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Via NY Transfer News Collective * All the News that Doesn't Fit


         NICARAGUA SOLIDARITY NETWORK OF GREATER NEW YORK
       339 LAFAYETTE ST., NEW YORK, NY 10012 [phone]
            WEEKLY NEWS UPDATE #154, JANUARY 10, 1993

In This Issue:

     1. Nicaraguan Government Privatizes Bus Company to Workers
     2. Health Workers Strike Gains Force in Nicaragua
     3. Two Sandinista Leaders Ask Army Chief's Resignation
     4. Nicaraguan Army Responds to Recontra Offensive
     5. Nicaragua: UNO Urges Violence, Ex-Contra Speaks Against
     6. Media Bury DEA Agent's Contra-Cocaine Story
     7. Democratic Heavyweights Back Contragate Pardon
     8. El Salvador's Failure to Purge Military Prompts Fears
     9. "No Embargo" in Haiti; Duvalier Friend is Clinton Pick
    10. Honduran Kidnapper Killed in Belize
    11. President Denies Self-Coup Rumors in Paraguay
    12. Evidence Shows US Trained Paraguay Torturers
    13. Sendero Luminoso Says It Killed Peruvian Unionist
    14. Two Government Ministers Quit in Peru
    15. Panama Atty General Accused of (& Accusing) Corruption
    16. New Puerto Rico Governor Takes Fast Actions
    17. In Other News: Bolivia, Colombia, Argentina & Cuba
    18. 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 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 as well as our sources, if
possible. We welcome your comments and ideas: send them via
Internet e-mail to [e-mail].


1. NICARAGUAN GOVERNMENT PRIVATIZES BUS COMPANY TO WORKERS

On Jan. 1, after two and a half years of negotiations, the
Nicaraguan government completed privatization of the national bus
company (ENABUS) and completely turned ENABUS ownership over to
its 900 workers, some of whom are affiliated with the Sandinista
union "Parrales Vallejos" and some with another (not Sandinista)
union. The bus fare subsequently went up 60 centavos ($.12) since
"it will no longer be subsidized by the government," explained
Carlos Palma, general secretary of the Parrales Vallejos union.
The firm will be structured as a worker-owned and managed
cooperative; the government will lease ENABUS the 260 buses that
cover Managua's nine main routes. [La Jornada (Mexico) 1/3/93 from
EFE, AFP, AP &/or Prensa Latina; Latin America Data Base 1/8/93
from AFP, ACAN-EFE]

2. HEALTH WORKERS STRIKE GAINS FORCE IN NICARAGUA

On Jan. 7, health workers represented by the pro-Sandinista
Health Workers Federation (FETSALUD) stepped up a partial strike
ongoing since November by closing the doors of Managua's seven
hospitals, insisting they would only attend emergency cases and
patients already admitted. The workers are demanding a 100% wage
increase (monthly pay is currently $112 for doctors and $80 for
nurses), more government funding for public hospitals, government
compliance with a previous collective bargaining agreement, and
an adjustment in the pension plan for retirees.

Health Minister Ernesto Salmeron told reporters on Jan. 5 that he
was worried the strike would cause serious health problems,
especially an increase in cases of cholera and dengue. He said
his office was working on a proposal to end the strike, but added
that the proposal would only include benefits for health workers,
since the government does not have funds to increase salaries.
FETSALUD says it will reject outright any proposal which excludes
wage increases. [LADB 1/8/93 from ACAN-EFE, AFP; El Diario-La
Prensa (NY) 1/8/93 from AFP]

3. TWO SANDINISTA LEADERS ASK ARMY CHIEF'S RESIGNATION

On Jan. 3, former Nicaraguan ambassador to the US Carlos
Tunnermann told a local radio station that the continued presence
of Gen. Humberto Ortega as Nicaragua's army chief "is not healthy
for the stability of the country, nor for the democratic process
which we are trying to consolidate," and that he should resign.
Tunnermann, who also served as education minister under the
Sandinista administration, said he agrees with Gen. Ortega's
position that the army can be a stabilizing force in the country.
However, he insisted that the military must carry out a process of
professionalization, and must be subordinated to civilian
authority. [ED-LP 1/4/93 from AFP; LADB 1/8/93 from AFP]

Tunnerman's comments followed similar statements made in December
by Sandinista deputy Edmundo Jarquin, which were rejected by the
Sandinista National Liberation Front (FSLN) National Directorate
as being Jarquin's "personal opinion." [La Jornada 12/20/92 from
AP, AFP, DPA &/or Prensa Latina] Gen. Ortega was a member of the
FSLN National Directorate until he resigned in 1990 in order to
assume his position as chief of the army under President Violeta
Chamorro. Gen. Ortega's brother, former Nicaraguan president
Daniel Ortega, remains on the Directorate.

Jarquin and Tunnermann are the first leading FSLN figures to
publicly advocate Ortega's resignation. Calls for Ortega's
removal have constituted a rallying cry for rightwing political
sectors in Managua and Washington since Chamorro took office.
[ED-LP 1/4/93 from AFP; LADB 1/8/93 from AFP]

4. NICARAGUAN ARMY RESPONDS TO RECONTRA OFFENSIVE

On Dec. 28, special combined units of the Sandinista Popular Army
(EPS) and police launched the "Everything for Stability"
offensive, aimed at wiping out the groups of rearmed contras
(recontras) operating in northern and central Nicaragua. Between
Dec. 25 and Jan. 1, recontras carried out several attacks, one
near the city of Camoapa in Boaco department, where the army said
it killed one recontra leader. Near the city of Esteli, a band of
recontras attacked a coffee farm and destroyed sacks of harvested
coffee beans. On Jan. 2, recontras ambushed a military vehicle on
the Panamerican Highway near Esteli using automatic weapons and
M-79 rocket launchers, killing police Lt. Antonio Romero and an
unidentified pregnant woman travelling with him.

During the pre-dawn hours of Jan. 4, recontras attacked the town
of La Dalia, Matagalpa department. During the attack, recontras
wounded one member of the Disarmament Brigade--a special military
unit established in early 1992 to recover weapons in the hands of
civilians. In the same attack, the rebels damaged local
government buildings and downed electricity lines. After fleeing
La Dalia, the recontras reportedly staged similar attacks in Rio
Blanco and Mulukuku, Matagalpa department, though no victims or
damages were reported.

Interior Minister Alfredo Mendieta declared that in light of
recent recontra attacks against civilian and military targets, a
peaceful solution to the problem of violence in the countryside
appears remote. He urged recontras to lay down their weapons or
face a sustained military offensive.

On Jan. 7, EPS spokesperson Lt. Milton Dinarte reported that the
casualty toll for government-recontra clashes in the previous 15
days came to eight deaths and 16 wounded, plus five recontras
captured. Dinarte said recontra military activity is aimed at
pressuring the government into negotiations over material and
economic demands. According to Dinarte, the government has given
the recontras a Jan. 31 deadline to move into a special
demobilization encampment in northern Nicaragua where government
authorities will arrive to discuss some of the rebel demands.
After that date, he added, all armed groups operating outside the
encampment will be aggressively pursued by the army and police.
[LADB 1/8/93 from AFP, ACAN-EFE; ED-LP 1/8/93 from AFP; ED-LP
1/10/93 from AP]

Note: We now have more details on the murder several weeks ago of
a campesino family by recontras (see Update #152). The massacre
occurred on Dec. 21 near El Gamalote; the five children and three
adults killed were allegedly affiliated with the FSLN. [LADB
1/8/93 from AFP, ACAN-EFE]

5. NICARAGUA: UNO PROMOTES VIOLENCE, EX-CONTRA SPEAKS AGAINST IT

On Jan. 6, deposed National Assembly president Alfredo Cesar and
estranged Nicaraguan vice president Virgilio Godoy led a street
demonstration to protest President Chamorro's Dec. 29 move to
dismantle the Assembly directorate and put the legislature under
the control of a provisional board of directors made up of three
Sandinista deputies and one Liberal. At the protest, some 500 UNO
members shouted demands for "the rearming of the contras," and a
recontra group calling itself the Democratic Force of National
Salvation (FDSN) distributed a communique which claimed
responsibility for the attack at La Dalia and announced a military
offensive against the Chamorro government from Jan. 1 to Jan. 16.
[LADB 1/8/93 from AFP, ACAN-EFE; ED-LP 1/7/93 from AFP; ED-LP
1/10/93 from AP]

In a radio interview on Jan. 8, former contra commander Luis Fley
("Johnson") urged those who are against the Nicaraguan government
to avoid starting another civil war to change the government.
"Only one who does not know what a war is can instigate it," said
Fley. "We are tired of of so many deaths and the consequences of
a war." Fley continued, "If the government has deviated from its
original program, one must correct it, but not try to substitute
it." [ED-LP 1/10/93 from AP]

Meanwhile, the UNO bloc of the National Assembly, led by Cesar,
plans to boycott the upcoming first legislative session of the
year, scheduled for Jan. 9, at which a new directorate is to be
elected. This strategy--described as the culmination of a week of
protest actions which included the Jan. 6 demonstration--was
announced at a meeting of UNO mayors in Ciudad Dario on Jan. 2.
[La Jornada 1/3/93 from EFE, AFP, AP &/or Prensa Latina]

6. MEDIA BURY DEA AGENT'S CONTRA-COCAINE STORY

The Nov. 20 issue of The Key West Citizen, a Florida daily with a
circulation of 10,000, carried new allegations--this time from a
former Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) employee--that
cocaine runners were involved in the covert contra supply
operation the US ran during the 1980s. The paper says that 12-
year DEA veteran Celerino "Cele" Castillo III found "some 20
different pilots of various nationalities--all documented drug
traffickers--using the hangars controlled by the CIA-run contra
supply operation" at El Salvador's Ilopango air base. Castillo
charges that "CIA agents and other US officials in the area,
including Edwin Corr, the then-ambassador to El Salvador, told him
they knew about the drug smuggling, but condoned it." Castillo
claims that the DEA told him to lay off the case, but says the
agency retains a paper trail supporting his charges.  Castillo is
a former Republican and contra supporter. Major news media have
never picked up Castillo's story. [Village Voice 1/12/93]

7. DEMOCRATIC HEAVYWEIGHTS BACK CONTRAGATE PARDON

Congressional Democrats say they will investigate George Bush's
Christmas Eve pardon of former Defense Secretary Caspar Weinberger
and five other Contragate figures, but press reports cast doubts
on the threat. House Speaker Tom Foley (D-WA) and Rep. Les Aspin
(D-WI), Bill Clinton's nominee for Defense Secretary, are said to
have given "behind-the-scenes signals to the White House that they
would not make a fuss" if Bush granted the pardon [New York Times
1/5/93], and incoming Senate intelligence panel head Sen. Dennis
DeConcini (D-AZ) reportedly opposes further investigation. [Voice
1/12/93]

Congressional investigators probably won't look for help from
Clinton's proposed Director of Central Intelligence, corporate
attorney and old Pentagon hand R. James Woolsey Jr. In 1988 CIA
official Charles Allen retained Woolsey as his lawyer when then-
CIA head William Webster threatened to reprimand Allen for his
alleged failure to cooperate with the agency's internal Contragate
investigation. Woolsey also provided legal services for another
Iran-contra figure, Center for Strategic and International Studies
"terrorism expert" Michael Ledeen. In 1987, while a partner at the
law firm of Shea and Gardner, Woolsey registered as a foreign
agent; Justice Department documents indicate that his clients may
have included the governments of Bolivia, Ecuador, Guatemala,
Paraguay and Venezuela. [The Nation 1/18/93]

8. EL SALVADOR'S FAILURE TO PURGE MILITARY PROMPTS FEARS

On Jan. 7 President Aflredo Cristiani defended his decision to
miss the Dec. 31 United Nations deadline for purging El Salvador's
armed forces. Cristiani said he would not back down even if it led
to UN condemnation or suspension of U.S. aid.  Sources familiar
with the process said Cristiani, in a letter sent to U.N.
Secretary General Boutros Boutros-Ghali, had requested that eight
of the 76 officers to be removed from the military--including
Defense Minister Rene Emilio Ponce--be allowed to stay on until
the 1994 presidential elections. It was said that Gen. Juan
Orlando Zepeda, Deputy Defense Minister and the most controversial
officer remaining, would resign within three months.

The FMLN has not come out strongly against the delays. While
publicly conciliatory, the FMLN remains deeply divided over how to
respond to Cristiani's actions.  The former guerrillas said they
had halted the destruction of their surface-to-air missiles, which
was the final phase of their weapons destruction program under UN
observance, because they said that should coincide with the
military purge. However, since the rebels have demobilized their
forces and destroyed most of their weapons, they now have few ways
except through international pressure to try to force the army to
comply.

Jim McGovern, legislative assistant to Rep. Joseph Moakley (D-MA)
said Congress would reevaluate aid to El Salvador in light of
Cristiani's decision.  Cristiani responded by saying, "We signed
with the FMLN, not McGovern." The Committee in Solidarity with the
People of El Salvador (CISPES) has asked Americans to call the
State Department, Cristiani and Congress to demand full
implementation of the purge in a timely manner and reaffirm the
commitment expressed by Moakley to condition all aid to El
Salvador on compliance with the peace accords. Tell your
representatives to call Rep. David Obey (D-WI) and press him to
follow through on his commitment to link future disbursements of
aid to implementation of the accords. Ask your senators to contact
Sen. Patrick Leahy (D-VT) and Sen. Christopher Dodd (D- CT) and
tell them to withhold all aid from the Salvadoran government until
compliance has been achieved. The Congressional Switchboard phone
number is 202-224-3121. [Washington Post 1/7/93, 1/8/93; CISPES
Urgent Action Alert 1/4/93]

9. "NO EMBARGO" IN HAITI

A civilian observer who visited Haiti in November ran into a USAID
(US Agency for International Development) official on the DC Metro
shortly after her return. Recognizing him as someone she had seen
during her visit, she questioned him about what USAID did in
Haiti. He said it distributed humanitarian aid, and she asked
whether USAID had distributed any food that week. "No," the
official said. "The harbor was full and ships carrying the food
couldn't dock." "What about the embargo?" the observer asked in
surprise. "There is no embargo," the man shrugged. [Report from
Florence King 12/6/92, posted on NY Transfer 12/21/92]

Enforcement of the embargo is unlikely to improve when Clinton
takes office: in Congress confirmation hearings are going well for
Democratic National Committee head Ronald Brown, nominated to be
Clinton's Commerce Secretary. Rep. Charles Rangel (D-NY) assured
fellow lawmakers that Brown's legal work for former Haitian
dictator Jean-Claude ("Baby Doc") Duvalier (see Update #128) had
helped the people of Haiti. [NYT 1/7/93]

10. HONDURAN KIDNAPPER KILLED IN BELIZE

Honduran national Orlando Ordonez was killed on Dec. 19 in Belize
by police after he kidnapped Salvadoran consular official Ana
Martinez there for 24 hours. Ordonez--who on Sept. 23 had
kidnapped Costa Rican Security and Interior Minister Luis Fishman
(See Update #139)--was reportedly trying to exchange the
Salvadoran diplomat's life for a total amnesty in Costa Rica, El
Salvador and Honduras, and a plane in which to leave Belize. [La
Jornada 12/20/92 from AFP, AP, EFE & Reuter; LADB 1/8/93 from AFP,
ACAN-EFE]

On Dec. 24, Honduran Bishop Luis Alfonso Santos told reporters
that in the Fishman kidnapping, "Orlando was not acting by
himself, and so the fact that they killed him does not mean that
the whole affair is over." [LADB 1/8/93 from AFP, ACAN-EFE] The
Costa Rican government accuses Santos of having "facilitated" the
kidnapping of Fishman. Archbishop Roman Arrieta told the press on
Dec. 26 that he supports Santos [La Jornada 12/27/92 from AFP];
Arrieta said he wants to act as a mediator between Santos and
Fishman--who have been exchanging mutual accusations--in order to
"find out the truth" about the incident. [Diario Las Americas
(Miami) 1/1/93 from EFE]

For four months before the Sept. 23 kidnapping, Ordonez--claiming
that he belonged to a Honduran guerrilla group--had conducted
secret negotiations with Fishman, ostensibly aimed at arranging
the return of two Hondurans who were "disappeared" from Honduras
in 1981. Ordonez turned out to be a con artist with charges of
fraud, blackmail and rape pending against him in Honduras and
Costa Rica. In 1991, Ordonez was involved in a plot to kidnap the
wife of Honduran President Rafael Callejas; Callejas reportedly
paid Ordonez a large sum of money to leave the country following
that ordeal. Spokespersons for the former rebel group with which
Ordonez said he was affiliated, the Cinchoneros, denied any
connection with him; Honduran armed forces chief Gen Luis Alonso
Discua confirmed that in fact, Ordonez was a member of the
Honduran military and had been affiliated with the secret police
(DNI).

Spokespersons from the Honduran Human Rights Defense Committee
(CODEH) said Ordonez had made statements before the Committee in
1991 indicating that he had belonged to the military's "official"
death squad, Battalion 316. Ordonez said he was being persecuted
by former colleagues from the battalion, so in August 1991, CODEH
agreed to help him leave the country.

Battalion 316 was singled out in the 1988-89 Inter-American Court
of Human Rights case against Honduras as the unit responsible for
the disappearance of about 150 persons during the early 1980s. In
that precedent-setting case, the Court found the Honduran state
guilty of the crime of disappearance and ordered reparations paid
to family members of the victims, including $500,000 to the
families of Hondurans Saul Godinez and Manfredo Velasquez, the two
individuals who Ordonez told Fishman were actually alive and
seeking return to Honduras. When Ordonez kidnapped Santos and
Fishman, along with DNI chief Col. Jose Manuel Luna, it was during
a meeting that Ordonez had supposedly called in which he was to
tell them when and where he would deliver the missing Hondurans.
Ordonez took his captives in a plane to Tegucigalpa, Honduras; he
released them there in exchange for safe passage to Mexico and
$100,000 in ransom paid by Fishman's relatives and friends.
Ordonez reportedly left Mexico on Oct. 2 for an unknown
destination after the Mexican government refused his request for
political asylum.

On Oct. 8 in Tegucigalpa, international human rights monitoring
group Americas Watch issued a press release denouncing the Fishman
incident as an attempt by Honduran authorities to cast doubt over
the Inter-American Court of Human Rights ruling and to avoid
paying the court-ordered reparations to family members of the
disappeared. According to Honduran human rights activists, to date
only 25% of this amount has been paid. Americas Watch also
indicated that over the period covering the 12 months before the
kidnapping, the Honduran government made "large payments" to
Ordonez as part of a plan to "sow doubts regarding the legitimacy
of the Court verdicts." The press release indicated that "if there
is anyone who without doubt can clarify what happened to Velasquez
and Godinez, it is the Honduran military which was responsible for
kidnapping them in the first place." [LADB 10/9/92 from AP,
Reuter, AFP, ACAN-EFE]

11. PRESIDENT DENIES SELF-COUP RUMORS IN PARAGUAY

On Jan. 2, Paraguayan president Gen. Andres Rodriguez dismissed
rumors that he is planning a "self-coup" like the one Peruvian
president Alberto Fujimori had last Apr. 5; the rumors had
intensified after police occupied the headquarters of the ruling
Colorado Party and ejected civilian personnel and members of the
electoral council from the building. Hours before Rodriguez'
announcement, the US embassy had said that an "interruption in the
democratic process in Paraguay would cause a strong reaction from
the international community." Influential Colorado Party
politician Julio Cesar Frutos said the coup is in the works to
stop Luis Maria Argana, a close collaborator of deposed dictator
Alfredo Stroessner, from winning the party's internal presidential
primary elections. [LJ 1/3/93 from AP, AFP, Reuter]

12. EVIDENCE SHOWS US TRAINED PARAGUAY TORTURERS

US officials gave training to Paraguayan military personel and
police officers for the repression of opponents to the
dictatorship of Alfredo Stroessner, according to documents from
the US state department presented by historian Anibal Miranda.
The investigator found the documents in the national archives in
Washington and distributed them to the Paraguayan local press.
Miranda said the documents prove that US president Dwight
Eisenhower supported the dictatorship by sending to Paraguay
specialists in the interrogation of political prisoners using
physical and psychological torture. He specified that Antonio
Campos Alum, director of an interior ministry office which was
used as a torture chamber during the dictatorship, was a pupil of
US police expert Robert Thierry, one of those sent to serve in the
Paraguayan interior ministry. Patrick Duddy, director of the US
embassy's informative and cultural center in Asuncion, told the
press that "it is an old allegation" that his government has
already faced in other Latin American countries and that "was
brandished by terrorists to justify their attacks on US officials.
[La Jornada 12/27/92 from AP, AFP, DPA and Reuter]

13. SENDERO LUMINOSO SAYS IT KILLED PERUVIAN UNIONIST

On Jan. 4. the Peruvian police displayed to the press a group of
six people, led by a women, who were arrested for the Dec. 18
murder of Pedro Huilca, secretary of the Peruvian General
Confederation of Workers. Police said they were still seeking a
seventh suspect. Those arrested are members of the Maoist
guerrilla group known as Sendero Luminoso (Shining Path), which
took responsibility for the shooting of Huilca in its clandestine
newspaper El Diario on Jan. 4, saying that "the annihilation of
the reactionary Huilca represents the best homage to the national
and world revolutionary proletariat." Huilca's family and union
leaders had originally blamed paramilitary squads for his death,
though Huilca had declared just days before the shooting that
Sendero Luminoso had threatened him because he blocked their
influence in the union. [ED-LP 1/5/93 from AP]

Lt. Gen. Antonio Ketin Vidal, the brains behind the Sept. 12
capture of Sendero Luminoso top leader Abimael Guzman, will leave
the secret police (DINCOTE), it was made known on Jan. 4. The
surprising removal of Vidal from the institution happened at the
same time as a massive purge of officers from the national police,
including six generals, 88 colonels and an unknown number of
commanders, majors, captains, and lieutenents. Vidal will occupy
the post of general inspector of the national police, third
position in that institution's hierarchy. [ED-LP 1/5/93 from AFP]

14. TWO GOVERNMENT MINISTERS QUIT IN PERU

Peruvian economy Minister Carlos Bolona Berth quit his post on
Jan. 6 over disagreements with president Alberto Fujimori about
the country's economic plan--authored by Bolona and supervised by
the International Monetary Fund (IMF)--which consists of harsh
austerity measures. The plan has stabilized the economy,
controlled inflation, and reduced the fiscal deficit, but has
simultaneously increased poverty in Peru. [ED-LP 1/6/93 from
Notimex] The resignation of Tranportation and Communications
Minister Alfredo Ross was also announced Jan. 6. Both resignations
were accepted by the government. [ED-LP 1/7/93 from AP] Industry
Minister Jorge Camet Dickman was appointed as the new economy
minister on Jan. 8. Camet is president of Peru's most important
private business confederation (CONFIEP). [ED-LP 1/10/93 from AFP]

15. PANAMA'S ATTORNEY GENERAL ACCUSED OF (& ACCUSING) CORRUPTION

Panamanian attorney general Rogelio Cruz and deputy attorney
general for drug prosecution Ariel Alvardado were ordered arrested
on Dec. 24 on charges of helping Colombian drug traffickers
launder money through Panamanian banks. The charges were filed on
Oct. 26 by three senior officials, who say Cruz ordered the return
of some $38 million to 10 companies or individuals which the US
Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) claims are linked to the
so-called Cali drug cartel.

Cruz denies helping launder drug money; in a press conference on
Dec. 26, he said the charges against him are politically motivated
and are directly related to his investigation of several members
of the Molirena party, which is headed by Panamanian vice
president Guillermo Ford. Cruz now says he will seek a public
trial at which he will reveal evidence he has gathered about
corruption and drug-trafficking links among government officials.
[WP 12/30/93; ED-LP 12/28/93 from AFP]

At the press conference, Cruz accused officials of the government,
the Supreme Court, and police and customs officers of being part
of a corruption and influence-trafficking network. He specifically
named Supreme Court president Carlos Lucas Lopez, Prosecutor
Donatilo Ballesteros, Controller Ruben Dario Carles, Customs
General Director Rodrigo Arosemena, and Panama City mayor Omayra
Correa. Cruz also charged that the Colon Free Zone, headed by a
cousin of Vice President Ford, is used for drug trafficking,
contraband and money laundering. Cruz said that Prosecutor
Ballesteros--who ordered his arrest--"must be very annoyed with
me, because two subordinates of mine in the drug secretary's
office didn't agree to the unfreezing of accounts that he
requested." [La Jornada 12/27/93; ED-LP 12/28/93 from AFP]

On Jan. 4, Cruz charged that a plan exists to assassinate him in
order to block his investigations. "They are planning an attack,"
Cruz told the press, without specifying those responsible.
Opposition daily La Estrella wrote the same day that three
Colombian drug hitmen had been contracted to murder Cruz. [ED-LP
1/5/93 from AFP]

Cruz was the former secretary of President Ricardo de la
Espriella, who was overthrown by the military in 1983. Gen.
Antonio Noriega accused Cruz in 1988 of having links to the CIA;
more recently, Cruz has had run-ins with the ruling political
parties and with President Guillermo Endara's wife Ana Mae Diaz
over his corruption investigations. [ED-LP 12/28/93 from AFP]

Jorge Valdes, who is replacing Cruz as attorney general during the
investigation, warned that he "will not allow politics or private
interests to influence" his office. He also announced the
dismissal of 19 agents of the Technical Judicial Police who had
been expelled earlier by police director Jaime Abad for alleged
cocaine consumption, but who had been later rehired by Cruz. [DLA
1/1/93 from AFP]

16. NEW PUERTO RICO GOVERNOR TAKES FAST ACTIONS

On Jan. 5, the first Monday since his Jan. 2 inauguration as
governor of Puerto Rico, Pedro Rossello sent a bill to the
legislature to overturn the island's language law, passed in 1991,
which established Spanish as Puerto Rico's official language.
Rossello wants English and Spanish to both be considered official
languages, despite a recent opinion survey showing that 95% of
Puerto Ricans prefer to speak Spanish; he also wants Puerto Rico
to become the 51st state of the US and has promised to achieve
that during his term. The language bill is almost certain to be
passed, since Rossello's pro-statehood party, the PNP, has a clear
majority in the legislature. [ED-LP 1/5/93, 1/10/93; LJ 1/3/93]

In another controversial move, Rossello will close the Office of
Puerto Rico in the US. And Rossello has announced that his
designated health secretary will be obliged to adhere to the
policy that he as governor sets regarding abortion: he opposes
abortion, but doesn't favor laws going farther than the guidelines
set by US Supreme Court. The health secretary, Enrique Vazquez
Quintana, had made clear that he respected a woman's freedom to
decide whether or not to continue a pregnancy. [ED-LP 1/8/93]

17. IN OTHER NEWS...

Bolivia will sign an extradition treaty with the US at the
beginning of 1993, after two years of government opposition to the
new treaty. Bolivian foreign minister Ronald McLean called the
treaty "mutually convenient." The current extradition treaty does
not include drug-related crimes; it was signed in the 1900s at a
time when the US bandits Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid were
robbing Bolivian banks and mines. [LJ 20-12-92 from DPA] Also in
Bolivia, a 24-hour general strike on Jan. 5, called by the
Bolivian Workers Central (COB), had at least partial support in
the mining, transport, commerce and assembly sectors; COB claimed
90% of workers in the state-owned factories and mines stayed home.
[ED-LP 1/6/93 from AFP] The strike was followed up on Jan. 8 by
the start of a series of protests in several cities to demand
better wages. The minimum monthly salary in Bolivia is $33 a
month, which "is insufficient for a family to satisfy its minimum
food necessities," according to COB executive secretary Oscar
Salas. The unions are demanding a monthly salary of $356.  [ED-LP
1/10/93 from AP].

On the weekend of Jan. 2, Javier Callejas, an ideological leader
of the Colombian rebel coalition Simon Bolivar National Guerrilla
Coordinator (CGNSB) was arrested by police in Cartagena. Callejas
Ruiz was the second-in-command of a dissident faction of the
Popular Liberaton Army (EPL) guerrilla group which did not sign a
peace treaty with the government when the rest of the EPL did.
[ED-LP 1/4/93 from EFE].

An Argentine federal judge has identified and ordered arrested the
presumed head of the group that stole $30 million from a regional
treasury of the Central Bank on Dec. 23. A couple was arrested on
Jan. 3 in connection with the crime--considered the theft of the
century--and $1 million was recovered. The money stolen was in
bills of 500,000 australs; in an effort to thwart the thieves, the
government quickly moved from Mar. 31 to Jan. 15 its deadline for
exchanging all such bills for the new currency, the peso, which
was introduced in January of 1992. [DLA 1/1/93 from AFP; ED-LP
1/4/93 from AP; ED-LP 1/8/93 from EFE].

In a speech in Havana, Cuban president Fidel Castro called US
military intervention in Somalia a sign of the unbridled power the
US is attempting to exercise in world affairs. The Cuban leader
questioned the logic of a world power so concerned with hunger
that it would blockade a country like Cuba in an attempt to starve
out its people.  [Cubanews from Radio Havana Cuba 12/17/92]

18. 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.

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.

1/16 SAT, 8:30 AM - 7:30 PM - Teach-In, Dr. Martin Luther King
Jr.'s Birthday. Sponsored by Campaign for a New Tomorrow.
Speakers: Ramsey Clark, Rev. Lucius Walker, Marilyn Clement, et
al. $5. St. George's Church, 209 E. 16th St. [phone].

1/21-1/22 THU - FRI. - Computers For Social Change. Conference at
Hunter College School of Social Work. $35. 129 E. 79th St. (212)
614-5314.

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