Project Information | Archive of News Highlights

J U L Y -- 1 9 9 8

CUBA

COLOMBIA

EL SALVADOR

ARGENTINA

MEXICO

Cuba

The following are citations of a series of articles printed in the New York Times, which generated controversy in the Miami exile community. Luis Posada Carriles, a Cuban exile, during two days of taped interviews with New York Times' journalists accuses the Cuban American National Foundation (CANF) of funding a bombing campaign in Cuba.

Key Cuba Foe Claims Exiles' Backing, by Ann Louise Bardach and Larry Rohter, New York Times, July 12, 1998.
Luis Posada Carriles, said he organized a wave of bombings in Cuba last year, killing an Italian tourist and alarming the Cuban Government. Mr. Posada was schooled in demolition and guerrilla warfare by the Central Intelligence Agency in the 1960's. He says that his campaign of bombings and assassination attempt were supported financially for more than a decade by the Cuban-American leaders of one of America's most influential lobbying campaigns.

Cuban Exile Details the 'Horrendous Matter' of a Bombing Campaign, by Ann Louise Bardach and Larry Rohter, New York Times, July 12, 1998.
During the summer of 1997, bomb explosions ripped through some of Havana's most fashionable hotels, restaurants, and discotheques, killing a foreign tourist and sowing confusion and nervousness throughout Cuba.

Life in the Shadows, Trying to Bring Down Castro, by Ann Louise Bardach and Larry Rohter, New York Times, July 13, 1998.
This is an interview with Luis Posada Carriles detailing his anti-Castro activities and connections to the Cuban American National Foundation and Jorge Mas Canosa.

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Colombia

Colombian Leader Holds Historic, Clandestine Meeting with Guerrillas, by Gerardo Reyes, Miami Herald, July 11, 1998.
The contents of the talk remain secret, but Andres Pastrana, Colombia's president-elect is hopeful of bringing about peace.

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El Salvador

Salvadorans Free 2 Killers of American Nuns, by Juanita Darling, Los Angeles Times, July 22, 1998.
Sparking new controversy in one of the most publicized cases in the prolonged, costly U.S. involvement in Centeral America's civil wars. Salvadoran authorities on Tuesday authorized the parole of three of the five soldiers convicted of killing four American religious women in 1980.

Third Killer of U.S. Churchwomen Freed, Times Wire Report, Los Angeles Times, July 23, 1998.
Daniel Canales, a third national guardsman convicted of raping and killing four American churchwomen in El Salvador, was released from prison under a new law to ease prison overcrowding.

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Argentina

Argentine Dictator Runs Out of Pardons, by Anthony Faiola, Washington Post, July 8, 1998.
After receiving a pardon in 1990 for crimes committed during Argentina's "dirty war"--when more than 10,00 suspected dissidents and sympathizers "disappeared" at the hands of military rulers - retired general Jorge Videla has been ordered to stand trial on charges that he stole the babies of pregnant prisoners and gave them to officers and friends of the military for adoption.

Argentina Can't Close its Book of Horror Stories, by Gina Montaner, Miami Herald, July 30, 1998.
Videla will have to answer for at least five cases where babies were taken away from their mothers right after birth, and where the mothers disappeared into the night.

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Mexico

U.N Chief Denies He's Seeking to Mediate the Chiapas Conflict, by Anthony Depalma, New York Times, July 14, 1998.
Mr. Annan made it clear today that although Mexican officials had sent him reports about Chiapas, which he will study, they had not formally sought United Nations help.

UN Chief Raises Anger over Chiapas, by Henry Tricks, Financial Times, July 21, 1998.
Kofi Annan, the United Nations secretary-general, has rattled Mexican nationalist sensitivities by hinting at a possible UN role in settling the Chiapas conflict. The government's sensitivities were pricked earlier this month when Mr. Annan mentioned he was studying government documents related to the Chiapas conflict.

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Peru

Presumed Guilty, Many Live in Legal Limbo, by Catherine Elton, Christian Science Monitor, July 9, 1998.
Indigenous communities and individuals caught in the cross-fire between the Shining Path Guerillas and the Peruvian military are now in legal limbo. Roque is one of 5,000 to 8,000 people on a wanted list for terrorism. While some are guilty of crimes, many are like Roque, who was forced to give a sheep to the Shining Path.

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