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A) DISKUSSION ZUM STREIK
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01 Re: widerst@nd! ˆ MUND; Sonntag, 15.09.2002
von: Žtscheh„ <tscheh@gmx.at>
================================================
liebe leute vom mund, ihr meintet am sonntag
Der MUND-Streik hat nun erste Resultate ergeben. Die Redaktion wird voraussichtlich wieder bunter werden. Zu unserer Freude ist dieses Projekt offenbar immer noch genug Leuten wichtig genug, um eine Weiterexistenz auch über den Wahlkampf hinaus sicherzustellen. Wir möchten auch allen Lesas danken, die uns durch ihre Mails und die Teilnahme an der Streik-Diskussion unterstützt haben.
jetzt freue ich mich natürlich erst einmal, daß es den MUND wieder geben
wird, weil es einfach ein sehr brauchbares objekt ist, bei dems echt schad
gwesen wär, wenns den bach runtergegangen warat. ABER irgendwie erinnert
mich eure erklärung an die erklärungen vom ögb, wenn einer ihrer doch sehr
seltenen streiks beendet wird: es ist gar nix erreicht worden, das wir aber
als erfolg gefeiert und damit der streik abgebrochen... wenn ihr
weitermachts, find ich das super, aber was hat sich konkret geändert. wie
geht man jetzt mit dem problematischen thema israel/palästina um? und wie
geht man mit vielleicht anderen heiklen themen um? gibt es irgendeine
absichtserklärung? oder kippt man einfach jeden beitrag, gegen den irgendwer
irgendwas haben könnte raus und redet nicht mehr drüber? oder wie oder was?
BBIITTTTEE: sagts klipp und klar, was der mund in zukunft sein soll und
welche art von beiträgen gewünscht sind und welche gelöscht werden. sonst
hamma die debatten demnächst wieder.
_
Ce

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02 äh...ich bin wieder da
von: Claudia Volgger <aon.964446421@aon.at>
================================================
nicht, dass es mir nicht ein bisschen peinlich wäre. aber: da sich die
situation geändert hat, die interne auseinandersetzung in der red wieder in
gang gekommen ist, neue dazukommen, es pläne gibt, wie der mund sich
weiterentwickeln könnte: mache ich meinen rückzug aus der MUND-redaktion, na
ja, rückgängig.
(und ich ersuche die frau vizekanzlerin, die meinen ersten schritt ja fast
sofort nachgemacht hat, dringend, das beim zweiten zu unterlassen)
claudia volgger

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B) TEXTE
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03 Immigrants in Austria
von: AHDA <verein-ahda@chello.at>
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Att.Friends!
We immigrants in Austria have been put under fear for the past years as result of some government policy (eg. integration contract, job policy, new refugee laws, reunion of family, etc.). So which of this political party should we immigrants, relatives and friends vote in the coming national election in November that will best represent the immigrants integration interest?
Please give us your vote at www.ahda.at
YOURS
Felix

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AKTIONEN UND ANKÜNDIGUNGEN
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04 final Botschafts-Info & Party : They left, so we leave too!
von: Botschaft der besorgten BürgerInnen
<Interesse.botschaft@blackbox.net>
================================================
-------------------------------------------------------------------
Botschaft besorgter BürgerInnen - Rundbrief 'Botschafts-Info' Nr.21
Embassy of Concerned Citizens, "Botschaftsinfo' # 21
Ambassade des citoyens et citoyennes inqiets, "Botschaftsinfo' # 20
Ambasciata di cittadine preoccupate e cittadini preoccupati info 21
-------------------------------------------------------------------
Dies ist das letzte Botschafts-Info!
This is the last Botschafts-Info!
Questa e l'ultimo Botschafts-Info!
-------------------------------------------------------------------
[de] Auflösung von Parlament und Botschaft - Fest am 19.9.2002 um 19!
[en] They left, so we leave too! - Final Party on Sep 19th at 7 p.m.!
[it] La fine e la festa, il 19.9.2002 alle ore 19
[fr] grande fete de venir le 19.9.2002, nous avons atteindré notre objective!
-------------------------------------------------------------------
[deutsch]
Auflösung - Fest am 19.9.2002!
Neuwahlen! Endlich ist das Marionettentheater vorüber!
Am 9.9.2002 verkündete Kanzler Wolfgang Schüssel, dass es möglichst bald zu
Neuwahlen kommen soll; nächste Woche löst sich der Nationalrat auf und beendet
damit diese Legislaturperiode.
Mit der Auflösung dieses Nationalrates und dem Ende der Blau-Schwarzen
Regierung, löst sich die Botschaft Besorgter BürgerInnen auch auf, da unser Ziel
erreicht wurde.
Mehr als genug Grund um zu feiern! Daher laden wir alle interessierten Menschen
ein mit uns zu feiern:
am 19.9.2002 ab 19 Uhr
(die Widerstandslesungen beginnen um 17h)
Ballhausplatz 1A
1010 Wien
http://botschaft.cjb.net
Auf Widerstand - und unser kritisches Bewusstsein wird auch in Zukunft nicht
schlafen!
-------------------------------------------------------------------
[english]
They left, so we leave too! - Final Party!
New Elections! Finally the puppet show is over!
On the 9th of Sep. Chancellor Wolfgang Schüssel declared that there will be new
elections as soon as possible and next week Thursday or Friday the parliament
will dissolve itself.
The end of this legislation period means also the end of the Embassy of
Concerned Citizens, as our goal is achieved and the "blue-black" government
fades away.
That is a very good reason for us to celebrate and we invite everyone who is
interested, to celebrate with us:
19th of September 2002, at 7 pm
Ballhausplatz 1A
1010 Wien
http://botschaft.cjb.net
Resist! ...And we will stay aware!
-------------------------------------------------------------------
[italiano]
La fine e la festa, il 19.9.2002 alle ore 19 !
Nuove elezioni! È finito il teatro alle marionette.
Il 9 di Settembre, il chancelliere Schuessel ha dichiarato che ci saranno nuove
elezioni al più presto possibile. La settimana prossima, il parlamento attuale
finirà su lavoro.
Significa anche che è venuta la fine dell'Ambasciata di Cittadini Preoccupati e
Cittadine Preoccupate - abbiamo raggiunto nosto scopo, il governo nero-blu se ne
va.
È un ottima opportunità per festeggiare e vi invitiamo tutti di venire alla
festa
il 19.9.2002 alle ore 19
Ballhausplatz 1A
http://botschaft.cjb.net
1010 Vienna
-------------------------------------------------------------------
[francais]
grande fete de venir le 19.9.2002, nous avons atteindré notre objective!
Elections Nouvelles - Le teatre aux marionettes est fini.
Le 9 de settembre, chancellier Schuessel ha declaré que il y aura des elections
nouvelles au plus prét possible. La semaine prochaine, le parlement actuel
finira son travail.
Ca veut dire que le travail de L'Ambassade de Citoyens Concernés et Citoyennes
Concernées se termine aussi.
Nous avons atteindré notre objective et le gouvernement noir-bleu s'en va.
C'est une très bonne opportunité pour une grande fete et nous vous invitons tous
de venir le
19.9.2002
Ballhausplatz 1A
1010 Vienne
http://botschaft.cjb.net
-------------------------------------------------------------------
Auf Widerstand wünscht die
Botschaft besorgter BürgerInnen!
...Resistance!
...the Embassy of Concerned Citizens
...Vive la résistance!
...Ambassade des citoyens et citoyennes inquiets.
...Restistenza!
...L'ambaciata di cittadini preccupati e cittadine preoccupate
-------------------------------------------------------------------
Botschaft besorgter BürgerInnen
Aggodó Polgárok Képviselete
Embassy of Concerned Citizens
Ambasado de Afliktitaj Civitanoj
VelvyslanectvÌ znepokojenoch obÁanek a obÁano
Embajada de los ciudadanos y cidadanas preocupados/as
Ambasciata di cittadini preccupati e cittadine preoccupate
L'ambassade des citoyennes inquiètes et des citoyens inquiets
Ballhausplatz 1a
A-1010 Wien
Österreich (Europe)
Underground U3 Herrengasse Exit Minoritenplatz
Underground U2, U3 Volkstheater Exit Burgring
Tramway D, J, 1, 2, 46, 49 Parlament
Tramway D, J, 1, 2 Stadiongasse
Bus 2A Heldenplatz
GPS: N 48° 12.458' E 16° 21.807'
Telefon / telefone / telefono:
sorry: wurde gestohlen! / has been stolen! ;-(
e-mail:
botschaftbesorgterbuergerInnen@blackbox.net
Web / rete telematica:
http://www.botschaftbesorgterbuergerInnen.cjb.net
Petition:
http://www.ballhausplatz.at/johcgi/bbb/TCgi.cgi?target=sig
Onlineforum:
http://www.blackbox.net/c/Anarchy/Botschaft_besorgter_BuergerInnen/
Radio:
jeden Freitag um 19.30 Uhr in der Sendung 'Radio Widerhall',
http://radiowiderhall.cjb.net/
Redaktion: bbbradio@egroups.com
auf Radio Orange, UKW 94.0 MHz (Telekabel Wien: 92.7 MHz)
Webcast: http://www.orange.or.at/radio/live/index.html
Mailinglist 'Botschafts-Info':
An- und Abmelden unter: / to subscribe and unsubscribe, go to:
commander sous: / Informazione sull'abonnamento:
http://mailman.t0.or.at/mailman/listinfo/botschafts-info

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MELDUNGEN UND KOMMENTARE
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05 Demobericht Salzburg
von: Salzburg Social Forum <salzburgsocialforum@gmx.net>
================================================
PRESSEINFORMATION DES SALZBURG SOCIAL FORUM
Demonstration gegen das World Economic Forum setzt sich vom Salzburger
Hauptbahnhof aus in Bewegung
Salzburg, 15.09.2002, 12:57
Nach den Auftaktreden von Andreas Rennert (SSF), Claudia Trost (KPÖ) Cyriak
Schweighofer (Grüne) und Stefano Galiani (Rifondazione Comunista, Italien) am
Bahnhofsvorplatz, setzt sich die Demonstration in Richtung Lehner Brücke
langsam in Bewegung. Der Bahnhofsvorplatz wird heute dominiert von
Transparenten, roten Fahnen und Schautafeln. Immer wieder branden Sprchchöre auf. Die
Stimmung ist friedlich, es kam bis jetzt zu keinerlei Zwischenfällen.
Demonstrationszug überquert die Lehner Brücke. Verlauf ist weiterhin
friedlich.
Salzburg, 15.09.2002, 13:35
Nach einer ersten Einschätzung seitens der Demonstrationsleitung sind
derzeit deutlich über 3000 Personen auf der Strasse um gegen die Politik des WEF zu
demonstreieren. Christoph Eschbacher, Pressesprecher des SSF, zum bisherigen
Demonstrationverlauf: "Die Stimmung ist wirklich gut. Sehr lebendig und
kämpferisch aber absolut friedlich. Die Polizei hält sich derzeit noch sehr
zurück, wir hoffen, dass es so bleibt." Nach Überquerung der Lehner Brücke wird
sich der Demonstrationszug in Richtung Mülln weiterbewegen.
Demonstrationszug auch nach der Lehner Brücke von engem Polizeikordon
begleitet. Demoleitung spricht von Vertrauensbruch.
Salzburg, 15.09.2002, 14:00
Als Bruch der Vereinbarung seitens der Exekutive bezeichnet Christoph
Eschbacher, Sprecher des SSF, das Vorgehen der Polzei nach dem Überqueren der
Lehner Brücke. "Es war vereinbart worden, dass der Polizeikordon die Demo nur bis
zur Brücke begleitet. Wir betrachten das als groben Vertrauensbruch." Trotz
der unnötigen Provokation seitens der Exekutive werde man jedoch weiterhin
versuchen, die Demonstration friedlich weiterzuführen.
Demo bewegt sich die Gaswerkgasse hinauf. SSF-Sprecher kritisiert
provokantes Verhalten der Polizei.
Salzburg, 15.09. 2002, 14:15
SSF-Pressesprecher Christoph Eschbacher kritisiert erneut das Verhalten der
Exekutive: "Die Polizei hat den Kordon zwar etwas gelockert, dem hinteren
Block der Demonstration kommt sie jedoch immer wieder viel zu nahe. Ich empfinde
das als völlig unnötige Provokation und als Bruch der Vereinbarungen die wir
hinsichtlich des Ablaufs mit der Polizeidirektion getroffen haben." Trotz
der überflüssigen Eskalationsstrategie der Polizei geht die Demonstration gegen
das World Economic Forum friedlich weiter und bewegt sich derzeit die
Gaswerkgasse hinauf und über den Müllner Hügel.
Zwischenkundgebung am Hanuschplatz aus technischen Gründen abgesagt. Demo
mittlerweile auf fast 5000 Menschen angeschwollen.
Salzburg, 15.09.2002, 15:15
Aufgrund technischer Probleme mit dem Dieselaggregat musste die
Zwischenkundgebung am Hanuschplatz abgesagt werden. Die vorgesehenen Reden werden bei der
Abschlusskundgebung Volksgarten gehalten. Nach Angaben der
Demonstrationsleitung ist der Demozug auf mittlerweile knapp 5000 Menschen angewachsen.
Chrisoph Eschbacher, Pressesprecher des SSF: "Obwohl sich die Polizei nicht an die
vereinbarten Abmachungen hinsichtlich Deeskalation gehalten hat, ist bis
jetzt alles friedlich verlaufen. Die Stimmung hier ist wirklich ausgezeichnet."
Der Demonstrationszug bewegt sich nun am Rudolfskai entlang in Richtung
Nonntaler Brücke. Im Global Village im Volksgarten wird die Abschlusskundgegung
stattfinden. Danach treten bekannte Gruppen wie Querschläger oder Chumbawumba
auf.
Stürmischer Empfang der 5000 DemonstrantInnen im Volksgarten. Demonstration
verlief ohne Zwischenfälle.
Salzburg, 15.09.2002, 15:51
Volksfeststimmung herrscht im Salzburger Volksgarten wo die
Abschlusskundgebung der heutigen Demonstration gegen das Weltwirtschaftsforum stattfindet.
SSF-Sprecherin Ulli Gschwandtner: "Wir haben heute ein machtvolles und
friedliches Zeichen gegen die kapitalistische Globalisierung gesetzt. Über den
Verlauf der Demonstration sind wir wirklich glücklich. Obwohl sich die Exekutive
nicht an die Vereinbarungen hinsichtlich Polizeiketten gehalten hat, kam es zu
keinen Zusammenstössen."
Nach der Abschlusskundgebung beginnen die Konzerte im Global Village im
Volksgarten. International bekannte Bands wie Chumbawumba werden kostenlos
auftreten um ihre Solidarität mit den Sozialforen und den so genannten
GlobalisierungsgegnerInnen zu bekennen. Die Proteste des Salzburg Social Forum gegen die
Politik des WEF werden in den nächsten Tagen in Form von Aktionen, Workshops
und Diskussionsveranstaltungen weitergehen.
Demonstration offiziell beendet. VeranstalterInnen mit dem Ablauf zufrieden.
Pressekonferenz morgen um 10:30
Salzburg, 15.09.2002, 16:30
In diesen Minuten wird die Demonstration gegen das Weltwirtschaftsforum in
Salzburg von der Demonstrationsleitung des Salzburg Social Forum offiziell
aufgelöst. Die VeranstalterInnen zeigen sich sowohl über den Verlauf als auch
die Anzahl der TeilnehmerInnen hoch zufrieden. Die Protestaktivitäten werden
heute Abend und in den nächsten zwei Tagen wie geplant fortgesetzt.
Ein ertstes Resümee der Proteste gegen das WEF seitens des Social Forums
findet morgen im Rahmen einer Pressekonfernz um 10 Uhr 30 im Cafe Stein statt.

===============================================
06 RAWNEWS Latin America
von: RAWNEWS <rawnews@btopenworld.com>
===============================================
RAWNEWS on Latin America1) September 11 in Chile clashes on coup s anniversary - By Bill Vann (WSWS)
2) More than 500 People Arrested on 9/11 in Chile - Prensa Latina (Cuba)
3) Unification of Argentinean Socialist Parties Slated for Saturday - Prensa Latina
4) Normality in Caracas after Failure of Opposition"s Action - Prensa Latina
5) RAID BY THIRD BRIGADE OF THE COLOMBIAN ARMY - CUT Human Rights Dept
6) Lula Widens Lead in Brazilian Presidential Race - Prensa Latina
7) CHILE - THE OTHER SEPTEMBER 11 - Ocean Press
8) The Miami mafia's September 11 - GRANMA (Cuba)
9) 500 000 Central Americans Unemployed from Coffee Crisis - Prensa Latina
10) Brazil-Argentina Defense Alliance Could Hurt U.S. - StratforSeptember 11 in Chile clashes on coup s anniversary
By Bill Vann
14 September 2002
In Chile, September 11 was marked by violent clashes between demonstrators and Carabinero military police, resulting in over 500 arrests and scores of wounded.
While the media in the US and Western Europe concentrated exclusively on ceremonies marking the first anniversary of the terrorist attacks on the World Trade Center and the Pentagon, Chile was rocked by protests in observance of the 29th anniversary of the US-backed coup that inaugurated 17 years of brutal military dictatorship.
That September 11, in 1973, also saw planes flying low over a country's largest city, leaving one of its most important buildings in flames and its people in a state of shock. But in Chile it was the bombing of the La Moneda presidential palace, where the elected president, Salvador Allende, died. The attack inaugurated a bloodbath from which Chile has yet to recover.
Ironically, the official death toll in the Chilean coup-3,197-is almost identical to the number killed on September 11, 2001 in the US. Several hundred were machine-gunned in the Santiago soccer stadium, which was turned into a makeshift concentration camp and torture center. Others were shot to death in the street, at military barracks and in other detention centers, many after enduing horrific torture. All told, more than 60,000 Chileans were subjected to torture under the dictatorship, and one million were forced into exile: this in a country of less than 14 million.
On the 29th anniversary of that black day, the Socialist Party government of President Ricardo Lagos roundly condemned demonstrators for burning a US flag, calling it "insensitive." Lagos, among Washington's closest Latin American allies, attended a ceremony at the US embassy and declared that the two countries "are united on this date by tragedy and sadness." The next day he issued a statement announcing Chile's support for the positions outlined in Bush's September 12 speech before the UN General Assembly threatening war against Iraq.
That many Chileans, while understanding the pain of those who lost relatives in the US, find it difficult to solidarize themselves with Washington is understandable. The Chilean coup was sponsored by Washington and the Central Intelligence Agency, which funneled millions of dollars to both the military and right-wing groups to overthrow the country's elected government.
President Richard Nixon and his top foreign policy adviser, Henry Kissinger, played direct roles in orchestrating the military overthrow. The latter had famously remarked, "I don't see why we need to stand by and watch a country go communist because of the irresponsibility of its own people.'
Washington continued its backing for the dictatorship of General Augusto Pinochet, with the CIA providing lists of suspected "subversives" to be exterminated. American aid helped the mass murderer stay in power longer than any other Latin American military ruler.
On Wednesday, thousands of people participated in a march to the Santiago cemetery to place wreaths at a memorial to the disappeared. At the La Moneda presidential palace they were met by Carabineros who used tear gas and water cannons to attack the protest.
Tensions later erupted at the cemetery, where members of the Communist Party and other left-wing groups brawled with representatives of Lagos' ruling Socialist Party, throwing paint and eggs and exchanging blows with fists and sticks. The fighting forced the SP to postpone its memorial to the following day.
As night fell in Santiago and other Chilean cities, barricades went up in a number of poor neighborhoods. Gunshots were traded between the police and demonstrators, and there was scattered looting. Police detained 505 people in the capital.
Chile's interior minister, José Miguel Insulza, arrogantly dismissed the protests as "delinquency," echoing similar statements made under the dictatorship. He attributed the clashes to "lumpen activity." The protests were not "political activity," he said, since no organized political tendencies had led them.
Insulza's statements expressed the hostility of the Socialist Party leadership to the Chilean working class and the growing ranks of poor and unemployed. First brought to power at the head of the Concertación coalition in 2000, the SP has continued the neo-liberal "free market" policies of privatization and deregulation inaugurated under the dictatorship.
Touted as a model for economic growth, these policies have only intensified social polarization in Chile, making it one of the most unequal countries in the world in terms of income distribution, and leaving most workers considerably worse off than they were 29 years ago when the coup took place.
The official unemployment rate has remained steady at approximately 10 percent, while 20 percent of the population is listed as living below the poverty line. While the richest 10 percent of Chileans monopolize 53.4 percent of the country's national income, the poorest tenth account for barely 3.7 percent.
Asked by the Santiago daily El Mercurio whether the violence on the September 11 anniversary may have been triggered by growing misery for the poor, Insulza responded: "These are phenomena that have been happening for some time and are not necessarily related to poverty."
The government is calling for new laws promoting "labor flexibility" as a cure for unemployment. They would allow companies to override existing regulations on working hours, using cheaper part-time labor.
Lagos used the occasion of the anniversary to make a ritualistic appeal for "reconciliation" between the torturers and the tortured. Those who took an active part in the coup and the subsequent repression, he said, "must have a moment of contrition." He then praised the armed forces for making "a definitive contribution."
This same theme was sounded in a bizarre joint television appearance by the grandson of Allende and the granddaughter of Pinochet. Maria José Pinochet conceded that her grandfather may have been "politically" responsible for human rights violations during his 17-year reign, but added that he was so busy that "some things got by him."
Gonzalo Meza Allende, for his part, echoed the current position of his grandfather's Socialist Party, praising the Pinochet dictatorship for its "successful" economic policies.
The military used the occasion to further its demand for a "full stop" amnesty, guaranteeing that no one will ever be held accountable for the assassinations, kidnappings and torture committed under the dictatorship.
In past years, military officials, right-wing groups and prominent businessmen staged ostentatious celebrations on the coup's anniversary, dubbing it "National Liberation Day." Until two years ago, it was observed as a national holiday in Chile. Recognizing that this only contributed to larger protests, the Lagos government abolished the practice.
This year, the dictatorship's supporters limited themselves to a musical concert performed by retired officers and a mass for those military personnel killed in the coup-most of them suspected Allende sympathizers murdered by the army itself.
While in the past, active-duty and retired army officers made a pilgrimage to the home of Pinochet in the wealthy Las Condes neighborhood, this year they stayed away. The 86-year-old former tyrant has played almost no public political role since his lawyers secured a ruling by Chile's Supreme Court that he is suffering from dementia and is therefore unfit to stand trial for his role in the so-called "Caravan of Death," a roving military assassination squad that murdered and "disappeared" scores of his political opponents following the coup. The ruling effectively halted hundreds of other suits pending against the ex-dictator.
On the eve of the anniversary, Pinochet registered another judicial victory, with the decision by the Court of Appeals in Santiago rejecting an extradition request from an Argentine court investigating the car bomb assassination in Buenos Aires of former Chilean army chief Carlos Prats González and his wife, who had fled Chile after the coup.
An agent of DINA, the Chilean regime's secret police, is serving a life sentence in Argentina for the killings, while Michael Townley, a US citizen who was a DINA agent, has confessed to planting the bomb on orders from the former secret police director General Manuel Contreras. Surviving members of the Prats family have charged that as head of the ruling junta, Pinochet controlled DINA and its agents acted only on his orders.
Pinochet's CIA-backed regime was responsible for other acts of international terrorism, including the car bomb murder of Orlando Letelier and his 25-year-old American colleague Ronni Moffitt in the streets of Washington in 1976. The killings were carried out under Operation Condor, a joint operation by the secret police of six Latin American dictatorships acting with the knowledge of the CIA.
Meanwhile, the Chilean daily La Nación carried a report last Sunday that a sinister group known as the "Comando Conjunto" or "Joint Command," responsible for repression and atrocities under the dictatorship, had reformed for the purpose of halting judicial proceedings against the junta's assassins and torturers.
A former member of the group said that it now enjoyed the "protection" of the Chilean air force and would "carry out operations, surveillance, telephone taps, threats, theft of court papers, bribes and national and international jobs" to put a stop to human rights cases.
The report overshadowed Lagos's proclamation that, as the 29th anniversary approached, Chile was entering a "new era" in relations between the civilian government and the armed forces.
World Socialist Web Site
&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&
More than 500 People Arrested on 9/11 in Chile
Santiago de Chile, Sep 12 (PL) With more than 500 people arrested and electric energy cuts in different sectors of this capital, the incidents lasted through early Thursday morning on the 29th anniversary of the military coup in Chile.
Radio Cooperativa said that La Pincoya, Villa Francia, La Victoria and sectors of Nunoa, Macul and Penalolen were the scene of confrontations between demonstrators and Police, who used water canons and tear gas to repress those who remembered the victims of the 1973-1990 dictatorship.
The radio also reported that at least 7 police were wounded, and in 30 points of Santiago, electric energy supply was interrupted.
The commemoration activity started in the center of Santiago with a march by human rights organizations that went from Paseo Ahumada and ended at night in Victor Jara Stadium -formerly called Chile Stadium- in the Central Station sector.
At the entrance of the stadium, incidents began when Police shot water jets against people that had taken part in a massive candlelight vigil in memory for those arrested and disappeared during the 1973-1990 dictatorship led by Augusto Pinochet.
Other skirmishes shook Villa Francia, where shots were heard, and also other detonations, and the police also used tear gas to disperse the demonstrators.
Apart from these, strong confrontations occurred in Penalolen, on the outskirts of Pudahuel and in La Pincoya, where most of the municipality remained in the dark almost until midnight.
The blackouts made by chains heaved at the electric cables, affected sectors such as Lo Espejo, Macul, Central Station, Puente Alto, Maipu, Pudahuel, La Granja, La Pintana, El Bosque, Nunoa, and Quinta Normal.
In the city of Concepcion, 515 km. south from Santiago, there were partial blackouts in the sectors of Hualpencillo de Talcahuano and Barrio Norte. In Temuco -also in the south- there were at least 30 people arrested, most of them students from La Frontera University, who gathered at Teodoro Schmitdt Plaza.
Chileans remembered Pinochet"s military coup with many activities denouncing what occurred and some conciliatory gestures, under the premise of not burying something that put the whole country into mourning, and made it face a bloody dictatorship for 17 years.
After putting a floral offering at the statue of deceased Chilean president Salvador Allende"s (1970-1973) in front of La Moneda Government House in Santiago, Chilean Communist Party general secretary Gladys Marin called on the country not to forget what happened 29 years ago.
"We have to make a great political effort to keep the September 11 tragedy in people"s collective memory, while the government and others in the world want to silence the US intervention in our country"s destiny", said Marin.
She said that it was no secret that with Washington"s approval and financial support, Allende and his Popular Unity government were overthrown on September 11, 1973.
http://www.prensa-latina.org/article.asp?ID={70A4F218-C636-11D6-A737-0010B58BBFAB}&language=EN
&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&
Unification of Argentinean Socialist Parties Slated for Saturday
Buenos Aires, Sep 13 (PL) Saturday, Argentinean socialist forces will establish their fusion into one party after more than 45 years of divisions, it was confirmed in this capital.
The rebirth of the Argentinean Socialist Party (PSA) will be the result of the merger of the Authentic Socialist Party and the Popular Socialist Party and will be directed by leaders of both organizations: Alfredo Bravo and Ruben Giustiniani as president and General secretary, respectively.
The rebirth act of the (PSA) will adopt a declaration of principles, statutes and a program, according to the official announcement.
The formation of the new organization was decided last June 28 with the signing of a document in the city of Rosario. This took place on the occasion of the 106th anniversary of the foundation of the first PSA.
That text called for the new party to become "an example of a great coalition to transform it into an alternative able to carry out the changes demanded by Argentinean society."
The document was signed by observers from other South American socialist parties including: Ricardo Nuñez (Chilean Socialist Party), Reinaldo Gargano (Uruguayan Socialist Party), Elio Alfredo Pieta (Brazilian Workers Party) and Carlos Fllizola, president of País Solidario de Paraguay.
At the time, it was also decided that the new PSA would support the candidacy of Elisa Carrio, leader of the Alternative Party for a Republic of Equals, for president in the elections scheduled for next March.
http://www.prensa-latina.org/article.asp?ID={5F726B25-C730-11D6-A738-0010B58BBFAB}&language=EN
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Normality in Caracas after Failure of Opposition"s Action
Caracas, Sep 11 (PL) A practically normal situation was registered in Caracas Wednesday, after a call from local opposition groups to close all the capital"s main avenues failed.
A small number of groups of people, with wide coverage from private TV channels, stood in zones of two of the roads leading to the center of Caracas with the goal of paralyzing vehicle traffic.
However, members from the Venezuelan National Guard and the Security and Prevention Direction (DISIP) managed to convince the demonstrators to occupy just one of the blocked roads.
In this way, the plan to isolate the capital exactly five months after the April 11 coup was frustrated, and the opposition protest
was poorly attended.
This was partially due to the division in the opposition Democratic Coordinating Organization (CD) as part of the parties forming this organization refused to take part in this demonstration.
Meanwhile, vehicle transit and the subway were still working normally, and important incidents were not reported, said local
authorities and press reports.
For their part, followers of President Hugo Chavez began to gather around Miraflores Presidential Palace, where there will be a
concentration rejecting coups and terrorism.
http://www.prensa-latina.org/article.asp?ID={ADB14945-C579-11D6-A842-0010B58ABFEC}&language=EN
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RAID BY THIRD BRIGADE OF THE COLOMBIAN ARMY - HEADQUARTERS IN CALI, VALLE DEL CAUCA - ON THE FAMILY HOME OF THE DIRECTOR OF THE HUMAN RIGHTS DEPARTMENT OF THE UNITED WORKERS FEDERATION OF COLOMBIA CUT
The Human Rights Department of the United Workers Federation of Colombia - CUT- lead by its Director DENOUNCES that in the night hours of 16 August 2002 troops form the Third Brigade of the National Army raided my family home where they entered claiming to be searching for subversive propaganda and arms. This act violating my basic rights was carried out under the State of Emergency recently imposed by President Álvaro Uribe Vélez, a judicial and political measure which as we have been protesting violates political and democratic rights and is now specifically used to initiate persecution against defenders of human rights and trade union leaders. I condemn this act with all the energy that such violations merit and I demand an explanation from the military and the government and that they assume responsibility for the damage that they have caused me with this attack. .
JESÚS ANTONIO GONZALEZ LUNA
Director Human Rights Departament
Bogotá D.C., 17 August 2002
GENOCIDE AGAINST SINALTRAINAL
The Human Rights Department of the United Workers Federation of Colombia (CUT) denounces the assassination of trade union leader ADOLFO DE JESÚS MUNERA LÒPEZ a member of the National Food Industry Workers Union SINALTRAINAL that took place in the city of Barranquilla, Atlántico on 31 August 2002.
It is important to note that our comrade stood out for his hard work in the union movement. He was the Vice President of the Atlántico branch, and performed several responsible positions for SINALTRAINAL, and he was also outstanding in his commitment to the community of his city.
We remember that comrade Múnera was raided at his home by members of the Colombian Armed Forces on 6th April 1997, and for that reason had to move to different cities to safeguard his life. He was unjustly sacked by Coca Cola
who sent a letter of dismissal to his home. Our friend had initiated a case demanding his re-employment.
The above is clear evidence of the price that union leaders pay for demanding social justice, in the face of the many ways that human rights are violated in Colombia, and that are no real guarantees to protect their lives. The consequences of this humanitarian crisis are clear, with 108 trade unionists assassinated so far this year.
DOMINGO RAFAEL TOVAR ARRRIETA
Director Organisation Departament
Bogotá D.C., 2 September 2002ASSASSINATION ATTEMPT ON SINTRAEMCALI
The Human Rights Department of the United Workers Federation of Colombia (CUT) denounces that the Cali Municipal Corporation Workers Union SINTRAEMCALI was the victim of an assassination attempt earlier today, 3 September 2002. This took place at 11am at the Navarro Cellars, which is a plant within the Water, Drains and Sewerage directorate of EMCALI. The
attempt was carried out by a high power bomb that damaged the plant. SINTRAEMCALI members often hold their trade union assemblies at this plant.
Fortunately this assassination attempt did not claim any victims. But it is important to emphasise that this was an action against the workers and an obvious sign of terror to destabilise the process of saving EMCALI from the government's proposed privatisation, thereby appropriating the corporation from the citizens of Cali.
Furthermore, while the union leaders were trying to ascertain what caused the explosion, they were harassed by an unknown man on a high calibre motorcycle, and who was taking photographs and filming the consequences of this terrorist action.
It is also necessary to denounce a recent recording by paramilitary groups in which they affirmed that they have decided to assassinate Alexander López Maya (former SINTRAEMCALI President and now Congress Representative), Luis Hernández (President of SINTRAEMCALI) and other members of the union's Executive Committee.
As well as this criminal act, there have been constant death threats being made against the leadership of this organisation. We call on human rights NGOs, international trade union federations, the International Labour Organisation ILO, the United Nations Human Rights Commission, the Human Rights Commission of the Organisation of American States and the European Parliament to make public statements repudiating this demented act, and demanding protection and guarantees for trade unionists, to the government
of Doctor Alvaro Uribe Velez, President of the Republic; to Doctor Luis Camilo Osorio, Attorney General; to Doctor Fernando Londoño Hoyos, Minister of the Interior and Justice; to Doctora Martha Lucía Ramírez de Rincón, Minister of Defence; and to Juan Luis Londoño de la Cuesta, Labour Minister.
JESÚS ANTONIO GONZALEZ LUNA
Director, Human Rights Departament
Bogotá D.C., 3 September 3 2002
UNIVERSITY WORKER MURDERED
The National Executive Committee of SINTRAUNICOL, the National Union of University Workers and Employees, and an affiliate of the CUT, DENOUNCES
On 5 September 2002, in the Municipality of Pamplona, North Santander Department, CESAR GOMEZ, President of the Pamplona branch of SINTRAUNICOL was assassinated. This murderous act was perpetrated at 7:00 in the evning when the comrade was arriving home with his wife. They were tackled by two unknown men who shot CESAR 8 times and left his wife seriously wounded.
It is important to note that the comrade had asked for security and the Ministry of Interior Protection programme, since he had been the victim of many death threats due to his trade union activity defending the rights of the workers at Pamplona University where he worked. A risk assessment study had been made by the Department of Administrative Security (DAS), the only body that can make recommendations for protective measures. And, obviously, this was not enough to protect the life of this prominent leader
who was passing through a precarious situation because he had been unjustly sacked after 14 years service, and who was in the process of negotiating his re-employment.
We call on the national and international community to reject these barbarous acts against Colombian trade union leaders, and to seek real protection to safeguard the lives and well being of the workers, who are daily deprived of their rights of expression and union organisation through systematic human rights violations.
We call on all branches of SINTRAUNICOL to carry out protest actions next Monday 9 September, such as meetings, assemblies, stoppages, denunciations and other acts of protest to express our repudiation of this murderous act against the Colombian trade union movement.
JOSE DANERA ORTEGA
President, National Executive Committee
Bogota, D.C. 6 September 2002
SEND MESSAGES TO/ ENVIAR MENSAJES O CARTAS A:
ÁLVARO URIBE VELEZ Presidente de la República, Presidencia de la República
Carrera 8 No. 7-26 Palacio de Nariño, Santa Fe de Bogotá
Telfono. +57.1.5629300 Ext. 3550 (571) 284 33 00
Fax +(57)1 - 286 74 34 -286, 68 42 -284 21 86
E-mail: auribe@presidencia.gov.co
Programa Presidencial de DDHH y Derecho Internacional Humanitario
E-mail: rdh@presidencia.gov.co; obserdh@presidencia.gov.co
FERNANDO LONDOÑO HOYOS, MINISTRO DEL INTERIOR Y ENCARGADO DEL MINISTERIO DE
JUSTICIA Y DEL DERECHO;
Ministerio del Interior, Carrera 8 # 8-09 - Bogotá Fax: +57-1-286.80.25
E-mails: mininterior@myrealbox.com ministro@minjusticia.gov.co
MARTHA LUCIA RAMIREZ DE RINCON
Ministro de la Defensa, Ministerio de Defensa Nacional, Avenida El Dorado
con carrera 52 CAN
Santa Fe de Bogota Tel-fax: +57.1.222.1874
E-mail: infprotocol@mindefensa.gov.co
LUIS CAMILO OSORIO
Fiscal General de la Nación, Fiscalía General de la Nación
Apartado Areo 29855 Diagonal 22B 52_01 (Ciudad Salitre), Bogotá, Colombia.
Fax: + 57 1 570 2000 / 5 70 20 22
E-mail: contacto@fiscalia.gov.co; denuncie@fiscalia.gov.co
SEND COPIES TO:
Colombian Embassy (UK): mail@colombianembassy.co.uk
Denis MacShane Foreign Office (UK):macshaned@parliament.uk
CUT Human Rights Department: derechoshumanoscut@cc-net.net
Colombia Solidarity Campaign: colombia_sc@hotmail.com
Andy Higginbottom
Co-ordinator Colombia Solidarity Campaign
(Please note new e-mail address, send replies to colombia_sc@hotmail.com)
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Lula Widens Lead in Brazilian Presidential Race
Rio de Janeiro, Sep 9 (PL) Luis Inacio Lula da Silva, presidential candidate for the left wing Workers Party (PT) widened his lead, a poll by the "Sensus" Institute revealed Monday.
The poll was taken on September 5 and 6 after a TV debate with his three main opponents. It put da Silva in the first place, up 3.7 points, with 37.7 percent of the current voter intention. Trabalhista Front candidate Ciro Gomes, from a coalition gathering left wing nationalists to right wing liberals, lost 7 points and descended to 18.3 percent of potential votes.
Gomes" setback showed the erosion caused by attacks by Jose Serra from the governing Social Democrat Party (PSDB) who shortened his distance from Gomes and is now in the third place with 17.1 percent.
When considering the three-point margin of error, Serra and Gomes are in a technical tie in second place, which might foster an offensive by the PSDB candidate who counts on the support of the powerful and influential big business and financial sector.
In fourth place in the poll made by Sensus Institute at the request of the National Transport Confederation, is Anthony Garotinho, an ex-governor of Rio de Janeiro from the Brazilian Socialist Party, who went up 2.9 points and rose to 13.3 percent of voter intentions.
Serra"s improvement in his fight to replace Ciro Gomes from second place is attributed to his greater broadcast space of free TV time broadcast twice a day for 50 minutes.
Benefited by the results, PSDB and its allies from the center-right wing Brazilian Democratic Movement (PMDB) in last presidential election, Serra have 20 minutes of TV campaign time, while Lula da Silva and Ciro Gomes have 10 minutes each.
Serra also displays his campaign with the greatest financial resources, with the participation of renowned singers, who take part in his campaign.
However, Lula da Silva widened his edge in first place with a sustained campaign of a program of change for the Brazilian current
political panorama, in which he promises to promote economic growth and create jobs, based on the national productive sectors.
The poll also revealed that Lula leads all his opponents in the voter preference for the second round of elections, scheduled for October 27. If the decisive round were held now, Lula would defeat Ciro Gomes 49.2 against 38.1 percent of votes.
In a survey made at the end of August, when both candidates were practically tied, Ciro had a slight edge (44.7 against 43.3) over Lula, who is now ahead.
In this latest poll, Lula would defeat Serra (50.2 to 38.2) and Garotinho (50.8 to 35.3).
When voters are asked for their choice, but without mentioning a list of names, Lula da Silva is the most consolidated, with 26.4. Ciro Gomes appears with 12.7, Serra with 10.7 and Garotinho with 7.9.
http://www.prensa-latina.org/article.asp?ID={640005A6-C427-11D6-A733-0010B58BBFAB}&language=EN
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Recent events in Chile remind us that September 11 is the anniversary of a day (that became 17 years) of U.S.-sponsored terror against the people of a Latin American country.
Ocean Press has just published a small book reclaiming September 11 for Chileans and all victims terror for which Washington is responsible:
CHILE - THE OTHER SEPTEMBER 11
An anthology of reflections and commentaries on the 1973 coup in Chile
Edited by Pilar Aguilera and Ricardo Fredes
Contributors include:
* Ariel Dorfman
* Pablo Neruda
* Victor Jara
* Salvador Allende
* Fidel Castro
* Beatriz Allende
* Joan Jara
80 pages, US$7.95 ISBN 1-876175-50-8
ORDER DIRECT for a 10% discount
Ocean Press
PO Box 1186, Old Chelsea Station, New York, NY 10113-1186
GPO Box 3279, Melbourne, VIC 3001, Australia
E-mail: info@oceanbooks.com.au
www.oceanbooks.com.au
Check our website for a new feature: TARGET IRAQ: www.oceanbooks.com.au/iraq
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GRANMA (Cuba)
September 11, 2002
The Miami mafia's September 11
On that same date in 1980, Miami mafia capos were celebrating the success of their latest feat of terrorism: the murder of Félix García Rodríguez, a Cuban diplomatic at the United Nations, carried out in a New York street by Pedro Remón, the deadliest killer at their disposal . It was the one and only assassination of a UN diplomat and the news immediately made world headlines . Pedro Remón, who was never punished for his crime and continued his life as a terrorist, is currently detained in Panama with gang leader Luis Posada Carriles; he could soon be returning, unpunished, to his Florida residence
BY JEAN-GUY ALLARD
(Special for Granma International)
http://www.granma.cu/ingles/septiembre02/mie11/36once-i.html
SEPTEMBER 11, 1980, 6:20 p.m. Traffic in the heart of New York was its usual hellish self. Félix García Rodríguez was driving past the UN building in a vehicle belonging to the Cuban Mission. He was supposed to pick up a work colleague and her children but fortunately, she had decided to stay at home at the last minute. So Félix, having left his apartment in Queens, stopped by a dry- cleaners in his neighborhood to pick up some clothes and was heading towards his office on the corner of 38th and Lexington Avenue, Manhattan.
He was driving along Queens Boulevard when he had to stop at the lights at the corner of 55th Street. That was the moment when, in a fraction of a second, his world ended. A car pulled up alongside, and an unknown killer aimed a MAC 10 machine gun at Félix García Rodríguez and pulled the trigger.
One bullet hit him in the neck, and he lost consciousness. His car hit another vehicle coming in the opposite direction.
The killers stopped their car, the one with the machine gun got out and shot Félix again, this time in the head.
That man's name is Pedro Remón, a terrorist from the Omega 7 group. The driver of the car was Eduardo "Omar" Arocena, head of Omega 7 and author of a very long list of attempts.
That day, "Omar" was celebrating the sixth anniversary of his organization. And the first murder of a UN diplomat was an exploit celebrated by the Cuban-American mafia capos in Miami who blindly supported his act of terrorism, along with the blessing of the CIA and the FBI.
Its probable that the "anonymous informer" who later rang the United Press International (UPI) agency to say that the Omega 7 terrorist organization was responsible for the deed was "Omar" himself.
INDIGNATION AT THE UN
In Washington, the authorities advised the Cuban Interest Section - the island's main representation in the United States - of the murder at 7:00 p.m. Ramón Sánchez Parodi, the section's head at the time, left immediately for New York.
There, UN diplomats were in uproar. For the first time ever, terrorists had used violence against the legitimate representative of a UN member country. Nobody had ever dared to do such a thing, and such a disgraceful act would never be repeated.
Three times on the following day, UN Secretary General Kurt Waldheim expressed his horror at the crime. He communicated with the U.S. representative at the United Nations, demanding that full measures be taken to guarantee the safety of all the Cuban personnel in New York, and insisted that the tragic event be thoroughly investigated.
At a press conference Waldheim stated that he strongly condemned the unjustified act of terrorism, adding that it was a new and tragic illustration of the growing violence faced by diplomats around the world.
Secretary of State Ed Muskie called it a reprehensible act and asked for all the relevant federal agencies as well as the New York police department to cooperate in the investigation.
The man responsible for U.S. foreign policy stated that terrorism was to be condemned in all its forms and eradicated.
Donald McHenry, Washington's ambassador to the UN called the crime a blot on the United States.
Nevertheless, both Muskie and McHenry refrained from specifically condemning the anti-Cuban terrorism sponsored, as was well known, by the country's very own intelligence services and to a large degree tolerated by the federal police.
At the UN, Cuban ambassador Raúl Roa Kourí affirmed with total clarity: "these groups of professional killers have various locations in the country that hosts our international organization. Their members and leaders make public statements to New York's Spanish-language press and hold public meetings on the streets, crudely boasting of their criminal intentions."
He justly recalled: "They are the same ones who have detonated five bombs in the offices of the Cuban Mission at the UN over the last two years and who placed a high-explosive bomb in the car belonging to Cuba's permanent representative to the organization."
Kourí added: "Félix García Rodríguez has died as a result of his cowardly murderers going unpunished for their previous crimes."
The subsequent investigations, concluded one year later, completely supported his reasoning.
On September 13, the body of the murdered diplomat was brought to Havana accompanied by Victor Villa, a work colleague of Félix and a former guerrilla fighter in the Sierra Maestra. An important group headed by Carlos Rafael Rodríguez, member of the Political Bureau and vice president of the Council of State, was awaiting their arrival at José Martí airport.
On September 14, Félix García Rodriguez was interred in Havana's Colón Cemetery; thousands of people gathered to give their final salute to a heroic comrade, victim of Miami's Batista underworld.
His colleagues and friends remembered the murdered Cuban diplomat, who had worked as a journalist on Juventud Rebelde before moving to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, as "a great guy." He had worked for the UN Cuban Mission from 1977, joining Alarcón's team, and his main brief was to look after the many Cuban visitors arriving in New York for reasons of work.
OMAR AND HIS KILLERS
According to information declassified by the FBI in 1993, Omega 7 was a Miami-based terrorist organization founded on September 11, 1974 by Eduardo "Omar" Arocena, with the backing of two fanatical Cuban-American groups: the Cuban Nationalist Movement (CNM) and the Martí Insurrection Movement (MIM).
Omega 7 was active until 1983, when it was destroyed by the arrest of its leader.
Various of the 20 or so killers gathered around Arocena had been recruited and specially trained in intelligence and commando techniques by the CIA in order to participate in the failed Bay of Pigs invasion.
The FBI confirmed that the training of those individuals as mercenaries plus funds guaranteed by the CNM gave Omega 7 an almost unlimited potential for terrorism.
In the majority of their actions, Omega 7 used bombs, bullets and murder.
Despite the international impact of Félix García Rodríguez' death, the FBI waited until 1981 - at least officially - before beginning to identify the perpetrators of the crime.
An FBI document reads that in December 1980, the Immigration and Naturalization Service (INS) questioned Pedro Remón and Ramón Sánchez, another Cuban immigrant, on crossing the Canadian border, traveling from Montreal.
Although a bomb had gone off at the Cuban Consulate in that city just a few hours earlier, the two men were not questioned about the incident.
However, the INS gave the FBI data on the two individuals and the Feds finally uncovered the Omega 7 network. Investigations into the activities of Remón and Sánchez allowed the experts to discover their links with Eduardo Arocena, Andrés García and Eduardo Fernández Losada, and the existence of the criminal organization.
A FINE AND A CHECK
Thus they were able to prove an important exchange of telephone calls between Arocena and Remón around the dates of various attacks, plus suspicious care-hire information in Newark Airport, New Jersey.
Delving deeper, in the New York police archives investigators found that a vehicle hired by Arocena and Remón had received a fine in front of the UN Cuban Mission on September 11, 1980þ and that Arocena had signed a check to pay for the infraction.
On December 2, 1982, Arocena was called before the Grand Jury and roundly denied all knowledge of Omega 7's activities, except for what he'd read about the group in the press.
However, the FBI report stated that the terrorist leader had initially worked as a U.S. government agent. After that appearance, Arocena briefly cooperated with the FBI and talked to investigators Robert Brandt and Larry Wack.
At first he stated that he represented "Omar", the head of Omega 7. But the next day he admitted that "Omar" and himself were one and the same person.
After confessing that he'd traveled to Miami to pick up 600 pounds of explosives from Pedro Remón, "Omar" surprised Brandt and Wack by telling them over the phone that he didn' t want to cooperate with them any more and then disappeared off the face of the earth.
The FBI claimed to have lost track of him, until his arrest on July 22, 1983, seven months later.
DREAMING OF FIVE VICTIMS
During the time he was cooperating with Brandt and Wack, "Omar" claimed that Pedro Remón had killed Félix García Rodríguez. He gave the two men all the details of the vicious attack. And he also spilled the beans on another murder committed by his organization: the particularly repugnant killing of Cuban-American Eulalio Negrín on September 25, 1979.
Armed with the same MAC 10 machine gun as on September 11, 1980, Remón broke into Negrín's home and shot him in front of his young son.
"Omar" confessed to the FBI that he dreamt about ordering the deaths of five Cuban diplomats on that fateful September 11, with the aim of celebrating his criminal organization's sixth anniversary.
Among the other victims selected were Ramón Sánchez Parodi, head of the Cuban Interest Section in Washington, and Raul Roa Kouri, Cuba's ambassador to the UN.
When investigator Brandt took the stand at Arocena's trial in 1984, he told under oath how Arocena affirmed that he had tried to persuade Remón not to kill Félix García Rodríguez on September 11þ but only because he realized that the diplomat was alone in the car.
Brandt testified that "Omar" told him he didn't want to kill just one Cuban, but five.
Pedro Remón and Eduardo Losada Fernández were arrested on September 24, 1982 while attempting to steal a car in Belleville, New Jersey. They wanted to use it for an assassination attempt on Sánchez Parodi, which they planned to effect by placing a bomb in the Cuban Interest Section.
"Omar" Arocena then confessed to personally making all the bombs used by his organization. He also openly acknowledged his operational links and training with the CIA.
IMPUNITY FOR REMON
At the same 1984 trial, a witness confirmed that Pedro Remón was the person who had shot Félix García Rodríguez on September 11, 1980 in New York.
In 1986 Remón, who was living in Kindall, Florida, at the time, received a 10-year prison term after pleading guilty to the attempted murder of Raúl Roa Kouri in front of the UN building and an attempt on the Cuban Interest Section in December 1975þ in a deal made to get all the other charges dropped, including that of the September 11 homicide. A satisfactory result for the terrorist who, just a few years later, was back on the streets, free to resume his former activities.
Pedro Remón effectively carried on with his career as killer and terrorist, firstly alongside Huber Matos, boss of the Democratic and Independent Cuba organization, linked to murky terrorist and drug trafficking operations. Later on Remón joined arch-terrorist Luis Posada Carriles.
In 2000 Remón surfaced in Panama, at the very moment of the failed Posada Carriles attempt against Fidel Castro. Had the attempt succeeded, hundreds of people would have died.
Along with Posada and two others, he is now detained at El Renacer "model" prison, 60 meters from the Panama Canal. In Miami, mafia circles have been predicting the possible escape of the four terrorists for some time.
Remón - killer, Omega 7 terrorist, an accomplice in the majority of the extremely long list of attempts attributed to Omega 7 - could then return to No. 170099 NW 98th Avenue, Hialeah Gardens, Miami. With total impunity, and at great convenience to the country that has always tolerated - when it hasn't actually instigated - the activities of the most fanatical Cuban-American elements. And a country that is persecuting those who have risked their lives trying to counteract such individuals.
On September 11, when the U.S. people recall the tragic hours they lived through one year ago when watching the Twin Towers collapse in flames, will the Miami terrorist circles be commemorating how, on September 11, 1980, their hired killer Remón cowardly murdered a young Cuban diplomat on the streets of New York? Will they be bragging about how, for over 40 years, they have organized, financed and encouraged countless murders, violent attacks and criminal conspiracies against Cuba? Will they feel proud of their blood on their hands that September 11, 1980, when they used violence and terrorism to realize their annexationist dreams?
Chickens home to roost
THE U.S. legal authorities "weren't as thorough as they could have been" on investigating Félix García Rodríguez' murder, in case they damaged their own interests," Ramón Sánchez Parodi, head of the Cuban Interest Section in Washington when the tragic event took place, told Granma International.
"Rooster chickens," he added, referring to the famous saying: "The chickens are coming home to roost".
"No U.S. government has ever stopped sponsoring anti-Cuban criminals," pointed out Sánchez Parodi, explaining that this has resulted in the most violent individuals "thinking they have license to act against Cuba."
According to his own experience, that policy of various U.S. administrations does not correspond to the wishes of the large majority of Cuban immigrants living in the United States, who "just want relations to be normalized" between the two countries.
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500 000 Central Americans Unemployed from Coffee Crisis
Tegucigalpa, Sep 12 (PL) The fall of the price of coffee has left approximately 500,000 Central Americans unemployed while another five million live in extreme poverty, President Ricardo Maduro reported today.
In declarations to the local press, the president referred to the 80,000 Honduran families that remain without work because the mainstay of their sustenance was coffee farming.
The majority of Honduran rural homes were hit by the international coffee crisis, which had a negative repercussion on the country"s economy, said Maduro.
Maduro indicated the need to improve the marketing conditions in the region to overcome the problems of the sector. Coffee prices are the lowest in several years.
He said that Central America should direct its objective towards other markets like Europe and Asia and promote the investment of foreign capital.
Likewise, he believes the area is compelled to join and reinforce the cooperation and regional exchange in order to overcome the
difficulties.
The farmers of this Central American nation of 6 million inhabitants are going through a difficult stage that became worst because of the constant weather phenomenon like drought and earthquakes that have affected Honduran territory, he said.
Honduras is the second largest Central American country with an extension of 112,090 square kilometers and is facing the problem of deforestation because of poor land use and uncontrolled development that contributed to the degradation of the soils.
http://www.prensa-latina.org/article.asp?ID={70A4F21A-C636-11D6-A737-
0010B58BBFAB}&language=EN
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Brazil-Argentina Defense Alliance Could Hurt U.S.
Stratfor, 12 September 2002
Summary
Brazil is calling for an "integration" of its national defense doctrine with that of Argentina. The goal is to build a common South
American defense policy based mainly on preventing the United States from establishing a permanent military presence anywhere in the region. If Argentina accepts the proposal, it could undermine U.S. efforts to build hemispheric military support for battling regional rebels and drug traffickers.
Analysis
Brazil's government is quietly lobbying political and opinion leaders in Argentina to accept a proposal for "total defense integration" between the two countries, Buenos Aires daily Clarin reported. By "integration," the Brazilians mean the adoption of a common regional defense doctrine but not the actual merger of the armed forces of both countries.
If Argentina accepts the proposal, Brazil intends to use it as a cornerstone to build a larger regional defense alliance, with the
objective of establishing a permanent demilitarized zone in South America, Clarin reports. If enough countries sign on to such a plan, it could mean that no military forces from outside the region would be allowed permanent station in most of South America.
The Brazilian proposal also would commit Argentina, and any other countries in the region that buy into it, to respect the principles of national sovereignty and non-interventionism in the internal affairs of other nations. In essence, any participating country would be off limits to extra-regional forces. This would suit Brazil's needs perfectly.
Brazil does not want to involve itself in the troubles of Colombia and other neighboring countries, but it also doesn't want other
governments -- especially Washington -- to gain a permanent military presence in South America. Brazil is concerned that escalating U.S. military aid to Colombia is only the first step in a much greater U.S. geopolitical strategy to gain access to the Amazon region's vast natural resources.
Aldo Rebelo, president of the defense commission of the Brazilian chamber of deputies, underscored these concerns when he said in Buenos Aires recently that it would be "a tragedy to have U.S. soldiers in South America," Clarin reported. Brazil is a fierce critic of Plan Colombia, the U.S.-backed assistance package that, among other things, funds Colombian counterdrug battalions that are trained by U.S. personnel.
Brazil is also bitterly opposed to the Bush administration's efforts to expand U.S. military aid to Colombia to fight the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC) and National Liberation Army rebel groups. In fact, Brazil repeatedly has rejected pleas by the Colombian and U.S. governments to participate in a coordinated regional military coalition to fight Colombia's rebels and drug traffickers. Argentina has been more supportive of Plan Colombia and U.S. counterdrug and counterterrorism aims in Colombia, at least rhetorically.
Besides reflecting worries about possible U.S. intentions, Brazil's proposal to Argentina is an indication of the enormous improvement in relations between the two countries over the past 12 years. This change was largely due to the political and trade integration mechanisms built into the South American Common Market (Mercosur), the customs union that includes Brazil, Argentina, Paraguay and Uruguay as full members plus Chile and Bolivia as associate (non-voting) members.
Before Mercosur was created over a decade ago, Brazil's national defense doctrine focused on the country's southern frontiers. Since the 1870 Paraguay war, Argentina had been perceived as the greatest external threat to Brazil's national security. However, over the past decade, Brazil's national security focus has shifted from the south to the north, with an eye
primarily on Colombia and the United States.
While Brazil-Argentina relations improved during the 1990s, the northern
Brazilian frontier with Colombia became increasingly unstable as the drug-fueled civil war in that country escalated and began spreading to neighboring countries, including Brazil. The Brazilian government responded
to the threat by redeploying its military forces from southern Brazil to the
northern Amazon region.
Five years ago about 11,000 soldiers were based in the Amazon region along Brazil's frontier with seven neighboring countries. Today more than 23,000 Brazilian soldiers are based within the Amazon, and 3,000 more will be deployed into the northern Amazon in coming months. However, 26,000 soldiers are woefully inadequate to the task of securing and protecting the 2.12-million-square-mile Amazon region from being invaded by anyone.
Brazilian defense experts say they believe the FARC is turning Colombia's southern border with Brazil into a strategic rearguard
area to rest and resupply FARC forces and to smuggle drugs out of Colombia in exchange for weapons smuggled into the country from Brazil. These sources said the FARC also has at least 300 fighters permanently camped less than 30 miles from the Colombian border with Brazil.
It's not clear how Argentina will respond to Brazil's proposal. Argentina's political turmoil caused by its debt default last year has not subsided, and the country's economy remains a shambles. A recent poll shows that President Eduardo Duhalde has a popularity rating among Argentine voters of only 6 percent, the country's political leadership is jockeying for advantage in party primaries and general elections scheduled over the next six months, and the government has made no progress at all in locking in a financial aid package from the International Monetary Fund.
The Brazilians understand that right now there's no one in Argentina they can truly negotiate with. However, they are pitching the idea of integrating national defense doctrines to Argentine opinion leaders now, with the aim of building political and popular support for the idea before Argentine voters choose a new president in the first half of 2003. This could have very negative effects on hemispheric U.S. efforts against drug and rebel groups.**********************************************************
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