Wkly Update on the Americas #397 9/7/97 id AAA07295; Fri, 12 Sep 1997 00:51:16 -0400 Via NY Transfer News Collective * All the News that Doesn't Fit WEEKLY NEWS UPDATE ON THE AMERICAS ISSUE #397, SEPTEMBER 7, 1997 NICARAGUA SOLIDARITY NETWORK OF GREATER NEW YORK 339 LAFAYETTE ST., NEW YORK, NY 10012 (212) 674-9499 1. Cuba: Hotel Bombings Kill Italian Visitor 2. Guatemala: Campesinos Clash with Police, One Killed 3. Chilean Fugitive Rebel Arrested in Switzerland 4. Nicaragua: Unions Vote, Somozas and Students Are Back 5. Bolivian Government and Coca Growers Agree on Eradication 6. Prison Roundup: Colombia, Peru, Jamaica 7. Colombian Workers Protest Economic Policies 8. Mexico's New Congress Meets After All 9. New Chief, New Numbers for US-Mexico Border 10. US Congress Fails to Cut SOA Budget 11. Other News: Haiti, Central America, Paraguay & Panama ISSN#: 1084-922X. The Weekly News Update on the Americas is published weekly by the Nicaragua Solidarity Network of Greater New York. 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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. CUBA: HOTEL BOMBINGS KILL ITALIAN VISITOR Italian businessperson Fabio di Celmo was killed on Sept. 4 when a bomb exploded in Havana's exclusive Copacabana hotel. Two other bombs which exploded at the same time at the Triton and Chateau- Miramar hotels left no injuries. Di Celmo, a resident of Canada, was at the bar on the first floor of the Copacabana when the bomb went off; he died almost instantly from a throat wound caused by a piece of flying glass. [El Tiempo (Bogota) 9/5/97 from EFE, AFP; La Tercera (Chile) 9/5/97 from AFP] The Cuban Interior Ministry issued a communique attributing the attacks to "terrorist activities organized, supplied and developed from the United States." [El Diario-La Prensa (NY) 9/7/97 from EFE] A leader of the Miami-based rightwing paramilitary group Alpha 66 said his organization is not involved directly in the attacks, but that it supports the efforts to overthrow Cuban president Fidel Castro. The rightwing Miami-based Cuban American National Foundation (CANF) said the bombings show a fierce internal struggle against Castro. The US government issued a mild condemnation: "Terrorism is not a viable option, whatever the circumstances," said US State Department spokesperson James Foley on Sept. 4. The US "is in favor of a peaceful transition toward democracy in Cuba," Foley added. [ET 9/5/97 from EFE, AFP, quote retranslated from Spanish] United Nations (UN) spokesperson Juan Carlos Brandt said that UN secretary general Kofi Annan was deeply disturbed by the bombings and "condemns without reservation all cowardly acts of violence against innocent civilians." [LT 9/6/97 from wire services] Later on Sept. 4, an explosion in the government-owned Bodeguita del Medio restaurant in Havana damaged tables and furniture but left no injuries. The blast was thought to have been caused by a small bomb. The Bodeguita del Medio, open since 1942, was made famous by US novelist Ernest Hemingway and continues to be a popular tourist spot. [Reuter 9/5/97] A neighbor said that a Colombian national, identified by restaurant employees, had been arrested on suspicion of having placed the bomb. According to Spanish news service EFE, the day after the explosion the restaurant manager tried to pretend that nothing had happened, and urged neighbors to do the same, although apparently without much success. [ED-LP 9/7/97 from EFE] The latest attacks bring to nine the number of explosions at Cuban tourist sites over the past six months. On Apr. 13, a bomb exploded at the discotheque of the Melia-Cohiba luxury hotel; on July 12, two low-powered bombs exploded 10 minutes apart at the Nacional and Capri hotels, leaving three people slightly injured; on Aug. 5, a low-powered charge blew up in the vestibule of the Melia-Cohiba hotel; and on Aug. 22, a small explosion, which hotel management attributed to an electrical short, broke windows and started a fire at the Sol-Palmeras hotel. [ET 9/5/97 from EFE] The bombings are clearly designed to affect Cuba's growing tourist industry, which grossed $1.38 billion in 1996. There are currently 174 hotels in Cuba, most of them of three and four stars. Some 20 foreign private companies are invested in the hotel industry. [ET 9/5/97 from EFE] An article in Time magazine reveals that an increasing number of US hotel companies have managed to circumvent US laws which ban trade with Cuba by hooking up with foreign companies that can invest in Cuba. The hoteliers are taking advantage of an opening created by a 1994 Treasury ruling, which established that a US company can invest in a foreign firm that has business in Cuba, as long as the US company is a minority holder and the foreign company doesn't earn most of its money in Cuba. Firms now linked to Cuban hotels include Days Inn (now owned by HFS), which is invested in the Canadian Realstar Group; Realstar's affiliate Delta Hotels operates two resorts in Cuba. [Time 8/25/97] Meanwhile, President Castro reappeared in public on Sept. 1 at a ceremony marking the start of the new school year, where he cracked jokes about recent rumors of his death [see Update #396]. "Every once in a while they kill one of us, but we don't get bothered enough to respond," said Castro. "They're losing prestige with these lies. The day it happens, I don't know how we'll convince people that it's true." [ED-LP 9/2/97 from EFE] *2. GUATEMALA: CAMPESINOS CLASH WITH POLICE, ONE KILLED At least one person was killed and dozens injured on Sept. 4 when hundreds of Guatemalan campesinos evicted from the squatted Santa Amelia plantation clashed with security forces in the northern department of Peten. The confrontation between campesinos and agents of the Special Police Force (FEP) of the National Civilian Police (PNC) took place across from the central park in the town of Sayaxche as the FEP agents were boarding three buses to leave town after the eviction. Two of the buses got through the crowd, but the campesinos reportedly stopped the third bus, forced the agents out and beat them with sticks, rocks and machetes. The police retaliated with tear gas and gunfire; campesino Miguel Sol was shot to death. [La Republica (Peru) 9/7/97 from AFP] The next day some 700 campesinos from eight communities arrived in Sayaxche, Peten, where they seized the municipal building and the local judicial offices. A FEP contingent was sent to the scene to reestablish order. Local mayor Avi Maguin Cifuentes and Justice of the Peace Raul Ramirez Hernandez fled their offices and sought refuge in San Benito. The campesinos are demanding that the government halt the execution of eviction orders issued by the courts; if their demand is not met, they have threatened to burn the offices. The protesters are also demanding the release of 29 comrades arrested during evictions from the Cedrales, Santa Amelia and Santo Espiritu farms in Sayaxche. [Prensa Libre (Guatemala) 9/6/97] "We will continue with the evictions and we will make it so that private property is respected," said Governance Minister Rodolfo Mendoza on Sept. 5. [PL 9/6/97] "We are historically owners of the land and the land titles were brought by the Spanish," pointed out Agustin Perez, leader of the National Coordinating Group of Campesino Organizations (CNOC), noting that nearly all Guatemalan campesinos are members of the country's 23 indigenous ethnic groups. In a reference to Guatemala's brutal counter-insurgency war, Perez said the campesinos want "the land to generate development and not terror to generate scorched earth." [LR 9/7/97 from AFP] The Campesino Unity Committee (CUC) and the National Indigenous and Campesino Coordinating Group (CONIC) say that there are 21 disputed rural properties currently being occupied by squatters in Guatemala. Pointing out that poverty forces campesinos to occupy unused farmland, CONIC leader Rafael Chanchabac demanded that the government begin a negotiations process to seek solutions to land conflicts. Humberto Preti, ex-president of the Chamber of Agriculture--a group representing private agribusiness--said the evictions and arrests of squatters will help investment in Guatemala because they strengthen respect for private property. "It is false that 21 farms are invaded," claims Preti. "The campesino leaders just give those figures to justify the juicy donations they get from foreigners, and which they are supposed to invest in those farms." [PL 9/4/97] *3. CHILEAN FUGITIVE REBEL ARRESTED IN SWITZERLAND Chilean rebel Patricio Ortiz Montenegro was arrested in Zurich, Switzerland on Sept. 4. Ortiz is one of four members of the Manuel Rodriguez Patriotic Front (FPMR) who escaped in a spectacular helicopter breakout from Santiago's Maximum Security Prison (CAS) last Dec. 30 [see Update #362]. Ortiz had arrived in Switzerland on July 17 and immediately reported to authorities to request political asylum; after living for a week at the Swiss National Political Asylum Center, he was allowed to move into the Zurich home of his sister Pilar Ortiz while his petition is processed. FPMR spokesperson Lorena Astorga called his detention "illegal," since Swiss law does not allow the arrest of asylum seekers. Astorga says that two legal teams sponsored by Amnesty International (AI) are working to defend Ortiz against extradition and in his asylum petition, because AI recognizes Ortiz as a victim of political persecution in Chile. Astorga said the FPMR believes that the center-left Swiss government will protect Ortiz for humanitarian reasons. "Patricio Ortiz was acquitted by civilian justice of the charge of homicide of a Carabinero for lack of evidence, nevertheless he was tried for the same charge by military justice and sentenced to 20 years in prison," explained Astorga. Ortiz was arrested in March of 1991 and was sentenced to 20 years in prison for the 1991 murder of a Carabineros police agent. He was also charged with a bank robbery and with placing an explosive device in a McDonalds restaurant. His brother Pedro Ortiz was arrested at the same time. The two tried to escape prison the following year; Pedro was killed and Patricio was recaptured in the attempt. On Sept. 5 Ortiz' defense lawyers presented a formal complaint against the Swiss Federal Police for illegal arrest and unnecessary violence, according to an announcement made in Santiago on Sept. 6 by the Organization of Popular Defense (ODEP), which represents FPMR members imprisoned in Chile. "There were no blows, but there were insults and threats from the police agents," explained Astorga. The complaint was lodged against a police commander with the last name Hachvan, who said he was acting on an international arrest order issued by Interpol and referred to as "red diffusion." In a conversation with Radio Cooperativa, Pilar Ortiz said Chilean authorities knew before July 17 that Patricio Ortiz was to arrive in Switzerland. The arrest was carried out on the basis of a request for provisional detention and extradition made by Chile's visiting minister (or special investigative judge) Lamberto Cisternas. Chile's Supreme Court is to decide on Sept. 8 whether it will formalize the extradition request. Switzerland and Chile have no extradition treaty, but Cisternas believes that the norms of international law will apply when the petition is officially forwarded by the Foreign Ministry. Chilean police sources believe that the other three rebels who escaped from the CAS on Dec. 30--Mauricio Hernandez Norambuena, Ricardo Palma Salamanca and Pablo Munoz Hofmann--have been living clandestinely in Cuba for several months. On Sept. 6 Ricardo Alarcon de Quezada, president of Cuba's National Assembly of Popular Power, denied any knowledge of their presence in Cuba. "I don't have the slightest idea about those people," said Alarcon. "I don't know who they are or where they are." At the time of the escape Palma and Hernandez were each serving double life sentences for the 1991 murder of rightwing senator Jaime Guzman and the kidnapping of Cristian Edwards. The Chilean police had expected that Hernandez would be captured soon as there was information that he would be traveling to another Latin American country, presumably Mexico. The arrest of Ortiz in Switzerland apparently led Hernandez to change his plans, however. FPMR spokesperson Astorga emphasized that the capture of Ortiz "has not been a success of the Chilean police, but rather the result of a personal choice" made by Ortiz to visit relatives. His decision, says Astorga, was "supported politically by the FPMR, to open up a possibility of living in freedom for other FPMR members who must remain in clandestinity...." Ortiz' brother and sister have been living in Zurich for the past 20 years. According to Astorga, Pilar Ortiz works for an organization linked to the United Nations and is married to a member of the Swiss parliament; Juan Carlos Ortiz works as a lawyer. [La Tercera 9/5/97, 9/6/97, 9/7/97; El Mercurio 9/7/97; La Republica (Peru) 9/7/97 from AFP] *4. NICARAGUA: UNIONS VOTE, SOMOZAS AND STUDENTS ARE BACK More than 300 delegates from Nicaragua's largest union federation, the Sandinista Workers Confederation (CST), met over the weekend of Aug. 30 in a congress which elected a new leadership and discussed ways to reunite all the unions linked to the leftist Sandinista National Liberation Front (FSLN). Ten federations, including four of the strongest, split from the CST in April 1996 as a result of a fierce dispute between former CST leaders Lucio Jimenez and Ronaldo Membreno. The congress, which included delegates from four of the dissident federations, announced that it would seek to broaden the CST to include all the former member unions, along with cooperatives, unemployed organizations and small business groups. The new general secretary will be Roberto Gonzalez Gaitan; the new leadership includes four women. Several of the new leaders announced that "the Lucio Jimenez era is over." [Barricada (Managua) 9/3/97; Radio Primerisima (Managua), 9/1/97] Speaking at the congress, FSLN general secretary Daniel Ortega Saavedra admitted that the Sandinista unions were "weakened" and had fallen into "a policy of save yourself if you can," citing the problems of striking transport workers. [Radio Primerisima 9/1/97] Inter-city passenger transport operators in the Federation of Collective Transport of Nicaragua (FETRACONI) walked out on Aug. 21 to protest 72 new routes being opened up by the Construction and Transport Ministry [see Update #395]. Talks broke down early in the strike, which the government said cost the country $1 million a day. [El Diario-La Prensa 8/28/97 from Notimex] The union decided on Sept. 1 to suspend the action, after the government threatened to cancel the strikers' permits. [Barricada 9/2/97] In other news, members of the Somoza family, which ruled the country from 1936 until the 1979 Sandinista Revolution, have returned to the country and are trying to regain property confiscated by a 1979 provisional government dominated by the FSLN. Rightwing vice president Enrique Bolanos warned on Aug. 31 that "unfortunately" the Somozas might win the cases because the confiscations "were done capriciously, with arrogant and illegal decrees." Lilliam Somoza Debayle, sister of the late dictator Anastasio Somoza Debayle ("Tachito"), filed a suit with the Tribunals of Justice in August to recover property. [ED-LP 9/1/97 from AFP] Her son, Alejandro Sevilla Somoza, and Javier Rivas Somoza, from the branch of the family known as the Sevilla Somozas, seem to have been more aggressive. They are seeking a Managua estate, "El Consuelo," which was confiscated in 1979 and privatized in 1991. Several investors now own the estate. They charge that the Sevilla Somozas have sent men armed with machetes to occupy El Consuelo; and one investor, Jamileth Gradiz Aguilar, has filed criminal charges of "usurpation" and "terrorism" against the Sevilla Somozas. There are also claims that various Somozas are investing in Nicaragua through a firm named Grupo Sevilla-Somoza (SESO). [La Tribuna (Managua) 9/3/97] The dispute between the government and university students over the university budget [see Updates #387, 388, 389, 390, 391] flared up again on Sept. 4 when the students occupied campuses to prevent the National Council of Universities (CNU) from signing an accord with the government. Several students began a hunger strike at the CNU offices. [La Tribuna 9/5/97] *5. BOLIVIAN GOVERNMENT AND COCA GROWERS AGREE ON ERADICATION The Bolivian government and unions representing coca producers (known as cocaleros) agreed on Sept. 2 to redouble their efforts to eliminate 7,000 hectares of coca during 1997, accoording to sources from both sectors. "We are prepared to comply with voluntary eradication through dialogue," cocalero leader and national deputy Evo Morales told the press after the meeting, despite the fact that "some comrades don't want to know anything more about voluntary eradication, because the government's promises were never fulfilled, and compliance with the goals was only attempted through the use of violence, which can bring deaths." However, explained Morales, "Given the existence of an ultimatum from the United States, we must comply with the eradication." The US has conditioned economic aid to Bolivia on the eradication of 3,500 more hectares of coca in the Chapare region by the end of the year, in order to meet the total eradication goal of 7,000 hectares per year. The US has also announced that next May it will block Bolivia from receiving aid from multilateral financial institutions if the eradication goals are not met. Despite 10 years of eradication policies, in which some $200 million has been invested, the area cultivated with coca in Bolivia has not decreased but has in fact grown 1%. Goverment Minister Guido Nayar warned that if dialogue with the cocaleros fails, the armed forces may be used to eradicate coca. Meetings will be held between cocaleros and government representatives on Sept. 8 in Cochabamba and on Sept. 22 in La Paz to work out a peaceful accord on eradication. [El Deber (Santa Cruz) 9/3/97; El Comercio (Lima, Peru) 9/4/97; El Diario- La Prensa 9/3/97] "The government's official position is of no militarization in the fight against drug trafficking," pledged Nayar on a Sept. 3 visit to Cochabamba. [Los Tiempos (Cochabamba) 9/4/97] However, William Condori Quiroz, secretary general of the Federation of the Cochabamba Tropics, warns that army recruits are being trained to attack meetings, demonstrations, unions and self-defense committees in the coca-growing region of Cochabamba. Based on information from the recruits themselves, Condori believes that leaders of the coca growers--including Morales--are in danger of being arrested. Condori says that the majority of the army conscripts in the region are the children of coca producers and therefore are concerned about the situation. Condori warned that "the government is playing with two cards: on one side it is engaged in dialogue, and on the other it has begun a policy of threats. If violence occurs, it will be the responsibility of the government." [La Estrella del Oriente (Santa Cruz) 9/6/97] Meanwhile, the country's main labor federation, the Bolivian Workers Central (COB), is without a leader since secretary general and miners leader Edgar "Hurricane" Ramirez stormed out of a meeting on Aug. 29. The leaders of the campesino unions are demanding that Ramirez be forced to resign at the next meeting, scheduled for Sept. 10, because of his attitude of "intolerance." [Los Tiempos 9/2/97 from EFE] Ramirez reportedly left in order to allow the COB to resolve internal disputes over corruption and support for neoliberal measures within the union leadership. The Bolivian Mining Corporation (COMIBOL) has reinstated Ramirez in his job at his request, and will send him to work in the iron deposits of Mutun, on the border with Brazil. Ramirez will not leave until his resignation is ratified at the Sept. 10 meeting. [El Deber 9/4/97 from EFE] *6. PRISON ROUNDUP: COLOMBIA, PERU, JAMAICA... Three members of the National Liberation Army (ELN) escaped from Modelo prison in the Colombian city of Barrancabermeja on Sept. 2. The whereabouts of Luis Alberto Florez Diaz (also known as Saul Parra Medina or "Abelardo"), Celedonio Beltran Garces and Antonio Maria Ospina Arango remain unknown; they had been charged with rebellion for their participation in the ELN's Capitan Parmenio front. The three escaped by scaling a wall, disarming prison inspector Jose Vecino Calderon and hiding in garbage containers until garbage trucks arrived and carried them out of the prison. The escape was discovered nearly six hours later when one of the guards found Vecino bound and gagged. At least three people have been arrested as suspects in aiding the escape, and the staff involved in garbage collection are being investigated for possible involvement. [El Tiempo 9/3/97]... Seven prisoners were killed and 10 were seriously injured on Sept. 4 in Lima, Peru, in what was described as a settling of accounts between mafia groups controlling cellblock 12-B of the Lurigancho prison. The clash may have erupted over the issue of food distribution within the prison. The prison was built for 1,000 people and now holds 6,033; only 219 of them have been sentenced. [La Republica 9/6/97, 9/7/97; El Comercio 9/5/97]... The Jamaican government sent police and army troops into the country's two main prisons on Aug. 24 after 16 inmates were stabbed and beaten to death in four days of attacks against prisoners accused of being homosexual. The murders came after Corrections Commissioner John Prescod announced on Aug. 19 that he was considering issuing condoms in the prisons to help prevent the spread of AIDS. Prison guards went on strike and called for Prescod's resignation, saying he was encouraging homosexuality. Prescod said on Aug. 27 that his intention was to encourage safe sex and "any misunderstanding by the staff is regrettable." The previous week the government had freed five HIV-infected prisoners on "humanitarian considerations." A mandatory AIDS-testing program for inmates ended two years ago because of a lack of funds. [New York Times 8/25/97 from Reuter; Reuter 8/21/97? (undated), posted on Internet] *7. COLOMBIAN WORKERS PROTEST ECONOMIC POLICIES Some 400,000 Colombian workers held a day of protest on Sept. 3 in Bogota. The protest was partial, and different labor sectors chose their own tactics: judicial employees demanding wage increases did not work; the black market merchants known as sanandresitos (because many of the cheap imported goods they sell come through the Colombian island of San Andres) held a street demonstration to protest a new law requiring them to legalize their trade; bus operators with buses older than 1980 kept their buses out of service to protest a law requiring them to exchange the buses for newer models; Telecom workers held their second day of protest against the opening up of long distance service to private competition; and workers at the state oil company Ecopetrol went to their jobs but refused to work, partially paralyzing the company with their sitdown strike. The union federations ended the afternoon with a demonstration in the Plaza de Bolivar in Bogota, in which they pledged to hold a new national strike if the government does not negotiate with them. The unionists also reiterated their rejection of the legalized paramilitary groups known as Convivir, as well as illegal paramilitary groups and the government's neoliberal economic policies, and asked all sides in Colombia's armed conflict to work for peace. In a communique, President Ernesto Samper praised "the democratic and civic-minded spirit demonstrated by the workers and the union leaders." [El Tiempo 9/4/97; ED-LP 9/4/97 from Notimex] *8. MEXICO'S NEW CONGRESS MEETS AFTER ALL After a frantic weekend of maneuvering by Mexico's newly elected Chamber of Deputies, President Ernesto Zedillo Ponce de Leon gave the annual state of the nation address to the country's two houses of Congress on Sept. 1 without incident. Two days earlier 261 independents and members of four opposition parties formed a bloc to take control of the Chamber's committee structure; the 239 deputies from Zedillo's Institutional Revolutionary Party (PRI)--now in the minority for the first time in 68 years-- threatened to form a "parallel" lower house [see Update #396]. On orders from the president the PRI legislators finally accepted their new situation; they were sworn in on Aug. 31. Zedillo himself had to accept the first-ever opposition rebuttal to a presidential report--from Dep. Porfirio Munoz Ledo of the center- left Party of the Democratic Revolution (PRD), now the largest opposition party in the Chamber. Munoz Ledo, who over his long career has been a cabinet minister, a UN ambassador and president of both the PRI and the PRD, is Chamber president this year; the PRI and the conservative National Action Party (PAN) will each have one year in the Chamber's presidency. Zedillo devoted much of his address to defending the neoliberal economic policies the PRI has imposed on Mexico for the last 15 years. Munoz Ledo outlined a legislative program of democratic reforms, investigations into corruption, and peace with the rebel Zapatista National Liberation Army (EZLN) in the southeastern state of Chiapas. The new Congress, he said, would seek economic policies to "make possible an improvement in salary and income, the broadening of the internal market, the solution of the problem of non-performing loans and the restructuring of the credit system, a push forward for small and medium industry, a determined promotion of growth and employment, and the modification, in the national interest, of financial and economic relations in the exterior." When he was a senator in 1988 Munoz Ledo began a leftist tradition of heckling the president during his report. This year the scene was generally decorous, although Munoz Ledo caused some surprise by addressing Zedillo as "Citizen President" rather than "Mr. President," and by using a favorite slogan of the EZLN when he advised the executive to "command by obeying." [New York Times 9/1/97, 9/2/97; La Jornada (Mexico) 9/2/97; Reuter 9/2/97] Mexico's two main rebel groups are also adapting to the new reality following the opposition parties' legislative victory on July 6. The EZLN is focused on a plan to bring 1,111 representatives to Mexico on Sept. 13 for the founding of the civilian Zapatista National Liberation Front (FZLN) [see Update #396]. The rebels have run into a problem common to leftist groups: lack of funds. The EZLN has about $26,000 for travel and lodging; the rebels estimate they will need some $130,000. Contributions for the FZLN meeting can be transferred directly to account #5580991-7, Bancomer, Branch 116, Mexico, DF, Mexico, under the name of Paz Carmona. [El Universal (Mexico) 9/2/97; FZLN Finance Committee release 9/5/97] Meanwhile, the Revolutionary Popular Army (EPR), which emerged in 1996 with a series of dramatic and lethal attacks on police stations throughout central and southern Mexico, has qualified the July 6 elections as a "triumph," although a "partial and relative" one. In a press conference held in a secret location shortly after the presidential report, "Commander Oscar" and "Major Carmen" told reporters that the time had still not come to give up the armed struggle. [LJ 9/5/97] In an interview published on Sept. 3, "Commander Vicente" told El Tlapaneco, a weekly published in the southwestern state of Guerrero, that the EPR plans no new attacks at this time. The rebels would give up their arms when there is complete democracy, he said, but only to the people, not to the government. [El Diario-La Prensa 9/4/97 from AFP] *9. NEW CHIEF, NEW NUMBERS FOR US-MEXICO BORDER The US Immigration and Naturalization Service (INS) has named Gustavo de la Vina to head the agency's Border Patrol starting next January. The INS also plans to move the patrol's headquarters to San Diego. De la Vina, the highest-ranking Latino in the INS, headed the Border Patrol in San Diego and designed the controversial Operation Gatekeeper program, an effort to cut down illegal immigration in the San Diego area. The Border Patrol has grown 63% over the last three years and now has 7,000 agents, along with new high-tech vehicles, aircraft and computerized fingerprinting systems. [Washington Post 9/4/97] De la Vina says that one of his first actions will be to develop a strategy to end the corruption in the Border Patrol which he says has contributed to the growth of drug trafficking [see Update #394]. [Mexico Update (Equipo Pueblo) #138, 9/3/97 from La Jornada 9/1/97] A joint study sponsored by the Mexican and US governments and made public on Sept. 2 estimates that 2.3 million to 2.4 million Mexicans are now living in the US without documents, and that the number is increasing at a rate of about 105,000 a year. Anti- immigrant politicians like Patrick Buchanan have claimed that the increase is by a million or more a year. The study does not count undocumented Mexicans who stay in the US less than one year; the INS says that these constitute the majority of undocumented Mexicans, putting the total at more than 5 million for any given year. [New York Times 8/31/97; WP 9/5/97] Another study, by the University of Houston, says that at least 1,185 people, mostly Mexicans and Central Americans, died while trying to cross the Mexico-US border illegally from 1993 through 1996: 851 by drowning; 90 who were hit by vehicles; 58 from causes such as dehydration and heat exhaustion; and 186 from other causes. The deaths have increased dramatically over the last decade. Immigrant rights advocates blame INS campaigns like De la Vina's Operation Gatekeeper, which forced immigrants to take dangerous routes over rivers and through deserts; the INS blames unscrupulous smugglers. [NYT 8/24/97] Meanwhile, the INS wants to raise the fee for a citizenship application from $95 to more than $200. Rep. Luis Gutierrez (D- IL) calls the plan "an example of our government providing terrible service at a higher price to customers." [WP 9/5/97] Brian McLaughlin, president of New York City's traditionally conservative Central Labor Council, announced on Sept. 6 that local unions would focus on recruiting immigrant workers. The statement came as unionists prepared for the city's Labor Day parade, which is now held on the Saturday following Labor Day. "New immigrants are usually the most exploited people in the city," McLaughlin said, explaining that he began taking an interest in immigrant workers after reading that the Domsey clothing company in Brooklyn has still not paid most of the $2 million it owes its mostly Haitian workers. The National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) ruled in the workers' favor four years ago. Reps. Gary Ackerman and Nydia Velazquez (both D-NY) have introduced legislation allowing workers like those at Domsey to sue for punitive damages. [NYT 9/7/97] *10. US CONGRESS FAILS TO CUT SOA BUDGET On Sept. 4 the US House of Representatives narrowly defeated a proposal from Rep. Esteban Torres (D-CA) to cut the US Army School of the Americas (SOA) budget by one fourth. The school-- founded in Panama in 1946 and located at Fort Benning, Georgia, since 1984--gives military training each year to about 1,000 officers from more than 15 countries in the hemisphere. SOA Watch, a group that opposes the school, has documented that a high percentage of officers implicated in massacres and other human rights abuses in Colombia, El Salvador and Peru are SOA graduates. Torres' proposal, which would have restored the funding if the school included human rights training and followup on graduates' human rights records, was defeated 217-210, a dramatic improvement over last year, when only 175 legislators backed a similar proposal. Officers from Colombia and El Salvador have usually formed the largest contingents at SOA, but in the past two years Mexicans have dominated, with 153 in 1996 and 211 this year. Three Mexican graduates figured in a list the left-leaning Mexican weekly Proceso published this year of officers under investigation for possible links to drug trafficking: Lt. Col. Rene Herrera Huizar (Patrol Operations, 1980); Col. Moises Garcia Ochoa (Jungle Operations, 1977); and Gen. Fernan Perez Casanova (Counterinsurgency, 1962). [La Jornada 9/5/97] At least five SOA graduates figure prominently in the Mexican military's "low- intensity war" against rebels in the southeastern state of Chiapas: Col. Harold B. Rambling Torres (Irregular War Operations, 1972), who commands the 83rd Infantry Battalion in Rancho Nuevo; Brig. Gen. Carmelo Teran Montero (Military Intelligence, 1972), who heads a unit in Las Tacitas; Col. Jose Luis Ruvalcaba (Jungle Operations, 1975), now chief of Military Region VII Joint Operations Bases; Brig. Gen. Carlos Demetrio Gaytan Ochoa (Resource Administration, 1981), who heads a unit in Monte Libano; and Col. German Antonio Bautista (Command and Staff, 1994), detachment chief in Taniperlas ejido, Ocosingo. [Nuevo Amanecer Press-Europa (NAP) 8/30/97] *11. IN OTHER NEWS... After a two-day "warning strike" in Port-au-Prince and other cities in mid-August, workers at Haiti's Teleco, the state-owned telephone company, went out on a three-day national strike Aug. 27-29. According to union president Jean Mabou, the strikers were demanding an 80% raise after a 28-month freeze on their wages, along with better management of the company. Teleco, with 2,797 employees, is slated for privatization in the near future. Some 250 residents and 87 interns at the country's largest hospital, the Hospital of the State University of Haiti, went out on strike on Aug. 21 to protest poor sanitary conditions and the firing of research and training head Dr. Evelyne Moise. The strike was continuing as of Aug. 29. [Haiti Info vol. 5, #18, 8/30/97]... In a summit held in Managua on Sept. 2, the presidents of Costa Rica, El Salvador, Guatemala, Honduras and Nicaragua agreed to begin a process leading eventually to the creation of a single Central American Union. The Nicaraguan daily La Prensa noted that this was the 29th unification effort since the five countries declared independence from Spain in 1821. The most successful lasted from 1824 to 1838. [El Diario-La Prensa 9/7/97 from AFP]... As many as 40 people were killed and 200 injured on Sept. 5 when a tornado ripped off the roof and wall of a stadium in the Paraguayan border town of Ciudad del Este, crushing 3,000 people gathered inside for a political rally. The roof and wall were makeshift structures which went up just over a week ago and had no foundations, media reports said. The governor of the Alto Parana province where the stadium is located, Carlos Barreto, called for three days of mourning. Despite the disaster, President Juan Carlos Wasmosy decided not to suspend the primary elections of the ruling National Republican Association (ANR), or Colorado Party, scheduled for Sept. 7. The stadium rally was being staged by a dissident faction of the Colorado Party. [Reuter 9/5/97; La Tercera (Chile) 9/6/97 from ANSA; ED-LP 9/6/97 from EFE]... On Sept. 4 more than 3,000 families from the Chorrillo neighborhood of Panama City received a $500 check from the Panamanian government, representing the third installment of compensation payments ordered for material damages suffered during the December 1990 US invasion. The neighborhood was destroyed by bombing in the invasion. [La Prensa (Honduras) 9/5/97 from EFE] 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). 1996 INDEX OUT NOW!!! 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. 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