WEEKLY NEWS UPDATE ON THE AMERICAS
ISSUE #254, DECEMBER 11, 1994

NICARAGUA SOLIDARITY NETWORK OF GREATER NEW YORK
339 LAFAYETTE ST., NEW YORK, NY 10012 (212) 674-9499

1. Miami Summit Plans Hemispheric "Free Trade"
2. Chile: Indigenous Latin Americans Protest Free Trade
3. Two Governments, Two Armies in Southern Mexico
4. Rebels and Campesinos Face Mexican "Nightmare"
5. Zedillo's Mexico: Fraud, Provocateurs, Fudged Figures
6. Cubans Riot in Panama Camps, 254 US Soldiers Injured
7. INS To Admit Some Cubans, Expel Some Salvadorans
8. Salvadoran Ex-Rebel Group Quits FMLN
9. UN Extends Mission in El Salvador to Monitor Human Rights
10. Haitian Politicians Get Set for 1995
11. Venezuelan Ex-President on Trial Over Nicaraguan President
12. Activists Protest Reopening of Nuclear Plant in Brazil
13. Other News: Argentina, Panama, Dominican Rep & Jamaica
14. Upcoming Events & Announcements in the NYC Area & Beyond

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1. MIAMI SUMMIT PLANS HEMISPHERIC "FREE TRADE"

All countries in the Western Hemisphere except Cuba were
represented when 22 presidents and 12 prime ministers met in
Miami Dec. 9-11 for the first "Summit of the Americas" since
1967. US president Bill Clinton, accompanied by half his cabinet,
opened the first session; his speech expressed the hope that at
the next meeting "a leader of a democratic Cuba will take its
place at the table of nations." Cuban president Fidel Castro Ruz
had been pointedly excluded from the gathering.

The summit's main business was to ratify a plan for making the
entire hemisphere a free-trade zone, with a treaty in operation
by 2005. The US played down the plan, however, apparently because
of concerns about domestic opposition to recent trade pacts. The
Democratic administration was also concerned about its party's
nearly unprecedented loss of both houses of Congress in November
legislative elections. The US tried without success to capitalize
on its Sept. 19 occupation of Haiti to get the final communique
(which is to be issued on Dec. 11) to include an endorsement of
actions to "preserve and if necessary restore democratic rule" in
the hemisphere. [New York Times 12/10/94, 12/11/94]

The main trade agreement was worked out in two documents last
month. The documents set up a schedule for talks on the treaty,
with working groups meeting in January, July and December of
1995, and the hemisphere's commerce ministers to meet in March
1995 and February 1996. [El Diario-La Prensa (NY) 11/27/94 from
AFP]

2. CHILE: INDIGENOUS LATIN AMERICANS PROTEST FREE TRADE

Seventy indigenous representatives from Mexico, Peru, Bolivia and
Chile met during the week of Nov. 28 in Temuco, a city in the
mountains just east of Chile's central valley, to analyze the
negative effects of the North American Free Trade Agreement
(NAFTA) on their communities and map out a strategy against it.
The delegates, invited by the Chilean Mapuche organization
Consejo de Todas las Tierras (All Lands Council), fear that
incorporation of their countries into NAFTA will affect natural
resources, as well as the intellectual property rights, land
ownership, economic development and cultural identity of
indigenous peoples. Participants included indigenous Mexicans
from the impoverished state of Chiapas, where a peasant revolt
broke out the same day NAFTA went into effect.

"The indigenous peoples will not block economic relations of the
Chilean government," said Consejo leader Aucan Huilcaman, "but we
will not allow our rights to be violated by the application of
investment programs and the extraction of our natural resources."
[Chile Information Project (CHIP) News 12/5/94]

"NAFTA will open the way to big transnational companies that want
to come and plunder our lands," warned Manuel Santander, another
Consejo leader. Wearing ponchos and beating drums, the indigenous
representatives and their supporters marched on Dec. 2 through
the streets of Temuco to protest NAFTA. [Reuter 12/4/94]

3. TWO GOVERNMENTS, TWO ARMIES IN SOUTHERN MEXICO

Eduardo Robledo Rincon of Mexico's ruling Institutional
Revolutionary Party (PRI) was officially sworn in as governor of
the southern state of Chiapas on Dec. 8 in the state capital,
Tuxtla Gutierrez. Federal president Ernesto Zedillo Ponce de
Leon, himself inaugurated on Dec. 1, attended the ceremony, which
took place in the National Theater while hundreds of Mexican
troops patrolled outside in full combat gear.

State officials were unable to use the governor's palace because
of a demonstration there by thousands--estimates range from 3,000
to 8,000--of mostly indigenous and campesino supporters of
journalist and lawyer Amado Avendano Figueroa. Avendano insists
that he is the real winner of the Aug. 21 gubernatorial race, in
which ran as an independent on the ticket of the center-left
Party of the Democratic Revolution (PRD). He received 34% in the
official count to Robledo's 51%. Avendano took office in a
"parallel government" two hours after Robledo at a counter-
inauguration held outside the palace, telling his followers not
to pay taxes or bills for public services. Thousands of
demonstrators expressed support for Avendano in a march through
downtown Mexico City the same day. [El Diario-La Prensa (NY)
12/9/94 from AP; New York Times 12/9/94; Washington Post 12/9/94;
Diario Las Americas (Miami) 12/10/94 from EFE]

The peaceful inauguration of the two governors followed a week of
hurried negotiations and rising tensions. Avendano held secret
talks with Governance Secretary Esteban Moctezuma Barragan in
Mexico City on Dec. 3 and 4, amid rumors that Avendano had been
offered a position in Robledo's cabinet. [La Jornada (Mexico)
12/4/94] [PRD member Eraclio Zepeda Ramos joined Robledo's
government as governance secretary; PRD demonstrators on Dec. 8
denounced him as a traitor.[NYT 12/9/94]]

On Dec. 5 the government reported that an agreement had been
reached; Robledo said he was staying as governor but taking a
leave of absence from the PRI. The next day Avendano stood beside
"Insurgent Sub-Commander Marcos" of the rebel Zapatista National
Liberation Army (EZLN) at a press conference as the guerrilla
told 170 reporters that the federal government should recognize
Avendano and that the rebels would consider Robledo's
installation a formal breaking of the ceasefire in effect since
the middle of January. Robledo responded the next day with an
offer to resign from the governorship if the Zapatistas give up
their arms. [NYT 12/6/94, 12/8/94; Reuter 12/7/94; ED-LP 12/8/94
from AP; Los Angeles Times 12/8/94]

The maneuvering--but not the tensions--ended with the dual
inauguration on Dec. 8. Bishop Samuel Ruiz Garcia of the
Chiapaneco city of San Cristobal de las Casas warned that day
that "civil war" could be the result of the fact that "there
exist in Chiapas two governments and two armies." [ED-LP 12/11/94
from AFP]

4. REBELS AND CAMPESINOS FACE MEXICAN "NIGHTMARE"

Amado Avendano started his parallel government of Chiapas by
setting up an office in the National Indigenous Institute
building (INI) in San Cristobal. He told reporters that he didn't
have "a desk, a chair or paper" and that his first priority would
be looking for financial resources and filling out his cabinet.
But he said that he was supported by 36 Chiapaneco municipal
councils, representing three quarters of the state's population,
and that he would model his government on the "itinerant
government" Mexican national hero Benito Juarez set up to fight
the French-imposed regime of the emperor Maximilian in the 1860s.
[ED-LP 12/11/94 from AFP; WP 12/9/94; DLA 12/10/94 from AFP]

Avendano's government only formalizes a confused situation
already existing in much of the state, even outside the
southeastern Lacandona Forest region controlled by the EZLN.
Campesinos have set up "autonomous regions" in the north around
Simojovel and in the southwest around Tapachula. The PRD-
connected Independent Workers, Farmers and Campesino
Confederation (CIOAC) defines an autonomous region as "an
intermediate regional power between the Chiapas state government
and the municipalities."

In many ways civil war has already started between the
campesinos--especially those who have seized land this year--and
rightwing "White Guards" hired by ranchers. On Dec. 3 three
Tzotziles from the Popular Campesino Struggle Coordination (CLCP)
were shot and killed as they were driving home from a meeting in
Venustiano Carranza in central Chiapas; two others were seriously
wounded. The same weekend brought a shootout at the Lubeka estate
in Motozintla which left two ranch employees dead, apparently in
fights between ranchers and local members of the Emiliano Zapata
Proletarian Organization (OPEZ). [LJ 11/27/94, 12/4/94]

It is not clear what the EZLN's Marcos means when he says the
ceasefire has ended. In a Dec. 3 open letter to President Zedillo
to mark his inauguration, Marcos wrote: "Unfortunately, we can do
nothing on political and military terms. We are surrounded
militarily and this prevents a military action of any breadth.
Our repeated declarations against the increase of your
belligerent preparations have only frustrated and bored the
nation." [National Commission for Democracy in Mexico, USA
(NCDMUSA) translation from LJ 12/7/94]

But in an interview with the daily La Jornada Marcos said that
"Zapatista forces may be encircled but Zapatismo has extended to
all the state of Chiapas, in every rural zone and some urban
zones..." The victims of repression by White Guards "say to us:
the ceasefire has ended, why are we preserving it? You have the
armed force there and you are our army. You have to defend us,
you have to do something, otherwise why did you take up arms?"
[NCDMUSA translation from LJ 12/9/94] Reuter says that in his
Dec. 6 news conference Marcos "implied...that his rebels would
fuel unrest in areas where they have support but which lie
outside the Zapatistas' formal zone of control." [Reuter 12/7/94]
Marcos' letter to Zedillo begins with the words: "Welcome to the
nightmare." [NCDMUSA translation from LJ 12/9/94]

5. ZEDILLO'S MEXICO: FRAUD, PROVOCATEURS, FUDGED FIGURES

Mexican president Zedillo's week-old administration seems to be
following old ruling party traditions. The government refuses to
annul the Nov. 20 Tabasco state elections, which took place under
the administration of Zedillo's predecessor, Carlos Salinas de
Gortari. The opposition PRD managed to tape phone conversations
between local PRI leaders during the voting. According to
transcripts printed in the financial paper El Financiero, PRD
candidate Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador was winning as of noon on
election day. At that point the PRI decided to unleash an
operation involving ballot stuffing, forgery and other forms of
fraud. [LJ 12/4/94] Official figures show Lopez with 38% of the
vote, against 58% for the PRI's Roberto Madrazo Pintado [see
Update #252].

Clashes between protesters and police in Mexico City on Dec. 1,
inauguration day, may have been the work of police provocateurs,
according to political columnist Joel Ortega, the local branch of
the pro-Zapatista Democratic National Convention (CND) and a
number of students. Sources in the judicial police told Ortega
that the incident started when a dozen or so people, led by
someone known as Francisco Silva Martinez ("The Impostor"), threw
objects at riot police. The police left this group alone but
attacked a group of reporters and photographers, mostly from the
moderate leftist daily La Jornada, and even passers-by carrying
copies of the paper. Ortega notes that a similar incident in July
1968 was the beginning of repression that led to the massacre of
some 300 students and supporters in Mexico City that October. [LJ
12/4/94]

Zedillo's government may also be inheriting economic trouble from
Salinas, who claimed in his last State of the Union address on
Nov. 1 that the country had $17 billion in reserves. Some
observers feel the figure is highly exaggerated. Another $5.2
billion is thought to have left Mexico between Nov. 21 and Dec.
2, so that the total reserves may be as low as $10 billion, less
than two months' worth of exports. Salinas kept the peso
overvalued, so that Zedillo may soon face another "nightmare":
having to devalue the currency at a time of very low reserves.
[Mexico Update, Equipo Pueblo, Vol. 2, #11, 12/6/94]

Correction: Update #253 stated that President Zedillo broke with
tradition by naming a "top official from an opposition party...as
attorney general." The new attorney general, Antonio Lozano
Gracia, is in fact the first member of an opposition party ever
appointed to the cabinet.

6. CUBANS RIOT IN PANAMA CAMPS, 254 US SOLDIERS INJURED

A total of 254 US military personnel and 15 Cubans were injured
on Dec. 7 and 8 in disturbances when some 2,000 balseros--Cubans
who left Cuba on rafts and are trying to get to the US--rioted in
two of four "safe haven" camps where 8,600 of them are being held
on US military territory in Panama. [Diario Las Americas 12/10/94
from AFP] The US troops used tear gas to quell the riots. [El
Diario-La Prensa 12/9/94 from AP] Most of the injured US soldiers
suffered minor bruises and scrapes from rocks, bottles and bricks
thrown by the frustrated Cubans; 18 were hospitalized with
somewhat more serious injuries. [New York Times 12/9/94] Army
tents, televisions, and computers, as well as 15 military
vehicles, were destroyed. Some 1,000 balseros escaped; an
unspecified number returned voluntarily and some others were
recaptured. [DLA 12/10/94 from AFP] On Dec. 9, US troops at the
camps were issued shotguns, tear gas and riot gear. [NYT
12/10/94] According to the US-based Spanish-language television
network Telemundo, 300 balseros involved in the riots were
arrested and are awaiting hearings. Telemundo said 24 of the
Cubans were still at large; the unidentified body of one was
found on the southwest bank of the Panama Canal. [Telemundo TV
News 12/10/94] Reuter reported on Dec. 10 that two Cubans were
found dead near the canal, and that more than 30 remain at large.
[NYT 12/10/94 from Reuter]

7. INS TO ADMIT SOME CUBANS, EXPEL SOME SALVADORANS

On Dec. 2, the US Immigration and Naturalization Service (INS)
announced it would end the Temporary Protected Status (TPS) for
Salvadorans living in the US on Jan. 1, but that their permission
to work here will be extended another nine months. During that
time, about 190,000 of the 200,000 Salvadorans who do not have
legal residence in the US will be able to apply for political
asylum under the terms of a 1990 court settlement, which was
reached after a class action suit charged that some Central
Americans had been unfairly denied asylum during the 1980s.
[Washington Post 12/3/94]

The INS also announced changes in the processing of political
asylum claims, geared toward deporting ineligible applicants more
quickly. In order to reduce a backlog of 425,000 asylum seekers,
the INS plans to double the number of asylum officers, interview
all new applicants within 60 days and dispose of all new cases
within 180 days. At the same time, the INS announced tightened
restrictions on work permits for asylum seekers--work permits
will only be issued after asylum is granted or if there is no
decision within 180 days--and said it had scrapped a plan to
charge a $130 asylum application fee. [New York Times 12/3/94]

At the same press conference where these measures were announced,
INS Commissioner Doris Meissner explained that all 3,000 Cuban
children being held at US military bases in Panama and in
Guantanamo, Cuba, will be interviewed but that only those "for
whom long-term presence in the safe havens...would constitute
extraordinary hardship" will be admitted on a case-by-case basis,
along with "such immediate family members as humanitarian needs
require." To appease concerns that the state of Florida will be
burdened with the cost of these new immigrants, rightwing Cuban-
American groups have promised to provide millions of dollars to
sponsor the new arrivals. [NYT 12/3/94; WP 12/3/94]

Spain has agreed to take some of the balseros from Panama; 72
arrived in Madrid on Dec. 8. [ED-LP 12/9/94 from AP]

8. SALVADORAN EX-REBEL GROUP QUITS FMLN

The Salvadoran former rebel organization People's Renewal
Expression (ERP)--which used to be called the People's
Revolutionary Army--will formally leave the Farabundo Marti Front
for National Liberation (FMLN), the coalition which grouped five
leftist rebel organizations during El Salvador's guerrilla war.
ERP leader Joaquin Villalobos made the announcement on Dec. 6; he
said the decision was taken unanimously by the ERP's national
leadership. Villalobos explained that a negotiation commission
has been created to seek "rational understandings" on the breakup
of the coalition, its finances, the coordination of affairs
related to the peace accords, and international representation.

"The ERP has clearly defined its social democratic identity while
the Popular Liberation Forces (FPL), the Communist Party (PC) and
the Central American Workers Party (PRTC) continue in their
Marxist-Leninist definitions or maintain an ambiguity in their
identity which is difficult to understand," read the Dec. 6
statement by the ERP's leadership. "Because of this," it adds,
"We cannot continue together because we don't know if in reality
we are pursuing the same ends." According to the statement, the
ERP leadership favors "the creation of a new political party of
pluralistic composition that would be able to compete and win to
bring balance to the country's political system and continue the
process of democratic changes." [ERP Statement 12/6/94 posted on
email; El Diario-La Prensa 12/7/94 from AP]

FMLN coordinator Shafick Handal said the ERP's decision was
expected and is positive because it clarifies the political
future of the organization. [ED-LP 12/8/94 from Notimex]

Ana Guadalupe Martinez, a member of the ERP political commision,
said a group of lawyers is looking into the legality of
presenting a request to dissolve the FMLN party to the Supreme
Electoral Tribunal (TSE). "We are leaving," she stated, "but we
do not think that the FMLN can continue being the FMLN if we are
not there. The FMLN is not the FMLN without the ERP."

She added, "we have a very firm agreement with the RN [National
Resistance] and the MNR [National Revolutionary Movement] to form
a new socio-democratic initiative." According to Martinez, the
ERP has also maintained conversations with the "Abrahamcista"
faction of the Christian Democrat Party (PDC), the faction that
supported Abraham Rodriguez against Fidel Chavez Mena for
president of the Supreme Court.

According to RN general secretary Eduardo Sancho, the RN is
thinking about forming a new party and therefore they will not
attend FMLN conventions, especially the national one scheduled
for Dec. 17. He reiterated that the FMLN has fulfilled its role
in history and thus it no longer has a function.

But Eugenio Chicas, also a member of the RN political commission
and vice coordinator of the FMLN, said the RN will be attending
the FMLN national convention. He said that it is too early to
talk about a division within the RN. Regarding the dissolution
planned by the ERP, Chicas said, "I think that it is totally out
of place; it would be appropriate if they had been at the
municipal conventions..." Chicas added that "the FMLN can exist
without the ERP, because political parties are composed by
individuals. Parties are not formed by organizations." [Fundacion
Flor de Izote El Salvador Weekly Report Vol. 5 #46, 11/29-
12/5/94]

9. UN EXTENDS MISSION IN EL SALVADOR TO MONITOR HUMAN RIGHTS

El Salvador's security forces continue to commit human rights
violations despite improvement seen since the end of the
country's civil war, a United Nations (UN) document has reported.
The UN report, presented on Nov. 21 to UN Secretary General
Boutros Boutros-Ghali, reported 222 charges of human rights
abuses registered from July through September of 1994, including
21 arbitrary executions, five attempted arbitrary executions, 20
death threats, three cases of torture and 15 cases of excessive
use of force. The report attributes 37.8% of these violations to
the National Civilian Police (PNC) and 18% to the judicial
branch. Unidentified individuals carried out 15.3% of the abuses,
and 14% were attributed to the militarized National Police, to be
dismantled in December. This represents an improvement over the
March-June period, during which 333 charges were registered,
including 28 arbitrary executions, nine attempted executions, 50
death threats, three cases of torture and 14 cases of excessive
use of force. Since the war ended officially on Jan. 16, 1992,
the UN has reported no cases of forced disappearance. The UN
observer mission in El Salvador (ONUSAL) called for an end to
political violence and the dismantling of the organized crime
that supports it. [Inter Press Service 11/22/94]

The UN Security Council resolved on Nov. 23 to renew ONUSAL for
the last time, extending its mandate to Apr. 30, 1995. ONUSAL was
created to monitor fulfillment of the 1992 peace agreement
between the government of Alfredo Cristiani (1989-1994) and the
FMLN, which transformed itself from a rebel movement to a
political party. While many of the agreements have been honored,
the UN is pushing for completion of outstanding legal and
electoral reforms, the dismantling of the National Police, land
grants for former combatants and aid for their assimilation into
civilian society. Both the FMLN and current rightwing president
Armando Calderon Sol had asked the UN for one final extension.
Since the 1992 signing of the peace accord, over 60 former
guerrillas have been murdered, and no case has yet been resolved.
[Inter Press Service 11/23/94]

Meanwhile, a jury has acquitted in absentia Juan Garcia Amaya of
killing ex-FMLN member Heleno Castro. Castro's death, at first
believed to be a political assassination, was later determined to
be the result of a traffic dispute [see Update #204]. [El
Salvador Information Project Summary of Concerns 11/21/94]

10. HAITIAN POLITICIANS GET SET FOR 1995

The social democratic and moderately leftist parties that backed
Haitian president Jean-Bertrand Aristide in his 1990 victory have
expressed concern about the Aristide government's decision to
postpone the parliamentary elections originally scheduled for
this month. In late November Prime Minister Smarck Michel
announced that the vote would be held off at least until March
[see Update #253].

"The proposal of an electoral calendar must take into account the
interests of democracy," said Victor Benoit of the social
democratic Congress Party of Democratic Movements (CONACOM),
warning that there could be an institutional vacuum between the
expiration of the old parliament and the vote for the new one. A
December election would have helped social democratic parties
take advantage of popular euphoria over Aristide's return on Oct.
15. A meeting of the Socialist International's Latin American and
Caribbean Committee, which will bring several social democratic
leaders and heads of state to Port-au-Prince Dec. 14-15, would
also have helped the center left. Benoit says CONACOM wants to
form a broad coalition, but refused to say if this would include
the nominally socialist Haiti Revolutionary Nationalist Party
(PANPRA), which collaborated with the military after Aristide's
overthrow in 1991. [Inter Press Service 12/2/94]

Meanwhile, Aristide has started courting his former base in the
popular movement, which he ignored in the first weeks after his
return to power. The president held meetings with grassroots
organizations on Nov. 23 and with unions on Dec. 1. But the
English-language biweekly Haiti Info reports that many of the
best-known and most militant grassroots groups weren't invited.
Some groups at the meeting were unknown to Haiti Info, while
others have been associated with the Integrated Project for the
Strengthening of Democracy in Haiti (PIRED), which has received
at least $15 million from the US Agency for International
Development (USAID) [see Update #209].

The trade union meeting included such groups as the Union Workers
Federation (FOS). Formed in 1982 with help from the American
Institute for Free Labor Development (AIFLD), FOS collaborated
with the government of deposed dictator Jean-Claude Duvalier.
Members of the national flour mill workers union protested
outside; the union, which opposes privatizing the mill, was not
invited. [Haiti Info Vol. 3, #5, 12/3/94]

Correction: Update #353 referred to "job actions at public
utilities such as ADH." The utility is EDH, Haiti Electricity,
which had been mentioned in an earlier item.

11. VENEZUELAN EX-PRESIDENT ON TRIAL OVER NICARAGUAN PRESIDENT

The full trial began Nov. 22 for former Venezuelan president
Carlos Andres Perez, accused of misusing $17 million in state
funds. Also charged in the case are former Interior Minister
Alejandro Izaguirre and the fugitive former Presidency and
Foreign Relations Secretary Reinaldo Figueredo, along with two
lower officials from Perez' administration. The accusation is
based on the illegal routing in early 1989 of $17 million in
secret Interior Ministry funds to the Presidency Secretariat and
the subsequent use of those funds in April of 1990 to send a
police mission to Nicaragua to provide personal protection for
Nicaraguan president Violeta Barrios de Chamorro. [El Diario-La
Prensa 11/30/94 from AFP]

"It shames me that this involves a distinguished president of a
sister country," said Perez, referring to Chamorro. Speaking in
court, Perez detailed the circumstances under which he decided--
at the request of the US--to send a police contingent to protect
Chamorro and help create a presidential security force. But he
refused to say whether the operation was paid for with funding
from other countries, from the secret Interior Ministry transfer,
or from other funds. Perez said that confidentiality is
necessary, legal and diplomatic. [Inter Press Service 11/23/94]

12. ACTIVISTS PROTEST REOPENING OF NUCLEAR PLANT IN BRAZIL

On Nov. 22, environmental activists from Greenpeace invaded the
Admiral Alvaro Alberto nuclear complex in Angra dos Reis, 150
kilometers from Rio de Janeiro, to protest the planned reopening
of the Angra I nuclear plant and demanding a definitive halt to
construction of the Angra II plant. The ship "MV Greenpeace"--
recently arrived from the Amazon--invaded the national security
area of the power plants and 13 activists disembarked on
inflatable rafts. Half the team climbed Angra II and hung a large
banner over the plant depicting the nuclear symbol with a skull
in the center. The other half of the team placed themselves in
front of the two plants and held an even larger banner that read:
"Nuclear Energy: You Decide." [Greenpeace Press Release from
Brazil 11/22/94]

Brazil's National Commission of Nuclear Energy (CNEN) announced
on Dec. 8 that it has authorized the renewal of activities at
Angra I, suspended since March of 1993. A CNEN spokesperson said
the decision was made after examining a series of technical
reports from Furnas Centrales Electricas, the company responsible
for the facility's operations. [Diario Las Americas 12/10/94 from
AFP]

Angra I was temporarily shut down for an investigation into the
causes of the high level of radioactivity found in the water
cooling the core of the 626 megawatt reactor, made in the US by
Westinghouse. The plant has functioned irregularly since its
inauguration on Mar. 12, 1982 [DLA 12/10/94 from AFP]; it has
already been shut down more than 20 times due to technical
problems and there is still no emergency plan for evacuating the
population in case of a nuclear accident. During the week of Nov.
14, the local government of Angra dos Reis formally withdrew from
the elaboration of an emergency plan, alleging the absence of
minimum conditions for its effectiveness. [Greenpeace 11/22/94]

The construction of Angra II and Angra III plants, of 1,300
megawatts each, was suspended because of economic problems. [DLA
12/10/94 from AFP] The continuation of Angra II construction is
pending congressional approval of a message from the executive
branch. According to Ruy de Goes, Brazilian anti-nuclear campaign
coordinator of Greenpeace, Angra II was the worst business in the
history of Brazil, consuming up to $10 billion in public funds.
More than $2 billion will be needed to finish its construction.
[Greenpeace 11/22/94]

13. IN OTHER NEWS...

In Argentina, 21 prisoners from the Trotskyist "Everyone for the
Homeland Movement" (MTP) have been on hunger strike since Nov. 21
demanding amnesty. On Jan. 23, 1989, the 21 took part in an MTP
attempt to head off a feared military coup against the government
of then-president Raul Alfonsin by carapintadas in the La Tablada
army barracks, Buenos Aires province. The coup never happened, but
the bloody clash at La Tablada left a toll of 28 deaths, six
disappearances and 21 arrests. Those arrested were sentenced to
prison terms ranging from 12 years to life. Eighty Mexican federal
deputies have signed a letter to Carlos Menem supporting the
prisoners' demand for amnesty. [El Diario-La Prensa 12/7/94 from
AFP; Letter to La Jornada 12/4/94 from Mexican federal deputies
Cesar Chavez and Rene Arce].

Panama's Supreme Court has confirmed an Electoral Tribunal
decision that prevented Panama City mayor-elect Mayin Correa from
taking power as scheduled on Sept. 1. The Electoral Tribunal
sanctioned Correa for using state resources in her political
campaign. Correa will not be allowed to take office until June of
1995, and she will have to pay a fine equivalent to two months'
salary. [DLA 12/10/94 from EFE].

A report by the United Nations Human Rights Commission has
criticized the Dominican Republic's government for failing to
protect Rafael Mojica, a workers' rights advocate, who disappeared
on May 5, 1990, after military officials threatened to kill him.
The UN commission accused the Dominican government of violating
Article 6 of the International Covenant on Civil and Political
Rights, which requires nations "to take effective measures to
prevent the disappearances of individuals and establish procedures
to investigate those disappearances thoroughly." According to the
report, which is based on interviews with Mojica's family and
government officials, "The Dominican government has not denied
that Mojica had in fact disappeared and has remained unaccounted
for since May 1990 and that this disappearance was caused by
individuals belonging to the government's security forces." [AP
12/4/94].

Public employees were on strike in Jamaica on Nov. 28 and 29,
demanding immediate payment of retroactive salary increases. The
government explained that public employees at the lower end of the
pay scale would receive their 16 months retroactive pay in one
installment, but that it could not do the same for those at the
top of the pay scale. The Jamaica Civil Service Association
(JCSA), which represents the island's 37,000 public employees,
says it wants all workers to be paid in one lump sum next month.
[IPS 11/29/94]


14. UPCOMING EVENTS & ANNOUNCEMENTS IN THE NYC AREA & BEYOND

For more information, call NSN at 212-674-9499. Events listed are
not necessarily endorsed by the Nicaragua Solidarity Network.

The present for the activist who has everything! This year
simplify your shopping by giving everyone you know the Weekly
News Update on the Americas. Ground mail or e-mail. Special gift
rate of just $22.50! Call 212-674-9499 and start your gift sub
today.

FILE CABINETS NEEDED by the Nicaragua Solidarity Network, any
size. If you donate them to us, we will come to your home or
office and haul them away. Leave us a message at 212-674-9499.

VOLUNTEERS NEEDED in the New York City area to help with the
Weekly News Update. We especially need people who can help with
filing! Leave us a message at 212-674-9499.

Women's Work Brigade to Nicaragua, Jan. 3-24, 1995. Contact
NICCA, 2140 Shattuck Ave., Box 2063, Berkeley, CA 94704, (510)
832-4959.

12/15 THU, 6:30 PM - "Counter-Summit of the Americas." Speakers
from El Salvador, Haiti, Brazil and Cuba on the neoliberal
project and how we can fight it. Hunter College West Bldg Rm 217,
E 68th St & Lexington Ave. Free. CISPES, NSN & others. 212-674-9499.

12/16 FRI, 4-7PM - Vigil to demand compliance with Salvadoran
peace accords on land transfers. Salvadoran Consulate, Park Ave.
& 36th St. CISPES, Centro Salvadoreno. 212-255-4456.

12/16 FRI, 6:30 PM - "Indigenous Rights & Resistance: a Colombian
Perspective," with Colombian & US indigenous speakers. Hunter
College West Bldg Rm 714, E 68th ST & Lexington Ave. $5. Colombia
Multimedia Project. 212-802-7209.

12/16 FRI, 7 PM - "Exterminating Angel" (Bunuel 1962). Viva
Galeria, 445 W 50 St. Spanish w/English subtitles. $5. 212-245-7131.

12/17 SAT, 1 PM - Radical Walking Tour, Greenwich Village II. $6.
718-492-0069.

12/17 SAT, 7 PM - "Rodrigo D: No Future" (1990). Viva Galeria,
445 W 50 St. Spanish w/English subtitles. $5. 212-245-7131.

12/19 MON, 7:30 PM - "Luis Beltran Tunes in to Bolivian Miner's
Radio. Paper Tiger TV on MNN. Also: 12/20 TUE, 8 PM on BCAT,

12/21 WED, 6:30 PM on BronxNet, 12/22 THU, 4:30 PM on MNN.
212-420-9045.

12/21 WED, 7 PM - "La Muerte de un Burocrata" (Cuba, 1966). Viva
Galeria, 445 W 50 St. Spanish w/English subtitles. $5. 212-245-7131.


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