LADBAC@UNMB.BITNET (Dr. Barbara A. Kohl) (09/07/89)
September 6, 1989
CENTRAL AMERICA UPDATE
Copyright 1989
(Latin America Data Base, Latin American Institute, University
of New Mexico. Project Director: Dr. Nelson Valdes. Managing
Editor: Dr. Barbara A. Kohl)
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GENERAL
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UPDATE: NICARAGUAN CONTRA DEMOBILIZATION,
U.N. PEACEKEEPING FORCE
Last week United Nations Secretary General Javier Perez
de Cuellar announced the appointment of Assistant Secretary
General Alvaro de Soto as his personal representative in the
three peace initiatives requested by five Central American
presidents: voluntary demobilization, repatriation or
relocation of the Nicaraguan contras (and of other rebels in
the region); creation of a peacekeeping force that would
include land, air and naval observation posts to help
prevent violations of accord security provisions; and,
monitoring of the Nicaraguan electoral process. The UN and
Organization of American States secretaries general have
formed a joint commission for these tasks at the request of
the Central American presidents.
A UN reconnaissance mission was sent to Central America
during the weekend with the objective of assisting Perez de
Cuellar in preparing a formal proposal for the peacekeeping
force to be submitted to the Security Council. In addition,
some UN officials have said that an armed contingent for
defensive purposes is likely to be included in the UN effort
to oversee contra demobilization. Inclusion of armed
personnel in this task would require approval by the UN
Security Council.
--On Sept. 4, a 17-member UN mission headed for the
Nicaraguan border zone. The mission, comprised of military
and technical advisers, arrived in Costa Rica Sept. 3, and
then headed for the Nicaraguan border on the following day.
Individual contras living in the Honduran camps have
been repeatedly quoted by the foreign press as saying that
they will not leave until after Nicaragua's Feb. 25, 1990
elections. The Tela summit accord specifies that the camps
should be disbanded by mid-December.
--On Sept. 5, in San Jose, Costa Rica, Organization of
American States Secretary General Joao Baena Soares told
reporters that serious difficulties regarding contra
demobilization did not exist. He said he had no knowledge
of "massive resistance" to demobilization among the contras
encamped in Honduras.
Baena Soares was in San Jose attending a regional
meeting of the UN Development Programme (UNDP).
The secretary general said that in September he planned
a trip to Nicaragua to personally observe electoral
preparations. He added that he was certain the February
elections would be "clean and democratic."
Baena Soares said a UN mission was completing a second
inspection of the Costa Rican-Nicaraguan border area with
helicopter support. Mission members were discussing
logistical support to be provided by the Costa Rican
government to the UN military peacekeeping force.
According to the OAS secretary general, the UN
peacekeeping force will be comprised of soldiers from
Canada, Venezuela, Ireland, Spain and Italy. Their
function, he added, will consist of preventing arms
trafficking banned under the regional accords, and cross-
border armed attacks. [Basic data from AFP, 09/04/89;
Notimex, 09/05/89; 09/03/89 report by UNITEX (UN Information
Transfer Exchange)]
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EL SALVADOR
*********************
EL SALVADOR: NOTE ON RECENT FIGHTING
On Sept. 5, government troops and Farabundo Marti
National Liberation Front (FMLN) rebels clashed before dawn
near Chilanga, Morazan department. Armed forces
spokespersons reported 16 dead and six wounded soldiers, and
"numerous" rebel casualties. The official death toll was
the highest since the military acknowledged 69 dead in a
guerrilla attack March 31, 1987, on the 4th Army Brigade
headquarters in Chalatenango department.
In a broadcast on Radio Venceremos, the FMLN said
rebels caused 25 casualties to government forces.
Throughout the day, several other clashes were
reported by Radio Venceremos, including in the village of
Tejutla, Chalatenango department, and in Sesori and
Carolina, located in northern San Miguel department. (Basic
data from Notimex, AP, 09/05/89)
FENASTRAS HEADQUARTERS IN SAN SALVADOR BOMBED
On Sept. 5 before dawn, an explosion at the San
Salvador offices of the FENASTRAS labor federation caused
serious material damage, but no injuries. Union sources
said that at about 1:20 a.m., unidentified assailants placed
a bomb in the building, located in the downtown area.
FENASTRAS secretary general Gerardo Diaz blamed the
military. He said, "This is a provocation that is part of a
generalized campaign against the organized labor movement."
The bombing marked the second attack this year on the
FENASTRAS offices. On Feb. 22, several charges of dynamite
destroyed part of the federation's offices and caused
serious damage to a nearby residence. (Basic data from
Notimex, AP, 09/05/89)
SALVADORAN GOVERNMENT REJECTS THIRD PARTY
INVOLVEMENT IN REFUGEE REPATRIATION
At an Aug. 31 press conference in San Salvador, Vice
President and Interior Minister Francisco Merino said the
government would not permit third parties to meddle in the
question of refugee repatriation from Honduras. He said
organizations of displaced and resettled persons in San
Salvador had wished to politicize the repatriation, a
process "which benefits no one."
On Aug. 30, a government commission met with the UN
High Commission for Refugees (ACNUR) to review plans for the
repatriation of about 8,000 Salvadorans currently residing
in Honduran camps.
Merino said that in order to guarantee "a gradual and
orderly repatriation," representatives of the commissions
would be permanently installed at each of the refugee camps.
According to Merino, the government's provision of
resettlement locales among which the repatriates can select
to reside is dictated by needs to "supervise these groups
and avoid guerrilla infiltration." He said that from an
average 1,800 families, most of whom are comprised of women,
children and elderly persons, there is at least one man
"above 13 years of ago who participates in terrorist
activities."
Merino said that integration into rebel ranks is
greater at Colomoncagua camp, since the Honduran authorities
cannot adequately oversee "comings and goings in the seven
square kilometers south of the camp."
The repatriation process is voluntary, he said, and
will be regulated exclusively by the UNHCR, in coordination
with the governments in Tegucigalpa and San Salvador.
(Basic data from Notimex, 08/31/89)
EL SALVADOR: NOTE ON HUMAN RIGHTS VIOLATIONS
According to a recent report by the non-governmental
Salvadoran Human Rights Commission (CDHES), in the first
half of 1989, government security forces and death squads
assassinated 1,320 persons, abducted or arrested 750, and
"disappeared" 132.
According to rebel station Radio Venceremos, a total of
144 persons, ranging from labor union and cooperative
members, university students, displaced persons, human
rights organization workers, to foreign journalists, were
detained by government security forces between July 1 and
27. In the same period, 27 people were injured, five
murdered and three disappeared by security forces.
Spokespersons of the Salvadoran Workers National Union
(UNTS) said that as of July 27, an average of seven people
had been arrested and one killed per day since the
Nationalist Republican Alliance (ARENA) President Alfredo
Cristiani was installed on June 1. (Basic data from
07/23/89 report by Salpress-Notisal; 07/23-30/89 weekly
report by Radio Venceremos)
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GUATEMALA
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GUATEMALAN CATHOLIC BISHOPS' CONFERENCE CHIEF:
POVERTY OF VAST MAJORITY THE WORST VIOLENCE
On Sept. 3 in statements to reporters, president of the
Guatemalan Episcopal Conference and head of the National
Reconciliation Commission, Bishop Rodolfo Quezada Toruno,
said the extreme poverty of the vast majority is the worst
sort of violence experienced by Guatemalans. He said that
in Guatemala, nothing is done to reduce poverty and socio-
economic inequities which are exacerbated on a daily basis.
Consequently, said the clergyman, the possibility of
achieving peace becomes evermore remote.
Quezada Toruno mentioned three other types of violence.
One was described as perpetrated by "subversives" or
Guatemala's guerrillas. This conflict, he said, will be
resolved only by political negotiation, and not by military
means.
Another type of violence, said the bishop, is in
response to subversive violence and in general to conflict
created by institutionalized poverty: repression in the
"name of the law." The fourth category of violence, he
added, is common crime.
The generalized absence of respect for human rights,
said Quezada Toruno, leads to death, terror and fear among
Guatemalans.
On the recent work of the National Reconciliation
Commission, he said, "In the past two months we have been
involved in an internal crisis, result of the [nationwide]
strikes [by teachers and other public employees], terrorist
attacks and disinterest on the part of government delegates
regarding the work of several Commission committees."
(Basic data from Notimex, 09/03/89)
GUATEMALA: DEPOSED PRESIDENT RIOS MONTT BECOMES
VIABLE CANDIDATE FOR 1990 ELECTIONS
On Sept. 2 the Guatemalan media reported that Gen. Jose
Efrain Rios Montt will be competing for nomination as the
National Unity Front's (FUN) presidential candidate in the
November 1990 elections. He joins a dozen candidates and
potential nominees of some 20 political parties.
Rios Montt established himself as president in a 1982
coup, and was deposed 16 months later in August 1983.
During his regime of terror, thousands were killed and
additional thousands fled the country. A 1982 report by the
New York-based human rights monitor group, Americas Watch,
said that under Rios Montt, bullets were not wasted on women
and children. Instead, soldiers choked them, smashed their
skulls and hacked them to pieces with machetes and bayonets.
According to Lindsey Gruson of the New York Times in an
article dated Aug. 26, several polls show Rios Montt leading
in Guatemala City, and second over all. On Sept. 2, Notimex
reported that the most recent issue of the Guatemalan
weekly, Cronica, said the newest polls show Rios Montt in
third place in Guatemala City.
Gruson suggests that many Guatemalans are convinced
that the country needs a "strong" no-nonsense president to
stem the tide of rising crime and perceived anarchy. The
general is officially retired from the military.
Exacerbating the situation is a split within the
Christian Democrat Party. Alfonso Cabrera, party general
secretary and close friend of President Vinicio Cerezo, won
the presidential primary in August. Rene de Leon, a party
founder and runner-up in the primary, has claimed fraud and
threatens to leave the party. Rumors continue about
Cabrera's opulent life style which is allegedly financed by
drug trafficking. He is also said to be detested by the
Army.
Montt's campaign is based on nationalistic rhetoric,
law and order, and his characteristic morality sermons.
Recently he told the Guatemalan magazine 7 Days, "A
government for the people, by the people is no more than a
French idiocy that's never happened." The Cronica mentioned
that it will be "difficult to forget" the excesses,
bloodshed and bizarre behavior of the general during his
tenure as president. An example noted by the magazine was
Rios Montt's lectures on moral principles broadcast
nationwide every Sunday at 9 p.m. (Basic data from Notimex,
09/02/89; New York Times, 09/03/89)
GUATEMALA CITY: ON VIOLENCE & REACTIONS TO VIOLENCE
On Aug. 31, the Civil Protection System (SIPROCI), or
the combined force of Guatemala's several police agencies
and the military, commenced large-scale security operations
in the capital city to stem a recent wave of violence. The
government opted for the deployment of troops and police at
checkpoints throughout the city instead of imposing a state
of emergency, as requested by many officials, including
Interior Minister Roberto Valle Valdizan.
In the past two months, dozens of bombs exploded or
were deactivated by police. Bomb scares were more numerous.
In addition to abductions and assassinations of persons
associated with labor unions and other "leftist"
organizations, a well-known politician and a bank executive
were assassinated. As of Sept. 5, the whereabouts of seven
university students and a member of the Mutual Support Group
(GAM) abducted in recent weeks were unknown.
A prolonged nationwide strike by 50,000 teachers and
public employees triggered an escalation in intimidation and
assassinations by rightists, acting in death squads or
alone. Several politicians have received death threats. A
few politicians and well-known labor leaders have fled
Guatemala.
According to Valle Valdizan, "These actions are
intended to create an atmosphere of terror among the
population, an atmosphere of instability to justify the
imposition of a strong-arm government in Guatemala."
As a result of the apparent inability of authorities to
track down responsible persons for any of the crimes
mentioned above, many Guatemalans are demanding the
resignation of Interior Minister Valle Valdizan. Last week
during testimony before the Congress, Valle insisted that a
state of emergency was necessary. He said that while
certain constitutional guarantees would as a result be
suspended, "the sacrifice was worth it in exchange for an
effective control of delinquency." (Basic data from
New York Times, 09/03/89; Notimex, 09/05/89)
*********************
HONDURAS
*********************
HONDURAN PRESIDENT ORDERS COMPENSATION FOR PROPERTY
EXPROPRIATED BY MILITARY IN 1983
Honduran President Jose Azcona Hoyo has ordered the
National Agriculture Institute (INA) to compensate 24
families whose property was expropriated in El Aguacate, the
location of a Nicaraguan contra base. According to AFP, his
announcement was apparently intended to forestall a threat
by the families and some 10,000 farmers to occupy the contra
base, if compensation were not made.
INA argued that the armed forces should pay
indemnization since they expropriated the property in 1983
when US military engineers helped establish the base.
(Basic data from AFP, 09/04/89)
*********************
NICARAGUA
*********************
NICARAGUA: PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATES CHOSEN BY NATIONAL
OPPOSITION UNION, MOVEMENT FOR REVOLUTIONARY UNITY
On the evening of Sept. 2, leaders of the 14-party
National Opposition Union (UNO) selected Violeta Barrios
Chamorro as presidential candidate in the February 1990
elections. Vice presidential candidate is Virgilio Godoy
Reyes, a 55-year-old lawyer and head of the center-left
Independent Liberal Party.
Barrios Chamorro told the New York Times in a telephone
interview on Sept. 3 that if elected, she would declare an
amnesty for all prisoners convicted of anti-Sandinista
offenses, end the military draft and "devote myself to
humanizing this destroyed country."
The presidential candidate belongs to no political
party and has said on several occasions that she does not
care for politics. Some UNO leaders would have preferred a
candidate with experience in the political arena. However,
public opinion surveys showed her as the most popular
opposition candidate by a wide margin.
Barrios Chamorro is a product of the Nicaraguan
aristocracy. In a telephone interview with the Times on
Sept. 3, Dominguez Sanchez Salgado, a "prominent Nicaraguan
leftist," said: "She would be a great president, but not in
a country that is going through a revolution. There is not
the shred of a revolutionary in her. She is beloved, and of
course she is completely honest, but she is from the
bourgeoisie. I don't believe she understands how much this
country has changed."
Godoy is a lawyer and sociology professor who in 1956
tried to assassinate President Anastasio Somoza Garcia,
father of the deposed dictator Anastasio Somoza Debayle. He
served as Labor Minister from 1980 to 1984.
--UNO had planned to announce its presidential ticket
on Sept. 1. However, as a result of internal conflict
surrounding the vice presidential choice, deliberations
continued through late Saturday evening.
The UNO coalition, comprised of 12 legally registered
parties and two unregistered parties, runs the gamut from
Conservatives, Liberals, and Christian Democrats, to
Socialists and Communists. It is popularly known as the
Tower of Babel. Party leaders agreed that in separate
voting on the presidential and vice presidential candidates,
a vote of 10 (parties) was necessary for selection.
Business interests within the coalition had hoped to
nominate former president of the Superior Council of Private
Enterprise (COSEP), Enrique Bolanos Geyer, as vice
presidential candidate. Gilberto Cuadra, current head of
COSEP, said Godoy was a "marxist," and responsible for the
creation of a national system of labor and wage guidelines.
COSEP member Ramiro Guardia said Godoy was the cause of
serious damage to both labor and the business sector during
his tenure as labor minister. In addition, said Cuadra,
Godoy has been accused by members of his own party of
embezzling thousands of dollars donated by a West German
foundation.
Non-Sandinista labor unions have said that when Godoy
was labor minister, he set up a system which favored
Sandinista unions.
--Carl Gershman, president of the National Endowment
for Democracy, which is contributing $3.5 million to
opposition parties and other projects in Nicaragua this
year, said the selection of Barrios Chamorro guaranteed that
the vote would be "not only an election, but also a
plebiscite on 10 years of Sandinista rule."
The Endowment, a private nonprofit corporation,
receives almost all its funding from the US government. For
the last five years, it has helped purchase ink and printing
equipment for the newspaper published by the Chamorro
family, La Prensa.
--On Sept. 3, the dissident Movement for Revolutionary
Unity (MUR) ratified the selection of Moises Hassan, 47, as
its presidential candidate, and Francisco Samper for vice
president. Hassan, an engineer and physicist, was a member
of the junta that took power in July 1979 and has held
positions in the construction and interior ministries.
Samper is an economist.
The MUR is largely comprised of former members of the
Sandinista National Liberation Front (FSLN). Its membership
numbers less than 100. Hassan was mayor of Managua for one
month before he resigned from the FSLN in April 1988.
In an interview with AFP, Hassan said MUR is offering a
"different alternative" to voters by taking an intermediate
position between the FSLN's "bad management" and the
National Opposition Union's (UNO) rightist positions.
Despite its small following, MUR has "good
possibilities" for success in the elections, Hassan said.
(Basic data from Notimex, 09/01/89, 09/04/89; New York
Times, 09/04/89; AFP, 09/05/89)
NICARAGUA: SANDINISTAS AHEAD IN POLLS
In an article on the National Opposition Union's (UNO)
selection of presidential and vice presidential candidates,
the New York Times (09/04/89) noted that public opinion
surveys showed that voters prefer the Sandinista National
Liberation Front (FSLN) to the opposition by nearly 2 to 1.
About 40% of the electorate, according to the polls, is
undecided.
MIT ECONOMIST LANCE TAYLOR ON
NICARAGUA'S ANTI-INFLATION PROGRAM
In an interview published Sept. 4 in Barricada, Lance
Taylor, professor of economics at the Massachusetts
Institute of Technology, said Nicaragua has managed to
successfully curbed hyperinflation, but must continue with
care to prevent its reappearance. Taylor, a macroeconomic
specialist, has worked in more than 25 Third World nations,
most recently, Mexico and Egypt.
Taylor maintains constant contact with economists in
Brazil, Chile and Argentina, as a representative of the
"neo-structuralist" school of economics. This school or
theoretical tendency serves to recommend gradual
stabilization policies in developing nations, as a result of
taking into consideration not only market mechanisms, but
also the country's social structure, fiscal and monetary
constraints, and the export process.
Nicaraguan inflation has been reduced from a 36,000%
annual rate in 1988, to 5.2% for the month of August.
Taylor said this drastic reduction was made possible because
Nicaraguan government officials are capable of thinking
about the problems they confront, and of changing policy and
the nature of their analysis.
Taylor said, "It is a great success, but inflation must
be reduced from a 30% annual level, or over 2% per month.
When inflation is greater than two or three percent per
month, there is great social pressure."
Taylor was contracted by the Nicaraguan government as
an economic adviser. (Basic data from Notimex, 09/04/89)
********************************
SUMMARIES & ANALYSIS
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NOTES ON WELFARE INDICATORS, GUATEMALA & EL SALVADOR
A recent survey conducted by Guatemala's University of
San Carlos indicated that 86.3% of all Guatemalans live in
poverty, compared to 63% in 1981.
In El Salvador, a report by Deputy Planning Minister
Ernesto Mauricio Altschul said 70% of the population lives
in "relative poverty," unemployment in 1988 reached 57.9%,
and the country's housing shortage totals 600,000 units.
Next, the Salvadoran Health Ministry reported that infant
mortality is 8 per 1000 live births and the maternal
mortality rate is 7.4%. Malnutrition affects 60% of the
population. Only 37% of all Salvadorans have access to
hospital care; the ratio of hospital beds and nurses is 14
and three, respectively, per 10,000 citizens.
UNICEF reports that 400 children die every week in El
Salvador, result of malnutrition and lack of medical care.
(Basic data from 07/29/89 report by Regional Coordination
for Economic and Social Research of Central America and the
Caribbean-CRIES, Managua)
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