblo and Los Angeles, part of the Communities of People
- in Resistance (CPR). Using the infamous "scorched earth" policies
- it was famous for in the early 1980s, "the army demolished
- everything," according to the Guatemalan Human Rights Commission,
- "set the houses on fire, killed the animals and destroyed all the
- work materials, household utensils, clothes, blankets, etc.
- Furthermore, they robbed all that was of value and destroyed the
- crops." The 70 families who lived in the communities managed to
- escape just before the army arrived, and they fled on foot into
- Chiapas, Mexico.
-
- The Commission for the Defense of Human Rights in Central America
- (CODEHUCA) and the National Network in Solidarity with the People
- of Guatemala (NISGUA) are asking that people contact Guatemalan
- officials to denounce the attacks and call for respect for human
- rights. Please send messages to President Jorge Serrano Elias
- (fax #(5022) 536472 or 519702); Defense Minister Jose Domingo
- Garcia (fax #(5022) 537472); and Human Rights Ombudsman Lic.
- Ramiro de Leon Carpio (fax #(5022) 512026). CODEHUCA also urges
- concerned individuals to pressure their governments to break
- military ties with Guatemala. Information concerning US military
- aid is available from PACCA at 1506 19th St. NW, Ste. 2,
- Washington DC 20036. [CODEHUCA Urgent Communique 12/16/92; NISGUA
- Rapid Response Alert 12/17/92 (both posted on NY Transfer]
-
- 12. MAYOR MURDERED IN HONDURAS
-
- Dario Urbina, mayor of the northern Honduran town of Yoro, was
- shot by unknown assailants on the night of Dec. 17 and died the
- following morning. Urbina was known as a defender of the human
- rights of indigenous people; in September he had told reporters
- that he could identify the killers of Xicaque indigenous leader
- Vicente Matute, who was murdered in September of 1991. Xicaque
- Tribes Federation secretary general Mauricia Castro told Inter
- Press Service that Urbina had accused well-known cattle ranchers
- and military officials in the area of masterminding Matute's
- assassination, and "that's the reason they murdered him too."
- [IPS 12/19/92]
-
- 13. HONDURAN BANANA WORKERS STRIKE STANDARD FRUIT
-
- A strike by some 2,000 banana plantation workers employed by the
- Standard Fruit Company in Honduras entered its third week on Dec.
- 16. When negotiations reached an impasse, union leaders and
- company representatives called for direct mediation by Honduran
- President Rafael Callejas. By Dec. 16, union and company
- representatives had reached tentative agreement on 20 of the 28
- labor demands. But the remaining eight points are the most
- difficult to resolve, including one related to employment
- guarantees. Standard, a subsidiary of US-based Castle & Cooke,
- plans to shut down several plantations where it says the company
- is losing money due to low productivity. The unions oppose the
- plans, since they include massive employee layoffs. [LADB
- 12/18/92 from ACAN-EFE]
-
- 14. UNION LEADER ASSASSINATED IN PERU
-
- On Dec 18, Pedro Huilca, secretary general of the Workers General
- Confederation of Peru (CGTP), was shot to death by a group of
- armed men. Huilca had been for many years a leader of the working
- class, especially during the previous administration of President
- Alan Garcia, who used to consult him frequently and elected him
- director of the Housing Bank. Huilca was a member of the orthodox
- Communist Party which he always defended; he was elected six
- months ago to his position in the CGTP where he criticized the
- neoliberal policies of President Alberto Fujimori and organized
- many 24-hour strikes which failed. On Dec. 17, he had led a small
- protest in Lima against the government. Analysts predicted the
- eventual disappearance of the CGTP.
-
- President Fujimori condemned the crime and blamed the Maoist
- rebel group Sendero Luminoso (Shining Path) for the killing.
- Sendero Luminoso had criticized Huilca's friendship with ex-
- president Garcia and had accused him of "selling out the
- workers," and Huilca was a confessed opponent of Sendero. But
- Peruvian unions, who face death threats from Sendero, are asking
- for a thorough investigation to discard questions about the
- possible participation of a rightwing commando. Garcia blamed
- Fujimori for Huilca's death: "They had threatened him and now
- they have killed him the same way they machine-gunned 17 other
- people in the massacre of Barrios Altos." [ED-LP 12/20/92 from
- AFP, AP, Notimex] (A rightwing "anti-terrorist" group claimed
- responsibility for the Nov. 3, 1991, massacre at Barrios Altos in
- Lima. [ED-LP 11/6/92, 11/8/92 from AFP])
-
- 15. INDIGENOUS PEOPLE ATTACKED IN ECUADOR
-
- On Oct 2, a group of indigenous residents of the area of Yuracruz
- in the Amazon region of Ecuador recieved titles to large plots of
- land from the Ecuadoran Institute of Agrarian Reform and
- Colonization (IERAC) after they made a downpayment of about
- $33,000 and agreed to pay the other $165,000. The Indians are
- grouped in the Association of Agricultural Workers of Yuracruz.
- On Oct. 8 when the members of the association tried to move onto
- their land they were blocked and attacked with firearms, clubs
- and rocks by the former landowners and their hired thugs. At
- least 17 Indians were injured and one person, Manuel Martinez,
- was killed; Martinez was on the side of the landowners and seems
- to have been shot by his own people.
-
- On Nov 12, Yuracruz Indians were attacked again by paramilitary
- men who fired machine guns, burned houses and killed livestock.
- The government has not intervened at all, and neither have the
- police. In the latest incident, a group of reporters arrived in
- the area and were recieved with gunshots fired by paramilitary
- forces who acted (according to EFE) with the support of 20
- Indians and campesinos. The reporters were surrounded and were
- held for about two hours. [DLA 11/19/92 from EFE; South and
- Mesoamerican Indian Information Center 12/15/92, posted on NY
- Transfer]
-
- Meanwhile, the wave of strikes that began in Ecuador when
- President Sixto Duran-Ballen took office on Aug. 10 is
- continuing: several municipalities have held city-wide strikes
- and street protests, and judicial workers went out on strike Dec.
- 14 to demand an increase in the 1993 budget. [ED-LP 12/15/92 from
- AFP]
-
- 16. PANAMANIAN VICE PRESIDENT QUITS
-
- Panamanian First Vice President Ricardo Arias Calderon resigned
- from his post on Dec. 17 in protest of the government's refusal
- to make changes in its social and economic programs and to combat
- corruption. Arias is president of the Christian Democratic Party
- (PDC); he was expelled from his cabinet post (minister of
- government and justice) in April of 1991, when Panamanian
- President Guillermo Endara forced the PDC out of the three-party
- governing coalition and the party joined the opposition. He
- retained his position as vice president at the time because as an
- elected official, he could not be fired. "With my resignation it
- will be very clear that I do not form part of the government,"
- Arias told the press. When the assembly accepts his resignation,
- Arias will be replaced by Second Vice President Guillermo Ford.
- [ED-LP 12/18/92 from AP] In an informal reaction (he admitted
- having been surprised by the move), Endara called Arias'
- resignation "a political farce." [DLA 12/19/92 from EFE]
-
- 17. NAFTA IS SIGNED; ASIA AND EASTERN EUROPE TO JOIN?
-
- The leaders of Canada, Mexico and the US formally signed the
- North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA) in simultaneous
- ceremonies on Dec. 17, while activists protested the treaty in
- Washington and New York. About a dozen activists from the
- environmental organization Greenpeace demononstrated outside
- Organization of American States (OAS) headquarters in Washington,
- calling NAFTA George Bush's Christmas present for the big
- corporations. At the same time a coalition of labor,
- environmental and consumer groups announced a campaign to
- pressure incoming president Bill Clinton to renegotiate the pact.
- [El Diario-La Prensa 12/18/92 from AFP] Trade union and Puerto
- Rican groups demonstrated in New York City, while Stanley Hill,
- head of AFSCME District Council 37, the city's largest union,
- told participants that it was "a farce to say that the treaty is
- a cure for the recession." [ED-LP 12/18/92] (For information on
- opposition to NAFTA, call Citizens Free Trade Watch Campaign at
- 202-546-4996.)
-
- In Mexico, opposition Democratic Revolution Party (PRD) leader
- Cuauhtemoc Cardenas points out that NAFTA doen't address the
- large-scale Mexican immigration to the US, which he says
- consitutes "the most important interchange between Mexico and the
- US" from an economic point of view. The PRD would support a
- continentwide agreement with "compensatory investments" for the
- less developed countries, as was done for Spain, Portugal and
- Greece when they were admitted into the European Community (EC).
- [La Jornada (Mexico) 12/13/92] In the US, Clinton has expressed
- support for NAFTA, but with reservations. Sen. Max Baucus (D-MT)
- says that if reelected Bush would have had problems getting the
- treaty through Congress: "I think the president-elect will have a
- much easier chance, a much better chance." Bush remains
- enthusiastic. In a speech in Detroit on Dec. 17 he suggested that
- eventually Eastern European and Asian countries might be included
- in the North American trade zone. [NYT 12/18/92]
-
- 18. PUERTO RICAN ELECTION RECOUNT: ENVIRONMENTALIST GAINS VOTES
-
- According to the Movimiento Amplio de Pueblo ("Broad People's
- Movement"), a recount shows that environmentalist candidate
- Neftali Garcia won 70,189 votes in Puerto Rico's Nov. 3 elections
- (3.8% of the total), some 12,000 more than in the first
- tabulation, while the Puerto Rican Independence Party, one of the
- country's three registered parties, came in behind with 3.3%. The
- group, which expects Garcia's vote to go up further when three
- more districts are recounted, says the error shows the State
- Election Commission's bias in favor of the registered parties.
- [ED-LP 12/15/92] Meanwhile, the New York Times waited until Dec.
- 18 to give full coverage to the elections. The story was run in
- the US "National Report" section.
-
- 19. CONTRAGATE: CIA'S GEORGE CONVICTED, POINDEXTER STILL FREE
-
- A federal jury in Washington, DC convicted 33-year CIA veteran
- Clair George Dec. 9 on two felony counts of lying to Congress
- about the US role in illegally supplying the Nicaraguan contras
- during the middle 1980s. An earlier trial ended with a hung jury
- in August, but at the retrial George was found guilty of lying to
- congressional committees in 1986 when he denied knowing that
- contra supply coordinator "Max Gomez" was actually the CIA's
- Felix Rodriguez and when he testified that he didn't know what
- parts Oliver North and Gen. Richard Secord had in the contra
- operation. The maximum sentence would be five years in prison,
- but observers expect George not to face a jail term. Sentencing
- is set for Feb. 18. [New York Times 12/12/92]
-
- On Dec. 7, the US Supreme Court in effect upheld a lower court's
- ruling that overturned the Iran-contra conviction of Reagan's
- national security adviser Adm. John Poindexter. Convicted in
- April, 1990, Poindexter is the only Iran-contra figure so far to
- be given a jail sentence, but the Supreme Court's refusal to
- review the lower court decision ensures that he will never serve
- time. [Washington Post 12/8/92] The conviction was thrown out on
- the grounds that testimony was allegedly tainted by the televised
- congressional Iran-contra investigation in the summer of 1987.
- [NYT 12/8/92]
-
- 20. JUDGE RULES US PRISONS NOT FIT FOR POW NORIEGA
-
- US federal judge William Hoeveler ruled Dec. 8 that deposed
- Panamanian ruler Gen. Manuel Antonio Noriega, convicted of drug
- conspiracy charges earlier this year, is a prisoner of war and
- may be entitled to special rights when he serves time in a US
- prison. The Geneva Convention "delineates some fairly specific
- benefits for POWs," Hoeveler said, which are not always met by US
- maximum security prisons (such as the one in Marion, IL, where
- Noriega is likely to be sent). The Geneva Convention provides for
- exercise and the receipt of parcels, for example, and
- specifically forbids corporal punishment and the deprivation of
- daylight for POWs . Hoeveler suggested that Noriega could file a
- writ of habeas corpus if he feels these rights are being
- violated. [NYT 12/9/92]
-
- Meanwhile, the government of Panama says it plans to extradite
- Noriega to face additional charges there, but only after the
- general has finished his 40-year sentence in the US. "They want
- to continue toying with a political case," Noriega told a federal
- court on Dec. 14, "because the government imposed by the [1989
- US] invasion needs to give the Panamanian people--who are
- starving--bread and circuses in the press." [WP 12/15/92 from AP]
-
- 21. IN OTHER NEWS...
-
- Spellman College president Johnnetta Cole, until recently thought
- a likely candidate for Education Secretary in the Clinton
- administration, has been quietly dropped from consideration
- because of supposed links to the left. Although Cole is a board
- member of Coca-Cola Enterprises and the Atlanta Chamber of
- Commerce, she has also been a member of Venceremos Brigades, which
- sponsors tours to Cuba. [NYT 12/17/92].
-
- Four children between 14 and 16 years old were killed in two
- incidents in Caracas, Venezuela on the morning of Dec. 18.
- According to the official version, the four died in an operation
- of special police units which was trying to avoid a disruption in
- public order. The authorities gave no further details.
- Metropolitan Police commander Vinicio Barrios said the case would
- be investigated and if it was determined that the agents' actions
- were excessive then they would be punished. [DLA 12/19/92 from
- EFE].
-
- On Nov. 29, Colombian President Cesar Gaviria Trujillo appointed
- Luis Londono as the new health minister, replacing Gustavo de
- Roux, who quit after his party, the M-19, left the government
- coalition because of differences with the government's handling of
- the guerrilla war and its economic and social policies. The
- Colombian cabinet is made up of 11 members of the Liberal Party
- and three Conservatives. [ED-LP 11/30/92 from AP].
-
- In a Dec. 13 vote, Uruguayans overwhelmingly supported a
- referendum overturning five articles in a law passed last year for
- the privatization of state enterprises. The Equipos Consultores
- polling firm predicted a vote of 66.3% to 32.4% for the
- referendum, which was supported by the leftist Frente Amplio
- ("Broad Front") and opposed by the government of President Luis
- Lacalle. The government insists that it will not modify its
- policies. [ED-LP 12/14/92 from AP; 12/15/92 from AP]
-
- 22. UPCOMING BRIGADES & 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.
-
- WORK BRIGADE TO NICARAGUA, January 1993. Hard work, simple food,
- rich rewards. Work side by side with Nicaraguan farmers on their
- cooperative. Live with a family for three weeks, assist with
- conservation, planting, and reforestation and experience the
- beauty of Nicaragua. for information, call or write NICCA
- (Nicaragua Center for Community Action), 2140 Shattuck Ave. Box
- 2063, Berkeley, CA 94704. (510) 428-2146.
-
- CENAC PROGRAM - ESTELI, NICARAGUA. Spanish instruction, family
- living, grassroots community experience. For information, call or
- write CENAC, Frente Parque Infantil, Barrio Wilfredo Valenzuela,
- Apartado 29, Esteli, Nicaragua, or Steve Levitsky, U.S.
- representative, 128 Simsbury Drive, Ithaca, N.Y. 14850. (607)
- 257-2659.
-
- 12/22 TUE, 5 PM - Save Somalia, Save Bosnia. Candlelight vigil to
- support diplomatic solutions, end the arms trade, etc. at Isaiah
- Wall, 1st Ave at 43rd St. March at 6 pm to Rockefeller Center,
- 5th Ave & 49th St. For info, call 212-949-7033 or 212-977-6710
-
- 12/24 THU, 4:30 PM - Candlelight vigil to demand freedom for
- Haitian refugees. INS Detention Facility, 201 Varick St., 1 block
- south of Houston. Bring candles. 212-781-5157.
-
- [*** Today (12/20/92) marks three years since the US invasion of
- Panama. Have we learned anything? ***]
-
-
-
- NY Transfer News Service * All the News that Doesn't Fit
- Modem: 718-448-2358 * Internet: nytransfer@igc.apc.org
-