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- From: rich@pencil.cs.missouri.edu (Rich Winkel)
- Subject: NY Nica News Update #145, 11/8/92
- Message-ID: <1992Nov11.004804.20214@mont.cs.missouri.edu>
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- Date: Wed, 11 Nov 1992 00:48:04 GMT
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-
- /** reg.nicaragua: 85.0 **/
- ** Topic: Weekly News Update #145, 11/8/92 **
- ** Written 9:33 pm Nov 8, 1992 by nicanetny in cdp:reg.nicaragua **
-
- NICARAGUA SOLIDARITY NETWORK OF GREATER NEW YORK
- 339 LAFAYETTE ST., NEW YORK, NY 10012 (212) 674-9499
- WEEKLY NEWS UPDATE #145, NOVEMBER 8, 1992
-
- In This Issue: (articles are posted as responses to this message)
-
- 1. Nicaraguan President Meets With Army Chief
- 2. Nicaraguan Union Holds Protest; More Layoffs Planned
- 3. Sandinista Killed in Attack Against Ex-Contra Leader
- 4. Panamanian Official Injured in Bombing
- 5. Land Struggles in the Dominican Republic
- 6. NAFTA Hits Snags in Canada; Trade War Looms in Europe
- 7. Statehood Party Sweeps Puerto Rican Elections
- 8. Brazil on the Brink?
- 9. Brazil: 96 Hostages Held by Guajajaras Indians
- 10. Colombian Drug Chief's Aide Killed
- 11. Election Date Set in Cuba, New Top Official in Government
- 12. Cuba and Russia Agree on New Trade Links
- 13. Venezuela Will Sell Oil if Cuba Can Pay
- 14. Rebel Group Threatens Government in Argentina
- 15. Health Crisis in Chile: Doctors Threaten Mass Resignation
- 16. In Other News: El Sal, Mexico, Uruguay, Argentina & More!
- 17. Upcoming Events in the New York Area, DC & Nicaragua!
- 18. Special Announcement: nicanetny seeking office-mates!
-
- 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: 85.1 **/
- ** Written 9:33 pm Nov 8, 1992 by nicanetny in cdp:reg.nicaragua **
-
- 1. NICARAGUAN PRESIDENT MEETS WITH ARMY CHIEF
- On Nov. 5, Nicaraguan President Violeta Chamorro held a meeting
- with Sandinista Popular Army (EPS) chief Gen. Humberto Ortega to
- discuss declarations he made on Oct. 27 (while the president was
- out of the country) concerning the armed forces and the situation
- in Nicaragua. Gen. Ortega, along with the 28 members of the
- army's Military Council, had stated that the EPS would not be
- further reduced and that he himself would remain in his post
- until the army's modernization process was finished, which he
- said "won't conclude before 1997." Chamorro had quickly refuted
- his claim by saying that he would be dismissed whenever she
- wanted him to leave. (See Update #144)
-
- In a brief communique released following her meeting with Gen.
- Ortega, Chamorro confirmed that the process of reduction of the
- armed forces had concluded. According to Mexican news agency
- Notimex, the EPS has been reduced from more than 80,000 troops in
- April of 1990 to a current 16,000. (The figures we cited last
- week--from a Reuters article in the New York Times 10/29/92--gave
- the current number as 18,500.) In her statement, President
- Chamorro, who also serves as Defense Minister, ordered that the
- army's Organic Law (charter) be regulated to set limits on terms
- for the high command. Chamorro also guaranteed respect for the
- EPS as an institution and reiterated that civil authority
- supersedes military power. [El Diario-La Prensa (NY) 11/6/92 from
- Notimex]
-
- During a visit to a prison, Chamorro told the press that "the
- army is part of my government, it must exist in my presidential
- term because in every country there is [at least] a small army
- and if another wants to change it, let them work it out, I will
- not." About a year ago, the president mentioned the possibility
- of dissolving the army and expressed her admiration for Costa
- Rica, whose 1949 constitution prohibits military institutions.
- [Diario Las Americas (Miami) 11/7/92 from AFP]
-
- Chamorro was accompanied at the meeting by Presidency Minister
- Antonio Lacayo, Finance Minister Emilio Pereira, Labor Minister
- Francisco Rosales and Foreign Relations Minister Ernesto Leal.
- Ten members of the EPS general command accompanied Gen. Ortega at
- the meeting, where they also informed the government of their
- actions against armed groups in the country and their military
- plans to guarantee the harvest in northern Nicaragua in
- cooperation with the National Police. The EPS command told
- Chamorro that they had disarmed 22,000 armed men who were
- operating in 81 groups in northern and central Nicaragua,
- recovering some 40,000 rifles, along with 25,000 grenades and
- other explosives. [ED-LP 11/6/92 from Notimex]
-
- President Chamorro has been under considerable pressure to fire
- Gen. Ortega; that pressure increased after Ortega's Oct. 27
- speech, in which he stressed his support for the Chamorro
- administration and criticized the rightwingers demanding his
- resignation as "extremist, destabilizing and anti-democratic
- forces." The bloc of National Assembly deputies from the ruling
- UNO coalition (minus the UNO center group, which has joined the
- Sandinista Front in boycotting Assembly proceedings) demanded
- Ortega's immediate dismissal for committing "a serious intrusion
- on other powers of the state." Rightwing daily La Prensa
- editorialized that "if the general wants to talk about politics,
- let him give up his uniform and abandon the leadership of the
- army." [ED-LP 11/2/92 from AP]
-
- ** End of text from cdp:reg.nicaragua **
-
- /** reg.nicaragua: 85.2 **/
- ** Written 9:33 pm Nov 8, 1992 by nicanetny in cdp:reg.nicaragua **
-
- 2. NICARAGUAN UNION HOLDS PROTEST MARCH; MORE LAYOFFS PLANNED
- During a celebration of the fifth anniversary of its
- constitution, the US-supported anti-Sandinista union federation
- Permanent Congress of Workers (CPT) held a march of 2,000 workers
- demanding the firing of Gen. Ortega and the application of "a
- coherent employment policy" by the government, and protesting the
- government's recently-imposed tax increase. Union leader Roberto
- Moreno also demanded that the government take "concrete actions
- to avoid an increase in unemployment." [ED-LP 11/3/92 from EFE]
-
- Pro-Sandinista daily Barricada last week reported an announcement
- by Finance Minister Emilio Pereira that in 1993 another 2,500
- government employees will be laid off. Pereira made the
- announcement upon detailing the coming year's budget, which might
- be exactly the same as last year's since the National Assembly
- has not yet met to analyze a new plan of incomes and
- expenditures. According to the report, the government plans to
- reduce itself further, concentrating its principal spending in
- the areas of health and education. Pereira emphasized that
- personnel will be reduced in the areas of the central government,
- the national financial system and in the state enterprises. One
- area expected to be cut is publicity, on which the government
- currently spends large sums. Pereira said the government will
- accept candidates for "new plans of occupational conversion"
- which will be put into effect in 1993. He did not specify dates.
- Pereira said inflation in Nicaragua in 1992 was 1.2%, which he
- called the lowest in Latin America. [Diario Las Americas 11/7/92
- from "Del Noticiero Nicaraguense"]
-
- ** End of text from cdp:reg.nicaragua **
-
- /** reg.nicaragua: 85.3 **/
- ** Written 9:33 pm Nov 8, 1992 by nicanetny in cdp:reg.nicaragua **
-
- 3. SANDINISTA KILLED IN ATTACK AGAINST EX-CONTRA LEADER
- On Nov. 3 in Somoto, northern Nicaragua, two armed attackers shot
- and wounded contra commander Mauricio Rodriguez ("Bigote de
- Oro"). Alberto Chavarria ("El Chele"), another ex-contra
- accompanying Rodriguez, returned fire and wounded the attackers,
- one of whom--identified as Julio Flores--died from his injuries.
- According to Marlon Gutierrez, representative of the Nicaraguan
- Resistance (contras) in Miami, Flores was also linked to the
- assassination of ex-contra commander Benjamin Gomez ("Tirso").
- Gutierrez said the two attackers were part of an extermination
- squad organized by the Sandinista Front's secret services.
-
- Rodriguez is reportedly recovering from two bullet wounds in the
- abdomen; he was transferred to Lenin Fonseca hospital in Managua,
- where his family requested the presence of UN and OAS observers
- because they say they fear "that the Sandinistas could come to
- complete their work." Chavarria, meanwhile, has been moved to a
- Managua prison. [Diario Las Americas 11/7/92]
-
- Correction: The final source citation for the lead item
- ("Nicaraguan Army Chief Says He Won't Step Down") in last week's
- update (#144) was incomplete. The Diario Las Americas article
- used came from Spanish news agency EFE.
-
- ** End of text from cdp:reg.nicaragua **
-
- /** reg.nicaragua: 85.4 **/
- ** Written 9:33 pm Nov 8, 1992 by nicanetny in cdp:reg.nicaragua **
-
- 4. PANAMANIAN OFFICIAL INJURED IN BOMBING
- Panamanian Attorney General Rogelio Cruz Rios and 12 other people
- were lightly injured when a bomb exploded in the garage of the
- Attorney General's office on Nov. 6. The bomb exploded five
- minutes after Cruz Rios left his car in the garage and went to
- his second-floor offices; he suffered only minor cuts on his face
- and body from windows broken by the explosion, and his car was
- partially destroyed. A police report said the bomb was apparently
- set off by remote control.
-
- Cruz Rios told a TV station that those responsible for the
- bombing "are trying to block investigations we are doing." The
- Attorney General's office is carrying out investigations relating
- to frozen accounts of drug money-laundering. According to El
- Diario-La Prensa, the M-20 rebel group claimed responsibility for
- the attack in telephone calls to local TV stations. (The New York
- Times said no one claimed responsibility for the explosion.) Two
- police who were guarding the building and one civilian have been
- arrested; no further details were given.
-
- Two weeks ago, Cruz Rios was accused by legislators and other
- public officials of being involved in illegal activities by
- unfreezing funds supposedly from laundering of drug money.
- Protests were held in front of his offices to demand his
- dismissal; even the president's wife, Ana Mae de Endara, took
- part. [ED-LP 11/8/92 from AP; NYT 11/7/92 from AP]
-
- Panamanian President Guillermo Endara, meanwhile, says he "would
- have preferred my friend George Bush be reelected" as US
- president. "I can't hide that Bush was my great friend," Endara
- told the press. "I knew him personally and he had made shows of
- affection towards me and towards Panama." [Diario Las Americas
- 11/7/92 from AFP] Panama City mayor Omayra Correa said, "Panama
- has lost a great friend as a result of the defeat" of George
- Bush. [Inter Press Service 11/4/92] When Bush tried to speak at a
- public plaza in Panama City last June, he was forced to flee
- police tear gas. Bush was responsible for the December 1989
- invasion of Panama that is thought to have left some 2,000
- civilians dead. Endara was sworn in as president on a US military
- base in Panama just before the invasion.
-
- ** End of text from cdp:reg.nicaragua **
-
- /** reg.nicaragua: 85.5 **/
- ** Written 9:33 pm Nov 8, 1992 by nicanetny in cdp:reg.nicaragua **
-
- 5. LAND STRUGGLES IN THE DOMINICAN REPUBLIC
- On Nov 2, landowners shot at 700 campesinos who were occupying
- their properties in the area of Rio San Juan, wounding 12, eight
- of them seriously. Campesino leader Ramon Martinez Bautista
- accused landowners Estela Ovalles vda. de Abud and Tomas Urena of
- ordering their employees to fire on the farmworkers. The
- campesinos say Abud's 3,500 hectares and the 1,500 hectares
- administered by Urena do not belong to the landowners but rather
- to the Dominican state government. The police command of Rio San
- Juan told Spanish news agency EFE that the situation was under
- control, but that police troops had been sent in from the nearby
- city of Nagua to reinforce the small local police force. [ED-LP
- 11/3/92 from EFE]
-
- ** End of text from cdp:reg.nicaragua **
-
- /** reg.nicaragua: 85.6 **/
- ** Written 9:33 pm Nov 8, 1992 by nicanetny in cdp:reg.nicaragua **
-
- 6. NAFTA HITS SNAGS IN CANADA; TRADE WAR LOOMS IN EUROPE
- Mexican President Carlos Salinas de Gortari's press office
- reported on Nov. 5 that U.S. president-elect Bill Clinton had
- called Salinas and pledged his support for the North American
- Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA), which makes Canada, Mexico and the
- US into a single trading bloc. Clinton and Salinas agreed that
- they would start "a new era of positive, cordial and firm
- reciprocal relations." [Inter Press Service 11/5/92] Sources from
- Clinton's transition team suggest that Salinas may be the first
- foreign leader the president-elect meets with, and that the
- encounter could take place before Clinton's inauguration in
- January. [ED-LP 11/5/92 from AP]
-
- But NAFTA may have problems with ratification in Canada after
- Canadian voters rejected a proposed Constitutional reform in an
- Oct. 26 referendum, according to the European edition of Business
- Week. Noting NAFTA's unpopularity in Canada, the magazine said
- that the "same majority" that voted against the Constitutional
- agreement may try to block ratification of the trade agreement as
- well. [La Jornada (Mexico) 11/1/92 from Notimex] (The reform
- measure was the Canadian government's latest effort to maintain
- the union against separatist pressure from the French-speaking
- province of Quebec. Voters in Quebec and five English-speaking
- provinces crushed the proposal--which was supported by all three
- major national parties--raising the possibility that the
- Quebecois may eventually form their own country.) [New York Times
- 10/28/92, 10/29/92]
-
- While business and political leaders promoted free trade in the
- Western Hemisphere, trade talks between the US and the European
- Community (EC) came to a sudden halt in Chicago on Nov. 3--
- Election Day in the US. Washington moved quickly to slap punitive
- tariffs on EC cooking oil and white wine; with the election
- campaign over, both Republicans and Democrats are supporting the
- move, which threatens to set off a full-scale trade war. [NYT
- 11/4/92, 11/5/92, 11/6/92] There have been suggestions that the
- Clinton administration may use NAFTA help form a hemispheric
- trading bloc in oppostition to the EC and Japan. [Washington Post
- 11/8/92] In a recent letter to the editor OAS (Organization of
- American States) official Robert Sayre pointed out that in 1990
- 35% of US exports went to this hemisphere, as opposed to 28.6% to
- Europe and 12.3% to Japan; the US had a trade deficit of $43.4
- billion with Japan, but a surplus of $63.4 billion with Latin
- America and the Caribbean. "The answer to much of the US economic
- situation," Sayre concluded, "is stronger economic development in
- this hemisphere." [WP 10/27/92]
-
- ** End of text from cdp:reg.nicaragua **
-
- /** reg.nicaragua: 85.7 **/
- ** Written 9:33 pm Nov 8, 1992 by nicanetny in cdp:reg.nicaragua **
-
- 7. STATEHOOD PARTY SWEEPS PUERTO RICAN ELECTIONS
- The New Progressive Party (PNP), which supports US statehood for
- Puerto Rico, won the governorship and the majority of
- municipalities in the Puerto Rican general elections on Nov. 3.
- PNP gubernatorial candidate Pedro Rossello took 49.9% of the
- votes against 45.9% for Victoria Munoz Mendoza, candidate for the
- pro-commmonwealth Popular Democratic Party (PPD) and the first
- woman to run for the office. The PNP also carried 53 mayorships,
- against 24 for the PPD. But in a close vote the PPD's Hector Luis
- Acevedo seems to have retained his position as mayor of San Juan
- with 48.7% against the PNP candidate's 47.8%. The Puerto Rican
- Independence Party (PIP) trailed badly, with 4.1% of the votes
- going to gubernatorial candidate Fernando Martin. The PIP fared
- even worse in other votes, and runs the risk of losing its ballot
- position. Independent environmentalist Neftali Garcia, who was
- supported by the Puerto Rican Socialist Party (PSP), failed to
- win a senatorial seat, but is demanding a recount. [ED-LP
- 11/5/92, 11/8/92]
-
- Rossello has already established his transition team, which will
- be advised by former US Congress member Tony Coelho, ex-head of
- the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee. Rossello says
- the PNP expects good relations with the Clinton administration
- and hopes to hold a plebiscite in 1993 on Puerto Rico's status.
- Carlos Romero Barcelo (PNP) narrowly won the position of non-
- voting Puerto Rican representative to the US Congress. [ED-LP
- 11/5/92, 11/8/92] Romero Barcelo was governor at the time of the
- July, 1978, Cerro Maravilla incident in which two independence
- supporters were killed by police. Last March he was subpoenaed to
- testify to the Puerto Rican Senate about his role in the case and
- in a subsequent coverup by police and the US FBI. Romero
- Barcelo's testimony was disputed by other witnesses, and his
- former press secretary, Antonio Quinones Calderon, called him a
- liar. [ED-LP 3/25/92, 3/26/92, 2/27/92]
-
- ** End of text from cdp:reg.nicaragua **
-
- /** reg.nicaragua: 85.8 **/
- ** Written 9:33 pm Nov 8, 1992 by nicanetny in cdp:reg.nicaragua **
-
- 8. BRAZIL ON THE BRINK?
- Brazil's Acting President Itamar Franco has warned on two
- occasions recently that the country's austerity policies may lead
- to a social convulsion. On Oct. 22 Franco, who will serve as
- interim president during the six-month impeachment proceedings
- against President Fernando Collor de Mello, asked big-city mayors
- to look for solutions to poverty as a way of stopping a wave of
- violence by urban youths. A week later he told reporters that
- "the social fabric may suffer a very serious problem. It may
- explode... Why are we keeping taxes on these [high] levels?
- Theorizing is one thing. I want to see practical results."
- Calling previous measures "a policy of recession and
- unemployment," Franco announced that the government is now
- studying a program to sell food to the poorest at subsidized
- prices. "How can an unemployed person pay? The government has to
- have this social vision." [Folha do Brasil, weekly supplement in
- ED-LP, 10/27/92 from AFP; ED-LP 10/28/92 from AP]
-
- US Under-Secretary of State for Inter-American Affairs Bernard
- Aronson took exactly the opposite position in an interview
- printed Oct. 31 by the conservative daily O Globo. "Inflation is
- a highly destabilizing element for democracy," he warned, "and
- we're not seeing any effective action by Franco's government to
- attack inflation rigorously. President Collor wasn't doing very
- well in this area, but with Franco the situation got worse."
- Aronson called Franco's policies nationalist and protectionist,
- and warned that Brazil might lose last December's agreement with
- the International Monetary Fund (IMF), which committed the
- country to severe structural adjustments. If the agreement
- collapsed, "Brazil would take a step backwards when the whole
- region has taken a step forward." [La Jornada (Mexico) 11/1/92
- from AFP, ANSA, EFE]
-
- ** End of text from cdp:reg.nicaragua **
-
- /** reg.nicaragua: 85.9 **/
- ** Written 9:33 pm Nov 8, 1992 by nicanetny in cdp:reg.nicaragua **
-
- 9. BRAZIL: 96 HOSTAGES HELD BY GUAJAJARAS INDIANS
- On Nov. 2, Guajajara Indians blocked the road that crosses their
- reservation in the state of Maranhao in northeastern Brazil and
- took 96 people hostage to protest the murder of Augusto Pereira--
- a 21-year old warrior--by gunmen who live in the town of Sao
- Pedro dos Cacetes. The non-indigenous community of 2,400 people
- is located in the middle of the Guajajaras' 140,000 hectare
- reservation. The Guajajaras are demanding the removal of the town
- as a condition for the release of the hostages, a demand they
- have held for the past 50 years. The indigenous leaders have
- asked for the presence of Justice Minister Mauricio Correa and
- Maranhao Governor Edson Lobao to find a quick solution to the
- conflict. Correa ordered a vigorous investigation into Pereira's
- murder, but said that if the incident gets worse, the Guajajara
- reservation will be moved. Correa also formed a commission to
- work towards the removal of the residents of Sao Pedro dos
- Cacetes. [ED-LP 11/8/92 from AFP]
-
- ** End of text from cdp:reg.nicaragua **
-
- /** reg.nicaragua: 85.10 **/
- ** Written 9:34 pm Nov 8, 1992 by nicanetny in cdp:reg.nicaragua **
-
- 10. COLOMBIAN DRUG CHIEF'S AIDE KILLED
- Brance Alexander Munoz Mosquera (known as "Tyson") was killed on
- Oct. 28 by the Colombian police. He was wanted on three different
- counts including terrorism. Munoz was the chief of security of
- drug lord Pablo Escobar and the brother of Dandeny Munoz Mosquera
- ("La Quica"), who was arrested in New York City last year and is
- serving a 6-year term in a US jail. [ED-LP 10/29/92 from AFP; NYT
- 10/29/92] According to media sources, the former "Medellin
- cartel" allies who informed on Brance Munoz Mosquera also gave
- information to authorities on the whereabouts of Pablo Escobar.
- [ED-LP 11/2/92 from EFE] Later in the week, police said they had
- captured Joaquin Espinosa, alias "Boliqueso" or "Yupi", who they
- said had replaced Brance Munoz Mosquera as the cartel's chief of
- security. [ED-LP 11/8/92 from AFP] Meanwhile, Colombian Senator
- Rodrigo Mirin Bernal presented the final results of a senatorial
- commission investigation into the escape from prison last July 22
- of drug lord Pablo Escobar and nine of his associates. The report
- asks for an investigation of President Cesar Gaviria. According
- to the report there was clear responsibility of Gaviria in the
- escape of the head of the Medellin cartel. [Diario Las Americas
- 10/24/92 from EFE] Seven military officers were sentenced on Nov.
- 5 to between three and eight years of prison for responsibility
- in Escobar's escape. [ED-LP 11/6/92 from AP]
-
- ** End of text from cdp:reg.nicaragua **
-
- /** reg.nicaragua: 85.11 **/
- ** Written 9:34 pm Nov 8, 1992 by nicanetny in cdp:reg.nicaragua **
-
- 11. ELECTION DATE SET IN CUBA, NEW TOP OFFICIAL IN GOVERNMENT
- December 20 is the date set for Cubans to elect delegates to
- municipal assemblies, it was officially announced Nov. 3. A
- runoff election will be held Dec. 27 in those municipalities
- where no candidate wins more than 50% of the votes. The previous
- week, the Cuban parliament approved a new electoral law that
- establishes direct secret ballot voting. [ED-LP 11/4/92 from EFE]
- In other Cuba news, Carlos Lage, a 40-year old doctor, is now the
- secretary of Castro's Council of Ministries, replacing Osmany
- Cienfuegos, who will now take exclusive charge of tourism
- development in Cuba. [ED-LP 11/4/92 from EFE]
-
- ** End of text from cdp:reg.nicaragua **
-
- /** reg.nicaragua: 85.12 **/
- ** Written 9:34 pm Nov 8, 1992 by nicanetny in cdp:reg.nicaragua **
-
- 12. CUBA AND RUSSIA AGREE ON NEW TRADE LINKS
- On Nov. 3 Cuba and Russia signed trade accords in which the
- Russian Government will exchange sugar for oil and Cuba agreed to
- keep a former Soviet electronic intelligence gathering station on
- the Communist-ruled island. The agreement appears to be the most
- important reached between Cuba and Russia since the breakup of
- the Soviet Union. A joint communique said the two countries
- would "fix a new character to Cuban-Russian relations and help to
- give them a stable and predictable character. Priority would be
- given to new forms of economic relations like bartering,
- industrial cooperation and joint ventures. It also noted that
- future relations would be based on "universally accepted
- principles of international trade," suggesting that exchanges
- would operate under world market prices.
-
- Russia's Deputy Prime Minister for foreign economic affairs,
- Aleksandr N. Shokin, said that the two sides still had to fix
- amounts of sugar and oil to be exchanged. Wording of the Prensa
- Latina report indicated it would be a barter deal like the one
- this year. Cuba supplied one million tons of sugar to Russia in
- the first half of 1992 in exchange for 1.8 million tons of oil.
- The tradeoff was much smaller than the amounts formerly exchanged
- between Cuba and the Soviet Union. [NYT 11/4/92, WP 11/3/92]
-
- ** End of text from cdp:reg.nicaragua **
-
- /** reg.nicaragua: 85.13 **/
- ** Written 9:34 pm Nov 8, 1992 by nicanetny in cdp:reg.nicaragua **
-
- 13. VENEZUELA WILL SELL OIL IF CUBA CAN PAY
- On Nov. 5 Venezuelan Foreign Minister Fernando Ochoa Antich
- announced that Venezuela will sell oil to Cuba as long as they
- meet the required commercial standards of payment. Before the
- dissolution of the Soviet Union, Cuba received 50 to 60 thousand
- barrels of oil from Venezuela through a triangular trade
- agreement with the Soviet Union. With the fall of the Soviet
- Union and the Eastern Bloc, Cuba lost its major trade partner.
- There is now rationing of fuel, with daily electric power
- blackouts and fewer hours of television broadcasting. Under the
- San Jose Agreements, oil producing governments in Latin America
- provide inexpensive oil to poorer countries in the continent.
- Venezuela and Mexico currently sell oil to nine Central American
- and Caribbean countries on favorable terms. Cuba is not
- included. [ED-LP 11/8/92 from AP, Diario Las Americas 11/7/92
- from AFP, AP 11/2/92, The Organizer (SF) 10/27/92]
-
- A joint-venture agreement for the exploration of oil in Cuban
- territorial waters between Petrobas, Brazil's government-owned
- petroleum conglomerate and Cuban oil companies was announced by
- both governments several months ago. However, shortly before the
- demise of the Collor government, the deal was suspended without
- explanation. [Greater Sao Paulo Forum of Solidarity with Cuba
- 10/30/92]
-
- ** End of text from cdp:reg.nicaragua **
-
- /** reg.nicaragua: 85.14 **/
- ** Written 9:34 pm Nov 8, 1992 by nicanetny in cdp:reg.nicaragua **
-
- 14. REBEL GROUP THREATENS GOVERNMENT IN ARGENTINA
- In Argentina, a recently-formed group called the Revolutionary
- Organization of the People (ORP) has anounced a wave of violence
- against the government of President Carlos Menem. In a phone call
- to leftwing newspaper La Republica, the ORP claimed
- responsibility for the Oct. 29 bombing of the state oil company,
- which they said was in protest of its planned privatization. The
- ORP had previously claimed responsiblity for other actions
- including attacks on two banks and the placing of several
- pamphlet-bombs. An anonymous source from the Argentinian Interior
- Ministry said that the group was a split from the People's
- Revolutionary Party and the All for the Homeland Movement (MTP).
- In January of 1989 an armed column of the MTP took the Fourth
- Infantry Regiment in La Tablada. They were thrown out after
- thirty hours of combat which resulted in the death of forty
- people, including guerrillas, military personnel and police
- officers. [DLA 10/31/92 from EFE]
-
- ** End of text from cdp:reg.nicaragua **
-
- /** reg.nicaragua: 85.15 **/
- ** Written 9:34 pm Nov 8, 1992 by nicanetny in cdp:reg.nicaragua **
-
- 15. HEALTH CRISIS IN CHILE: DOCTORS THREATEN MASS RESIGNATION
- On Nov. 2, Chilean President Patricio Aylwin designated Julio
- Montt as Chile's new Health Minister, replacing Jorge Jimenez,
- who quit on Oct. 30 in the face of the threat of collective
- resignation of some 900 emergency service doctors who are
- demanding better salaries. Before his appointment to the post,
- Montt, a 66-year old doctor, ran one of Santiago's most elite
- private clinics. The crisis came partially under control when
- Jimenez resigned and Aylwin made a new offer to advance a study
- of the doctors' economic demands. On Oct. 31, the doctors--who
- had planned to quit en masse the following day--agreed to delay
- their decision for one week. Upon swearing in the new minister,
- Aylwin discarded privatization of Chile's health services as a
- solution to the conflict. He said, "The great challenge is to
- find more efficient and decentralized formulas of health
- services." [ED-LP 11/3/92 from AP] Leaders of the "Medical
- College," the association which represents the doctors' interests
- like a trade union, said Jimenez' resignation "presented a new
- scenario and better conditions for dialogue." [La Jornada 11/1/92
- from IPS & AP] Jimenez said he resigned because he came to
- realize that his presence was an obstacle to a solution. [Chile
- Information Project (CHIP) News 10/31/92]
-
- The doctors who are threatening resignation in the Santiago area
- represent about 95% of the total there; doctors in the provinces
- are also taking the same action. They are not only demanding
- better salaries, but also infrastructure improvements in
- hospitals and emergency rooms. President Aylwin, speaking over
- radio and TV on Oct. 29, recognized the "terrible conditions
- under which many services are forced to function and the strength
- and self-denial exercised by those who work in them." Aylwin said
- the medical crisis is left over from military dictatorship of
- Gen. Augusto Pinochet (1973-1990), and that when he took power in
- March 1990, the hospitals were in "a serious state of
- deterioration and neglect." Aylwin called the doctors' demand
- "legitimate" but said the government does not have the money to
- meet them. Meanwhile, Manuel Bustos, leader of the country's main
- union federation (CUT), criticized the doctors, saying they
- should have denounced the critical situation at the hospitals
- during the Pinochet dictatorship. Bustos added that the doctors
- have received more support than the 60,000 health workers whose
- salaries are among the lowest of all state workers. [IPS
- 10/30/92]
-
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- ** Written 9:34 pm Nov 8, 1992 by nicanetny in cdp:reg.nicaragua **
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- 16. IN OTHER NEWS
- On Oct. 31, some 10,000 workers, students, campesinos and former
- guerrillas marched in the capital city of El Salvador to demand
- that the government of President Alfredo Cristiani comply in full
- with the peace accords signed between the government and the
- Farabundo Marti Front for National Liberation (FMLN). The march
- was the largest held since the war ended officially nearly a year
- ago; called by the Permanent Committee of National Debate (CPDN),
- the protest also served as a commemoration of the day three years
- earlier when 12 unionists were killed in a bomb attack on the
- headquarters of the union federation FENESTRAS. [La Jornada
- 11/1/92 from Reuter, Notimex, IPS, EFE, AFP, AP & Prensa
- Latina]... Local elections in three Mexican states Nov. 8 will
- present the ruling Institutional Revolutionary Party (PRI) with
- new challenges. The conservative National Action Party (PAN) and
- center-left Democratic Revolution Party (PRD) are running
- candidates for governor and other offices in Puebla and Sinaloa;
- the two parties are uniting behind one gubernatorial candidate in
- Tamaulipas. [ED-LP 11/8/92 from AP]... Chile has authorized the
- investment of up to 3% of its workers' pension funds (as much as
- $370 million) in three US banks, Republic National, Bankers Trust
- and Northern Trust. The Chilean investment policy is considered
- part of a "new initiative" which may eventually include
- Argentina, Colombia, Guatemala, Nicaragua and Venezuela. [DLA
- 11/7/92]... On Nov. 8, US military Joint Chiefs of Staff Chair
- Gen. Colin Powell begins an official visit to Brazil, Argentina
- and Chile, where according to the Pentagon, he will hold several
- "consultations." The US Defense Department announced that in
- Argentina and Brazil, Powell will be the guest of his
- counterparts in those countries, while he will be in Chile by
- invitation of the Chilean Defense Minister. [DLA 11/7/92 from
- EFE]... The Interamerican Development Bank (IDB) has announced a
- "soft" loan of $1.4 million to the government of Uruguay to
- support that country's participation in the Common Market of the
- South (Mercosur) with Brazil, Argentina and Paraguay. The
- Uruguayan program of incorporation into Mercosur is also being
- financed by $600,000 from the European Economic Commission,
- $230,000 from the UN Development Program and $580,000 from
- Uruguay's Office of Planning and Budget. [DLA 11/7/92 from
- AFP]... In Argentina, the General Federation of Workers (CGT) is
- calling a general strike for Nov. 9 to demand, among other
- things, that the minimum wage be raised to $500 a month and the
- minimum pension from $150 a month to $450. The cost of basic
- necessities in Argentina is estimated at $1,000 a month.
- Meanwhile, some 500 directors of banks and state-owned businesses
- got a raise to $6,500 monthly; justifying the increase, Economy
- Minister Domingo Cavallo admitted that he needs $10,000 a month
- to "live" in Buenos Aires, "according to my wife, who does
- excellent management." [DLA 11/7/92 from AFP]
-
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- ** Written 9:34 pm Nov 8, 1992 by nicanetny in cdp:reg.nicaragua **
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- 17. UPCOMING EVENTS: 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: Live with a family for
- three weeks, working side-by-side with Nicaraguan farmers on
- their cooperative. For information, call or write NICCA
- (Nicaragua Center for Community Action), 2140 Shattuck Ave. Box
- 2063, Berkeley, CA 94704. (510) 428-2146.
-
- 11/11 WED, 1 PM - People's March & Rally to Stop Police
- Brutality. Assembly 43rd St. & Broadway, march to Washington
- Square Park for speakout & rally. For info call 212-614-6482 or
- 718-953-8400.
-
- 11/13-11/15 FRI-SUN - National Conference in support of the
- African National Congress and other Democratic Forces for a New
- South Africa. $25. Riverside Church. For conference information
- call 212-673-5120.
-
- 11/13-15 FRI-SUN - Confronting the Heart of Darkness, an
- International Symposium on Torture in Guatemala. Olivia Gowan
- Hall, The Catholic University of America, Washington, D.C. For
- conference information call the Guatemala Human Rights
- Commission, 202-529-6599.
-
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- ** Written 9:34 pm Nov 8, 1992 by nicanetny in cdp:reg.nicaragua **
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- 18. ANNOUNCEMENT: The Nicaragua Solidarity Network office--which
- we used to share with three other groups--is currently
- underutilized. We are looking for a compatible group to share the
- space, along with rent and expenses. The rent is very low
- (currently $168 per month) and the space is generally used only
- on two evenings and on weekends. There is also at least one extra
- phone line. We'd be especially interested in an organization we
- could share our resources with, like a solidarity or
- newsletter/information group. If possible, we would like to have
- a co-tenant by Jan. 1, 1993. Any group interested, or anyone who
- can suggest a group we might contact, please call 212-674-9499.
- ** End of text from cdp:reg.nicaragua **
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