rich@pencil.cs.missouri.edu (06/15/91)
Via NY Transfer News Service 718-448-2358, 718-448-2683 BARRICADA UPDATES FROM MANAGUA Number 39, 7 June 91 Repeal of Law 92 "An Act of Treason" On June 5, law 92 -- obliging the government to follow through with World Court's verdict against the United States -- was repealed in a vote in the National Assembly. Assembly president Alfredo Csar cut short debate on the matter and the entire Sandinista bench withdrew from parliament in protest. The remaining deputies proceeded to vote, with all but one in favor of the law's repeal. The FSLN described the move as "an act of treason which constitutes an attack on the country's stability." During the preceding debates, several UNO deputies attacked the World Court and one challenged the specified total of damages caused by the counterrevolutionary war, maintaining that the true sum is only US$300,200,000 and not $17 billion. Omar Cabezas of the FSLN responded by saying that "the desire to absolve the United States not only from paying the money, but also from responsibility for the crimes, the massacres and the violations of international law and human rights" was underlying UNO's arguments. The law's repeal doesn't, however, invalidate the World Court verdict and under international law the two countries are still obliged to come to some sort of agreement on reparations US Praise for the Repeal In a press conference yesterday, deputy foreign minister Ernesto Leal said that the executive has greater freedom in negotiating with Washington, now that the repeal of law 92 absolves the Nicaraguan government from demanding a specific sum of money from the United States. When asked if the US would now recognize the jurisdiction of the World Court in obtaining an out-of-court settlement, Leal replied "you would have to ask the United States that." He mentioned that negotiations with the United States might include a possible free trade agreement with that country and the intensification of US aid in unspecified areas. The US embassy in Managua released a statement saying that the Assembly's repeal of law 92 "is another clear indication of the advent of a new era in relations between Nicaragua and the United States." Gen. Ortega Appears before Parliament Committee; Condemns Destabilization and Contra Re-arming Also on June 5, army chief Humberto Ortega appeared before parliament's Defense and Government Committee to discuss the contras who have taken up arms again. He called on them to lay down their arms and not let themselves be manipulated by politicians who want to use them as "cannon fodder" for destabilizing the government. He specifically mentioned Vice President Virgilio Godoy and Managua mayor Arnoldo Alem n in this context, maintaining that their activities and speeches in different parts of the country are an attack on national stability, since they encourage some groups to behave "recklessly." He also said there are constant indications of plots against the lives of the president, the minister of the presidency, himself and other government officials, tied to groups abroad. He indicated that of the 1,100 recontras, the most dangerous are the 600 or so who are encouraged by the arguments of Godoy and Alem n and don't recognize their leaders, such as Israel Galeano (Franklin). He asked the parliamentary committee to help create the conditions for dismantling the recontra (which includes land distribution and other aid) and said that the army doesn't want to confront them, as they are campesinos with the same problems as all the country's peasants. But he said that if peaceful efforts fail, force would be used. In reference to Godoy he said: "I think, objectively, Godoy is a Nicaraguan personality even if most Nicaraguans don't like it. He's a reality, like cholera in Peru, like poverty in this country..." Fighting Words from Re-Contra Leader The following day former contra chief and current secretary of the Civic Association of the Nicaraguan Resistance Rodolfo Ampi said that the 1,100 contras who have re-armed are not demanding land. Instead, he indicated, they want the EPS to be eliminated, the police to be restructured and Sandinista cooperatives and civilians to be disarmed. He also said the organization will soon make public a report to be sent to the OAS's human rights commission which alleges that almost 100 demobilized contras have been killed. When asked about ex-contra actions against soldiers and FSLN members in Region VI, he said that "nothing's been proven." That very day, a group of recontras ambushed and killed the chief of police of San Rafael del Norte and his secretary, a civilian. Aleman Fans the Flames A proposal by Arnoldo Alem n to set up a corps of "municipal inspectors" to enforce tax collection and city ordinances has been roundly condemned by Sandinista members of the Managua city council, who say it would constitute a paramilitary group responding to the direct orders of the mayor. They argue that Alem n was involved in pro-Somoza repression against students during his university days in Le"n and that he is now encouraging former contras to re-take to arms. The law creating the municipal inspectors' corps will be reviewed by a city council committee FBI to Autopsy Bermudez Body The widow of Enrique Berm#dez has agreed to the exhumation of her husband's body and the performance of another autopsy, under the previso that it be done by the FBI. Government minister Carlos Hurtado said the commission named by the Nicaraguan government to investigate the former contra chief's death will travel to Miami next week Pennwalt Warned on Toxics Managua's most contaminating industry, Pennwalt, may be shut down temporarily by the labor ministry's department of hygiene and safety due to a high level of leakage of toxic gases which are endangering the health of the plant's workers Concertacion Talks Continue Talks in the second phase of concertaci"n are continuing, with disagreement sharpest around the issue of privatization. The FNT and other workers' representatives maintain that workers should be favored with ownership of the state-run businesses, while Cosep, representing the right wing of the private sector wants businesses to be returned to their former owners END END END Subscribe to Barricada Internacional! 12 Monthly Issues $35 PO Box 410150, San Francisco CA 94141 ** End of text from cdp:reg.nicaragua **