WEEKLY NEWS UPDATE ON THE AMERICAS ISSUE #274, APRIL 30, 1995 NICARAGUA SOLIDARITY NETWORK OF GREATER NEW YORK 339 LAFAYETTE ST., NEW YORK, NY 10012 (212) 674-9499 1. Argentine Military Admits Human Rights Abuses; Church Knew 2. Menem's Election Victory Threatened by Provincial Unrest 3. Two Guatemalan Army Officers Suspended in DeVine Killing 4. Mexican Negotiations: Rebels Talk, PRD Walks 5. Students Kidnap Buses in Mexico City 6. Mexican Government Leans on Media 7. Bolivian Strikes and Protests Continue Despite State of Siege 8. Nicaragua: Lacayo Launches New Political Organization 9. UN Observers Leave Salvadorans to Keep Their Own Peace 10. Not All Salvadorans Keep The Peace 11. Jesse's Big Adventure: New Anti-Cuba Bill 12. Dominican Sex Workers Hold First National Congress 13. Brazilian Economy: Emperor is Scantily-Clad 14. Corruption and Killings in Honduras 15. Chile: Aylwin's Blueprint for Clinton Counterterrorism 16. Contragate Figure Promotes US "COINBILLPRO" 17. In Other News: Peru, Costa Rica, El Salvador 18. Upcoming Events in the NYC 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. ARGENTINE MILITARY ADMITS HUMAN RIGHTS ABUSES; CHURCH KNEW During activities to be carried out by various armed forces between May 3 and 17, the Argentine Air Force and Navy plan to confess their involvement in human rights abuses during the "dirty war" which took place in that country between 1976 and 1983. [El Diario-La Prensa 4/28/95 from EFE] This revelation was preceded by army Chief of Staff Martin Balza's confession on Apr. 25 that the armed forces had used "illegitimate methods," including torture and disappearances, against political prisoners during the military dictatorship. [ED-LP 4/27/95 from AP; New York Times 4/26/95] Balza is considered a national hero for his role in the 1982 war with Britain over the Falkland islands. [NYT 4/27/95] The wave of confessions was set off by a retired naval officer, Adolfo Francisco Scilingo, who confessed in a Mar. 3 interview with Pagina 12 that he had participated in flights during which political prisoners, drugged but alive, were thrown into the sea from planes [see Update #267]. Retired sergeant Victor Ibanez also admitted his participation in these flights in an interview published on Apr. 24. He became the first member of the armed forces to describe in detail how the army killed and tortured the prisoners. [ED-LP 4/27/95 from AP; NYT 4/25/95] These confessions are being made from a relatively safe position, since Argentine president Carlos Saul Menem granted amnesty to the former rebels and to the military as one of his first acts when he came into office in 1990. [ED-LP 4/27/95 from AP; Washington Post 4/25/95] In a letter to Pagina 12, Monsignor Miguel Hesayne of Rio Negro admitted the role of the Catholic Church in the treatment of political prisoners by the military, and said in an Easter message that repentance had not yet reached everyone it should, including the Catholic Bishops Conference. The previous week Pagina 12 published an article saying, among other things, that Italian cardinal and former Papal Nuncio Pio Laghi knew in detail what was going on inside the armed forces Mechanics School. [ED- LP 4/17/95 from AFP] Bishop Jorge Novak of Quilmes said on Apr. 28 that the church should admit "our lack of sensitivity, our cowardice, our omissions and our complicity" in the human rights violations committed by the Argentine armed forces. In his own confession Capt. Scilingo said the church had even been consulted on how to "dispose of" detainees and that navy chaplains comforted officers involved in the gruesome work. [NYT 4/29/94 from Reuters] The Mothers of the Plaza de Mayo, mothers and grandmothers of the disappeared, do not accept the confessions. They repeated in a television interview that they want nothing more and nothing less than justice, to see the perpetrators of these crimes be imprisoned. [Telenoticias, Telemundo TV 4/27/95] It is yet to be seen if these confessions will help or hinder Menem's reelection in the upcoming May 14 elections. He justified the actions of the military, saying they had led to the country's pacification. [ED-LP 4/27/95 from AP] He has asked that former military torturers and murderers confess to priests and not make any more public confessions so as not to "rub salt in old wounds." [NYT 4/27/9] Menem says he will consider the possibility of rescinding the laws promoted by former president Raul Alfonsin which exonerated thousands of members of the military. However, legal experts see little chance of that happening. [ED-LP 4/28/95 from EFE; NYT 4/27/95] 2. MENEM'S ELECTION VICTORY THREATENED BY PROVINCIAL UNREST The Argentine military's rampant public confessions may not be the only obstacle to Menem's May 14 election victory. Polls show him winning the first round by a very slim margin, and possibly losing to an opponent in a second round, to be held a month later. Jose Octavio Bordon, who left Menem's Peronist party to lead a center-left coalition called Frepaso (National Solidarity Front), is likely to come in a close second. He has a reputation as an honest and able administrator from his days as governor of Mendoza province. And although many Argentines are better off today than when Menem first took power, recent austerity measures are exacerbating the already high unemployment and low wages. In the provinces state workers trying to claim unpaid wages have tangled with police, and there are demands to end corruption and rebuild public services. [Economist (UK) 4/22/95] Televised images of police repressing workers fired from a television assembly plant in Ushuaia, Tierra del Fuego, have rekindled questions about free-trade policies adopted in 1991. Open competition has hurt many provincial economies. The vice- presidential candidate for the leftist Alianza del Sur, Carlos Imizcoz, said the Ushuaia incident marked "the beginning of the end" for the free-market model. Privatization has angered many workers; general strikes, work stoppages, marches and sit-ins in several regions of the country have blemished Menem's image. [Financial Times 2/5/95] 3. TWO GUATEMALAN ARMY OFFICERS SUSPENDED IN DEVINE KILLING After worldwide publicity about Guatemalan military and US Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) complicity in the murders of Michael DeVine and Efrain Bamaca Velasquez [see Updates #269, #270], the Guatemalan army on Apr. 22 suspended two colonels accused of involvement in the 1990 DeVine killing. Col. Julio Roberto Alpirez confirmed that he was removed from his post as deputy commander of a military base in the capital, and Col. Mario Roberto Garcia Catalan was suspended as commander of a military base in Chimaltenango. Both officers will retain their rank. The officers met with special prosecutor Lionel Machaca on Apr. 26 and proclaimed their innocence to reporters afterwards. The public prosecutor's office reopened investigations into the case--which was closed in 1992 after five soldiers and one officer were convicted--after allegations by Rep. Robert Torricelli (D-NJ) that Alpirez had ordered the killing while on the CIA payroll. [Washington Post 4/27/95, San Francisco Chronicle 4/27/95] The DC-based biweekly Counterpunch reveals in its Apr. 15 edition that US Commerce Secretary Ron Brown had lobbied for the Guatemalan government during the height of military repression in the early 80's, and that his law firm--Patton, Boggs--had issued a report in 1991 denying military involvement in DeVine's death. Meanwhile, the US government revealed on Apr. 24 that the CIA's station chief in Guatemala, who was removed from his post this February for concealing the agency's relationship with Alpirez, had been reprimanded in May of 1994 for similar deceptions. He is at least the sixth CIA section chief in Latin America to be removed from his post in the last eight years. [NYT 4/25/95] On Apr. 17, the Christian Democratic, Union of the National Centre and Social Democratic parties announced the formation of a new centrist electoral alliance. Its presidential candidate will be Fernando Andrade Diaz Duran, who was chancellor under the de facto government of Gen. Rios Montt in the early 1980s. [Noticias de Guatemala 4/8-21/95] 4. MEXICAN NEGOTIATIONS: REBELS TALK, PRD WALKS The latest round of talks between the Mexican federal government and the rebel Zapatista National Liberation Army (EZLN) of southern Mexico ended on Apr. 23 with no accords but with an agreement to meet again on May 12. The government had proposed that the Zapatistas disarm and constitute themselves as a legal political force, while the rebels insisted that the Mexican army withdraw to the positions it held before its Feb. 9 offensive. The talks had begun on Apr. 21 after a two-day delay; they were held in the small town of San Andres Larrainzar--which Zapatista supporters call San Andres Sakamch'en de los Pobres--about 15 miles northwest of San Cristobal de las Casas in the state of Chiapas [see Update #273]. [La Jornada (Mexico) 4/23/95; Interpress Service 4/24/95; New York Times 4/25/95; Equipo Pueblo Mexico Update, Vol. 2, #27, 4/26/95] While talks are scheduled to continue in Chiapas, in Mexico City the center-left Party of the Democratic Revolution (PRD) abruptly pulled out of ongoing multi-party talks on political reform. On Apr. 27 PRD president Porfirio Munoz Ledo told reporters that his party had suspended its participation because of the "kidnapping" of legislative initiatives by the ruling Institutional Revolutionary Party (PRI) and the conservative opposition National Action Party (PAN) in the federal Congress. The PRD also cited the government's failure to resolve electoral disputes in Tabasco and Chiapas, and an incident on Apr. 25 when tactical police kept the PRD's federal deputies from marching on Los Pinos, the presidential residence; the legislators were demanding a discussion with president Ernesto Zedillo Ponce de Leon on the legislative initiatives he had sent to Congress. [LJ 4/27/95, electronic edition] The PRD's walkout follows a long internal debate about the negotiations, with various radical and grassroots factions opposing Munoz Ledo's insistence on dialogue with the government. Some analysts say that the PRD is eroding [see Update #273], while some politicians are actively working to split the party. The PRI's Manuel Camacho Solis, former mayor of Mexico City and the government representative in negotiations with the EZLN last year, is reportedly hoping to form a new center-left party with people from the PRI's left and the PRD's right. [LJ 4/23/95] Former PRD presidential candidate Cuauhtemoc Cardenas Solorzano has formed his own Foundation for Democracy as an independent entity. [Mexico Update 4/26/95] Cardenas--who founded the PRD with Munoz Ledo in 1989--denies that he created the foundation because of dissatisfaction with his party, adding that he might run for president again in 2000 since "I haven't thought about retiring." Meanwhile, two factions are fighting for control of the party in the southwestern state of Michoacan, a PRD stronghold preparing for state elections later this year. [LJ 4/23/95] 5. STUDENTS KIDNAP BUSES IN MEXICO CITY Some analysts expect that far from moving to the center, the Mexican left will be radicalized by the severe economic crisis that began in December. According to Epigmenio Ibarra, the Mexican government assumes that the EZLN's participation in talks is meant to buy time while the rebels wait for "social explosions" elsewhere in the country. [LJ 4/22/95, electronic edition] On Apr. 24 20,000 to 50,000 demonstrators snarled traffic in Mexico City as they marched peacefully to the main plaza, the Zocalo, to protest the closing of the supposedly bankrupt Route 100 bus line on Apr. 8. The march was supported by several political parties, the Neighborhood Assembly and the 12,000 bus drivers laid off as a result of the shutdown. Leaders of the leftist Route 100 Urban Passenger Auto Transport Workers Union (SUTAUR 100) were jailed on embezzlement charges the same day the line was shut down [see Updates #272 and 273]. [Associated Press 4/26/95; Mexico Update 4/26/95] On Apr. 26 about 150 students from the National Autonomous University of Mexico (UNAM) seized three Route 100 buses on Insurgentes Avenue. The buses were being driven by non-union replacement workers as part of the city's "emergency program" to maintain bus service while Route 100 remains closed. The students parked the vehicles at the Economics Faculty and said they would hold them until groups supporting SUTAUR 100 met on Apr. 28 and decided what to do with them. Students tried to seize another three buses on University Avenue but found the campus' main gate locked--because service workers from the UNAM Workers Union (STUNAM) were participating in a one-day national university workers strike [see Update #270]. A police operation involving dozens of patrol cars and several helicopters recaptured the second set of hostage buses. [LJ 4/27/95; Elliott Young from Mexico 4/27/95, posted on New York Transfer News] "Policing is expected to be heavy on May Day," the British Financial Times said. The pro-government unions have cancelled the traditional May 1 labor marches; the cancellation "will clear the stage for protest demonstrations planned by smaller, independent labor unions and left-wing political parties." [FT 4/27/95] 6. MEXICAN GOVERNMENT LEANS ON MEDIA During the San Andres peace talks a number of correspondents sent a letter to the moderate leftist Mexico City daily La Jornada stating that "a good deal of the information transmitted by the Televisa and Television Azteca channels substantially falsifies the facts of this event." The signers included reporters from independent Mexican media, European papers and even Associated Press and Reuter. [LJ 4/23/95] The two privately owned TV networks, which dominate Mexican television, had reported that San Cristobal bishop Samuel Ruiz Garcia and the National Mediation Commission (CONAI) had bused in the thousands of Zapatista supporters who demonstrated in the town, causing government negotiators to delay the talks. The demonstration was in fact organized by the EZLN and financed by former actress Irma Serrano, PRD senator from Chiapas, according to EZLN spokespersons and Serrano herself. [Mexico Update 4/26/95] On Apr. 22 inspectors from the Communication and Transport Secretariat (SCT) closed down the low-wattage unauthorized radio station Radio Pirata, which had been broadcasting from the plaza in the Coyoacan section of Mexico City as part of an effort to bring alternative radio to Mexico [see Update #246]. Demonstrators prevented the inspectors from carrying off the equipment, which was left in the home of Dep. Arnoldo Martinez Verdugo (PRD). Another PRD deputy, Marco Rascon Cordoba, denounced the "privatization of Radio Pirata," and objected that unlike Route 100, the station wasn't in bankruptcy proceedings. [LJ 4/23/95] Meanwhile, Radio Huayacocotla, a Veracruz shortwave radio station serving a rural indigenous audience, has been shut down since Mar. 23, officially because of equipment problems [see Update #272]. But on Apr. 26 federal governance secretary Esteban Moctezuma held a 45-minute meeting with station director Juan Antonio Vazquez to discuss Radio Huaya's decades-old request for an AM license. Vazquez thanks supporters who faxed Moctezuma's office (011-525-592-0584) and suggests that a positive response "will in large part be motivated by your letters and faxes." [Update from Radio Huaya 4/26/95] 7. BOLIVIAN STRIKES AND PROTESTS CONTINUE DESPITE STATE OF SIEGE In Bolivia the stage of siege declared on Apr. 18 was slightly reduced after 374 labor leaders were arrested [see Update #273]. Interior Minister Carlos Sanchez said safe conduct passes would no longer be necessary to travel between cities, people holding private celebrations will not have to get permits from the police, and traffic circulation at night has been extended by two hours. In the department of Santa Cruz traffic may circulate 24 hours. [La Jornada 4/23/95 from AFP, DPE, EFE] Despite the continued state of siege, 70,000 public school teachers are still on strike, and campesinos are still setting up roadblocks. Violent clashes broke out between police and coca producers in Chapare, one of the world's largest coca producing areas, and in mining areas, schools and production activities are at a standstill. [InterPress Third World News Agency 4/24/95] The US has given Bolivia an ultimatum of 30 days to destroy 1,750 hectares of coca plants, and has threatened to militarize the area and destroy the crops by force if the ultimatum is not met. They are also that the Bolivian government wants Bolivia to sign an extradition treaty which includes allowing the US to kidnap suspected drug traffickers, that the Bolivian president's veto against extradition be rescinded, and that the bureaucracy involved in the Supreme Court's approval of extradition orders be reduced. [Agencia Latinoamericana de Informacion 4/28/95] 8. NICARAGUA: LACAYO LAUNCHES NEW POLITICAL ORGANIZATION On Apr. 23 Nicaragua's minister of government, and President Violeta Chamorro's son-in-law, Antonio Lacayo, announced a new political movement called the National Project (PN), calling on 27 political parties to join him in coalition. He said the PN, which is not a political party, plans to end unemployment and extreme poverty in Nicaragua. Lacayo's presidential candidacy in 1996 is in jeopardy due to constitutional reforms introduced in Sep. 1994 by Sergio Ramirez, then the National Assembly leader for the Sandinista National Liberation Front (FSLN); these included the prohibition of relatives of an incumbent president from running for the presidency [see Updates #264, #266]. The reforms have not been recognized by the president. Nor has the Supreme Court been able to make a determination on the reforms, due to clashes between the executive and legislative branches over the methods for the appointment of Supreme Court justices, leaving Nicaragua currently with two disputed constitutions. Lacayo said it would up to the PN advisory board to decide whether or not he would be a presidential candidate, but stated that he would consider divorcing his wife--President Chamorro's daughter--in order to get around the prohibition against his running for president. [Latin American Database Notisur 4/29/95 from Barricada Internacional, AFP, Reuter, UPI; El Diario-La Prensa 4/25/95 from AFP, 4/26/95 from Notimex] On Apr. 25, the fifth anniversary of her presidency, Chamorro lamented the complications which might prevent her son-in-law from running for president, and the fact that many people are still unhappy with the country's situation, reminding people that there are "investors, peace and reconciliation" in the country now. [ED-LP 4/26/95 from Notimex] Nonetheless, and in spite of government-sponsored development projects, Nicaragua has an unemployment rate of 60%, and 70% of households live in poverty, according to figures offered by international organizations. [ED- LP 4/25/95 from AFP] 9. UN OBSERVERS LEAVE SALVADORANS TO KEEP THEIR OWN PEACE Apparently satisfied with what it considers a successful peace process, most of the United Nations Observer Mission in El Salvador (ONUSAL) has left the country. The majority of the peacekeepers and observers left on Apr. 30, while eight international monitors and a technical support staff of 35 will remain for about six months. Former director of ONUSAL Enrique ter Horst heads the high-level body which will report directly to the UN secretary general, giving it more weight than the merely technical team the Salvadoran government would have preferred. Most Salvadorans do not see the situation through the same rose- colored glasses as ONUSAL. In a poll conducted by the University of Central America's Human Rights Institute and the University Public Opinion Institute, nearly half the respondents expressed fear that the human rights situation in El Salvador will now deteriorate, and two-thirds said they believe there is currently little or no respect for human rights and that the level of impunity is the same as before or has increased. Respect for human rights will now be the domain of the office of the Human Rights Advocate and the National Civil Police, created as a result of the peace accords, and a supposedly reformed judiciary. There are offices of the Human Rights Advocate in each of the country's fourteen departments, which are now handling more complaints than ONUSAL ever did, but most officials do not feel obligated to abide by non-binding recommendations, and are slow to act. The Human Rights Advocate is Dr. Victoria Marina Velasquez de Aviles, who was an Assistant Advocate for the Defense of Children's Rights. Velasquez has condemned National Civil Police violence, saying "the excessive use of force by public security and anti-riot forces... is indefensible in the extreme." [New York Times 4/29/95; El Salvador Watch, 5/95] 10. NOT ALL SALVADORANS KEEP THE PEACE On Apr. 26 Nejapa council member Jaime Coto was killed when he found his brother in the street with six others, being held up by five armed men. When Jaime Coto turned to run for help he was shot in the back. The perpetrators did not immediately leave the crime scene, but Salvadoran Armed Forces and the National Civilian Police who are located 10-15 minutes from the crime scene did not react on a timely basis. The municipality is not ruling out the possibility that the killing was a political assassination. Coto, who left behind a pregnant wife and five children, was recently working very actively with people in the Calle Viejo sector who were threatened with being displaced. People in Nejapa are demanding a full investigation and an end to impunity. CISPES urges phone calls to Rodrigo Avila, Director of the National Civilian Police at 011-503-221-2244, demanding an immediate, thorough investigation of the incident, and to President Calderon Sol at 011-503-271-1555 (fax: -0950). [CISPES Action Alert 4/27/95] 11. JESSE'S BIG ADVENTURE: NEW ANTI-CUBA BILL Sen. Jesse Helms (R-NC) and Rep. Dan Burton (R-IN) have introduced bills S-381 and HR-927 respectively into Congress, which they call the "Cuban Liberty and Democratic Solidarity (LIBERTAD) Act of 1995." The proposal would prohibit sugar- related products from being imported from countries that purchase Cuban sugar; impose levies on unlicensed travel to Cuba; grant US citizens who are former owners of expropriated lands in Cuba the right to sue in US courts individuals and companies currently holding investments in those properties, even if the former owners were not US citizens at the time of expropriation; deny entry into the US of any foreign shareholder, executive or family member of a company that does business involving expropriated property; and demands that the US veto Cuba's entrance into any international financial organization. The bill is an obvious violation of international trade agreements. [Pastors for Peace Press Release, 4/27/95] Additional stipulations include: no political prisoners; human rights must be fully respected; all state security must be disbanded; the government must hold internationally supervised elections; and neither Fidel nor Raul Castro be in the new leadership. [Wall Street Journal 4/28/95] On Apr. 28 the foreign ministers of Canada and Mexico, both of whose countries have increased trade with Cuba since the dissolution of the Soviet Union, spoke out against the Helms/Burton bill. US President Bill Clinton has not yet commented. [ED-LP 4/30/95 from AP] Meanwhile, a former Ronald Reagan speechwriter criticized the tightening of US restrictions. In a Wall Street Journal op-ed Mark Klugman wrote: "Despite the strict US trade embargo, the prospect of economically isolating Cuba seems less and less realistic, as the rest of the world fills in the gap. In the past three years, $1.5 billion in outside investment has entered Cuba.... By comparison, it took seven years of free market reforms...before the equivalent amount of foreign investment (in constant dollars) came to Chile during Gen. Augusto Pinochet's military rule." [4/7/95] 12. DOMINICAN SEX WORKERS HOLD FIRST NATIONAL CONGRESS Dominican sex workers will be holding their first National Congress on May 16, 17 and 18, organized by the Center for Orientation and Investigation (COIN). The aim of the congress is to examine all facets of prostitution in the country, and the emigration of Dominican women to be sex workers in foreign countries. Major themes of discussion will include the dangers of AIDS and other illnesses, and the reasons for and consequences of leaving the country. The women will be advised on their civil and labor rights, and will learn how to defend themselves against their clients, pimps and intermediaries, and other dangers they face. A campaign is underway to get as many sex workers as possible to attend the congress. The congress will be led by Francisca Ferreira, coordinator; Chiqui Vicioso of the UNICEF Women's Program; Ana Maria Brasileiro, UNICEF's regional coordinator for Latin America and the Caribbean; and the Messengers of Health Care, former sex workers who are serving as links with those who are still in the industry. [El Diario-La Prensa 4/30/95] 13. BRAZILIAN ECONOMY: EMPEROR IS SCANTILY-CLAD Brazil's president, Fernando Henrique Cardoso, visited the US Apr. 20 and 21 to convince Wall Street investors and US President Bill Clinton his country's economy is sound and not susceptible to a Mexico-style currency crisis. He pledged to privatize the profitable state telecommunications and oil companies and remove barriers to foreign investment. [New York Times 4/20/95] His administration also plans to privatize the country's main electric power generators. The assets up for sale are valued at more than $50 billion. [Financial Times 4/27/95] But Cardoso is struggling to pass these proposed constitutional reforms amid widespread discontent with his policies. He was expected to cancel a trip to Portugal to stay home and pressure Congresspeople to vote to loosen regulations on foreign businesses, and allow privately owned natural gas distribution. Constitutional reforms require approval by 60% of both houses of Congress. He will face tougher opposition to his planned privatizations and social security cutbacks: from the main opposition in Congress--the leftist Workers Party (PT) [FT 4/26/95]--and from grassroots protest. The Central Workers Union (CUT) has threatened a general strike against the proposed amendments. More than 10,000 marched in Brasilia on Mar. 22 and again on Apr. 5 to protest the reforms. [LADB Notisur 4/21/95] Protesters threw stones and eggs at Cardoso's bus during a recent visit to the northeastern port city of Recife. [Los Angeles Times 4/17/95] Cardoso was already forced to reverse himself and seek a 43% increase in the minimum wage, which was approved by the Chamber of Deputies, and was expected to pass the Senate in time to take effect by May 1. [FT 4/21/95] Worries about rising inflation prompted the Brazilian central bank to curb lending on Apr. 24, by requiring banks to increase their reserves on deposit. The government hopes to reduce consumer spending to rein in inflation, which is expected to exceed 2% in April and is predicted to surpass 3% by June. But the measure--which will keep interest rates high--combined with the March currency devaluation and heavy capital outflows ($7 billion in 1995), could push the budget into deficit. [FT 4/25/95] The country's trade balance ran a deficit of $935 million in March, for a total shortfall of $2.3 billion so far this year. [FT 4/21/95] Metalworkers in Sao Paulo won an 18% wage increase on Apr. 9, 10% of which covers inflation since November. The union accepted a reduction in the work week from 44 to 42 hours by 1996. It was the second increase won by the powerful union since the government introduced its anti-inflation plan last July; they won a 15.8% increase last November. The new agreement covers 110,000 workers. [FT 4/11/95] Brazil's federal police service is nearly bankrupt, says its director, Vicente Chelotti, who was forced to fund a recent anti- crime operation out of his own pocket. He also says his agents in the western Amazon state of Rondonia can't afford to drive patrol cars. They take the bus instead. [FT 4/25/95] 14. CORRUPTION AND KILLINGS IN HONDURAS In Honduras, Tegucigalpa Mayor Oscar Roberto Acosta of the ruling Liberal Party was jailed on Apr. 22 on charges of abuse of authority and misuse of $22,000 in public funds. He allegedly tranferred the funds from a municipal account to his private account. Two thousand municipal employees went on strike to protest the mayor's imprisonment. [La Jornada 4/23/95 from Reuter, AP, DPA] Supporters with stones and shovels blocked access to the prison. Judge Roy Edmundo Medina told the press that he has received death threats for having jailed Acosta. If Acosta is found guilty of the charges he could serve between 3 and 12 years in jail without parole. [El Diario-La Prensa 4/27/95 from AP] 15. CHILE: AYLWIN'S BLUEPRINT FOR CLINTON COUNTERTERRORISM Chilean former president Patricio Aylwin acknowledged authorizing a network of informers during his administration, and said their use was justified. Speaking at the Catholic University in Antofagasta, Aylwin argued the government had lacked a security system for anti-terrorism efforts, and that his government was not worried about the country's official military institutions, but rather, paramilitary groups nostalgic for the military regime and armed leftist groups like the Frente Lautaro and the Manuel Rodriguez Patriotic Front. He said informers were employed responsibly and that their work "helped defeat both extremist movements which are insignificant today." [CHIP News 4/26/95 from La Epoca] 16. CONTRAGATE FIGURE PROMOTES US "COINBILLPRO" On Apr. 26 US president Bill Clinton proposed several new measures ostensibly meant to prevent terrorist acts like the Apr. 19 bombing of a federal building in Oklahoma City. The measures include hiring 1,000 new federal agents and amending the 1878 Posse Comitatus Act to remove its restrictions against the use of military personnel in domestic law enforcement. The administration continues to promote the 1995 Omnibus Counterterrorism Act [see Update #273]. [New York Times 4/27/95] As part of the drive for tougher "counterterrorist" efforts, former Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) official Oliver ("Buck") Revell has been quoted in the US media denouncing federal guidelines for starting criminal investigations. The guidelines mean "you have to wait until you have blood on the street before the bureau can act," Revell says. "You can't prevent what you don't know about, and you can't know about a group if you can't investigate until after they have committed an act of terrorism." [NYT 4/26/95; Washington Post 4/27/95] Revell was the FBI's executive assistant director at the time of the agency's 1981-1984 investigation of the Committee in Solidarity with the People of El Salvador (CISPES). According to ex-FBI operative Frank Varelli, the Dallas part of this investigation included plans to plant guns on CISPES members. Revell also worked closely with former national security adviser Oliver North in the White House's Operations Sub Group, which was involved in the illegal supply operation for the Nicaraguan contras. [Holly Sklar, Washington's War on Nicaragua, 1988] 17. IN OTHER NEWS... Retired Peruvian general Walter Ledesma Rebaza was arrested and accused of "outrage to the nation" for publicly criticizing the Peruvian high command's conduct of the recent border war with Ecuador. In remarks made to the opposition weekly Caretas on Mar. 30, one week before the general elections, Ledesma said that Peru lost the war; he blamed President Alberto Fujimori for the defeat. Ledesma was forced into early retirement in December of 1994 by decision of the army high command. [ED-LP 4/23/95 from EFE]. Costa Rican banana growers are demanding that the government refinance their loans and eliminate export taxes, saying they will go bankrupt otherwise. Banana growers will meet with the government on Apr. 19, to discuss the crisis. Currently the import tax is 50 cents per box of bananas. [ED-LP 4/20/95 from AFP]. Catholics in El Salvador's capital city, San Salvador, will soon be facing a different kind of church than the relatively progressive one presided over by Archbishop Oscar Arnulfo Romero, and later by Monsignor Arturo Rivera Damas. Auxiliary Bishop Gregorio Rosa Chavez confirmed on Apr. 23 that Pope John Paul II has named Fernando Saenz Lacalle to replace Monsignor Rivera Damas, who died of respiratory failure on Nov. 26, 1994. Saenz Lacalle is an active member of the far-right Opus Dei and is critical of Liberation Theology. He will assume his post on May 13. [ED-LP 4/24/95 from AFP] 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. 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. 18. UPCOMING EVENTS IN THE NYC AREA For more information, call NSN at 212-674-9499. Events listed and flyers enclosed are not necessarily endorsed by the Nicaragua Solidarity Network. 5/1-7 MON-SUN - "Amazon Week," with workshops on neoliberalism and the environment on 5/6. Amanaka'a Amazon Network, 212-674- 4646. 5/4 WED, 5 PM - Video showing and photo exhibit. Video--"The War in Chiapas"--at 5, photo exhibit starts at 6. Arronow Theater, City College (138th & Convent), NY Ctte for Democracy in Mexico. 5/4 WED, 7:30 PM - Forum on Haiti with Len Kaminsky and Daniel Simidor. 255 Grove St, White Plains. $5 sugg donation. Sponsored by WESPAC: 914-682-0488. 5/5 FRI, 8 PM - Labor's Untold Story: May Day celebration. Sponsored by Radical Women & Freedom Socialist Party. $1-2; $5 dinner served at 7 PM. 32 Union Square E, #907. 212-677-7002 5/5-6, FRI-SAT - Amazon Expo with Crafts, Trade & Cultural Fair. St. Peter's Church, 54th & Lex. 212-925-5299. 5/6 SAT, 1 PM - Defeat the Contract, Stop the Cutbacks. Demonstration sponsored by National People's Campaign (Workers World front group) & many others. Times Square. 212-633-6646. -- + 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 + >