LADBAC@UNMB.BITNET (Dr. Barbara A. Kohl) (08/31/89)
/* ---------- "C.A. Update August 30, 1989" ---------- */ CONTENTS .1 UPDATE ON CONTRA DEMOBILIZATION, OBSERVATION TEAMS FOR NICARAGUAN ELECTIONS (62 lines) .2 ***COUNTRY NOTES, EL SALVADOR*** (36 lines) .3 ***COUNTRY NOTES, HONDURAS*** (73 lines) .4 ***COUNTRY NOTES, NICARAGUA*** (19 lines) .5 ***COUNTRY NOTES, PANAMA*** (69 lines) August 30, 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) This is the table of contents for the current issue of the CAU. ==== ==== ==== ==== ==== ==== ==== UPDATE ON CONTRA DEMOBILIZATION, OBSERVATION TEAMS FOR NICARAGUAN ELECTIONS On Aug. 25, UN Secretary General Javier Perez de Cuellar and counterpart at the Organization of American States, Joao Baena Soares, said a joint commission to oversee the demobilization of the Nicaraguan contras in Honduras would begin work Sept. 6. The commission's main tasks are to seek to persuade contra fighters to disarm, and to arrange for their repatriation to Nicaragua, or resettlement elsewhere. The commission is also to provide guidance to a special UN military force that Perez de Cuellar said he would request the Security Council to create for overseeing the dismantlement of the contra camps. In their joint communique, Perez de Cuellar and Baena Soares said the commission would also provide "assistance for the demobilization of all those involved in armed actions in the countries of the region when they voluntarily seek it." The Aug. 7 summit (Tela) accords also called for dialogue between the Salvadoran government and the Farabundo Marti National Liberation Front (FMLN). After meeting with Perez de Cuellar on Friday, Salvadoran Foreign Minister Jose Manuel Pacas Castro told AFP: "In the same way the International Support and Verification Comission will play an important role in the voluntary demobilization of the Nicaraguan rebels, El Salvador would like the commission to also help obtain the voluntary demobilization of any FMLN members who want to demobilize." The Tela accords call for the completion of the joint commission's work 90 days after its creation. UN officials have said that it is unlikely that all contra fighters can be persuaded to disarm by the Dec. 5 deadline. The UN is also organizing a team of some 120 civilian observers to monitor the Nicaraguan electoral process. In the first phase of the operation which began Aug. 25, about 10 UN observers will travel to different locations in the country to watch party organizing and voter registration. Next, the UN plans to send about 100 military observers to Central America this year to monitor fulfillment of other provisions of the regional peace accords, i.e., ensuring that signatory nations do not provide bases for rebels seeking to destabilize their neighbors, and to halt military supply lines across their territory. This force will include soldiers from Canada, Spain, West Germany, Venezuela and Colombia. [On Aug. 29, during a teleconference via satellite, linking US embassies in several Latin American countries with Washington, Chris Arco, State Department deputy assistant secretary for Central American affairs, said that the US would welcome delegations from Argentina, other Latin American nations and European countries to observe the Nicaraguan elections. Foreign observers, he said, should be on hand in Nicaragua "before, during and after" the February elections. In response to a question, Arcos said that he thought it "unfair" that the Tela accords specify completion of contra demobilization before "clean" elections take place in Nicaragua.] (Basic data from Xinhua, 08/24/89, 08/25/89; AFP, AP, 08/25/89; New York Times, 08/26/89; Noticias Argentinas, 08/29/89) ==== ==== ==== ==== ==== ==== ==== COUNTRY NOTES, EL SALVADOR EL SALVADOR: REPORT ON REBEL ACTIVITIES On Aug. 28, rebels launched an attack on the 1st army detachment headquartered in Chalatenango department. Officials said the 13-hour battle resulted in two dead soldiers and three wounded. According to Radio Farabundo Marti, the military suffered 30 casualties, and rebels shot down two helicopters. Meanwhile, fighting was reported in Usulutan department. Residents of the village of Santa Helena said the Farabundo Marti National Liberation Front (FMLN) attacked troops pertaining to the 6th Infantry Brigade on Tuesday morning. In San Salvador, rebel sabotage continues, causing electricity blackouts and breaks in telephone service. Thus far, the FMLN's campaign against the government's transportation fare hikes has resulted in the destruction of 40 buses. According to Notimex, a bus driver has been killed, and two civilians wounded. (Basic data from Notimex, 08/29/89) EL SALVADOR TO RECEIVE $108.5 MILLION IN U.S. ECONOMIC AID In statements to reporters on Aug. 19, Salvadoran Planning Minister Mirna Lievano said the Bush administration's first aid installment of $108.5 million to El Salvador is earmarked for balance of payments assistance and to support the government's economic program. The Salvadoran balance of payments deficit is estimated at $116 million. (Basic data from Xinhua, 08/19/89) ==== ==== ==== ==== ==== ==== ==== COUNTRY NOTES, HONDURAS HONDURAS: HUMAN RIGHTS ABUSES ESCALATE According to Honduran human rights monitoring groups, political murders, bombings, and death threats issued by rightist paramilitary groups are increasing. The monitors say that government security forces kill suspected common criminals after their arrest on an almost daily basis. The principal monitoring organization is the Honduran Committee to Defend Human Rights (CDDHH). The Committee reports at least six political and 78 killings by police and security forces from January through July, compared to two political murders and 47 killings last year. Torture, beatings and other abuses have tripled compared to 1988. During an interview with the New York Times, Oscar Anibal Puerto, an attorney and vice president of the Committee, said: "The situation is getting more and more alarming...Poor people only have two options--to die from hunger or a bullet from the law...Death is part of the landscape. Seeing a body will soon be like seeing a river, a cactus--quite normal." Puerto's office is located on the Plaza of Our Sorrors in Tegucigalpa. On a wall outside, a rightist paramilitary group, the Anti-Communist Action Alliance, had painted a slogan asserting that Committee activists are Nicaraguan puppets. Mutilated corpses are now being found on city streets in Honduras for the first time. According to Jorge Sierra, a social science professor at the San Pedro Sula Teachers' College who works with local CDDHH chapter, "They used to hide the bodies in the sugar cane fields on the outskirts of town. But now there's no fear that anything will happen. So they kill people in front of their friends and leave the bodies in the street. That way they create much more terror." Human rights monitors and labor leaders say they are no longer permitted to talk on most radio shows and that their comments are often censored. Some claim they are being followed. The violence appears to be concentrated in San Pedro Sula, also the focus of union organizing, leftist activism, and anti-Americanism. Elections are scheduled in three months. Critics argue that President Jose Azcona Hoyo's government is little more than a civilian facade for de facto military rule. In the words of Francisco Meraz, a Tegucigalpa teacher and director of Caritas, a Catholic relief organization, "It is a democracy. But the people can only demonstrate on one day--election day." Ruben Dario Zepeda, Attorney General and chief of the government Human Rights Commission, complained that critics and monitoring groups have unfairly focused on Honduras whose record is better than that of its neighbors. Zepeda acknowledged abuses by the police. He pointed out the government is attempting to halt the violence, and has dismissed more than 100 police officers. The government is limited, he said, because it lacks forensic resources to prosecute many common crimes and most human rights cases. Meanwhile, Zepeda also acknowledged that he is frightened, and looks forward to the end of his term. He has received several recent death threats, and told the Times that his wife is close to a nervous breakdown. In concluding the interview with the Times, he said, "I have six more months of this torture to go." Armed forces chief Gen. Humberto Regaldo says leftist extremists and drug traffickers are responsible for the violence. Human rights monitors say the vast majority of victims are left of center. (Basic data from New York Times, 08/27/89) ==== ==== ==== ==== ==== ==== ==== COUNTRY NOTES, NICARAGUA NICARAGUA & CUBA SIGN TRADE AGREEMENT On Aug. 25, local media sources reported that Nicaraguan Deputy Foreign Trade Minister James Zablah and Cuban counterpart Alberto Betancourt had signed a $25 million trade agreement. Betancourt said Nicaraguan imports from Cuba range from agricultural implements and tools, transportation equipment, paper products, medicines, and home appliances to raw materials. For 1989, he added, the total value of Nicaraguan imports of about 70 Cuban products should total about $18 million. Zablah said Nicaraguan exports to Cuba include instant coffee, galvanized pipe, doors and door frames. He added that Cuba is currently Nicaragua's major supplier of glass containers. (Basic data from Xinhua, 08/ 25/89) ==== ==== ==== ==== ==== ==== ==== COUNTRY NOTES, PANAMA PANAMA: SIX LATIN AMERICAN GOVERNMENTS RECALL AMBASSADORS On Aug. 29, Notimex reported that the governments of Argentina, Colombia, Peru, Uruguay and Venezuela had ordered their ambassadors to Panama home for consultations. On the same day, Xinhua reported that Bolivia had also recalled its ambassador to Panama. PANAMA: WARNINGS OF U.S. INVASION, ARRIVAL OF U.S.-BACKED MERCENARY FORCE In statements to reporters on Aug. 26, Panamanian Foreign Minister Jorge Ritter said there is a "true danger" of a US invasion to oust Gen. Manuel Antonio Noriega. He said the US has used military maneuvers allowed under the 1977 Panama Canal Treaties to shield its preparations. The minister added, "If all the preliminary steps to an invasion have been taken, the only thing left is the definitive step." On Aug. 28, a statement by the Revolutionary Panamenista Party (PPR) carried by local newspapers said "intelligence sources" had reported that 400 Nicaraguan contras and members of Nicaragua's Christian Democratic Party had been trained for guerrilla activities inside Panama. "They are ready...to take over radio and television stations, to occupy public buildings and to launch powerful grenades and Molotov cocktails," said the PPR. The mercenaries, said the PPR, would have entered Panama at Howard air base, about 13 km. southwest of the capital. The PPR said the 12,000 soldiers under the US Southern Command's 12,000 personnel were to execute a "siege of the capital," broadcasting anti-Noriega propaganda. Next, the report said that Radio Impacto in Costa Rica, which is linked to the Nicaraguan contras, would participate in a plan by the Bush administration to jam Panamanian broadcasts. In the past several weeks, clandestine radio broadcasts have carried statements criticizing Gen. Manuel Antonio Noriega. Ricardo Arias, head of the Civic Democratic Opposition Alliance (ADOC), told journalists that the PPR report was the product of "mentally disturbed" people, and that it was intended to create "an environment to repress" the opposition. US Southern Command spokesperson Mercedes Morris dismissed the report as misinformation by the Panamanian government. "No contra rebel has come here," she said. In Washington, the State Department also dismissed the report, saying it "sounds like more Noriega disinformation." (Basic data from AP, 08/26/89; AFP, Xinhua, 08/28/89) PANAMANIAN GOVERNMENT CLOSES OPPOSITION PARTY NEWSLETTERS On Aug. 26, a statement from the Government and Justice Ministry said the government had decided to close down three opposition party newsletters published "to slander and damage leaders of the national government and its institutions, following the lines of American imperialism in its aggression against the fatherland." The newsletters are published by the Authentic Liberal and Christian Democratic parties and the Liberal Republican Nationalist Movement. The ministry statement also said the government would arrest newsletter editors and equipment used to publish them. By the end of the day, no arrests had been reported. The communique said the publications violated news media laws. (Basic data from AP, 08/26/89) --- Patt Haring | UNITEX : United Nations patth@sci.ccny.cuny.edu | Information patth@ccnysci.BITNET | Transfer Exchange -=- Every child smiles in the same language. -=-