THE UNIVERSITY OF DAILY KANSAN
FRIDAY MAY 4, 2007
NEWS
CUBAN ARMY
5A
Fugitive recruits kill one
Escaped men arrested after trying to hijack plane to U.S.
ANDREA RODRIGEZ
ASSOCIATED PRESS
HAVANA — Fugitive army recruits tried to hijack a plane to the United States and killed a military officer they took hostage in the failed attempt early Thursday, the Interior Ministry said.
"Despite being unarmed, he heroically tried to prevent the commission of the terrorist act," the statement said of the officer killed. Others who had been held hostage on the bus were unharmed, it added.
Two of the escaped recruits were arrested after Army Lt. Col. Victor Ibo Acuna Velazquez was killed in the aborted hijack that began in the pre-dawn hours when they commandeered a bus carrying several passengers to get to a plane on the tarmac, said a ministry statement.
Throughout the day Thursday, there were rampant rumors of a shooting at the airport but the Cuban government and its official media were silent.
There had been a massive manhunt under way for three army recruits sought after fleeing their base. The two arrested were among three army recruits who escaped from their military base on Sunday after killing a fellow soldier and wounding another. The third was
captured earlier, the ministry statement said.
The Defense Ministry over the weekend distributed wanted circulars around Havana, describing the fugitive recruits as armed and dangerous and saying they were sought for abandoning their posts. Some circulars were displayed in public places, including post offices.
Several baggage handlers told an Associated Press reporter who visited the airport that police had told them to tell anyone who asked to say that nothing had happened there that morning. Even so, none of them had appeared to have heard or seen the pre-dawn incident.
"Despite being unarmed, he heroically tried to prevent the commission of the terrorist act."
The men, all from the eastern province of Camaguey, were identified as Leandro Cerezo Sirut and Alain Forbus Lameru, both 19, and Yoan Torres Martinez, 21.
STATEMENT Interior Ministry
their outgoing flights, or waited for loved ones to arrive from the United States, seemed oblivious that anything may have occurred there earlier.
L a t e r
Thursday, all was calm and there was no increased police presence at the airport's Terminal 2.
About 150 people who lined up outside the terminal for
Two departures Miami and one to New York later in the day were listed on time, as were the scheduled arrivals from those cities.
》 SENATE
Amendment nears approval Prescription drug import bid is one step closer to passing
ASSOCIATED PRESS
WASHINGTON — A bid to allow lower-priced drugs to be imported from Canada and elsewhere survived a challenge in the Senate on Thursday, making approval likely early next week despite the Bush administration's opposition.
The Senate, on a 63-28 vote, effectively endorsed the measure as an
amendment to legislation related to the Food and Drug Administration.
The administration opposes allowing imports of prescription drugs and has pledged to recommend the president veto the final FDA legisla-
eral health officials, since the days of the Clinton administration, have said they cannot do.
The amendment that survived the
White House spokesman Tony Fratto said the amendment sponsored by Sen. Thad Cochran, R-Miss., would satisfy the administration's concerns about the safety of imported drugs. "It would diminish, if not eliminate, the need for the president's advisers to recommend a veto," Fratto said.
tion if it includes such a provision.
"The fact is, we are paying the highest price for brand-name prescription drugs in the world and that's not fair."
BYRON DORGAN North Dakota Senator
Republicans, however, decided to make one more try at defeating the measure. They sought to add a requirement that the FDA first certify that imported medicines are safe and effective. That is something that fed-
test vote would permit broader imports of prescription drugs from Canada and elsewhere, where certain medicines can cost less than two-thirds what they do in the United States. Backers hope the imports
will drive down prices at home.
The drug industry also opposes allowing drug imports, arguing it could leave the nation vulnerable to counterfeits a concern echoed by several lawmakers.
"The fact is, we are paying the highest prices for brand-name prescription drugs in the world and that's not fair," said Sen. Byron Dorgan, D-N.D., the amendment's sponsor. "Let's make the global economy work for everybody."
"To accept the importation of foreign drugs is to open the door so that a cottage industry today becomes a major industry tomorrow in supplying counterfeit drugs," said Sen. Richard Burr, R-N.C.
The move enjoys broad popular support, nevertheless. But lower prices overseas would not automatically mean large savings for domestic consumers, according to a 2004 study by the Congressional Budget Office.
The study found that allowing drug imports from a broad set of countries would cut drug spending by $40 billion over 10 years or by about 1 percent.
The amendment is part of a broader Senate bill to renew the fees paid by the pharmaceutical companies seeking approval for new medicines. Lawmakers have seized on the legislation as a chance to overhaul the FDA.
The Senate is not expected to vote on the amendments until Monday at the earliest.
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Republican presidential candidate Rudy Giuliani's podium is shown before the first republican presidential primary debate of the 2008 election at the Ronald Reagan Library on Thursday in Simi Valley, Calif.
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