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Page 12
The Battalion
Tuesday, May i,
Bush names Panamanian to manage canal
WASHINGTON (AP) — President
Bush announced his nomination of
the first-ever Panamanian to man
age the Panama Canal as he told that
nation’s new president on Monday
that the United States “will stand
with you in peace.”
Bush, in his first meeting with
President Guillermo Endara since
the U.S. invasion of Panama last De
cember, also voiced support for En-
dara’s proposal to speed up a study
on the feasibility of widening the 86-
year-old waterway.
But saying “the struggle is not
over in Panama,” Bush chastised
Congress for not moving quicker on
his $800 million aid package for
Panama and Nicaragua. The mea
sure is snagged in the Senate in side
disputes, including one on federal
funding for abortions.
“I’ve asked and asked again that
our aid package to the newly liber
ated people of Panama be passed
and passed swiftly. And still it waits,
and with it the future of the fledg
ling democracy,” said Bush, Endara
at his side, after the two leaders met
for 2 1 /z hours.
Endara was installed as president
Dec. 20,1989 by U.S. invasion forces
who toppled the government of
Panama, a nation
newly reborn in liberty, can
count on the support of the
United States of America.
We were with you in times
of conflict, and we will
stand with you in peace.”
— President Bush
strongman Manuel Antonio No
riega.
Endara, speaking in Spanish, said
his people had suffered “under 21
long years” but that “tyrannies of
any kind, of any sort, must be rele
gated to the past.”
Then, addressing Bush directly in
English, Endara thanked him for
filling “our spirits with enthusiasm
and optimism.” He invited Bush to
visit Panama as soon as possible.
“Be careful, I might just show
up,” Bush said.
In a departure ceremony. Bush
praised Endara as “a consensus
builder” who “won the confidence of
Panamanians and all Americans.”
The president used the occasion
to announce he was sending to the
Senate, under terms of the 1978
Panama Canal Treaties, the nomi
nation of Gilberto Guardia Fabrega
to be Panama Canal Commission ad
ministrator.
The treaties called for a Panama
nian — selected by Panama, nomi
nated by the U.S. president and con
firmed by the U.S. Senate — to be
put in charge of the canal in the final
decade of U.S. jurisdiction.
The canal will be turned over to
Panama in the year 2000.
Guardia, 60, is the president of an
architectural and engineering com-
g any in Panama City. Educated at
anta Clara University in California,
Guardia was a civil engineer with the
tt
I’ve asked and asked
again that our aid package
to the newly liberated
people of Panama be
passed and passed
swiftly.”
— President Bush
Panama Canal Company in the
1950s.
Endara praised Bush’s endorse
ment of Guardia as canal adminis
trator as “an act of justice.”
Bush and Endara also signed four
agreements: three on drug-war co
operation and the other to allow
Peace Corps volunteers back into the
isthmus nation.
“Panama, a nation newly reborn
in liberty, can count on the support
of the United States of America,”
Bush said. “We were with you in
times of conflict, and we will stand
with you in peace.”
Both in his comments with En
dara, and in remarks earlier Monday
to the annual convention of the U.S.
Chamber of Commerce, Bush ac
cused Congress of dragging its feet
on his Central American aid pack
age.
Bush complained that his package
of aid to Panama and Nicaragua had
become weighed down by adding
another $800 million in unrelated
spending in the House and with “a
contentious abortion provision” in
the Senate.
Bush asked Congress last March
13 for the $800 million package —
$500 million for Panama and $300
for Nicaragua.
Judgment should aid consumers
Supreme Court decision allows states to use
antitrust laws to control corporate mergers
WASHINGTON (AP) —The Supreme Court
gave state governments and consumers a potential
pocketbook victory Monday, saying they may use
federal antitrust law to try to break up corporate
mergers.
The unanimous decision empowers California of
ficials to challenge a $2.5 billion merger of the Lucky
and Alpha Beta supermarket chains.
If the state wins its lawsuit and splits up the busi
ness deal, officials said California consumers could
save $440 million a year in grocery bills.
Justice John Paul Stevens, writing for the court,
said any opponent of a merger — not just the federal
government — has the right to sue to force divesti
ture of merged businesses.
The ruling, however, does not give states and in
dividuals the same sweeping power enjoyed by the
federal government.
Stevens said federal officials can force divestiture
merely by proving an antitrust violation but said, “A
private litigant ... must prove threatened loss or
damage to his own interests in order to obtain re
lief.”
The decision sends the supermarket’s merger case
back to lower courts where the state will try to prove
the merger is illegal.
Justice Anthony M. Kennedy, in a separate con
curring opinion, said the California attorney gener
al’s office still faces some hurdles at trial. The state
knew of the impending supermarket merger in early
1988 but waited months before it sued, he said.
Kennedy noted that the Federal Trade Commis
sion permitted the merger and that the break-up will
“upset labor agreements and other matters.”
“These considerations should bear upon the ulti
mate disposition of the case,” he said.
It was widely assumed before Monday’s decision
that states and private citizens could prevent anti
competitive business combinations but could not in
terfere once such deals were completed.
But Stevens said the Clayton Act, passed in 1914
when Congress was preoccupied with trust-busting
on a national scale, can be a weapon even against a
completed merger.
Lucky, California’s largest supermarket chain,
and Alpha Beta, the fourth largest, operate some
600 stores in the state.
Alpha Beta’s parent company, American Stores,
acquired Lucky in June 1988 to merge the two chains
“ A
private litigant... must prove
threatened loss or damage to his own
interests in order to obtain relief.”
— John Paul Stevens,
Supreme Court Justice
under the Lucky name. American has 1,500 stores in
40 states, while Lucky’s operations are in seven West
ern and Midwestern states.
American Stores said California customers would
save more than $40 million a year because of in
creased efficiency. But state officials said the merger
would drive other competitors out of business and
would lead to $440 million in higher grocery prices
each year.
U.S. District Judge David Kenyon in Los Angeles
temporarily blocked the merger in 1988, and or
dered separate operation of the two chains pending
further litigation.
But the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals over
turned the judge’s ruling and lifted the break-up or
der.
Bush greets former hostage,
expresses hope for others
WASHINGTON (AP) — Presi
dent Bush, saying “things seem to be
moving,” hailed the release Monday
of a second American hostage in
Lebanon but said there could be no
rest “until all hostages are free.”
“I hope this is a forerunner to the
release of the other American hos
tages and the others from other
countries held against their will,”
Bush said.
Bush spoke as he welcomed for
mer hostage Robert Polhill to the
White House. The meeting came
just hours after another hostage,
Frank Reed, was turned over in Bei
rut to Syrian officials after 43
months of captivity.
The president pointedly thanked
Iran and Syria for their efforts in
winning the hostages’ release. But he
added that no one can expect a re
turn to normal relations “or expect
vast improvement until all Ameri
cans are free.”
“I hope there’s a realization that
holding people against their will is
not the way to affect political
change,” Bush said.
Asked if Israel ought to release a
Shiite cleric. Sheik Abdul-Karim
Obeid, and others as demanded by a
Tehran newspaper as a next step,
Bush said he would have “no objec
tions” to such an action.
“That is a matter for others to de
termine,” he added.
Polhill, accompanied by his wife
Ferial, clasped Bush with both hands
in a warm handshake.
Speaking in a raspy whisper, Pol
hill said he could not provide any
clues about the other six Americans
still held hostage.
“You may be surprised, but I
really don’t know very much about
what was going on around me,” Pol
hill said. “The only thing I can sug
gest is that the American people con
tinue to show, as hostages continue
to be released on a regular basis,
how much we are wanted back.”
Asked whether he was carrying a
message to Bush from the kidnap
pers, he said, “They said I was.” He
flashed a thumbs-up sign as Bush
turned to lead him into the White
House.
Bush said the meeting with Polhill
came “at a very special moment” be
cause Reed had just been freed. The
president said he expected to talk
soon with Reed by telephone in
Damascus, Syria, where he was
taken.
“I do want to take this opportu
nity to thank Syria for its role in not
only bringing Mr. Polhill home but
its role in the Reed release, and simi
larly to Iran for its role,” Bush said.
Expressing hopes for release soon
of the other hostages — six Ameri
cans and 10 other Westerners —
Bush said, “Things seem to be mov
ing on this.
“I can’t explain the rationale but I
can express a certain gratitude that
things seem to be moving. And what
I feel in my heart about the return of
now these two Americans is, in a
sense, overwhelming.
“But I don’t think any American
can totally rejoice until the rest are
free, and indeed we can’t limit our
concern and our feelings to just the
Americans, in my view,” he said.
Latvians
demand
freedom
Vol.8
MOSCOW (AP) — A Latvian®.;
zen’s group claiming to represe::
hundreds of thousands of Latv,
ans demanded Monday that tV”
republic follow Lithuania’s fe;
and declare independence fro: . hO 1
the Soviet Union, a spokeswoman,,, , u
said, jjj.,,, ,
The Latvian spokeswoma: t hi
voicing sentiments identical . t j, e |
those neard in I jthuania, said ••it
“This is an occupied country, llta, ,, i
are under Soviet power here, ur mJes a
der an occupying army.” jjoust
The Latvian Citizens' CWjL )U s
gress, elected mainly from amor,;!;, sl erT
ethnic Latvians, convened Mot 7
\ 7
'V
J;
ot
V/X
day and called for restoration o Bar
Latvian independence, spokeswt the L
man Iveeta Buicke said. i‘)86,
Latvia, Lithuania and Estoniijtonti
were independent countries be
tween World War I and Wor^
War II but were forcibly annexe:
by the Soviet Union in 1940.
Ethnic Latvians make up jus
over half of Latvia’s populationo:
2.7 million, and a poll publisher
Monday by the Soviet govern|
ment newspaper Izvestiasaidtha;
92 percent of those polled fawtjyjUl
secession. Non-Latvian residem^The
make up 46 percent of the repub
lie, and 45 percent were for inde dc
pendence. a , )S (. <>
The congress met three davigrhe 1
before the official Latvian Su-jorh ii
preme Soviet parliament was{Jk S or i
consider whether to emulatt Or.
Lithuania’s March 11 declaratio: ur er i
of independence. Hence
The Estonian parliament ak* 0] de
has made clear it intends tofolbjecn st
Lithuania in seceding from dxl 'Det
Soviet Union, bur more au4 e stil:
tiously. v 0r ld,’
The Latvian congress dak' I fhe
the right to replace the republkiituck ii
Supreme Soviet during the Iran n he
sition to independence. Its men ji ion
bers were elected in March b -c, nor
registered ethnic Latvian voteriJlyat
It says it represents abouty an
700,000 Latvians. iclm v*
Latvian politicians are predki.fjiciei
ing a heated parliamentary battkl' Cm
on the independence issue latcioniic
this week voikii
“May 3 and 4 are going to Suiting
very hot days.” said Andifo >me
Anspoka of he pro-indepeuonditi
dence Latvian People’s Frowf) u \
which won a majority in the Si in \ c
preme Soviet in elections held fifmot
March. ttn.w
Soviet President Mikhail SBler.’
Gorbachev recently warned LailLast
vian delegates that he wouldoffeftssat
the republic special status inart jgn ()
configured Soviet federation k’hina.
he would not accept outright 5? |"Si
cession. I
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Each, 25.00
X" Towle Silversmiths
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