WEEKLY NEWS UPDATE ON THE AMERICAS ISSUE #271, APRIL 9, 1995 NICARAGUA SOLIDARITY NETWORK OF GREATER NEW YORK 339 LAFAYETTE ST., NEW YORK, NY 10012 (212) 674-9499 1. US Right in Frenzy Over Haitian Murder 2. Did "New World Order" Kill Haitian Lawyer? 3. More Fallout on Guatemala Murders 4. Mexico News: Peace Talks, Arrests, Assurances 5. Peru Holds Presidential Elections 6. Fraud Charged on Eve of Peru Elections 7. Striking Teachers Protest in Nicaragua 8. Political Prisoners on Hunger Strike in Chile 9. Doctors Strike in Chile 10. Brazil: Reserves Down, Protests Up 11. Other News: Venezuela, Bolivia, Honduras, Panama, Dom. Rep... 12. Upcoming Events in the New York City Area 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. US RIGHT IN FRENZY OVER HAITIAN MURDER On Apr. 3 conservative US syndicated columnist Robert Novak announced that supporters of Haitian president Jean-Bertrand Aristide had compiled a list of 30 political enemies that includes former deputy Eric Lamothe, murdered on Mar. 3, and rightwing lawyer Mireille Durocher Bertin, murdered on Mar. 28 [see Updates #268 and 270]. A number of other figures on the right, such as Sen. Eddy Dupiton and Deputy Duly Brutus, are on the list, along with "two longtime Aristide allies who have quarreled with the Haitian president, Louis Dejoie and Port-au- Prince mayor Evans Paul." "It is common knowledge in Haiti," the columnist claims, "that a shadow government...headed by notorious former prime minister Rene Preval" controls a commando unit. An aide named Captain Richard Solomon has been made customs director of the port of St. Marc, "permitting the flow of weapons to the commando units." [Washington Post 4/3/95] The Pentagon has produced its own list of 27 Aristide enemies it says may have been selected for assassination, US officials told the New York Times on Apr. 6. [NYT 4/7/95] The US charges that Haitian interior minister Mondesir Beaubrun masterminded the Durocher Bertin murder, and the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) now has 16 agents in Haiti investigating the case. [Haiti Progres (NY) 4/5-11/95] "It's a little surprising that death squad attacks against political opponents of Haiti's Aristide regime got going even before the American military mission to Haiti was turned over to the United Nations" on Apr. 1, the rightwing New York Post said; the paper also printed a cartoon showing Aristide dressed as a military dictator. [NY Post 4/3/95] On Apr. 7 ultra-conservative US senator Jesse Helms (R-NC) sent a letter to President Bill Clinton asking for a suspension of "all US assistance to Haiti pending the resolution of an investigation" into the Durocher Bertin case. [WP 4/8/95] The Washington Post reports that "[m]uch of the information coming out of Haiti about 'hit lists' appears to be traceable to Richard Solomon, a cashiered army officer who formerly supported Aristide but has turned against him." [WP 4/8/95] Presumably this is the same Richard Solomon that Novak says is supplying arms to pro-Aristide commandos. 2. DID "NEW WORLD ORDER" KILL HAITIAN LAWYER? Despite the US right's efforts to blame the Haitian government in the Durocher Bertin case, much of the evidence points in a different direction. The lawyer was shot in broad daylight the afternoon of Mar. 28 as she was driving a client, Eugene Junior Baillergeau, away from the US military's "Camp Democracy" headquarters in Port-au-Prince. Baillergeau, who was killed along with Durocher Bertin, was in litigation with the US military over damages a US helicopter had allegedly done to his private plane. After the assassination, the authorities whisked the two corpses back to Camp Democracy. [Haiti en Marche (Miami) 4/5-11/95] The US almost immediately connected the murders to several Haitians arrested on Mar. 19, who implicated Interior Minister Beaubrun in a plot to assassinate the lawyer and Central Bank president Leslie Delatour. Among those arrested were Eddy and Patrick Moise, self-styled leftists long thought to be provocateurs [see Update #270]. The plot was reportedly given away by Claude Douge, who has worked as a driver and translator for the New York Daily News and the US military. Douge too is being held, and on Apr. 5 the FBI cut off all family visits, despite the prisoner's cooperation with the authorities. [New York Daily News 4/6/95] Trying to explain how Durocher Bertin was murdered ten days after the conspirators were arrested, unnamed "US sources" now say that the Moise brothers were transferred from a downtown Port-au- Prince jail to another jail in Petionville, a suburb of the capital, on the afternoon of the murder. Their whereabouts are said to be unaccounted for during several hours, supposedly leaving them time to carry out the killing and then return to custody. [Los Angeles Times 4/4/95] Further complicating the case, sources inside the Aristide government say that the US Agency for International Development (USAID) was behind Durocher Bertin's plan to form a new rightwing party, the National Integration Movement (MIN). As the Village Voice notes, "[t]he US long has had a goal of creating a legitimate rightist opposition to Aristide." Dany Toussaint, head of the interim police in the capital, told the Voice that the murder--a drive-by shooting with automatic weapons--had the earmarks of a professional hit and that he had never seen such a well organized killing in Haiti. [Voice 4/11/95] Popular leftist singer Manno Charlemagne told Tele 13 on Mar. 29 that the assassins had used communication devices with no open frequency. No sector in Haiti would have had access to such technology, he said. "But this New World Order had it," the singer added, explaining later that he meant the US Central Intelligence Agency (CIA). [HP 4/5-11/95 from Le Nouvelliste 3/30/95] The New York-based leftist weekly Haiti Progres notes that rightwing elements in Haiti and in the US, including the CIA, wished to discredit both Aristide and the White House's program for setting up its own "legitimate" Haitian right. The hit came just three days before Clinton's Mar. 31 visit to Haiti. [HP 4/5- 11/95] Meanwhile, US officials say that the June 4 parliamentary and local elections, originally scheduled for December 1994, may be postponed a few weeks more because the Haitians are "running slightly behind schedule on some things." [NYT 4/7/95] In other news, the US Army has made the decision to go ahead with a court martial of Captain Lawrence Rockwood on charges of "conduct unbecoming an officer and gentlemen." Rockwood was assigned to the US occupying forces in Haiti with responsibility for reporting human rights abuses. The charges stem from a Sept. 30 incident in which Rockwood attempted to carry out his own unauthorized inspection of the National Penitentiary in Port-au- Prince [see Update #266]. [Village Voice 4/11/95] 3. MORE FALLOUT ON GUATEMALA MURDERS On Apr. 3, US officials admitted that an unspecified amount of CIA money is still going to maintain the CIA station at the US Embassy in Guatemala and to pay for "liaison relationships" with individual members of the Guatemalan military, a term commonly used to describe payments to informers [Washington Post 4/4/95], but said the bulk of the CIA payments would be suspended immediately [New York Times 4/4/95]. The officials said the informers have been instrumental in helping the Clinton administration gain a fuller understanding of the circumstances surrounding the murders of US innkeeper Michael DeVine and of Guatemalan guerrilla leader Efrain Bamaca Velasquez, who was married to US lawyer Jennifer Harbury [see Update #269, #270]. [WP 4/4/95] Harbury, whose protests and hunger strikes forced the murders out into the open, testified before the Senate intelligence committee in a rare public hearing on Apr. 5. Carole DeVine, the innkeeper's widow, also testified at the hearing, as did CIA acting director Adm. William Studeman and former US military attache in Guatemala Allen Cornell. [NYT 4/6/95] US Rep. Robert Torricelli (D-NJ) is under attack from Republicans in the House of Representatives for his disclosures concerning the two murders, which were reportedly carried out by Guatemalan colonel Julio Roberto Alpirez, a paid informer of the US Central Intelligence Agency (CIA). The Republicans are seeking to remove Torricelli from the House Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence for violating a House secrecy oath. On Apr. 7, in an agreement worked out with the Republicans, Torricelli admitted that he violated the secrecy oath and asked the ethics committee to resolve what he called "a clear conflict" between that oath and his oath of office to uphold the Constitution. If the Committee on Standards of Official Conduct rules against Torricelli, he could face a broad range of disciplinary actions including a letter of reprimand, removal from the intelligence panel, or worse. The oath Torricelli admitted violating was a new one adopted by the 104th Congress as part of House members' Code of Official Conduct. It requires legislators to swear not to reveal classified information. Intelligence panel members take a second oath not to reveal information they learn from the committee. Torricelli has said from the beginning that he did not receive any of the information from intelligence panel briefings and, in fact, deliberately did not attend briefings on Guatemala to avoid a conflict. Yesterday he said his information came "from members of Clinton's own administration who wanted to communicate with [the president] as soon as they could, and as boldly as they could." House intelligence committee chair Larry Combest (R-TX) said disclosures like Torricelli's hurt Congress's credibility with the intelligence community: "It's very difficult for us to expect the agency to respect us, if we divulge information, regardless of where that information comes from." [Washington Post 4/8/95] 4. MEXICO NEWS: PEACE TALKS, ARRESTS, ASSURANCES The Mexican federal government and the rebel Zapatista National Liberation Army (EZLN) are scheduled to hold talks on Apr. 9 in the small town San Miguel, near San Cristobal de las Casas in the southern state of Chiapas. These are to be preliminary talks aimed at resuming formal negotiations; the last formal talks were held in March 1994. EZLN spokesperson "Sub-Commander Marcos" said that the San Miguel talks demonstrated the rebels' "true willingness to hold a dialogue" but posed a "risk to [the rebels'] lives, security and property" because of the large federal army presence in the area. [Washington Post 4/9/95] The talks come just as a 30-day amnesty for the rebels is set to expire if talks fail to resume. [Radio Havana Cuba 4/3/95] On Apr. 7 Mexican officials announced that several federal police agents were responsible for the Apr. 28, 1994 murder of Federico Benitez Lopez, chief of the municipal police of Tijuana, Baja California Norte. Former federal agent Salvador Ruvalcaba Castillo has been arrested and charged; also accused are two of his superiors, who remain at large: Marco Antonio Jacome Saldana and Rodolfo Garcia Gaxiola. When he was murdered Benitez was investigating discrepancies in the official account of the Mar. 23, 1994 assassination of presidential candidate Luis Donaldo Colosio Murrieta during a Tijuana campaign stop. Recent admissions by the federal government show that the police chief was on the right track; however, officials insist that his murder was ordered by drug dealers and was not related to the Colosio case. [New York Times 4/9/95] Unknown persons shot and seriously wounded an agent of special federal prosecutor Pablo Chapa Bezanilla's office as he walked near his home in Mexico City on the night of Mar. 31. Special prosecutor Chapa Bezanilla is in charge of investigating the Colosio case and the unsolved assassinations of Bishop Juan Jesus Posadas Ocampo in May 1993 and Jose Francisco Ruiz Massieu in September 1994. Officials said that the agent, Jose Luis Godinez Garcia, had not been assigned to a case and that the shooting was not related to the assassination inquiries. [La Jornada (Mexico) 4/2/95] On Apr. 5 Mexican president Ernesto Zedillo Ponce de Leon addressed an audience of more than 600 at a convention of the American Society of Newspaper Editors in Dallas. Zedillo assured the editors that his economic austerity measures were working and asked them to "resist those who would return us to a time of protectionism, suspicion and isolationism" through a "retreat from free trade." [NYT 4/9/95] Zedillo's security agents assaulted members of the National Commission for Democracy in Mexico, USA (NCDM) as they attempted to protest peacefully against Zedillo's February military offensive in Chiapas. Mexican agents punched one protester at the Loews Anatole Hotel and shoved another; Dallas police then escorted demonstrators out of the building. The NCDM is asking for letters of protest to American Society of Newspaper Editors President Gregory Favre, PO Box 4090, Reston, VA 22090, or phone 703-648-1144. [NCDM Action Alert 4/6/95] 5. PERU HOLDS PRESIDENTIAL ELECTIONS On Apr. 9, Peruvians go to the polls to cast ballots for a president, two vice presidents, and 120 members of congress. All terms are for five years. President Alberto Fujimori is leading opinion polls as he seeks reelection on the ticket of his Change 90-New Majority coalition. Reelection was previously not allowed in Peru, but after Fujimori disbanded Congress and took autocratic powers in a "self-coup" on Apr. 5, 1992, he set about changing the constitution; his party dominated the "Democratic Constitutional Congress" elected on Nov. 22, 1992, since most of the traditional parties boycotted the vote. On Aug. 5, 1993, the Constitutional Congress approved an amendment allowing presidential reelection. After the new constitution was nearly rejected in a popular referendum on Oct. 31, 1993, Fujimori turned his attention away from Lima to the countryside--where his constitutional reforms had been opposed by two-thirds of the population--and devoted his time to inaugurating schools and other public works in areas long ignored by the government. [Washington Post 4/8/95] His administration increased public spending by 41% last year, and has had a goal of opening one school a day. Fujimori boasted recently of having opened 10 new schools in just four hours. [Wall Street Journal 4/7/95] The recent border war between Ecuador and Peru also helped Fujimori's standing, as the president used the opportunity to stir up nationalism (and media coverage) on his behalf, while opposition candidates voluntarily agreed to suspend campaigning for four weeks while fighting was going on. [New York Times 4/9/95] Fujimori's primary opponent is former United Nations secretary general Javier Perez de Cuellar, running on the ticket of his Union for Peru party. In a distant third place is the only woman among 14 presidential candidates, Mercedes Cabanillas of the Peruvian Aprista Party (formerly American Revolutionary Popular Alliance--APRA--the party of ex-president Alan Garcia). Cabanillas, a teacher, has served as a deputy and a senator, and was education minister during Garcia's term. [El Diario-La Prensa (NY) 4/9/95 from AP] Voting is mandatory in Peru, and about 12.4 million people are eligible to vote. A survey conducted Apr. 1 by Apoyo, Peru's leading polling firm, showed Fujimori supported by 45% of those polled, compared with 25% for Perez de Cuellar and 5% for Cabanillas. Another 9% of support was spread out between the other 11 candidates, while 16% said they were undecided. The poll had a 2% margin of error. Apoyo predicts that about 15% of ballots cast will be blank or void. The same poll showed that Fujimori's party, Change 90-New Majority, would win only 25% of the seats in Congress, compared with 12% for Perez de Cuellar's Union for Peru. [NYT 4/9/95] One popular candidate for congress is Susy Diaz, a stripper who has campaigned in scanty attire with the number 13--her position on the ballot--displayed prominently on her buttocks. [ED-LP 4/7/95 from AP] Diaz is running on the ticket of the Independent Agrarian Movement, and the latest polls show she has a good chance of being elected. [Diario Las Americas (Miami) 4/7/95] As a congressperson, Diaz promises to present a legislative proposal that would provide for prostitutes to be covered by social security "as the workers they are," and to promote a permanent campaign to fight AIDS. [ED-LP 4/9/95 from EFE] If Fujimori does not win more than 50% of the valid votes cast, he must face his closest opponent in a runoff, to be held within a month. While most analysts are predicting an easy first-round victory for Fujimori, a last-minute surge by Perez de Cuellar is seen as possible. [NYT 4/9/95] A two week decline in his standing in the polls seems to have affected Fujimori; the Washington Post reports that his demeanor was "visibly altered" a week before the elections. Cabanillas, the Aprista candidate, said at a news conference that Fujimori appeared nervous and with a "crazed attitude." [WP 4/8/95] According to the Wall Street Journal, anything less than a first- round victory for Fujimori would weaken the president's mandate to deepen his economic reforms: mainly the massive privatization of state assets, including the state oil industry. "A strong voter reaffirmation of executive authority is all the more important," writes the Journal, because Fujimori's coalition is unlikely to win a majority in Congress. Last year Peru's gross domestic product surged nearly 13%, and analysts say the economy has continued growing at nearly a double digit pace in the first quarter of this year. But despite this growth, per capita income is still around the level of 25 years ago. The major US media have been pushing Peru as a goldmine for investors recently because of its policies on foreign investment and currency exchange rates, which the Wall Street Journal describes as "even more laissez-faire than those in Chile, the region's longtime free-market leader." [WSJ 4/7/95] Perez de Cuellar, however, believes that the current investment in Peru is largely speculative. The former diplomat wrapped up his campaign on Apr. 5 with well-attended meetings in the Andean department of Cusco; he is promising genuine decentralization for Peru, with regional elections by 1996. Perez de Cuellar says he would "do nothing to change current economic policy, except to give it an essential human dimension..." But if elected, he says his government would divert some $500 million of the country's $5.5 billion international reserves into cheap credit for small businesses and farmers in order to create jobs. "While Peru has 12 million poor--and half of those in critical poverty--we can't talk about development," says Perez de Cuellar. "For them, the big issue is jobs." [Financial Times (UK) 4/6/95] Perez de Cuellar's critics on the left have accused him of wanting to put into practice "Fujimorism without Fujimori," a sort of "Manchesterian capitalism with democratic manners." [Inter Press Service 3/31/95] 6. FRAUD CHARGED ON EVE OF PERU ELECTIONS On Apr. 6, three days before the general elections, police searched a house in Huanuco, a departmental capital in central Peru, and arrested 11 people who had among them 3,000 official voter tally sheets. Each tally sheet contained 200 votes, and 500 of the sheets had already been filled in, many of them in favor of Fujimori and a congressional candidate from Fujimori's party; the house where the tally sheets were found is owned by the congressional candidate. Other candidates for Congress and president were marked on some of the sheets, which according to Huanuco prosecutor Victor Aguirre were sealed up in official envelopes of the National Elections Board. Media sources suggested that the tally sheets were intended to replace the real ones when ballots were collected at the end of election day. In a meeting with reporters, Perez de Cuellar said he had received information that voter fraud was occurring throughout the country. Attorney General Blanca Nelida Colan went to Huanuco on Apr. 7 to investigate the fraud charges. [ED-LP 4/9/95] This is the first election in Peru that is fully computerized, and some 415,700 people from various groups will function as observers. This figure includes 408,000 representatives from political parties; in addition, the Organization of American States (OAS) has 100 observers, the Council for Peace has 3,000, a private civic association called Transparency has 4,000, and another group called Clarity has 600. [ED-LP 4/7/95 from Notimex] Transparency, which has received funding and technical advice from nonprofit international agencies, is to provide a quick count four hours after the polls close. [WP 4/8/95] OAS secretary general Cesar Gaviria arrived in Lima on Apr. 7 to participate as an observer in the elections. [ED-LP 4/9/95] A simulated balloting in Cusco province carried out by Transparency showed a 70% rate of error on the part of voters, it was reported on Apr. 5. "If the mistakes are repeated...in the official balloting, it could be predicted that null, spoiled and blank ballots will exceed 60% for the congressional elections," said Transparency's Sandra Chavarria. Chavarria also expressed concern that illiterate voters--the vast majority of whom live in rural areas--are likely to not only mark the congressional ballot incorrectly, but also the presidential ballot. Analysts warn that a high number of invalid ballots would work in favor of Fujimori's reelection. [ED-LP 4/6/95 from AFP] Some 7,000 people took part in a "Great National Civic-Patriotic March" in Lima on Apr. 5 to demand that the elections be transparent and to commemorate the third anniversary of the 1992 "Fujicoup." The demonstration was peaceful, though there were a few minutes of tension when army officers tried to block the march and fired their guns into the air as the protesters passed by the Air Force general headquarters. The march was called by several Peruvian leftist and centrist organizations, including the Aprista Party, the Democratic Left Movement, United Left, Union for Peru and Code-Pais Posible. Similar demonstrations were held in other Peruvian cities; the one in Cusco was led by Perez de Cuellar and combined with his campaign-closing rally. [DLA 4/7/95 from EFE] 7. STRIKING TEACHERS PROTEST IN NICARAGUA At least 3,000 Nicaraguan public school teachers on strike held a peaceful demonstration on Apr. 5 in front of the Presidential Palace in Managua. Some 13,000 of Nicaragua's 24,000 teachers have been on strike since Feb. 27, the first day of the new school year, demanding a 50% salary increase and improvements in the country's education system [see Update #270]. Mario Quintana, general secretary of the pro-Sandinista National Association of Nicaraguan Educators (ANDEN), told demonstrators that talks with the government the previous night had ended without agreements after the union rejected a government offer to rehire 320 dismissed teachers and pay wages for the month of March, in exchange for ending the strike. Elementary and secondary school teachers in Nicaragua earn an average monthly salary of $60, while the monthly cost of basic necessities is nearly $150. Ministry of Education spokesperson Sergio Bofelli told the press that only 1,500 teachers are supporting the strike and that only about 600 of the country's public schools are affected. [Diario Las Americas 4/7/95 from EFE] Students, including those from private schools, held a support demonstration for the teachers on the same day as the march. [El Diario-La Prensa 4/6/95 from AP; DLA 4/7/95 from AFP] The increased number of demonstrations in Managua is part of a renewed strategy on the part of the teachers' unions to make the strike more visible in the country's capital. [Nicaragua Network (DC) Hotline 4/3/95] A Managua appeals court has meanwhile agreed to review a case against the Ministry of Education brought by the teachers' union. And a judge has ordered the suspension of a lower court decision that declared the strike illegal. But the ruling has not ended the wave of dismissals against teachers across the country. The number of firings has now topped 400. Local newspapers commented that more teachers have been fired under Minister of Education Humberto Belli than under the Somoza government during the massive teacher strikes of the 1960s and 1970s. [Nicanet Hotline 4/3/95] 8. POLITICAL PRISONERS ON HUNGER STRIKE IN CHILE Political prisoners in Chile's Maximum Security Prison (CAS) began an indefinite hunger strike on Apr. 3 to protest the discovery of over 150 hidden microphones throughout the heavily guarded prison. The 72 prisoners in the CAS are refusing water as well as food; eight women political prisoners held in the San Miguel prison and three relatives of prisoners are also supporting the hunger strike. The relatives, who were carrying out their hunger strike at the Chilean Human Rights Commission, were taken to the hospital on Apr. 6 due to their deteriorated health. Prison system director Claudio Martinez filed a protective motion against the CAS hunger strikers on Apr. 6, which may mean they will be force-fed. [Chile Information Project (CHIP) News 4/7/95] "They found microphones everywhere, including in cells, showers and rooms where prisoners meet their lawyers," Alicia Astodillo, whose husband is one of the strikers, told Reuter. "Most were hidden in light fittings and plugs." [Reuter 4/4/95] Martinez and Minister of Justice Soledad Alvear claim the microphones were installed but never used, but lawyers from the human rights organization Codepu have filed a protective motion on behalf of the prisoners, arguing that the microphones violate both the privacy of the prisoners and the professional secrecy of the lawyers, since guards are able to listen in on the meetings with their clients. [CHIP News 4/7/95] The hunger strike is the latest in a series of protests against harsh conditions at the CAS. Sixty political prisoners started a hunger strike at the prison the previous week to protest the punishment of three inmates who were beaten and put into solitary confinement for protesting prison regulations. [CHIP News 3/30/95] 9. DOCTORS STRIKE IN CHILE On Apr. 7 Chilean doctors, dentists and pharmacists ended a 48- hour strike and went back to work in public hospitals with none of their demands met. [CHIP News 4/7/95] About 90% of Chile's 8,000 state hospital doctors stayed away from work; the doctors are demanding a 50% salary raise over a period of three years. The government is offering the doctors no more than a 6% raise for each of the three years, an offer the doctors called humiliating. State health officials advised people to stay away from hospitals because they would not be treated except in emergencies. [Reuter 4/5/95; El Diario-La Prensa 4/6/95 from AP] Union leaders warned that if there is no satisfactory response from the government after the 48-hour strike, the action will be repeated from Apr. 18 to 20. As a last resort, doctors at public hospitals will present letters of resignation. [CHIP News 4/6/95; ED-LP 4/6/95 from AP] The strike was one of the most serious labor challenges to the government of President Eduardo Frei since he took office in March 1994 at a time of economic growth, low inflation and few strikes. Frei faced more challenges during a visit to the southern city of Punta Arenas on Apr. 3, when he was met by thousands of angry, chanting demonstrators who demanded the government spend more heavily on public works in the area. [Reuter 4/5/95; ED-LP 4/6/95 from AP] And in Valparaiso, some 4,000 demonstrators from the Central Union of Workers (CUT) gathered in front of the Congress building to demand the approval of labor reforms. Demonstrators launched criticisms at the government and at CUT leader Manuel Bustos, who is a member of the ruling Christian Democratic party. [ED-LP 4/6/95] 10. BRAZIL: RESERVES DOWN, PROTESTS UP In March the flow of capital out of Brazil reached a record $4.04 billion as foreign investors reacted nervously to the government's sudden announcement on Mar. 6 that the real would be allowed to float within an exchange band. Foreign reserves are estimated to be at about $30 billion, down from $40.4 billion at the time of the October 1994 presidential elections. [Financial Times (UK) 4/5/95] The trade deficit for February also set a record. The month's deficit was $1.1 billion; Brazil's imports have exceeded its exports for four months in a row, making a total deficit of $2.76 billion since November. The Financial Times notes that "[t]he mounting shortfall triggered fears that Brazil current account and reserves could suffer from a Mexico- style loss of confidence." [FT 3/23/95] The government reacted by raising import tariffs on cars and 100 other consumer items. [FT 3/31/95] A poll by the daily Folha do Sao Paulo of 12,431 people throughout the country found that 51% lacked confidence in Brazil's economic direction and expected a return of inflation. President Fernando Henrique Cardoso's approval rating has fallen from 70% to 39% since he took office in January. [La Jornada (Mexico) 4/2/95 from AFP, ANSA, DPA, EFE] [Cardoso was elected last year largely because of the popularity of the anti-inflation plan he had worked out as finance minister in the previous government.] Protests are increasing. The country's 100,000 dockworkers paralyzed 34 ports in a 48-hour warning strike on Mar. 22 to demand higher pay and a collective work contract. [Wall Street Journal 3/23/95] Between street demonstrations and actions by its legislative group, the leftist Workers Party (PT) has been tying up Cardoso's efforts to change the Constitution to allow for more flexibility in privatizing parts of the petroleum and communications monopolies. Cardoso now wants a meeting with PT president Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva, his main rival in last year's presidential race, to discuss an understanding on economic policy. [LJ 4/2/95 from AFP, ANSA, DPA, EFE] 11. IN OTHER NEWS... Thousands of striking public sector workers shut down health and education services throughout Venezuela on Apr. 4 in a dispute over unpaid back wages. Union leaders said teachers at more than 60,000 state schools suspended classes for the day, while 22,000 medical workers halted all but emergency work for two hours. The leaders said workers would step up their protests in coming days if authorities did not resolve outstanding debts dating from January 1994. Government officials urged the workers to end their action, saying the delayed payments were due to temporary cash- flow problems which would be resolved soon. Health Minister Carlos Walter called the health workers' action "illegal" and "irresponsible." [Reuter 4/4/95]. Bolivian former army colonel and former chief of his country's anti-drug police Faustino Rico Toro was extradited to the US on Mar. 31 to face drug trafficking charges in the state of Florida. He is the second Bolivian to be formally extradited to the US over drug charges; Asunta Roca Suarez was extradited in July of 1992 and is now serving a 10- year prison sentence. Former Bolivian interior minister Luis Arce Gomez was handed over to US authorities in December 1989 and is serving a 20-year sentence in Florida, but he was not officially extradited. [El Diario-La Prensa 4/2/95 from AFP]. At least five people were injured on Mar. 30 in San Pedro Sula, Honduras, when a fragmentation grenade was thrown at a bank from a moving vehicle. The grenade damaged the first floor of the five-story Banco Continental building. The bank's owner is Jaime Rosenthal Oliva, economic adviser to President Carlos Roberto Reina, editor of the local newspaper Tiempo and presidential aspirant for the ruling Liberal Party. No group has claimed responsibility for the attack, which is the eighth attack with explosives in San Pedro Sula in the past two months. [ED-LP 3/31/95 from AP]. On March 11, an official of the US Embassy in Panama, Oliver Garza, confirmed that the US State Department was considering negotiating an annex to the 1977 Torrijos-Carter agreements that would permit US military forces to remain in the country after the Canal is turned over to Panama in the year 2000. Garza said US president Bill Clinton intends to respect the terms of the treaty, but, for reasons of "strategic necessity," wants to keep US military forces stationed in Panama after the scheduled withdrawal. Of the 14 major US military installations in Panama, interest is apparently centered on three: Rep. Robert Torricelli (D-NJ) has described Howard Air Force Base as "irreplaceable," and has named Fort Sherman and the Rodman Naval Base as two other likely objects for renegotiation. [Latin America Data Base Notisur 3/24/95 from Congressional Index (Washington), Notimex, Agence France-Presse]. Nurses in the Dominican Republic reached an agreement with the government on Apr. 7 and are going back to work after 11 days on strike [see Update #270]. The negotiations were mediated by the Catholic Church. Public Health Minister Victor Garcia Santos committed himself to negotiate a 100% raise; the agreement also provides for state housing and incentives for nurses who work in border towns. In addition, 65% of nurses' medical insurance is to be paid by the state, and transportation subsidies will be provided for nurses working in the cities of Santo Domingo and Santiago. [ED-LP 4/9/95 from EFE]. One person was killed and another seriously injured on Apr. 2 when a bomb exploded in the Guatemalan capital near the presidential palace, where President Ramiro de Leon Carpio was meeting with UN secretary general Boutros Boutros-Ghali. [Associated Press 4/3/95] Boutros-Ghali's next stop was El Salvador, where he was rushed from the airport to his hotel by helicopter. The government officially denied "that there had been a plot to murder" the secretary general, while National Civil Police (PNC) head Rodrigo Avila stated that there had been "some information" about a plot. [ED-LP 4/6/95 from AP; Diario Las Americas 4/7/95 from AFP] 12. UPCOMING EVENTS IN THE NEW YORK CITY AREA For more information, call NSN at 212-674-9499. Events listed are not necessarily endorsed by the Nicaragua Solidarity Network. 4/12 WED, 7 PM - The Rich Get Richer, workshop organized by Share the Wealth Project and the Learning Alliance. $8/$10/$12 (no one turned away). 324 Lafayette St. 7th Fl. 212-226-7171. 4/13 THU, 6:30 PM - CREED meeting to plan spring tabling offensive. NY-CISPES! office, 19 W 21st St #502. 212-645-5230. 4/17 MON, 12:45 PM - War Tax Resisters Demo at IRS. 120 Church St. 718-482-0170. 4/17 MON, 4 PM - Rally Against Trafficking of Philippine Women. Philippine Consulate, 556 5th Ave at 46th St. Sponsored by Gabriela Network. 212-592-3507. 4/18 TUE, 4 PM - Rally to Stop the Mass Transit Cuts. City Hall Park. Sponsored by New Directions. 718-796-1986. 4/18 TUE, 4/20 THU, 6:30 PM - Rethinking the Corporation. Two- part workshop organized by the Learning Alliance. $15/$25/$35 (no one turned away). 324 Lafayette St. 7th Fl. 212-226-7171. 4/18 TUE, 7 PM - Organizing for 5th Friendship Caravan to Cuba (around 6/15). Meet every other Tue. at Casa de las Americas, 104 W 14th St., 3rd fl. IFCO 212-926-5757. 4/19 WED, 7 PM - "The Persian Gulf Syndrome," with Laura Flanders. Open Vietnam Veterans Against the War meeting. 101 W 31st St., 7th fl. 212-947-6000 x 388. 4/20 THU, 7 PM - CREED general meeting. 339 Lafayette St, #11. 212-674-9499. -- + NY Transfer has moved! + + NY Transfer Blythe Internet + + 212-979-0464 <== NEW PHONE NUMBERS ==> 212-979-0440 + + 339 Lafayette St., New York, NY 10012 + + e-mail: nyt@blythe.org + >