From: nicanet%nyxfer%igc.apc.org@MIZZOU1.missouri.edu (NicaNet NY)
Subject: NicaNet NY Weekly Update#152 12/27/92
Followup-To: alt.activism.d
Originator: daemon@pencil.cs.missouri.edu
Organization: The NY Transfer News Service
Resent-From: "Rich Winkel" <MATHRICH@MIZZOU1.missouri.edu>
Date: Wed, 30 Dec 1992 00:03:10 GMT


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 #152, DECEMBER 27, 1992

In This Issue:

     1. Nicaraguan Army Plans Offensive Against Rebel Violence
     2. Nicaraguan Government and Sandinistas Agree on Truce
     3. Nicaraguan National Assembly Crisis: End in Sight?
     4. UN Chief Visits Nicaragua
     5. Former Nicaraguan Soldiers Still on Hunger Strike
     6. Central American Presidents Discuss Region's Problems
     7. Bush's General Pardon Completes Iran-Contra Coverup
     8. Contragate: A "Damocles Sword" Over Foreign Policy?
     9. Guatemalan Human Rights Activists Win Prizes
    10. Zuno Arce Convicted in Camarena Case
    11. "Machain Doctrine" Lives On
    12. Mexico Angry at Acquittal of US Border Guard
    13. Arrested Colombian Rebel Leader Charges Abuse
    14. Peruvian Governing Coalition Quits Cusco Elections
    15. Cuba Begins New Electoral Process
    16. Charges against Pastors for Peace Activists Reduced
    17. Pilot Flies to Cuba to Bring Family to US
    18. Brazilian Impeachment Trial Postponed
    19. Panama Commemorates Third Anniversary of Invasion
    20. US Violates Haiti Embargo, Canada Wants to Get Tough

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1. NICARAGUAN ARMY PLANS OFFENSIVE AGAINST REBEL VIOLENCE

Sandinista Popular Army (EPS) chief Gen. Humberto Ortega
announced on Dec. 22 that the Nicaraguan army was preparing to
"neutralize definitively" all rearmed contras (recontras) and
rearmed Sandinistas. According to official sources, some 400
armed men are currently operating in Nicaragua, primarily in the
north. Gen. Ortega made the announcement the day after presumed
recontras killed a campesino family. The army chief met with
Cardinal Miguel Obando y Bravo and with national producers to
discuss plans for the military operations; he also called on the
government to develop programs to serve the needs of campesinos,
many of whom have joined the ranks of the rearmed. Gen. Ortega
gave no details of the military plans. [El Diario-La Prensa (NY)
12/23/92 from AFP]

Just over a week earlier, on Dec. 14, Nicaraguan President
Violeta Chamorro announced that she would carry out further
reductions in the EPS. "We will continue reducing the strength of
the army as much as possible," said Chamorro during a speech at a
gathering of municipal officials. [Inter Press Service 12/14/92]
Her statement contradicts earlier assertions she and Gen. Ortega
both made; on Nov. 5, Chamorro confirmed that the process of
reduction of the armed forces had concluded, backing up a
statement made by Ortega in an Oct. 27 speech. [ED-LP 11/6/92
from Notimex]

Military sources confirmed on Dec. 25 that a group of presumed
recontras had murdered rancher Domingo Castro and one of his
nephews, 16-year old Manuel Antonio Espinoza, while they were en
route to a farm in northern Nicaragua. Their vehicle was ambushed
on Dec. 23 by the rebels near the town of Paiwas, which lies at
the junction of the regions of Matagalpa, Boaco and Zelaya.
Police authorities said the attackers, led by supposed recontra
chief Ricardo Diaz, also wounded another young relative of
Castro, Harod Espinoza. More than 10 producers from northern and
central Nicaragua have been murdered this year by presumed
recontras who refused to give up their arms during the process of
demobilization sponsored by the government between January and
May of 1992. [ED-LP 12/27/92 from EFE]

2. NICARAGUAN GOVERNMENT AND SANDINISTAS AGREE ON TRUCE

The Chamorro government has accepted a "political and economic
truce" for 1993, proposed by the Sandinista National Liberation
Front (FSLN) and designed to encourage an increase in production
and the creation of jobs. The truce was agreed on by Presidency
Minister Antonio Lacayo and FSLN Secretary General and former
Nicaraguan president Daniel Ortega at the end of a private
meeting. [ED-LP 12/24/92 from Notimex]

In a year-end message, President Chamorro asked the Nicaraguan
people to have a "positive attitude" and leave "behind violence,
lack of understanding and intolerance" so that 1993 will be a
year of work, progress and well-being. "We must put national
interests ahead of political and economic interests," said
Chamorro." [ED-LP 12/25/92 from Notimex]

3. NICARAGUAN NATIONAL ASSEMBLY CRISIS: END IN SIGHT?

Legislators from the ruling UNO coalition bloc in the Nicaraguan
National Assembly announced on Dec. 14 that they would hold talks
with FSLN legislators by year-end in an effort to resolve the
current crisis in the legislature. The UNO bloc--which, under the
leadership of Assembly president Alfredo Cesar, has been
antagonistic toward the administration of President Chamorro--has
been holding illegal parliamentary sessions since Sept. 2, when
39 Sandinista legislators and eight from a dissident faction of
the UNO known as the center group joined together to boycott
Assembly proceedings in protest of Cesar's attempt to control
upcoming elections for Assembly leadership positions. The
executive branch and the Supreme Court have both backed the
FSLN/center group boycott by declaring all of Cesar's assembly
proceedings illegal (Cesar has managed to achieve a quorum of
sorts by calling alternates to the eight UNO deputies and in some
cases, alternates to the alternates.)

UNO's Luis Humberto Guzman told journalists on Dec. 14 that after
much debate, reticent UNO legislators finally accepted that
negotiations were "the only way out" of the crisis. The aim of
the planned talks is to remove hurdles blocking the Jan. 9
election for a new Assembly president and other legislative
officers. Guzman did not specify what points would be discussed
with Sandinista deputies, and he ruled out the possibility of any
negotiations with the eight "center group" members. According to
UNO deputy Eli Altamirano of the Nicaraguan Communist Party,
"this group is something strange within UNO and has nothing to do
with the solution."

Former Nicaraguan vice president Sergio Ramirez, current head of
the Sandinista bloc in the National Assembly, said on Dec. 15
that any negotiations would hinge on UNO acceptance of the court
ruling. Ramirez stressed that the center group must participate
in and receive seats on the new ruling directorate, as they
represent a new parliamentary force that cannot be marginalized.
"We would prefer a broad directorate that reflects the true
composition of the forces in the National Assembly," said
Ramirez. "It is better to run the risk than to legislate
illegally." He added that the FSLN "will not tolerate one more
caprice" in the legislature.

On Dec. 15, Presidency Minister Antonio Lacayo said that only
through a return to normalcy in the Assembly can Nicaragua begin
a national dialogue and achieve political stability in 1993.
"What has happened in the Assembly since last Sept. 2 is a
shame," said Lacayo. "This [legislative] state power has not been
functioning legally and that is not good for the country." [IPS
12/14/92; 12/16/92]

4. UN CHIEF VISITS NICARAGUA

On a Dec. 16 visit to Nicaragua, UN Secretary General Butros
Butros-Ghali called on the international community to continue
providing the country with economic aid for peace and
reconstruction. "Nicaragua should not be financially punished
solely because it happens to be no longer a scene of conflict,"
the UN chief told journalists at a press conference following his
meeting with President Chamorro. "The international community
must not forget Nicaragua."

Butros-Ghali suggested social measures to fight poverty, and said
that while the United Nations had only limited resources, it
could act as an "intermediary" for international financing
agencies that were able to provide economic aid to Nicaragua and
El Salvador. The UN leader stopped in Nicaragua briefly after
attending the ceremonies marking the end of the 12-year war in
neighboring El Salvador. Butros-Ghali praised Nicaragua's advance
from "military confrontation to full democracy," but said that
"it is now necessary to reconstruct the country." Losses to
Nicaragua's economy from the war have been estimated by UN
agencies at $15 billion. Chamorro invited Butros-Ghali to visit
Nicaragua again. [IPS 12/16/92]

5. FORMER NICARAGUAN SOLDIERS STILL ON HUNGER STRIKE

A hunger strike by 37 former EPS soldiers was continuing as of
Dec. 18 after seven weeks, with four of the protesters in
"dangerous" condition according to doctors. The hunger strikers
are demanding layoff compensation in the amount of $1000,
equivalent to three months' salary. On Dec. 17, EPS head of
public and international relations Ricardo Wheelock Roman said
the protesters had no right to claim compensation because they
"do not meet the legal requirements," adding that "those who make
claims to the contrary are misleading them." Wheelock said the
army could not be held responsible "if any of them die"; he
argued that only soldiers who "did not abandon the ranks after
the Sandinista Front lost the elections and did not have pending
court cases" qualified for retirement benefits.

Vilma Nunez de Escorcia, director of the Nicaraguan Center for
Human Rights (CENIDH), called the army high command's attitude
toward the hunger strikers "inhuman, insensitive and worrying."
Nunez, who also chairs the Central American Human Rights
Commission (CODEHUCA) explained that "today they do not meet the
conditions, but when they were recruited for war, they fit the
bill. They were good soldiers, now they swim in misery." She
added, "I do not see how the high command can go on vacation to
celebrate Christmas, leaving their former comrades on the brink
of death." [IPS 12/18/92]

6. CENTRAL AMERICAN PRESIDENTS DISCUSS REGION'S PROBLEMS

The presidents of the Central American countries held their 13th
summit in Panama City from Dec. 9 through Dec. 11. The main
topics discussed were the region's economic and agricultural
integration. The group telephoned Mexican President Carlos
Salinas de Gortari to register their objection to Mexico's
imposition of import taxes on sugar and meat, two of Central
America's main export products. The summit also resulted in an
Agricultural Declaration put together by the countries'
respective agriculture ministers.

Regarding the region's economic integration, Costa Rican
president Rafael Calderon said, "we must insert ourselves into
the international market...we have to move toward an opening
where we can also protect ourselves from the excessive subsidies
of other nations." He also stated, in regard to international
economic assistance, "It is a barbarity that while they
[governments and international financial organizations] demand
peace and more open economies of us, they don't give us the
[financial] assistance we are expecting." President Jorge Serrano
of Guatemala pointed out that the agriculture ministers must take
into account the GATT (General Agreement on Trade and Tariffs)
agreement in regard to banana exportation. The Central American
countries are asking the the European Community not to put quotas
on the importation of bananas. Another topic discussed by the
presidents was the possibility of using only one currency for the
region. [ED-LP 12/09/92 from  AFP, 12/11/92 from AP]

7. BUSH'S GENERAL PARDON COMPLETES IRAN-CONTRA COVERUP

On Dec. 24 US President George Bush granted presidential pardons
to six figures in the Iran-contra affair. Two still faced charges
of lying to or misleading Congress: former defense secretary
Caspar Weinberger, whose trial was to begin Jan. 5, and former
CIA official Duane "Dewey" Clarridge, whose trial was set for
March. Three more had already entered guilty pleas: former
Assistant Secretary of State Elliott Abrams, former CIA official
Alan Fiers, and former national security adviser Robert "Bud"
McFarlane. Clair George, another former CIA official, was
convicted by a federal jury on Dec. 9. [New York Times 12/25/92]

"The Iran-contra coverup, which has continued for more than six
years, has now been completed," the independent counsel (special
prosecutor) in the affair, Lawrence Walsh, said in a statement on
Dec. 24. The pardon "undermines the principle that no man is
above the law. It demonstrates that powerful people with powerful
allies can commit serious crimes in high office..." Weinberger's
role in the coverup "possibly forestalled timely impeachment
proceedings against President Reagan and other officials,"
according to Walsh, who also revealed what he called "President
Bush's own misconduct"--waiting until Dec. 11 of this year to
produce his notes on the affair. [NYT 12/15/92 from Reuters]

Walsh says that Bush is now a "subject of the investigation,"
while Democrats in Congress may hold hearings on the presidential
pardon. But Walsh says that the pardon "has a devastating effect
on the development of further facets of the inquiry," while
Congressional Democrats admit that they "botched" and "bungled"
(in the words of the New York Times) the 1987 Congressional
inquiry and wouldn't like to try another one. [NYT 12/26/92] (One
important question is whether blackmail from the executive branch
may have influenced the ability of Congress to investigate the
White House. The "botched" and "bungled" 1987 inquiry was chaired
by Rep. Lee Hamilton (D-IN) and Sen. Daniel Inouye (D-HI), who
has also been a vocal supporter of Weinberger against the special
prosecutor's office (see Update #126). Now it turns out that
Inouye's hairdresser accuses him of forcing her into what the
Times calls "nonconsensual intercourse" 17 years ago; the
hairdresser says she has experienced frequent sexual harassment
from Inouye since then, and nine other women are said to have
similar stories.) [NYT 12/14/92]

8. CONTRAGATE: A "DAMOCLES SWORD" OVER FOREIGN POLICY?

In the text of the Iran-contra pardon, Bush wrote that he was
acting in order to counter "a profoundly troubling development in
the political and legal climate of our country: the
criminalization of policy differences. These differences should
be addressed in the political arena, without the Damocles sword
of criminality [that is, the possibility of prosecution for
crimes] hanging over the heads of some of the combatants... It is
my hope that the action I am taking today will begin to restore
these disputes to the battleground where they properly belong."
[NYT 12/25/92 from AP]

In fact, the pardon completes a long process of putting US
foreign policy entirely above the law--above any law,
international or domestic. In 1986 the US defied a World Court
ruling by continuing the US war against Nicaragua. In 1989 the US
defied the UN and the OAS (Organization of American States)
charters by invading Panama. In diplomatic maneuvers leading up
to the 1991 Gulf War, the US turned the UN Security Council into
a rubber stamp for US military actions. Earlier this year, the US
Supreme Court ruled in the Alvarez Machain case that the US may
simply ignore its own treaties as it crosses borders and kidnaps
foreign nationals. With the Bush pardon, the US executive branch
now declares itself free to lie to Congress with complete
impunity. Ceasars, Kaisers and tsars would have every reason to
envy the present absolute power of the US president.

At the same time that the presidency sets itself above the law,
much of the potential domestic opposition has endorsed the
doctrine of "humanitarian intervention"--the idea that US-led
invasions are justified whenever the White House and the mass
media certify that the intentions are good. "Intervention is in,"
writes conservative columnist William Safire. "[T]he former
liberal doves and conservative hawks are now human-rights
bedfellows." The only opposition comes from "isolationists of the
resentful right, Perot protectionists, diplomatic
accommodationists, and the old New Left peaceniks now lying
quietly in the weeds." [NYT 12/24/92] If there is a "Damocles
sword" hanging over US foreign policy, it is clearly the power of
an imperial US presidency backed by history's largest and
deadliest military machine and unrestrained by laws or political
opposition.

9. GUATEMALAN HUMAN RIGHTS ACTIVISTS WIN PRIZES

On Dec. 9 in Stockholm, Hellen Mack--sister of Guatemalan
anthropologist Mirna Mack, murdered in September 1990--received
the 1992 Right Livelihood Award, also known as the alternative
Nobel prize, for her "efforts in the struggle against political
violence throughout Central America." Mack, one of three people
receiving the award, has been trying to have her sister's
assassins brought to justice; she says that so far a total of 12
different judges have declined to become involved in the case
"out of fear of reprisals." Mack says she will use the $185,000
given to her as part of the award to establish a new Mirna Mack
Foundation, which will provide legal assistance and other forms
of aid to victims of human rights abuses.  [LADB 12/11/92 from
AFP]

Meanwhile, this year's Nobel Peace Prize winner, Guatemalan human
rights activist Rigoberta Menchu, deposited her prize medal in
the Templo Mayor Museum in Mexico City on Dec. 18. Menchu was
accompanied in the ceremony by Mexican President Carlos Salinas
de Gortari, his wife, and the Spanish ambassador to Mexico. [ED-
LP 12/20/92 from EFE] Menchu invited Ruben Berrios and Fernando
Martin, president and vice president (respectively) of the Puerto
Rican Independence Party (PIP) to join her in the ceremony, but
they were unable to get a flight on short notice. [ED-LP
12/18/92]

10. ZUNO ARCE CONVICTED IN CAMARENA CASE

On Dec. 21 a federal jury in Los Angeles convicted Mexican
businessperson Ruben Zuno Arce of conspiracy in the 1985 torture
and murder of Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) official
Enrique "Kiki" Camarena Salazar in Guadalajara. The jury, which
deliberated for almost three days, was never told that one week
earlier presiding Judge Edward Rafeedie had dismissed charges
against codefendant Humberto Alvarez Machain for lack of
evidence. Zuno Arce's conviction was the eighth so far in the
Camarena murder, but this latest trial aroused special interest
because of Alvarez Machain, a Guadalajara gynecologist who was
kidnapped and brought to the US in 1990, setting off an
international furor. Zuno Arce is to be sentenced Feb. 8. [El
Diario-La Prensa (NY) 12/22/92 from AP] (Zuno Arce's brother-in-
law is Luis Echeverria Alvarez, president of Mexico 1970-76.
Echeverria was Interior Minister 1963-1970, and many consider him
responsible for the October, 1968, massacre of several hundred
students and their supporters in Mexico City.)

11. "MACHAIN DOCTRINE" LIVES ON

Tensions are reportedly continuing between Mexico and the US over
the Alvarez Machain case. The US government is now demanding that
Mexico investigate DEA claims about a "killing field" in
Guadalajara that allegedly contains the bodies of at least four
US citizens murdered by drug lords in 1984. (These were Jehovah's
Witnesses the drug traffickers are supposed to have mistaken for
DEA agents.) The US claims Mexico is refusing to excavate the
graves and repatriate the remains. [Washington Post 12/18/92]
Meanwhile, the Mexican government issued a communique on Dec. 19
calling on the US government to "explicitly acknowledge that the
kidnapping of Alvarez Machain constituted a violation of
international law and that jurisdiction rests exclusively with
the Mexican authorities." The communique stresses that Mexico is
interested in strengthening cooperation with the US in the fight
against drug trafficking, "but on the basis of strict adherence
to international law and with mutual trust and respect." [IPS
12/19/92] And Alvarez Machain himself is now saying he'll file
suit against the US district attorneys and the hired witnesses
used at his trial. The doctor told a Guadalajara press conference
that he would demand several million dollars in compensation. He
was kidnapped and abused, he charged, his family was badly
treated, and his reputation damaged. [Cubanews from Radio Havana
Cuba 12/18/92]

Things may not change much after Bill Clinton's inauguration.
What New York's El Diario-La Prensa calls the "Machain Doctrine"-
-"the imperialistic principle" that "the kidnapping of citizens
of other countries on foreign soil by American agents [is]
perfectly legal and acceptable" [12/22/92]--got a limited
endorsement from the president-elect on Dec. 15. Clinton said the
US Supreme Court "goes too far" in its June 15 decision upholding
the abduction. But he noted that he didn't feel the US should
renounce all rights to enter foreign territory: "[I] would say
that we shouldn't even think about this unless the other
government has deliberately refused to honor extradition requests
and tried to undermine what we were doing or wouldn't lift a
finger to try to comply with the law." [ED-LP 12/16/92 from AP;
quotations retranslated from Spanish]

12. MEXICO ANGRY AT ACQUITTAL OF US BORDER GUARD

The Mexican Foreign Ministry says it is "profoundly concerned"
about an Arizona court's decision to acquit a US border guard who
shot Mexican undocumented immigrant Dario Miranda to death last
June. The Mexican government says there was sufficient evidence
to prove that agent Michael Elmer shot Miranda in the back,
though Elmer says he fired in self-defense. Elmer faces 11 other
charges of aggravated assault against Mexican nationals. Mexico
says it will ask the US government for Elmer to be retried on
charges of violating Miranda's human rights and will file a civil
suit against US immigration authorities on behalf of Miranda's
family. [Cubanews from Radio Havana Cuba 12/18/92]

13. ARRESTED COLOMBIAN REBEL LEADER CHARGES ABUSE

National Liberation Army (ELN) guerrilla leader Francisco Galan,
who was arrested on Dec. 3, has charged that he was drugged and
raped by army interrogators after refusing to give information on
other guerrilla leaders. Army officers denied the accusations and
added that a member of the attorney general's office was present
at all times during Galan's arrest. Attorney General Gustavo Leon
de Greiff confirmed the presence of a member of his staff in the
process and assured that everything was done legally. Days
earlier, the government had presented the media with a medical
report which said that when he was arrested, Galan showed signs
of "drug addiction and sexual assult." [ED-LP 12/24/92 from
Notimex]

In other news, the Colombian government has increased the
country's minimum salary by 25%. Starting Jan. 1 the minimum
monthly salary will be 81,510 pesos ($116)--the amount suggested
by the business sector. Labor unions had suggested a 29%
increase. [ED-LP 12/24/92 from AP]

14. PERUVIAN GOVERNING COALITION QUITS CUSCO ELECTIONS

Peru's ruling New Majority-Change 90 coalition has decided to
pull its candidates for mayor from the elections in the Andean
region of El Cusco. Coalition representative Juan Heysen Acosta
presented a written petition to pull out of the race. Secretary
of the electoral jury Felipe Perez Ceballos said that the
decision on this highly unusual occurrence would be made public
on Dec. 25. According to polls, current Cusco mayor Daniel
Estrada will receive 70% of the vote to win a third term of
office. Estrada, a member of the United Alliance of the Left, is
running as a candidate of the United Front (FU), a coalition
formed from the fragmented Peruvian left. The candidates of the
FU have their biggest backing in Cusco's 13 provinces and 106
districts. In other election news, the electoral jury of Lima
province approved 100 lists of candidates for 43 districts for
the capital. There are 42 candidates running for mayor of Lima.
[ED-LP 12/24/92 from Notimex]

Meanwhile, rebels of the Maoist Peruvian Communist Party (PCP,
also known as Sendero Luminoso, or Shining Path) exploded car
bombs on Dec. 26 near the Chinese, Costa Rican and Austrian
embassies in Lima, causing damage but no injuries, according to
police and embassy officials. [NYT 12/27/92 from Reuters]

15. CUBA BEGINS NEW ELECTORAL PROCESS

On Dec. 20, over 97.2% of Cuba's registered voters (75% of the
seven million Cubans eligible to vote) went to the polls to elect
13,865 delegates to sit on 169 municipal assemblies.  Of the
delegates elected, tentative results indicate that 1,811 are
women and 2,199 are under 30 years old; 8,200 incumbents were
returned to office. President Fidel Castro said this demonstrated
the people's confidence in the government and that Cuba will
survive the worst economic difficulties the island has
experienced in over thirty years.

This was the first election under the new electoral law passed in
October, and it sets the stage for the elections for state and
national assemblies scheduled for February 1993. According to
local sources, the decision to call general elections is a
response to external pressure. Although Cubans have chosen
representatives on the local level since 1975 when the "popular
power" system was inaugurated, this is the first time in Cuban
history that people will elect their state and national
representatives directly by secret ballot. Direct elections have
been a long-standing demand among members of the international
community and opponents of Castro's government.

While the nomination of candidates for the state and national
elections will remain indirect and subject to control by the
Communist Party, the secret ballot will present the possibility
of Cubans expressing displeasure with the current government by
simply casting a blank ballot or by voting for newer lesser known
figures instead of party stalwarts. In the municipal elections,
figures on the number of blank or mutilated ballots were not
expected to be available until March. In one voting station
visited by journalists, it was estimated that 15% to 20% of the
ballots were blank or mutilated. According to the President of
the Election Commission, Carlos Amat, this figure cannot be taken
as indicative since it is only a small unscientific sample.

The municipal elections were the first nationwide elections since
the breakup of the former Soviet bloc, combined with the
pressures of the increased US embargo, plunged Cuba into economic
crisis. Juan Escalona, President of Cuba's National Assembly,
said the government was aware that frustration over social and
economic problems would be reflected at the polls, but he was
confident the government would recieve majority support. "This is
a very great expression of the courage of the revolution and of
confidence in the people," said Castro. "These are the worst
conditions for an election." [ED-LP 12/21/92 from Notimex & EFE,
12/22/92 from AP; NYT 12/21/92; NY Newsday 12/21/92; IPS 11/3/92]

16. CHARGES AGAINST PASTORS FOR PEACE ACTIVISTS REDUCED

Charges against three of the four Pastors for Peace caravan
participants arrested during a confrontation with US officials at
the US/Mexico border on Nov. 20 are expected to be dropped. The
Pastors for Peace caravan brought shipments of medicine, bibles
and other supplies from the US to Cuba via Mexico in violation of
the US embargo against Cuba. The charges against Ajumoke Tokunbo,
an African-American woman from Oakland, California are being
reduced to two counts of misdemeanor assault on a federal
officer. Federal prosecutors had threatened to charge her with
felonious assault and violating the Trading with the Enemy Act.
The Friendshipment's legal team is also working to win the
release of medicines federal officials had seized during the
November caravan. [Workers World Service posted on NY Transfer
12/24/92]

17. PILOT FLIES TO CUBA TO BRING FAMILY TO US

Former Cuban Air Force commander Orestes Lorenzo Perez, who fled
Cuba on Mar. 20, 1991 in a Mig-23 fighter jet, returned secretly
to Cuba on Dec. 19 on a successful mission to bring his wife and
children to his home in Virginia. His family had been granted US
visas but were not allowed to leave by the Cuban government;
Lorenzo tried diplomatic means and even a hunger strike before
resorting to the daredevil stunt. The pilot avoided Cuban radar
by flying some 10 feet above the water on the 90-mile journey
from Florida in a Cessna 310 lent to him by the Valladares
Foundation, a Cuban exile group. After their arrival, US
President Bush received Lorenzo and his wife and older son in the
White House to hear their story. [ED-LP 12/21/92 from AFP, EFE;
12/22/92; 12/23/92 from AP, EFE; WP 12/21/92]

18. BRAZILIAN IMPEACHMENT TRIAL POSTPONED

The impeachment trial of Brazilian President Fernando Collor de
Mello was postponed on Dec. 21--the eve of the Senate
proceedings--until Dec. 29. Collor's move to delay the trial by
dismissing his lawyers was denounced as a cynical move to buy
time, though Collor claimed it was to prevent senators from
acting under "tremendous political pressure" and because he is
seeking a "fair and impartial trial in a climate free from
emotions and conflicts of interest." Collor said he "was victim
of a defamatory campaign without precedent in the history of the
country." [NYT 12/22/92 from AP; ED-LP 12/22/92 from AFP]

The president of Brazil's Supreme Federal Court, Sidney Sanchez,
has expressed his opposition to Collor's petition to delay the
trial for another month; he said he will make his formal decision
on the request on Dec. 28 after consulting with the prosecuting
attorneys. "If it depends on me, the date of Tuesday the 29th
will be maintained," said Sanchez; prosecutor Evandro Lins y
Silva said he will not allow a further delay of the trial, due to
the total absence of good faith on Collor's part. Sanchez also
warned that Collor's new defense lawyer, appointed by the state,
must take up the process at the phase it is currently in. [ED-LP
12/27/92 from EFE]

19. PANAMA COMMEMORATES THIRD ANNIVERSARY OF INVASION

While some Panamanians commemorated the third anniversary of the
Dec. 20, 1989 US invasion of Panama with a mass at the common
grave of 108 soldiers and civilians killed during the invasion,
hundreds of others who were made homeless when the US bombed
their Panama City neighborhood, El Chorrillo, attended a Sunday
mass at the Fatima church, preceded by a candlelight vigil and
procession on the night of Dec. 19. [ED-LP 12/21/92 from AP]

The president of an ad hoc commission of Panama's legislative
assembly, Arturo Vallarino, said Dec. 23 that some 50 supporters
of deposed general Manuel Antonio Noriega may be amnestied before
the end of the year. He warned that only those who committed
political crimes and not common crimes could benefit from an
amnesty. Among those arrested since Dec. 20, 1989 are Noriega's
former joint chiefs of staff Col. Marco Justine, former chief of
the political police Col. Guillermo Wong, and head of the
paramilitary "Dignity Battalions" Benjamin Colamarco. [ED-LP
12/24/92 from AP]

20. US VIOLATES HAITI EMBARGO, CANADA WANTS TO GET TOUGH

Despite the unilateral embargo imposed last year on Haiti,
commercial trade between the US and Haiti surpassed $140 million
in the first seven months of 1992, according to statistics from
the US Trade Department released in Miami on Dec. 22. In this
period of time, the US sent some $96 million in exports to Haiti
and received $43 million in imports. "The failure of the embargo
is a shame for the White House, but it didn't work because there
was no support from the United Nations," said Robert Geldberg, an
official from the State Department's office for Inter-American
Affairs. In a press conference in southern Florida, Geldberg
explained that the embargo isn't supported by industrialized
nations like France, and that it was violated by some members of
the Organization of American States (OAS). [ED-LP 12/23/92 from
Notimex]

Canada's Prime Minister Brian Mulroney has called for an
international naval blockade around Haiti to bring down the
military dictatorship that overthrew the democratically-elected
government of President Jean-Bertrand Aristide on Sept. 30, 1991.
"There should be a naval blockade, by Canada, the United States,
France and Venezuela to name but four to bring that Government
down," said Mulroney in a CTV television network interview
scheduled for broadcast on Dec. 27, the transcripts of which were
released Dec. 24. Mulroney spokesperson Mark Entwistle said
Mulroney has become increasingly frustrated with a lack of effort
to help restore a democratic government in Haiti, and with the
failure of a limited economic blockade to be effective. "If you
really want to shut these guys down, you have to put a
stranglehold on them, said Entwistle. Mulroney plans to try to
persuade US President-elect Bill Clinton to support a more
effective blockade. [NYT 12/25/92 from Reuters]

                           -30-


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