WEEKLY NEWS UPDATE ON THE AMERICAS
                 ISSUE #362, JANUARY 5, 1997
       NICARAGUA SOLIDARITY NETWORK OF GREATER NEW YORK
     339 LAFAYETTE ST., NEW YORK, NY 10012 (212) 674-9499

1. Chilean Rebels Escape from "El Bronx"
2. Prison Breakout Humiliates Chilean Government, Fuels Right
3. Peru Rebels Score Media Coup, Annoy President
4. Peru: Plans for Assault on Occupied Residence?
5. Hostage Officials Replaced in Peru
6. Response Abroad to Peru Rebel Action
7. Cuba: US Extends Helms-Burton Suspension
8. Guatemalan Peace Gets Money But No Observers
9. Mexico: Zapatista Seven Freed, Hunger Strikers Near Death
10. New Figures in Contra-Crack Case
11. In Other News: Chile, Brazil & Venezuela

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*1. CHILEAN REBELS ESCAPE FROM "EL BRONX"

Four members of the Chilean rebel group Manuel Rodriguez
Patriotic Front (FPMR) made a spectacular escape from Santiago's
High Security Prison (CAS) on Dec. 30; they remained at large as
of Jan. 5 despite a massive police operation to track them down.
The four prisoners who escaped were Ricardo Palma Salamanca and
Mauricio Hernandez Norambueno, both serving life sentences for
the 1993 murder of rightwing senator Jaime Guzman Errazuriz and
for the kidnapping of Cristian Edwards del Rio; and Pablo Munoz
Hofmann and Patricio Ortiz Montenegro. 
 
The breakout started when two women and three men boarded a
charter helicopter for a tourist flight on the clear and sunny
morning of Dec. 30. The five then hijacked the helicopter, flying
it over the prison patio of "H" wing--known as "El Bronx"--where
the four FPMR prisoners were able to jump aboard a lowered
basket. The helicopter was later found in a park in southwestern
Santiago. A police investigation, complete with a reenactment of
the escape, revealed the FPMR's tactics: to ward off UZI machine-
gun fire from the five guard towers overlooking the patio, two of
the rebels, armed with M-16 rifles and protected by bullet-proof
shields taped to their bodies, had fired careful shots at the
guards while harnessed to the helicopter skids. In the basket
that was lowered into the patio, the rebels had placed pistols
and grenades; when the prisoners jumped into the basket they were
able to join in firing on the guard towers. The grenades were
never used, and were later abandoned with the helicopter. [CHIP
News 12/31/96 from El Mercurio; El Mercurio (Chile) 1/5/97] 
 
After resigning in disgrace on Dec. 31, director of the national
prison service Claudio Martinez claimed that guards had fired 188
shots during the escape; however, the helicopter and the basket
used to rescue the prisoners sustained only four bullet impacts.
As a police expert in shooting remarked, "Either the prison
guards have lousy aim or they shot into the air while the
helicopter was flying away." [EM 1/4/97]
 
The CAS was constructed three years ago on the grounds of
Santiago's Penitentiary as an impenetrable prison within a
prison, based on the model of high security prisons in Spain and
Germany. In segregated units with restricted visitation rights,
it houses most of the leftist rebels arrested for "extremist"
acts committed since the inauguration of Chile's first democratic
transitional government in 1990. [CHIP News 12/31/96 from EM] 
 
On Jan. 3, the government released rough police sketches of the
five individuals who chartered the helicopter. One of the
sketches reportedly bears a likeness to Raul Escobar Poblete, an
FPMR leader known as "Commander Emilio" who allegedly
participated in the Guzman assassination and the Edwards
kidnapping, as well as in the killings of secret police chief
Luis Fontaine and Pinochet bodyguard Sgt. Victor Valenzuela, and
in an explosives attack at a baseball field that killed Canadian
national James Trevor. 
 
Police are also searching for Francisco Diaz Trujillo, tried for
organizing an FPMR guerrilla training school in La Pintana. Diaz
fled prison in an October 1992 breakout along with Manuel Venegas
Messina and Luis Moreno Torres; FPMR members Pedro Ortiz
Montenegro, Jose Martinez Alvarado and Mauricio Gomez Lira were
killed in the action; and Munoz Hofmann and Patricio Ortiz
Montenegro (Pedro's brother) were wounded. 
 
In a communique sent to the press, the FPMR claimed
responsibility for the Dec. 30 prison breakout, saying that the
action was in commemoration of those killed in the October 1992
escape. In the communique, the rebels denounced as an imposter a
so-called "Commander Fabian," who has been making statements to
the national and international press for the past two years in
the name of the FPMR. [EM 1/4/97] "Fabian" told CNN on Jan. 1
that the FPMR had foiled the police crackdown and had already
managed to get the escaped rebels out of Chile. The FPMR
communique, published on Jan. 3 in the daily La Nacion, called
"Fabian" a "servant of the Pinochet security forces." The
communique also spoke of the FPMR's desire to "move on new paths
that bring us closer to the people... our principal effort will
be... a political project and an organization to strengthen
social organizations and the social struggle." 
 
Relatives of the latest fugitives, meanwhile, have not discounted
the possibility that the action might have been carried out by an
extreme rightwing paramilitary group and not by the FPMR. Lawyer
Jose Luis Sotomayor, who is representing the four escapees, has
submitted a writ of protection before the Santiago Appeals Court,
saying he fears for the lives of his clients. [El Diario-La
Prensa (NY) 1/5/97 from AFP]
 
*2. PRISON BREAKOUT HUMILIATES CHILEAN GOVERNMENT, FUELS RIGHT

Political leaders of Chile's ruling Concertacion coalition were
embarrassed by the rebels' dramatic escape, which coincided with
an increase in rightwing political pressure on the government for
a final rendering of accounts in the Guzman assassination case.
"They have made fools of the government, the opposition and all
of us who believed terrorism had been eradicated," said
Concertacion senator Sergio Bitar. [Guzman--a close associate of
former dictator and current army chief Gen. Augusto Pinochet and
the principal author of Chile's 1980 pro-military constitution--
was assassinated on Apr. 1, 1991; FPMR members Palma and
Hernandez were sentenced for the killing on Jan. 27, 1994. See
Updates #62, 211.] 
 
Following the breakout, President Eduardo Frei immediately
postponed his delivery of the annual state of the union address
in order to confer with top government officials, including
prisons director Claudio Martinez and police officials. [CHIP
News 12/31/96 from EM] Martinez resigned the next day; the
ministers of Interior and Justice offered their resignations but
Frei refused to accept them. [New York Times 1/1/97 from Reuter]
 
Interior Undersecretary Belisario Velasco announced that the
Criminal Courts have authorized broad search and seizure
capacities for police operatives combing Santiago neighborhoods
for the fugitives. He added that all border crossings have been
reinforced and guards at all embassies placed on alert. [CHIP
News 12/31/96 from EM] 
 
The prison breakout took place as controversy peaked over alleged
links between the government and the FPMR, provoked by charges
that Investigations Police Director Nelson Mery had obstructed a
probe into the Guzman assassination. Tensions erupted on Dec. 18,
when Mery was arrested on orders of Judge Raquel Camposano, who
also charged seven other police agents and Security Council
officials with obstructing the Guzman investigation. The Supreme
Court has postponed its decision on a trial for Mery until the
week of Jan. 6. [Diario Las Americas (Miami) 1/4/97 from AFP;
Washington Post 1/1/97 from Reuter] 
 
Frei is set to begin consultations with various political sectors
during the week of Jan. 6 in an attempt to reach consensus on the
creation of a National Intelligence System, a proposal currently
being considered by the House of Deputies. After meeting on Jan.
6 with the National Security Council, Frei will hold formal
consultations with the presidents of the Supreme Court, the
Senate and the House of Deputies, as well as with leaders of his
Concertacion coalition and of the opposition, with business and
labor sectors and with church leaders. This is only the second
time Frei has held such consultations since he became president
on Mar. 11, 1994. The first time was in August of 1995, when Frei
tried but failed to gain support for three legislative proposals
concerning human rights investigations and civilian control over
the military [see Updates #291, 332]. [EM 1/5/97]
 
The National Security Council is presided over by the President,
and made up of the presidents of the Senate and Supreme Court,
along with the Commanders in Chief of the Armed Forces, the
General Director of the Carabineros Police and the nation's
Controller General. In addition, the Interior, Foreign Relations,
National Defense, Economy and Finance ministers participate as
non-voting members. [El Mercurio 1/4/97]
 
*3. PERU REBELS SCORE MEDIA COUP, ANNOY PRESIDENT

As of Jan. 5, leftist rebels of Peru's Tupac Amaru Revolutionary
Movement (MRTA) were continuing to hold 74 hostages at the
Japanese ambassador's residence in Lima in an action that began
on Dec. 17 [see Updates #360, 361]. [Prensa Latina (Cuba) 1/5/97]
 
Police are keeping the news media two blocks away from the
residence. [New York Times 1/5/97] Fujimori is reportedly furious
over the rebels' ability to play the media in their favor, and
particularly with an impromptu press conference held at the
residence on Dec. 31. "He's annoyed and wouldn't you be?" a
government source said of Fujimori. "They [the rebels] took the
initiative and made a mockery of him, managing to send their face
around the world in minutes." Police had allowed a group of
journalists to approach the residence when Koji Harada, a young
reporter from Kyodo news agency of Japan, led the pack of
reporters into the residence to speak with the rebels for about
two hours. ["MSNBC" 1/3/97, posted on Arm the Spirit's MRTA
Solidarity web site; Independent (UK) 1/3/97; La Republica (Peru)
1/4/97] Several of the photographers who entered the residence
say that Peruvian police have attempted to harass and intimidate
them since the incident: one photographer was detained, another
was followed, and the home of a third was broken into. [NYT
1/3/97]
 
The MRTA's "Edgar Sanchez" command stepped up its public
relations campaign at dawn on Jan. 4 by unfurling three banners
on the roof of the residence and erecting an MRTA flag. One of
the banners responded to a hardline speech made by President
Alberto Fujimori two days earlier: "Mr Fujimori, with arrogant
declarations and without dialogue, there will never be a
solution." The others read: "Mothers, wives and children of our
prisoners are also waiting for their freedom. Peace for all
Peruvians"; and "Today's Peru: 13 million [Peruvians] in extreme
poverty. Where is the progress?"--a jab at Fujimori's boasts of
economic progress. [Fox News 1/4/97, posted on ATS MRTA
solidarity site; NYT 1/5/97]
 
Juan Luis Cipriani, rightwing bishop of the Andean province of
Ayacucho and a close Fujimori associate who had appeared to be
acting as a sort of informal mediator, entered the diplomatic
compound late on Jan. 4; it was his first visit since Jan. 1,
when the MRTA freed seven hostages following his efforts. Those
freed were four Japanese businesspeople and three Peruvian
government officials, including Juan Assereto, a key adviser to
Fujimori on the privatization of state industries. A day earlier
the rebels had freed Honduran ambassador Jose Eduardo Martell and
Argentine consul general Juan Antonio Ibanez. Remaining hostages
include Fujimori's brother, the ambassadors of Japan and Bolivia,
top Peruvian government and security force officials, and about
two dozen Japanese diplomats and businesspeople. [Fox News
1/4/97; Washington Post 1/5/97; Independent 1/3/97; NYT 1/1/97] 
 
Released on Jan. 2 was Emma, the pet dog of hostage Japanese
Ambassador Morihisa Aoki. The rebels allowed firefighters to
retrieve the dog from the residence; they said that Emma's puppy,
Osa, was the animal that died Dec. 26 after stepping on a land
mine planted by the rebels. [MSNBC News Services 1/3/97] 
 
The MRTA meanwhile issued a statement on Jan. 2 datelined from
"somewhere in the central jungle," saying that it was up to
Fujimori to reinitiate negotiations. The statement called on "all
the progressive men and women of the world to keep demanding that
the Peruvian government come to a peaceful solution that will
lead to the freedom of the political prisoners and the prisoners
of war [hostages] taken by our commando unit." [Independent
1/3/97] Fujimori's fax number is (011) 51-14-426-6770.
 
*4. PERU: PLANS FOR ASSAULT ON OCCUPIED RESIDENCE?

In a speech on Jan. 2, Fujimori ruled out freeing any MRTA
prisoners, the main demand of the hostage-takers. In Tokyo on
Jan. 4, Japanese foreign ministry spokesperson Hiroshi Hashimoto
said at a news briefing that with no dialogue taking place
between the government and the MRTA, the prospects of winning the
release of the hostages were now worse than at any time since the
seizure of the residence. Japanese prime minister Ryutaro
Hashimoto said on Jan. 4 that he was "not optimistic" about
ending the standoff. 
 
Despite MRTA leader Nestor Cerpa Cartolini's assurance that "the
doors are open" for dialogue, Fujimori has kept his government's
official negotiator--Education Minister Domingo Palermo--out of
the occupied residence since Palermo's first face-to-face meeting
with the rebels on Dec. 28. [Fox News 1/4/97] Opposition
congressperson Carlos Chipoco said the talks "have reached a dead
end," and noted that pressure was growing on Fujimori to take
more decisive action. Chipoco specifically referred to a letter
from three opposition legislators published in the pro-military
daily Expreso, stating: "One must exhaust every possible avenue
to rescue the hostages safe and sound. But if that were not
possible, and the price to pay was the end of the rule of law
here, then you must place the interests of the nation first." [WP
1/5/97]
 
Police commanders met on Jan. 4 in the central headquarters of
the National Police to evaluate the situation, generating rumors
of a violent attack on the ambassador's residence. [LR 1/5/97]
Citing unidentified sources close to Fujimori, the British daily
Independent reports that Fujimori has been receiving advice from
the US and other foreign military advisers about how best to
carry out an assault. According to the sources, Peruvian
commandos have been practicing a mock assault on the residence,
using a model of the compound at a secret location. The sources
say an assault would probably last only three minutes if
successful, but that casualties among the hostages would be high.
The sources emphasized, however, that an assault was "only one
option, a serious one but the President is still hoping for a
peaceful solution." [Independent 1/3/97]
 
*5. HOSTAGE OFFICIALS REPLACED IN PERU

On Jan. 2, President Fujimori replaced the Supreme Court
president and six police generals who are among the remaining
hostages, in what a diplomat cited by the New York Times called a
"brutal" message to the rebels that their Peruvian hostages are
expendable. Gen. Maximo Rivera Diaz, head of the National
Directorate Against Terrorism (DINCOTE), was replaced by Gen.
Marcelo Nakamura; Gen. Guillermo Bobbio Zevallos, head of state
security for the National Police, was replaced by Gen. Arturo
Marquina; and four other police generals were simply withdrawn
from the security forces command structure and were not replaced.
A government order signed by Fujimori gave no explanation for the
move. A former anti-terrorist chief, Hector Caro, told Radio
Programas that the shakeup in the security forces and courts was
routine in the New Year, but many speculate that the security
officials were dropped because they were caught off guard by the
attack on the Japanese ambassador's residence. [MSNBC 1/3/97; NYT
1/3/97; LR 1/3/97; Prensa Latina 1/3/97]
 
Also replaced on Jan. 2 were two hostage cabinet ministers:
Foreign Minister Francisco Tudela, whose duties were handed over
to Labor Minister Jorge Gonzales Izquierdo; and Agriculture
Minister Rodolfo Munante, whose duties will be handled by Energy
and Mines Minister Daniel Hokama. Fujimori made a brief
appearance on Jan. 2 at the Supreme Court, where he appointed a
new Chief Justice to replace Moises Pantoja Rudolfo, who is being
held by the rebels. [NYT 1/3/97; Independent 1/3/97] Pantoja's
term ran out at the end of the year, and Victor Raul Castillo was
sworn in as his replacement. Several other Supreme Court justices
are among the hostages. [MSNBC 1/3/97] 
 
Speaking at the Supreme Court on Jan. 2 in an attempt to restore
investor confidence, Fujimori called the hostage crisis "an
isolated event that is not going to upset the Peruvian economy."
[NYT 1/3/97; Independent 1/3/97] According to the New York Times,
shares on Peru's stock market dropped the day after the rebel
takeover, but have since recovered and even posted modest gains,
as has the market for Peru's bonds. Investment officials cited by
the Times noted that despite the crisis, Bell South Corporation
of Atlanta said it planned to proceed with its purchase of 64% of
Tele 2000, a Peruvian cellular telephone company, for $122
million. But Apoyo Consultaria S.A., a private Peruvian economic
consulting firm cited by the Times, suggested that a violent
outcome to the hostage crisis would cause investor confidence in
Peru to plummet. The country's tourism industry is particularly
worried about the effects of the MRTA takeover. [NYT 1/5/97] 
 
Fujimori's political position appeared more precarious after
media reports on Jan. 3 suggested that Peru's Constitutional
Court had ruled against his potential bid for a third term of
office in 2000. Officially, the court's magistrates said they had
made a decision on Jan. 3 but would delay announcing it until the
hostage crisis was over. [Fox News 1/4/97]
 
*6. RESPONSE ABROAD TO PERU REBEL ACTION

On Dec. 30, a homemade bomb exploded in the doorway of the
Peruvian embassy in Athens, Greece, located on the second floor
of an office building. The explosion damaged the building and one
passerby was injured by falling glass from an adjoining building.
The embassy employees had left several hours earlier, and police
managed to evacuate the rest of the building minutes before the
explosion after several news media received phone calls warning
of the bomb. The anonymous phone caller claimed to belong to a
new Greek leftist organization called Formation of Fighting
Resistance, and said the attack was in support of the MRTA's
action at the Japanese ambassador's residence in Lima. [El
Diario-La Prensa 12/31/96 from EFE]
 
On Dec. 30 MRTA European representative Isaac Velazco issued a
brief statement to the public, the press and solidarity
organizations, in reference to the bombing in Athens. "This
action, independently of the good will and wishes of those who
did it, constitutes an act that could justify the use of a
military solution by... Fujimori's government, which puts the
members of the Edgar Sanchez Command of the MRTA and the 83 war
prisoners that are in the residence in an unnecessary danger,"
reads the statement. "We are making a call to all progressive men
and women to express their solidarity in a peaceful manner in
front of Peruvian consulates and embassies around the world,
demanding from the Peruvian government a political solution that
will prevent an unnecessary shedding of blood." [Statement posted
on ATS MRTA solidarity site]
 
On Dec. 23, over 200 people from the autonomous/left movement in
Rome protested for two hours outside the Peruvian embassy in Rome
in support of freedom for political prisoners, a guarantee of
physical safety of the MRTA members occupying the residence, and
against the Fujimori government's neoliberal economic policies.
[Statement from Rome demonstrators posted on ATS MRTA solidarity
site] In Tokyo on Dec. 21, a number of self-described worker
associations held a small rally outside the Ministry of Foreign
Affairs. [Statement from Tokyo groups posted on ATS MRTA
solidarity site]
 
Note: Item #4 in last week's Update #361 failed to mention that
the Committee in Solidarity with the Revolution in Peru (CSRP)
considers itself in support of the Maoist Peruvian Communist
Party (PCP, also known as Sendero Luminoso).
 
*7. CUBA: US EXTENDS HELMS-BURTON SUSPENSION

On Jan. 3, US president Bill Clinton formally suspended
implementation of the controversial Title III of the Cuban
Liberty Act of 1996--better known as "Helms-Burton" after its
sponsors, Sen. Jesse Helms (R-NC) and Rep. Dan Burton (R-IN)--for
another six months. Title III empowers US citizens to sue foreign
nationals and corporations in US courts for "trafficking" in
properties which Cuba nationalized after the 1959 Revolution. The
act, which Clinton signed into law in March 1996, gives the
president the power to suspend Title III every six months; he
also suspended it last July [see Update #338].
 
Clinton had been expected to renew the suspension as a reward to
the European Union (EU), which passed a resolution on Dec. 2
warning that Europe's trade relations with Cuba would depend on
"improvements in human rights and political freedom" in Cuba [see
Update #357, 358]. The US expects to continue to renew the
suspensions "so long as America's friends and allies continue
their stepped-up efforts to promote a transition to democracy in
Cuba,"  Clinton said in a statement issued in Washington and in
the Virgin Islands, where the president was on vacation. [La
Jornada (Mexico) 1/4/97; New York Times 1/4/97; Washington Post
1/4/97] Commerce under secretary Stuart Eizenstat, Clinton's
special envoy to win support for Helms-Burton among US allies,
said on Jan. 3 that so far the act had succeeded in causing at
least 12 foreign firms to withdraw their investments in Cuba,
notably Cemex, the giant Mexican cement company. [LJ 1/4/97]
 
The suspension was promptly denounced by Sen. Helms, Rep. Burton
and Rep. Ileana Ros-Lehtinen (R-FL) [WP 1/4/97; El Diario-La
Prensa 1/5/97 from EFE]--a Cuban-American rightist who will be
chairing the influential International Economic Policy and Trade
Subcommittee of the House International Relations Committee in
this session of Congress. [ED-LP 1/3/97 from EFE] But the Cuban
American National Foundation (CANF), run by Jorge Mas Canosa, a
vehement opponent of Cuba's Communist government, announced that
"the suspension of the act's Title III for a six-month period is
understandable." [LJ 1/4/97, quote retranslated from Spanish]
[During the summer the US government began an investigation of
corruption in Miami, where some people charge that public money
has been siphoned off to CANF from the nearly bankrupt city; see
Update #358.]
 
Meanwhile, the Clinton administration is vigorously enforcing
other provisions of the law, especially the section denying visas
to executives of foreign countries trading with Cuba. On Dec. 30
the US warned BM Group, an Israeli company with sugar and citrus
production in Cuba, that its executives might be barred from
entering the US; 12 other companies are said to be under
investigation. [NYT 1/4/97] Last summer the White House enforced
this provision against Javier Garza Calderon, who heads Mexico's
Grupo Domos, a telecommunications firm that is Cuba's largest
foreign investor. If his company doesn't sever its ties with
Cuba, the State Department wrote Garza, "your name, as well as
the names of your spouse and minor children...will be entered in
the appropriate visa lockout system." As of September, the
company's lawyers were trying to establish whether Garza's wife
and his 13-year old son, who are both US citizens, were barred
from entering their own country. [WP 9/9/96]
 
On Dec. 25 Cuba's National Assembly passed an "antidote law"
against Helms-Burton, declaring invalid any claim made under
Helms-Burton, barring from any future US-Cuba property
settlements anyone who filed a claim under Helms-Burton, and
giving Cubans the right to demand compensation for damages caused
by US policies. [WP 12/26/96 from Reuter] Despite the intensified
US trade embargo, Cuba's Gross Domestic Product (GDP) grew 7.8%
in 1996, up from a 2.5% rate in 1995 and 0.7% in 1994. The
government warned that this was far from a full recovery; Cuba's
GDP fell 34.5% from 1990 to 1993 as a result of the collapse of
Cuba's former trading partner, the Soviet Union. [ED-LP 12/25/96
from Notimex] There was also mixed news in Cuba's efforts to
restore friendly relations with the Vatican. On Jan. 3, Cardinal
Jaime Ortega of Havana announced that Pope John Paul II plans to
visit Cuba in late January 1998. [NYT 1/4/97] The government,
which had sought the visit, the pope's first to Cuba, expected it
to come this year; people in the Cuban church hierarchy are also
said to be disappointed. The pope is known to be in poor health.
[ED-LP 1/5/97 from AFP]
 
*8. GUATEMALAN PEACE GETS MONEY BUT NO OBSERVERS

Shortly after the Dec. 29 signing of a peace accord between the
Guatemalan government and the rebel Guatemalan National
Revolutionary Unity (URNG), the Inter-American Development Bank
(IDB) announced a $500 million aid package to strengthen the
peace process over the next two years. IDB president Enrique
Iglesias also signed on to accords with all the Central American
presidents for a project, partly financed by Spain, for
integration of the regional electric grid. According to
Guatemalan president Alvaro Arzu Irigoyen, the IBD loans for the
peace process are for 30 years, after a four-year grace period.
[Diario Las Americas 1/1/97 from EFE] Guatemala is having trouble
getting observers for the peace process, however. Outgoing United
Nations (UN) general secretary Boutros Boutros-Ghali had
requested a 155-member observer team for three months, but China
is blocking the proposal as a protest against Guatemala's
diplomatic relations with Taiwan, which China considers a rebel
province. [DLA 1/1/97 from AFP]
 
On the day of the peace signing, some 25,000 people--among them
students, trade unionists, visiting Salvadoran rebels and
indigenous campesinos from remote highland villages--marched in
Guatemala City to commemorate the victims of the 36-year counter-
insurgency war, to welcome the rebels' return to public life, and
to call on both sides to honor the peace agreement. [Cerigua
Weekly Briefs #1, 1/2/97; Reuter 12/29/96]
 
*9. MEXICO: ZAPATISTA SEVEN FREED, HUNGER STRIKERS NEAR DEATH

On Jan. 1 the rebels of Mexico's Zapatista National Liberation
Army (EZLN) put on satirical sketches and danced into the night
to celebrate the third anniversary of their surprise 1994
uprising, in which they seized four municipal centers in the
southeastern state of Chiapas. The EZLN also issued a communique
about constitutional reforms on indigenous rights. The EZLN and
the government signed an accord on the subject last February, but
the government has stalled on the constitutional amendments
required for the agreement. On Dec. 19 Mexican president Ernesto
Zedillo Ponce de Leon sent the rebels "observations" on the
amendments. The rebels say that while they refuse to reopen
discussions on the indigenous rights pact, they have circulated
the observations among the indigenous communities and will
discuss them with mediators on Jan. 11 and 12. [La Jornada
1/2/97]
 
In what may be meant as a conciliatory gesture, on Jan. 3 a judge
released seven EZLN supporters serving eight-year terms for arms
possession and manufacturing. The seven were arrested in Yanga in
the eastern coastal state of Veracruz as part of a February 1995
crackdown on the EZLN; human rights groups established that they
were subjected to physical and psychological tortures. [LJ
1/4/97]
 
A group of 35 street cleaners from Villahermosa, Tabasco, is
continuing a protest in Mexico City over a labor dispute with
Tabasco authorities; as of Jan. 3, Venancio Jimenez Martinez and
Jose Luis Magana Alamilla had been on hunger strike for 82 days,
taking only water, honey and a saline solution. Dr. Ricardo
Barreiro of the La Raza Hospital emergency unit warned a local
radio station that the fast is likely to cause death or
irreparable damage. "[I]n laboratory conditions you could expect
a fast to be tolerated for up to 90 days," he said, but noted
that the hunger strikers were camped outside in bad conditions.
The authorities refuse even to speak to the protesters, but the
story has started being carried by Mexican City radio stations. 
[LJ 1/3/97, 1/4/97; Mexico City News 1/4/97 from Cox News
Service] Human rights groups are asking for faxes to President
Zedillo, 011-525-515-1794 or 542-1648, and others [see Update
#362].
 
*10. NEW FIGURES IN CONTRA-CRACK CASE

A dozen US Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) researchers are said
to be searching old files as part of CIA inspector general
Frederick Hitz's investigation into charges by the Mercury News
of San Jose, California last August that members of the CIA-
sponsored Nicaraguan contra army played a major role in the
spread of crack use in Los Angeles during the 1980s. Hitz
predicts that his probe will take almost a year to complete.
"We're going to monitor what they're doing," says Rep. Maxine
Waters (D-CA), whose Los Angeles district was especially hard-hit
by the crack epidemic. "We will have our own list of people who
we feel should be subpoenaed." Waters also says she is
"skeptical" about the ability of the House Intelligence Committee
to monitor the CIA's internal probe, since the new committee
chair, Rep. Porter Goss (R-FL), is a former CIA operations
officer. [Los Angeles Times 12/30/96]
 
Waters visited Nicaragua briefly on Jan. 3 to interview Enrique
Miranda Jaime in a Granada penitentiary, where he is serving a
seven-year sentence for drug trafficking. Miranda was arrested in
Nicaragua in 1991 together with Norwin Meneses Cantarero, a key
figure in the Los Angeles contra drug operation exposed by the
Mercury News. Waters told reporters that Miranda should testify
to US agencies about information he has supposedly implicating
both contra leaders and their enemies, officials of the 1979-1990
Nicaraguan government under the leftist Sandinista National
Liberation Front (FSLN). Miranda, who escaped from Nicaragua last
year but was captured in Miami and repatriated in December,
reportedly worked at various times as a bodyguard for FSLN leader
and former Nicaraguan president Daniel Ortega. [Notifax 11/3/97
from El Nuevo Diario (Managua); Miami Herald 1/4/97; Reuter
1/4/97; La Nacion (Costa Rica) 1/5/97 from EFE]
 
Meanwhile, a Dec. 10 Los Angeles County Sheriff's Department
report which claimed to have closed the contra-crack case [see
Update #359] may instead have added to suspicions about US
intelligence agencies. Los Angeles sheriff's deputies raided the
houses of several members of the contra drug gang on Oct. 27,
1986, including the home of former Laguna Beach police detective
Ronald Lister. Former deputies say Lister asked to call the CIA
during the raid and that federal officials later removed
documents seized from his house [see Update #349]. While
dismissing this story, the Sheriff's Department report released
notes found at Lister's house indicating that in addition to
laundering money for the drug operation, he had supplied weapons
to Salvadoran death squad leader Roberto D'Aubuisson through two
Orange County companies he headed, Pyramid International Security
Consultants and Mundy Security Groups.
 
According to Nick Schou in LA Weekly, an alternative Los Angeles
paper, Lister was meeting regularly with Scott Weekly, a
subcontractor for the Defense Intelligence Agency (DIA), which is
connected to the National Security Council (NSC). Weekly is a
former Navy SEAL associated with former Special Forces Col. Bo
Gritz, now best known as a rightwing militia leader. Reporter
Schou cites an anonymous source who says that Lister and Weekly
repeatedly traveled to El Salvador and Nicaragua in the early
1980s. Weekly and Gritz, meanwhile, were allegedly involved in
plans for training anti-Soviet Afghan guerrillas, an operation
also involving Stanford Technologies, a private company set up by
retired Air Force Major Gen. Richard Secord and Iranian business
person Albert Hakim to fund the secret arming of the contras. But
the NSC reportedly took Gitz and Weekly off the Afghan assignment
in late October 1986 and sent them to look for US prisoners of
war in Burma. Weekly had a safe-conduct letter on NSC letterhead
describing him as "an operational agent cooperating with this
office." This was about the same time that Lister's house was
raided; Lister reportedly told the deputies that his CIA contact
was a "Mr. Weekly." [LA Weekly 12/20-26/96]
 
*11. IN OTHER NEWS...

Surveys taken in 1995 and 1996 indicate that most Chileans don't
trust or like the privatized social security system introduced 16
years ago under former military dictator Gen. Augusto Pinochet.
Many contributors to the pension system think pension-fund
managers use the money to invest in their own offices and
computers, and few Chileans expect ever to see their money again.
Until 1995 the funds had a phenomenal growth rate averaging 12% a
year, but in 1995 the rate plunged to 2%. Despite imposing the
private funds on civilians, the military has kept its own
employees on the old social security system. [Economist (UK)
12/14/96]... In Brazil, 28 incarcerated minors were hospitalized
with burns after a rebellion at dawn on Jan. 1 at the Father
Severiano Institute in northern Rio de Janeiro. At least one of
the minors has died and 7 more are in critical condition.
According to Rio state under-secretary of justice Carlos Alberto
Lopes, the rebellion was started by youths who sought to escape
the detention center during the New Year celebrations; the youths
allegedly set their own mattresses on fire in an attempt to force
the guards to open the doors. Several of those injured said that
the guards refused to unlock their cells, and that they only
managed to escape after breaking down the doors. The rebellion
was brought under control by members of the Rio military police,
but not before more than 50 of the 169 young inmates held at the
facility managed to escape. According to the police, 34 were
later recaptured and 23 remain unaccounted for. [Diario Las
Americas 1/4/97 from EFE]... On Dec. 31 the Venezuelan government
and the Medical Federation of Venezuela (FMV) agreed that the
25,000 doctors striking for a monthly base pay of $1000 would
provide emergency for the duration of the job action, which
started five days earlier. [El Diario-La Prensa 1/1/97 from EFE]
But doctors in Caracas, the western state of Zulia and northern
industrial zones have ignored the agreement. The government
charges that at least six people have died from lack of emergency
care. [ED-LP 1/5/97 from AFP]
 
For New York area events, check out the CREED NYC calendar at
http://home.earthlink.net/~dbwilson/creed.html (if you don't have
web access, write nicadlw@nyxfer.blythe.org for info).

ANNUAL UPDATE INDEX now available for each year from 1991 through
1995. 1996 available sometime in January. Ascii text versions
free to subscribers via electronic mail. Send your request to
nicanet@nyxfer.blythe.org (specify which year or years you want).

NOW AVAILABLE: "Immigration in the USA One Year After Proposition
187," a Weekly News Update on the Americas special report,
accompanied by a resource list and organizing leaflet. Ascii text
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1996 SOURCE LIST NOW AVAILABLE: A list of sources commonly-used
in the Weekly News Update on the Americas, along with
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