From: nicanet@nyxfer.UUCP
Newsgroups: soc.culture.latin-america
Subject: NicaNet NY Weekly Update #151 12/20
Date: 21 Dec 92 05:42:00 GMT
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Nf-From: nyxfer.uucp!nicanet    Dec 20 21:42:00 1992


Subject: NicaNet NY Weekly Update #151 12/20/92
From: nyxfer!nicanet (NicaNet NY)


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

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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? ***]

 

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