ekrell@ucla-cs.UUCP (12/15/85)
The sunday edition of the Los Angeles Times has a front page story
titled "Managua Using Intimidation, Dissidents Say" that is almost
a full page long. I will reproduce some paragraphs from the article,
and distribute them on a cuple of postings.
Managua, Nicaragua - Sandinista state security police have interrogated,
admonished, fingerprinted and photographed socores of opposition leaders
and other suspected dissidents in the last two months.
Government officials say the action is aimed at enforcing security laws
and breaking up counterrevolutionary conspiracies. Critics say it is
intended to stifle dissent.
Persons detained or summoned by the General Directorate of State Security
have included opposition politicians, clergymen, lay church workers,
union officials and Nicaraguan employees of the U.S. embassy.
Frighten and Threaten
Lino Hernandez, head of the Permanent Commision on Human Rights in
Nicaragua, said the government is conducting a campaign of intimidation
against dissidents "to frighten them and threaten them so that they won't
criticize the revolutionary process".
Hernandez, an outspoken critic of the leftist government, added,
"I think it has been an advancement in the process of establishing an
increasingly closed, more controlled society." He estimated that at
least 350 to 400 people have been detained or called in for interrogations
and warning since Oct. 15.
Many People have been summoned to a building in the center of Managua called
Casa 50 (House No. 50), the public relations office of the General Directorate
of State Security. Some have been taken to detention cells and interrogation
rooms in nearby state security installations.
There have been many reports of mistreatment. Hernandez said that three
women, lay Catholics who helped organize a public reception in Chinandega
province for Nicaragua's Cardinal Miguel Obando y Bravo, were forced to do
exercises in the nude.
Many of those called in are associated with Roman Catholic and evangelical
Protestant organizations that have been at odds with revolutionary policies.
Msgr. Bosco Vivas, auxiliary bishop of Managua's Catholic diocese, said that
about 50 priests and at least 100 other people active in church affairs
have been called in. Some of the priests have been accused of political
activities, including preaching against the military draft.
Vivas said that some lay Catholics have been forced to sign statements
falsely implicating church officials in illicit sexual activities and that
others have been threatened with reprisals against their relatives
if they do not become government informants.
[ I guess this is also untrue propaganda and that the L.A. Times has
become a right wing newspaper and that the Permanent Commision on Human
rights is controled by the CIA :-) ]
Will continue ...
--
Eduardo Krell UCLA Computer Science Department
ekrell@ucla-locus.arpa ..!{sdcrdcf,ihnp4,trwspp,ucbvax}!ucla-cs!ekrell