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.
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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)
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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)
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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)
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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)
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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)
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