WEEKLY NEWS UPDATE ON THE AMERICAS ISSUE #266, MARCH 5, 1995 NICARAGUA SOLIDARITY NETWORK OF GREATER NEW YORK 339 LAFAYETTE ST., NEW YORK, NY 10012 (212) 674-9499 1. Former Mexican President's Brother Charged with Murder 2. Salinas a "Convenient Scapegoat" for Mexican Crisis 3. Hunger and War Threaten Mexican Campesinos 4. Mexican People's Referendum: No to US Bailout 5. Argentine Government Announces New Austerity Plan 6. Argentina: Divided Left to Face Menem in Elections 7. George Bush Gets a Medal in Nicaragua 8. Nicaraguan Constitutional Crisis Continues 9. US Raids Haitian Peasant Organization 10. Haiti: US Courtmartials Officer for Human Rights Work 11. US Scolds "Uncooperative Partners" in War on Drugs 12. Growing Militarization in Venezuela 13. Honduran Congress to Vote on End to Military Draft 14. Other News: Uruguay, Costa Rica, Guatemala & More 15. Upcoming Events in the New York City Area & Beyond ISSN#: 1068-5332. These updates are published weekly. A one-year subscription is $25 by first class mail. Please send check or money order payable to Nicaragua Solidarity Network at 339 Lafayette St., New York, NY 10012). Back issues and source materials are available on request. (Many of our source materials are accessed through NY Transfer; back issues are also available on NY Transfer's OnLine Library.) Subscriptions to the Electronic Edition of this Update are delivered directly to your e-mail box. To subscribe to the electronic edition, send your e-mail address with a check or money order for US $25 payable to: Blythe Systems. Mail to: NY Transfer News Collective, 339 Lafayette Street, New York, NY 10012. Feel free to reproduce these updates or reprint any information from them, but please credit us, and send us a copy. We welcome your comments and ideas: send them via e-mail to nicanet@blythe.org. 1. FORMER MEXICAN PRESIDENT'S BROTHER CHARGED WITH MURDER On Feb. 28 the Mexican attorney general's office arrested Raul Salinas de Gortari on charges of masterminding the September 1994 assassination of Jose Francisco Ruiz Massieu, the general secretary of the ruling Institutional Revolutionary Party (PRI). Raul Salinas is the older brother of Carlos Salinas de Gortari, Mexico's president from 1988 until last December. After his brother's arrest, Carlos Salinas lashed out at current president Ernesto Zedillo Ponce de Leon in a number of calls to the media; following PRI tradition, Salinas had personally picked Zedillo to be his successor. On Mar. 2 the ex-president moved into a supporter's home in a working-class neighborhood near Monterrey, in the northern state of Nuevo Leon, and began a hunger strike to defend what he called his "personal honor." [New York Times 3/1/95, 3/2/95, 3/4/95, 3/5/95; Washington Post 3/1/95, 3/2/95, 3/2/95] The day before, Carlos Salinas had announced that he was withdrawing his bid for the presidency of the World Trade Organization (WTO). The former president is not unemployed, however; he recently joined the board of directors of Dow Jones & Company, which publishes the Wall Street Journal. [WSJ 3/2/95] The decision to arrest Raul Salinas brought quick and unanimous praise from the US government and mainstream media. US secretary of state Warren Christopher told a House of Representatives subcommittee on Mar. 2 that Zedillo had made "exactly the right decision." "I feel very strongly that President Zedillo is making the right decisions on the key points," Christopher said. The secretary of state also called Zedillo's policy in southern Mexico--the Feb. 9 renewal of military operations against indigenous campesino rebels of the Zapatista National Liberation Army (EZLN)--"essentially a sound one." [Reuter 3/3/95] A Washington Post editorial talked about "leaders like President Zedillo who are trying to advance democratic principles." [WP 3/2/95] In arresting an influential PRI member, Zedillo has changed the rules of Mexican politics, the Wall Street Journal wrote, and if he "can make the changes stick, the result will be a far more democratic country." The same article remarks that "[m]any Mexicans" may even "long" for Zedillo to "show a touch of the good old-fashioned authoritarianism know as presidencialismo." The New York Times wrote that drivers were honking their horns to show support for Zedillo, "a sight that would have been unthinkable two weeks ago, when tens of thousands of people marched through Mexico City to protest the government's handling of the economy and its military sweep into rebel areas in Chiapas state..." [NYT 3/3/95] [Previously the Times had all but blacked out the three huge anti-government demonstrations. See Update #265.] 2. SALINAS A "CONVENIENT SCAPEGOAT" FOR MEXICAN CRISIS Outside the US, analysts seem more likely to see the arrest of Raul Salinas as a cynical political maneuver by the Mexican government. The center-left opposition Party of the Democratic Revolution (PRD) had been demanding a criminal investigation into Carlos Salinas' role in causing the economic crisis that broke out three weeks after he left office. In an article written just before Salinas' arrest, the British daily Independent suggested that Zedillo might find Carlos Salinas "a convenient scapegoat to deflect criticism of Mr. Zedillo himself." [Independent 3/1/95] On Feb. 27, the day before the arrest, the Mexican stock market fell 6.85% in its biggest drop since October 1988. [Equipo Pueblo Mexico Update, Vol. 2, #19, 2/28/95] Zedillo may also be using the Ruiz Massieu case to attack the left. The victim's brother, Mario Ruiz Massieu, was the first special prosecutor in the investigation. He created a political crisis in November when he charged that the PRI hierarchy was obstructing his probe. Ruiz Massieu then quit the investigation and joined the PRD as a legal adviser to party president Porfirio Munoz Ledo. [See Updates #252 and 259] The Zedillo administration now says that Mario Ruiz Massieu himself had shielded Raul Salinas and could be brought up on charges. Ruiz Massieu suddenly left Mexico on Mar. 3 with his wife and daughter; US customs officials seized him in Newark International Airport as he was boarding a flight for Madrid. They charged him with a false declaration of currency, but unnamed Mexican officials say Mexico had tipped off US Customs and would make an extradition request by Mar. 6. [Associated Press 3/4/95; NYT 3/5/95] [The speed with which the US government acted contrasts with an earlier incident in the Ruiz Massieu case. Manuel Munoz Rocha, a former PRI deputy from Tamaulipas state who allegedly arranged the logistics of the assassination, fled Mexico in September. Mexican police are said to have tracked him to Brownsville, TX, where he owns a house. But the US Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) reportedly waited until Oct. 10 to act on an Oct. 6 request from Mexican authorities to arrest the deputy. By then he had disappeared. See Update #2521.] Raul Salinas has curious connections with the Mexican left. He has been linked to the small Workers Party (PT) and the Campesino Torch paramilitary group; both are widely suspected of serving as pseudo-leftist organizations in the government's pay. During the 1970s Raul Salinas was supposedly connected with a Maoist group that worked in Chiapas. [El Diario-La Prensa (NY) 3/1/95 from EFE] As early as Mar. 1 conservative journalists were trying to suggest a link with the rebels of the EZLN. [Univision TV (US) 3/1/95] 3. HUNGER AND WAR THREATEN MEXICAN CAMPESINOS While attention remains focused on political scandals in Mexico City, the situation is growing more desperate for indigenous campesinos in Chiapas. According to current estimates, between 10,000 and 20,000 local people have fled their homes since the Mexican army began moving into eastern Chiapas on Feb. 9. The refugees are living in temporary camps without adequate food, water, shelter or medicine. Moreover, the army is blocking delivery of humanitarian aid. The European organization Doctors without Borders has been waiting since November for permission to go ahead with a project that would bring a group of four doctors and three nurses into the area for six months. The situation is not significantly better for the campesinos who stayed in their villages; they too are being cut off from supplies, and they have also been subjected to raids by soldiers. Some are detained and then tortured. Most of the civilians tell journalists that they support the Zapatista demand for immediate withdrawal of the military. Meanwhile, the Mexican army is moving some 7,000 other civilians into the area; these are mostly campesinos who support the PRI and fled when the EZLN uprising began in January 1994. [La Jornada (Mexico) 2/26/95; LJ 2/25/95, 2/28/95, National Commission for Democracy in Mexico, USA (NCDM) translation; Mexico Update 2/28/95] Journalist John Ross reports that the EZLN itself seems to have three centers of operation now, one near its traditional base around La Garrucha in the Lacandona rain forest, one outside the Lacandona in the San Andres Larrainzar area (near San Cristobal de las Casas) and one in the Montes Azules Biosphere Reserve. [Anderson Valley (California) Advertiser 3/1/95] The Zapatistas charge that early on Feb. 9, before the offensive was announced, EZLN spokesperson "Sub-Commander Marcos" was scheduled to meet with government officials; the meeting was called off when an EZLN reconnaissance team detected an ambush. Marcos himself says in his usual style that the arrest order against him should be lifted because the other Zapatistas now find him "insufferable": he is constantly complaining that the offensive is making him miss popular television soap operas like "Marimar." [LJ 2/25/95, NDCM translation; EZLN communique 2/20/95 from LJ 2/25/95, NCDM translation] Repression of leftists outside the EZLN continues. Jorge Santiago Santiago, an adviser to the officially recognized National Mediation Commission (CONAI), remains in prison in the Chiapas state capital, Tuxtla Gutierrez. On Feb. 23 police arrested a popular Mexico City priest, Ignacio Ortega Aguilar ("Father Nacho"), charging him with the illegal detention of two disturbed people under his care; he was conditionally released two days later after several small demonstrations by his supporters. Political columnist Jose Urena reports that the government even had an arrest warrant ready for Bishop Samuel Ruiz Garcia of San Cristobal, the official mediator in talks with the EZLN. Zedillo showed the warrant to the bishop during Feb. 11 interview with Ruiz and two of Mexico's three cardinals but announced that he wouldn't proceed with the arrest. [LJ 2/26/95] As of Mar. 4 US EZLN representative Cecilia Rodriguez, who is also the coordinator of the National Commission for Democracy in Mexico, USA (NCDM), had been on a hunger strike for 17 days. Her goal is to draw attention to the situation in Chiapas, which has been largely unreported in the US media. On Mar. 3 she led a demonstration of about 150 people in Los Angeles, briefly blocking media access to the murder trial of former football star O.J. Simpson. [Los Angeles Times 2/25/95; NCDM Press Release 3/4/95] 4. MEXICAN PEOPLE'S REFERENDUM: NO TO US BAILOUT On Feb. 26 the Civic Alliance, a non-partisan election monitoring group, held an unofficial nationwide plebiscite to let Mexican citizens express their views on three national issues. The group reported that 631,193 people voted: 80.18% said Mexico should reject the US government's $20 billion loan guarantee plan, 90.10% favored a peaceful solution to the Chiapas conflict and 96.95% wanted criminal charges against Carlos Salinas for misleading the public on the state of the Mexican economy. The Civic Alliance had arranged for as many as 30,000 people to staff some 5,000 tables set up in parks, shopping malls, subway stations and public place; about a third of the tables were in Mexico City. Any Mexican citizen with ID would be allowed to vote, and the group promised that in contrast to official elections there would be no electoral fraud or mysterious crashes of the computer system. The government did not support the effort and most major media refused to publicize it. [LJ 2/26/95; Mexico Update 3/28/95] The turnout represented some 1.5% of eligible voters nationally. About 330,000 Mexicans voted in a similar "people's referendum" in 1993; the earlier vote took place only in Mexico City and concerned home rule for the capital. This year's nationwide vote drew a somewhat lower turnout in Mexico City, but the organizers had had much less time for publicity [see Update #262]. A Feb. 8- 14 Time/CNN telephone poll gave similar results but with a more conservative bias, reflecting the economic status of Mexicans with phones at home. 57% said the bailout package would be bad for Mexico, while 81% felt the cost to Mexico would be too high. Marcos got a 22% favorable rating and a 57% unfavorable rating; the PRI's favorable rating was 33% and its unfavorable rating was 57%, the same as the rebel leader's. [Time 3/6/95] 5. ARGENTINE GOVERNMENT ANNOUNCES NEW AUSTERITY PLAN Late on Feb. 27, Argentine Economy Minister Domingo Cavallo announced a new series of drastic economic austerity measures, designed to close a budget deficit that is projected to be at least $4.5 billion this year--and could possibly increase to $7 billion. An earlier "total austerity" plan to slash $1 billion from the budget--announced by President Carlos Saul Menem on Dec. 22 [see Update #259]--failed to resolve the deficit problems or soothe investor fears, and January and February's tax receipts were far below what the government had predicted. The new measures include trimming an additional $1 billion from this year's budget by limiting travel and overtime for public workers and cutting by 5-15% the salaries of government workers earning more than $2,000 a month. The plan also involves raising $2.5 billion more in revenues by eliminating tax deductions and aggressively pursuing tax evaders. [Wall Street Journal 2/28/95; Washington Post 3/1/95] The International Monetary Fund (IMF) just finished conducting a review of Argentina's economy at the government's request. It was the first IMF mission since late last September, when Argentina passed up its last credit installment of $410 million [see Update #246]. Cavallo says Argentina isn't seeking IMF financing, but rather an IMF approval of its policies through an "extended surveillance" agreement. [WSJ 2/28/95] Such an accord might release up to $1 billion in loans being negotiated with the Inter-American Development Bank and the World Bank; this cash would be used to help push through privatizations of banks and utilities in several near-bankrupt provinces. [Financial Times (UK) 2/24/95] Argentina's economic woes have been exacerbated by the Mexican crisis, which shook investor confidence in Latin American "emerging markets." About $3 billion in capital fled Argentina in 60 days, and the Argentine stock market has lost 29% of its value since December. But the country's crisis really began in September, when the government acknowledged that it faced a deficit of about $1 billion, the first since Cavallo introduced his neoliberal economic plan in 1991. Like Mexico, Argentina has a balance-of-payments deficit and has relied on foreign investments to cover accounts. Argentina's currency has been pegged to the dollar since 1991--every peso in circulation is backed by a dollar of hard-currency reserves--and it is now widely viewed as overvalued. [WSJ 2/28/95; WP 3/1/95] According to the British Financial Times, "Prospects of much slower capital inflows this year, as well as severe liquidity problems in the financial sector, have provoked fears of recession, or even a banking collapse." [FT 2/22/95] On Mar. 1, the Alto Parana wood pulp and paper company announced it would default on $63.6 million in debts. This was the first default by a major Argentine company since the 1980s; the day it was announced the Buenos Aires stock market plunged by 5.5% to its lowest level since 1991. [New York Times 3/2/95 from Bloomberg Business News] 6. ARGENTINA: DIVIDED LEFT TO FACE MENEM IN ELECTIONS On the night of Feb. 23, filmmaker Fernando "Pino" Solanas announced that he will run for president in Argentina's May 14 elections on a new leftist coalition ticket made up of his own Corriente Grande (Big Current), the Frontist Popular Movement (linked to the communist party) and a group called Advanced Democracy. Solanas said the new coalition has not yet been named, nor has it defined its lists of candidates for vice president, governors, senators and deputies. [El Diario-La Prensa 2/26/95 from AFP] Until last year Solanas was part of the leftist Frente Grande coalition, which dissolved when coalition leader and unionist Carlos "Chacho" Alvarez left to form the center-left coalition FREPASO (Frente para un Pais Solidario) with Senator Jose Octavio Bordon, a dissident from the ruling Justicialista (Peronist) Party. [ED-LP 2/26/95 from AFP] Solanas declined to directly attack FREPASO, though he asserted that his own coalition is the "real opposition to this model of liberal adjustment that [President] Menem and [Economy Minister] Cavallo are implementing." He pointed out that "even the US ambassador [James Cheek] soothed powerful interests by saying that with whichever of the three formulas wins--that of Menem, that of [Radical Civic Union (UCR) candidate Horacio] Massaccesi or that of FREPASO--the continuity of the [neoliberal economic] model is safe and sound." "Argentina has been looted," said Solanas, "and May 14 will be the pardon for the great economic crimes that transferred the assets of the state to a few private hands." [ED-LP 2/26/95 from AFP] On Feb. 28, it was announced that Bordon would be the presidential candidate of FREPASO, having won that coalition's Feb. 26 internal elections. Bordon announced the results in a joint press conference with "Chacho" Alvarez, who lost by a close margin and will be Bordon's vice presidential candidate. Bordon's victory was a surprise, as the more left-leaning Alvarez had been considered the favorite. But the FREPASO primary was open to all of Argentina's nearly 22 million eligible voters, including members of other parties; this was necessary since the recently- formed coalition still has no formal party structure. Almost half a million people actually voted in the primary, and Bordon is thought to have received a great deal of support from independent citizens and Peronists. [ED-LP 2/28/95 from AFP, 3/1/95 from AP] Bordon's reputation as an honest and efficient administrator during his term as governor of Mendoza province also helped boost his popularity. Even his opponents admit that Bordon was not touched by the corruption so common among government officials. Indeed, Bordon's strategy seems based on criticizing the corruption in Menem's administration, rather than attacking the government's neoliberal policies. "With the resources that are lost today by corruption we can immediately improve education and healthcare," Bordon told the Buenos Aires weekly La Maga. Bordon also warned that Menem "is capable of promising anything" to remain in power. Bordon left the ruling party in September 1994, alleging that a lack of guarantees prevented a fair race against President Carlos Saul Menem in the Peronist primary. Soon afterwards he formed a new party, PAIS; this party subsequently joined with the Frente Grande, the Socialist Unity, and the Christian Democrats to form FREPASO. [ED-LP 3/1/95 from AP] FREPASO's main goal is to prevent Menem's reelection; the coalition plans to form an electoral alliance with the country's principal opposition party, the Radical Civic Union (UCR), if the voting goes to a second round. [ED-LP 2/28/95 from AFP] The latest opinion polls show FREPASO close to displacing UCR as the second-largest political force in the country. [ED-LP 3/2/95 from EFE] The constitutional amendments Menem pushed through last year-- which cleared the way for him to seek a consecutive second term-- also call for direct election of the president, rather than election by the previous electoral college system. The revisions also provide for a runoff between the top two contenders, unless the front runner takes 45% of the valid votes, or 40% if that is 10% more than the second-place candidate. If a runoff is necessary, it will take place on June 11. To increase his chances of winning in the first round, Menem's party is forming alliances with center-right and rightwing parties and candidates in the provinces. A Feb. 5 survey by pollsters Rosendo Fraga and Julio Aurelio showed that if elections were held that day, Menem would have won 45%, the UCR would have been second with 25%, and FREPASO third with 20%. A government-initiated poll of the greater Buenos Aires area published Feb. 4 showed Menem with 37.2% support, the UCR with 15.8% and FREPASO with 14.2%. A poll released by the private polling firm Center for Public Opinion Studies (CEOP) on Feb. 12 gave Menem 31.8%, followed by the UCR with 17.1%, FREPASO with 12.9%, and the rightwing Movement for Dignity and Independence (MODIN), led by deputy and former lieutenant colonel Aldo Rico, a distant fourth with 3.9%. A substantial number of voters--22.5%-- told CEOP pollsters they were undecided. The CEOP poll analysis focused on those mostly middle-class Argentine voters with large time-payment debts, called the "time- payment voters." They are consumers who, lulled by the economic stability brought about by Menem's economic policies, made excessive purchases on credit. According to CEOP, this group comprises about 40% of Argentines of voting age. Of those, 40% are committed to voting for Menem. Many "time-payment voters" appear convinced that any change in government could adversely affect their precarious economic situation, and are betting on Menem to maintain their life-style and purchasing power. [Latin America Data Base Notisur 2/17/95 from Notimex, EFE, Reuter, AFP] 7. GEORGE BUSH GETS A MEDAL IN NICARAGUA On Feb. 25, Nicaraguan president Violeta Barrios de Chamorro celebrated the fifth anniversary of her 1990 electoral victory over the leftist Sandinista National Liberation Front (FSLN) at a ceremony in Managua's "Peace Park," where 2,000 rifles were destroyed as a symbol of the country's peace process. Former US president George Bush, whose military support for the contra rebels was instrumental in bringing down the Sandinista administration, was there with his wife Barbara to congratulate Chamorro. Bush was honored by the Chamorro government with a medal: the "Great Cross" of the "Order of Jose Dolores Estrada, Battle of San Jacinto." Ironically, Dolores Estrada was a national hero who fought against the US-sanctioned intervention in Nicaragua by US mercenary William Walker in 1856. [La Jornada 2/26/95 from AP, AFP, DPA, ANSA, Reuter; El Diario-La Prensa 2/27/95 from Notimex] 8. NICARAGUAN CONSTITUTIONAL CRISIS CONTINUES The deadlock continues between Nicaragua's legislative and executive powers over constitutional reforms which were approved by the National Assembly on Feb. 1 and published into law on Feb. 24 [see Updates #264, #265]. An appeals court has rejected on a technicality the appeals presented by nearly a dozen citizens, including Presidency Minsiter Antonio Lacayo, who claimed that the constitutional reforms violate their rights. The court ruled that the appeals were inadmissable because they were presented two days before the reforms were published into law. Appeals courts in Matagalpa and Juigalpa have agreed to hear separate appeals on the reforms from several mayors in those departments. [La Jornada 2/26/95 from AP, AFP, DPA, ANSA, Reuter] Sandinista leader Daniel Ortega has proposed calling elections for a National Constituent Assembly, which would be charged with writing a new constitution. According to the current 1987 constitution, only the legislature has the power to convoke a constituent assembly; President Chamorro would have to dissolve the legislature before calling for one herself. [ED-LP 2/28/95 from AFP] The legislature, meanwhile, has asked Chamorro to submit a slate of candidates to fill the two vacant seats on the Supreme Court, which is to make the final ruling on the constitutional reforms. [Diario Las Americas 3/3/95 from AFP] 9. US RAIDS HAITIAN PEASANT ORGANIZATION On Feb. 17 US Special Forces (Green Berets) raided the headquarters of the Peasant Movement of Papaye (MPP), a large, internationally recognized peasant organization based in Haiti's Central Plateau region. Six Green Berets arrived in the afternoon at the MPP offices in the town of Hinche, blocked the entrance to the compound, stopped a meeting in progress and then "proceeded to search the place and intimidate people for 45 minutes," according to Louise Bowditch of Boston, who was present during the incident. A Feb. 20 MPP press release says Special Forces captain Bowling claimed the soldiers were responding to rumors about alleged MPP plans to disrupt Mardi Gras celebrations at the end of the month. The soldiers "leveled serious threats against the MPP leaders and complained they were 'sick and tired' of hearing these kinds of rumors," according to the MPP, which reports that the Green Berets said they had no complaints about rightwing paramilitary groups like the Tontons Macoute and the Front for the Progress and Advancement of Haiti (FRAPH). "We have the weapons to destroy this entire place in less than five minutes," Bowling told MPP members, according to Bowditch. The MPP is one of the more moderate grassroots organizations, and its director, Chavannes Jean-Baptiste, is an adviser to Haitian president Jean-Bertrand Aristide. [Haiti Progres (NY) 3/1-7/95; Haiti Info (Port-au- Prince) Vol. 3, #10, 2/25/95] 10. HAITI: US COURTMARTIALS OFFICER FOR HUMAN RIGHTS WORK The court martial of Capt. Lawrence Rockwood (US Army 10th Mountain Division), opened at the end of February in New York State's Fort Drum. Lockwood was charged with insubordination for attempting to inspect Haiti's National Penitentiary on Sept. 30 [see Update #256]. The captain, a 15-year veteran, was serving in Port-au-Prince as the counter-intelligence officer responsible for daily reports on possible sources of violence. Rockwood says he was concerned about reports of human rights violations in the prisons, and eventually decided that his oath as a soldier required him to carry out the mission as defined by his commander-in-chief, US president Bill Clinton: "stopping brutal atrocities." He was also concerned about the precedent of Japanese general Yamashita, who was convicted of war crimes in 1946 for failing to prevent atrocities. He had hoped that by going to the prison he could force US soldiers to take action, since the rules of engagement required them to intervene if they witnessed a human rights violation in progress. The plan failed: Rockwood was arrested on the spot and flown back to the US on Oct. 2. The National Penitentiary wasn't inspected until November, and no more counter-intelligence reports on human rights violations were filed. [Guardian Weekly (UK) 3/5/95] 11. US SCOLDS "UNCOOPERATIVE PARTNERS" IN WAR ON DRUGS US President Clinton decided on Mar. 1 that even though Colombia, Peru, Bolivia and Paraguay had not satisfied US conditions as cooperative partners in the US war on drug traffickers, "for vital reasons of national interest" they would not be "decertified." [El Diario-La Prensa 3/2/95 from AP, AFP] Decertification would have led the administration to halt US aid and opposed development loans from international lending agencies. US Congress has the power to overturn the president's decision within 30 days. Republicans on the Senate Foreign Relations Committee had recommended that Clinton "should decertify" Colombia. [Washington Post 3/2/95] The Colombian government announced two days later on Mar. 3 that it had arrested Jorge Eliezer Rodriguez Orejuela, whose older brothers Miguel and Gilberto Rodriguez Orejuela are suspected leaders of the Cali drug cartel. Colombia claims the younger brother is one of the cartel's leading members, though US Embassy officials called him a "mid-level lieutenant" who was believed to have been a liaison for the cartel in the US. [New York Times 3/4/95] 12. GROWING MILITARIZATION IN VENEZUELA Venezuelan president Rafael Caldera has converted air traffic controllers by decree into state security officials without the right to strike. The government has also announced that it is seeking to annul decrees that standardize the controllers' salary increases, and has threatened the union with massive dismissals. Venezuela's air force took control of the country's airports on Feb. 19, the 11th day of a rulebook slowdown by the controllers's union [see Update #265]. [El Diario-La Prensa 3/5/95 from AFP] Social Democratic Senator Antonio Ledezma called the airport takeover "a dangerous precedent. One day they may militarize [the government palace of] Miraflores." Prior to the airport strike, the government had placed prisons [see Update #257] and the immigration and documentation registry under military control, and deployed troops in several Venezuelan cities in an unsuccessful crime-fighting ploy. The army took over the distribution of school supplies last year, and the government has openly threatened to militarize the Caracas subway system if a labor conflict there is not resolved. [Inter Press Service 3/4/95] During the week of Feb. 20, Venezuela's armed forces were bringing up to date a plan for the militarization of all public services hit with labor conflicts. The armed forces are also planning the reactivation of anti-riot groups to prevent labor conflicts from spreading into public protests, though Defense Minister Gen. Moises Orozco denied that the armed forces are preparing to confront an eventual social explosion, like the 1989 one in Caracas that left at least 300 people--international human rights groups say more than 1,000--dead. [La Jornada 2/26/95 from AP, AFP, ANSA, EFE] 13. HONDURAN CONGRESS TO VOTE ON END TO MILITARY DRAFT Honduran president Carlos Roberto Reina has said he will ask deputies of the National Congress to ratify the constitutional reforms approved in 1994 that would establish a voluntary military service in Honduras, ending obligatory service and the forced recruitment that accompanied it. The reforms must be approved by the current legislature to take effect. [Diario Las Americas 3/3/95 from EFE] On Feb. 8, the "Visitacion Padilla" Honduran Committee of Women for Peace carried out an informal and non-binding plebiscite on the military reforms. Of a total 6,116 participants, 5,445 voted yes to the reforms, 529 voted no and 42 cast null or blank ballots. The results mirror plebiscites carried out by the group in previous years that showed 90% of respondents favoring an end to obligatory military service. The congressional vote on the reforms is expected imminently; activists can write to Congress President Carlos Roberto Flores Facusse (Congreso Nacional, Tegucigalpa, Honduras), urging the congress to take this important step to demilitarize the country and put an end to violations of civil and human rights in Honduras. [2/13/95 report from Nancy Jodaitis & Michael Marsh in Honduras, posted on email 3/1/95 by the Honduran Popular Support Group] 14. IN OTHER NEWS... On Mar. 1, Julio Maria Sanguinetti of the Colorado Party began his five-year term as president of Uruguay, replacing Luis Alberto Lacalle of the National (Blanco) Party. Hugo Batalla is the new vice president. Sanguinetti, who was elected on Nov. 27 by a narrow 2.5% margin [see Update #253], has formed a bi- partisan cabinet with the Blancos. [Latin America Data Base Notisur 3/3/95 from EFE, AFP] The only woman in the new cabinet is Blanco party member Ana Lia Pineyrua, the new Minister of Labor and Social Security. [El Diario-La Prensa 3/1/95 from AFP] Pineyrua will presumably be responsible for slashing pension benefits in a "reform" of the country's generous social security system, a task Sanguinetti has said is his first priority. [New York Times 2/19/95]... Jose Marti Figueres Boggs--the older brother of Costa Rican president Jose Maria Figueres Olsen--will go to trial on Mar. 6, accused of cheating a state institution out of some $6 million between 1985 and 1990. Also indicted in the case is Francisco Sanabria, who was then director of the Social Protection Board (JPS) which administers the country's lottery system. Figueres Boggs, acting as an agent for the Panamanian firm Scientific Games of Central America, allegedly sold an instant lottery setup to the JPS at an overinflated price. [El Diario-La Prensa 3/2/95 from EFE]... Colombian Jose "James" Benitez was sentenced on Feb. 23 in a New York federal court to 18 years of prison and five years of probation for the Mar. 11, 1992, murder of Cuban-born journalist Manuel de Dios Unanue. Benitez had pled guilty to contracting hired assassins, a sentence that normally carries a minimum 24-year sentence--but he cooperated with authorities and testified against co-defendant Wilson Alejandro Mejia Velez. Judge E.R. Korman admitted that "the moral responsibility of Benitez [in the murder] is equal to or greater than that of [Mejia]," who was 17 years old at the time of the murder. Mejia was sentenced on Mar. 16, 1994, to life in prison without possibility of parole [see Update #216]. [El Diario-La Prensa 2/24/95]... On Feb. 27, Guatemalan activist Julio Morales Reyes was wounded by two bullets in an assassination attempt. He is in serious condition. Morales is well known in Guatemala for his work with nongovernmental organizations, particularly the Mayan organization COCADI (Cakchiquel Coordinating Group for Holistic Development). The shooting took place in front of the COCADI office in Chimaltenango. Messages protesting the attack and demanding a full investigation can be sent to Human Rights Procurator Jorge Mario Garcia Laguardia (fax# +502-2-300294) and Attorney General Amado Cuestas Gomez (fax# +502-2-536554). [Network in Solidarity with the People of Guatemala Rapid Response Alert 3/3/95] 15. UPCOMING EVENTS IN THE NEW YORK CITY AREA & BEYOND For more information, call NSN at 212-674-9499. Events listed are not necessarily endorsed by the Nicaragua Solidarity Network. DESPERATELY SEEKING Update volunteers to clip articles, file and do computer entry. Every Sat. 2-7 PM at 339 Lafayette, or other times to be arranged. Fun for compulsive readers and news enthusiasts! Find out what we leave out of the Update! Leave a message (include your evening phone number) at 212-674-9499. SEEKING INTERN for the Weekly News Update's prisoner outreach program. Leave your address on our phone machine and we'll send you a complete description. 3/10 FRI, 7:30 PM - In Washington: "Women in El Salvador," with FMLN's Rebeca Palacios. Augustana Lutheran Church, 1511 V St NW. $5. DC CISPES 202-265-0890. 3/11 SAT, 7:30 PM - "Int'l Women's Day Salute to Women of the Cuban Revolution," with Gail Walker, Teresa Garbayo & others. Casa de las Americas, 104 W 14th St. $4 ($8 with dinner at 6:30). Radical Women & Freedom Socialist Party 212-677-7002. 3/12 SUN Noon - Washington DC: "National Rally to Break Wall of Impunity in Guatemala." Lafayette Park (16th & Penn Ave NW). Call GHRC/USA at 202-529-6599. 3/12 SUN, 1 PM - "Lower East Side: Radical Jews!" 175 East Broadway. $6. Radical Walking Tours 718-492-0069. 3/13 MON, 7:30 PM - Rebeca Palacios (see above). Washington Sq United Methodist Church, 135 W 4th St. NY CISPES 212-645-5230. 3/15 WED, 7:30 PM - "The Mexican Miracle--Out of Order," with David Brooks [La Jornada] & Doug Henwood [Left Business Observer]. 122 W 27 St, 10 fl. $6. Brecht Forum 212-242-4201. 3/15 WED, 8 PM - "60 Minutes Report on the Zapatistas." New School, 65 5th Ave, rm 209. NY Cmte for Democracy in Mexico, 212-592-9074. -- + NY Transfer News Collective + + until 4/1/95 IS ON THE MOVE! until 4/1/95 + + 212-675-9690 212-675-9663 + + *NEW* Office Address: + + 339 Lafayette St., New York, NY 10012 + + e-mail: nyt@blythe.org + >