WEEKLY NEWS UPDATE ON THE AMERICAS
                ISSUE #360, DECEMBER 22, 1996
       NICARAGUA SOLIDARITY NETWORK OF GREATER NEW YORK
     339 LAFAYETTE ST., NEW YORK, NY 10012 (212) 674-9499

1. Bolivian Army Attacks Miners, Four Dead
2. Rebels Hold Hundreds Hostage in Peru
3. Peru's MRTA: Good Planners, Clumsy Waiters
4. Peruvian Rebels Dismissed As "Spent Force"
5. Peru's President Losing Grip
6. US Pushing for Peru Bloodbath?
7. Panamanians Protest on US Invasion Anniversary
8. Panama: Workers Protest Austerity
9. Amnesty Law Signed in Guatemala
10. Urban Transport Strike in Guatemala
11. Honduran Military Linked to Bombings
12. Action Alert: Mexican Street Cleaners on Hunger Strike

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*1. BOLIVIAN ARMY ATTACKS MINERS, FOUR DEAD

Four people were killed and 19 injured on Dec. 19 when some 600
Bolivian police and army troops tried to remove protesters from
the Amayapampa gold mine in Potosi department using tear gas,
rubber bullets and firearms. Miners and their families had
occupied the Amayapampa and Capasirca mines to prevent the new
owner, the Canadian firm Da Capo Resources, from taking control.
Some reports said three miners and one 15-year old child were
killed; the government admitted only three deaths. [Bolivian
Ministry of Social Communication (MCS) summaries of morning &
evening media 12/20/96; Diario Las Americas (Miami) 12/21/96 from
AFP]
 
The Bolivian Mine Workers Union Federation immediately called a
24-hour strike in solidarity with the Amayapampa and Capasirca
workers, and an emergency national meeting of miners unions was
called for Dec. 20. The Bolivian Workers Central (COB) declared
24 hours of mourning in all Bolivia's mining communities and
called for a national mobilization--including a protest march in
La Paz--for Dec. 20 to protest the government's violent attack on
the miners. The COB is demanding that President Gonzalo Sanchez
de Lozada and the others responsible for the killings be put on
trial; and that Da Capo Resources be expelled from Bolivia. [MCS
morning & evening summaries 12/20/96] 
 
The attack on miners was the first prominent military action
taken by new governance minister Franklin Anaya Vasquez; Anaya
was in the region when the action was launched, but returned
later in the day to La Paz. The new minister is being closely
advised by his predecessor, Carlos Sanchez Berzain, notorious for
having led the government's violent crackdowns on unionists, coca
growers and other protesters. [MCS morning media summary
12/17/96, 12/20/96]
 
Anaya took office on Dec. 1, when Bolivian president Gonzalo
Sanchez de Lozada officially inaugurated the "electoral period"
of his government with new cabinet appointments. Alfonso Kreidler
takes over as Defense Minister; Raul Espana as Justice Minister
(replacing Rene Blattman); Hugo San Martin as Labor Minister
(replacing Reynaldo Peters); and Mauricio Balcazar as Social
Comunication Minister. Another seven ministers were ratified for
continuation in their posts. The changes were made to comply with
electoral requirements for presidential candidates; at least two
of those stepping down--Blattman and Sanchez Berzain--are to
compete for the presidential candidacy in the primary elections
of the ruling Nationalist Revolutionary Movement (MNR). [MCS
morning media summary 12/2/96, 12/3/96]
 
*2. REBELS HOLD HUNDREDS HOSTAGE IN PERU

As of the afternoon of Dec. 22 a small commando unit of Peru's
leftist Tupac Amaru Revolutionary Movement (MRTA) continued to
hold nearly 400 prominent Peruvians and members of the diplomatic
community at the Lima residence of the Japanese ambassador to
Peru, Morihisha Aoki. It was not clear what would happen next in
a crisis that started on the night of Dec. 17 with a surprise
MRTA assault on the residence, where about 700 guests were
attending a party in honor of Japanese emperor Akihito.
 
Peru's government has given confusing signals about its
intentions. On Dec. 21 Victor Joy Way, president of the Peruvian
Congress and a close associate of President Alberto Fujimori,
told the press that the government had ruled out the use of
force. A few hours later Fujimori broke four days of silence to
tell a television audience that his government would rule out
force only if the rebels laid down their arms. For their part,
the MRTA members have so far not carried out their threats to
begin executing hostages if their negotiating deadlines were not
met. Complicating the situation further are the conflicting
interests of at least 10 nations with diplomatic representatives
among the hostages. Japan, which traditionally opposes the use of
force in hostage situations, has the right under international
law to bar Peruvian police actions in the residence, which is
legally Japanese territory. [El Diario-La Prensa (NY) 12/22/96
from AFP and EFE; National Public Radio 12/22/96; New York Times,
some from Reuter; Washington Post 12/22/1996]
 
Among the hostages were Foreign Minister Francisco Tudela,
Agriculture Minister Rodolfo Munante, several Congress members,
members of the Supreme Court and numerous foreign diplomats,
including the ambassadors of Japan, Germany, Canada, Bolivia,
Venezuela, Argentina, Uruguay, Brazil and Cuba. Also among the
hostages were the director of the US Agency for International
Development (USAID) in Peru: the chief of the US Drug Enforcement
Administration (DEA) in Peru; Gen. Maximo Rivera, director of
Peru's National Directorate Against Terrorism (DINCOTE), and
Carlos Dominguez, the former DINCOTE director. [Caretas (Lima)
#1445, 12/19/96]
 
The MRTA unit released some 180 hostages, mostly women, children
and older people, on the night of the takeover. On Dec. 18 the
rebels freed Canada's ambassador to Peru, Anthony Vincent, along
with the German and Greek ambassadors and a French cultural
attache. [NYT 12/19/96] On the night of Dec. 20, the rebels
released another group of some 38 hostages, including Peruvian
congressperson Javier Diez Canseco Cisneros, who read a statement
in the name of about 180 hostages held on the second floor,
asking the government to rule out any attempt at military action.
[Prensa Latina (Cuba) 12/21/96; NYT 12/21/96] Also among those
released were Callao mayor Alexander Kouri; Manuel Romero Caro,
director of the Lima daily Gestion; and Roberto Cores, a
photographer for the Lima daily La Republica. [LR 12/21/96] Five
more hostages were released on Dec. 21. [NYT 12/22/96]
 
Several of the freed hostages--including Canadian ambassador
Vincent and Peruvian Foreign Ministry official Armando Lecaros--
have acted as mediators between the government and the commando
unit. According to Vincent and Lecaros, the rebels' demands
include the release of 458 MRTA militants imprisoned in Peru,
Bolivia and Uruguay; the repeal of the Amnesty Law because it
favors the paramilitary Colina Group and other human rights
violators; reestablishment of union rights and labor stability;
abolition of the new land law and guaranteed recognition of the
campesino community; and an end to the government's neoliberal
economic policy. [PL 12/21/96; LR 12/18/96] On Dec. 21 Vincent
and Lecaros announced the end of their formal mediation in the
affair, although Vincent said he would continue to serve as an
unofficial mediator. Fujimori has designated Education Minister
Domingo Palermo Cabrejos as the official negotiator. [PL
12/21/96]
 
The hostages inside the Japanese ambassador's residence are also
trying to involve themselves in the negotiations. On Dec. 21
Foreign Minister Tudela gave an interview to Peru's America
Television by radio from inside the residence. The foreign
minister--who has reportedly been picked as the first victim if
the hostages are executed--said that "it is indispensable" to
open up communication between the government and the rebels. "I
feel I can help [in the negotiations], but I'm very frustrated
because I can't communicate," since the government has cut
telephone links to the residence, along with water and
electricity services. Tudela suggested that the government should
examine the MRTA's demands "deeply and with reflection." [ED-LP
12/22/96 from EFE]
 
*3. PERU'S MRTA: GOOD PLANNERS, CLUMSY WAITERS

The MRTA group that seized the ambassador's residence calls
itself the "Oscar Torres Condezo" commando, after an MRTA founder
who was killed in Colombia by Colombian troops while taking part
in actions with the "America Battalion," made up of guerrilla
members from different Latin American countries. 
 
According to sources from DINCOTE, the MRTA operation had been
carefully planned. The 25 or so rebels were divided in three
groups. The first group entered disguised as waiters with the
service personnel and brought in some weapons with the serving
utensils. (Some of the freed hostages said they had noticed
strange behavior among waiters, including clumsiness--one waiter
spilled a drink on a woman's dress.) The second group entered
bringing the floral arrangements for the party--with guns hidden
among the flowers. The third group of about a dozen rebels
arrived in a vehicle painted as an ambulance immediately after
the operation began, then jumped a fence and entered through the
back of the building, leaving the vehicle's engine on with a box
of ammunition inside. Minutes later, the rebels set off an
explosive device near the ambassador's residence, causing many
security agents to run off to the site of the explosion.
 
A shootout that followed the takeover lasted for about 40
minutes, with a rain of bullets hitting the ambassador's
residence and the rebels responding intermittently. At one point,
a police chief shouted to the rebels: "You're surrounded,
surrender!" A rebel responded with "Homeland or death, we will
win!" and a volley of automatic rifle fire. Security forces also
lobbed tear gas grenades inside the building, where the gas
mainly affected the hostages. 
 
According to the magazine Caretas, the shootout occurred because
of the "improvisation and bad initial handling of the crisis" by
security forces. Dozens of police agents from different units--
uniformed and undercover agents, private bodyguards, and embassy
security teams from different embassies--began arriving in the
area, and "they were all shouting and giving contradictory
orders," reports Caretas. Adding to the confusion was the growing
mob of journalists, relatives of hostages, neighbors, curious
onlookers and firefighters. An official from a foreign embassy
commented that it was shocking that after so many years of
violence in Peru there was no plan that allowed security forces
to react rapidly and in an orderly fashion to a situation like
this. [Caretas #1445, 12/19/96]
 
DINCOTE had known since August that the MRTA was planning an
action to free its top leaders. On Aug. 29 DINCOTE officials
arrested Maria Montero Rojas, who was caught carrying a letter
signed by "Evaristo" (nom de guerre of MRTA leader Nestor Cerpa
Cartolini) to her imprisoned companion Emilio Villalobos Alva--a
member of the MRTA central committee--during a routine visit to
the Miguel Castro Castro prison, located in a suburb northeast of
Lima. The letter contained instructions from Cerpa regarding
actions that MRTA prisoners should take in Castro Castro prison;
it referred specifically to the taking of an "important
objective" and the "active participation" of the imprisoned MRTA
militants. 
 
In the Yanamayo maximum security prison in Puno, police noticed
in the past two weeks some strange movement among MRTA prisoners.
According to police sources, a rumor was heard of an impending
"strong blow" against the government, but authorities were unable
to determine what that "blow" would be. [La Republica 12/18/96]  
On Dec. 16, just one day before the takeover of the ambassador's
residence, a group of 1,077 MRTA prisoners in Miguel Castro
Castro began a hunger strike to protest bad conditions in the
prison. The hunger strike was joined by 77 prisoners from the
Maoist Peruvian Communist Party (PCP, also known as Sendero
Luminoso or Shining Path). In a letter read over Peruvian
television, the rebel prisoners demanded better food and more
family visits, as well as changes in Peru's anti-terrorist
legislation and the elimination of the system of anonymous
("faceless") judges. Family visits are currently allowed once a
month for a half hour; the prisoners are demanding that visits be
allowed twice a month and that they be "face to face," as opposed
to the current system where prisoners are kept apart from their
visitors by bars or heavy glass. As of Dec. 17, the hunger strike
was continuing, and dozens of family members gathered outside the
prison waiting for prison officials to provide information.
National police agents arrived on Dec. 16 as backup for the
prison guards, to "avoid any surprises," according to officer
Juan Martin Frisper. [ED-LP 12/17/96 from Notimex, 12/18/96 from
Notimex]
 
In its evening edition on Dec. 18, La Republica reported that
1,749 prisoners from the MRTA and the PCP had intensified their
hunger strike at the Castro Castro prison, and that female
relatives were allowed to visit the inmates and were able to
inform them of the happenings at the ambassador's residence. [LR
12/18/96]
 
*4. PERUVIAN REBELS DISMISSED AS "SPENT FORCE"

The MRTA raid was led by Nestor Cerpa Cartolini, a former union
leader who directed a strike at the Cromotex textile factory in
1979. He reportedly fought previously in the PCP, Peru's larger
and older guerrilla group, but was expelled after proposing a
merger with the MRTA, in which he then became a leader. [ED-LP
12/22/96 from EFE] The MRTA itself was formed out of several left
currents in 1983. In contrast to the PCP, it has always
maintained relations with other left groups both inside and
outside Peru; senior leader Victor Polay, imprisoned since 1992,
was a college roommate of Alan Garcia, a social democrat who was
Peru's president from 1984 to 1990, and Polay's father was a
leader in Garcia's APRA party. The MRTA is now said to have 300
to 600 active members at large. [NYT 12/19/96, 12/21/96]
According to DINCOTE sources, of the 21 members of the MRTA's
central committee, nine are in prison, ten are at large--three of
them reportedly outside of Peru--and two have died. Of the MRTA's
11-member National Executive Committee, five members are in
prison, five are at large and one is dead. Of the five-member
National Directorate, three members are at large. [La Republica
12/20/96]
 
Reportedly included among the prisoners whose freedom is being
demanded by the MRTA commando is US national Lori Berenson,
arrested on Nov. 30, 1995 and sentenced last January to life in
prison [see Update #359]. It is not clear whether Panamanian
national Pacifico Castrellon Santamaria is included. Castrellon
allegedly met Berenson in Panama and went with her to Lima; after
he was arrested with Berenson he collaborated with Peruvian
authorities--providing much of the testimony used to convict her-
-and is now serving a 30-year sentence in Castro Castro prison.
Castrellon's mother and sister have asked Fujimori to block any
possible demand by the MRTA for Castrellon's freedom. "We know
that Pacifico is not a member of that group, and therefore he
should not be the object of any negotiations in that respect,"
stated Lorenza Santamaria and her daughter, Isabel Castrellon, in
a press conference in Panama. "In addition, handing Pacifico over
to the MRTA could put his life in danger," added the relatives.
Isabel Castrellon claimed that her brother was tricked into
collaborating with the MRTA. The relatives insist that Castrellon
"is expecting that within a short time he could be pardoned and
allowed to return to Panama." [La Nacion (Costa Rica) 12/19/96
from EFE, 12/20/96 from ACAN-EFE; La Prensa (Panama) 12/19/96]  
While campaigning for the presidency in April 1990, Fujimori
blamed the growth of Peru's two rebel movements on the "total
myopia" of the two previous presidents: "They are primarily
responsible for the terrorism." "Don't forget that people have
the right to rebel in the face of social injustice," Fujimori was
quoted as saying by the New York Times [see Update #7]. As
president Fujimori has tried to break the PCP and the MRTA
through repressive measures. In April 1992 Fujimori carried out a
"self-coup" in which he and the military dissolved Congress and
the court system and radically revised the Constitution. "What
has been achieved here in Peru is extraordinary," he told the
British news service Reuter last May. "In less than three years
we have decapitated, eliminated the presence of both terrorist
groups." "All agree that the MRTA is a spent force," Reuter wrote
at the time. [Reuter 5/15/96] PCP supporters agreed that the MRTA
was finished: in July La Nueva Bandera, a publication of the PCP-
affiliated Peru Popular Movement (MPP), referred scathingly to
the group's "moribund armed revisionism." [Nueva Bandera, posted
7/14/96]
 
*5. PERU'S PRESIDENT LOSING GRIP

The MRTA attack came at an inopportune moment for Peru's
government. Caretas columnist Fernando Rospigliosi called the
MRTA takeover "the cherry on the cake," citing the economic
recession, an increase in crime and violence in Lima, continued
military maneuvers on the Ecuadoran border, the arrest of retired
general Rodolfo Robles [see Updates #357, 359], a new law on the
selection of high court judges and a "disastrous privatization
policy" as factors contributing to increased public disapproval. 

A poll of Lima residents taken in mid-December by the polling
firm CPI shows approval for Fujimori's government at 44.9%, with
disapproval at 54.4%. Independent Lima mayor Alberto Andrade is
considerably more popular than Fujimori, although his heavy-
handed crackdown on street vendors in the city center brought his
approval rating down from 78.3% in November to 69.5% in December.
[Caretas #1445, 12/19/96]
 
The Democratic Forum will wait until the MRTA hostage situation
is resolved before renewing its collection of signatures for a
referendum on Fujimori's bid to be allowed to run for a third
consecutive term [see Update #353], the group's national
coordinator Alberto Borea Odria announced on Dec. 17. The group
had planned to begin a massive signature campaign in Lima on Dec.
20 and 21, starting in the districts of Miraflores and Barranco.
[LR 12/18/96]
 
Just a week before the embassy action, the Peruvian government
had declared triumph in surpassing its 1996 tourism goal by
celebrating the arrival of this year's tourist #600,000, Los
Angeles resident Sarah Gross Heller. Gross, a US correspondent
for BBC, arrived on Dec. 9 in Lima for a vacation accompanied by
her friend Meredith Kollorener, a medical student at Stanford
University. Much to their surprise, they were greeted by a
welcoming party of tourism officials, journalists and live bands;
ushered into a limousine for a noisy caravan through the streets
of Lima; and feted at a luxury hotel. [Caretas #1444 12/12/96]  

*6. US PUSHING FOR PERU BLOODBATH?

An embarrassment for the Fujimori government is also an
embarrassment for the US, which has frequently backed the
Peruvian president. In August and September opposition parties in
Congress demanded an investigation into allegations that
Vladimiro Montesinos, Fujimori's main intelligence adviser, works
for the US Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) and is involved in
drug running [see Updates #343, 345]. Gen. Barry McCaffrey, the
US "drug czar," visited Peru in late October. When asked about
Montesinos' alleged drug ties, McCaffrey told a reporter he had
confidence that all the government's advisers were honest. "Gen.
McCaffrey's comments were front-page news in Peru, where they
were taken as support for the popular theory that Mr. Montesinos
enjoys Washington's protection," the New York Times wrote in an
editorial. "Gen. McCaffrey lost an important opportunity to
distance the American government from Mr. Montesinos." [NYT
11/25/96]
 
On Dec. 19, US State Department spokesperson Nicholas Burns
revealed that a team of US experts in counterterrorism had gone
to Lima to help US ambassador Dennis Jett "protect the lives of
the nearly 10,000 US citizens who live in Peru." Burns said the
experts are from several departments of the US government,
including the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI). [Gestion
(Lima) 12/20/96] On Dec. 20, Burns declined to comment on rumors-
-published the same day in Panamanian daily El Panama America--
that the US military had dispatched a specialized anti-kidnapping
commando called "Delta Force" from Fort Bragg, North Carolina, to
Howard Air Force base in the Panama Canal Zone, in preparation
for possible deployment to Peru. "I am not going to discuss any
troop movement," said Burns. "That is not the job of the State
Department." [ED-LP 12/21/96 from EFE; LR 12/21/96 from AFP,
quote retranslated from Spanish]
 
The US has attempted to keep a low profile in the crisis but
leaves little doubt that it is pushing for the use of force. US
embassy spokesperson Frederick La Sor told reporters that "we as
a government will not negotiate with terrorists and will not meet
their demands." [NYT 12/22/96] [The US government's actions are
not always consistent with its official policy of refusing to
negotiate with hostage takers. The Peruvian crisis started just
after the tenth anniversary of the Reagan administration's
November 1986 admission that the US had repeatedly sold arms
worth millions of dollars to Iran in exchange for US hostages
being held in Lebanon by pro-Iranian groups.]
 
Few Peruvians share Washington's enthusiasm for a commando raid.
On Dec. 21 former hostage Diez Canseco--a Congress member for the
United Left party (IU)--told reporters that the rebels were well
armed and had dynamite and plastic explosives, implying that they
intended to blow themselves and the hostages up if they were
attacked. "I'm saying this so that the North Americans will
understand," he added. [Univision TV 12/21/96] Writing in the
influential Lima daily La Republica, columnist Mauricio Mulder
urged the government to negotiate. He cited the example of the
1985 occupation of the Palace of Justice in Bogota, Colombia by
the M-19 rebels, which the government tried to end through the
use of force. The military operation left hundreds dead,
including the entire Supreme Court. [LR 12/21/96] 
 
The M-19's Antonio Navarro Wolff, now mayor of the southern
Colombian city of Pasto, pointed out on Dec. 19 that the MRTA
operation was similar to a successful M-19 action, the taking of
the Dominican embassy in Bogota in February 1980. The crisis
ended with a negotiated settlement after the rebels held 58
hostages for 61 days. The M-19 is now a legal political party,
having made peace with the government in 1990. [ED-LP 12/22/96
from EFE] In the Bogota incident the hostages were released after
the government agreed that observers from the Inter-American
Commission on Human Rights would attend the military trials of
200 guerrillas; the hostage takers were given free passage to
Cuba with a ransom estimated between $1 and $2 million. Former US
ambassador to Colombia Diego Asencio, who was one of the M-19's
hostages, has suggested that a similar approach may help to
resolve the situation in Peru. The Human Rights Actions Network
of Derechos Human Rights advises sending letters to Fujimori and
other authorities requesting that the Peruvian government respect
international law and not initiate any action that would violate
the diplomatic immunity of the Japanese ambassador's residence;
and negotiate in good faith and offer to comply with its
obligations under international law by providing fair reviews of
all sentences in terrorism and treason cases, and by improving
prison conditions. President Fujimori's fax (from the US) is 011-
51-14-4266770. [Derechos Human Rights 12/21/96]
 
*7. PANAMANIANS PROTEST ON US INVASION ANNIVERSARY

About 1,000 people marched on Dec. 20 through the streets of
Panama City to commemorate the seventh anniversary of the Dec.
20, 1989 US invasion of Panama. The peaceful demonstration,
called by the Committee of Relatives of the Victims of December
20 (CFC), began at 5 pm in Porras park and ended two hours later
in the El Chorrillo neighborhood. The demonstrators--dressed in
black as a sign of mourning--carried signs with slogans against
the US government and against the administration of former
Panamanian president Guillermo Endara, whom they blame for the
invasion. According to figures from the Catholic Church, 560
Panamanians, mostly civilians, died during the invasion; sources
from the CFCD--citing an alleged report leaked from the US army--
say that 7,559 people were killed. The CFCD insists that there
are still mass graves in Colon, Rio Hato and Amador. According to
CFCD leader Edith Bonilla, the victims' relatives "are still
afraid and that's why they don't speak of their dead." 
 
Absent from the march this year was Isabel Corro, former leader
of the Association of Victims' Relatives, who is now serving as
Panama's consul general in the Chilean port city of Valparaiso.
Panamanian daily La Prensa reports that it was not known whether
Corro had sent a letter to Panama supporting the march. [La
Prensa 12/21/96]
 
*8. PANAMA: WORKERS PROTEST AUSTERITY

On Dec. 17 some 400 workers, indigenous people, nurses and
students in Panama held a protest march in the capital against
the government's neoliberal economic measures. Air traffic
controllers who were fired in November for going out on strike
[see Update #356] led the march, which culminated in a peaceful
demonstration in front of the presidency building. There were no
incidents, although some of the riot police guarding the building
were armed with birdshot rifles, tear gas grenades and anti-riot
shields. A group of march leaders entered the presidential
building and gave deputy presidency minister Oscar Ceville a
letter rejecting the privatization plans of the administration of
President Ernesto Perez Balladares. March leader Genaro Lopez
warned the privatization policies "will increase unemployment."
The demonstration was called by the National Coordinating
Committee of Labor Union Unity (CONUSI). [La Prensa (Panama)
12/18/96] The government has announced the privatization of
various state enterprises, including the electricity authority
(IRHE) and the telephone company (INTEL). [Diario Las Americas
12/19/96 from AFP] The marchers were also protesting government
plans to eliminate special pensions, and were demanding
government approval of a land reserve for the Ngobe-Bugle
indigenous nation. [La Prensa (Panama) 12/18/96; El Panama
America (Panama) 12/18/96] 
 
On Dec. 18 the Indigenous Affairs Commission of Panama's
Legislative Assembly approved in a first debate a proposal to
create the Ngobe Bugle indigenous reserve. A second debate is
expected during the week of Dec. 23. [La Prensa 12/19/96]
 
*9. AMNESTY LAW SIGNED IN GUATEMALA

In a closed session on Dec. 18, Guatemala's Congress gave final
approval to an amnesty law worked out in negotiations between the
government and leftist Guatemalan National Revolutionary Unity
(URNG). With a vote of 65 to eight, Congress approved the so-
called "reconciliation law" that governs the rebel demobilization
process and reincorporation into civil society, as established in
an accord signed on Dec. 12 in Madrid between the government and
the URNG. Legislators from the New Guatemala Democratic Front
(FDNG) voted against the bill, as did those from the National
Center Union (UCN) party. Grassroots, human rights and religious
groups in Guatemala--including the Catholic Church leadership--
all oppose the amnesty law as approved by Congress, charging it
will lead to impunity for human rights violators and impede true
reconciliation. [Cerigua newsfeed 12/19/96, 12/20/96; Daily
Report 12/18/96 from cpdgua@laneta.apc.org] 
 
In a Dec. 19 editorial, the New York Times criticized the amnesty
law as "a law that condones the worst kind of lawlessness and
offers blanket forgiveness for unpardonable crimes. According to
the Times, "The amnesty law provides that virtually no crime by
either side [government or rebel forces] can be prosecuted if it
took place as part of the armed conflict. That could allow
massacres and other horrific crimes by either side to escape
prosecution so long as those who committed them declared they
were taking part in a military action." [NYT 12/19/96] Gustavo
Porras, president of the Guatemalan government's negotiations
commission, claims the law leaves open the possibility of putting
on trial those who commit crimes of genocide, torture, forced
disappearance or other offenses which are unpardonable under
domestic or international law. [El Diario-La Prensa 12/22/96 from
AP] 
 
The Myrna Mack Foundation is proposing three changes to the law,
including the clear definition of the kind of crimes excluded
from it to avoid leaving such decisions to a judge's discretion.
[Daily Report 12/18/96 from cpdgua@laneta.apc.org] 
 
Some 5,000 inmates at the Pavon prison handed over weapons in a
protest on Dec. 10 and demanded to be included in the amnesty;
the prisoners warned that if they were not included, they would
present a legal appeal against the rebel demobilization accord.
[ED-LP 12/11/96 from Notimex] 
 
*10. URBAN TRANSPORT STRIKE IN GUATEMALA

Urban transport operators in the Guatemalan capital began an
open-ended service stoppage on Dec. 17 to demand higher fares for
bus service. The National Urban Transport Coordinating Committee,
grouping the city's privately owned bus companies, pulled over
3,000 units off the streets after the municipal government
refused to authorize a 20% fare increase. The bus operators have
little or no support among city residents, who cannot afford to
pay higher fares; at least one bus was burned by angry residents
in the "Gerona" neighborhood. [El Diario-La Prensa 12/18/96 from
Notimex] Guatemala City mayor Oscar Berger announced on Dec. 20
that all relations between the municipal government and the urban
transport operators had been severed. [Prensa Libre (Guatemala)
12/21/96] 
 
Over 300 people took part in a protest demonstration on Dec. 20
organized by the Unity of Union and Grassroots Action (UASP)
against the bus operators' attempts to raise fares. Demonstrators
demanded that government authorities not allow themselves to be
blackmailed by the bus operators, and called on the public to
refuse to pay any fare increase that may be approved. [Prensa
Libre 12/21/96] [The UASP groups a number of grassroots human
rights, campesino and labor organizations. Some 5,000 people
participated in a march organized by UASP last Oct. 20 in
Guatemala City to commemorate the 52nd anniversary of the popular
uprising that overthrew dictator Gen. Jorge Ubico Casteneda and
began 10 years of democracy--a democracy which was then crushed
in 1954 by a US-backed coup. [Cerigua Weekly Briefs #42,
10/18/96]]
 
The Association of University Students (AEU) held a demonstration
on Dec. 17 against the transport strike. [Daily Report 12/17/96
from cpdgua@laneta.apc.org] Human Rights Prosecutor Jorge Mario
Garcia Laguardia also urged the government not to allow itself to
be pressured by the bus operators. [Daily Report 12/17/96 from
cpdgua@laneta.apc.org] Union and grassroots leaders are warning
that social upheaval could occur if municipal authorities bow to
pressure from bus operators and raise transport fares. [Cerigua
newsfeed 12/17/96]
 
Mayor Berger has offered to allow demobilized URNG rebels and
army soldiers to work in a planned new municipal transport
system, which will initially have 800 buses. Berger said he had
an offer from Mercedes Benz to lease 500 buses, which could be
sold to ex-rebels and ex-soldiers as part of their
reincorporation into civilian life. [Daily Report 12/18/96 from
cpdgua@laneta.apc.org]
 
*11. HONDURAN MILITARY LINKED TO BOMBINGS

Honduran attorney general Edmundo Orellana said on Dec. 16 that
only the military has C-4 explosives like those used in an
attempted bombing at the Public Ministry building in Tegucigalpa
on Dec. 3. "We know that the grenades that have exploded are not
accessible to just anyone, but what is most serious is that the
explosive device found in the Public Ministry is so sophisticated
that only military personnel and the Armed Forces could have it,"
said Orellana. The C-4 bomb was deactivated in a tank of water.
Authorities don't know who placed the bomb, or how it was brought
into the building past heavy security. C-4 was also used in bombs
deactivated recently in the Supreme Court building and the
headquarters of the ruling Liberal Party. Public Security Force
(FSP) spokesperson Capt. Danilo Orellana said on Dec. 16 that if
the attorney general believes the Armed Forces are the authors of
the attack, then he should present a formal accusation and
evidence to the courts. The attorney general said the attacks
could have come "from all of those who feel threatened by
justice, such as car thieves, drug traffickers, corrupt officials
and those who have violated human rights." [La Nacion (Costa
Rica) 12/17/96 from ACAN-EFE]
 
A wave of bombings and attempted bombings has hit Honduras in
recent months. The most serious attack was on Nov. 7, when a
grenade exploded at a Tegucigalpa court building, killing a
security guard and injuring at least 22 people [see Update #354].
Television stations received calls from a group calling itself
"Justice C" which claimed responsibility for the Nov. 7 bombing
and said it planned more attacks against the Honduran justice
system and several judges. The courthouse bombed on Nov. 7
contains the offices of justices Roy Medina and Rafael Castro
Avila, who are the judges in trials of military officers charged
with human rights abuses. [UPI 11/9/96 via Derechos: The Week in
Human Rights 11/4-10/96]
 
*12. ACTION ALERT: MEXICAN STREET CLEANERS ON HUNGER STRIKE

The Miguel A. Pro Juarez Human Rights Center (Prodh), a Mexican
human rights group, is asking for faxes in support of a group of
street cleaners from Villahermosa, Tabasco, who are protesting in
Mexico City [see Update #359]. Two of them, Venancio Jimenez
Martinez and Jose Luis Magana Alamilla, have been on hunger
strike since Oct. 14, and their condition is now very serious.
They are protesting the failure of Tabasco authorities to honor
an agreement signed on Mar. 24 committing the state authorities
to address the demands of 320 workers laid off the year before.  
Prodh is asking for Tabasco state authorities to honor the
agreement and for the federal Governance Secretariat to fulfill
its commitment to guarantee the agreement. Prodh says it is
holding federal and state authorities responsible for the health
of the hunger strikers. Faxes can be sent to: President Ernesto
Zedillo Ponce de Leon, 011-525-515-1794 or 542-1648; Governance
Secretary Emilio Chuayffet Chemor, 525-546-5350; Tabasco governor
Roberto Madrazo Pintado, 011-5293-14-3003; Jose Luis Ramos
Rivera, Comision Nacional de Derechos Humanos, 522-681-7199.  
CORRECTION: Update #359 incorrectly referred to "the collapse of
the Mexican peso in December 1995." The peso was devalued in
December 1994.
 
END

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