University Daily Kansan / Wednesday, October 11, 1989
Nation/World
7
Panamanians seek protection, asylum
Leaders of coup attempt travel to Miami
The Associated Press
WASHINGTON — Some of the military forces involved in the failed coup attempt in Panama have been flown by the United States to safety in Miami and invited to seek political asylum, the Bush administration said yesterday.
The State Department said 42 Panamanians had been admitted for humanitarian reasons. White House spokesman Marlin Fitzwater said the group included "coup members and their families."
The group could include Adela Bonilla Giroldi, widow of the coup leader, Maj. Moises Giroldi. She was accompanied by members of her family.
Capt. Javier Licona, thought to be the highest-ranking participant in the coup to escape capture, also was reported to be in the United States.
Report to be submitted.
Citing concerns for their safety,
Fitzwater refused to identify any of the refugees.
The Immigration and Naturalization Service plans to interview the Panamanians at its Miami office Friday, said INS spokesman Verne Jermis. "I assume some will ask for asylum" while others may cite some other legal basis for remaining in this country, he said.
given asylum, U.S. officials in Miami are debriefing them.
Meanwhile, the Pentagon said there had been dissension and confusion among the coup leaders and an argument about what to do with Panamanian ruler Manuel Antonio Norleza, who survived the uprising.
Pentagon spokesman Pete Williams said it was clear that coup leader Giroldi "had no intention, ever," of giving Noriega to the United States.
Williams said, however, that an unnamed officer who took part in the coup insisted that Noriega should be given to the United States and argued with Giroldi about it.
with Grothman, he said the officer eventually gave up the dispute and left the military headquarters, never to return, because he feared Norgiea would or had become aware of his opinions.
winniams said the officer was among those who met later with U.S. Maj. Gen. Marc Cisneros, the second in command of U.S. forces in the area. Williams said he could not say whether that officer made clear to Cisneros that there was a disident faction among the Panamanian officers who wanted to turn Noriega over.
Explosions rock Colombian cities
19 people hurt; bombs linked to drug cartels
The Associated Press
BOGOTA, Colombia — Police reported 13 explosions in three cities before dawn yesterday, the biggest wave of bombings in the government's war on cocaine barons.
The bombings coincided with a visit by U.S. Gen. Maxwell Thurman to confer with President Virgilio Barco, who launched the crackdown Aug. 19. Thurman heads the U.S. Southern Command, based in Panama.
Palatine. Nineteen people were injured in explosions in Bogota, Barranquilla and Pereira, the police said.
and Peter, the pastor,
no one claimed responsibility, but
authorities assume the scores of
bombs set off since August were
planted by the drug cartels, who supply 80 percent of the cocaine sold in the United States. There were no indications whether the bombings were connected with Thurman's visit.
No U.S. troops are stationed in Colombia, but the United States has delivered $65 million worth of military aid to help in the fight against drug traffickers.
U. S. technicians arrived last month to help train Colombians to operate or repair some of the equipment but were in Bogota only a few days, and none remained behind.
Thurman's 24-hour visit included a meeting Monday with Barco and Gen. Miguel Daza, commander of the Administrative Security Department, the government investigative police, the U.S. Embassy said.
The embassy described the meeting as routine.
Authorities have reported 161 explosions since Aug. 19 and report the casualties as 11 dead and 183 wounded.
South American leaders discuss cocaine battle
The Associated Press
ICA, Peru — The leaders of Peru, Colombia and Bolivia conferred yesterday, guarded by thousands of police and soldiers, on a common strategy against the multibillion-dollar cocaine trade in the Andean nations.
President Alan García of Peru met Presidents Virgilio Barco of Colombia and Jaime Paz Zamora of Bolivia at an air force base near Pico, 45 miles northwest of Ica. They flew by helicopter to the Las Dunas hotel outside this city of 350,000 in the coastal desert 185 miles southeast of Lima.
Heavy security was ordered in case of attacks by the Shining Path, a
Maoist guerrilla group that has fought Peruvian governments since 1860 and works with traffickers in Peru's Upper Hullaga Valley, source of more than 60 percent of the world's coca leaf.
A bomb exploded before dawn yesterday in Trujillo, a northern city where five Latin American foreign ministers were meeting to prepare the agenda for a summit of the Group of Eight countries that begins today in Ica.
It went off at the offices of a public housing agency, damaging the building but causing no injuries.
Garcia, the Peruvian president, said the drug summit would "represent our point of view on how to confront the escalation of violence that drug traffickers have unleashed in our countries and also our perspective on the United States president's promosals."
The three countries have criticized President Bush's emphasis on military-style repression of the drug trade.
BRANDFE ROUTES IN KC; Only a few airlines serving Kansas City International Airport have stepped in to provide service lost when Branfidt Inc. cut its routes drastically almost two weeks ago.
ate with 20 departures out of KCI.
Bramifh had 93 KCI flights daily before filing for bankruptcy protection.
GUMMEN' ATTACK FAMILY:
Unidentified gunmen ambushed a Salvadoran journalist's car yesterday, killing his wife and seriously wounding their son, police said.
World Briefs
editor with El Diario de Hoy.
At the time of the attack, Luis Fuentes was not in the car, which was struck by more than 20 bullets.
TRUMP EXECUTIVES KILLED: A helicopter crashed yesterday on the median of the Garden State Parkway near Lacey Township, N.J., killing five people, including three Atlantic City casino hotel executives of the Trump Organization, officials said.
The helicopter was returning to Atlantic City from New York City when it crashed at 1:50 p.m., police said.
Klores identified the Trump executives as Stephen Hydre, 43, chief executive officer of Trump's Atlantic City casino operations; Mark G. Eless, 38, president of the TaJ Mahal casino project; and, Jonathan Benanav, 33, senior vice president of Trump Plaza casino hotel.