From: rich@pencil.cs.missouri.edu (Rich Winkel)
Subject: NY Nica News Update #136, 9/6/92
Followup-To: alt.activism.d
Originator: rich@pencil.cs.missouri.edu
Organization: PACH
Date: Sun, 6 Sep 1992 21:44:00 GMT

/** reg.nicaragua: 135.0 **/
** Topic: Weekly News Update #136, 9/6/92 **
** Written  1:40 pm  Sep  6, 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 #136 SEPTEMBER 6, 1992

In This Issue:
 
     1. At Least 116 Dead After Tidal Waves Strike Nicaragua's
        Pacific Coast
     2. Nicaraguan Police Chief Fired
     3. US State Department Agrees With Helms: All Sandinistas
        Must Go
     4. Nicaraguans React: "All Lies"
     5. "Extraordinary" FSLN Congress Coming Up?
     6. Other Nicaragua News: Atlantic Coast, Strikes, Arms
     7. Brazilian President Refuses To Resign; Impeachment Almost
        Certain
     8. Mexico: Free Trade, Strikes, Protests
     9. FMLN Drafts Constitution
    10. Salvadoran News Agency Threatened Again
    11. Hurricane Andrew's Damage Increased by Corruption
    12. Upcoming Events in the NYC Area
 
These updates are published weekly. A one-year subscription is
$25. Back issues and source materials are available on request.
(Many of our source materials are accessed through 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 **

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1. AT LEAST 116 DEAD AFTER TIDAL WAVES STRIKE NICARAGUA'S PACIFIC
COAST
On Sept. 1, an earthquake off the Pacific coast of Nicaragua
registering 7.2 on the Richter scale caused tidal waves as high
as 45 feet which hit a stretch of coastline 140 miles long at
6:16 in the evening. In low-lying coastal fishing villages and
towns, raging waters pushed as far as 1,500 meters inland. So far
116 people are dead, 150 more are missing, and at least 16,000
homeless. [New York Times 9/3/92, 9/4/92; Latin America Database
9/4/92 from Notimex, AFP] The earthquake's epicenter was located
75 miles southwest of Managua. The resulting tidal wave affected
every community from the Costa Rican border to the Port of
Corinto; whole fishing villages were washed away, neighborhoods
in Corinto were flooded and two small islands protecting the port
were struck by a six foot wave. The Nicaraguan government is
evacuating the entire Pacific coastline to protect the population
from aftershocks. [Nicaragua Network (DC) Hotline 9/2/92] 
 
To contribute to relief measures for this latest natural disaster
you can send your tax-deductible contribution to the Nicaragua
Network Education Fund, 1247 E St., SE, Washington, DC 20003.
Designate your contribution for tidal wave relief. Also, Casa
Nicaragua in Philadelphia has organized a campaign to assist
victims of the tidal wave: donations can be sent to the American
Red Cross/Nicaragua Fund, 23rd & Chestnut Street, Philadelphia,
PA 19103, or by calling 1-800-257-7575. Casa Nicaragua is also
seeking food and medicine to be sent to Nicaragua via a cargo
plane: for more information call 215-288-0109. In addition, Quest
for Peace continues to ship containers to Nicaragua, so if you
have clothing, medicine, fishing nets, housewares, or other items
that would help the people of the coast rebuild, call Quest for
Peace (301-699-0042) to locate the container nearest you. [Nica
Net Hotline 9/2/92; Casa Nicaragua Press Release 9/3/92]
 
The US government, which initially indicated it would release
only $25,000 in disaster relief, has made $5 million available.
US diplomats cited in the New York Times indicated that the funds
would come from previously-approved aid which has been held up by
aid officials, not from the $104 million held up by the State
Department [see #3 below]. [9/4/92]
 
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2. NICARAGUAN POLICE CHIEF FIRED
President Violeta Chamorro announced on Sep.5 that National
Police Chief Rene Vivas and eleven of his aides were being
removed from their posts, and swore in his replacement, Fernando
Caldera Azmitia. She also appointed a civilian, Ronald Aviles, as
the new vice minister for public security, who will have direct
authority over the police and report to the Governance Minister,
Alfredo Medieta. [NYT 9/6/92]
 
Vivas, along with Sandinista Popular Army head Gen. Humberto
Ortega, had been a particular target of Sen. Jesse Helms (R-NC),
who this spring asked the State Department to hold up aid to
Nicaragua because the Sandinistas still occupy important
government posts. [NYT 9/6/92] Presumably Chamorro hopes that
Caldera, although also a Sandinista, will be more acceptable to
Helms. Vivas had been criticized by UNO and FSLN elements in
Nicaragua for being too lenient or too harsh, respectively, with
strikers, anti-government demonstrators and irregular armed
groups. 
 
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3. US STATE DEPARTMENT AGREES WITH HELMS: ALL SANDINISTAS MUST GO
The US State Department sharply criticized President Violeta
Chamorro's administration on Sep. 1, charging that the government
had failed to investigate murders of former contras, and has
moved slowly on returning property that was confiscated by the
Sandinistas following the triumph of the Revolution in July,
1979. State Department spokesperson Richard Boucher also
criticized Chamorro's record on judicial, economic and military
reform, and announced that a delegation led by deputy assistant
secretary of state for Central American affairs John Maisto would
leave for Managua Sep. 2 to investigate these and other matters.
[Washington Post 9/2/92]
 
Boucher's charges echoed a report released Aug. 30 by Republican
staff members of the Senate Foreign Relations commitee, which
charged that "all real power" in Chamorro's government "remains
with the Sandinistas." The 144-page report, written by Deborah De
Moss, longtime aide to Sen. Helms, alleges that the country is
run by Presidency Minister Antonio Lacayo and Gen. Humberto
Ortega, head of the armed forces and a member of the Sandinista
National Directorate until President Chamorro took office in
1990; that 217 former contras have been murdered since April 1990
and none of these murders have been investigated; and that
Sandinistas still control the army police, courts, intelligence
services and all other major government agencies. [WP 9/1/92; NYT
9/3/92]
 
The State Department has been holding up $104 million in US aid
to Nicaragua in response to a request by Helms, making Nicaragua
unable to meet upcoming foreign debt payments and threatening to
destabilize the currency. A Washington Post editorial criticized
the State Department, saying "the overwhelming requirement on
American policy is to get off the back of the democratic
government.... Instead, Mr. Bush lets Mr. Helms be his election-
year secretary of state for Nicaragua." [9/2/92]
 
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4. NICARAGUANS REACT: "ALL LIES"
Many in Nicaragua reacted angrily to the news, including Lacayo,
who said "I have read the first two pages of the report and it is
full of lies." Former president and FSLN Secretary General Daniel
Ortega said the Moss report demonstrated that Helms and US
Assistant Secretary of State for Inter-American affairs Bernard
Aronson were "trying to govern Nicaragua from abroad." Ortega
warned the Chamorro administration not to bow to US pressures:
"If the government yields, then the people will wake up, and the
Sandinistas will support them. If the government falls, then so
be it. Another will come, and if that doesn't work either, then
another will come." Ortega concluded that, given the trend of
diminishing US aid levels throughout the region, the government
has no reason to bow to pressures for release of the funds.
 
In Washington, Nicaraguan Ambassador to the US Ernesto Palazio
released a statement declaring that the Moss report was
"deceitful, misleading and unfair to [our] fledgling democracy
and its people..." Palazio said that "Sen. Helms' staff is out
there by itself hurling insults at people who are trying hard to
mend our country.  They are acting like loose cannons."  He added
that the US aid freeze is making it even more difficult for the
government to implement reforms. President Chamorro commented
that the report "doesn't make me sick, nor does it bother me, and
the less we hear about it, the better." [LADB 9/4/92 from
Barricada, AFP, AP, UPI, Reuter, Notimex]
 
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5. "EXTRAORDINARY" FSLN CONGRESS COMING UP?
According to Sandinista National Assembly deputy Dora Maria
Tellez, at the Aug. 7 meeting of the Sandinista Assembly, Daniel
Ortega broached the idea of holding a second party congress in
the relatively near future. Such a congress would be
"extraordinary," given that current statutes envision another
meeting only in 1995, and would be dedicated to filling the gaps
left open at the First Congress in terms of party strategy and
program. Though Tellez said she considered reopening the
leadership question "secondary," the possibility of a new
congress spurred demands for a fresh election of the National
Directorate (DN). (At the previous Congress in July 1991 she was
the only alternative candidate to the reelection of all incumbent
members of the DN.) With the apparent backing of the so-called
"center group" in the FSLN, former tourism minister Herty Lewites
announced he would seek a place in the top leadership. The
Lewites bid comes in the midst of DN member Luis Carrion's recent
departure for the United States to study, along with indications
that Jaime Wheelock is considering the same move.
 
Serious differences over the holding of another congress quickly
surfaced, however, with DN member Henry Ruiz arguing that
"conditions are not propitious, and might even lead the FSLN into
more difficult and perhaps traumatic situation if things are done
hastily." Ruiz said a new congress only makes sense if the party
is prepared for a serious, in-depth change, and is untimely in
view of the grave national problems the country is now facing. In
a round table discussion with journalists on Radio Ya on Aug. 25,
Daniel Ortega kept the congress issue open but appeared to
minimize prospects for another leadership election, saying that
removal of DN members would have to be done in a "very gradual,
nontraumatic and constructive way." [Central America Historical
Institute Memo #241 8/20-26/92]
 
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6. OTHER NICARAGUA NEWS: ATLANTIC COAST, TRANSPORT STRIKE,
HELICOPTERS
On Aug. 25, the South Atlantic Regional Council voted to remove
Governor Alvin Guthrie from his position and replace him with
Sandinista councilmember Ray Hooker. Guthrie appealed a similar
vote May 4 claiming that there wasn't a quorum present; after the
Supreme Court failed to rule on the appeal within the 45 days
mandated by law, the council held a new vote. This time 25 of the
43 members voted to replace Guthrie with Hooker: three UNO
councilmembers joined nineteen Sandinistas and three YATAMA
members. [Nicaragua Network (DC) Hotline 8/31/92]... The
Nicaraguan transport strike which started Aug. 20 was suspended
Aug. 24 pending negotiation of road taxes. The strike closed
product transport over the borders, quickly resulting in market
shortages. Meanwhile the pro-FSLN teachers union ANDEN announced
staggered work stoppages seeking a pay increase, compliance with
the collective bargaining agreement, employment guarantees, and
teacher training. [Nica Net Hotline 8/31/92]... A Peruvian
official announced Aug. 25 that Peru has purchased sixteen
Soviet-made helicopters from the Nicaraguan military [see Update
#132] for $20 million. The helicopters will be used to fight the
Peruvian Communist Party (also known as Sendero Luminoso), the
Mao-inspired insurgent group that controls up to a third of
Peru's countryside and is increasing its influence in Lima, the
nation's capital. [Inter Press Service 8/25/92] Security has
reportedly been tightened at the Nicaraguan embassy in Lima
following the announcement of the sale. [CAHI #241 8/20-26/92]
 
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7. BRAZILIAN PRESIDENT REFUSES TO RESIGN; IMPEACHMENT ALMOST
CERTAIN
On Sep. 1, the Brazilian Bar Association and Press Association
filed a formal request for the impeachment of Brazil's President
Fernando Collor de Mello so he can face charges of lying and
profiting from corruption. While procedural matters may delay
impeachment for up to a month, 354 Congressional deputies plan to
vote for impeachment, 18 more than the two-thirds majority needed
for such a move. After impeachment, Collor would face a trial
before the Senate, 51 of whose 83 members already say they will
vote to convict him. A two-thirds majority of the Senate is
required to remove a Brazilian president from office permanently.
[NYT 8/31/92, 9/2/92, 9/6/92]
 
Although Collor's chief political strategist calls the
impeachment vote "a lost cause," Collor announced, "We will win
the vote" in a nationally-televised speech on Aug. 30, adding the
next day, "I'm not the kind of man to resign." [NYT 8/31/92,
9/2/92] Collor apparently plans to fund pet projects of
Congresspeople who may be convinced to vote against impeachment,
but he has run into problems: the Economy Minister has refused to
spend money on such projects, and the bank employees in Brasilia,
the nation's capital, are unlikely to be helpful since they
support the leftist Workers Party (PT), whose presidential
candidate, Luiz Inacio "Lula" da Silva carried Brasilia en route
to his close second place finish in the 1989 elections. [NYT
9/6/92] 
 
While Collor struggles to cling to power, attention is turning to
Vice President Itamar Franco, who will become temporary president
if Collor is impeached. Franco has displayed great pragmatism
during his career, abandoning his criticism of the International
Monetary Fund and foreign investment when he had the opportunity
to run for Vice President on Collor's ticket. (He has since quit
Collor's National Reconstruction Party.) He sought to run as the
PT's candidate for governor of Minas in 1982 and 1986, and has
opposed privatization, but his friends say he will generally
continue Collor's free market policies. [NYT 9/5/92]
 
Meanwhile, police sought the arrest of two of Collor's former
aides on charges of obstructing investigation of government
corruption. Television reports said the police had evidence that
the two, Claudio Vieira and Paulo Cesar Farias, Collor's former
campaign treasurer who is at the center of the scandal, have been
trying to intimidate witnesses in the investigation. [NYT 9/3/92]
 
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8. MEXICO: FREE TRADE, STRIKES, PROTESTS
The US government made part of the North American Free Trade
Agreement (NAFTA) on public on Sep. 5, with a promise that the
rest of the text would be released Sep. 8. The accord has been
under review by government lawyers since it was signed by Canada,
Mexico and the US on Aug. 12. [NYT 9/5/92] Meanwhile, the Mexican
Confederation of Workers (CTM) announced on Aug. 30 that its 13
million members would support the ongoing strike of 22,000
textile workers with a one-hour work stoppage Sep. 10; the job
actions are to increase by one hour a day until the strike is
general or the textile council gives in. "We have to win this
strike at all costs," says the CTM's 92-year old head Fidel
Velazquez. The confederation is allied with the ruling
Revolutionary Institutional Party (PRI), the major promoter of
NAFTA, which business leader Vicente Gutierrez Camposeco says may
destroy 70% of Mexico's light industry, especially the textile,
garment and electronic sectors. [La Jornada (Mexico) 8/30/92]
 
The PRI faced more problems on Aug. 29 when about 50,000
supporters of the opposition Democratic Revolution Party (PRD)
filled most of Mexico City's mammoth Zocalo plaza, joining
unemployed oil and fishing industry workers who remain camped in
front of the National Palace. The left-leaning PRD, headed by
former PRI dissident Cuauhtemoc Cardenas, was protesting what it
considers a fraudulent PRI victory in Michoacan state elections
last July. Banners called President Carlos Salinas de Gortari a
dictator; one read: "Brazil--Collor de Mello. Mexico--Salinas de
Gortari." [LJ 8/30/92]
 
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9. FMLN DRAFTS CONSTITUTION
On Sep. 1, in a ceremony attended by representatives of political
parties, popular organizations, the Catholic Church and foreign
diplomats, about 125 leaders of the Farabundo Marti National
Liberation Front (FMLN) signed a draft constitution and bylaws
that will serve as the basis for establishment of a formal
political party. The draft constitution's eight chapters include
a statement of principles such as "profound humanization" of the
country's social, economic and political system; a commitment to
the "poor majority"; efforts to achieve national unity through
"concertacion" and dialogue; struggle for the rights of youth and
children;
defense and promotion of the rights of women; protection of the
environment; and Central American unity.
 
The constitution stipulates that a National Convention will be
the party's highest decision-making authority. In the interim
between Convention meetings, the party is to be run by a National
Council composed of 50 members elected by the Convention for two-
year terms, as well as representatives elected by each of the
party's departmental branches, who will serve three-year terms.
The National Council will elect from among its members a 10-
person Political Commission, which will be responsible for the
day-to-day affairs of the party and will make recommendations on
programs and actions to the National Council and the Convention.
The Political Commission will also appoint a coordinator, who
will be the party's legal representative. 
 
Juan Ramon Medrano, a member of the FMLN's current political
commission, said the FMLN "will be a revolutionary, democratic
and pluralist party," whose principal fronts of struggle will be
"demilitarization of the country, democratization of the state,
and the socialization of private property." Under current
Salvadoran legislation, the adoption of formal statutes and
bylaws is the first step in the process of securing legal status
for a political party. [LADB 9/4/92 from AFP]
 
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10. SALVADORAN NEWS AGENCY THREATENED AGAIN
Less than two months after arson destroyed the offices of
Salpress, the Salvadoran news agency is receiving new threats. On
August 27, an anonymous caller warned, "Salpress will burn
again," and the following day a caller threatened the life of
Salpress Director Ricardo Gomez. There has still been no official
report from any government agency about the Jul. 2 fire, and
officials have interviewed no one but Salpress staff. The threats
against Salpress come during the worst wave of violence to hit El
Salvador since the Feb. 1 cease fire. According to the human
rights group CODEFAM, 39 people were assassinated in the month of
August alone, and another 7 disappeared. 
 
Meanwhile, two human rights commissions created as part of the
peace agreements are moving forward with investigations which are
almost certain to implicate top Army officers. The Ad Hoc
Commission, whose mandate is to review the records of military
officers, recently requested a one-month extension in order to
compile more evidence. The Truth Commission, responsible for
investigating the most serious human rights cases, opened its
doors to the public in order to hear testimony from survivors.
Thirty names have been presented to the Ad-Hoc Commission in
connection with the murder of six Jesuit priests in 1989, and the
non-governmental Human Rights Commission (CDHES) submitted a list
of 78 officers who are accused of violating human rights. The
attacks against Salpress may be connected to efforts by the Army
to sabotage the work of the Truth Commission and the Ad Hoc
Commission. 
After the July 2 fire, CDHES suggested that the motive may have
been the destruction of archives which could have helped the
Commissions document Army human rights abuses. Urge your
Congresspeople (Congressional Switchboard: 202-224-3121) to call
President Alfredo Cristiani to express concern over the threats
against Salpress, and push him to investigate the July 2 Salpress
fire and the current threats; also, urge them to end all military
aid to El Salvador: Senators should be encouraged to sign on to
the Specter-De Concini letter, which calls for the transfer of
all military aid into the Demobilization and Transition Fund.
Representatives should be urged to support a conferenced bill
containing similar language. [CISPES Alert 9/1/92]
 
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11. HURRICANE ANDREW'S DAMAGE INCREASED BY CORRUPTION
Miami-based anti-Castro Cuban columnist Luis Ortega charges that
Miami's Cuban-American political and business leaders are
responsible for the devastation that left 250,000 Floridians
homeless in the wake of Hurricane Andrew. They created "a vast
system of corruption," he writes, which left Miami "a cardboard
city where everything is appearance and cosmetics... For years
the main business in Miami has been to have a good friend in the
bank so as to get a $1 million loan to build a building that
might cost half as much." [El Diario-La Prensa (NY) 9/2/92] The
FBI and the US Attorney's Office in Miami have now begun an
investigation of "systematic violations" of building codes in
South Florida. [NYT 9/6/92] Meanwhile, the area is rife with
rumors that federal and state authorities burned and otherwise
hid the bodies of hundreds of hurricane victims in order to
underreport the death toll. The unknown victims are often said to
be Haitian and Mexican migrant workers. [NYT 9/5/92; ED-LP 9/4/92
from Notimex]
 
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12. UPCOMING EVENTS IN THE NYC AREA

[For more information, call NSN at 212-674-9499. Events listed
and flyers enclosed are not necessarily endorsed by the Nicaragua
Solidarity Network.]
 
9/11 FRI, 8 PM - "Friday with Cuba" video series. "Por Quien
Merece Amor" featuring Silvio Martinez and Grupo Irakere. Casa de
las Americas, 104 W 14th St. Call 212-675-2584.
 
9/12 SAT, 1 PM - Radical Walking Tour of the East Village. Meet
at Astor Place. $6. Call 718-492-0069 for more information.
 
9/12 SAT, 7 PM - Celebrate the birthday of Puerto Rican
independentist Don Pedro Albizu Campos, with speakers and
cultural performances. Casa de las Americas, 104 W 14th St. Call
212-538-0988.
 
SPREAD THE WORD ABOUT NICARAGUA! The NSN Speakers Bureau is
available to speak at any event--in English or Spanish--about the
current situation in Nicaragua and what activists in this country
can do to help. For details call 212-674-9499.
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Newsgroups: misc.activism.progressive