The Battalion. (College Station, Tex.) 1893-current, November 25, 1987, Image 11
Wednesday, November 25,1987/The Battalion/Page 11 World and Nation Rioting Cuban inmates remain in control at two state prisons Ski Packages ITS Colorado, New Mexico Utah, Canada, Europe Book early for the best deals S TRAVEL EDUCATIONAL TOUR COORDINATORS 1055 Texas AVE. 764-9400 ATLANTA (AP) — Troops armed with automatic weapons and gas masks brought dozens of prison ers out of the Atlanta penitentiary where rioting Cuban inmates re mained in control Tuesday while a SWAT team faced down a group of Cubans at a besieged prison in Loui siana. The prisoners, who rebelled after the announcement of a deportation agreement between the United States and Cuba, continued to hold more than 100 hostages — 75 in At lanta and 28 in Louisiana. One ailing guard was released in Atlanta, where one inmate died during Monday’s riot. It was not clear whether the in mates brought out of Atlanta’s 85- year-old penitentiary were Cubans or other prisoners, or whether they had surrendered or had been sub dued by the troops. State Corrections Department spokesman John Siler said those in mates and 24 others were taken to Dobbins Air Force Base in Marietta. Tom Delaney, a spokesman for the federal penitentiary in Terre Haute, said the prisoners then were flown to Indiana. He said he had no information about the nationality of the prisoners. In Louisiana, a SWAT team dis persed about 30 inmates who had been taunting guards at an entrance building, the only part of the Oak dale Federal Detention Center not controlled by inmates. High-pressure fire hoses were used to blast down a makeshift, 80- foot-long barrier near the entrance to the Oakdale facility where in mates had painted slogans such as “liberty or die” and “freedom or blood” around the compound. Detention center spokesman Lue- nette Johnson at first declined to comment on the incident but later said both sides backed off when “the Cubans related that the hostages would be hurt if further attempts were made by staff.” She added that the prisoners brought out two hostages and al lowed one to speak through a mega phone but offered no details on the discussion. J. Michael Quinlan, director of the Bureau of Prisons in Washing ton, said negotiations at both facili ties continued intermittently. How ever, discord among inmates impeded the talks, and a scheduled meeting between a U.S. senator and an inmate leader in Louisiana fell through. Official news briefings at both prisons were infrequent. Tomas Garcia-Fuste, a Spanish speaking radio reporter from WQB A in Miami who joined in ne gotiations with Louisiana prisoners at the request of FBI agents, said prisoners were reluctant to accept an offer by Attorney General Edwin Meese III of a case-by-case review. “They are afraid,” Garcia-Fuste said. “There are too many opinions inside.” Atlanta Warden Joseph Petrovsky said, “The negotiating team since 7:15 last night has been dealing with at least 12 leaders or groups of lead- “As long as the hostages are not being injured, and as long as we’re making headway, we’re going to ne gotiate this thing out,” Petrovsky said at a mid-day news conference, several hours before the troops went in. Petrovsky said 315 inmates had surrendered since the takeover be gan Monday morning and had been placed in secure areas of the prison. Quinlan said, “Our No. 1 priority is the welfare of those being held against their will.” Petrovsky said 75 hostages re mained in Atlanta but Quinlan gave the number as 76. Inmates at Oakdale, who took over the facility on Saturday, brought two of their 28 hostages to a gate Tuesday to show that they were being well-treated. I g Large 1 16" One Topping Thin Crust Pizza i ■Hi i ■ Small 12" One Topping L Ihta Crust Pizza Free Delivery 846-0379 Best Pizza in Town B Northgate £C99 ■ SD + ,„ i Official: Cuba will not punish inmates WASHINGTON (AP) — A top Cuban diplomat said Tuesday night that all Cuban inmates sent back to their homeland by the United States will not be subject to any reprisals by the Cuban government for past ac tivities. Ramon Sanchez Parodi, head of the Cuban Interests Section ' in Washington, said at a news confer ence that he was making the an nouncement in an effort to bring a peaceful end to the disturbances at detention centers in Louisiana and Georgia. The government of Cuba “wishes to declare and assure that it will take no reprisal whatsoever” against peo ple who are supposed to be returned to their homeland under a new U.S.- Cuban agreement signed last Friday, he said. As proof of his country’s good will, Sanchez Parodi cited the exam ple of the 201 Cubans who returned to Cuba in 1985 before a prior agreement with the United States was suspended. He said most are free, have re joined their families and “enjoy full possibilities of employment.” He said the 2,500 Cubans who now face deportation “will be exon erated from illegal activities that they might have committed before their departure from Cuba.” Sanchez Parodi has served as head of the Interests Section since it opened in 1977. In the absence of full diplomatic relations, the United States and Cuba maintain interests sections — or small diplomatic missions — in . each other’s capitals. The U.S. government’s an nouncement last weekend that it would begin deporting some 2,500 inmates who arrived from Cuba in the 1980 Mariel boatlift sparked ri oting Saturday by Cuban inmates at the Federal Alien Detention Center in Oakdale, La., and a riot Monday at the Atlanta federal prison. More than 100 hostages were be ing held by the inmates at the two fa cilities. Some of the inmates were imme diately incarcerated when they ar rived in this country and admitted to having been in jails in Cuba. have committed and have been Others inmates crimes since arriving kept in prisons pending government decisions on whether to release or deport them. A third group has been confined to mental institutions. Street gang found guilty of violent plot CHICAGO (AP) — Five mem bers of the notorious El Rukn street gang were found guilty Tuesday of conspiring to blow up airplanes and U.S. government buildings as part of a terrorism- for-hire scheme to win $2.5 mil lion from Libya. The U.S. District Court jury re turned the verdict after six days of deliberation following a five- week trial. Jeff Fort, El Rukn leader, and co-defendants Leon McAnder- son, Reico Cranshaw, Alan Knox and Roosevelt Hawkins had said the El Rukns were a religious or ganization that planned no vio lence and met with the Libyans only to raise money for a mosque. New defense secretary supports Star Wars plan, budget cutbacks + tax Free Delivery Tf 846-0379 Best Pizza in Town I Northgate | £4" ■ aS + tax g 1 Don’t Worry when an accident or sudden illness occurs CarePlus is open when you need them 7 days a week with affordable medical care. Faculty, staff & students receive a 10% discount CarePlus^ l=AMII V MFrnmAI r^MTirR WASHINGTON (AP) — Frank C. Carlucci began his service as the nation’s 16 th defense secretary Tuesday pledging support for Star Wars and arms control initiatives while promising greater cooperation with Congress on budget matters. One day after being sworn in, the 57-year-old Carlucci offered few de tails of his future plans for the Pen tagon and repeatedly echoed the policy pronouncements of his prede cessor, Caspar W. Weinberger. He hailed word of a new arms accord with the Soviet Union elimi nating intermediate-range weapons and said another pact reducing long- range nuclear arsenals could be reached if the Russians realized President Reagan would never aban don his Star Wars program. The Soviets recently softened their rhetoric attacking the Star Wars research effort, Carlucci added, but whether that rhetoric re flects an underlying change in their position he couldn’t tell. Carlucci listed arms control as one of his initial top three priorities, de scribing the other two as maintain ing a strong military force in the face of budget cutbacks — even if it means the actual size of the military has to be reduced — and continuing to reform the Pentagon’s weapons- buying procedures. “Defense contractors should real ize that recent budget cuts mean sombody’s going to have to feel the pain,” he said. Carlucci also said there would be no reduction in the size of the U.S. naval force in the Persian Gulf unless the threat of Ira nian attacks on commercial shipping dissipated. He promised there would be no purge among the Pentagon’s top staff despite last week’s forced de parture of Frank Gaffney, an avowed hard-liner and Weinberger’s top arms-control expert. The new defense secretary told reporters he saw no point in trying to contrast his style with that of Weinberger. “But like everybody, I have an en tirely different approach to, say, how you negotiate with Congress,” he said. Weinberger adamantly refused to negotiate cuts to the defense budget during his tenure. “Once it becomes clear that the Congress has a different set of prio rities,” Carlucci said, “or if they are going to cut the budget, as undesira ble as that might be, then I would be prepared to work quietly with them to do that.” FAMILY MEDICAL CENTER and Pharmacy 696-0683 1742 Southwest Pkwy • C.S Open 8 to 8 Every Day ^ Contact Lenses Jks Only Quality Name Brands ^ (Bausch & Lomb, Ciba, Barnes-Hinds-Hydrocurve) $79 00 $99 00 $99 00 t STD. DAILY WEAR SOFT LENSES spare pr. only $39*° STD. EXTENDED WEAR SOFT LENSES spare pr. only $49*° STD. TINTED SOFT LENSES DAILY WEAR OR EXTENDED WEAR Second earthquake in California injures 44 Spare PR at V* price with purchase of first pr at regular price! Call 696-3754 For Appointment WESTMORLAND, Calif. (AP) — The second powerful earthquake in 12 hours jolted towns near the Mexi can border Tuesday, knocking trail ers from foundations, buckling walls and roads and injuring at least 44 people. The traffic deaths of a Mexican woman and her son were blamed on the first quake, which hit Monday night. But experts said this sparsely pop ulated farming region got off rela tively easily from the twin quakes, which registered 6.3 and 6.0 on the Richter scale, each stronger than the quake that hit Los Angeles last month. Power was temporarily out in 65,000 homes and businesses, fires flared in the border town of Mexicali and police were called out on both sides of the border to prevent loot ing. The 5;16 a.m. quake, which mea sured 6.3 on the Richter scale, was centered about 14 miles west of the town of Westmorland, at the tip of the Salton sea 90 miles northeast of San Diego, scientists at California In stitute of Technology in Pasadena said. A 6.0-magnitude quake shook the area at 5:54 p.m. Monday. Tuesday’s quake was felt as far away as Phoenix, Ariz. Sale ends Dec. 30,1987 Offer applies to standard Bausch & Lomb, Ciba, Barnes-HInds lenses only. CHARLES C. SCHROEPPEL, O.D., P.C. DOCTOR OF OPTOMETRY * Eye exam & care kit not Included Don’t Wait Until the Last Minute! Now is the time to order your Aggie gifts for Graduation. Let your parents know of your appreciation and love Let your friends know of your pride in their achievements. Custom Engraving, genuine OMC products oVbl Vir i IGIELAND -AWARDS And GIFTS in the Skaggs Center 846-2376 More than Just a Trophv Store Floppy diskounts 2 for 88* Double-side, double-density 5 1/4’’ floppy diskettes, certified 10Cy error free, label and sleeve included. Limit 100 per customer. Sale ends December 5, 1987. More bytes, less bucks. CO/MPUTER 268-0730 403B University Dr. (Northgate) 707 South Texas Ave., Suite 101D College Station, Texas 77840 1 block South of Texas & University THE DEAL ALVAREZ, MARTIN, OVATION, YAIRI NOW ON SALE ASK US ABOUT “THE DEAL” SELECTION OF STRINGS-50% OFF/ V KEyboARd Cente R LAYAWAY NOW! POST OAK MALL IniCe Near sears