Newsbriefs
Former Dictator Arrested for Stealing Children During Dirty War BUENOS AIRES-Former Argentine dictator Jorge Rafael Videla (1976-1978) was arrested June 9 on charges that he was responsible...
...In contrast, Brazil's Landless Movement (MST) has responded by organizing large-scale occupations of landed estates...
...In late May, Cardoso acknowledged the critical situation in the region at a press conference which was intended to be an informal launching of his presidential campaign...
...While the Bishop's sympathy for the indigenous rebellion has never been a secret, his close relationship to the communities which support the Zapatistas has allowed him to play a crucial mediating role...
...The U'Wa, moreover, have not gained any additional legal protection from the new contract, nor has their territory been expanded...
...And as a consequence we consider that CONAI has completed its task of mediation...
...Lula has openly proclaimed his support for land occupations and the sacking of supermarkets and food shipments in the northeast...
...Steve Ellner is director of the Research Center for Administrative and Economic Sciences of the Universidad del Oriente in Puerto La Cruz, Venezuela...
...By not consulting with U'Wa leaders during the planning process for new drilling concessions, Occidental is continuing its long-standing pattern of disregard for the U'Wa and for the sovereignty of Colombia's indigenous peoples...
...Brazil's presidential election is clearly up for grabs...
...InterPress Service "Comandante" Chavez Leads Venezuela's Presidential Race CARACAS-With presidential elections scheduled for December 6, recent polls show former colonel Hugo Chavez ten points ahead of his nearest rival, former Miss Universe Irene Siez...
...The other two contenders are Guardado and H6ctor Silva, the current mayor of San Salvador...
...The pardons, however, do not cover child stealing or illegal adoptions...
...Tensions resurfaced this past May after local newspapers published an anonymous document which criticizes FMLN leader Facundo Guardado, the presidential hopeful for the party's socialdemocratic wing...
...What is clear is that the tensions within the party will have to be addressed when the party selects its presidential candidate...
...In an effort to win over moderate voters, the PT nominated Leonel Brizola as their vice-presidential candidate...
...Former Dictator Arrested for Stealing Children During Dirty War BUENOS AIRES-Former Argentine dictator Jorge Rafael Videla (1976-1978) was arrested June 9 on charges that he was responsible for the kidnapping of children born to women who were imprisoned and "disappeared" during the period of military rule (1976-1983...
...The REMHI Report, entitled "Guatemala: Never Again," names the military as the primary agent responsible for most of the human rights abuses during the country's 36-year civil war...
...The government's mounting verbal attacks on Ruiz and its heightened efforts to forcibly dismantle proZapatista autonomous communities are clear indications that the Chiapas conflict is moving into a new, more violent phase...
...Oscar Ortfz, the FMLN's communications coordinator, emphasized that what is important is not who is progressive, renovated or orthodox...
...Its dispatches can be read on-line in the Peacenet conference: ips.espaiol and ips.english...
...NotiSur Occidental Petroleum Relinquishes U'Wa Lands But Fight Not Yet Over BOGOTA-On May 26, the Los Angeles-based Occidental Petroleum Corporation announced that it would renounce its contract to exploit the 4 99,000-acre Samor6 oil block in northeastern Colombia in return for new rights to a smaller portion of the area under more favorable contract terms...
...In response to the national leadership's attempts to strongarm the acceptance of PDT candidates on the PT slate, dissident members of the Workers Party are challenging the party leadership in the courts...
...Chivez's anti-neoliberal stance distinguishes him from all four of his rivals...
...Incumbent Fernando Henrique Cardoso, who in early May was considered a shoe-in for reelection, now finds himself headto-head in the opinion polls with Luiz Indcio "Lula" da Silva, the candidate of the left alliance headed by the Workers Party (PT...
...Videla could be indicted in other cases of child abduction as well...
...That is a myopic vision," said Ortiz...
...Videla and his accomplices in genocide should have never been pardoned...
...Fred Rosen is Editor (on leave) of NACLA Report on the Americas...
...Human rights advocates hailed Videla's arrest as a victory...
...Now young adults, many of them still do not know who their parents were or if they were killed by the military...
...Terence Freitas and Weekly News Update on the Americas Dictator's Brother to Head Church Human Rights Office GUATEMALA CITYBishop Mario Rios Montt was recently appointed to replace Bishop Juan Gerardi as the new director of the Archbishop's Human Rights Office in Guatemala City...
...During Argentina's dirty war, Videla had final authority over the death squads that tortured and murdered as many as 30,000 political opponents, mainly leftists...
...He has also pledged not to impose currency controls and to respect the autonomy of the Central Bank...
...While there is no doubt that the PT program is more moderate than it was during the 1989 and 1994 campaigns, its close relationship with the MST makes it clear that the PT maintains its commitment to the country's poor and dispossessed...
...Brizola is a member of the Democratic Workers Party (PDT), a populist-oriented party that has traditionally been antagonistic to the socialist currents within the Brazilian left...
...He also announced that the military would begin escorting major food shipments into the area...
...Lula's victory in the October 4 elections, however, is by no means guaranteed, despite growing social and political discontent...
...Videla was taken into custody at his home in a northern Buenos Aires suburb, then to a facility in San Isidro, 15 miles north of the capital...
...Two of MAS's historic leaders, Teodoro Petkoff and Pompeyo MArquez, who hold cabinet positions in the current government, have publicly disavowed the party's decision...
...The mysterious document warned that Guardado and other reformists were destroying the revolutionary objectives of the FMLN...
...Weekly News Update on the Americas Drought and Electoral Politics Shake Brazil RIO DE JANEIRO-A political storm has enveloped Brazil as the October 1998 presidential campaign has gotten underway...
...Videla is accused of being responsible for the kidnapping of five children, including two who were given to former military physician Norberto Bianco and his wife Susana, who fled to Paraguay after democracy was restored in Argentina in order to escape prosecution...
...Due to the volatility of the situation, the outcome of the second round scheduled for mid-November is difficult to predict...
...InterPress Service is an international news service based in Italy...
...A key factor in the current political upheaval has been the drought affecting the Sertio region of northeastern Brazil...
...The MAS leadership, however, has stated that Chivez's popularity highlights the importance of returning to a centerleft position, which the party abandoned in 1996 when it supported President Caldera's neoliberal program...
...They were later arrested and extradited to Argentina where they pleaded guilty to kidnapping...
...Gerardi was brutally murdered on April 26 outside his home...
...As the crisis in the northeast has deepened, other social problems have also intensified...
...The PT's regional assembly in the important state of Rio de Janeiro refused to endorse his nomination and has decided to nominate its own candidates to run against the PDT in that state...
...He has vowed to respect the contracts that the state oil company has signed with foreign oil interests as well as the privatization of the telecommunications and steel industries...
...Roger Burbach Bishop Ruiz Resigns from Mediating Commission, Conflict Escalates CHIAPAS-At mass on Sunday, June 7, in the Cathedral of San Crist6bal, Bishop Samuel Ruiz announced his resignation from the leadership of the National Mediation Commission (CONAI), which has brokered several rounds of talks between the Mexican government and the Zapatista National Liberation Army (EZLN) over the past four years...
...Fred Rosen FMLN Riven By Internal Disputes SAN SALVADOR-The Farabundo Martf National Liberation Front (FMLN) has become embroiled in internal disputes which could jeopardize its chances in next year's presidential contest...
...Of those cases, 59 children have been found...
...Depending on the exact location of the well sites, which Occidental refuses to disclose, Vol xxi, No1 JLY/AG 198 Vol XXXII, No 1 JULY/AUG 1998 1NEWSBRIEFS drilling could have devastating effects on multiple U'Wa communities...
...Last October, in response to the effects of the Asian economic crisis on the Brazilian stock market, Cardoso doubled interest rates, raising them to 50...
...The announcement follows a deal announced by Ecopetrol last October under which private-sector oil companies can turn in existing contracts signed under sliding-scale terms and receive a new concession of up to 25% of the original territory under more favorable terms...
...The extent and depth of the social and political crisis, combined with the continued repercussions of the Asian economic crisis on the Brazilian economy, will be critical factors in determining its outcome...
...Lula's campaign, moreover, does not have the full support of the left...
...Chivez's presidential bid acquired greater credibility after the Movement Toward Socialism (MAS) declared its support for his candidacy at the party Congress on June 12...
...After a strong showing in last year's legislative and municipal elections, the FMLN became the country's main opposition force, coming in close behind the ruling Nationalist Republican Alliance party (ARENA) and making it a viable contender in the March 1999 presidential contest...
...Bishop Rios Montt is the brother of General Efrain Rios Montt, who seized power in a 1982 military coup and is responsible for the scorchedearth counterinsurgency campaigns of the 1980s in which tens of thousands of Guatemalans were killed, tortured and disappeared...
...We understand and recognize the reasons which have led Don Samuel Ruiz to declare an end to a phase of the peace process," said the group's collective statement...
...Widespread support for these proposals among the population reflects the degree to which political parties have fallen into disrepute...
...Three days after Bishop Ruiz's announcement, a combined force of Mexican army troops and Chiapas police units dislodged pro-Zapatista residents from a community called San Juan de la Libertad, also known as El Bosque, leaving at least eight people, including one policeman, dead...
...Estela de Carlotto, director of Grandparents of the Plaza de Mayo, stated that her organization has documented over 230 cases involving the disappearance of children whose parents were detained during the military regime...
...Occidental's new contract may allow the company to drill on nearly all the land that underwent preliminary seismic testing in 1996, and the Colombian government now has the option of auctioning off the rest of the Samor6 block to other multinationals...
...Federal Judge Roberto Marquevich has been investigating whether a systematic plan existed by the military to take children born in clandestine jails and hospitals and give them to military officers and their wives...
...A private research institute affiliated with organized labor calculates this figure at 18...
...U'Wa protests, as well as a strong international solidarity campaign supported by the Washington, D.C.-based Amazon Coalition and other international organizations, have been credited as key factors in Occidental's decision...
...The dissolution of CONAI comes amidst bitter presidential attacks on Samuel Ruiz for his alleged bias in favor of the EZLN and for his advocacy of what the government has called a "theology of violence...
...Prior to the MAS's convention, endorsements for Chavez were limited to leftist parties, specifically the Patria Para Todos (PPT, a break-off of the Causa R) and the Communist Party...
...The participation of other minor presidential candidates makes it unlikely that either Lula or Cardoso will receive a majority of the votes in the first round of balloting...
...This is the result of more than 20 years of struggling for justice:' said opposition deputy Alfredo Bravo, co-president of the Permanent Assembly for Human Rights, who was jailed and tortured during the dirty war...
...Alerted to the drought last year, Cardoso did virtually nothing to alleviate its affects...
...212) 674-9499...
...Weekly News Update on the Americas is published by the Nicaragua Solidarity Network of Greater New York...
...Many others in the Sertdo, driven by hunger and occasionally under the leadership of the MST, have responded by ransacking local supermarkets and seizing trucks loaded with agricultural produce...
...The drought has spread famine and malnutrition among the already impoverished residents of the region...
...Venezuela's poorest sectors are "Comandante" Chdvez's biggest supporters, particularly given the budget deficits arising from the lower-than-expected price of oil this year...
...After the return to democracy, former president Raul Alfonsfn (1983-1989) set a South American precedent by putting the junta leaders on trial, though he later passed a law to protect members of the security forces from further prosecution...
...It is not known, however, whether the current conflict even originated within the ranks of the FMLN since no one has claimed responsibility for the document...
...He is currently engaged in research in Mexico City...
...There has been no meaningful consultation with the U'Wa, nor prior informed consent for this proposal...
...While reformist sectors within the party have expressed their support for the project, a more orthodox faction is staunchly opposed, arguing that the project's neoliberal orientation is contrary to the FMLN's principles and goals...
...During the years of the dirty war, a number of infants were born in the regime's secret torture centers, including the infamous Naval Engineering School (ESMA...
...On June 9, Marquevich ordered the arrest of 72-year-old Videla on charges of child kidnapping and falsifying identity documents...
...Evidence of a rift first emerged over whether the FMLN should support a national development project recently proposed by ARENA...
...Cardoso is already playing the "chaos" card against Lula, trying to convince voters that Lula's leftist program will throw the country into economic crisis and bring back the double-digit inflation rates that characterized the economy before Cardoso implemented his currency stabilization program in 1994...
...With the deal, which must still be approved by Colombia's state-run oil company Ecopetrol, Occidental is attempting to end a conflict with the U'Wa, an indigenous group of 5,000 which has threatened to commit mass suicide if Occidental goes ahead with its plans to explore and drill for oil on their sacred lands...
...In 1990, Videla and all middle-ranking and senior officers were pardoned by President Carlos Sadl Menem...
...For sub- scription information: 339 Lafayette St., New York, NY 10012...
...Terence Freitas is the U'Wa Campaign Coordinator at Project Underground, an environmental and human rights organi- zation that works to support communities threatened by mining and oil develop- ment...
...In theory, this would allow Occidental to apply for 120,000 acres of territory anywhere within the bounds of the original Samor6 block, which falls entirely within U'Wa territory...
...For subscription information: Latin American Data Base, Latin American Institute, University of New Mexico, Albuquerque, NM 87131...
...Those infants, as well as children who were abducted along with their parents, were later given to military couples purportedly so they would receive a "Christian upbringing...
...In the past year, the price of beans has tripled while that of rice has increased by roughly 30...
...While proclaiming he would provide food assistance to the area, he lambasted the MST, saying its members were "bandits," "robbers" and "a threat to Brazilian democracy...
...Among those being considered for the presidential ticket are Abraham Rodriguez of the FMLNaligned Social Christian Union, economist Salvador Arias of the Democratic Peasant Association (ADC) and Victoria de Avil6s, a human rights activist...
...Later that day, in recognition of Bishop Ruiz's singular ability to open channels of communication with the EZLN, the remaining members of CONAI announced the dissolution of the group itself...
...At the same time, basic food prices have skyrocketed...
...If convicted, Videla could receive a 25-year sentence...
...This brought the Brazilian economy to a virtual standstill in the first half of 1998 with official unemployment rising from 4 to 8...
...Many who worked with Gerardi were shocked by Rios Montt's appointment, speculating that it may be an attempt to bury the report of the Project for the Recovery of Historical Memory (REMHI), which was presented by Gerardi two days before his death...
...He recently told the weekly VenEconomy that he considers himself "a humanist, and a humanist has to be anti-neoliberal...
...Videla was convicted in 1985 and sentenced to life in prison on 66 counts of murder, 306 abductions, 97 cases of torture and 26 robberies...
...Roger Burbach is director of the Center for the Study of the Americas in Berkeley, California and a member of NACLA's edi- torial board...
...Ruiz stated that his resignation was due to the government's continued noncompliance with the accords on indigenous rights and culture that it signed two years ago...
...The debate must directly confront the big national issues currently facing the party...
...SOURCES: NotiSur is available as a closed Peacenet conference: carnet.ladb...
...This was the fourth forcible eviction of an autonomous community in Chiapas in 61 days...
...The most controversial aspects of Chivez's campaign platform are his proposal to dissolve the National Congress and his call for a new Constitution...
...His campaign, however, has sought to dispel the image of recalcitrant rebel which he earned in 1992 when he launched a failed coup attempt against then-President Carlos Andr6s P6rez...
...Videla was one of the leaders of the 1976 coup that ousted President Marfa Estela Martinez de Per6n (1974-1976), and he headed the first military junta following the coup...
...Marquevich said that his arrest was related to some 38 cases of children who disappeared during military rule...
...This latest round of disputes comes less than a year after the December 1997 party Congress, where a majority of delegates voted in favor of a socialist platform that excluded many of the positions held by the hard-line Marxist faction of the party...
...800) 472-0888...
Vol. 32 • July 1998 • No. 1
