WEEKLY NEWS UPDATE ON THE AMERICAS
                   ISSUE #346, SEPTEMBER 15, 1996
       NICARAGUA SOLIDARITY NETWORK OF GREATER NEW YORK
     339 LAFAYETTE ST., NEW YORK, NY 10012 (212) 674-9499

1. Argentines Turn Out the Lights on Economic Policies
2. Violence in Chilean Coup Commemoration
3. Legal Executions Resume in Guatemala
4. Colombia: New Accord Reached, Campesinos End Protest
5. Colombian Guerrillas Seize Opportunity in Political Crisis
6. Colombia: New Austerity Measures, Vice President Resigns
7. Peru: US Congressperson Suggests Prisoner Exchange
8. Honduran Passport Scandal Witness Arrested in US
9. Nicaragua: FSLN To Sign Pact with Former Contras, Scraps Hymn
10. Nicaraguan Police Chief Retires, Supreme Court Justices... 
11. New Kidnapping of Foreigners in Costa Rica
12. Brazilian Congress Supports Presidential Reelection
13. Army to Protect Yanomami in Brazil?
14. Canada Mining Company Steals Panama Indigenous Lands
15. In Other News: Cuba, Ecuador & Dominican Republic...
 
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*1. ARGENTINES TURN OUT THE LIGHTS ON ECONOMIC POLICIES

At 8 pm local time on Sept. 12, tens of thousands of Argentines
engaged in a brief and unconventional protest act: a five-minute
blackout during which people turned off the lights in their homes
and businesses, and went out onto balconies and into the streets
banging on pots and pans and honking car horns and other
noisemakers. It was the largest protest so far against the
government of President Carlos Saul Menem. The action was
organized by the Multi-Sector Forum, consisting of two opposition
political parties--the Radical Civic Union (UCR) and the center-
left Front for a Country in Solidarity (FREPASO); two dissident
labor union federations--the Movement of Argentine Workers (MTA)
and the Congress of Argentine Workers (CTA); the Agrarian
Federation; the Association of Small and Medium Businesses; and
student and other groups. The Forum argues that Menem's
neoliberal economic measures have provoked a harsh recession, the
highest rate of unemployment in Argentine history, and greater
poverty for workers. A crowd led by Forum leaders Carlos "Chacho"
Alvarez of FREPASO and Rodolfo Terragno of the UCR gathered in
central Buenos Aires to support the protest. 
 
Menem called the protest measure "a total failure," saying that
"technical reports" had showed only an 11% adhesion to the
blackout on a general level and 22% among private homes. To
coincide with the blackout, a group of about 100 Menem supporters
exploded fireworks in a "counter-blackout" in central Buenos
Aires. [El Diario-La Prensa (NY) 9/14/96 from AP; Diario Los
Andes (Mendoza, Argentina) 9/13/96, electronic edition, from DYN]
 
*2. VIOLENCE IN CHILEAN COUP COMMEMORATION

Between 6,000 and 10,000 people participated in a Sept. 11 march
in Santiago, Chile, to commemorate the 23rd anniversary of the
1973 coup that overthrew democratically-elected Socialist
president Salvador Allende and began a brutal period of
repression under dictator Gen. Augusto Pinochet. The march
culminated with a rally at the Santiago General Cemetery, in
front of a monument to the 3,000 dissidents murdered or
disappeared by the Pinochet regime. 
 
Riot police used tanks, tear gas and water cannons to disperse
stone-throwing youths who participated in the protests. According
to preliminary reports from the press and from human rights
organizations, groups of hooded infiltrators set up barricades on
one side of the cemetery and threw Molotov cocktails and rocks at
police, who responded with tear gas and water cannons. The hooded
infiltrators also attacked the press: one news photographer
received head injuries and several other journalists and their
vehicles were attacked with rocks. The demonstrators had
previously tried to assault a local business near the cemetery
and had attacked the offices of the ultra-right Democratic
Independent Union (UDI). Socialist deputy Juan Pablo Letelier
blamed the Carabineros for provoking the violence. 
 
The 3,000 people who were standing in front of the monument after
having marched peacefully to the site from the center of the city
were the ones who suffered most from the police crackdown, and
had difficulty getting away from the tear gas. Carabineros police
reported that 38 people were injured--14 of them police agents--
and 224 were arrested during the day's disturbances. Of those
arrested, 84 were picked up during the incidents at the cemetery,
while the other 140 were detained that night in neighborhoods on
the outskirts of the capital, where groups of people set up
street barricades, looted a business and a Mormon church,
destroyed several houses under construction, burned two vehicles
and attacked four police stations with rocks. [El Diario-La
Prensa 9/12/96 from EFE, 9/15/96 from AFP; Diario Las Americas
(Miami) 9/13/96 from AFP; Diario Los Andes 9/13/96 from AFP;
Reuter 9/11/96; CHIP News 9/12/96]
 
The government announced on Aug. 12 that it will launch a
campaign to identify and sanction the gangs of hooded youths who
carried out the violent acts. Government officials say the same
gangs are responsible for violent incidents during soccer matches
and other public gatherings. [CHIP News 9/13/96]
 
*3. LEGAL EXECUTIONS RESUME IN GUATEMALA

Two campesinos convicted of kidnapping, raping and murdering a
four-year old girl in 1993 were executed by firing squad in
Guatemala on Sept. 13. The execution had been suspended twice due
to efforts by a group of lawyers and the Inter-American Human
Rights Commission (CIDH) of the Organization of American States
(OAS). The most recent suspension, for 48 hours, came just an
hour and a half before the scheduled execution on Sept. 10. The
execution, which was witnessed and recorded by some 150
journalists and widely condemned by local and national human
rights organizations, marked the first application of the death
penalty in a Spanish-speaking nation of mainland Latin America in
over a decade. 
 
The Guatemala City headquarters of the United Nations Mission for
the Verification of Human Rights in Guatemala (MINUGUA), which
had urged the Guatemalan government not to carry out the
execution, was attacked with gunfire on Sept. 14. A day earlier,
the Supreme Court ordered charges brought against MINUGUA
official Rosemary Borndand for her intervention against the
execution. Borndand allegedly had warned that if the execution
took place the Guatemalan government would face international
problems. [El Diario-La Prensa 9/15/96 from AFP]
 
According to Amnesty International, 94 countries still currently
use the death penalty. In Latin America, these countries include
Cuba, Belize, Guyana and now Guatemala. Thirty other countries
have the death penalty in their legislation but do not use it.
The death penalty is included in Mexico's constitution but not in
the penal code; the last person legally executed in Mexico was
Miguel Agustin Pro, a Jesuit priest killed by a firing squad in
1927 after being accused of an attack against then-president
Alvaro Obregon. The last execution in Suriname took place in
1984. Nicaragua abolished the death penalty in 1979; Bolivia
abolished it in 1967; Honduras in 1957; and the Dominican
Republic in 1924. Most other Latin American nations abolished the
death penalty before 1910; Venezuela was the first to abolish it
in 1863. 
 
The last execution in Chile took place on Jan. 29, 1985, when two
Carabineros police agents were executed for having committed 10
murders. [Diario Las Americas 9/14/96 from AFP] On Aug. 19,
Chile's Supreme Court upheld the execution of Cupertino Andaur,
convicted of the Dec. 31, 1992 rape and murder of a seven-year
old boy. But on Aug. 29, Chilean president Eduardo Frei commuted
Andaur's sentence to life in prison. "The death penalty is as
inhuman as the crime that motivates it," said Frei. [DLA 8/31/96
from AFP; CHIP News 8/21/96, 8/30/96]
 
*4. COLOMBIA: NEW ACCORD REACHED, CAMPESINOS END PROTEST

Some 60,000 campesino coca and opium poppy growers in the
southern Colombian department of Caqueta began to return to their
communities after reaching an agreement with a government
negotiating committee to end 46 days of protests [see Updates
#341-344]. The agreement, signed on Sept. 12 by leaders of the
campesino and representatives of the government negotiating team,
commits the government to providing $14 million for education,
health and public works in Caqueta. The main demand of the
protests--an end to the government's aerial fumigation of drug
crops--was not fully addressed in the pact. Two different
proposals to compensate workers for eradicating drug crops are
being considered; in the meantime the accord merely stipulates
that the campesinos are to eradicate the drug crops themselves,
and that the government will not fumigate while the campesinos
are doing this. Caqueta governor Maria Amparo Ossa Suarez
expressed her satisfaction with the agreement. [El Diario-La
Prensa 9/15/96 from AFP; El Espectador (Bogota) 9/13/96,
electronic edition] 
 
A few days earlier, on Sept. 7, Caqueta campesino leaders had
refused to sign the agreement because the government said it
didn't have enough money to improve roads, and the campesinos
argue that without effective infrastructure they cannot sell
traditional (non-drug) crops without taking a significant loss.
After the negotiations broke down, military troops clashed on
Sept. 9 with campesinos outside the Caqueta departmental capital,
Florencia; 22 people were hurt, none seriously. The clash
occurred as protesters tried to get across a barricaded bridge
set up by the army to prevent them from reaching Florencia. The
campesinos almost succeeded in crossing the bridge after they
managed to cut off the flow of energy to the electrified fence on
the army barricade. Most of those injured were soldiers hit with
rocks thrown by the campesinos. [Diario Las Americas 9/11/96 from
AFP; El Espectador 9/12/96] The talks were renewed on Sept. 10.
[El Espectador 9/10/96]
 
A local judge in the municipality of Albania in Caqueta had
ordered the army to remove its barricades shortly after the
protests began, supporting the claim of Efren Campos, a local
resident who claimed that the barricades violated his rights to
free movement and access to education. On Sept. 9, Judge
Alejandro Molina Horta ordered 30 days of prison and a fine of
$23 for national army chief Gen. Harold Bedoya Pizarro and Gen.
Nestor Ramirez Mejia, army commander for the zone, because they
failed to comply with the order to remove the barricades within
the required 20 days. Colombia's Supreme Court overturned
Molina's decision on Sept. 12, ruling that the local judge did
not have the right to impede military actions which seek to
preserve public order. Supreme Court president Jose Roberto
Herrera Vergara affirmed that the control of public order is a
right of a general character which supersedes individual rights.
Defense Minister Juan Carlos Esguerra has asked the High
Judiciary Council to investigate Judge Molina. [DLA 9/14/96 from
EFE; El Pais (Cali, Colombia) 9/13/96, electronic edition; ED-LP
9/11/96 from AP]
 
President Ernesto Samper arrived in Florencia on Sept. 13
accompanied by several of his cabinet ministers, and announced
that he would personally act as guarantor of the newly signed
accords. Samper promised he would support the commitments made in
the pact, and added that his government would review its peace
policies and social investment programs for Caqueta. Samper named
former Popayan mayor Luis Fernando Velasco as the coordinator of
economic and social policies for the coca growing departments,
and promised that the highway joining Florencia and Suaza will be
finished by December of 1997. [El Espectador 9/14/96] 
 
As of Sept. 11 talks were progressing between the national
government and campesinos in the northern Colombian department of
Norte de Santander, who arrived outside the city of Cucuta a week
earlier to demand solutions to their problems, particularly to
demand government financial support for the eradication and
substitution of illegal drug crops. [El Espectador 9/11/96] The
national government reached an agreement on Sept. 9 to end
protests by some 4,000 campesinos marching for similar demands in
Meta department. [El Espectador 9/10/96]
 
*5. COLOMBIAN GUERRILLAS SEIZE OPPORTUNITY IN POLITICAL CRISIS

While protests by campesino coca growers seem to be coming to an
end, President Samper is facing other problems. A massive
offensive by guerrilla groups has brought military targets
throughout Colombia under attack and has left 110 people dead in
10 days. The Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC), the
country's largest rebel group, seized more than 60 soldiers as
"prisoners of war" on Aug. 30 after overrunning a military base
in the southwest jungle and killing 27 troops. The FARC announced
in a communique on Sept. 7 that they would be willing to begin
negotiations on releasing the prisoners in about 10 days. The
government has refused to negotiate, and has left the hostage
situation in the hands of the International Red Cross. [Reuter
9/8/96; ED-LP 9/8/96 from AP] 
 
The rebels "have shown a capacity for destruction that's
unprecedented in the life of our nation," said Attorney General
Alfonso Valdivieso on Sept. 7, referring not only to the mounting
casualties but to a recent wave of sabotage attacks and rebel
blockades halting transportation in 15 of Colombia's 32
provinces. The Colombian army has about 120,000 troops; army
commander Gen. Bedoya said in a recent interview that he needed
three times as many troops to counter the growing threat posed by
rebels. The army also has only 35 helicopters for moving troops
across Colombia's rugged mountains and jungles. [Reuter 9/8/96]
 
*6. COLOMBIA: NEW AUSTERITY MEASURES, VICE PRESIDENT RESIGNS

Responding to the government's desperate situation in the face of
the guerrilla offensive, President Samper announced on Sept. 8
his government's plan for "security bonds"--described by critics
as a "war tax"--to collect $500 million to re-equip the armed
forces. [ED-LP 9/10/96 from EFE] Several days later, Finance
Minister Jose Antonio Ocampo announced that the government will
cut its 1997 budget by $2.92 billion. Ocampo asked Congress to
authorize the elimination or reduction of 15 to 20 state
enterprises, which will mean layoffs of some 12,000 workers. The
new austerity plan includes cuts in government spending on
health, education and the environment. The 1997 budget currently
totals approximately $26 billion. [DLA 9/13/96 from EFE]
 
Colombian vice president Humberto de la Calle submitted his
resignation on Sept. 10 and called on Samper to resign, citing
the crisis over accusations that drug trafficker money was used
in Samper's 1994 election campaign, and emphasizing the country's
current state of ungovernability. De la Calle had only
reluctantly run on the ticket with Samper in 1994 under pressure
from the Liberal Party to which both belong, and he was never
given responsibilities as a vice president after Samper took
office, serving instead as Colombia's ambassador to Spain. The
Colombian constitution only grants the vice president the
function of replacing the president in cases of prolonged or
permanent absence. De la Calle said he hoped Congress could
choose a vice president who Samper could trust, which would allow
the president to at least consider the possibility of resigning.
[ED-LP 9/15/96 from AFP] Congress accepted de la Calle's
resignation on Sept. 11. On Sept. 12, Samper recommended Carlos
Lemos Simmonds, Colombia's ambassador to the United Kingdom, for
the post of vice president. Lemos accepted the offer on Sept. 13;
Congress will elect the new vice president on Sept. 19. [DLA
9/14/96 from EFE; El Espectador 9/13/96]
 
*7. PERU: US CONGRESSPERSON SUGGESTS PRISONER EXCHANGE

US representative Bill Richardson (D-NM) arrived in Peru during
the week of Aug. 27 to propose to President Alberto Fujimori the
exchange of US national Lori Berenson--serving a life sentence in
a Peruvian prison for association with the rebel Tupac Amaru
Revolutionary Movement (MRTA)--for a Peruvian imprisoned in the
US. In a televised interview on the night of Sept. 1, Fujimori
said that the proposal was being considered by the Justice
Ministry. [El Diario-La Prensa 9/3/96 from AFP] [Our source did
not say which Peruvian in the US would be exchanged for Berenson.
Peruvian national Julian Salazar Calero is currently being held
in a New York immigration prison, awaiting deportation; he is
accused of links to the Maoist Peruvian Communist Party (PCP)
guerrilla movement, better known as Sendero Luminoso or Shining
Path--see Update #332.]
 
Under a 1977 agreement signed between the US and Peru, US
citizens imprisoned in Peru can serve their sentences in their
country by simply requesting it from their embassy. Berenson's
Peruvian lawyer, Grimaldo Achahui, announced on Sept. 6 that
Berenson "has decided not to request her transfer to a prison in
her country because she considers that it is not appropriate for
her interests, at least for the moment." Achahui said he has
asked the Supreme Council of Military Justice to review
Berenson's case and send it to a civil court for a new trial.
[ED-LP 9/7/96 from EFE] 
 
In Chile on Sept. 13, Supreme Court president Servando Jordan
rejected Peru's request for the extradition of 68-year old
Peruvian citizen Claudia Beatriz Gamarra, accused of cooperating
with the PCP. Jordan's decision, which can be appealed to the
same court, establishes that the evidence offered by Peru's
lawyer was not sufficient to prove Gamarra's participation in the
crimes of which she is accused. Gamarra's lawyer, Hiram Villagra,
said that Gamarra carried out activities in opposition to the
Fujimori government and that she was a senatorial candidate for a
Trotskyist party, but that she never belonged to or collaborated
with the PCP. [Prensa Libre (Guatemala) 9/14/96, electronic
edition, from AP]
 
*8. HONDURAN PASSPORT SCANDAL WITNESS ARRESTED IN US

Maria Martha Diaz, the key witness in a corruption scandal
involving the falsification of Honduran passports, was arrested
on Aug. 8 by US authorities as she entered Miami International
Airport. The "Chinazo" scandal, which involved an international
ring that sold Honduran passports and US entry visas to Asian
immigrants, led to the dismissal of a US diplomat based in
Honduras and the Honduran consul in Hong Kong for their
connections to the illegal operation [see Update #338]. According
to reports in Honduras, Florida's Dade County Court issued a
warrant for Diaz' arrest when she failed to comply with a custody
ruling on the three children she had with Nicaraguan businessman
Rene Contreras, the prime suspect thought to have led the
passport trafficking ring. 
 
Wilfredo Alvarado, the director of Honduras' Department of
Criminal Investigation (DIC), said in a La Tribuna report on Aug.
24 that the DIC contacted the Federal Bureau of Investigation
(FBI) prior to arranging Diaz' trip to find out whether she could
enter and exit the United States at will. Alvarado said he was
told by FBI agents that there were no current warrants out for
her arrest. Alvarado and others blame Contreras for the
misinformation, claiming that he arranged "under the table" for a
new arrest warrant to be issued "at the last minute." Diaz had
travelled to Miami to remove what she calls important evidence in
the passport case from a safe deposit box registered in her name
at a local bank. Alvarado says Contreras and others behind the
scandal want to tie Diaz up in the US court system so she will be
unable to testify in Honduras. 
 
"Regardless of whether they have [Diaz], [the suspects in the
passport case] will be summonsed, the documents will be made
public and sooner or later the people of Honduras will know what
happened," insisted Alvarado. "No one can stop that from
happening." Diaz' Honduran attorney, Oscar Siri Zuniga, said
individuals involved in the passport scandal offered to arrange
for Diaz' release and to pay her a substantial amount of money if
she agreed to keep quiet about details of the case. In an
interview with the Honduran television news program "Abriendo
Brecha," Zuniga said Diaz has asked to be named Honorary Consul
of Honduras in Washington, DC so that she can travel with a
diplomatic passport and obtain immunity from Dade County court
proceedings.
 
Diaz faxed Zuniga a letter on Aug. 27 in which she explained, "my
[US] lawyer came today and he says I must ask the Honduran
government for all of its collaboration to make this case federal
because if the FBI gets involved things will be better."
Describing her incarceration as "humiliating," she authorized
Zuniga "to make this letter public so that the people know what's
happening to me."
 
According to La Tribuna, Contreras told the Dade County Court
that he will drop charges against his ex-wife if she agrees to
return to Miami with their three children and allow him to see
them. The children are currently staying with relatives in
Tegucigalpa. Contreras' attorney, Margarita Rivera, says Diaz
hasn't allowed Contreras to visit with the children or talk with
them on the phone. He has no intention of taking them away from
Diaz, she said, he only wants the right to see them. Diaz said in
her letter to Zuniga that she's afraid if her children return to
Miami Contreras will kidnap them and send them to Hong Kong.
[Honduras This Week 8/30/96, electronic edition] Diaz is set to
testify before the Miami court on Sept. 16. [Diario Las Americas
9/5/96 from EFE]
 
More than 500 people have written letters of solidarity to Diaz
in a campaign organized by the "Visitacion Padilla" Women's
Committee for Peace with the support of other grassroots groups.
[DLA 8/31/96 from EFE]
 
*9. NICARAGUA: FSLN TO SIGN PACT WITH FORMER CONTRAS, SCRAPS HYMN

On Aug. 30, representatives of Nicaragua's Sandinista National
Liberation Front (FSLN), the former contra organization
Nicaraguan Resistance (RN) and the Farmers and Ranchers Union
(UNAG) met to discuss forming an alliance to govern the country
if the FSLN wins the Oct. 20 national elections. Attending the
meeting were FSLN National Directorate member Victor Tirado
Lopez; Jose Benito Bravo ("Comandante Mack"), Denis Galeano
("Comandante Jhony") and Elia Maria Galeano ("Comandante
Chaparra") from the RN, and UNAG president Daniel Nunez
Rodriguez.
 
According to Nunez, a pact will be signed on Sept. 18 at the Olof
Palme Convention Center by hundreds of former contras. Although
details are not available, officials said the document will
concentrate on the issue of land rights and a commitment to avoid
the civil warfare that followed the US creation and sponsorship
of the contras in the 1980's. Elia Maria Galeano commented that
the former contra combatants "are not myopic, and we know that
the FSLN is the only party that will bring Nicaragua out of its
crisis, through the alliance with us and with producers, for
peace and democracy." 
 
The pact was announced as the FSLN's popularity is on the rise: a
recent poll shows Ortega only four points behind right-wing
frontrunner and former Managua mayor Arnoldo Aleman [see Update
#345], as the Sandinistas have succeeded in identifying Aleman
with the extreme right. In announcing the agreement with the
former contras, Ortega charged that Aleman has promised to put
former members of Somoza's notorious National Guard in charge of
the army if elected. "Mr. Aleman is taking steps that are against
the Constitution of this country, against stability and against
the peace of this nation," Ortega told reporters. "In his trips
to Miami he meets with `genocide guards' and promises them heaven
and earth, he says he'll bring them back and get rid of the army
and police." Aleman replied, "I have offered nothing to the
extinct National Guard," and called Ortega "desperate."
 
According to sociologist Oscar Rene Vargas, the FSLN's rising
popularity is attributable to their more moderate tactics. "The
Front has taken a turn in its speeches, its television ads, radio
spots, print ads and even its clothes. This has reduced the fear
that if the Front returns to power, it will mean the return of
the war." [Barricada (Managua) 9/2/96; Tico Times (Costa Rica)
9/13/96] As part of this new nonconfrontational image, the party
has dropped the Sandinista Hymn, which called on supporters to
"fight against the Yankee, the enemy of humanity" [see Update
#345]. Instead, Sandinista meetings will open and close with the
"Ode to Joy" from Ludwig Van Beethoven's Ninth Symphony. Ortega
announced the change on Sept. 6, saying, "That hymn belonged to
another era. Now our hymn is `Ode to Joy,' because it is the hymn
that corresponds to the stage we are living in." He added that
"[C]onditions have been created so that the United States and
Nicaragua, and in particular a new Sandinista government, can
establish harmonious relations." [Associated Press 9/7/96] 
 
*10. NICARAGUAN POLICE CHIEF RETIRES, SUPREME COURT JUSTICES
ELECTED

On Sept. 4, Fernando Augusto Caldera Azmitia retired at the end
of his four year term as chief of Nicaragua's police. He has been
replaced by the former inspector general of the National Police,
Franco Montealegre Callejas. Caldera was appointed to the post by
President Violeta Barrios de Chamorro in 1992 after his
predecessor, Rene Vivas, was dismissed under pressure from the
right wing of Chamorro's UNO coalition [see Update #137]. During
Caldera's tenure, the Sandinista police was "professionalized"
and became known for repressive actions against students and
strikers; all three of Nicaragua's human rights organizations now
identify police brutality as the most serious human rights issue
in Nicaragua. [Nicaragua Network (DC) Hotline 9/9/96]
 
At midnight on the night of Sept. 12, Nicaragua's National
Assembly elected four new judges to the Supreme Court of Justice,
bringing the total number to twelve. The four chairs had been
vacant since last July, when the executive and legislative
branches were unable to agree on candidates for the positions.
Newly elected to the court were Labor Minister Francisco Rosales,
conservative deputy Fernando Arguello, deputy Yadira Centeno
(formerly of the FSLN) and the Sandinista-affiliated lawyer
Marvin Aguilar. [La Nacion (Costa Rica) 9/14/96 from ACAN-EFE]
 
*11. NEW KIDNAPPING OF FOREIGNERS IN COSTA RICA

On Aug. 25, a Dutch couple were kidnapped from a teak ranch near
Pital de San Carlos in northern Costa Rica. Hurte Sierd Zylstra
and Jetslke Hendrike Coers, both 50 years old, work as
administrators at the Altamira teak ranch, which is owned by
"Flor y Fauna, S.A.," a Costa Rican corporation formed by Dutch
investors. The firm is under investigation in the Netherlands for
having promised huge profits to its 11,000 small investors once
it begins to harvest its teak plantations after 20 years. The
Altamira ranch is about an hour's drive from the northern town of
Boca Tapada, site of the Jan. 1 abduction of German tourist
Nicola Fleuchaus and tour guide Susana Siegfried--a Swiss citizen
and naturalized Costa Rican--who were released after 71 days by a
group of Nicaraguan kidnappers [see Updates #310, 316, 320].
 
A group calling itself the "Maria Felix Command"--named after a
convicted house burgler infamous for her numerous escapes from
prison in Costa Rica--took responsibility for the kidnapping and
has demanded a $1.5 million ransom. Felix herself is currently at
large after escaping in August from San Jose's Buen Pastor
women's prison. [Tico Times 8/30/96] The kidnappers established
contact with two mediators on Sept. 11 and produced proof that
the Dutch couple are alive and in good health. The mediators,
priest Eduardo Bolanos and Nicaraguan national Esteban Paiz, gave
no other details to the press. [Diario Las Americas 9/13/96 from
AFP]
 
The latest abduction occurred when Costa Ricans were still fuming
over photos published in the local press on Aug. 8 that showed
Fleuchaus, the German tourist kidnapped in January, kissing one
of her Nicaraguan captors, Julio Cesar Vega Rojas. The roll of
film was confiscated from Vega when he was arrested in April. [El
Diario-La Prensa 9/11/96 from AP]
 
*12. BRAZILIAN CONGRESS SUPPORTS PRESIDENTIAL REELECTION

A poll of Brazilian congresspeople by daily newspapers O Globo
and O Estado de Sao Paulo showed that a majority favor a
Constitutional amendment to allow the reelection of the country's
president, but are not as sure whether the new law should apply
to current president Fernando Henrique Cardoso. The amendment
would require a three-fifths majority of both houses of Congress;
273 of 411 deputies and 47 of 64 senators polled said they would
vote for the measure--more than 60%--but only 157 and 28
respectively said they would vote to apply the law to Cardoso.
The actual vote is due to take place in October. [Diario Las
Americas 9/10/96 from EFE]
 
Cardoso declared a national state of mourning for former military
dictator Gen. Ernesto Geisel, who died on Sept. 12 in Rio de
Janeiro. Geisel ruled Brazil from 1974 to 1979, during the 1964
to 1985 military regime. Cardoso, who was exiled by the military
government in the early 1970's, sent Geisel's family a condolence
note, which said that Geisel's political career was marked with
"the desire to end the repression and redemocratize the
country..." Meanwhile, the government's Human Rights Commission
finally agreed to pay compensation to the relatives of Brazilian
guerrillas Carlos Lamarca and Carlos Mariguela, murdered by the
military regime. [DLA 9/14/96 from AFP]
 
*13. ARMY TO PROTECT YANOMAMI IN BRAZIL?

Brazilian officials announced on Aug. 21 that the army, air force
and police will be deployed in late September or early October of
this year to clear 3,000 wildcat gold miners--known in Portuguese
as garimpeiros--out of the lands of the Yanomami indigenous
people. Four years after a similar operation failed, the new
"Operation Yanomami" will be launched to remove miners from the
Yanomami reservation on the border with Venezuela. "The actions
to be taken are an example of the Brazilian government's
unquestionable determination to preserve the environment and
protect Indian lands," the Foreign Relations Ministry said in a
statement. Justice Ministry officials said they were waiting for
the government economic team to release about $6 million before
completing the plan. "This time we will make sure the miners
don't reoccupy the area," said a ministry spokesperson. 
 
In 1992 the Brazilian government launched "Operation Free Forest"
to clear about 10,000 garimpeiros from Yanomami land. But many
drifted back. Carlos Zacquini, a director of the non-governmental
Yanomami Commission, said 10 planes a day fly in and out of the
reservation, ferrying miners and supplies, while government
observation posts have been closed for lack of funds. "Yet again,
the government is promising to solve the Yanomami's problems.
Let's hope this time they stick to it," Zacquini told Reuter,
speaking by telephone from the jungle city of Boa Vista. [Reuter
8/21/96]
 
*14. CANADA MINING COMPANY STEALS PANAMA INDIGENOUS LANDS

The indigenous Kuna people of Panama are seeking support for
their efforts to resist mining concessions on their land. The
current problems began when a friendly Canadian arrived and
bought Kuna handicrafts at double the going price. He requested
that the Kunas provide him with the official tribal seal to
authenticate the crafts for their marketing in North America. The
seal later appeared on documents authorizing the establishment of
six gold mining concessions covering most of Kuna territory. The
"friendly stranger" turned out to be Donald McInnes, president of 
Western Keltic Mines, Inc. of Vancouver, Canada. 
 
In this manner, Western Keltic acquired paper rights to mine Kuna
territory. In addition, the company successful lobbied the
Panamanian government to pass a law giving the national
government control over all mineral deposits on native lands.
Western Keltic is now conducting an extensive "public relations"
campaign to mask their land grab as a "humanitarian" effort to
help the "backward" Kuna. 
 
The Kuna have very little international recognition and support.
Kuna High Chief Sahila Tomas De Leon is asking for help to put
pressure on Western Keltic and the government of Panama to demand
that control of the land be returned to the Kuna people. Western
Keltic can be reached at 675 West Hastings St, Vancouver, BC
Canada V6B 1N2; 604-682-8414; fax 604-682-3727. Panama's
ambassador to the US, Jaime Ford Boyd, can be reached c/o Embassy
of Panama, 2862 McGill Terrace NW, Washington DC 20008; 202-483-
1407; fax 202-483-8413. For more information contact the Nele
Kantule Foundation either at PO Box 5142, Zone 5, Panama City,
Panama; 011-507-227-3729 or through the foundation's official US
representatives: Max & Prudence Heffron, 728 Canyon Road, Santa
Fe, N.M. 87501; 505-982-8569; fax 505-988-2928. [Posted on email
by John Parnell <jparnell@igc.apc.org>]
 
*15. IN OTHER NEWS...

The Cuban government has freed three more prisoners as a result
of pressure from Manuel Fraga, president of the regional
government of Galicia in Spain. The Galician government announced
during the week of Sept. 9 that with these three new cases, 119
Cubans have now been released from prison through Fraga's
intervention. The three newly released are Domiciano Torres, who
was vice president of the Democratic Civic Party; Gilberto
Fernandez Mazpule, imprisoned for illegal departure and sabotage;
and Hilarion Peix Vaz, a 22-year old engineering student who
attempted to escape to the US naval base at Guantanamo Bay in
1994. [Diario Las Americas 9/11/96 from EFE]... US national John
Heidema was rescued by the Ecuadoran police on Sept. 5 after
being held by kidnappers for 37 days in the Amazon oil-producing
zone of Cuyabeno. US ambassador to Ecuador Leslie Alexander
thanked the Ecuadoran National Police for their successful
efforts. Heidema was on vacation in the Amazon when he was
kidnapped on July 29; his kidnappers were two Ecuadorans and
three Colombians, allegedly members of a Colombian guerrilla
group. Initially they asked for $5 million but an agreement was
never reached. Four of the five kidnappers--two Ecuadorans and
two Colombians--were killed in the rescue operation. The fifth
kidnapper, the only woman of the group and mother of a six-month
old child, was arrested unhurt and has been imprisoned. [El
Comercio (Quito) 9/6/96, electronic version; DLA 9/7/96 from AFP,
EFE]... Denny Mendez, a Dominican-born black woman who became an
Italian citizen four years ago, won the title of "Miss Italy
1996" after two contest judges were suspended for saying that a
black woman could not represent Italian beauty. Analysts suspect
the comments produced a backlash in favor of Mendez; Enrico
Mentana, who voted against her, said "Not to elect Denny would
mean looking like a Class-B country." Mendez not only received
the most votes from the judges, she also received the most call-
in votes from viewers at home. [New York Times 9/10/96] A black
or biracial woman has never won the equivalent national title in
Mendez' native Dominican Republic, although 90% of the population
is biracial or black. [DLA 9/11/96]
 
END

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