WEEKLY NEWS UPDATE ON THE AMERICAS ISSUE #323, APRIL 7, 1996 NICARAGUA SOLIDARITY NETWORK OF GREATER NEW YORK 339 LAFAYETTE ST., NEW YORK, NY 10012 (212) 674-9499 1. Argentine Inmates Seize 17 Prisons 2. Inmates Rebel in Uruguayan Prison 3. Brazil: Prisoners Take Hostages, Negotiate Escape 4. Brazil: Oil Strike Amnesty Vetoed 5. Paraguay Government Raises Salaries, Ignores Campesinos 6. Another Massacre in Colombian Banana Region 7. Bolivian Unions Continue Protests 8. Peru: Legislator Leads Protest for Traditional Medicine 9. El Salvador Police Attack Indigenous Association 10. Fast for Cuba Continues 11. US Busts Argentine Computer Hacker 12. US Nun Vigils for Truth on Guatemala ISSN#: 1084-922X. The Weekly News Update on the Americas is published weekly by the Nicaragua Solidarity Network of Greater New York. A one-year subscription (52 issues) is $25. 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Available for each year from 1991 through 1995. Ascii text versions free to subscribers via electronic mail. Send your request to nicanet@nyxfer.blythe.org NOW AVAILABLE: "Immigration in the USA One Year After Proposition 187," a Weekly News Update on the Americas special report, accompanied by a resource list and organizing leaflet. Ascii text version free to subscribers via email. Send your request to nicajg@nyxfer.blythe.org 1996 SOURCE LIST NOW AVAILABLE: A list of sources commonly-used in the Weekly News Update on the Americas, along with abbreviations and contact information. Free to subscribers. Send your request to nicanet@nyxfer.blythe.org *1. ARGENTINE INMATES SEIZE 17 PRISONS Prison rebellions spread across Argentina over the week of Apr. 1 and had not yet ended as of Apr. 6. The events began on Mar. 31, when some 800 inmates seized control of the Sierra Chica and Azul prisons in central Buenos Aires province and took about 20 people hostage, including a number of prison guards, several evangelical pastors and a judge. Protesters are demanding the application of the "two for one" law, which counts each day after two years spent in prison before sentencing as two days toward the eventual sentence. Other demands include more respectful treatment for visiting family members and an end to the humiliating searches to which the visitors are subjected, and an acceleration of pending trials. [Inmates at Bahia Blanca prison in southern Buenos Aires province rebelled last December over similar demands--see Update #309.] At least half of the 1,064 inmates at the maximum security Sierra Chica facility were involved in the rebellion there, which began when a group of inmates tried to scale a security wall using an improvised ladder made from pieces of wood, hooks made in the prison, and knotted sheets. Caught in the escape attempt, the inmates returned to their cellblocks, taking 10 guards and three pastors as hostages, according to police sources. When the judge from Azul, Maria de las Mercedes Malera, arrived to dialogue with the protesters, she and her secretary were also taken hostage. The uprising in the Azul prison began later the same afternoon, when nearly all of the 339 inmates took control of the facility after the Sunday visiting hours. A military or police officer, three sub-officers and four agents were taken as hostages. [El Diario-La Prensa (NY) 4/1/96 from AFP, 4/2/96 from AP] On Apr. 1, the rebellion spread to three other Buenos Aires prisons, La Plata and Lisandro Olmos, each about 50 km south of the capital, and Penitentiary Unit #9 in the capital, leaving some 5,000 inmates in control of all five prisons and holding 27 hostages. Included in their demands is government compliance with the San Jose Pact, ratified by Argentina, which does not allow anyone to be held more than two years without being sentenced. [ED-LP 4/2/96 from AP] Some 70% of Argentine prisoners are awaiting trial. [Washington Post 4/7/96] The prisoners are also protesting overcrowding at all the facilities, which is estimated at 42%. The Azul prison, constructed in 1916, has a capacity of 184 but is currently holding 354 inmates. [ED-LP 4/2/96 from AP] The prisons in Buenos Aires are the most overcrowded in the country, and have the most security problems, admitted Justice Minister Rodolfo Barra. Barra said that Buenos Aires authorities have put into effect a plan to catch up on "the delay of 100 years" suffered by the provincial prison system. [ED-LP 4/3/96 from EFE] On Apr. 2, as the rebellion continued in the five prisons, thousands of inmates began a hunger strike at eight other penitentiaries--five in Buenos Aires province, Devoto and Caseros in the capital and Coronda in neighboring Santa Fe province. According to reports broadcast on radio and television, the hunger strikers were not planning rebellions, but were refusing to eat and were holding loud protests from behind their window bars. In all, some 10,000 prisoners were believed to be involved in the various protests and rebellions. [ED-LP 4/3/96 from EFE] Negotiations at Sierra Chica were stalled on Apr. 3 after an inmate who sought to surrender was reportedly killed by other inmates. Apparently, the inmate had fled the cellblocks held by prisoners but was forced to return by authorities after the rebels threatened to kill one of the hostages. Stories--widely repeated in the press--that the bodies of prisoners killed in the uprising were being burned in the prison bakery oven appear to have been started by authorities of the Buenos Aires Penitentiary Service (SPB). [ED-LP 4/4/96 from EFE, 4/5/96 from AFP] Residents in the neighborhood near Sierra Chica said they had noticed "the smell of meat and bones burning." [Diario Las Americas (Miami) 4/4/96 from EFE] Justice Ministry officials said on Apr. 4 that two prisoners had died, one killed by prison guards and the other by inmates who believed he was cooperating with authorities. [New York Times 4/5/96] SPB spokesperson Jorge Rubino said the deaths were caused by fights between inmates, who he called "highly dangerous people"; he denied that guards "had exercised force beyond what was necessary." Relatives of the prisoners claim that 17 died. [DLA 4/4/96 from AFP] By Apr. 4, inmates were in control of 17 prisons, 11 of them in Buenos Aires province and the rest in Santa Fe, Rio Negro and Santiago del Estero. Relatives of the inmates remained camped outside the prison wells, awaiting news from inside. [NYT 4/5/96; ED-LP 4/5/96 from AFP] Governor Duhalde insisted on Apr. 4 that he did not want to make hasty decisions that might provoke a bloodbath in the prisons; his priority, he said, is to preserve the lives of the hostages and prisoners. Duhalde said the solution is to continue negotiating to seek unification of the demands of inmates from the different prisons, a task he said would not be simple as the demands vary, even among inmates at the same prison. Duhalde added that reports of 30 deaths were completely false, and called the stories of bodies being burned "macabre rumors." [ED-LP 4/5/96 from AFP] However, provincial officials speaking on condition of anonymity said in an interview that they had orders from Duhalde to end the conflict by Apr. 7, by whatever means necessary. Officials said they could not explain why the uprisings had spread so quickly throughout the country; some suggested that large stashes of weapons found last month at several prisons--including Azul-- indicate that the rebellions could have been planned in advance. Other officials said that the rebellion escalated after inmates read about it in newspapers and watched news reports on television. [NYT 4/5/96] As of Apr. 6, all 17 prisons remained in the hands of inmates, with about half of Argentina's prison population of 26,000 in open rebellion; the official death toll rose to three. Inmates were said to be holding out despite food shortages, and were rumored to be dining on cats, which are reportedly common in the prisons. On Apr. 6, deputy justice secretary of Buenos Aires province Maria del Carmen Falbo announced that the government had made an offer to the inmates holding Sierra Chica. Negotiators agreed the government would honor any prisoner request for transfer to another jail, and said they would ensure the safety of inmates if hostages were released unharmed. By the afternoon of Apr. 6, there had been no response from the inmates. [WP 4/7/96] *2. INMATES REBEL IN URUGUAYAN PRISON Uruguayan military troops reinforced security measures on Apr. 5 at a prison on the outskirts of Montevideo where more than 200 inmates began a peaceful rebellion on Apr. 3. The prison is in Santiago Vazquez, some 30 km west of the capital city, and holds 1,250 inmates. Interior Minister Didier Opertti said on Apr. 5 that "the situation is normal and there is calm among the inmates." Opertti added that Supreme Court president Juan Marino, by his own choice, planned to go talk with the prisoners about their concerns, which include the slow pace of trial procedures and the scant interest of government-appointed lawyers in their cases. Opertti denied that the government intends to forcibly remove a number of inmates' relatives who are occupying the prison in solidarity with the protesters. Highway police have blocked off a section of route 1, the road that passes by the Santiago Vazquez prison en route to the city of Colonia, creating a lengthy detour on one of the most traveled highways at the peak of the Easter holidays. Colonia is located on the coast at the mouth of Rio de la Plata, just across the river from Buenos Aires, Argentina. [El Diario-La Prensa 4/7/96 from AP] *3. BRAZIL: PRISONERS TAKE HOSTAGES, NEGOTIATE ESCAPE Armed with sticks and handmade steel blades, a group of 43 inmates seized some 25 hostages on Mar. 28 during an inspection at the Agroindustrial Penitentiary Center of Goias (CEPAIGO), located in Aparecida de Goiania, south of the national capital district in Brazil's Goias state. The inspection was to check on reports of overcrowding at the facility, which has a capacity of 450 but holds nearly 1,000 prisoners. The group of rebel inmates, led by one of Brazil's best-known criminals, kidnapper Leonardo Pareja, were seeking to escape the prison. Some 400 of the inmates who did not take part in the hostage-taking were moved temporarily to the women's section of the prison on Mar. 30; at least four prisoners escaped in the confusion. [La Jornada (Mexico) 3/31/96 from EFE, AFP, ANSA, AP; Independent (UK) 4/2/96] The hostages included Col. Nicola Limongi Filho, director of the prison; Antonio Lorenzo Filho, security secretary for Goias state; Homero Sabino de Freitas, president of the state's highest court; a number of police agents; and a television crew. Six of the hostages were released on the night of Mar. 30 in exchange for food and water, and Pareja's lawyer was let go on Apr. 1. The hostages were said to be surrounded by canisters of cooking oil, which the inmates were threatening to blow up. [LJ 3/31/96 from EFE, AFP, ANSA, AP; Independent 4/2/96; ED-LP 4/3/96 from EFE] On Mar. 30, the Goias state government agreed to the conditions set by the hostage-takers. Official spokespeople said the inmates had demanded four cars, two armored cars, 10 weapons of varying calibre, 10 bullet-proof vests and $20,000, all to be used in a getaway. The inmates were also demanding that all the region's highways be evacuated and that the police abstain from any pursuit of the fugitives. [LJ 3/31/96 from EFE, AFP, ANSA, AP] But having won agreement from the state, the inmates upped their demands and insisted that they needed more high-calibre weapons, including machine guns, pistols and revolvers, as well as ammunition, cellular phones, food for three months and 30,000 reales (about $31,000). On Mar. 31 Pareja led his fellow hostage-takers in a soccer match in the prison yard in front of the press cameras; the prisoners were running around the field with pistols in their hands. On Apr. 1, Pareja demanded that the authorities provide candles and refreshments so that he could celebrate his own birthday and that of Judge Sabino. As an inmate pointed a pistol at him, prison director Limongi made a speech from the prison wall on Mar. 31, urging police not to attack. "Brazil doesn't need another Carandiru," he shouted, referring to the Oct. 2, 1992 police massacre of at least 111 inmates after a prison uprising in Sao Paulo [see Update 141]. When his captor fired a shot in the air, Limongi--watched by millions on live television--shouted "for the love of God" and sobbed as he asked his family to "forgive me for my mistakes." Looking on from police lines, his son shouted "have strength dad, I love you." [Independent 4/2/96; ED-LP 4/3/96 from EFE] On Apr. 2, the federal government made its first move on the case: Justice Minister Nelson Jobim sent the head of his penitentiary department, Paulo Tomet Camargo, to the negotiations in CEPAIGO. Leaving the talks, Camargo expressed pessimism about the situation, given the ever-increasing demands of the inmates and the fact that a local farmer was supposedly murdered by an escaped inmate. [Diario Las Americas 4/4/96 from AFP] On Apr. 3, after the state government agreed to the inmates' latest demands--100,000 reales (some $97,000), eight escape vehicles, 16 38-calibre revolvers with ammunition, 25 bullet- proof vests and three cellular phones--the inmates released five of the 18 remaining hostages, including Limongi, and promised to free eight more when the promised goods and money were received. The remaining hostages would be taken along when the inmates fled and released 10 hours later. [ED-LP 4/4/96 from AP; Inter Press Service 4/4/96] The group of approximately 40 prisoners led by Pareja finally made their escape on Apr. 4 in eight vehicles and with six hostages. [Inter Press Service 4/4/96] Two of the fugitives were later killed in a clash with police in which a bystander was also killed. Authorities said about half the inmates have not been recaptured. [Washington Post 4/7/96] Judge Sabino was freed on Apr. 4 near Brasilia when the car in which he was being held hostage crashed with an armored police vehicle. On Apr. 5, Sabino said he didn't blame the prisoners for rebelling, and said he would act as a defense witness to seek that inmates' sentences not be increased for their participation in the rebellion. Sabino said that CEPAIGO is a center of corruption, torture, mistreatment, drug trafficking and extortion of prisoners; he blamed Limongi for the situation. The judge called the rebellion a warning to society on the urgency of prison reform in Brazil. Sabino also blamed the justice system, pointing out that in CEPAIGO there are inmates who have already completed their sentences but are not released, and others who are not granted their rights under the law. Sabino criticized judges who apply "too harsh sentences," disproportionate to the crimes committed. [Inter Press Service 4/5/96] On Feb. 3 of this year, a specialized military police unit killed two prisoners and wounded another in a Sao Paulo police station after quashing a protest by 127 prisoners against the lack of water at the facility. "It's not normal" to shoot protesting detainees, admitted a Sao Paulo police official, adding that the agents involved had been suspended from their duties. In related news, in February the federal police admitted responsibility for the death of a detainee last October under torture in the city of Fortaleza, Ceara state. The victim, Jose Sampaio, was in good condition when arrested, but appeared dead the next day in his cell; a medical team from the University of Campinas said that Sampaio's body showed signs of such severe physical punishment that it seemed "to have been run over in traffic or to have fallen down eight flights of stairs." [La Jornada 2/4/96 from EFE, AP, Reuter] *4. BRAZIL: OIL STRIKE AMNESTY VETOED Brazilian president Fernando Henrique Cardoso has vetoed a bill that would have granted amnesty to oil workers unions for a month-long strike in Brazil's oil refineries last May. The strike was declared illegal and finally crushed through government threats to fire strikers and a military occupation of the refineries [see Updates #276-280]. The unions involved in the strike were ordered by the Superior Labor Court (TST) to pay fines of more than $35 million, among other penalties. The amnesty bill was approved by both the Chamber of Deputies and the Senate with the support of all parties, but Cardoso called it "contrary to public interest," said it constituted interference in the judicial power by the legislative and executive powers, and argued it would set a bad precedent for future strikes that might be declared illegal. [Diario Las Americas 4/4/96 from EFE] *5. PARAGUAY GOVERNMENT RAISES SALARIES, IGNORES CAMPESINOS The Paraguayan government announced on Mar. 30 that salaries would be increased the following week in response to demands from four union federations which had shut down the capital, Asuncion, in a Mar. 28 strike [see Update #322--note that Mar. 28 now seems to be the correct date of the strike]. Until Mar. 29, President Juan Carlos Wasmosy had seemed determined not to cede to union pressure, but he changed his opinion after meeting with the country's main opposition leaders. Labor Minister Juan Manuel Morales said that at the beginning of the week of Apr. 1 he would call a meeting of the Salaries Council, made up of government, business and union representatives, to fix the amount of the salary increase. Morales indicated that the wage hike would be less than the 31% demanded by the workers, and probably would be around 15%; union spokespeople said the unions would not be satisfied with this amount. National Workers Central (CNT) leader Eduardo Ojeda told Wasmosy that he should meet with the unions "before committing an error," and reiterated that the unions will continue their pressure until the 31% raise is granted. Ojeda added that the four labor federations are firm in their decision to hold a 48-hour general strike on May 2-3 if their demands are not met. Business sectors said they would accept a wage adjustment if it would help calm down the social situation, but warned that the increase would be reflected in price increases on basic goods. Interior Minister Diogenes Martinez announced that there will be a high-level meeting between the government and primary opposition parties on Apr. 9 to work out a "great project of state reform" to address social problems. While attempting to soothe labor and opposition forces, the government has ignored the complaints raised by campesino organizations in their Mar. 15 demonstration in the capital [see Updates #320, 321]. The campesinos are demanding better prices for their produce; land for those who have none through the expropriation of non-producing large land holdings; retirement pensions for farmworkers at the age of 55, not based on prior contributions; and the withdrawal of Paraguay from the Southern Cone Common Market (MERCOSUR). [La Jornada 3/31/96 from AFP, AP, EFE] *6. ANOTHER MASSACRE IN COLOMBIAN BANANA REGION Ten people were murdered and seven wounded on Apr. 3 when a group of ten armed men opened fire against them in a billiards hall in the Policarpa Salavarrieta neighborhood of Apartado, in the Colombian banana-growing region of Uraba, Antioquia department. The neighborhood is home to a number of militants in the leftist Patriotic Union party, a party formed by demobilized members of the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC). The FARC are associated with the Communist Party (PC). PC leader Apolinar Martinez told a local radio station that the pickup truck which the assailants used in their attack is one used by people "with a history of this kind of thing and who work directly with the paramilitary forces." Martinez said the white vehicle is used by Albeiro Guisao, alias "El Tigre", who he described as "a well-known paramilitary leader in the La Suerte, San Jorge and Nueva Colonia neighborhoods." Behind these crimes, according to Martinez, is Durbey Urango, alias "Sancocho". Apartado bishop Tulio Duque condemned the massacre. [Duque replaced Isaias Duarte Cancino, who was a key leader in peace efforts for Uraba before he was transferred to head the archdiocese in the city of Cali--see Update #291.] Massacres of this type have been frequent in Uraba over the past year, some blamed on the paramilitary squads and some on the FARC [see Updates #290-292, 295, 316]. On Dec. 27, the first 150 millon pesos were disbursed--of a total 600 million promised by President Samper--to the widows and orphans of 17 banana workers killed by alleged FARC members in a massacre last Aug. 30 in Carepa. [Peace Brigades International (PBI) Colombia Team Informe Quincenal #39-40, 12/18/95-1/14/96, from El Tiempo, El Espectador] The European Union (UE) has approved a sum of about $760,000 to help victims of violence in Uraba, it was reported on Feb. 10. The money will be disbursed by the Spanish group Navarra Association New Future, with the assistance of the Colombian nongovernmental organization Compartir. The aid will go to fund medical clinics and food centers to serve some 22,500 people in the municipalities of Apartado, Chigorodo and Turbo over a period of six months. [Inter Press Service 2/10/96] *7. BOLIVIAN UNIONS CONTINUE PROTESTS On Mar. 30, the Bolivian government and the leadership of the Bolivian Workers Central (COB), the country's principal labor federation, signed a document in which they agreed to facilitate negotiations and reduce the level of social tensions. COB concessions included a promise that oil workers, who are on an open-ended strike, will guarantee the continued distribution of fuel to the population; the COB also agreed not to increase the number of unionists--currently 300--who are on hunger strike, but retained the right to renew street demonstrations and work stoppages beginning Apr. 1. For its part, the government pledged to seek the release of dozens of imprisoned unionists. The government insists it cannot raise wages beyond the 12% already offered; the COB is demanding a 200% increase. [La Jornada 3/31/96 from AFP, Prensa Latina, DPA, AP, Reuter] Protests against the planned privatization of Bolivia's state- owned oil company YPFB continued through the week of Apr. 1. According to the New York Times, on Apr. 2 striking public workers in La Paz shut down public transportation, threw dynamite sticks at police, and looted stores and the offices of the recently privatized state railroad. Police estimated that at least 50,000 people took part in the Apr. 2 demonstration, which was called by the COB. [NYT 4/3/96] A large group of protesters attacked a transit police building with rocks and explosives in central La Paz, just minutes after the office of the Chilean airline Lan-Chile was attacked with stones and completely wrecked. Calm returned to the semi-deserted city only after the police intervened to disperse demonstrators. [Diario Las Americas 4/4/96 from EFE] On Mar. 30, Chile issued a formal protest about the burning of the Chilean flag by Bolivian protesters, who are angry over their government's sale of 50% of the national railroad to a Chilean consortium. [LJ 3/31/96 from AFP, PL, DPA, AP, Reuter] The arrival of 500 Chilean workers who will be employed at the railroad further angered Bolivian workers. According to Johnny Butron, secretary of conflicts for the COB, 1,500 Bolivian railroad workers resigned their posts voluntarily and another 500 were forced into retirement as part of the railroad's privatization process. [DLA 4/2/96 from AFP] In other news, President Sanchez said on Mar. 30 that he doubted that the US government has evidence linking leaders of the social democratic Revolutionary Left Movement (MIR) party to drug trafficking. [La Jornada 3/31/96 from AFP, Prensa Latina, DPA, AP, Reuter] The US government recently suspended the entry visa of MIR leader Carlos Saavedra Bruno, who served as interior minister and was responsible for Bolivia's anti-drug policy between 1991 and 1993 under the administration of President Jaime Paz Zamora. Saavedra had been considered as a possible MIR presidential candidate; he is the fourth MIR leader to have his US visa suspended for alleged links to drug traffickers. In January the US suspended the visas of former president Paz Zamora and MIR national coordinator Oscar Eid Franco [see Update #313], and recently the visa of another former interior minister, Guillermo Capobianco, was suspended. Saavedra was informed of his own visa denial when he was about to visit two of his children who study in the US. A few weeks earlier Saavedra had begun a diplomatic mission in the US to get Paz Zamora's US visa restored. [Inter Press Service 3/28/96; El Diario-La Prensa 3/28/96 from AP] *8. PERU: LEGISLATOR LEADS PROTEST FOR TRADITIONAL MEDICINE On Mar. 27, Peruvian legislator and former stripper Sussy Diaz rode a white burro at the head of a parade of shamans and other healers to protest the dismissal by congress of a law that seeks to legalize traditional medicine. Diaz was accompanied by Fulvia Celica, a scantily-dressed and voluptuous transsexual. [Inter Press Service 3/28/96; Diario Las Americas 3/28/96] Diaz held the protest after her proposal was dismissed by the Health Commission of the Congress without explanation. "It's almost a personal affair," said United Left (IU) politician Rolando Brena. "The colleague Diaz is underestimated because she won the elections displaying the number 13 [her position on the ballot] painted on one of her buttocks and some consider her frivolous. But I believe she has good intentions." Diaz said if her proposed law is not taken up for debate by Congress, she will take her protest--and the burro, which she says symbolizes the form of transportation used by Peru's rural population to visit traditional healers--into the working-class neighborhoods. Last January Diaz created her own political movement, the Authentic Party of Organized Struggle (PALO), to defend the rights of homosexuals, prostitutes y battered women, and to promote the use of condoms to prevent AIDS. "My party, the PALO, will defend popular medicine, because it's cheap and used by poor people, and because it's necessary to regulate it to eliminate charlatans," said Diaz. [Inter Press Service 3/28/96] Meanwhile, Peruvian bishop Juan Luis Cipriani blasted a guide for students on sexual orientation, charging that it is designed to "form faggots" ["formar maricones"]. The guide was sponsored by the government and produced by Education Ministry technicians; it was withdrawn during the week of Mar. 25 after President Alberto Fujimori and Catholic Church prelates agreed it contained errors that needed to be corrected. The Peruvian Sexology Society accused Cipriani of "intellectual terrorism"; Society president Victor Yanez Aguirre proposed work meetings between members of the clergy and a specialized sexology team to make any necessary corrections to perfect the guide, but using "scientific arguments." [DLA 4/2/96 from AFP] *9. EL SALVADOR POLICE ATTACK INDIGENOUS ASSOCIATION On March 11, ten agents of El Salvador's National Civilian Police (PNC) invaded the office of ANIS, the National Salvadoran Indigenous Association, in Sonsonate province. Police fired shots inside and outside the office, according to indigenous leader Adrian Esquino Lisco, who phoned the information to the Piscataway Indian Nation in Accokeek, Maryland. Police severely beat ANIS members Antonio Armando Perez Arias and Rafael Arturo Perez Arias, who were in the office at the time of the police raid, and took them to Sonsonate Police Headquarters. Another officer (Badge #05246) said he wanted to find Chief Esquino Lisco, presumably to arrest or kill him. At the same time, armed men in masks occupied the home of ANIS member Domingo Antonio Contrera Morillo. [Committee in Solidarity with the People of El Salvador (CISPES) Action Alert 3/24/96] *10. FAST FOR CUBA CONTINUES Unable to walk after 43 days without food, activist Seya Sangari decided to withdraw on Apr. 3 from the Fast for Life, sponsored by the US solidarity organizations Interreligious Foundation for Community Organization (IFCO)/Pastors for Peace. Sangari had collapsed on the 30th day of the liquid-only fast, but had refused hospitalization and continued the protest. IFCO's 65- year-old director Rev. Lucius Walker has lost 34 pounds. Although gaunt and listless, Walker and the three other remaining participants are continuing the fast in Washington, DC; they say they will keep it going until the US government releases the medical computers it confiscated which were to be donated to Cuba's health care system [see Updates #314-316, 318, 320]. The protesters began their fast on Feb. 21 at the US/Mexico border crossing in San Ysidro, California; on Mar. 25 they left California to take their protest to Washington, stopping first in several cities to build support. [IFCO/PfP Emergency Action Alert 3/27/96; IFCO/PfP Analysis and Emergency Action Alert 4/3/96; IFCO press release 4/5/96] Supporters are encouraged to call Treasury Secretary Robert Rubin (202-622-0190; fax: 202-622-0073), and to urge their local media to cover the fast. For more info, contact IFCO at 212-926-5757; email ifco@igc.apc.org; http://www.igc. apc.org/cubasoli/ *11. US BUSTS ARGENTINE COMPUTER HACKER Using the first court-ordered "wiretap" of a computer network, US federal agents tracked down an Argentine student who broke into a Harvard University computer as well as into sensitive US military and space agency files, US attorney general Janet Reno announced on Mar. 29. Using his home computer in Buenos Aires, Julio Cesar Ardita, the 22-year old son of a retired Argentine military officer, also breached computer security at Northeastern University and the University of Massachusetts, breaking into government computer files containing "sensitive information on state-of-the-art satellites, radiation and engineering," Reno alleged. None of the information Ardita allegedly obtained was vital to national security, said US Attorney Donald Stern of Boston. There was no evidence that the Argentine government was involved in the scheme, according to Stephen Heymann, deputy chief of the US attorney's criminal division in Boston. The US District Court in Boston, acting on a request by Stern's office, issued an arrest warrant on Mar. 28 for Ardita on three felony charges related to illegal computer entry. Ardita remains free in Argentina, where authorities there say they are conducting a separate investigation. None of the felony charges against him are extraditable offenses under US treaties with Argentina. [Boston Globe 3/30/96 via Internet] *12. US NUN VIGILS FOR TRUTH ON GUATEMALA Dianna Ortiz, a US nun who was abducted and tortured in Guatemala in 1989, began a vigil in front of the White House in Washington on Mar. 31 to demand that the US government release all its information on her case and the cases of all Guatemalans who have suffered from human rights abuses [see Update #322]. Nancy Soderberg, a top national security aide, came to talk with Ortiz on Apr. 1 and invited her to her office to talk. Ortiz said she was skeptical, but came by Soderberg's office for about 45 minutes later in the day. "I think she'll stay skeptical until she gets her answers," said Soderberg. "It's easy for us to say be patient--she's the one having nightmares." [NY Daily News 4/2/96] After meeting with Ortiz for half an hour on Apr. 4, first lady Hillary Rodham Clinton promised that the Clinton administration will get "appropriate documents" related to her case declassified and released within six months. [WP 4/5/96] "She said she would attempt to have information released to me soon, before the Intelligence Oversight Board (IOB) completes its investigation," wrote Ortiz in an Apr. 5 press statement about her meeting with Hillary Clinton. The IOB is scheduled to finish by June 30. "Previously, I had been told I could not receive any information before the investigation was finished." Ortiz is pressing the US for information about "Alejandro," a man who appeared to be a US citizen and who her torturers took orders from. Hillary Clinton also promised her, says Ortiz, that if "there was any information related in any way to that man, that information, even if it were classified, would be released to me." [Statement posted on Internet by GHRC 4/5/96] In a sympathetic column in the Washington Post, Mary McGrory described the ceremony in Lafayette Park attended by several hundred people to mark Palm Sunday and the start of Ortiz' vigil. Ortiz has described many times before how she was tortured, raped repeatedly, burned more than 100 times with cigarettes, and lowered into a pit filled human bodies, some dead, some half- alive, all swarming with rats. This time, speaking before the crowd in Lafayette Park, Ortiz broke down sobbing as she described another detail of her torture which she had previously told only to a few people. She had been handed a small machete by her torturers, and was forced to use it against another woman captive. "[They] put their hands onto the handle, on top of mine. And I had no choice, I was forced to use it against another human being. What I remember is blood gushing--spurting like a water fountain--droplets of blood spattering everywhere." [WP 4/2/96] In testimony before Congress on Sept. 27, 1995, Ortiz had revealed other details of her torture. "I anticipate that the Guatemalan and US governments may accuse me of changing my testimony; but as I have gained strength and courage, I am prepared to share aspects of my torture that before were too painful to bring to light. One of these is that my torturers forced me to commit some horrible acts, and they videotaped and photographed me committing these acts. They told me that if I did not answer their questions, they would release this footage to the public and the press. Since the day I escaped, I have been afraid that if I continued to struggle for justice, my torturers would distribute those videotapes. I was afraid I would be held responsible, by people like you, for acts I was forced to commit. So I opted to lock these dark secrets in the depths of my soul, where for years they have been dragging me slowly to my grave. I tell this all to you now because I no longer believe that I and other torture survivors have to shoulder the guilt of human rights abusers." [Guatemala Bulletin of the Guatemala Human Rights Commission/USA, Vol. 13, No. 3&4] [The Guatemala Human Rights Commission/USA, where Ortiz is a staff member, is carrying out a postcard campaign to support her vigil by demanding the declassification of US information on human rights abuses in Guatemala. Postcards addressed to President Clinton are available from GHRC, 3321 12th St NE, Washington, DC 20017, 202-529-6599; fax 202-526-4611; email ghrc@igc.apc.org] ###