WEEKLY NEWS UPDATE ON THE AMERICAS
                  ISSUE #352, OCTOBER 27, 1996
       NICARAGUA SOLIDARITY NETWORK OF GREATER NEW YORK
     339 LAFAYETTE ST., NEW YORK, NY 10012 (212) 674-9499

1. El Salvador: Cops Bust Up Veterans Demonstration
2. Rightist Is "Virtual Winner" in Nicaraguan Vote
3. Maquiladoras in Nicaragua's Future?
4. Honduras Seeks Documents from US, Argentina on Disappearances
5. Police Attack Chilean Workers' Protest
6. Chile: Communists Win University Vote
7. Chilean Communist Leader Indicted for Defamation
8. Haiti Gets $131 Million Credit
9. Trouble in Mexico: Tomatoes, Privatization, Peso 
10. Guatemalans Commemorate Anniversary of Massacre
11. Colombian Rights Activist Murdered
12. Human Rights Attorney Murdered in Brazil
13. Did Budget Cuts Cause Radiation Overdose in Costa Rica?
14. Venezuelan Prisoners Massacred in Fire Set by Guards
15. US Citizenship Not Needed to Vote in Puerto Rico
16. Cuban Hurricane Relief Drive Splits Miami Right
17. In Other News: Argentina, Ecuador
 
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*1. EL SALVADOR: COPS BUST UP VETERANS DEMONSTRATION

On Oct. 17, several dozen anti-riot agents of the Salvadoran
National Civilian Police (PNC) used tear gas and gunfire to break
up a demonstration outside the Congress building by some 500
former combatants of both the Farabundo Marti Front for National
Liberation (FMLN) rebels and the Salvadoran army. The war
veterans were trying to enter the legislature to demand such
social benefits as land and bank credits, promised to them under
the peace accords signed in January 1992. [Diario Las Americas
(Miami) 10/19/96 from EFE, 10/22/96 from AFP] A total of 31
people were arrested and dozens suffered the effects of tear gas.
Police fired tear gas at press photographers in an apparent
attempt to prevent documentation of the event, reported French
news agency Agence France-Presse. [Central American News 10/18/96
from AFP] The following week a judge ordered that eight of the
arrested veterans remain in custody under provisional detention,
and that four others be freed. The veterans are members of the
Association of Ex-Combatants and Relatives of War Victims of El
Salvador (AEGES). [DLA 10/24/96 from AFP]
 
AEGES director Cristino Gonzalez said that some 210,000 veterans
from both sides in the war have been left out of the peace
accord, despite promises that they would receive land and other
benefits. Three months ago AEGES presented the Legislative
Assembly with a proposal to turn over land to the veterans.
[Central American News 10/18/96 from AFP]
 
In other news, 1,514 members of the teaching staff at the
University of El Salvador (UES) were still on strike as of Oct.
24. The strike began on Oct. 8 [see Update #350]. [El Diario-La
Prensa (NY) 10/25/96 from Notimex]
 
*2. RIGHTIST IS "VIRTUAL WINNER" IN NICARAGUAN VOTE

As of the evening of Oct. 23 preliminary results from Nicaragua's
Oct. 20 national elections showed former Managua mayor Arnoldo
Aleman Lacayo of the rightwing Liberal Alliance winning the
presidency in the first round with 811,628 votes, 49.3% of the
valid votes. The results, released by the Supreme Electoral
Council (CSE) with 87.48% of the vote tallied, gave former
president Daniel Ortega Saavedra of the leftist Sandinista
National Liberation Front (FSLN) second place with 626,644 votes
(38.1%); Guillermo Antonio Osorno of the evangelical Nicaraguan
Christian Path (CCN) was a distant third with 67,955 votes
(4.1%), followed by Conservative Party of Nicaragua (PCN)
candidate Noel Vidaurre Arguello with 37,826 (2.3%). Turnout was
over 80%. The voting was much closer to the predictions of the
opinion polls [see Update #351] than in the last elections, when
Ortega lost to current president Violeta Barrios Chamorro in 1990
by about 41% to 55%. 
 
Liberal Alliance candidates for deputy in the National Assembly
won 44 seats, according to the CSE count, followed by the FSLN
with 37; the PCN had three seats, and the other minor parties had
nine, making a total of 93. (There are 90 deputies, but runners-
up in the presidential race get seats if they win a minimum vote
of about 1.5%; Ortega, Osorno and Vidaurre all seemed certain to
qualify.) The Alliance had won 11 of the 17 departmental
capitals, including Managua, with the rest going to the FSLN,
which retained the governments in two major Sandinista
strongholds, Leon and Esteli. [CSE Preliminary Results 10/23/96
at Web site cse.gob.ni] The Spanish news agency EFE reports that
former vice president Sergio Ramirez of the Sandinista Renovation
Movement (MRS), which broke from the FSLN last year, was a
distant eighth with just 6,472 votes (0.46%), followed with 6,304
votes (0.45%) by Benjamin Ramon Lanzas Selva of National Project
(PRONAL), the party associated with current president Violeta
Barrios de Chamorro. There were 23 presidential candidates. [El
Diario-La Prensa 10/27/96 from EFE]
 
On Oct. 24 the CSE announced that it would not produce final
results for about 19 days, while it carried out a recount
demanded by the FSLN and 10 out of the country's 32 other
parties. [ED-LP 10/25/96 from AFP] On Oct. 21, as initial results
were first being released, Ortega announced that he would not
concede without a thorough review of the results. "Unlike in
1990," he said, referring to his prompt concession speech after
losing to President Chamorro, "at this moment we cannot accept
the results. There were several anomalies. In Matagalpa [a
department northeast of Managua], comparing the official results
with our parallel count, we found 60,000 votes missing out of
300,000." "We aren't questioning the authority of the CSE, but we
have found serious irregularities," Ortega said, adding that
there had been "open violation of the election law, fraudulent
attitudes." [ED-LP 10/22/96 from AP; Independent (UK) 10/23/96;
Diario Las Americas 10/25/96 from AFP]
 
Without waiting for the winner to be announced officially, US
ambassador John Maisto visited Aleman at the Alliance offices on
Oct. 24 to congratulate him on his victory. "No international
observer noted fraud in the classic sense of electoral fraud,"
Maisto remarked, "which would mean significant differences in the
electoral process." The next day US State Department spokesperson
Nicholas Burns announced in Washington that Aleman was the
"virtual winner" and the US was ready to work with him. [DLA
10/25/96 from AFP, 10/26/96 from EFE]
 
But evidence of large-scale fraud by Aleman supporters continued
to accumulate throughout the week. Although at least some pro-
FSLN analysts doubt that the anomalies would be enough to affect
the outcome of the presidential race--where the right leads by
11%--the results in several close races for municipal governments
and the National Assembly are likely to be reversed in a recount
[see the Weekly News Update on the Americas special report,
"Losing Parties Charge Fraud in Nicaraguan Election," 10/26/96].
The FSLN's US representative, Magda Enriquez, said that the
fraudulent acts by rightists had created an "extremely dangerous
situation" and called on solidarity groups in the US "to monitor
this situation very closely and actively support the efforts that
the Nicaraguan people are making to preserve their democracy."
[Letter to Nicaragua Network (DC) 10/22/96]
 
*3. MAQUILADORAS IN NICARAGUA'S FUTURE?

According to the left-leaning Mexican daily La Jornada, the
FSLN's presidential campaign was unofficially headed by Daniel
Ortega's brother, former military head Gen. Humberto Ortega, who
favored a strategy of keeping the candidate from saying too much.
In the last days of the campaign Humberto even overruled his
brother's plans for a few press interviews. [LJ 10/20/96] Many
Sandinista supporters complained about the lack of political
content in the campaign. "Daniel is being sold like a deodorant,"
one told a Spanish newspaper. MRS head Ramirez accused the FSLN
of having "done an ideological striptease, taking off piece by
piece all of the clothing they once considered sacred. Now,
having lost, the situation is disastrous because they are
completely naked." [New York Times 10/25/96]
 
But even in the disputed official count Ortega did almost as well
as he did in 1990, and got nearly twice the 21% polls had given
him last January [see Update #337]. French journalist Maurice
Lemoine wrote a few weeks before the elections that for many of
Nicaragua's poor the FSLN remains "the lesser evil." "They are
disappointed with the Sandinistas," a sociologist told him. "But
the Sandinistas remain the only solution for avoiding a
catastrophe." [Le Monde Diplomatique, October 1996, reprinted in
Haiti Progres (NY) 10/23-29/96]
 
Like Ortega, Aleman tried to moderate his image in the last few
weeks of the campaign [LJ 10/20/96], but there is little doubt
that he is "on the right of the Latin American political
perspective," writes the New York Times, since he "advocates
giving private investors, both foreign and Nicaraguan, a freer
hand to generate jobs and trade." The US government's official
observer delegation was headed by Brian Atwood, head of the US
Agency for International Development (USAID), which routinely
provides support for neoliberal economic programs in Latin
America. Early on Oct. 21--as the first results were coming in--
Atwood told a press conference that he had already met with
Aleman and expressed a desire to "work closely with him to spur
economic development." [NYT 10/22/96] Asked later in the day how
he would pull Nicaragua out of its six-year long recession,
Aleman told the US-based Univision television network that he
would stress tourism and "free zones" (industrial parks for the
maquiladora sector). [Univision news 10/21/96] An editorial in La
Jornada warned that "it is really hard to believe that [Aleman's
supporters] will be able to restrain themselves from taking
measures that would provoke major acts of civil resistance." [LJ
10/20/96]
 
Many upperclass Nicaraguan rightists have a low opinion of the
populist Aleman, but he has benefited "from a powerful political
and financial ally in the person of... Mr. Jorge Mas Canosa,
field commander of the anti-Castro forces in Miami," according to
Lemoine. Rightwing Cuban emigre Mas Canosa is also owner of the
SINTEL communications company, formerly a subsidiary of Spain's
Telefonica Internacional. Telefonica is one of the companies
bidding on the privatization of Nicaragua's national phone
company, the Nicaraguan Telecommunications Enterprise (ENITEL)
[see Update #340]. [HP 10/23-29/96] 
 
*4. HONDURAS SEEKS DOCUMENTS FROM US, ARGENTINA ON DISAPPEARANCES

Recently declassified documents from the US State Department
reveal that more people may have been "disappeared" by Honduran
death squads--with the help of US and Argentine agents--than was
previously thought. Honduran national human rights commissioner
Leo Valladares Lanza said on Oct. 18 that the 2,600 pages of
declassified documents detail more than the 184 previously
documented cases of suspected leftists who disappeared in the
1980s and are believed murdered by army death squads. 
 
"We found `disappearances' that we didn't know about before,"
Valladares told Reuter. "Just a few cases so far, but we continue
screening the documents." Valladares is now seeking access to
Argentine files in an attempt to prove what witnesses allege:
that Argentine military officers did the "dirty work" for US
Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) agents in Honduras, training
the military in torture and kidnapping tactics and even
committing such acts themselves. The CIA agents "did not want to
do things prohibited by their country's laws, so they used the
Argentine military instead," explained Valladares. "Training
included counterinsurgency maneuvers and ... many actions which
violated human rights, such as torture and the forced
disappearance of people," he said. "The [Honduran] military
denies any part [in human rights abuses] and is not providing any
information," added Valladares. [Reuter 10/18/96, via ANTIFA
Info-Bulletin]
 
As an editorial in the New York Times on Oct. 10 points out, "So
far only the State Department has turned over documents. The
Defense Intelligence Agency and the CIA, which was more directly
involved, are still reviewing their files." The editorial urged
Argentine President Carlos Saul Menem to keep a promise he made
last May and hand over documents to Valladares. [NYT 10/10/96]
 
Valladares arrived in Buenos Aires on Oct. 16 to take part in an
international conference of commissioners; on the same day, Menem
repeated his pledge to help in the investigation. During his stay
in Buenos Aires, Valladares will seek meetings with Interior
Minister Carlos Corach and army chief Gen. Martin Balza, who last
year apologized for the army's human rights abuses during
Argentina's 1976-1986 "dirty war" in which up to 30,000 people
disappeared. Valladares may also seek to talk with Menem. "I
assume they keep [files] closely guarded," said Valladares. "But
I do have hints of where documents can be found." [Reuter
10/18/96, via ANTIFA Info-Bulletin]
 
*5. POLICE ATTACK CHILEAN WORKERS' PROTEST

On Oct. 23, Chilean Carabineros police agents used water cannons
and tear gas to break up a peaceful protest march in Santiago
called by the Central Union of Workers (CUT). The march was part
of a "Day for Public Employee Dignity" called by the CUT to
demand wage improvements, oppose privatization of the public
sector, and support municipal workers who were on the eighth day
of a national strike [see Update #352]. Some 5,000 marchers from
14 public sector unions were attacked by police when they tried
to form a single column on the Alameda O'Higgins, Santiago's main
avenue. The march dissolved as protesters ran for cover.
 
Shouting "Murderers, murderers!" at police, the demonstrators
sought refuge anywhere they could: at CUT headquarters near the
La Moneda national palace; at the entrance of a nearby metro
station; and at street vendor stalls, many of which were damaged
in the confusion. The CUT headquarters itself was attacked by
police with water cannons and tear gas. Two hours after the march
began, CUT vice president Manuel Ahumada urged protesters to
retreat and called for a general work stoppage across the
country. "National strike, national strike," yelled demonstrators
who remained in the area around the CUT headquarters. "We must
return to our workplaces and prepare ourselves for the national
strike," Ahumada told the protesters. "We will not allow more
repression." Ahumada and two other CUT leaders were briefly
detained by police during the protest; a number of others were
also arrested. 
 
Santiago mayor German Quintana blamed the violence on the
unionists because they had gone ahead with their march on the
central avenue even though he had only authorized them to hold a
rally at O'Higgins Park, some two kilometers away. Union leaders
charged police with "provocation" and called on Quintana, who was
appointed to his post by the president, to step down. [CHIP News
10/24/96; El Diario-La Prensa 10/24/96 from EFE; Diario Los Andes
(Mendoza, Argentina) 10/24/96, electronic edition, from Reuter]
 
Central Bank officials claim that Chile's budgetary spending is
at its limits, and that the government cannot give any more pay
raises. [CHIP News 10/24/96]
 
*6. CHILE: COMMUNISTS WIN UNIVERSITY VOTE

The communist leadership of the University of Chile Student
Federation (FECh) was reelected on Oct. 24 with 47% of the 9,000
student votes registered, out of a student body of 16,000. The PC
Youth and leftist independent slate came in 17 points ahead of
the government's Concertacion alliance, made up of the Christian
Democrats (PDC), the Socialist Party (PS) and the Party for
Democracy (PPD). The ecology slate won 10% of the votes, and the
rightist Independent Democratic Union (UDI) and National
Renovation (RN) parties won 7% and 5% of the votes, respectively.
 
The leftist FECh governing board, headed by Communist Party (PC)
member Rodrigo Roco, has led the students' organization since it
was voted in for a one-year transition period on Oct. 24, 1995
[see Update #300]. That vote reestablished the FECh, which had
disbanded in October 1993 after elections failed to attract the
necessary 30% voter quorum. Before the 1973 military coup, the
FECh was an active participant in national politics, and during
1973-1990 military regime, it played a key role in political
protests against the dictatorship. [CHIP News 10/25/96]
 
*7. CHILEAN COMMUNIST LEADER INDICTED FOR DEFAMATION

Chilean Communist Party (PC) secretary general Gladys Marin was
indicted on Oct. 22 on charges of defaming former dictator Gen.
Augusto Pinochet. The army filed the lawsuit against Marin for
comments she made in a speech during a protest this past Sept.
11, on the anniversary of the 1973 coup that brought Pinochet to
power. In her speech Marin blamed Pinochet, who still commands
the military, for the thousands of murders and other human rights
violations that took place under his rule. Attorneys for Pinochet
say that Marin violated a clause of the state security law which
makes it a crime to defame public figures such as the president,
congressional representatives, and the commanders-in-chief of the
Armed Forces. Appellate Court judge Ada Gajardo confirmed that
Marin's words constitute a crime. The Santiago Court of Appeals
has issued a warrant for Marin's arrest, and a spokesperson said
Marin would surrender on Oct. 24; if found guilty, she faces up
to three years in jail. 
 
Hugo Gutierrez, a member of the legal team at the Council for the
Defense of People's Rights (CODEPU) who is serving as counsel for
Marin, said the legal action infringes on the right of political
leaders to make political criticism, and therefore violates
freedom of expression. He said that a habeas corpus writ will be
filed. [Associated Press 10/22/96, via ANTIFA Info-Bulletin; CHIP
News 10/23/96]
 
*8. HAITI GETS $131 MILLION CREDIT

On Oct. 18 the International Monetary Fund (IMF) approved a
three-year credit of $131 million for Haiti to support a program
under which structural adjustments "will be accelerated." This
will include a restructuring of the "major public enterprises and
the state-owned banks" and the formulation of "a comprehensive
land reform over the next several years." An IMF statement on the
credit avoids mentioning controversial plans for laying off a
large number of public employees and for privatizing nine state-
owned enterprises, but it notes that "[s]trict implementation and
close monitoring of the program will be crucial." [IMF press
release 10/18/96 from bcorbett@netcom.com 10/22/96]
 
*9. TROUBLE IN MEXICO: TOMATOES, PRIVATIZATION, PESO 

Giving into pressure from US commerce secretary Mickey Kantor, on
Oct. 11 Mexican tomato producers agreed not to sell their
tomatoes in the US for less than 20.68 cents a pound. The accord,
which is expected to drive up US tomato prices this winter, came
as the US was about to slap punitive tariffs on Mexican tomatoes.
Florida tomato growers had been pushing US president Bill Clinton
to block the competition from Mexico. Clinton is trying to win
Florida for his Democratic Party in the Nov. 5 national
elections. "The math was pretty simple," one US official told the
New York Times. "Florida has 25 electoral votes, and Mexico
doesn't." [NYT 10/12/96] On Oct. 5 the Miami Herald reported that
in 1994 fugitive Mexican banker Carlos Cabal Peniche gave $300
million to four of Mexico's main tomato producers to flood the US
market with cheap Mexican tomatoes. [La Jornada 10/8/96] Cabal
Peniche, a strong supporter of the ruling Institutional
Revolutionary Party (PRI) in his native state of Tabasco, owned
Del Monte Fresh Produce of Florida and was seeking to buy Del
Monte Foods of San Francisco at the time. The efforts ended
abruptly in September 1994 when the Mexican government ordered
his arrest on charges of massive bank fraud [see Update #242].
 
On Oct. 13, two days after the tomato agreement, the Mexican
government announced that it was backing down on plans to sell
off the 61 petrochemical plants belonging to the state-owned oil
monopoly Petroleos Mexicanos (PEMEX). The PEMEX privatization has
been central to the economic agenda of Mexican president Ernesto
Zedillo Ponce de Leon, but has been vehemently opposed by labor
unions, some Mexican business groups, the center-left Party of
the Democratic Revolution (PRD) and many elements within the PRI
itself. Under the new plan the government will retain at least
51% ownership of the plants. [NYT 10/14/96; Mexican Labor News
and Analysis Vol. 1, #19, 10/16/96] However, new petrochemical
plants will be allowed to open after Jan. 1, 1997 with 100%
private capital. Meanwhile, the government has formally started
the privatization of Mexico's pension system, valued at about $10
billion. Foreign investors will be able to control up to 49%.
[MLNA 10/16/96; Mexico Update (Equipo Pueblo) #94, 10/16/96 from
LJ 10/14/96 and El Financiero (Mexico) 10/11/96]
 
The Mexican peso started sliding on Oct. 11, and fell to 12.93
cents to the US dollar on Oct. 14, its lowest point since
December 1995. The government responded by raising interest
rates, which helped drive stocks down by 1.43% on Oct. 14. By
Oct. 25 the peso was down to 12.66 cents. [NYT 10/15/96,
10/19/96, 10/26/96] Although the New York Times blamed the peso's
fall partly on the change in privatization plans, financial
experts have felt at least since August that the peso was
overvalued and ready for another fall [see Update #344]. [Mexico
Update 10/16/96 from LJ 10/12/96 and El Financiero 10/11/96] In
the midst of Mexico's economic problems, the US business weekly
Forbes published an article by analyst David Goldman warning
investors about political instability in Mexico. "Now is the time
to sell Mexican shares and bonds," he advised. But most Wall
Street analysts are more optimistic. "The standard of living
simply isn't getting better [in Mexico]," one told the Mexican
daily La Jornada. But "that doesn't mean that Mexico isn't a good
investment at this time; the macroeconomic numbers are good
enough..." [LJ 10/19/96, electronic edition, quotations
retranslated from Spanish]
 
*10. GUATEMALANS COMMEMORATE ANNIVERSARY OF MASSACRE

With prayers, a Mayan religious ceremony, and a day of protest,
residents of the northern Guatemalan community of Xaman
commemorated on Oct. 5 the first anniversary of the army massacre
that left 11 members of their community dead [see Updates #297,
298]. "We commemorate this tragedy with pain," read a statement
by the community of returned refugees. "One year after the
massacre the judicial proceedings haven't even arrived at the
intermediary stage [of ratifying the charges]." The Xaman case is
the first time a civilian court is hearing charges against army
personnel; 26 soldiers have been charged with the extrajudicial
execution of 9 adults and two children, and with 24 attempted
executions.
 
Last May Judge Victor Hugo Jimenez ordered the release on bail of
eight of the accused soldiers; Jimenez was later suspended. On
Oct. 9 the daily Grafico reported that 2nd Lt. Camilo Lacan
Chaclan, the commander in charge of the patrol that carried out
the massacre, is again commanding troops in the same region, in
Alta Verapaz. [Cerigua Weekly Briefs #40, 10/10/96]
 
*11. COLOMBIAN RIGHTS ACTIVIST MURDERED

On Oct. 13, Colombian human rights activist Josue Giraldo Cardona
was shot to death at the door of his home in Villavicencio--and
in front of his two daughters, aged 3 and 5--by a youth who fled
on a motorcycle. Giraldo was the president of the Meta Department
Civic Human Rights Committee, an organization that has suffered
harsh and constant intimidation, threats and murders over recent
years. So far five members of the Committee have been killed,
three disappeared and 25 forced to relocate. The committee itself
was forced to relocate to Bogota and the few remaining members
are working under death threats. Peace Brigades International
(PBI), which supports the Committee and has provided protective
accompaniment for its members, including Giraldo, is calling for
faxes demanding an in-depth investigation of Giraldo's murder,
and protection for other human rights activists, to: President
Ernesto Samper Pizano (57-1-289-3377); Defense Minister Juan
Carlos Esguerra (57-1-288-4906 or 222-1874); and Interior
Minister Horacio Serpa Uribe (57-1-284-0214 or 286-6524). For
more information contact PBI/USA, 2642 College Ave, Berkeley, CA
94704; phone 510-540-0749; fax 510-849-1247; email
<pbiusa@igc.apc.org>. [PBI Emergency Alert 10/15/96]
 
Colombia has been elected as a member of the United Nations (UN)
Human Rights Committee, although it has one of the worst human
rights records in the Americas. The Committee oversees goverment
reports required under the International Covenant on Civil and
Political Rights, and has significantly less power than the
better known UN Human Rights Commission. In August, Colombia
agreed to allow UN High Commissioner for Human Rights Jose Ayala-
Lasso to open a permanent office to monitor human rights within
Colombia. [Reuter 9/13/96 via Human Rights Briefs 9/9-15/96]
 
*12. HUMAN RIGHTS ATTORNEY MURDERED IN BRAZIL

On Oct. 21, six unidentified assailants shot to death Brazilian
human rights lawyer Gilson Nogueira on his doorstep in Natal,
capital of Rio Grande do Norte state. Nogueira was hit by 13
shots, most of them to the head. Nogueira and his colleagues at
the Center for Human Rights and Collective Memory (CDHMP) had
received repeated death threats in connection with their work in
investigating and exposing the activities of a death squad which
appears to enjoy the protection of the Rio Grande do Norte
authorities. The death squad, known as the Meninos de Ouro--
"Golden Boys"--is responsible for a number of murders and other
crimes in Natal's poor neighborhoods. At the time of his murder,
Nogueira was working with a special commission set up in May 1995
by the Rio Grande do Norte attorney general to investigate the
death squad and its connection to authorities. Nogueira's work
also included legal representation for the families of death
squad victims. Amnesty International (AI) is calling for Brazil's
federal police to investigate Nogueira's killing. [AI News
Service 10/22/96]
 
*13. DID BUDGET CUTS CAUSE RADIATION OVERDOSE IN COSTA RICA?

At an Oct. 11 press conference, Alvaro Salas, director of the
Costa Rican Social Security Fund (CCSS) national healthcare
system, announced that 109 cobalt therapy patients--including
seven children--had accidentally been given dangerously high
dosages of radiation. The Judicial Investigative Police (OIJ) has
launched an investigation to determine who or what was
responsible for the overdoses. Salas said the problem occurred in
San Juan de Dios hospital, one of two Costa Rican hospitals with
cobalt facilities, when the French-made cobalt machine was
apparently inaccurately calibrated following replacement of its
unit of cobalt 60, a radioactive isotope produced mainly in
Canada and Argentina. Hospital technicians didn't notice the
error for a month.
 
News of the radiation accident came only days after the CCSS
announced a plan for 1997 to give hospitals more autonomy in such
areas as purchasing, administrative policies and patient care, in
order to improve service and efficiency. Salas told The Tico
Times that the accident "is a clear demonstration that we have to
speed the reforms along even more." [Tico Times 10/18/96,
electronic edition]
 
According to the Union of CCSS Employees (UNDECA), the tragedy
occurred at least in part because of budget cuts within the CCSS
as part of the government's austerity measures. UNDECA
representatives claim that last year some 15 billion colones
(about $72 million) were cut from the CCSS budget for health
services. When San Jose daily La Nacion tried to contact Salas
for his response to this charge, he refused to answer the paper's
many calls. In an Oct. 23 press conference, UNDECA leader Luis
Chavarria mentioned that UNDECA also suspects the hospital tried
to save money by not contracting the full service--including
calibration--from the company that stocks the cobalt machine.
Chavarria urged the Public Ministry to broaden its investigation
because "it could turn out that Alvaro Salas and Julieta
Rodriguez, in charge of managing the institution's budget, are
also responsible" for the accidental overdose. 
 
The National Association of Public Employees (ANEP) backed
UNDECA's charges in a statement, saying it is "urgent and
necessary to talk about the budget restrictions and the fiscal
adjustment being applied in the CCSS. This prevents technical
review of the equipment, adequate maintenance and technological
innovation in medical equipment." [La Nacion 10/24/96, electronic
edition]
 
*14. VENEZUELAN PRISONERS MASSACRED IN FIRE SET BY GUARDS

On Oct. 22, a fire killed 25 inmates in the La Planta prison in
Caracas. La Planta is the second largest prison in Caracas and
one of the country's most overcrowded, with an inmate population
of 1,900--only 142 of whom have been sentenced--in a building
designed to hold 400. The fire was reportedly started by three
members of Venezuela's National Guard, who threw firebombs and
tear gas grenades into the prison cells. Eight members of the
National Guard, along with a captain and a lieutenant of the
Armed Forces, are being held in military custody in connection
with the fire. Unofficial reports on radio station RCR claim that
the guards refused to open the cell door because the prisoners
had a debt with them for drug deals. Caracas morgue authorities
had still not identified 16 of the bodies as of Oct. 24. [El
Diario-La Prensa 10/24/96 from Notimex, 10/25/96 from Notimex,
10/26/96 from EFE]
 
The Venezuela Program of Education and Action on Human Rights
(PROVEA), which groups the country's non-governmental human
rights organizations, is demanding that authorities "guarantee
the lives and safety of the suriving prisoners of La Planta."
PROVEA fears the survivors may be targeted for reprisals because
they pressured authorities to allow the press into the prison
after the fire. 
 
Venezuela's 32 prisons are chronically overcrowded, with a prison
population of 25,000 crammed into facilities that have a total
capacity of 14,000. Some 80% of the country's prisoners have not
been sentenced, partly due to delays in the justice system. The
government has used the latest tragedy to push its plans for
judicial reform, including changes that would speed up processing
of detainees. The judicial reforms are to be funded with a $60
million loan from the World Bank. [ED-LP 10/27/96 from combined
services]
 
In related news, some 10,000 judicial workers in Venezuela began
an open-ended strike on Oct. 21 to pressure the government to pay
its debts to the workers. [Diario Las Americas 10/23/96 from EFE]
 
*15. US CITIZENSHIP NOT NEEDED TO VOTE IN PUERTO RICO

A court in Puerto Rico ruled on Oct. 21 that independence leader
Juan Mari Bras can vote in the island's upcoming elections,
despite having formally renounced his US citizenship in December
1995. Judge Angel Hermida ruled that requiring US citizenship in
order to vote is a violation of Puerto Rico's constitution. The
court's decision establishes that anyone born in Puerto Rico of
Puerto Rican parents and living in Puerto Rico can vote in Puerto
Rico's elections. Mari Bras was the first to formally renounce
his US citizenship; he was followed by dozens of other
independence supporters. [El Diario-La Prensa 10/22/96, 10/23/96]
 
In other news, Puerto Rico's symphony orchestra is on strike
demanding a 2.5% wage increase. After weeks of protests, the more
than 100 musicians unanimously voted on Oct. 20 to go out on
strike. The strikers picketed with a concert on the sidewalk in
front of the Fine Arts Center. "This orchestra is recognized as
one of the best in the world," said orchestra director Pedro
Rivera Toledo. "Nevertheless we have the worst salaries in the
world." [ED-LP 10/22/96]
 
*16. CUBAN HURRICANE RELIEF DRIVE SPLITS MIAMI RIGHT

The US Treasury Department's Office of Foreign Assets Control has
granted a special license allowing the US charity Catholic Relief
Services to charter an emergency humanitarian flight to deliver
relief supplies to Cuba in the wake of Hurricane Lili, which
caused serious damages to the central part of the island. The US
does not normally allow charter flights to Cuba. Catholic Relief
Services will hand the aid over to the Cuban Catholic Church
charity Caritas, which according to a White House statement "has
committed itself to carrying out the maximum effort to ensure
that the donations reach those who need them most." [El Diario-La
Prensa 10/24/96 from AFP, quote retranslated from Spanish]
 
Some 50 tons of aid were collected in the donation campaign led
by Miami auxiliary bishop Agustin Roman. The campaign has created
tensions in Miami, where some rightwing Cuban-Americans argue the
aid will fall into the hands of Cuban president Fidel Castro. One
of the sites where aid was collected received "a dozen bomb
threats," according to priest Francisco Santana, who added that
he and Roman were also insulted in the street. Santana blamed the
bomb threats on local call-in radio shows. One of the main anti-
Castro radio stations, WQBA "La Cubanisima," supported the fund
drive from the beginning, while others like Radio Mambi and CMQ-
Cadena Nacional called on Cubans in Florida to boycott the
campaign. [ED-LP 10/22/96 from AFP] Among those supporting the
drive are the far rightwing Cuban American National Foundation
(CANF) of Jorge Mas Canosa; among those opposed are US
representatives Ileana Ros-Lehtinen and Lincoln Diaz-Balart (both
R-FL). [Diario Las Americas 10/22/96, 10/23/96]
 
Cuban emigre journalist Luis Ortega writes in his weekly column
in New York Spanish-language daily El Diario-La Prensa that
Armando Perez Roura, one of the radio hosts who objects to the
church hurricane relief drive, actually entered the Cubanisima
studios where he insulted, threatened and physically attacked the
director of the station. Ortega says Perez Roura is angry about
the hurricane relief drive because he was in the middle of his
own fundraising marathon--seeking to collect thousands of dollars
for a mausoleum--when the church began its drive, effectively
steering donations away from his project. [ED-LP 10/23/96]
 
*17. IN OTHER NEWS...

Two police agents from Buenos Aires province in Argentina have
been sentenced to life in prison for the fatal shooting of 19-
year old street vendor Rogelio Romero on Jan. 8, 1995. Cpl.
Eduardo Bruni and Sgt. Federico Galarza shot Romero 11 times in
the Lanus neighborhood 15 kilometers south of Buenos Aires.
[Diario Las Americas 10/26/96 from AFP]... A cargo plane of the
US company Million Air crashed shortly after takeoff into a
neighborhood of the Ecuadoran port city of Manta and exploded,
damaging five city blocks of housing and killing at least 30
people. Another 80 people were injured. The Boeing 707 was
carrying frozen fish and flowers. Million Air said on Oct. 23
that "like all airlines, Million Air has a $200 million insurance
policy with the British company Lloyds," and that all victims
will be compensated. [El Diario-La Prensa 10/24/96 from combined
services & correspondent] On the same day, another Boeing 707
used as a cargo plane by the Argentine Air Force crashed at
Ezeiza airport in Argentina, killing two crew members and
injuring six. [ED-LP 10/24/96 from EFE]

END

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