WEEKLY NEWS UPDATE ON THE AMERICAS ISSUE #662, OCTOBER 6, 2002 NICARAGUA SOLIDARITY NETWORK OF GREATER NEW YORK 339 LAFAYETTE ST., NEW YORK, NY 10012 (212) 674-9499 1. Brazil: Lula Leads in Balloting 2. Guatemala: 1 Jailed, 2 Freed in Mack Case 3. Bolivia: Cocaleros Sign Truce 4. Colombia: Troops Attack Emcali Workers 5. Colombia: US Lawyer Pleads Guilty 6. Venezuela: New Coup Plot Thwarted? 7. Puerto Rico: Vieques Protests Planned 8. In Other News: Argentina, Mexico/Cuba, CAFTA, Ecuador, El Salvador, Guatemala... 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. BRAZIL: LULA LEADS IN BALLOTING As of 9:23 pm New York time on Oct. 6, Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva of the leftist Workers Party (PT) had a commanding lead in Brazil's presidential election but appeared unlikely to win in the first round. With 43% of the votes tabulated, Lula was ahead with 46.82%. Jose Serra, the candidate of President Fernando Henrique Cardoso's Social Democratic Party of Brazil (PSDB) and the ruling center-right coalition, was a distant second with 24.35%, followed by left-populist former Rio de Janeiro governor Anthony Garotinho with 15.96%. Ciro Gomes, a former finance minister and the center-left candidate of the Popular Socialist Party (PPS), was fourth with 12.39%. To win in the first round, Lula needs to get more than 50%; otherwise, there will be a second round on Oct. 27. The rate of abstention was over 17%. [CNN en Espanol 10/6/02 from AP] In addition to the president and vice president, Brazilian voters were to select 27 state governors, 54 senators and 513 federal deputies, along with the members of state assemblies; a total of 18,880 candidates were running. More than 115 million Brazilians are eligible to vote. [El Diario-La Prensa (NY) 10/6/02 from AP] *2. GUATEMALA: 1 JAILED, 2 FREED IN MACK CASE On Oct. 3 a three-judge panel of the Third Criminal Court in Guatemala City convicted former Col. Juan Valencia Osorio of planning the 1990 murder of Guatemalan anthropologist Myrna Mack Chang, and sentenced him to 30 years in prison. The court acquitted two other former officers, Gen. Edgar Augusto Godoy Gaytan and Col. Juan Guillermo Oliva Carrera. All of the defendants served in the Presidential General Staff (EMP), which provides security for the president; Godoy headed the EMP while Valencia headed the EMP's Security Department [see Update #658]. At the time of her murder Mack had been investigating the repression indigenous Guatemalans suffered at the hands of the Guatemalan military during the 1960-1996 civil war. Judges Morelia Rios and Yasmin Barrios voted to convict Valencia, while Judge Rudy Chin Rodriguez voted for acquittal; all three judges voted to acquit the other two officers. The key evidence in the case was an audio cassette a prisoner, Jorge Lemus Alvarado ("El Buky"), made of conversations with fellow prisoner Noel de Jesus Beteta Alvarez, the former army specialist who was convicted of the murder in 1993 and sentenced to 25 years in prison. On the tape, Beteta named Valencia as the person who ordered that Mack be "watched and eliminated." The judges felt the evidence against the other two officers was less compelling. Some human rights activists shouted "Guatemala, Never Again" after the sentences were announced; supporters of the officers booed the two judges who voted to convict Valencia. [Prensa Libre (Guatemala) 10/4/02; La Nacion (Costa Rica) 10/4/02 from AP, ACAN-EFE] Myrna Mack's sister, Helen Mack, said she was "partially satisfied" with the verdicts. Helen Mack had propelled the 10- year campaign to bring her sister's killers to justice. [Washington Post 10/4/02] The New York-based Lawyers Committee for Human Rights (LCHR), which backed Helen Mack's efforts, called the verdict "a remarkable achievement," which "does not however relieve the responsibility of the Guatemalan authorities to provide protection for all human rights defenders and to investigate and prosecute all cases of violence and intimidation." [LCHR statement 10/04/02] Jose Miguel Vivanco, executive director of the Americas Division of Human Rights Watch (HRW), called the decision "an important victory." [HRW press release 10/04/02] *3. BOLIVIA: COCALEROS SIGN TRUCE The government of Bolivian president Gonzalo Sanchez de Lozada signed an agreement late on Oct. 4 with campesino coca growers (cocaleros) in the Chapare region of Cochabamba department, led by legislative deputy Evo Morales Ayma. The agreement provides for a two-week halt to cocalero protests while a consensus anti- drug plan is worked out. Both sides agreed on the creation of a special economic development zone in the Chapare, and on issues related to alternative development, the creation of legal coca markets and a reduction in military presence in the zone. The cocaleros and the government continue to disagree on the cocaleros' demand for a halt to all eradication efforts in the Chapare. [La Republica (Lima) 10/6/02 from AFP] Before the meeting, the cocaleros had agreed that they would stop planting coca if the government would stop eradicating it. [El Diario (La Paz) 10/2/02] On Oct. 1 Morales rejected the nomination of David N. Greenlee as the new US ambassador to Bolivia. The White House announced on Sept. 5 that it had sent Greenlee's nomination to the Senate for confirmation. Greenlee has served as US ambassador to Paraguay since 2000; he previously was the Department of State's "special coordinator" for Haiti from 1997 to 1999. He was Deputy Chief of Mission at the US embassy in La Paz from 1987 to 1989, and previously served as "political officer" at the embassy there. Morales says Greenlee operated as an agent of the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) in Bolivia, and that "in his role as interim ambassador provoked the 1988 massacre at Villa Tunari [in the Chapare], in which 11 cocaleros were shot to death by combined forces of US soldiers and [Bolivian] police." Morales also accused Greenlee of involvement in a 1986 operation in Huanchaca, near the border with Brazil in Oruro department, in which an illegal drug factory was raided and government officials linked to it escaped prosecution. [Los Tiempos (Cochabamba) 10/2/02 from EFE; LR 10/3/02 from AFP; Statement from US Embassy in Bolivia from website, undated] Meanwhile, a group of students at the San Simon Major University (UMSS) in Cochabamba took 48 teachers hostage on Oct. 1. The students are challenging the results of the Sept. 1 elections of the Local University Federation (FUL). The hostage teachers were released Oct. 4 following negotiations between a mediation commission and student leaders. Six students were in the 24th day of a hunger strike on Oct. 4; the mediation commission also won an agreement to let one of the six hunger strikers be transferred to a medical center. [El Nuevo Herald (Miami) 10/5/02 from unspecified wire services; LT 10/4/02] *4. COLOMBIA: TROOPS ATTACK EMCALI WORKERS Early on Sept. 30, troops from the Colombian army's Third Brigade, accompanied by local police and a riot squad, occupied the entrances to the Central Administration Building (CAM) and the Bulevar telephone plant in Cali, Valle del Cauca department. The military operation was reportedly ordered by President Alvaro Uribe Velez in order to prevent workers from the Empresas Municipales de Cali (Municipal Companies of Cali, EMCALI) from occupying the buildings. The Union of EMCALI Workers (SITRAEMCALI) has been holding a "permanent assembly" since Sept. 25, demanding that the government comply with agreements signed on Jan. 29 following a 36-day occupation of the CAM tower which halted EMCALI's privatization [see Update #627]. The workers are also demanding the resignation of Carlos Vitaliano Sanchez, administrator of the Puerto Mallarino water treatment plant, which supplies water to 70% of Cali's residents. SITRAEMCALI says Vitaliano has allowed the plant's facilities to fall into disrepair, jeopardizing the water supply; the union suspects he is deliberately trying to destabilize the company in order to force its privatization. On Oct. 1, a joint team of army soldiers and agents of the Cali Metropolitan Police Mobile Anti-Riot Squad (ESMAD) threw more than 50 US-made tear gas bombs and shrapnel grenades at Emcali workers in the city's sewage treatment plant. At least two workers were badly hurt; three others had to be hospitalized from the effects of the gases. Police and soldiers launched similar attacks the same day against workers at the Bodegas Navarro water plant, an electricity plant in the southern zone of the city, and the Colon telecommunications plant, where customer service offices were also hit with tear gas. Security forces also used water cannons against the workers, and ESMAD agents threatened to kill members of the human rights group Association for Research and Social Action (Nomadesc) who arrived to document the attacks at the Colon telephone offices. The EMCALI workers blame the attacks on President Uribe and the national superintendent of residential public services, Eva Maria Uribe Tobon, who they accuse of seeking to privatize EMCALI. [SINTRAEMCALI messages 9/30/02, 10/1/02] *5. COLOMBIA: US LAWYER PLEADS GUILTY On Oct. 2, Manhattan criminal lawyer Richard Canton pleaded guilty in federal court to two conspiracy charges for negotiating to provide weapons to the rightwing paramilitary United Self- Defense Forces of Colombia (AUC) in exchange for bringing 1,000 kilos of cocaine to distribute in the US. Canton is to be sentenced on Jan. 8; he faces a minimum of 11 years in prison and fines of up to $8 million. As part of the plea arrangement, Canton's lawyer has promised not to appeal if the sentence does not exceed 18 years. The indictment says Canton met with AUC leader Carlos Castano and other AUC members in Colombia in July 2001 to work out an agreement to supply AK-47 and M-16 assault rifles and hand grenades via a distributor in Honduras. The weapons were to be partially paid for from the sale of cocaine in the US. A spokesperson for the US Attorney's Office said it doesn't appear the contract was ever carried out. Canton's guilty plea comes a week after Attorney General John Ashcroft unsealed indictments against Castano and two other AUC members on drug charges [see Update #661]. The AUC was added to the State Department's "Foreign Terrorist Organization" list in September 2001. [New York Post 10/3/02; AP 10/2/02] *6. VENEZUELA: NEW COUP PLOT THWARTED? Venezuelan president Hugo Chavez Frias said on Oct. 5 that he had derailed another coup attempt by his opponents. Information on the conspiracy was uncovered in an Oct. 4 morning raid carried out by the political police (DISIP) and the Department of Military Intelligence (DIM) at the Caracas home of Enrique Tejera Paris, who served as foreign minister in the second government of President Carlos Andres Perez (1989-93). According to the state- run television network Venezolana de Television, documents found at Tejera's home included a map featuring the words "final solution," with marks on key spots and words like "chaos," "looting," and the "taking of the [presidential] palace, Miraflores." Chavez quoted from a flyer saying his opponents would seek to oust him by Oct. 6, the day of Brazil's presidential elections, before "communism reigns in Latin America," referring to the expected victory of Brazilian leftist candidate Luis Inacio Lula da Silva. In a televised statement, Tejera said the plan was not hatched at his home, but he said it seemed like a "perfectly sensible" plan that would "considerably improve the national economy." Others involved in the latest plot reportedly include several former military officers who were accused of participating in the April coup that ousted Chavez from office for 48 hours [see Update #637]; the officers were never tried [see Updates #653-655]. [El Nuevo Herald 10/6/02 from AFP; BBC News 10/6/02] *7. PUERTO RICO: VIEQUES PROTESTS PLANNED The US Navy announced on Sept. 23 that the USS Harry S. Truman battle group was ending the current round of training exercises on the small Puerto Rican island of Vieques. The exercises began on Sept. 3 and were expected to end in 23 days; according to Puerto Rican commissioner for Vieques Juan Fernandez, the Navy said the exercises were ending three days early because of predictions of bad weather. "The exercises were completed successfully," Navy spokesperson Kim Dixon told reporters. [AP 9/23/02; El Nuevo Dia (Puerto Rico) 9/24/02] Opponents of the Navy's presence on Vieques had greeted the opening of the exercises with several acts of civil disobedience at the Navy's bombing range [see Update #659]. On Sept. 24, the day after the exercises ended, 24 pro-Vieques activists were arrested in a civil disobedience at the main entrance to the United Nations (UN) in New York City. The demonstrators carried a giant banner calling for peace, justice and human rights in Vieques; they were charged with disorderly conduct. [Primera Hora/Panorama 9/24/02 from EFE] On Sept. 25 the New York City Council passed a resolution "calling upon the United States Navy to vacate its training facility on the Puerto Rican island of Vieques and to cease and desist from violating the civil rights of the Puerto Rican people to peaceful assembly on the Island of Vieques." [Text of Resolution No.183-A 9/25/02] Activists are planning a campaign to pressure US president George W. Bush to guarantee that he will carry out his earlier promise to end Navy exercises on Vieques by May 2003. Ruben Berrios, president of the Puerto Rican Independence Party (PIP), announced on Oct. 1 that his party was planning a massive demonstration in New York next March or April, with well-known artists and political figures, possibly followed by a massive civil disobedience on Vieques. [El Vocero (Puerto Rico) 10/2/02] The four Puerto Rican members of the US Congress, Rep. Jose Serrano (D-NY), Rep. Nydia Velazquez (D-NY), Rep. Luis Gutierrez (D-IL) and Resident Commissioner Anibal Acevedo, Puerto Rico's non-voting representative, sent a letter to President Bush on Oct. 2 asking him to "issue an official expression as to a timetable and outline decisive steps that would be undertaken by the US Navy to finally end all training and military activities in Vieques, on or before May 1, 2003." [Text of letter 10/2/02] *8. IN OTHER NEWS... On Oct. 5 Argentine judge Mario Juarez Almaraz ordered the release of 108 of some 130 protesters who were arrested in the northwestern city of Jujuy on Sept. 20 when police agents attacked a demonstration led by unemployed workers [see Update #661, where we gave the number of arrests as 179, following our sources]. Now only one of those arrested remains in jail: Franco Angel Vera, who had been serving a suspended sentence for an earlier conviction. Some 120 of the protesters still face charges in connection with the demonstration. [Clarin (Buenos Aires) 10/6/02]... Mexican ambassador to Cuba Ricardo Pascoe charged on Sept. 30--his last day in office--that his country's policies had led the two countries to "the verge of a de facto but not de jure break in diplomatic relations." The left-leaning Pascoe had a difficult relation with Mexican foreign affairs secretary Jorge G. Castaneda, a former leftist who has clashed with Cuban president Fidel Castro Ruz [see Update #639]. In a letter to Mexican president Vicente Fox Quesada on Sept. 30, Pascoe wrote that Mexico's "irresponsible...policy towards Cuba, which I absolutely do not share, represents an historic error on the part of our country." [La Hora (Quito) 10/1/02 from AFP]... The administration of US president George W. Bush notified Congress on Oct. 1 that it plans to enter into free-trade talks with five Central American nations within 90 days. The 90-day notification is required by US law. Formal negotiations with Guatemala, Costa Rica, El Salvador, Nicaragua and Honduras should begin in early 2003, said an official in the office of US Trade Representative Robert Zoellick. In January, Bush proposed a Central American Free Trade Agreement (CAFTA) modeled on the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA) between Canada, the US and Mexico, in effect since Jan. 1, 1994. The parties involved in CAFTA have had several rounds of exploratory talks to identify key issues. [Miami Herald 10/2/02 from AFP]... Two employees of the Argentine oil company Techint were kidnapped on Oct. 2 near the town of Sardinas in Ecuador's Amazon region, Ecuadoran officials revealed on Oct. 4. Army Gen. Jorge Mino identified one of the missing employees as British citizen John Buckley. The other employee, who is Ecuadoran, was not identified. Techint is one of the companies in OCP Ltd, the consortium building the Heavy Crude Pipeline (OCP) through Ecuador's rainforest. [Miami Herald 10/5/02 from unspecified wire services; Clarin 10/5/02 from AFP, ANSA]... About 180 of the 200 doctors at the public Hospital of Specialities in San Salvador, El Salvador, walked off the job on Oct. 3, joining nearly 1,000 other doctors in a wave of strikes that began Sept. 19. The strikers are protesting the privatization of the social security public health system; they were further angered when the Salvadoran Social Security Institute (ISSS) decided on Sept. 18 to fire 10 employees and order pay cuts for another 300 who had participated in anti- privatization strikes two weeks earlier [see Updates #658, 660]. [Miami Herald 10/4/02 from unspecified wire services]... Some 1,300 doctors employed by the Guatemalan Social Security Institute (IGSS) at 57 public clinics and hospitals around the country went on strike Oct. 25 to demand a 30% wage increase and better equipment and supplies. Carlos Wholers, president of the IGSS board, announced on Oct. 1 that he would fire 22 of the strikers because the strike was illegal. [La Nacion 9/28/02 from AP; La Semana en Guatemala 9/9-15/02] 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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