NATION/WORLD
UNIVERSITY DAILY KANSAN
Wednesday, July 17, 1996
3B
Foreign firms in Cuba get a legal break
Moratorium to last until February 1
The Associated Press
WASHINGTON — President Clinton opened the way yesterday for legal action against foreign firms doing business in Cuba but imposed a six-month moratorium on lawsuits. He could extend the moratorium again in six months.
In a matter of considerable political and diplomatic significance, Clinton decided that Americans who lost property in Cuba at the time of the revolution may sue in U.S. courts foreign firms now utilizing those assets.
But in an apparent attempt to defuse the controversy as an election issue, Clinton held that no lawsuits might be filed before Feb. 1.
Officials said that the issue would be back on Clinton's desk again in mid-January because of the six-month clause,
meaning that he reserves the right at that
time to render meaningless yesterday's
Feb. 1 deadline.
Clinton said in a statement that as a result of his decision, all companies doing business in Cuba are hereby on notice that by trafficking in expropriated property, they face the prospects of lawsuits and significant liability in the United States.
He said that during the six-month suspension period, his administration will work to promote democracy in Cuba.
The legislation has triggered an angry response from American allies who have been insisting that Clinton exercise his waiver authority on grounds that the United States should not American jurisdiction beyond U.S. shores.
Clinton also has faced pressure from Cuban-Americans and conservatives in general to open the way for legal action against the more than 100 foreign firms which have been operating on property taken from Americans more than 35 years ago.
"We have to keep pushing until we get a democratic response in Cuba."
Bill Clinton President
Clinton said the allies must understand that for countries and foreign companies that take advantage of expropriated property, the choice is clear: they can either join efforts to cease profiting from such property and to promote a transition to democracy in Cuba, or they can face the consequences of the law.
Officials said that the inconclusiveness of yesterday's decision could give would-
be investors pause. They will not know until January whether they will be subjected to lawsuits.
Clinton's Republican rival, Bob Dole, prodded him yesterday to enforce the sanctions against Cuba.
"President Clinton has once again taken a firm stand on both sides of an important issue."he said.
Senate Foreign Relations Committee Chairman Jesse Helms accused Clinton of capitulating to Cuban President Fidel Castro.
"President Clinton's continued indecision until the last possible moment demonstrates, once again, that this president is rudderless when it comes to standing up for American principles around the world," Dole said. "Allowing American citizens whose property was illegally stolen by the Castro regime to use American courts to seek justice is the right thing to do."
At issue is the status of 5,911 U.S. properties that were seized by Cuba within the
first two years of the 1959 revolution.
In an interview Monday night with MSNBC, the new cable and Internet news service, Clinton said that he faced problems with European allies if he decides not to waive the provision.
But the president said, "I must do what I think is in the national interest of the United States and what is likely to bring democracy to Cuba. We have to keep pushing until we get a democratic response in Cuba."
"The best way to get change in Cuba is not to clobber your allies," said Sir Leon Brittan, vice president and trade commissioner of the European Union.
But Clinton was under pressure at home not to waive enforcement of the provision. The anti-communist Cuban-American National Foundation said last week that if Clinton waives the provision, it will embolden foreign investors already in Cuba or those contemplating investments there.
Man kills ex-wife in fitness center
Helms said Clinton should enforce the provision because President Fidel Castro is running a fire sale in stolen property.
The Associated Press
ST. LOUIS — Inside the mirrored aerobics studio, 20 people thumped to the beat of the fastpaced music. Outside, a slightly built man was waiting at the front desk for the instructor, with an alimony check and a gun.
Moments after the class ended, police say, Wiley West Jr. shot his ex-wife three or four times and left the petite, blonde instructor to die on the floor. She was pronounced dead at a hospital.
He was in fair but stable condition yesterday, charged with first-degree murder in the shooting of his 32-year-old ex-wife.
West, 45, fled the fitness center and embarked on a 12-hour odyssey that ended when he shot himself in the chest beneath the Gateway Arch, police say.
"She was just a super person, trying to take care of two young children." Slater said.
The couple divorced in March after a seven-year marriage marked by physical abuse, said Mrs. West's lawyer, R.J. Slater. She had obtained an abuse order against him last summer, and he had threatened to kill her, Slater said.
West shot her when she came to the desk, then whirled around and fired a warning shot that struck the mirrored back wall of the aerobics room, club owner John Crocker said."
Ten to 15 people were working out at the time.
A former police officer, West had gone to the Total You health club Monday morning to deliver an alimony check. He wanted a receipt and was told to wait until she finished her 8 a.m. aerobics class, said Robert Lowery Sr., the police chief in suburban Florissant.
Ollie Coffman, a personal trainer, said, "Everybody thought it was a play or something — they
"Everyone thought it was a play or something."
Ollie Coffman witness to shooting
didn't think it was real. They were all just kind of stunned."
West dropped the gun and fled, heading to the rectory of the New Cathedral in St. Louis, where he asked to see a priest. "I think I killed my wife," Lowery quoted him as saying.
The priest called a monsignor, who contacted police.
But West had already moved on, to the Forest Park Community College, where he worked as a part-time security officer. He told co-workers that he needed money and that he had just killed his wife.
West then ditched his car in downtown St. Louis, grabbed a quick meal at a McDonald's, entered a TV station's lobby and was stopped by a guard. He asked for directions to the St. Louis Post-Dispatch building, and walked through the lobby, picking up a job application along the way.
John Easley, a security manager at the paper, said police arrived moments later, carrying his picture. Easley told them they just missed him.
Shortly after 8 p.m., police spotted him 12 blocks away, sitting on the top of the steps leading from the Arch to the riverfront. He pulled out a second gun — a revolver — and shot himself in the chest as officers approached.
Fashion trade a symbol of destitution
Honduran poverty echoed in textile industry's climate
The Associated Press
CHOLOMA, Honduras — The squatter homes of scrap wood and cardboard sprawl across a dusty plot, in view of an industrial park where poor Hondurans make the latest fashions for American consumers.
Guillermo Fernandez, who has two daughters employed at Global Fashion, a plant inside the park, moved into one of the homes in January 1995 with his nine children.
"We live better than in Santa Barbara," he said, referring to the western Honduras town the family used to call home. "Here we at least eat three times a day."
Americans have been hearing allegations of long hours, child workers and abusive treatment at the plants — brewing up a scandal for talk-show host Kathie Lee Gifford, whose clothing line is made by Global Fashion.
Textile industry leaders reject the charges they run sweatshops, and the plants, known as maquiladoras, have defenders who say the allegations are a ploy.
"We are dealing with a war of markets.
backed by the U.S. unions, to have the maquiladoras abandon Honduras and return to the United States," said Sergio Nunez, vice minister of the economy.
A 15-year-old girl's May testimony before a U.S. House subcommittee brought attention to the clothing assembly plants and the U.S. companies that contract with them.
"The treatment at Global Fashion is very bad," Wendy Diaz said at a Washington news conference after testifying in May. "The plant is hot, like an oven. They keep the bathroom locked and you need permission and can only use it twice a day. We are not allowed to talk at work."
Honduran law permits children as young as 14 to work up to 36 hours a week with parental permission. Yet girls as young as 12 were producing clothes, the workday often surpassed 12 hours and the pay was about $22 a week, Diaz said.
The National Labor Committee, the humanrights group that brought Diaz to the United States, said it urged U.S. companies to keep their jobs in Honduras but to strive for better working conditions.
Committee director Charles Kernaghan, who investigated Global Fashion in 1995, charged that a 75-hour work week was common, and that pregnant women sometimes were forced
to work on their feet for 15 hours a day.
Labor Minister Cecilio Zavala called the allegations monstrous. He said the government has been enforcing its laws, including the minimum age for employing youths — 14 years — and the 71-cents-a-day minimum wage.
Apparel-making generates $500 million a year in Honduras, and Global Fashion, with some 600 workers, is one of the larger plants in this industrial park.
Maria Rodriguez, 26, lives in a working-class neighborhood of San Pedro Sula, the country's second-largest city, and said she feels lucky to work at Global Fashion.
"I used to live with my parents in a poor house with a dirt floor and without water," Rodriguez said. "Now I have a small apartment with what I need to need better...furniture, a telephone, a refrigerator."
Yet the poverty evident in Choloma, a suburb of San Pedro Sula, is part of the fabric of Honduras. There is no running water or electricity and nine or 10 people live in shacks just a few square feet. Filthy infants and dogs wander everywhere. Light, when there is any, comes from candles and gas lanterns.
Since the scandal broke, however, hundreds of teen-agents have been fired.
"Many mothers come to the office," said Paul Kim, the president of Global Fashion. "They cry and ask me to employ their daughters, but I don't want more labor problems."
Ukrainian prime minister survives bomb blast
The Associated Press
KIEV, Ukraine — Ukraine's new prime minister survived an assassination attempt yesterday when a bomb planted in a drainpipe exploded near his motorcade.
The blast, the first such attack on a Ukrainian leader in modern history, prompted a string of emergency closed-door meetings and heightened security at government buildings and embassies.
There was no immediate claim of responsibility, but Ukrainian news media and officials speculated it was tied to Lazarenko's interests in Ukraine's gas, alcohol and banking
Prime Minister Pavlo Lazarenko was treated for a minor neck injury, and two guards in an accompanying car suffered minor injuries. No major injuries were reported.
"It's a terrible sign for Ukrainian politics."
Miroslav Horbatyuk
Ukrainian lawmaker
industries. He is reported to be one of the former Soviet republic's wealthiest people.
The premier, who was appointed last week, was on his way to Kiev's Borispal Airport yesterday when the bomb exploded almost beneath his car.
Police said the explosive was planted in an underground drainpipe and detonated by radio. An Interior Ministry spokesman said it appeared to be a military bomb, possibly taken from one of Ukraine's poorly guarded defense facilities.
The blast cut a crater about 4-1/2 feet deep and 6 feet wide in the road along the Dnipro River, and hurled chunks of asphalt 300 feet, hitting workers at a nearby factory.
The bomb exploded while Lazarenko's car was swerving to pass a passenger bus, which significantly diminished the impact, investigators said.
The Interior Ministry spokesman said if it had exploded while the car was directly overhead, the car would have been destroyed.
Kuchma ousted Lazarenko's predecessor in May, accusing him of stalling reforms.
Ukraine's government has been in upheaval since President Leonid
Lazarenko, a Soviet-era collective farm boss from Kuchma's hometown of Dnipropetrovsk, was approved as prime minister by Parliament last week.
Miroslav Horbatyuk of the nationalist party Rukh said, "It's a terrible sign for Ukrainian politics."
Lazarenko's office tried to play down the attack.
Ukraine television showed a smiling Lazarenko arriving in the eastern city of Donetsk, where he flew an hour after the attack to help settle a coal miners' strike that has crippled the industry since July 3. The trip was publicized in advance, and his motorcade took the standard route to the airport.
NATURAL WAY
• NATURAL FIBER CLOTHING • NATURAL BODY CARE
• 820-822 MASS • 841-0100*
Don't cut this out to
SAVE
$1.00
at Taco Bell
Do not cut here
Most burger combos are at least $2.99. But Taco Bell beats four extreme Value Comboes for only $1.99. Which means every time you buy a $1.99 Extreme Value Combo or Taco Bell, you're saving at least a dollar. No hoops. No heshes. Just great Combs. From tortillas to bounties, with each a medium drink. Such an incredible value we had to call it extremely. Do something different, save a dollar and enjoy a more excellent exciting or a burguer burner.
bos time $1.99
EXTREME VALUE
COMBOS
NOTHING ORDINARY ABOUT IT.
PERSONAL HEALTH CARE FOR WOMEN CONFIDENTIAL ABORTION SERVICES
- Complete CYN Care • Pregnancy Testing
- Depo Provera & Norplant • Tubal Ligation
- Abortion / Tubal Ligation (1 procedure)
- Licensed Physicians/Caring Staff · Modern State Licensed Facility PROVIDING QUALITY HEALTH CARE TO WOMEN SINCE 1974
Insurance plans accepted.
COMPREHENSIVE 345-1400 health for women
4401 W. 10thh (I-435 & Roe) 1-800-227-1918
Overland Park, KS TOLL FREE
VISA MasterCard
TOLL FREE
Wake Up To CEDARWOOD APTS. Now Leasing For
Fall and Winter.
Newly Redecorated Units
Air Conditioning & Pool
Close to Mall
1 Block from KU Bus route
Studios
1 & 2 Bedroom Apts.
Duplexes (3 & 4 Bedroom)
Call Pat today 843-1116
2411 Cedarwood Ave.
FEATURE
TERRAPLANE
BICYCLES & GOODS
EST. 1995
CANNONDALE BICYCLES
HANDEMADE IN THE U.S.A.
VERY LIGHT! VERY SMOOTH!
FEATURE
ALL BIKES COME WITH FREE TUNE-UPS FOR LIFE!
916 Mass. St. 841-6642
KU STUDENTS ONLY! $1 OFF COUPON
World's Greatest Haircut
Reg. $795
BUT WITH COUPON
$695
ONLY
snip'n'clip
MIDWEST'S FAVORITE HAIRCUTTERS
OPEN NIGHTS & SUNDAYS, JUST DROP IN.
HIS OR HERS $2395
PERM
PROMELE WITH CUT
BODY POSE IN STYLE
(Long Hair & Spread, extra)
ORCHARDS CENTER
14th & Kasold
842-5151
KIDS CUTS $5
Expires, Aug 31/96