WEEKLY NEWS UPDATE ON THE AMERICAS ISSUE #288, AUGUST 6, 1995 NICARAGUA SOLIDARITY NETWORK OF GREATER NEW YORK 339 LAFAYETTE ST., NEW YORK, NY 10012 (212) 674-9499 1. CIA Informant Linked to Mexican Candidate's Murder 2. Plans for Mexican Plebiscite Finalized 3. Haiti: US "Intrusive" in "Delicate" Electoral Crisis 4. Lavalas Losing Haitian Elections? 5. Strike Action Builds in Costa Rica 6. Bolivia: Labor Protests Halted, Leaders to be Freed? 7. US Continues Nicaragua Aid 8. Guatemala: Harbury Sues CIA 9. Guatemalan Prosecutor Quits Bamaca Case 10. Protesters Evicted and Beaten in Guatemala 11. Guatemalan Election News Roundup 12. Other News: Panama, Cuba, Colombia, Uruguay & More! 13. Upcoming Events in the NYC Area and Beyond * ISSN#: 1068-5332. The Weekly News Update on the Americas is published weekly by the Nicaragua Solidarity Network of Greater New York. 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, which distributes our electronic edition; back issues are also available in 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 as Weekly News Update on the Americas, and send us a copy. We welcome your comments and ideas: send them via e-mail to nicanet@blythe.org. * 1. CIA INFORMANT LINKED TO MEXICAN CANDIDATE'S MURDER Unnamed US intelligence officials have told the New York Times that former Mexican police commander Fernando de la Sota Rodalleguez, charged in connection with the March 1994 assassination of presidential candidate Luis Donaldo Colosio Murrieta, was a paid informant for the US Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) in Mexico City from about 1990 to 1992. De la Sota began his police career in 1973 working for Mexico's Federal Security Directorate; by 1992 he had become investigations department commander for the federal attorney general's office. He was fired that year on suspicion of taking bribes from alleged drug lord Rafael Aguilar Guajardo; the CIA dropped him about the same time. De la Sota was working as the head of the private security team for Colosio, the presidential candidate of the ruling Institutional Revolutionary Party (PRI), on Mar. 23, 1994. That day the candidate was gunned down at the end of a campaign rally in Tijuana, Baja California Norte. Federal investigators arrested De la Sota in February of this year on charges of giving false and conflicting testimony about the assassination. Despite his 20 years' experience in police work, De la Sota claimed that the gunshots set off a diabetic attack which kept him from seeing what was happening. He was released on Feb. 28 on a $7,000 bond. The Times writes that De la Sota "is not suspected of direct involvement in the killing." [NYT 8/3/95] But at the time of his arrest, on Feb. 23, Mexican officials indicated off the record that De la Sota was closely connected to the assassination. Currently two men are under arrest for the murder: Mario Aburto Martinez, a factory worker who allegedly shot Colosio in the head from the right side, and Othon Cortes Vazquez, who is charged with shooting the candidate in the abdomen from the left side 1.38 seconds later. Cortes Vazquez worked for various PRI officials as a driver and messenger, and on the day of the murder he was driving for Gen. Domiro Roberto Garcia Reyes, who was in charge of the official security for Colosio. Cortes Vazquez and De la Sota knew each other. One of the videotapes held by the attorney general's office reportedly shows De la Sota and another member of the private security team, Hector Javier Hernandez Thomassiny, guarding Colosio's left side. Cortes Vazquez suddenly "replaced" the two experienced bodyguards just before he and Aburto shot the candidate, according to people who saw the tape. As soon as Colosio fell, De la Sota and Hernandez Thomassiny allegedly seized Aburto and let Cortes Vazquez escape. [La Jornada (Mexico) 2/26/95] 2. PLANS FOR MEXICAN PLEBISCITE FINALIZED As of July 29 a broad range of Mexican civic and leftist groups had agreed on plans for the national plebiscite or "consultation" requested by the Zapatista National Liberation Army (EZLN) in June to let Mexicans and others vote on the rebels' political direction. The balloting, coordinated by the Civic Alliance (AC), will take place on Aug. 27, with results to be announced on Sept. 1. At least 10,000 tables will be set up around the country, with about 70% in the capital; the National Promotional Commission is trying to double the number of tables. To vote, Mexicans will have to be 18 or older and will need to present a driver's license, voter registration card, social security card, passport or student ID. Mexicans under 18 will vote on Sept. 14, the day after Ninos Heroes (a commemoration of the young cadets who died fighting US invading forces in Mexico City in 1847). The plebiscite will also be carried out in 26 foreign countries, mostly in Latin America and Europe. The deadline for sending in international ballots has been extended to Aug. 15. The EZLN has agreed to two additions to the five questions it originally proposed. The first question now includes "security, combatting corruption and protection of the environment" as "principal demands of the Mexican people." A sixth question asks: "Should the equal presence and participation of women be guaranteed in all the positions of representation and responsibility in the civic organizations and the government?" [LJ 7/31/95; LJ 7/28/95, translation by National Commission Democracy in Mexico (NCDM] The National Promotional Commission needs at least $100,000 to promote the plebiscite. Contributions can be sent to the Banco Inverlat, SA, Sucursal #038, account #910695-2, in the name of Esperanza Ayar Macias. [NCDM memo, 7/30/95] The latest round of peace talks between the EZLN and the Mexican government, from July 24 to July 26, ended with no progress and an exchange of insults between the two sides. The next round is set for Sept. 5, after the plebiscite. [Reuter 7/26/95] But former Nicaraguan guerrilla leader Eden Pastora says that the Zapatista movement is finished. The EZLN will pass into history in a year or two as "guerrilla myth and political reality," according to Pastora, who says the EZLN is full of "oddities" that distinguish it from a "legitimate revolution" like the one that occurred in Nicaragua. [Mexpaz Boletin #33, 8/2/95] Pastora was "Commander Zero" in the Sandinista National Liberation Front (FSLN) in the 1970s; in the 1980s he commanded the Democratic Revolutionary Alliance (ARDE), a Costa Rica-based contra operation set up by the CIA to fight the FSLN government in Nicaragua. 3. HAITI: US "INTRUSIVE" IN "DELICATE" ELECTORAL CRISIS Two officials of Haiti's Provisional Electoral Council (CEP) resigned on July 27, the day after President Jean-Bertrand Aristide promised representatives of a half-dozen opposition parties that there would be a solution to the country's electoral crisis "within 12 hours." The two officials were CEP president Anselme Remy, a supporter of Aristide's left-populist Lavalas movement, and Jean-Francis Merisier, who was part of the electoral council that organized the unconstitutional Jan. 18, 1993 legislative elections during the 1991-94 military dictatorship. Remy will be replaced by Pierre-Michel Sajous, a close friend of Aristide. [Haiti Info, Vol. 3, #21, 7/30/95] Apparently Merisier was forced out at the same time as Remy to give an appearance of balance between left and right. [Haiti Progres (NY) 8/2-8/95] Many Haitian politicians and some international observers have questioned the legitimacy of Lavalas' overwhelming victory in the June 25 legislative and municipal elections, which were characterized by massive irregularities. Opposition parties say they will boycott runoff elections, which had been scheduled for last month. However, some 200 of the opposition candidates who qualified for the second round are defying their parties; they have asked the CEP to let them run as independents. [Agencia Latinoamericano de Informacion (ALAI) 7/25/95] In the US, the New York Times and the Carter Center of former US president Jimmy Carter have suggested that some races be rerun, including the important Port-au-Prince mayoral race, in which Lavalas candidate Manno Charlemagne beat US favorite Evans Paul 45% to 18%. [see Update #287]. On July 27, just hours after the CEP resignations, a "high-level delegation" from Washington arrived in Haiti to discuss the electoral crisis with Aristide. The group included Under Secretary of State Strobe Talbott, Deputy National Security Adviser Sandy Berger and US Agency for International Development (USAID) director Brian Atwood. [Haiti Info 7/30/95; Haiti-Hebdo #83, 7/31/95] The goal was "to move Haitian electoral reform along," said a Washington Post editorial, which admits that this was "an intrusive way to do delicate business, but the alternative is worse." The group presented Aristide with seven steps it said would "correct faults in the June 25 balloting and promote participation in the rerun and second-round balloting." [WP 7/31/95] On Aug. 2 the reorganized CEP announced yet another postponement for the balloting in areas where disorganization or sabotage prevented the June 25 from taking place. "The date is not so important," said US embassy spokesperson Stanley Schrager. [New York Times 8/3/95 from Reuter] The elections were scheduled for December 1994 but have been repeatedly put off by the Haitian government and the US government, which leads the United Nations military occupation of Haiti. 4. LAVALAS LOSING HAITIAN ELECTIONS? Lavalas and its supporters are clearly starting to worry that maneuvering by the US and the Haitian elite may undercut the Lavalas electoral victory. In announcing his resignation, former CEP president Remy referred to "many forces, many sectors that came out to crush" the elections. "Haitian people, prepare to fight for what is yours. What those people could not accomplish with the [1991] coup d'etat, they are doing with electoral machinations." [Haiti Info 7/31/95] Chavannes Jean-Baptiste, head of the Papaye Peasant Movement (MPP) and a spokesperson for the Lavalas coalition, admits that the June 25 vote was problematic, but says that "we are the main victims." [ALAI 7/25/95] [Lavalas candidates were expected to win easily, and so would have little reason to sabotage the electoral process; see Update #283.] The pro-Lavalas Washington Office on Haiti (WOH) notes that the CEP received less than 4% of the $12.5 million that USAID earmarked for the elections. "Accountability issues regarding June 25," the group writes, "should focus on the agencies and organizations [such as the National Endowment for Democracy (NED)] which received 96% of these funds." [WOH memo 8/2/95] Merisier, the rightist who resigned from the CEP along with Remy, turns out to have been the CEP representative who oversaw the printing of the ballots in California. [Hebdo 7/31/95; HP 8/2- 8/95] The US had insisted that the ballots be printed by Sequoia Pacific System of Exeter, CA, not a Haitian firm. Electoral symbols were missing for 113 independent candidates, mostly pro- Lavalas; one was Lavalas' Manno Charlemagne [see Update #282]. [On July 17 a Charlemagne aide, Johnny Jean-Charles, received minor knife wounds when he was attacked by unknown assailants in what may have been a common crime. [Hebdo 7/31/95]] A report by electoral observers from the London-based Haiti Support Group notes that only 50% or less of registered voters turned out for the June 25 elections, which often seemed to be run "more for the benefit of a foreign than a domestic audience." Even the Lavalas candidates generally failed to address "crucial issues such as the economy." [Haiti Support Group Post-Election Statement, 7/28/95] While politicians argue about the elections, some Haitians are again starting to flee the economic situation. On July 19 141 Haitians were intercepted on a freighter in the Intracoastal Waterway at Ft. Lauderdale, Florida. They have been detained by the US Immigration and Naturalization Service (INS). [HP 7/26-8/1/95] 5. STRIKE ACTION BUILDS IN COSTA RICA Workers from Costa Rica's state-owned National Electrification Institute (ICE) held a partial strike on Aug. 1 to demand the government withdraw from Congress a controversial proposal that would end the state's monopoly over electrical energy and telecommunications. If the government does not accede to their demands, the ICE workers say they will launch an open-ended strike. Hundreds of ICE employees, together with striking public school and university teachers, marched on Aug. 1 through the streets of San Jose and gathered in front of the Congress to reject the government's new neoliberal economic reforms, which include the sale, fusion and closing of several public enterprises and a reform of the state-owned bank. A day earlier, thousands of teachers had marched through the capital and gathered in front of the Education Ministry building, where they pledged to continue their strike until the government answers their demands. Some 50,000 teachers have been on strike since July 17 to protest changes in their pension plan [see Updates #285-287]. [El Daily News (NY) 8/1/95 & 8/2/95 from AP] The teachers' are demanding that the government overturn a recently passed law that changes the national pension system for teachers; that it not approve a sales tax increase from 10% to 15%; that it ratify the pending collective bargaining agreements with the OIT; and that the pension age be set at 55 years. They are also demanding a 15% salary adjustment for the second half of 1995 and the creation of a basic "basket" of 500 necessity products. [Message posted on email 7/26/95 by CODEHUCA] Labor Minister Farid Ayales stated that he will not negotiate with the teachers until they end their strike, and that the issue of the new pension law cannot be on the agenda of the dialogue. After a meeting with the Council of Government, Ayales also warned that the government's decision to reduce the wages of the teachers who are on strike is not negotiable. [Diario Las Americas (Miami) 8/5/95 from EFE] On July 29 the unions of state-run enterprises in telecommunications, electricity, banking, oil, water and sewer, and insurance announced the formation of a united bloc to oppose the government's plan to privatize public services. The bank employees held a demonstration on July 29 to protest the planned privatization of the state bank. In addition, 32 priests from the northern diocese of Alajuela have joined the strikes against the government's structural adjustment policies; they say that the strike is accepted by the Church as a last resort. The federation of workers of the Atlantic province of Limon expressed their support for the teachers' strike, but have not yet decided whether to join it. The Costa Rican Association of Fuel Vendors has threatened to strike if Congress discusses a proposed law that seeks to fix minimum prices while leaving decisions to reduce the prices up to individual sellers. Association executive director Leonel Gonzalez said that vendors just can't compete with the multinational corporations that also distribute fuel. Seeking to calm consumer panic, the government has guaranteed that it will supply fuel in case of a vendor strike. [La Jornada 7/30/95 from EFE, AFP] Meanwhile, Costa Rica's legislative assembly has approved a constitutional amendment that requires the government, beginning in 1997, to keep its fiscal deficit at no more than 1% of the gross domestic product and to finance current expenses exclusively with current income. [LJ 7/30/95 from EFE, AFP] Messages asking the government of Costa Rica to respect the civil and economic rights of workers can be faxed to President Jose Maria Figueres Ferrer at (011) 506-253-9078 and to the Congress at (011) 506-255-1046 or 506-223-2862. Please send a copy to the Central American Commission for Human Rights (CODEHUCA) at fax #506-234-2935 or email address codehuca@nicarao.apc.org. [Message posted on email 7/26/95 by CODEHUCA] 6. BOLIVIA: LABOR PROTESTS HALTED, LEADERS TO BE FREED? The Bolivian government staved off a new wave of labor protests by agreeing on July 29 to free 53 imprisoned leaders of the coca growers union who had been arrested on July 14. The release of the leaders was arranged in a pact signed on July 29 in Cochabamba by Governance Minister Carlos Sanchez Berzain and leaders of the Bolivian Workers Central (COB), the country's largest labor federation. [El Daily News 7/31/95 from Reuter] The COB had planned to begin a hunger strike this week and Union Federation of Bolivian Campesino Workers (CSUTCB) had planned a massive blocking of roads. [LJ 7/30/95 from AFP, Prensa Latina & Notimex] Campesino leader Felix Santos announced after the pact that the roadblocks were definitely called off. "The state of siege will be lifted at any moment," Presidency Minister Jose Justiniano was quoted as saying in the La Paz daily Presencia on July 30, "that being conditioned on the evolution of the socio-political situation." [EDN 7/31/95 from Reuter] The Bolivian government declared a 90-day state of siege on April 18, arresting unionists and banning demonstrations and meetings in an effort to crush a wave of labor and campesino protests; Congress voted on July 21 to extend the state of siege for another 90 days [see Updates #273-276, #285-287]. In exchange for the release of the unionists, the coca growers accepted the eradication of new coca plants--those which have been planted since April--and promised not to pressure their affiliates who want to voluntarily eradicate their cultivations. [EDN 7/31/95 from Reuter] According to the British Financial Times, coca growers have gained great popularity in Bolivia and have displaced miners in the leadership of the traditionally radical COB federation. "They [coca growers] became the opposition and the conscience of the Bolivian people," said Sandro Calvani, local director of the United Nations Drug Control Program (UNDCP). "Bolivians have come to believe coca growers represent all that's pure and radical, opposed to modernization and the tyranny of the whites." To fight this popularity, the government has mounted what the Financial Times calls a "public information campaign." Bolivian president Gonzalo Sanchez de Lozada is quoted as saying: "Many of the leaders of these so-called unions are actually collecting a percentage of coca production. It's a quasi-protection racket." The government is also attempting to increase its presence in the Chapare, the country's main coca growing region, long abandoned by the state. [FT 8/3/95] According to an agreement the Bolivian government signed with the US, Bolivia must eradicate 3,600 hectares of coca plants in the second half of this year. [EDN 7/31/95 from Reuter] Some 12,000 hectares of coca in Bolivia are fully legal, producing coca leaf sold for chewing and religious purposes. But nearly all the output from about 35,000 hectares in the Chapare region, near Cochabamba, goes for processing into cocaine. Faced with an ultimatum from the US, the Bolivian government met its initial commitment to eradicate 1,750 hectares by June 30 of this year. If it fails to comply with its commitments, the US will cut all non-humanitarian aid, worth some $37 million this year, and blacklist Bolivia from receiving aid or loans from international organizations. This year, Bolivia expects to get some $700 million in loans--nearly equivalent to the country's total exports--from international organizations. [Financial Times 8/3/95] A separate protest was halted on July 29 when the civic committees of Santa Cruz and Tarija departments ended a week-long hunger strike after the government promulgated a decentralization law they had been demanding. The new legislation was approved on July 28 by the ruling party's majority in congress; it was opposed by the deputies of the opposition. The decentralization plan does not, however, provide for the election of department governors by direct vote. In a compromise solution agreed to by the civic committees, departmental governors will be designated by the president, but their administrative work will be closely supervised by a council of representatives from the provinces that make up the departments. [LJ 7/30/95 from AFP, Prensa Latina & Notimex] 7. US CONTINUES NICARAGUA AID US Secretary of State Warren Christopher informed Congress on July 31 that he was granting Nicaragua a special waiver that will allow $30 million in US aid to continue. Sen. Jesse Helms (R-NC) had argued that the aid should be cut because there are 640 US citizens whose property claims in Nicaragua have not been resolved; Christopher said that the Nicaraguan government has been working hard to resolve the cases. [New York Times 8/1/95] The government of President Violeta Barrios de Chamorro has announced that it will allow individuals affected by 1979 decrees 3 and 38 to file claim for the return of their confiscated property or compensation. Decrees 3 and 38 allowed the confiscation of properties from those who were directly linked to the dictatorship of Anastasio Somoza Debayle. Upon taking office in 1990, the Chamorro government had promised that the agrarian reform program of the Sandinista administration would be respected and that properties would not be returned to those guilty of the worst offenses of the 45-year dictatorship of the Somoza family. [Nicaragua Network (DC) Hotline 7/31/95] Former Nicaraguan vice president Sergio Ramirez, who left the Sandinista National Liberation Front (FSLN) earlier this year to found the Sandinista Renovation Movement (MRS) [see Update #263], has announced that he will donate the house he has lived in for 16 years to the government "because I want to have credit in my country for doing what I say." In a letter to President Chamorro, Ramirez requested that the government use the building to house the recently-created Nicaraguan Children's Fund (FONIF). The Maltez Huezo family claims ownership of the house, valued at $650,000; Ramirez said that in 1978, during the Somoza regime, the Maltez Huezo family defaulted on the mortgage and a judge transferred ownership of the property to a private bank. The bank was subsequently nationalized under the Sandinista government, and Ramirez first rented, then bought, the house from the state. Ramirez denied that with his action he was seeking "to set an example for anyone." [Diario Las Americas 8/5/95] On July 21, the National Assembly swore into office five new justices of the Nicaraguan Supreme Court in compliance with a commitment made in a June agreement with the executive branch [see Update #]. The new justices, who were originally nominated in April, are: Julio Ramon Garcia Vilchez (Christian Democrat); Josefina Ramos (Sandinista); Kent Enriquez (Sandinista); Francisco Plata; and Arturo Cuadra. [Nicanet Hotline 7/24/95] 8. GUATEMALA: HARBURY SUES CIA US lawyer Jennifer Harbury filed suit on July 31 against the US Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) for failing to respond to her repeated requests for information about her husband, guerrilla leader Efrain Bamaca Velasquez, presumed murdered in 1992 while in the custody of the Guatemalan army. The lawsuit asks the US District Court in Washington to compel the CIA to release its files on Bamaca [New York Times 8/1/95 from AP] under the Freedom of Information Act (FOIA). The CIA has so far denied Harbury any documents on her husband's case, citing "national security." [Media Advisory for 7/31/95 from Fenton Communications] "We've been expediting Ms. Harbury's request," said CIA spokesperson Mark Mansfield, "and the agency is committed to providing any and all releasable information." In the last week of July the CIA released a four-page public summary of a 700-page report on its internal investigation of the Bamaca case and the case of Michael DeVine, a US innkeeper murdered in Guatemala in 1990. The report found that no laws were broken and that no CIA employees were involved in either death [see Update #287]. [NYT 8/1/95 from AP] At the press conference in Washington on July 31 where she announced her lawsuit, Harbury planned to argue that laws were clearly broken since according to the New York Times US funds continued to flow clandestinely to the Guatemalan military even after Congress cut off military aid. [Media Advisory for 7/31/95 from Fenton Communications] At the press conference, Harbury told reporters that she has received "utterly insufficient and contradictory information" about her husband's fate from US officials. [Inter Press Service 7/31/95] Members of the DeVine family--Carole DeVine, widow of the murdered inkeeper, along with Maria DeVine Bjornstad and Conrad DeVine--issued a statement on July 27 in which they acknowledge being "bitterly disappointed that the [CIA] has failed to disclose any facts from its investigation...." [Statement posted on email by lac@igc.apc.org] 9. GUATEMALAN PROSECUTOR QUITS BAMACA CASE On Aug. 1 Julio Arango Escobar resigned as special prosecutor for the Bamaca case in Guatemala. Arango asserted that his resignation was motivated by "strictly personal reasons," not by the death threats and intimidations he has faced since being named to head the investigations in May. Arango had previously criticized the lack of support from authorities for his efforts to clear up the case, in which top armed forces officers are implicated. Attorney General Ramses Cuestas is expected to name a new special prosecutor for the case within a few days. Arango was the second special prosecutor for the Bamaca case. [El Diario-La Prensa (NY) 8/2/95 from Notimex] US ambassador to Guatemala Marilyn McAfee expressed "regret" on the part of the US government over Arango's resignation, calling it "a blow to Guatemala's judicial system and to those who struggle for justice." [ED-LP 8/4/95 from EFE] A US Defense Intelligence Agency (DIA) document obtained by Harbury earlier this year indicated that McAfee had hidden what she knew about the Bamaca case [see Update #280]. Defense Minister Mario Rene Enriquez Morales meanwhile announced on Aug. 3 that he will recommend that the army high command restore full military functions to Col. Mario Roberto Garcia Catalan, who had been implicated in the DeVine murder. Enriquez said a report from the Attorney General's office established that no legal prohibition exists to prevent Garcia Catalan from carrying out his job as commander of the military zone of Chimaltenango. Enriquez said that restoration of duties to Col. Julio Roberto Alpirez--who is accused of having been responsible for the torture and presumed murder of Bamaca while on the payroll of the CIA--will have to wait until the court proceedings are finished. Alpirez is waiting for an appeals court in Retalhuleu to confirm an earlier court decision that found him not guilty of any crime. [ED-LP 8/6/95 from AP] 10. PROTESTERS EVICTED AND BEATEN IN GUATEMALA Some 60 people were injured by tear gas, rocks and wooden police clubs and at least 20 were arrested in Guatemala City on Aug. 2 when authorities forcibly evicted a delegation of over 800 women, men and children representing the Unified Settlements of Guatemala (UNASGUA), from the installations of the National Housing Bank (BANVI). Among those injured were 26 police officers. The protesters represent 2000 families who live on squatted land on the outskirts of the capital in a community called Santa Isabel II; they had been nonviolently occupying the BANVI offices since July 31 to demand that BANVI legalize their land claims. They are willing to pay a fair price for the land, but negotiations with BANVI have dragged on for months with no results. [ED-LP 8/4/95 from EFE; National Coordinating Office on Refugees and Displaced of Guatemala (NCOORD) Urgent Action 8/3/95] When the community of Santa Isabel II heard of the eviction, residents there burned tires in the major highway that leads from Guatemala City to the Pacific Coast, closing the road for more than five hours. The road was reopened without further incident by 300 anti-riot police. Faxes protesting the eviction and demanding that BANVI negotiate with the settlers can be sent to BANVI president Carlos Enrique Giron Giron (fax# (011) 502-2-366592) and Guatemalan president Ramiro de Leon Carpio (fax# (011) 502-2-537472). [NCOORD Urgent Action 8/3/95] Meanwhile, on July 24 the office of the US Trade Representative announced that Guatemala's review under the Generalized System of Preferences (GSP) trade program would be extended until November 1, 1995. Guatemala was originally placed under review in 1992 in response to a petition filed by US trade unions and solidarity organizations citing worker rights violations. The US embassy, as well as the Guatemalan government and business sector, had sought an end to the review. [Guatemala Trade Update 7/26/95 by US/Guatemala Labor Education Project] 11. GUATEMALAN ELECTION NEWS ROUNDUP Sept. 13 will be the last day for registering candidates for Guatemala's upcoming elections, and Aug. 12 will be the final day of voter registration. [Cerigua Weekly Briefs #24, 6/28/95] In July, Nobel Peace laureate Rigoberta Menchu Tum launched a campaign to help hundreds of thousands of Guatemalans register to vote for the first time. Abstention was nearly 80% in congressional elections last August; Menchu herself admitted that Nov. 12 will be her first time at the polls. "The vote, freely and conscientiously exercised, is an instrument of democratic participation," said Menchu at the July 18 inauguration of her foundation's campaign to promote the vote. Menchu estimates that more than half of Guatemalans eligible to vote are not registered and that many of these lack the basic identification necessary to sign up. In some rural areas, 80% of women do not even have birth certificates, she said. [Cerigua Weekly Briefs #27, 7/19/95] [At a July 27 press conference at her foundation's offices in Mexico City, Menchu--accompanied by her husband Angel Francisco Canil--showed her 7-month old son Mash Nawalja (the name means spirit of water) to the Mexican press and announced that since December 1994 she is no longer based in Mexico but is living in Guatemala with her family. [source unknown, article posted on email 7/27/95 by rmtpaz@laneta.apc.org; La Jornada 7/31/95]] The Supreme Electoral Tribunal reports that some 22,000 Guatemalans have registered in the last two months. So far there are just over 3.5 million citizens registered. [Cerigua Weekly Briefs #27, 7/19/95] Despite a constitutional prohibition, on July 1 the Guatemalan Republican Front (FRG) officially named former coup leader Gen. Efrain Rios Montt as its presidential candidate. The Popular Party also raised eyebrows with the selection of fugitive from justice Juan Jose Rodil Peralta as its choice for president. Rodil, the former Supreme Court president, is wanted for fraud, embezzlement and abuse of power. [Cerigua Weekly Briefs #25, 7/5/95] On Aug. 1 electoral authorities rejected Rios Montt's candidacy, but the FRG has appealed the decision. If attempts to overturn the Civil Registrar's decision fail, Rios Montt will head the FRG's list of candidates for Congress, party officials announced. The former dictator's wife, Teresa Sosa de Rios, is being considered as an alternate if Rios Montt's presidential candidacy continues to be denied. [Cerigua Weekly Briefs #29, 8/2/95] 12. IN OTHER NEWS... The US House of Representatives recessed on Aug. 4, postponing any action on the proposed counterterrorism legislation until after Labor Day. The bill has been held up by conservative Republicans concerned about what Rep. Thomas Ewing (R-IL) calls "intrusion into private lives under the guise of preventing terrorism." But House liberal Charles Schumer (D-NY), one of the legislation's early sponsors, expects it to pass in the fall. The Republicans are "new to civil liberties," he says. "We'll see how long they stick with it." [Washington Post 8/6/95]... On July 31 a group of Argentine anthropologists began searching in Panama for mass graves containing the remains of victims of the December 1989 US invasion. Sources close to the anthropologists said the search would take place in the village of Pacora, 40 kilometers from Panama City. Unofficial estimates say that at least 2,000 people died during the US invasion; the official death toll is just over 500. [El Daily News 8/1/95 from Reuter]... Cuban authorities will soon inaugurate three duty-free zones aimed at facilitating foreign investments in various exporting areas. The first facility will be located in the western port of Mariel; another will be in the south central port of Cienfuegos and a third in Nuevitas, in the northeastern corner of Camaguey province. Duty-free zones will include docks, air strips, hangers, buildings and recreation areas. Services will include the rent and sale of industrial lots, leasing of warehouses, assistance in the import of equipment, transportation, marketing and legal services. Cuban authorities are working on a draft bill on duty-free zones; more such zones are planned as part of the economic changes taking place on the island. [Radio Havana Cuba 7/3/95]... In Colombia, Defense Minister Fernando Botero Zea resigned on Aug. 2 amid charges that he is linked to a scandal involving illegal campaign contributions from the Cali cocaine cartel to the electoral campaign of President Ernesto Samper Pizano. Botero served as general director of Samper's campaign. Botero says he is a victim of the drug mafias, which seek to destabilize Colombia's institutions and are now targeting the president. [Diario Las Americas 8/5/95 from AFP, EFE]... On Aug. 2 in Uruguay, a number of labor unions held demonstrations and job actions to protest government plans to privatize the pension system. Bank, transport, health, education, city and public administration unions all took part in the actions, which culminated in a march to Congress. The privatization project being studied by Congress would create private administrators for the retirement funds and establish different optional plans for retirees. The reform is considered essential by the government to fight the growing deficit generated by a system that demands expenditures of about $2 billion and serves more than 600,000 retirees out of a total population of three million. [EDN 8/3/95 from Reuter]... In Brasilia, Brazil, a group of about 150 people have been holding daily demonstrations in front of the US embassy to protest the planned execution in Pennsylvania of black journalist and political prisoner Mumia Abu-Jamal. A photo shows a group of young demonstrators beating on drums adorned with Portugese-language posters urging people to defend Abu-Jamal's life. [EDN 8/4/95 from AP] 13. UPCOMING EVENTS IN THE NYC AREA AND BEYOND For more information, call NSN at 212-674-9499. Events listed are not necessarily endorsed by the Nicaragua Solidarity Network. 8/12 SAT, 2 PM - National Free Mumia Mobilization. 516 City Hall, Philadelphia. For bus info: 212-633-6646. 8/12 SAT, 8 PM - "Fire & Song," benefit for Mumia Abu-Jamal & Kitchen Table: Women of Color Press. Lafayette Ave Church, 85 South Oxford St, Ft Greene, Bkn. $15 sugg. 718-832-1825. 8/13 SUN, 11 AM-4 PM - National Network on Cuba planning meeting for Oct 21 demo. 104 W 14th St. 212-227-3422. 8/17 THU - National Free Mumia Mobilization (Philadelphia). Mumia Abu-Jamal is scheduled to be executed at 10 PM. Call Free Mumia Hotline, 212-330-8029. -- + NY Transfer News Collective * A Service of Blythe Systems + + Since 1985 - Information for the Rest of Us + + voice: 339 Lafayette St., New York, NY 10012 modem: + + 212-979-0471 e-mail: nyt@blythe.org 212-979-0464 +