WEEKLY NEWS UPDATE ON THE AMERICAS ISSUE #423, MARCH 8, 1998 NICARAGUA SOLIDARITY NETWORK OF GREATER NEW YORK 339 LAFAYETTE ST., NEW YORK, NY 10012 (212) 674-9499 1. Colombia: Rebel Offensive, Army Bombs Civilians 2. Chilean Women March Against Pinochet 3. Massive Land Occupations in Southern Brazil 4. Mexican Opposition Warns of Military Solution in Chiapas 5. Mexico: Kidnapping Ring in State Government 6. Bolivian Workers Stage Two-Day Strike 7. Guatemala: Exhumation Blocked, Harbury Detained at SOA 8. Nicaragua: Sex Abuse Charge Shakes FSLN 9. Nicaragua: Liberals Win Coast Elections 10. Doctors Strike in El Salvador 11. Salvadoran Campesinos March Against Debt 12. Puerto Rican Plebiscite Gets Through US House 13. US Missiles All Over the Place in Puerto Rico 14. In Other News: Dominican Rep., Uruguay & More! ISSN#: 1084-922X. The Weekly News Update on the Americas is published weekly by the Nicaragua Solidarity Network of Greater New York. A one-year subscription (52 issues) is $25. To subscribe, send a check or money order for US $25 payable to Nicaragua Solidarity Network, 339 Lafayette Street, New York, NY 10012. Please specify if you want the electronic or print version: they are identical in content, but the electronic version is delivered directly to your email address; the print version is sent via first class mail. For more information about electronic subscriptions, contact wnu@igc.apc.org. Back issues and source materials are available on request. If you are accessing this Update for free on electronic newsgroups, we would appreciate any financial support you can contribute. We are a small, all-volunteer organization funded solely through subscriptions and contributions. Please also help spread the word about the Update. If you know someone who might be interested in subscribing, send their email (or regular mail) address to and request a free one-month trial subscription to the Weekly News Update on the Americas. Feel free to reproduce these updates, or reprint or re-post any information from them, but please credit us as "Weekly News Update on the Americas," and include our full contact information so that people will know how to find us. Send us a copy of any publication where we are cited or reprinted. We also welcome your comments and ideas: send them to us at the street address above or via e-mail to CHECK OUT OUR WEB SITES: http://home.earthlink.net/~dbwilson/wnuhome.html http://home.earthlink.net/~dbwilson/nsnhome.html *1. COLOMBIA: REBEL OFFENSIVE, ARMY BOMBS CIVILIANS At least 28 civilians were killed in a Colombian army bombing raid against leftist guerrillas in the rural area of El Billar creek, in the southern Colombian municipality of Cartagena del Chaira, local authorities reported on Mar. 6. Other reports said that four civilians were killed and eight wounded. The four confirmed victims were members of a campesino family killed when an army bomb landed on their home some 30 km north of Billar. Jesus Ramirez, government secretary of Cartagena del Chaira, told the press that the number of civilian dead was reported by a special commission sent by the mayor's office to the bombed area. Colombian Air Force (FAC) Commander Gen. Fabio Zapata insisted that no civilians have been affected by the army operations. [El Diario-La Prensa (NY) 3/7/98 from EFE, AP; El Colombiano (Medellin) 3/6/98; Clarin (Buenos Aires) 3/7/98 from Reuter; Cable News Network en Espanol 3/7/98 from Reuter] Some 400 rebels from the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia- People's Army (FARC-EP) have been fighting army troops in the area of El Billar creek since Mar. 2. In a Mar. 5 press release issued from the "Mountains of Caqueta," the FARC-EP Southern Bloc Command explained that since 4:30 pm on Mar. 2 its forces have been carrying out the military operation "Opening Roads for the New Colombia" against 228 soldiers from the 52nd Battalion of the Third Mobile Brigade of the counter-guerrilla forces. According to the communique, 80 army soldiers have been killed, more than 30 are wounded, 43 are captive and the remainder are fleeing the area. The army admitted on Mar. 6 that the number of deaths could be more than 100, but claimed that the losses were split evenly between army soldiers and rebels. The army has refused to allow members of the Colombian Red Cross and the International Committee of the Red Cross (CICR) to carry out rescue and humanitarian support work in the area. In press releases on Mar. 4 and 5, the FARC-EP's Southern Bloc Command specifically requested the presence of the national and international Red Cross to provide aid for army casualties. On Mar. 3 a thousand military troops were dispatched from the Tres Esquinas army base to support the Third Mobile Brigade, and the FAC provided several AC-47 and OV-10 planes to bomb the area, along with a group of MI-17 and Black Hawk helicopters to transport reinforcements to the combat zone and pick up the dead and wounded. Army commander Gen. Mario Hugo Galan went to the area to lead the operations. The combat zone is extremely rainy and is located far from the military's logistical support posts; the only way of reaching the zone is via the Caguan River, or by having helicopters land on small plots of cleared land. [EC 3/5/98, 3/6/98; FARC-EP Southern Bloc Command Press Release 3/4/98, 3/5/98, posted on Internet by the FARC-EP International Commission; Clarin 3/4/98] On Mar. 6 President Ernesto Samper Pizano visited the Tres Esquinas military base to raise morale among the troops. "In wars, we win and we lose," said Samper, speaking to a contingent of 150 troops about to take off for the combat zone. "It's clear that we've received a hard blow." [El Nuevo Herald (Miami) 3/7/98 from AP] Samper said that the reports of 28 civilians killed in army bombing raids were not confirmed, but he apologized in advance if these reports were true. [Notimex 3/6/98] On Mar. 6, as part of its offensive aimed at blocking the Mar. 8 legislative elections, some 120 FARC members set up a roadblock 50 km from the capital, Bogota. For five hours the rebels held captive 500 vehicles, "inviting" the drivers and passengers not to vote. One police agent was killed. [Clarin 3/7/98 from Reuter; ED-LP 3/7/98 from AP] After facing its worst military defeat in decades, the Colombian government is consulting the Constitutional Court about the possibility of declaring a state of siege to reestablish order in the country, according to Reuter. [El Universal (Caracas, Venezuela) 3/6/98] Despite the military offensive, the government insisted that legislative elections will take place throughout Colombia as scheduled on Mar. 8. Colombia's 20.7 million eligible voters must choose from among 6,512 candidates representing 64 different political organizations to elect 102 senators and 161 members of the House of Representatives for four year terms. Analysts predict a high rate of abstention. Voting is not obligatory in Colombia, but the government gives benefits to voters such as a half day off work with pay; preference for acceptance into university and for government jobs; reduction in the required time for military service; and access to a government housing program. [CNN en Espanol 3/7/98 from Reuter] *2. CHILEAN WOMEN MARCH AGAINST PINOCHET Between 3,000 and 5,000 women marched on Mar. 7 in Santiago, Chile, to commemorate International Women's Day and to voice their objection to former dictator Gen. Augusto Pinochet and his plans to take a lifetime seat in the Senate. "What horror, what horror, Pinochet as senator!" chanted the women as they marched along the Alameda, the principal avenue in central Santiago. The demonstration, called by more than 70 organizations, culminated with a performance by the popular musical group Inti Illimani. Similar protests were held in other cities. The women's protests came at the end of a week of different demonstrations against Pinochet as the general prepares to leave his post as army chief on Mar. 10 to take up the lifetime senate seat. Another mass protest, called by a broad range of organizations, was scheduled for Mar. 8. [CNN en Espanol 3/7/98 from Reuter; Notimex 3/7/98; Clarin 3/8/98; La Tercera (Santiago) 3/8/98] More rallies, demonstrations and civil disobedience actions are scheduled for Mar. 10 and 11, promoted by the Chilean Communist Party (PCCh) and other groups, including political parties from the ruling Concertacion coalition. [Notimex 3/7/98] On Mar. 6 the 45 generals of the Chilean army issued a unanimous declaration naming Pinochet as the "distinguished army commander in chief." A high-level military source told CNN that the unprecedented proclamation is "a pact of blood and loyalty" with Pinochet, who the generals support as the "natural leader of the [military] institution." The statement has no practical impact, but clearly constitutes a warning that the army will continue to support Pinochet after his retirement. [CNN en Espanol 3/6/98; Clarin 3/7/98] PCCh general secretary Gladys Marin called the proclamation "an act intended to intimidate" the government, the Congress and civil society. [Notimex 3/7/98] Pinochet was to have been sworn in as lifetime senator one day after his retirement as army chief, but in a controversial move on Mar. 4 the Senate voted to shift the swearing in up one day so that Pinochet is not left without immunity from prosecution. The former dictator is facing several legal and political trials for human rights violations [see Update #416]. [Clarin 3/5/98] President Eduardo Frei reiterated on Mar. 5 that he opposes the existence of senators who are not elected by popular vote, but acknowledged that the military lifetime senate seats are established under the 1980 Constitution--written during Pinochet's dictatorship. Frei noted that efforts to change the Constitution have failed. [CNN en Espanol 3/5/98 from AP] Retired general Ernesto Videla claims that the rebel group Manuel Rodriguez Patriotic Front (FMPR) is preparing an assassination attempt against Pinochet. [CNN en Espanol 3/6/98 from Reuter] The FPMR denied Videla's charges and called them part of a "campaign of terror" against those protesting Pinochet's lifetime senate seat. In September 1986 the FPMR attempted to kill then-dictator Pinochet but failed; five bodyguards died in the attack. [Notimex 3/7/98] *3. MASSIVE LAND OCCUPATIONS IN SOUTHERN BRAZIL On Mar. 2 a total of 3,800 families took part in simultaneous invasions of three estates in Brazil's southernmost state, Rio Grande do Sul. The invasions were organized by the Movement of Landless Rural Workers (MST). There were no incidents of violence, since the invaded properties were not protected by armed guards. "We discovered that the three estates were not producing; since their owners were not exploiting them, we decided to occupy them," explained an MST leader. The estates being occupied are the 8,000 hectare Guabiju estate in Joia municipality; and two estates of 2,400 hectares each in the municipalities of Piratini and San Antonio de las Misiones. "A 6,000 hectare estate is enough to settle a total of 5,067 families," explained an MST leader. According to MST leaders, the occupations serve to pressure the government and to draw attention to "the immoral size" of unused lands. During the week of Feb. 23, members of the MST in Rio Grande do Sul handed over to the National Institute of Colonization and Agrarian Reform (INCRA) a list of 15 huge estates located in Rio Grande do Sul which are not being used by their owners. The 15 estates take up 126,000 hectares of land, enough to settle more than 105,000 families. [Clarin 3/3/98 from EFE] On Feb. 5, the MST announced that it will seize 180 estates in March and April of this year, the same number seized during all of 1997. Since it was formed in 1984, the MST has won land for some 150,000 families. [Clarin 2/15/98 from ANSA] Adelson Brito, a well-known MST leader in Rio de Janeiro, disappeared on Mar. 2; after an intense search effort by his colleagues, his dead body was found on Mar. 5 with five bullet wounds on the Salto estate, in the area of Barra Mansa, in Rio state. The Salto estate had been expropriated recently by the federal government and given to the MST to establish a legal settlement there. Brito's colleagues believe the murder was a political execution; MST leaders say that testimony from witnesses has allowed them to identify the killers as hired assassins, working for the former owner of the estate and for other local landowners. [Clarin 3/6/98] Over the weekend of Mar. 1, a group of about 50 urban homeless families occupied some unused land owned by the University of Sao Paulo (USP) in southeastern Sao Paulo city. This marked the second time in 10 days that USP property has been occupied: during Carnival some 80 families staged an invasion of an area behind the USP campus. The USP won the right to repossess the area, but the families can remain while they await a ruling on their appeal. The homeless want USP to assign the land to them so that they can build homes. "Why can't we stay here if they are not going to do anything with the area?" asked squatter Joao de Deus. [News from Brazil supplied by Servico Brasileiro de Justica e Paz (SEJUP) #305, 3/6/98] *4. MEXICAN OPPOSITION WARNS OF MILITARY SOLUTION IN CHIAPAS In a 55-minute video made public on Mar. 1, Mexico's rebel Zapatista National Liberation Army (EZLN) announced that it would not return to peace talks until the government met five conditions. EZLN spokesperson "Insurgent Sub-Commander Marcos" specified that the goverment would need to implement the accords it signed with the rebels on indigenous rights in February 1996; make "a serious proposal" for the next round of negotiations, on democracy and justice; end "military and paramilitary persecution and harassment in indigneous communities in Chiapas," the southeastern state where the rebels are based; free Zapatista prisoners both in Chiapas and in other states; and appoint negotiators with the authority to make commitments for the government, instead of "mere couriers." The rebels made the video--in "the studio of TV Zapatista, Intergalactic Television," Marcos said--as testimony for the International Civil Observation Commission for Human Rights, a group of some 200 observers who spent the last two weeks of February investigating the situation in Chiapas [see Update #422]. EZLN leaders said security concerns kept them from meeting with the commission in person. [La Jornada (Mexico) 3/2/98, 3/3/98] On Mar. 4 the center-left Party of the Democratic Revolution (PRD), the second strongest party in the federal Congress, strongly condemned the position on Chiapas of Mexican president Ernesto Zedillo Ponce de Leon, a member of the centrist Institutional Revolutionary Party (PRI), which has ruled Mexico since 1929. In a "Manifesto to the Nation in Favor of Peace," the PRD's National Executive Committee (CEN) charged that Mexico "is now experiencing one of its most critical moments, in which it is possible either to find peaceful and worthy solutions for all Mexicans, or to provoke a criminal confrontation, if the government's blindness and intolerance continues." The PRD charged that the government had never shown a real willingness to negotiate, had stepped up its military presence in Chiapas, stimulated the growth of rightwing paramilitary groups, and created conditions for a military solution which "would have disastrous consequences for the whole nation." [LJ 3/5/98] On Mar. 5 Governance Secretary Francisco Labastida Ochoa countercharged that the PRD had "lied" in its "frightening accusations." PRD national president Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador responded by challenging Labastida to a public debate. [Associated Press 3/6/98; LJ 3/6/98] On Mar. 6 Guatemalan indigenous leader Rigoberta Menchu Tum, the winner of the 1992 Nobel Peace Prize, announced that she would go to Mexico on Mar. 14 to give her "support" and "a moral stimulus" to the peace process through meetings with President Zedillo, with the mediators for the peace talks and with the Catholic Church. The visit will be a "demonstration of gratitude to our neighbor nation," Menchu said, noting that she had lived in exile in Mexico for 14 years and that the Mexican government had played an important role in peace talks between the Guatemalan government and the leftist guerrilla movement. [La Prensa (Honduras) 3/7/98] But members of a campesino group, the National Lombardist Unity (UNAL), took a more direct approach. On Mar. 5 a group of UNAL members broke into the jail in Ocosingo, a town in central Chiapas, at the end of a march of 500 activists demanding the release of political prisoners, one of the EZLN's conditions. The protesters drove out the three guards on duty and released the 48 inmates. All but two of the prisoners fled in a bus and two cars they commandeered; authorities say they were not Zapatistas but common criminals convicted of homicide, rape and assault. The authorities have arrested 89 of the UNAL members. Reuter news service reports that UNAL has a "confused background" and is suspected of being used as "shock troops" by some political groups. [AP 3/5/98; CNN en Espanol 3/6/98 from Reuter] The UNAL was influential in getting authorities to investigate the October 1997 murder of seven campesinos in Las Margaritas municipality [see Update #421]. *5. MEXICO: KIDNAPPING RING IN STATE GOVERNMENT On Feb. 12 the federal attorney general's office (PGR) announced that four top officials of Morelos state, just south of Mexico City, had been placed under house arrest for at least 60 days while they are investigated. The officials are: ex-attorney general Carlos Peredo Merlo: assistant attorney general Rafael Borrego; ex-Judicial Police director Jesus Miyazawa Alvarez; and police laboratory head Alfonso Hernandez Gurrola. On Feb. 15 authorities in the central state of Guanajuato issued arrest warrants for former police head Miyazawa and Armando Martinez Salgado, head of the Morelos anti-kidnapping unit. Social activist Carmen Genis and human rights organizations have charged for two years that state judicial police were involved in a series of kidnappings in Morelos and other states. The charges brought indignant denials from PRI governor Jorge Carrillo Olea. But on Jan. 28 police in Guerrero, Morelos' western neighbor, arrested anti-kidapping unit head Martinez Salgado and two of his agents as they were apparently about to dump a body near a Guerrero highway. The 17-year old victim, who had been tortured before being murdered, was reportedly the member of a kidnapping gang. Guerrero's attorney general complained that "Guerrero is not a body dump." For its part, Guanajuato authorities charge that they have identified Martinez Salgado as the person who picked up the ransom in a Guanajuato kidnapping case in December. The Morelos PRD is calling for a trial of Gov. Carrillo Olea. [NYT 2/10/98; LJ 2/13/98, 2/16/98] On Feb. 15 five prisoners, allegedly members of a kidnapping gang headed by Carlos Perez Vargas ("El Carileon"), told the National Human Rights Commission (CNDHI) that Martinez Salgado and his unit had beaten them severely, given them electric shocks and buried them alive for periods of time. [LJ 2/16/98] *6. BOLIVIAN WORKERS STAGE TWO-DAY STRIKE The Bolivian Workers Central (COB) began a 48-hour strike on Mar. 5 with street protests in Bolivia's major cities to demand an increase in basic wages. The strike was not supported by transport unions, bank workers unions and government employee unions; however, health and education sectors were completely shut down, with healthcare workers in public hospitals treating only emergency cases and teachers out in force at the street protests. The teachers say they'll keep schools closed until authorities address their demands. Teachers union leader Gonzalo Soruco warned that authorities are planning mass firings of teachers in the coming months "with the pretext of a program of institutionalization and restructuring of the administrative hierarchy." Education Minister Tito Hoz de Vila denied the charge; the Ministry has offered teachers extra pay if they refrain from striking and demonstrate their teaching ability. Soruco said the offer is a kind of blackmail designed to divide the union movement in exchange for economic offers to certain teachers who are active in the ruling party and who have been made into school directors even though they lack the appropriate qualifications. COB executive secretary Milton Gomez said the strike demonstrated "people's discontent with the current administration, which has not solved the poverty affecting the majority" of people. Gomez called the government's $60 increase in the monthly minimum wage a "joke." The COB is proposing a "dignified" minimum wage of $650 a month. [El Diario-La Prensa 3/6/98 from AP] *7. GUATEMALA: EXHUMATION BLOCKED, HARBURY DETAINED AT SOA The case of the disappearance and probable murder of Guatemalan guerrilla leader Efrain Bamaca Velasquez, known as Commander Everardo, has run into more obstacles. Leopoldo Armando Guerra Juarez and Julio Roberto Contreras Quinteros, lawyers for the Guatemalan army, moved on Feb. 28 to block the exhumation of what are said to be Bamaca's remains. The exhumation was scheduled to take place on Mar. 2 in the general cemetery of the town of Retalhuleu, but was postponed at the last minute by a local judge responding to the request of the army's lawyers. A new date has not yet been set to exhume the remains, which according to Prensa Libre are the same ones which have been exhumed twice before, but have not yet been proven to be those of Bamaca. [Prensa Libre (Guatemala) 3/3/98] US lawyer Jennifer Harbury--Bamaca's widow--was arrested on Mar. 2 during a protest at the School of the Americas (SOA) in Fort Benning, Georgia. Activists have been working to shut down the school [see Updates #379, 408], which is famous for training Latin American military officers in counterinsurgency tactics, including psychological and physical torture. US Vice President Albert Gore was touring the SOA facilities at the time of the Mar. 2 protest; Harbury told him that her husband had been tortured and killed by five officers trained at the school. "I'll take your message to Washington," Gore responded. Harbury was detained by a military escort, taken to the headquarters office and released. [PL 3/3/98 from EFE] On Jan. 26, the Inter-American Human Rights Court of the Organization of American States (OAS) ordered the Guatemalan government to compensate the relatives of US national Nicholas Chapman Blake, who was abducted and murdered in Guatemala in 1985. The Court made its decision public on Feb. 10. The amount of compensation is to be negotiated by the parties involved; in addition, the government is to investigate the homicide and punish those responsible. Blake was arrested on Mar. 28, 1985, allegedly by Guatemalan govenrment agents. Two years later his remains were found after an extensive investigation by family members. In July of 1996, the Court decided that it could not take on the Blake case because at the time of his murder Guatemala had not yet recognized the authority of the Court; however, the Court decided it could rule on the injustices Blake's family faced after Guatemala recognized the Court in March 1987. [La Prensa (Honduras) 2/11/98 from AFP] *8. NICARAGUA: SEX ABUSE CHARGE SHAKES FSLN In a letter published on Mar. 3, Zoilamerica Narvaez Murillo, the 30-year-old adopted daughter of former Nicaraguan president Daniel Ortega Saavedra, accused Ortega of having sexually abused her for a number of years from the time she was 11. Narvaez is the biological daughter of Ortega's wife, Rosario Murillo Zambrana, and her former companion, deceased guerrilla fighter Jorge Narvaez. The letter was published by the sensationalist Nicaraguan magazine Bolsa de Noticias. Zoilamerica Narvaez is a member of the left opposition Sandinista National Liberation Front (FSLN); Ortega is the party's general secretary. The Ortega-Murillo family held a press conference the same day the letter was published. Murillo said the accusation is "false, and we want to keep [this] a family matter. We aren't going to accuse anyone, and we aren't going to comment further." Ortega said he was indignant at insinuations that the charges were politically motivated by people inside his own party who want to do him harm. Seven of the couple's nine children, along with FSLN leaders Bayardo Arce and Monica Baltodano, accompanied Ortega and Murillo during the press conference. In response to charges that he was one of the people instigating Narvaez' charges, Arce said: "It is completely false that people like me want to hurt Daniel Ortega. I would give my life to defend Ortega's reputation." Dr. Elisio Nunez, head of the ruling Liberal bench in the National Assembly, has asked for Ortega to be stripped of his privileges as a deputy in the legislature. "If he doesn't quit [the Assembly]," Nunez said, "he's acknowledging his guilt and hiding behind the protective shield of parliamentary immunity." (In fact, Narvaez has said that she would not press charges against Ortega.) Bolsa de Noticias co-owner, Xanctis Suarez, who is a friend of Narvaez and the director of a non-governmental organization, Woman and Family, told Associated Press that Narvaez had "sought our solidarity...and we're going to support her." Narvaez was recently divorced from Alejandro Bendana, a foreign ministry official under the 1979-1990 FSLN government and one of Nicaragua's most prominent spokespeople during the 1980s. [La Prensa (Managua) 3/4/98; Ciberdiario (Nicaragua) 3/4/98; La Prensa (Honduras) 3/4/98 from AP] Bendana backs his ex-wife's charges. But Doris Maria Tijerino Haslam, a former deputy and hero of the 1979 Sandinista Revolution, told the pro-FSLN radio station Radio La Primerisima that she didn't believe Narvaez' accusations and that she vouched for the "moral integrity" of Daniel Ortega. A bulletin from the non-governmental organization Popol Na reports that the FSLN base generally "considers the accusation (although possibly true) to be motivated by political reasons due to the proximity of the Sandinista Congress," which is to meet in May to consider changes in the party. Narvaez is the vice president of the FSLN's Transformation Commission, which is preparing proposals for restructuring the party. Interviewed by La Primerisima's controversial William Grigsby Vado on Mar. 5, Julio Rodriguez, a local FSLN leader in Managua department who worked with Narvaez, talked about "a conspiracy" and claimed he had seen four unidentified North Americans at Narvaez' house. "I don't discount the possibility that it may be the CIA [US Central Intelligence Agency] behind this whole Machiavellian plan against our general secretary," Rodriguez said. He also charged that FSLN Managua leaders Henry Petrie and William Rodriguez were involved in the plot, and that they knew in advance that the letter was going to be published. [Popol Na special bulletins 3/4/98, 3/7/98] Petrie and William Rodriguez say they are the victims of a "campaign of persecution." Associated Press reports that the party may try to take away their posts; the report said they were forcibly removed from a leaders' assembly on Mar. 4. Ortega's supporters were furious with them for not having reported to the party that the letter was about to be published. [La Prensa (Honduras) 3/6/98 from AP] *9. NICARAGUA: LIBERALS WIN COAST ELECTIONS With 60% of the vote counted on Mar. 2, the Liberal Constitutionalist Party, headed by President Arnoldo Aleman, appeared to have won the Nicaragua's Mar. 1 Atlantic Coast elections. The Liberals won 18,532 votes in the Northern Atlantic Autonomous Region (RAAN) and 7,192 in the Southern Atlantic Autonomous Region (RAAS), according to the Supreme Electoral Counsel (CSE), in charge of all matters related to the elections. The CSE announced that the FSLN came in second with 11,498 votes in the north and 6,193 in the south. In the north the third place was taken by Yatama, an indigenous-based party with 3,303 votes. In the south, with 3,226 votes, the third place party was the Indigenous Multiethnic Party (PIM). According to the CSE, there was a 50% abstention rate, indicating lack of interest or faith in the political process on the Atlantic Coast. The independent parties Yatama and PIM appear to be gaining influence, while some 14 other parties that participated in the elections were effectively ignored. [Ciberdiario 3/2/98] *10. DOCTORS STRIKE IN EL SALVADOR Some 1,400 doctors at the Salvadoran Social Security Institute (ISSS) went on strike on Feb. 2 to demand a salary increase. According to Rene Zapata Nieto, general secretary of the ISSS Doctors' Union (SIMETRISSS) the doctors earn about 700 colones ($45) a month and are asking for an increase to 2,600 colones a month. Zapata said the doctors working for the ISSS have not had a salary increase in 20 years. Negotiations which began nine months ago achieved an improvement in medical care, explained Zapata, but have not yet raised salaries for medical personnel. SIMETRISSS conflict secretary German Cea insists that the government is paying replacement doctors 1,000 colones a day. [El Diario de Hoy (San Salvador) 3/4/98, 3/5/98; El Diario-La Prensa (NY) 3/5/98 from AP] On Mar. 5 Judge Irma Zelaya of the Fourth Labor Court declared the ISSS strike illegal and ordered the doctors to return to work within 24 hours. The court ruled that doctors cannot strike because they provide an essential service; because the Social Security Institute did not have any record of their demands; and because they have not taken their demands to the Labor Ministry. The doctors suspended the strike on Mar. 6. [Notimex 3/6/98; EDdH 3/6/98] *11. SALVADORAN CAMPESINOS MARCH AGAINST DEBT On Mar. 6 more than 5,000 Salvadoran campesinos (25,000 according to Notimex) marched through the streets of the capital, San Salvador, to the Congress building to demand that the executive and legislative branches of government take steps to forgive the agrarian debt. The demonstration was peaceful. Carlos Rodriguez, leader of the Democratic Campesino Alliance, said that the only solution to the agrarian sector's problems is a total forgiveness of the debt. The protest was called by the Agricultural and Livestock Forum of El Salvador, which groups about 10 campesino organizations from around the country. [Notimex 3/6/98; El Diario-La Prensa 3/8/98 from AFP] Congress passed a debt forgiveness bill last October but President Armando Calderon Sol vetoed it [see Updates #406, 408, 421]. Legislative deputies for the leftist Farabundo Marti Front for National Liberation (FMLN), the rightwing National Conciliation Party (PCN) and the Christian Democratic Party (PDC) reached an agreement on Mar. 4 for a new proposal to solve the agrarian debt problem. That proposal is still being discussed in the legislature. [EDdH 3/5/98] *12. PUERTO RICAN PLEBISCITE GETS THROUGH US HOUSE By the narrowest of margins, on Mar. 3 the US House of Representatives voted 209-208 to let Puerto Ricans hold a plebiscite to choose independence, statehood within the US, or continued status as a "Free Associated State," which gives Puerto Ricans automatic US citizenship but no representation in the US government. In contrast to a 1993 referendum, the plebiscite would be binding: if Puerto Ricans choose statehood, Congress would have to act within 10 years to accept or reject Puerto Rico's admission to the union. The House defeated a measure that would have allowed Puerto Ricans living in the US to vote in the plebiscite; it also rejected an amendment that would have required Puerto Rico to make English its official language if it became a state. [New York Times 3/5/98] The status question remains controversial among Puerto Ricans on the island and in the US. Many are concerned that even if the people hold a plebiscite sanctioned by the US Congress, their final decision may not be respected if it is not seen to be in the interests of the US. According to lawmakers, Congress has the final say in deciding Puerto Rico's status. [National Public Radio "Talk of the Nation" 2/26/98] This year marks the centennial of the invasion of Puerto Rico by US troops. *13. US MISSILES ALL OVER THE PLACE IN PUERTO RICO Residents of the Ocean Front village in Vega Baja, Puerto Rico, were awakened at dawn on Feb. 25 when a rocket, apparently launched from a nearby base of the US National Aeronautics Space Administration (NASA), exploded and fell into the sea several kilometers from the village. Teacher Noris Montalva, a resident of Ocean Front, told Associated Press that the missile was launched into space and that soon afterwards "the ball of fire" fell into the sea. Police reported that the object was a cylinder which came off the missile. [El Diario-La Prensa 2/26/98 from AP] The first missile of NASA's Coqui II atmospheric testing project was fired on Feb. 19 after seven days of failed attempts. A second missile was fired several hours later. [ED-LP 2/21/98 from AP] Protests against the Coqui II project [see Updates #414, 419] continued during the week of Feb. 16. [ED-LP 2/18/98 from AP] In a separate incident on Feb. 25, agents of the police Explosives Division in Ponce transported an artifact found on a beach near the Las Mareas community to the Santiago National Guard camp in Salinas. Police Chief Eaton Velez said this kind of artifact is often found on the beaches. Police Lt. Col. Jesus Pena Pomales said the artifact did not contain explosives and was presumably harmless; he said it was used by the US Army to mark the waters during target practice, and that it was not an explosive device or a NASA missile. [ED-LP 2/26/98 from AP] On Feb. 18 a 15-foot missile was discovered by fisherpeople off the coast of Pinones, Isla Verde, near the island of Vieques-- where the US Navy has a base. US military personnel arrived at the scene immediately; scientists said the missile contained a contaminant, and they kept the public away for several hours. It was later revealed that the missile was one of those fired into the air for target practice from warships. [ED-LP 2/19/98] A $12.5 million US Navy radar project in Puerto Rico got the full go-ahead from federal and Puerto Rican environmental agencies during the week of Feb. 9. Construction of the radar system, which will include a transmitter in Vieques and a receptor in Juana Diaz, was set to begin within 30 days. The US claims the radar will be used to fight drug trafficking by detecting drug flights over South America. The radar project has been widely protested in Puerto Rico [see Update #368]. [ED-LP 2/21/98] *14. IN OTHER NEWS... As of Mar. 5, workers at the state-run Autonomous University of Santo Domingo (UASD) in the Dominican Republic had been on strike for 23 days, demanding a 20% salary increase. The workers are occupying the university offices. Professors at UASD, organized in the Federation of UASD Professors' Associations, are also threatening to join the strike to demand 20% raises, a readjustment for inflation and changes in their job categories. Authorities claim they don't have money in the budget to pay the raises. [El Diario-La Prensa 3/6/98 from AP]... Voters in Uruguay go to the polls Mar. 8 to decide whether the privatization of the state energy company will be put to a referendum. The plebiscite is being promoted by unions, leftist groups and social organizations who oppose the "Law of Energy Regulation"; they must get 25% of the total votes in order to carry out a plebiscite on the law in June. If they don't get enough votes, there is one more chance for a repeat vote in June on the plebiscite, which would then be held later in the year. If the law is not struck down, it will allow the entry of private capital into Uruguay's state-owned energy distribution company. [Notimex 3/7/98]... With 70 participants, Latin American groups were the largest contingent in the founding of the People's Global Action (PGA) in Geneva in late February. The PGA says it is not a network or organization but an "instrument" for calling actions, such as "counter-celebrations" on May 18, the 50th anniversary of the General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade (GATT). Participants included the Federation of Education Workers of the Argentine Republic (CTERA), the Bolivian Workers Central (COB), Brazil's Landless Rural Workers Movement (MST), the Black Community of Colombia, the National Federation of Indigenous People of Ecuador (CONAIE), Mexico's Zapatista National Liberation Front (FZLN) and Nicaragua's Sandinista Workers Federation (CST). [Brecha (Montevideo) 3/1/98] END 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 for info). ANNUAL UPDATE INDEX available for each year from 1991 through 1996. Ascii text versions free to subscribers via electronic mail. Send your request to (specify which year or years you want--each is over 100kb). Each index will be sent as a separate text message (not an attached file) unless you request otherwise. STILL AVAILABLE: "Immigration in the USA One Year After Proposition 187," a Weekly News Update on the Americas special report, dated March 1996, accompanied by a resource list and organizing leaflet. Ascii text version free to subscribers via email. Send your request to 1996 SOURCE LIST STILL AVAILABLE: A list of sources commonly-used in the Weekly News Update on the Americas, along with abbreviations and contact information. Free to subscribers. Send your request to ======================================================================= Weekly News Update on the Americas * Nicaragua Solidarity Network of NY 339 Lafayette St, New York, NY 10012 * 212-674-9499 fax: 212-674-9139 http://home.earthlink.net/~dbwilson/wnuhome.html * wnu@igc.apc.org =======================================================================