WEEKLY NEWS UPDATE ON THE AMERICAS ISSUE #630, FEBRUARY 24, 2002 NICARAGUA SOLIDARITY NETWORK OF GREATER NEW YORK 339 LAFAYETTE ST., NEW YORK, NY 10012 (212) 674-9499 1. Guatemala: Witness Against Veep Murdered 2. Colombia: Peace Talks Halted 3. Colombia: Bombing Starts 4. Colombia: Civilians Killed 5. Colombia: Rebels Fight Back 6. Colombia: US Has Philippine Strategy? 7. Peru: Berenson Sentence Upheld 8. Peru: Torture Victims Speak Out 9. Brazil: Prison News 10. Bolivia: Cocaleros Freed 11. Ecuador: Strikes Hit Oil, Privatization 12. Paraguay: Ex-President Returns 13. Argentina: Banks Attacked, Picketers Split 14. Haiti: Pro-Aristide Deputy Killed 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. 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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 *1. GUATEMALA: WITNESS AGAINST VEEP MURDERED Unknown assailants shot and killed state printing house worker Cesar Augusto Rodas Furlan on Feb. 15 as he was leaving his home in Guatemala City's Colombia neighborhood. Rodas Furlan, who headed the bookbinding department of the Tipografia Nacional de Guatemala, was a witness in a case against Guatemalan vice president Juan Francisco Reyes Lopez, who is accused of using the printing house to print hundreds of thousands of pamphlets against Chamber of Commerce president Jorge Briz Abularach. The pamphlets were distributed one week after workers, campesinos and businesspeople started massive protests against a hike in the value-added tax (IVA, equivalent to a sales tax) on Aug. 1; Briz was a leader in business opposition to the increase [see Update #614]. On Feb. 18 Governance Minister Eduardo Arevalo Lacs announced that Rodas Furlan's murder was a common crime. The police report and a witness say the assailants took Rodas Furlan's wallet, and Ramiro Coronado, the chief prosecutor in corruption cases, said Rodas Furlan was not a key witness in the Reyes Lopez case. But former legislative deputy Magda Arceo charged on Feb. 16 that the crime was political and that other Tipografia Nacional employees needed protection. The former head of Tipografia Nacional, Silvia Mendez Recinos, fled the country in October, and Maceo herself went into temporary exile at the time after receiving death threats relating to the case. On Feb. 21 a number of printing house employees filed reports with the Public Ministry on threats they had received. They also reported the threats to the Archbishop's Human Rights Office (ODHA), and were considering going to the Human Rights Prosecutor's Office and the United Nations Verification Mission in Guatemala (MINUGUA). Rodas Furlan had unsuccessfully requested asylum from MINUGUA and the Canadian embassy. [El Diario-La Prensa (NY) 2/18/02 (from EFE); Prensa Libre (Guatemala City) 2/19/02, 2/22/02; La Semana en Guatemala 2/12-18/02; Guatemala Hoy 2/19/02] *2. COLOMBIA: PEACE TALKS HALTED Early on Feb. 20, alleged rebels from the "Teofilo Forero Front" of the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC) hijacked a commercial plane flying from Neiva, in Huila department, to Bogota with 35 passengers on board. The rebels forced the plane to land in El Hobo municipality, Huila, where they kidnapped three passengers--including Senator Jorge Eduardo Gechen Turbay, president of the Senate Peace Commission, and his son--and released the rest. [Clarin (Buenos Aires) 2/21/02 from correspondent] Colombian president Andres Pastrana Arango responded to the incident by announcing on national television that he was ending the government's peace process with the FARC and sending troops to retake the FARC-held southern zone where peace talks had been taking place. In the last 30 days, the president charged, the rebels have set off four car bombs, killed 20 civilians and blown up 30 power pylons. Preceding his televised announcement with images of destruction allegedly caused by the FARC, Pastrana said the rebels had until midnight to leave the zone. [CNN en Espanol 2/21/02 with info from AP; New York Times 2/22/02] Speaking from Mexico City with CNN en Espanol, FARC international spokesperson Marco Leon Calarca said it wasn't clear whether the FARC had anything to do with the hijacking incident. Calarca criticized Pastrana for having ignored the mechanisms established by the peace process for dealing with crisis situations. [CNN en Espanol 2/21/02 with info from AP] In a Feb. 21 communique from "the Mountains of Colombia," FARC leaders Raul Reyes, Joaquin Gomez, Carlos Antonio Losada, Simon Trinidad and Andres Paris made no mention of the Feb. 20 hijacking incident, but said the government's unilateral breaking of the peace process "was a demand of the military forces, the economic associations, the major media outlets, certain bipartisan presidential candidates and the US embassy in their eagerness to not carry out the changes that the current moment demands." The communique said the FARC remains disposed to peace talks with "a future government that shows interest in rethinking the road to a political solution to the armed and social conflict." [FARC Communique 2/21/02] Colombia's next presidential elections are scheduled for May 26. Leading the polls is hardline rightwinger Alvaro Uribe Velez, who has repeatedly scorned the idea of dialogue with the rebels and has promised to defeat them militarily. [CNN en Espanol 2/23/02 with info from Reuters, AP] *3. COLOMBIA: BOMBING STARTS While the army mobilized 13,000 soldiers to the southern zone, the air force started bombing the area before dawn on Feb. 21. [CNN en Espanol 2/21/02 with info from AP] Using bombs of up to 500 pounds, military aircraft reportedly hit 24 out of 81 established targets in rural areas where rebel training camps, warehouses and runways had been detected. [El Nuevo Herald (Miami) 2/24/02] On the night of Feb. 21, the air force announced it had begun a second wave of attacks with OV-10, AT-37 and K-Fir planes and Black Hawk helicopters flying out of the Tres Esquinas base in Caqueta department, where the US has troops stationed. Between 13,000 and 15,000 Colombian soldiers from at least four battalions of the army, air force and navy are taking part in "Operation Tanatos," as the offensive is being called. Combat planes were also being readied for takeoff early on Feb. 22 from the Apiay base near Villavicencio, Meta department, and Palanquero. Air force commanders said another 56 bombing missions destroyed 13 FARC targets on the night of Feb. 21. The planes are also dropping flyers that say (in Spanish) "welcome to freedom" and urge rebels to turn themselves in. [La Jornada (Mexico) 2/22/02 from AFP, DPA, Reuters] The bombing campaign continued on Feb. 22, with the military reporting at least 50 flights that day. The military would not say how many missions had been conducted in all. [Miami Herald 2/24/02] According to a story published in the Mexican daily La Jornada on Feb. 24, the air force reported hitting more than 74 FARC targets in the southern Caguan region since Feb. 21. La Jornada notes, however, that the army has blocked Colombian and foreign reporters from the area, so there is no way to verify the military's claims or to confirm any casualties. [LJ 2/22/02 & 2/24/02, both from AFP, DPA, Reuters] *4. COLOMBIA: CIVILIANS KILLED On Feb. 21, the first day of the Colombian military's counter- insurgency offensive, air force bombs killed three civilians, including two children, in the village of La Y, about a four-hour drive north of San Vicente del Caguan, according to family members and official complaints filed with Colombia's human rights prosecutor. Local residents who witnessed the bombings said those killed were Saul Quesada, his 2-year-old son Yesid, and 15-year-old Keni Losada. Four other people were reported injured. Journalists saw the victims' bodies brought in to the San Vicente morgue. Residents said there were no rebel camps near La Y, but there were bulldozers doing work along the road, which could have been mistaken for FARC machinery. The armed forces said they would investigate the incident before accepting blame. "Don't forget, we are in a situation where they are trying to disinform, where there are guerrillas dressed as civilians," said Armed Forces chief Gen. Fernando Tapias. "Guerrillas are managing information and trying to generate misinformation." [MH 2/23/02] On Feb. 23, after two days of bombing, President Pastrana arrived in San Vicente de Caguan, where he was greeted by army commander Gen. Jorge Enrique Mora. Wearing a black cap bearing Colombian army insignia, Pastrana handed out Colombian flags, notebooks and school backpacks to local residents in the town's central plaza. He also met with local government officials and promised to carry out a series of development projects in the zone. [ENH 2/24/02; CNN en Espanol 2/23/02 from AP] Pastrana was accompanied in San Vicente by several military attaches from the US embassy. [MH 2/24/02] *5. COLOMBIA: REBELS FIGHT BACK Armed Forces chief Tapias said three soldiers were injured in the airstrikes and three US-made Black Hawk helicopters came under fire from rebels using ground-to-air artillery. [MH 2/23/02] Air Force Gen. Hector Fabio Velasco said rebel anti-aircraft fire hit an Israeli-made K-Fir plane. [LJ 2/22/02 from AFP, DPA, Reuters] Elsewhere in Colombia on Feb. 22, the FARC blew up electricity pylons; attacked an electrical plant in Altamira, Huila department; damaged a communications facility in Fusagasuga, Cundinamarca department; and sabotaged a gas pipeline in Barbosa, Antioquia department. The attack on the electrical plant in Huila left much of the former peace zone in neighboring Caqueta department blacked out. [CNN en Espanol 2/23/02 with info from Reuters, AP; LJ 2/23/02 from AFP, DPA, Reuters] The rebels also attacked rightwing paramilitary units in the departments of Putumayo, Valle del Cauca y Norte de Santander, killing more than 60 paramilitaries. [LJ 2/24/02 from AFP, DPA, Reuters] *6. COLOMBIA: US HAS PHILIPPINE STRATEGY? US Secretary of State Colin Powell said on Feb. 22 that the US government would "share intelligence" with the Colombian government. [MH 2/24/02] US State Department spokesperson Richard Boucher confirmed on Feb. 22 that the US was planning to support the Colombian government by providing satellite intelligence information. He also hinted that ways would be sought to get Congress to lift restrictions that currently bar US military anti-drug aid from being used for Colombia's counterinsurgency war. [LJ 2/23/02 from AFP, DPA, Reuters; ALAI-Amlatina 2/22/02] "While US officials say that US troops will not be drawn into combat in Colombia, the Bush Administration may soon issue a `national security directive' expanding the nature of US military aid to Colombia," warns columnist Andres Oppenheimer in an article published on Feb. 24 in the Miami Herald. Pastrana has asked the US government for permission to use US military equipment to fight the rebels, Oppenheimer points out, and the Colombian government recently changed the FARC's designation from an "insurgent" group to a terrorist organization. Uribe, the candidate most likely to become Colombia's next president, would likely launch a "public relations campaign to sway the US Congress to provide massive counter-insurgency aid to Colombia," Oppenheimer writes. Oppenheimer, who is known for having an inside track on US policy in Latin America, says there is "growing support in Washington" for pursuing a "Philippine strategy" in Colombia. Some 600 US troops are now in the Philippines, officially providing "training" and "advice on the battlefield" to government troops in their war against the Abu Sayyaf terrorist group. "The Bush administration is likely to ask Congress to change the rules and offer both counter-narcotics and anti-guerrilla aid to Colombia," Oppenheimer concludes. "The only questions are how much, and how soon." [MH 2/24/02] The Miami Herald accompanied Oppenheimer's column with a news article by Juan Tamayo, in which he cites analysts in praising improvements made by Colombia's military but emphasizing that it "will need far more men, weapons and money" in order to defeat the FARC. [MH 2/24/02] *7. PERU: BERENSON SENTENCE UPHELD On Feb. 18 the "Transitory Chamber" of Peru's Supreme Court upheld a 20-year prison sentence for US activist Lori Helene Berenson Mejia, jailed in Peru since Nov. 30, 1995. The five- judge panel voted 4-1 to reject Berenson's appeal of her June 20, 2001 conviction by a special civilian "anti-terrorism" court [see Update #595]. Chamber president Guillermo Cabala, who cast the dissenting vote, had sought to reduce Berenson's sentence to 15 years. Attorney Jose Luis Sandoval had argued that during the course of Berenson's civilian trial, which began on Aug. 28, 2000, there were violations in due process, and no evidence or witnesses were presented that would warrant a conviction. Sandoval said the judges relied extensively on the tainted testimony of other prisoners, obtained through duress and threat of torture during the original military trial in 1995 and 1996. Sandoval also pointed out that chief justice Marcos Ibazeta Marino had shown prejudice against Lori two years earlier but refused to recuse himself from the case. ["News from Lori's Parents" 2/18/02; La Republica (Lima) 2/19/02] On Feb. 18, after hearing of her sentence, Berenson and other prisoners at Huacariz prison in Cajamarca joined a national hunger strike which imprisoned rebels from the MRTA and Sendero Luminoso began on Feb. 11 [see Update #629]. [Lori Berenson Statement 2/18/02; LR 2/20/02] As of Feb. 18, the hunger strike involved 700 prisoners in 15 prisons. [Miami Herald 2/20/02] On Feb. 19, Peruvian justice minister Fernando Olivera ruled out a presidential pardon for Berenson, calling her "a proven terrorist, sentenced by the Supreme Court." [MH 2/20/02] At a Feb. 19 press conference, US State Department spokesperson Richard Boucher said the US government was satisfied that Lori Berenson's civilian trial was "fair and open." [LR 2/20/02] *8. PERU: TORTURE VICTIMS SPEAK OUT On Feb. 17, Peruvian former Army Intelligence Service (SIE) agent Leonor La Rosa Bustamante arrived in Lima from Sweden, where she has been living for four years as a refugee while receiving medical treatment for the effects of torture [see Updates #376, 383, 386, 396, 426, 448, 454, 500]. La Rosa came to Lima to receive compensation from the government of President Alejandro Toledo for the tortures she suffered at the hands of her SIE colleagues in 1997, under the regime of President Alberto Fujimori (1990-2000). She is to remain in Peru for 10 days while testifying in relevant investigative hearings. At a Feb. 18 ceremony, Toledo praised La Rosa's courage and gave her compensation of $120,000, promising that the Peruvian state would never again be her enemy. La Rosa suffered permanent neurological damage from the torture and uses a wheelchair. The compensation came as part of an agreement reached between La Rosa and the Peruvian government to settle a claim filed with the Inter-American Human Rights Commission (CIDH). The Peruvian government also pledged to pursue criminal cases against La Rosa's torturers and to press the Swedish government to restore her custody rights over her two youngest children, ages six and five, who are in Sweden with her ex-husband, Jorge Cantera Montenegro. Arguing that La Rosa was physically unable to care for them, a Swedish court granted custody to Cantera after he left La Rosa to live with the nurse who had cared for her. [La Republica (Lima) 2/18/02, 2/19/02] On Feb. 22, La Rosa confirmed in testimony before a congressional investigative commission in Lima that while working for the SIE she had seen Susana Higuchi Miyagawa, Fujimori's ex-wife, detained in an SIE cell, and that Higuchi had apparently been tortured. La Rosa described being sent to attend to a detainee in the SIE basement, and finding Higuchi naked and crying in a fetal position. La Rosa covered Higuchi with her jacket--an act for which the agent was later reportedly punished. Higuchi, now a congressperson for the Independent Moralizing Front (FIM) party, had revealed earlier on Feb. 22 that she had been tortured more than 500 times under her husband's regime. Several times she was taken, her head covered with a hood, to the SIE basement, where she was tortured with electric shocks, she recounted. "I was the first victim, I believe they practiced with me," Higuchi told the press. Higuchi also said that more recently, during a visit to the Callao Naval Base, where Fujimori's former intelligence adviser Vladimiro Montesinos Torres is imprisoned, Montesinos apologized to her for the tortures, and said they had been ordered from above. [El Nuevo Herald 2/23/02 from EFE, 2/24/02 from AFP; LR 2/23/02; CNN en Espanol 2/23/02 from AP] *9. BRAZIL: PRISON NEWS Authorities in Brazil said 17 inmates were killed on Feb. 19 during more than 24 hours of prison disturbances in nine jails in Sao Paulo state, allegedly organized by the criminal gang First Commando of the Capital (PCC) to mark the one-year anniversary of their first uprising, Brazil's biggest ever prison rebellion [see Update #578]. [BBC News 2/19/02; AP 2/19/02] The uprising prompted extra security at Taubate prison in Sao Paulo state, where Chilean rebels from the Manuel Rodriguez Patriotic Front (FPMR) have been held since their Feb. 1 arrest in a kidnapping case [see Update #628, in which we incorrectly dated a source, Jornal do Brasil, as 12/13/02 instead of 12/13/01]. Taubate prison also holds a number of PCC members. [El Mostrador (Chile) 2/20/02] On Feb. 18, Brazil's most famous prisoner, Mexican pop singer Gloria Trevi, gave birth at a Brasilia hospital to a son, Angel Gabriel. On Feb. 21, Brazil's Supreme Court voted to allow DNA tests on Trevi's placenta to determine the child's paternity. Trevi, who has been jailed in Brazil for nearly two years, had fought to avoid DNA testing; having a baby by a Brazilian father might allow her to avoid extradition to Mexico. Many suspect the baby's father is Trevi's former business agent, Sergio Andrade, who is Mexican and is jailed at Papuda prison near Brasilia, where Trevi was held from last September until her transfer to the hospital in late December. [Miami Herald 2/22/02; Hoy (NY) 2/19/02 from AFP] One of northern Brazil's most powerful politicians, former Senate president Jader Barbalho, briefly became a prisoner when he was arrested Feb. 16 in Belem, capital of Para state. Judge Tourinho Neto, president of the Regional Federal Court in the neighboring state of Tocantins, where Barbalho was taken, ordered him released just hours later. Barbalho faces corruption and fraud charges in a scandal involving the now-defunct Superintendency of Amazon Development (SUDAM) [see Updates #594, 612]. Five other former SUDAM officials also face charges in the case. [Informes Brasil #68; Clarin (Buenos Aires) 2/18/02 from AP, ANSA] *10. BOLIVIA: COCALEROS FREED On Feb. 20 a judge in the Bolivian city of Cochabamba approved the release on bond of Silvia Lazarte and Nicolas Panozo, the last two imprisoned cocalero union leaders to be freed of dozens arrested in January [see Update #625]. Union leaders Leonilda Zurita, Wilde Moscoso, Elena Almendras, Emilio Coca Poma, Lino Coca Poma were freed along with 18 other cocaleros, also all on bond, on Feb. 18. Cocalero leaders Delfin Olivera, Feliciano Mamani and Margarita Teran were freed on bond on Feb. 19, along with seven other cocaleros. Also on Feb. 19, a judge in the nearby village of Sacaba released 17 cocaleros on bond. (In many of these cases, the detainees were allowed to post collateral-- such as land--or present personal guarantors rather than pay an actual cash bond.) The cocalero unions have threatened to resume protest blockades on Feb. 25; they say the government reneged on an agreement to drop the charges against those arrested. [Los Tiempos (Cochabamba 2/19/02, 2/20/02, 2/21/02, 2/24/02] Cocalero road blockades were temporarily suspended in La Paz department and elsewhere after a violent rain and hail storm ripped through La Paz on Feb. 19, causing flash floods and collapsing houses. At least 69 people were killed, 39 others remained missing as of Feb. 23, 150 were injured and 850 were left homeless. The rains flooded also flooded highways in Santa Cruz department. The government declared a state of emergency. The disaster prompted health workers to temporarily suspend a strike. [Miami Herald 2/24/02 from AP; El Diario (La Paz) 2/20/02; LT 2/21/02] *11. ECUADOR: STRIKES HIT OIL, PRIVATIZATION On Feb. 19, some 300 people shut down the Bermejo oilfield in the community of Cascales, in Sucumbios province, blocking 30 oil wells from producing their customary 9,000 barrels of oil a day. The action was part of a strike by residents of Sucumbios and Orellana provinces against OCP-Techint, the company which is building the new Heavy Crude Pipeline (OCP) through the region. Residents say the company has failed to comply with promises it made before beginning the OCP project. [El Telegrafo (Guayaquil) 2/20/02] Environmentalists are also continuing to protest the OCP project [see Update #624]. [La Hora (Quito) 2/21/02] On Feb. 20, thousands of Ecuadorans took part in the first day of a 48-hour national strike to protest the planned privatization of the electrical sector. [ET 2/21/02] The Ecuadoran Doctors' Federation has announced its members will begin a sector-wide national strike over wage demands on Feb. 26. [La Republica (Lima) 2/23/02 from EFE] Meanwhile, on Feb. 20 Ecuador's Joint Chiefs Chair Navy Adm. Miguel Saona, Navy chief Adm. Fernando Donoso and Air Force Gen. Oswaldo Dominguez all resigned amid the fallout of a corruption scandal that broke in December. Navy Capt. Rogelio Viteri had publicly accused the three officers of abusing expense accounts and accepting favors from an insurance company during a trip to London. The three have denied any wrongdoing; they stepped down voluntarily, according to Defense Minister Hugo Unda. [Miami Herald 2/21/02] *12. PARAGUAY: EX-PRESIDENT RETURNS Paraguayan former president Raul Cubas Grau entered Paraguay on Feb. 20 and appeared in a Paraguayan court on Feb. 22 after renouncing political asylum in Brazil, where he has lived for nearly three years. He had fled legal charges for the Mar. 23, 1999 assassination of his political rival, Vice President Luis Maria Argana, and the subsequent killing of nine pro-democracy demonstrators. Presidential spokesperson Carlos Podesta dismissed rumors that the government of President Luis Gonzalez Macchi had negotiated Cubas' surrender. In court, Cubas was expected to repeat his denial of the charges and blame the country's former armed forces commander, fugitive ex-Gen. Lino Oviedo, for the crimes. Oviedo was freed from detention in Brazil on Dec. 18 after Brazil refused an extradition request from Paraguay [see Update #621]. Oviedo is allowed to stay in Brazil until March; he has hinted he may return to his country on Mar. 1, when Paraguay celebrates "Hero's Day." The hints have prompted fears of a military coup or renewed violence among political factions. [Miami Herald 2/23/02; ABC Color (Paraguay) 2/23/02] *13. ARGENTINA: BANKS ATTACKED, PICKETERS SPLIT Argentines continued to mount large and sometimes violent protests against the government of interim president Eduardo Duhalde on Feb.18-20, two months after an economic crisis and massive protests brought down the government of former president Fernando de la Rua. Hundreds of depositors attacked a dozen banks in downtown Buenos Aires on Feb. 18 to protest continuing restrictions on withdrawals. The depositors, including middle- aged and retired professionals, smashed bank windows and defaced walls, painting slogans that included: "Bin Laden, don't forget Citibank" (the US-based Citibank has extensive operations in Argentina). Protesters briefly occupied two bank branches before being removed by police agents. There were also protests in other parts of the country. In the northwestern province of Salta, the police brutally repressed a demonstration by hundreds of unemployed workers, leaving a number of people injured, including a three-year old girl who was hit in the mouth with a rubber bullet. Meanwhile, some 1,500 people, mostly lawyers carrying files and forms, lined up outside Buenos Aires court buildings as thousands of people filed individual challenges to the constitutionality of the restrictions on withdrawals, popularly known as the corralito. By Feb. 20 the number of depositors filing the challenges had grown to 20,000, and the line at the courts was one kilometer long. [El Pais (Montevideo) 2/19/02, 2/20/03 from Reuters; La Jornada (Mexico) 2/19/02, 2/21/02 from correspondent] On Feb. 20 several different demonstrations marked the two-month anniversary of De la Rua's resignation--and of the violent police repression that left about 20 protesters dead [see Update #621]. In Buenos Aires some 4,000 protesters demonstrated at the Congress building to demand that legislators reject Duhalde's proposed budget, which includes cuts demanded by the International Monetary Fund (IMF). The demonstration was called by the leftist Argentine Workers Central (CTA) and the Classist and Combative Current (CCC), the traditional leadership of the piquetero ("picketer") movement of unemployed workers. A more radical section of the piqueteros movement held separate demonstrations, including the blocking of roads to the capital. In Buenos Aires, some 500 of the "hard" piqueteros protested at a branch of the British-owned HSBC bank, and then marched to the Plaza de Mayo, where they waited to be joined by a cacerolazo (demonstration in which protesters bang on pots and pans) organized by various Buenos Aires neighborhood assemblies. A total of about 4,000 protesters had gathered in the plaza by midnight. Several protesters were arrested, reportedly after they threw rocks at police agents and vandalized some buildings. [Clarin (Buenos Aires) 2/21/02; LJ 2/21/02] Also on Feb. 20, the US removed Argentina from its visa waiver program, under which Argentines have been able to travel to the US without visas since 1996 [see Update #628]. About 400,000 Argentines enter the US each year. "The economic instability [in Argentina] was certainly a big part of this decision," an unnamed US Justice Department official told the Los Angeles Times. "There was a concern that we'd have a lot of people coming to the United States without intent to leave, and we've already seen some increase that gave us reason for concern." [LAT 2/21/02] *14. HAITI: PRO-ARISTIDE DEPUTY KILLED Two men on a motorcycle shot and killed Haitian legislative deputy Marc Andre Durogene on Feb. 17 while his pickup truck was stuck in a traffic jam in Port-au-Prince. The two men asked Durogene to give them a ride, according to Jacques Maurice, a spokesperson for Haitian president Jean-Bertrand Aristide. When Durogene refused, one of the men shot him twice in the head. Maurice said the men made no attempt to steal anything. Durogene's wife was beside him, and his daughter was in the back with two security guards. Durogene, who represented the western city of Gonaives in the Chamber of Deputies, was a member of Aristide's left-populist Lavalas Family (FL) party and a longtime Aristide supporter. He was part of the Lavalas movement that swept Aristide into power in 1990, and he followed the president into exile when he was overthrown by a military coup in 1991. Chamber of Deputies president Felito Dorant, also from FL, said he would wait for a police report and would not speculate on the motive for the murder. [Associated Press 2/19/02; Haiti Progres (NY) 2/20/02] Longstanding tensions between FL and the Democratic Convergence (CD), a center-right opposition coalition, rose after the arrests on Feb. 8-9 of a journalist and 13 opposition political activists as members of a kidnapping ring. Eight of the arrested activists belonged to the Democratic Unity Confederation (KID), a part of the CD; one, Jean Mandenave, is a former legislative deputy. Journalist Genet Morin works for the private station Radio Magik Stereo FM; newsroom director Wakim Exume denied that Morin was a member of any political party. Two other people were arrested in the sweep but were immediately released. At least six businesspeople or members of their families have been kidnapped and ransomed in the past two months. Police spokesperson Jean-Dade Simeon said the license plate of the vehicle in which five suspects were arrested on Feb. 8 had been identified as that of a vehicle used in a recent kidnapping. But KID leader Evans Paul ("K-Plim") denied that KID members were involved. "The police have cooked up another tall tale, to clamp down on the opposition," he said. [Miami Herald 2/14/02 from AP; Haiti en Marche (Miami) 2/20/02 from AHP, Melodie FM, AP] A judge ordered Morin's release on Feb. 15. Another 11 suspects were to be released on Feb. 20, according to attorney Reynold Georges. Judge Lise Pierre-Pierre signed a release on Feb. 19, saying that there were no grounds to hold the suspects. [MH 2/20/02; HEM 2/20/02 from AHP Melodie FM, AP] END VOLUNTEERS ARE NEEDED to help research and write the Weekly News Update on the Americas via email (from anywhere). We need people who are regular Update readers to send us news sources and to write articles for the Update. If you're interested, send your inquiry to and we'll send you the details. 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