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About The Battalion. (College Station, Tex.) 1893-current | View Entire Issue (April 19, 1989)
WEATHER fs »n of bomb 21. All 259 people e and 11 on the killed. fficer was critically the explosion Mon- d police headquar- :esman Arno Falk of aalamt, die police clear whether the tized in connection i Am investigation, ner in which it was said to be similar. ;o ship sinks cuts and scrapes,” missing sailors were e on a life raft, which ct of a hunt Monday he 950-foot Ravens- ve Navy and Coast s, officials said, venscraig’s crew :ond life raft, but it i be empty. • of the sinking was tely known, officials action ban ecrelary Douglas ■ring to a hushed mmons, said the in- d by Lord Justice I begin work Tues- te recommendations ids of crowd control sports grounds.” the Commons the senior police officer ate because he “con- there was a possible i lives of the specta- mt” would be a cen- for investigators. ^ia in past inder that the cal- 1989 comes from the sociation for the Ad- d Time — three guys who say “We want to in your lifetime.' 1 noN t Your Dosit Back? i these steps: ntent of vacancy at to the end of the tier is published to k. your manager and by the manager. If ter by mail, use h return receipt until the end of the arding address in ger. tment according to nt. ent thoroughly, artment with your iceive your security ieive your security oy the Off Campus Hall (across from ) or call for an 41. Igements ookstores” “Connection” , MR. LOU! artwork are ed by pus Center 1,1989 lonzalez-Lina Texas A&M The Battalion FORECAST for WEDNESDAY: Morning clouds giving way to a mostly sunny, warm and humid afternoon. HIGH:86 LOW:63 J Vol. 88 No. 136 USPS 045360 10 pages College Station, Texas Wednesday, April 19,1989 Wright ‘intends to fight’ committee charges WASHINGTON (AP) — House Speaker |iin Wright, opening his defense against a itring of ethics committee charges, sought Tuesday to rally Democratic colleagues and [old them, “l intend to fight and I intend to win." He said that while he may have made mistakes in judgment, “I have never done anything to dishonor this institution and I never will.” In a half-hour speech to a private session of the Democratic Caucus in the House chamber, and later in press releases, Wright chose to concentrate his defense on one is sue: the charge that his wife, Betty, did no substantial work for the $72,000 she re ceived from a Fort Worth friend from 1980 to 1984. But more troubling to many of his col leagues were charges that Wright sought to evade House limits on outside earned in come through seven bulk sales of his book, “Reflections of a Public Man,” most of them made in lieu of accepting speaking fees from interest groups. Wright received a standing ovation at the end of his caucus speech, which included an admission that he had made some errors in judgment and “may have made some mis takes in my life,” participants said. Wright’s lawyer, William C. Oldaker, was consulting with the ethics committee to ar range a speedy appearance for the speaker before the committee to answer the formal charges. Following his speech, most Democratic House members interviewed voiced tenta tive support for Wright. Many said they had not yet read the ethics committee’s vo luminous report formally charging him with 69 instances of rules violations, and added that they were waiting to see whether the panel takes all of those issues to a disci plinary hearing. But they acknowledged that growing po litical heat from their home districts — and what lawmakers hear when they go home for the long Passover weekend — would play a role in whether Wright remains as speaker. “The recess will have some role, because every member is undoubtedly aware that if we have to make difficult votes in defense of the speaker, those will be used in 30-sec ond Republican political ads against us” in the next election, said Rep. Pat Williams, D- Mont. “The easy thing for Democrats to do is to throw Jim Wright over the side and in stantly install (House Majority Leader) Tom Foley behind the wheel,” Williams said. “It may be that the toughest political vote of our lives will be the one to save him.” Prosecutor compares North to Adolf Hitler, Joe Isuzu WASHINGTON (AP) — Oliver North was portrayed to his trial jury Tuesday as a liar who couldn’t stop, and as “the Joe Isuzu of govern ment” who followed Hitler’s maxim that “the victor will never be asked if he told the truth.” ‘‘If Ollie North wanted to get it done, he didn’t care if he broke the law, ” said prosecutor John Keker in final arguments at North’s trial. But, in return, defense lawyer Brendan Sullivan said anyone “who links Colonel North to Adolf Hitler isnot credible and should not be be lieved.” He called the comparison outrageous. ‘This man is not Adolf Hitler,” Sullivan said, “and he doesn’t do things like Adolf Hitler.” The defense lawyer was scornful of his opponents, saying everything the government sees North as doing “is through a dirty glass.” Why shouldn’t North have thrown papers away, he asked, when they referred to the secret opera tions of the government. “In this case, the government is off track and running wild, and you should stop it,” Sullivan told the jury. North, the former National Secu rity Council aide who was at the cen ter of the Iran-Contra vortex, sat stone-faced at the defense table as prosecutor Keker methodically tried to dismantle his American-hero image. “Telling the truth is something you learned at your mother’s knee,” Keker said. “Government by decep tion is not a free government. Gov ernment by deception is not a demo cratic government. Government by deception is not a government un der the rule of law.” After North’s lawyer Finishes his closing argument Wednesday, there will be rebuttal and then the trial — now in its 12th week — will go to the jury, which will then be Sequestered. “I will be asking you to return a verdict of guilty as to each of these 12 counts against Oliver North,” Prosecutor Keker told the jury Tues day. He said, “The tragedy of Oliver North is of a man who cared so much for freedom in Nicaragua, but forgot about the demands of free : dom and democracy here at home.” Civilians flee Beirut as troops cease fire to allow evacuation BEIRUT, Lebanon (AP) — Thousands of civilians fled west Beirut Tuesday as Christian and Syrian gun ners held their fire briefly to allow the evacuation of 70 severely wounded Moslems to a French hospital ship. Hundreds of cars packed with suitcases, mattresses and blankets sped down a seaside highway to south and east Lebanon as the wounded were assembled outside [he home of acting Prime Minister Salim Hoss. Eight people were killed and 43 wounded overnight as the city’s divided population huddled in bunkers and bomb shelters for a third night. That raised the toll to 270 killed and 975 wounded since fighting erupted March 8. Pillars of flame from burning buildings lighted the sky and the city was laden with smoke as Christian army units and Syrian and Moslem gunners bombarded the capital with rocket, artillery and tank fire. France’s President Francois Mitterrand asked Presi dent Bush, Soviet President Mikhail S. Gorbachev and other vv'orld leaders Tuesday to help end the fighting in this former French colony, said Mitterrand spokesman Hubert Vedrine. Egypt’s Middle East News Agency reported a tele phone conversation between Mitterrand and Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak “crystallized the idea of mak ing joint efforts at the international level to halt the bloodshed.” The Arab League Council called an emergency meet ing for Friday on Lebanon, although it has failed to end the fighting with three failed cease-fires. The council comprises foreign ministers of the 22 member states which in 1976 granted Syria a mandate to pacify Lebanon. Damascus maintains 40,000 troops in Lebanon. “I can’t take it any more,” said Farah Shatilla of west Beirut. “We can live without bread, electricity and wa ter. But hearing the screams of death and agony of our neighbors, this I can’t take.” Photo by Dean Saito Sign of the times Graffiti livens up this sign on the corner of heed the warnings and ventured into the con- Parking Lot 60 near G. Rollie White Coliseum. struction area Tuesday. This sign is one of This student, as many others, chose not to several warning of campus construction. Police link most victims in Mexico to drug trade Soviet dissident says Gorbachev’s policy of glasnost producing confusion, turmoil By Melissa Naumann REPORTER Confusion is what has pre vailed in the Soviet Union under the new glasnost policy, the first Soviet dissident allowed back in Moscow since the beginning of glasnost said Tuesday at a pro gram sponsored by MSC Political Forum. Dr. Alexander Goldfarb said the most obvious indicator of the confusion during his last visit to the Soviet Union was an interview with a reporter from a popular weekly Soviet magazine. After Goldfarb candidly answered her questions about why he left the Soviet Union in 1975, she told him the editor might choose not to publish the article because his reasons for leaving were political. “She said it is true that censorship was abolished,” Gold farb said. “The problem is that all of the press is still owned by the government, and the editor-in- chief was an employee of the gov ernment.” This type of paradox is rep resentative of the turmoil the So viet Union is experiencing, Gold farb said. “The Soviet Union recently has ceased to become a monolithic entity,” he said. “At the moment, the Soviet Union is indeed an eclectic entity.” Goldfarb said one reason for the confusion is the growing dis satisfaction of the people on the geographical fringes of the Soviet Union. The unity of the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics is being threatened as these highly ethnic Alexander Goldfarb republics, such as Estonia and Lithuania, strive to become more independent, he said. Another contributor to the tur moil is an “ideological vacuum” in the Soviet Union, he said. Ameri cans may see themselves as lack ing concrete political ideals, but the Soviet situation is more ex treme. “(Soviet) people’s hearts and minds are up for grabs by any in fluence that will come in,” he said. One of the two major influ ences is the Western culture, Goldfarb said. As Western ideas and products, such as Coca-Cola and pantyhose, infiltrate the So viet Union, some Soviets are be coming more receptive to the Western way of life, he said. The conductors of the Western influence are educated people, including professionals and uni versity employees, who haven’t shared in the political power, he said. Goldfarb said the other influ ence is the re-emergence of tradi tional ideas that were destroyed and suppressed by the Bolshevik regime. The people who support a re turn to traditional ideas want a return to rural life and are vio lently xenophobic, rejecting ev erything foreign, he said. “They want to forcefully expel non-Russian people,” Goldfarb said. “They say we should become Russia for Russians.” The tension between the sup porters of Western ideas and the supporters of traditional ideas is overwhelming, he said. “The passion of this debate is so high that you quite often hear the words ‘civil war’ when you are there,” he said. He said another cause for con fusion is President Mikhail Gor bachev’s lack of consistency. For example, in the Soviet Union, Gorbachev speaks of a na tional destiny like a nationalist leader, Goldfarb said. “(But) when he comes here (to the United States), he is a West ern-style socialist, like (French President Francois) Mitterand,” Goldfarb said. “From those who have met him, you cannot get a sense of what this man is up to.” Goldfarb said Gorbachev has gained a great deal of political power, but to keep it, he must deal with the growing dissatisfac tion among the people. Shortages in Moscow of necessities such as meat, produce and shoes have caused the public to trust him less. “I think his immediate political roblem is that the people are un- appy,” he said. “A major source of frustration is meeting con sumer demands.” MATAMOROS, Mexico (AP) — Most of the 15 bodies exhumed in a rural area west of here during the past week were those of drug traf fickers and not random victims of an occult-influenced drug ring’s human sacrifices, a Mexican police official said Tuesday. Juan Benitez Ayala, commander of the Federal Judicial Police in this border city, also said the investiga tion has shifted to Mexico City, where officials believe several mur ders are linked to the drug ring’s “godfather,” 26-year-old Adolfo de Jesus Constanzo. Constanzo was among the 11 in dicted by a federal grand jury in McAllen Tuesday on drug charges. Also among those indicted was a woman who has been called the “godmother” of the cult, four men in custody in Mexico, a man arrested in Houston on Monday and four who remained at large late Tuesday. They were indicted on charges of conspiracy to import marijuana; im porting marijuana; conspiracy to possess with intent to distribute the drug; and possession with intent to distribute, authorities said. Benitez refused to comment on statements he made to reporters on Monday, when he speculated that Sara Aldrete Villarreal, 24, the cub’s reported “godmother,” may have been killed by Constanzo because she knew too much about the orga nization. On the U.S. side of the border, of ficials said they thought she was still alive, even though Mexican officials reported Finding some of her per sonal effects in an apartment con taining an apparent occult altar. “It just might be a put-on,” said Cameron County Sheriff Alex Perez in Brownsville. “If they did find a purse or found a passport, that may have been just a trick by Sara and Constanzo to (make it appear) she is dead ... I think she is still alive.” He said the investigation in Mat- amoros has shown that most of the 13 bodies unearthed at the Santa El ena Ranch 20 miles west of Matamo- ros last week, and another two found Sunday at a nearby cooperative farm were drug smugglers. “I have information about only four people who were sacrificed and the great majority were drug traf fickers,” Benitez said. Of the 15 victims, “some were tor tured, some were only shot, and there were the young people who were sacrificed.” University of Texas student Mark Kilroy, 21, of Santa Fe, Texas, was one of the four sacrificial victims not involved in the drug business, Beni tez said. He did not say which others ap peared to be sacrificed, but said at least eight and possibly more of the victims were either associates or ri vals of the Constanzo group. Officials have searched at least three residences in Mexico City linked to the group, Benitez said. “There are a lot of murders in the Colonia Roma (an area of Mexico City) connected to Constanzo,” he said. A 20-year-old woman, Maria Te resa Quintana, arrested in Mexico City on Sunday in connection with the case was “totally involved” in the occult practices of some members of the group, who sought magical pro tection for the smuggling business. Her brother, Martin Quintana, is one oi three men for whom new fed eral drug-related warrants were is sued Monday in Brownsville. Quintana, and the other named in the new warrants, Malio Fabio, are believed to have participated in the occult faction of the Constanzo orga nization.