Senator Helms Proposes U.S. Aid to Cuba WASHINGTON, D.C., FEBRUARY 26, 1997 Shortly after the Pope's Jan- uary visit to Cuba, Senator Jesse Helms, with the support of the Cuban-American National Foundation (CANF), announced a proposal under which the U.S. government would provide humanitarian aid to Cuba in the form of foods and medicines, including "Food for Peace" ship- ments. Some U.S. newspapers interpreted this as a conciliatory gesture on the part of Helms and the CANF-a change of heart inspired by the Pope's visit. Change of heart? Not likely. The real purpose was apparent in the announcement itself-to derail the Dodd-Torres bill, introduced last year, aimed at lifting the embargo on the sale of food and medicines to Cuba. There would now be no need for such a measure, said Helms' office and the CANE The U.S. government itself would pro- vide. Hence, the embargo in its entirety must remain firmly in place. In fact, however, the rationale for their new measure reverses the long-standing position of the CANF, and of Senator Helms, and may actually help pass the Dodd- Torres bill. In the past, both Helms, the CANF and the other right-wing extremists in Miami had insisted that Cuba could obtain all the food and medicine it needed in third countries, and could thus do without U.S. prod- ucts. Shortages, it was said, were not the result of the U.S. embargo. But if there is such a need that the American taxpayer is asked to fund shipments of foods and med- icines to Cuba, as the proposal suggests, then it also follows that the prohibition on the sale of those items should be lifted. Why should we provide government-funded assistance but not give Cuba the opportunity to buy food and med- icines from the United States? Helms and the CANF contend that Castro's rejection of their pro- posal demonstrates that there is not sufficient need for food and medi- cines to warrant relaxation of the prohibition against sales. But under the circumstances, few will agree. After all, both Helms and the CANF are Castro's sworn mortal enemies. Helms has said that his purpose is to say "adios, Fidel," while CANF leaders were recently linked to a boat and rifle involved in an assassination plot against the Cuban president. Not exactly the kind of folks from whom one would accept a chocolate cake, no matter how hungry one might be. American taxpayers, moreover, will doubtless applaud Castro's contention that Cuba is not seek- ing charity, but the opportunity to buy what it needs. In sum, those who of us who support the Dodd- Torres bill are grateful to Senator Helms and the CANF for undermining the main argument against it. -Wayne Smith/Cuba Info Elections in Jeopardy in Paraguay ASUNCI6N, FEBRUARY 10, 1998 W ith little more than two S months before Paraguay's May 10 presidential elections, retired Gen. Lino C6sar Oviedo-- candidate for the governing Colorado Party-remains in jail on charges linked to an attempted coup in 1996. Polls put Oviedo at the head of the race with 45.5%, compared to opposition candidate Domingo Laino of the Democratic Alliance (AD), with 33.3%. While President Juan Carlos Wasmosy has made ambiguous statements about postponing the elections, Latino has been leading efforts to make sure that the elections are held as scheduled. Paraguayan media reported unusual troop movements around Asunci6n on January 30 while President Juan Carlos Wasmosy was out of the country on an official visit to Central America. The saber-rattling came after a civil judge accepted a habeas corpus motion and appeared to be on the verge of releasing Gen. Oviedo, Wasmosy's chief politi- cal rival, from prison. When Was- mosy returned to Paraguay the following day, he said that the events were "small obstacles that democracy must overcome." Critics accuse Wasmosy of keep- ing Oviedo in jail in order to post- pone the elections and stay in office. After winning the Colorado Party primary last September, Oviedo told foreign journalists that as soon as he took office, he would jail President Wasmosy on corruption charges. Wasmosy and his Cabinet members have been accused of mishandling state funds and provoking the country's worst banking crisis, which has brought Paraguay's financial sys- tem to the brink of collapse. Wasmosy ordered Oviedo's arrest on October 30, calling Oviedo's corruption charges an attack on the presidency. Oviedo was sentenced to a 30-day disciplinary prison term. But on January 9, 48 hours before Oviedo was scheduled to be released, Wasmosy set up a spe- cial military tribunal that ordered Oviedo's indefinite arrest pending an investigation into his partici- pation in the failed April 1996 coup attempt. If Oviedo loses the present court case, he will have to drop out of the presidential race and could receive a five to 25-year sentence for jeopardizing national 1NEWSBRIEFS security in the attempted coup. If he is forced to withdraw from the presidential race, he would be replaced by vice-presidential candidate Ra1l Cubas Grau, Wasmosy's former Industry Minister. A new ticket would also include Colorado Party president Luis M. Argafia as the vice-presi- dential candidate. Oviedo, who remains detained in the first cavalry division head- quarters outside Asunci6n, has done nothing to discourage those who believe he will become pres- ident in May, even if he is not allowed to stand for election. He has taken to comparing himself with Gen. Juan Domingo Per6n, who won the presidential election in Argentina while he was still in exile. His supporters regard the military tribunal as a put-up job, saying they will rebel if he is not allowed to run. The country's 1992 Constitution gives Para- guayans the right to rebel against political authorities who are hold- ing onto power illegally. -Latin America Weekly Report and NotiSur CARICOM Brokers Post-Electoral Agreement in Guyana GEORGETOWN, FEBRUARY 24, 1997 Akey provision of the deal brokered on January 17 by the Caribbean Community (Caricom) between the ruling People's Progressive Party (PPP) and the People's National Congress (PNC) was finally put into motion last week, with the naming of the independent team that will audit the results of the highly contested December 15 elections. The agreement averted a dangerous confrontation between supporters of the two major parties. The auditing team will review the vote-counting procedures follow- ing the December poll and scruti- nize the role of the Elections Commission, which has been sharply criticized by the PNC. In the December election, Janet Jagan, the U.S.-born widow of former President Cheddi Jagan, carried the PPP to a narrow vic- tory. The leaders of the PNC immediately cried foul, charging Jagan and her party with wide- spread electoral fraud. The official results emitted by the Elections Commission showed that the PPP won by 60,000 votes over its nearest rival, the PNC, which has charged that had the elections been fair, they would have won by a margin of some 10,000 votes. Supporters of the PNC also argue that the poll was tainted by serious logistical difficulties. This, as well as long delays in the public announcement of results from areas in the capital and lower coastal dis- tricts which have traditionally been PNC strongholds, have bolstered PNC claims that they were cheated from returning to office. The PNC has refused to accept the election results and has repeat- edly dubbed Jagan's administra- tion illegal. At the height of the protests following the election, PNC leader Desmond Hoyte claimed that if the results were not overturned, he would make "the country ungovernable" for the 77- year old Jagan, while his support- ers took to the streets to clash with police. Daily street protests effec- tively closed down businesses and government offices for sev- eral weeks. Jagan's narrow victory and the PNC's threats created a climate of tension and confusion, casting doubt on the ability of Guyana's political institutions to resolve the conflict. That is where the Caricom stepped in. The regional body took the initiative after three weeks of turmoil, and sent a mis- sion headed by Sir Henry Forde, a former attorney general of Barbados, to mediate between the parties in contention. Along with the independent audit, the negotiated agreement also calls for new elections within 36 months, a 90-day ban on street demonstra- tions and major constitutional reforms. Both parties have agreed to abide by the findings of the audit, but neither side has changed its position. What one correspondent described as an "uneasy calm" has settled over Georgetown. But the PNC is deter- mined to do nothing that might give the Jagan government an appearance of legitimacy, going to the extreme of even organizing its own carnival celebration this year. In Guyanese politics, moreover, there is always the risk that political leaders will use ethnic divisions to intensify otherwise political con- flicts. While a majority of Afro- Guyanese support the PNC, most of the PPP's support comes from peo- ple of East Indian ancestry. This is at odds with the growing integration of the two communities in daily life, as the Georgetown independent Staboek News noted, saying that what is needed is "mature and sober statesmanship" to deal with the deep- seated divisions in national politics. -Latin American Weekly Report Southern Cone Activists Devise New Strategies Against Human Rights Violators SANTIAGO AND BUENOS AIRES, FEBRUARY 24, 1998 The military regimes that ruled South American countries in the 1970s and 1980s did a good job of protecting themselves against being brought to justice for their crimes once electoral rule was restored. They granted themselves amnesties, rewrote constitutions or bullied their civilian successors into passing leg- islation that guaranteed their impunity. But Chilean and Argentinean human rights activists are not giving up. Where frontal attacks have proven fruitless, they have begun to think laterally, devis- ing strategies reminiscent of the FBI's final prosecution of Al Capone for tax evasion. In Chile, young activists of the rul- ing Concertaci6n coalition have begun a campaign to press charges of illicit enrichment against Gen. Augusto Pinochet. They are demand- ing that he be required to make sworn statements of his assets before he took power in September 1973 and upon leaving his post as com- mander-in-chief of the armed forces this year. Activists want Pinochet to explain how, on a general's salary, he was able to acquire his mansions in La Dehesa, Bucalemu, El Melocot6n and Presidente Errizuris in San- tiago's affluent Las Condes district. This latter home was built for him as the commander-in-chief's residence, and reports say that he will remain there after retiring, meaning the army will have to build a new residence for his successor. According to local reports, Pinochet has just bought a $250,000 apartment in the Refiaca district of Vifia del Mar, only minutes away from the National Congress, where he will in all likelihood serve as a senator for life. In neighboring Argentina, opposi- tion leaders are trying to determine if members of the military regime stashed away the proceeds of rob- beries from disappeared prisoners in Swiss bank accounts, through a Spanish-initiated investigation into numbered bank accounts in Switzerland. Swiss authorities iden- tified one account held by retired general Antonio Bussi, current gov- ernor of Tucumin province, where he played a prominent role in the country's dirty war in the 1970s. Bussi claimed that he had failed to mention this account in his statement of assets because he had already closed the account. In fact, it was only a hedge against high inflation at home, he said, but this would still be considered tax evasion. Bussi is now facing the prospect of impeachment. -Latin American Weekly Report Uncertainty in Ecuador's Upcoming Elections QUITO, FEBRUARY 27, 1998 Sn May 31, voters in Ecuador will replace interim President Fabian Alarc6n, who was appointed by Congress after it ousted Abdald Bucarim in January 1997. Possible candidates for the nation's executive post include a general, a TV journal- ist, a soccer coach, and a former Supreme Court president. The principal contenders are Jaime Nebot and Jamil Mahuad, with Freddy Ehlers following third. Nebot, head of the right-wing Social Christian Party (PSC), currently leads in the polls, although he insists he will not run. He ran unsuccess- fully for president in 1992 and 1996. The second-runner is Jamil Mahuad, Popular Democracy mayor of Quito, who announced his candidacy on February 25. Ehlers, a TV journalist, is backed by the Pachakutik Move- ment and by campesino groups. Other contenders include Gen. Paco Moncayo, head of the armed forces, who retired in mid-February in order to run in the May elections, and former president Rodrigo Borja (1988-1992), leader of the Democ- ratic Left (ID). Borja has not announced his candidacy, and observers say his running would divide the left. Other candidates include indepen- dent deputy Ricardo Noboa, an unsuccessful candidate in several past elections, deputy Isidro Romero, who parlayed a ten-year stint as head of the Barcelona Soccer Team into congressional seat, and Carlos Solorzano, former president of the Supreme Court who was fired by Congress. Former deputy Jacinto Veldzquez, a center-right indepen- dent who ran for president in 1996, is also a candidate. To date, only Mahuad, Vel.zquez and Solorzano have declared their candidacies. Veldzquez, who regis- ters 7% in recent polls, has said that if he fails to obtain at least 12% by March 20, he will withdraw. Nebot's refusal to be the PSC can- didate may be a strategic political move. Some analysts say he is wait- ing for "a call from the Ecuadorian people" to give greater legitimacy to his campaign. Others interpret his reluctance to indications in the polls that he could be defeated by Ehlers in the expected runoff, which would take place if no candidate wins a majority on July 12. If Nebot does of the Constitutional Tribunal declar- not change his mind, the PSC will ing that law unconstitutional. field another candidate. Noboa, who Three of the four judges who was formerly with the PSC, has voted in Fujimori's favor are tempo- shown an interest in being the party's rary government appointees, a pro- candidate if Nebot refuses to enter vision established in the aftermath of the race. Fujimori's 1992 coup that has been -NotiSur strongly criticized as compromising the independence of judges. The Opposition Challenges Supreme Court decision confirms Fujimori's Bid for a Third opposition allegations about the "Term decreasing autonomy of the Peruvian judiciary. LIMA, FEBRUARY 17, 1998 The ultimate decision about A group of congressmen led by Fujimori's ability to run for a third Jorge del Castillo of the APRA term rests with the National Party have filed charges against the Elections Board (JNE). Government four Supreme Court judges who supporters recently passed a law voted in favor of a resolution that which gives the Supreme Court a would allow President Alberto say in the nomination of new JNE Fujimori to run for a third term. The members-a move opposition lead- Peruvian high court handed down its ers criticized as an attempt to pack decision on February 10, upholding a the Elections Board. With the judi- 1996 law and overturning the ruling ciary and the National Elections Board in his pocket, Fujimori's third bid for the presidency is almost assured. -Latin American Weekly Report Sources: Wayne Smith is a visiting professor of Latin American Studies at Johns Hopkins University and director of Cubalnfo, a bul- letin on Cuban affairs published every three weeks. For subscription information: 1755 Massachusetts Avenue NW, Suite 421, Washington, DC, 20036 (202) 232-0290. E-mail address: cubainfo@igc.apc.org. Latin American Weekly Report is published weekly by Latin American Newsletters. For free samples and subscription information: Latin American Newsletters, Dept. 96A11, 61 Old Street, London EC1V 9HX, England, E-mail: WR@latin.ftech.co.uk. NotiSur is available as a closed Peacenet conference: carnet.ladb. For subscription information: Latin American Data Base, Latin American Institute, University of New Mexico, Albuquerque, NM 87131, (800) 472-0888.
