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Show Friday, September 20, 19 mm tamper to BHrvn acacaress u.iu. By FRANK BAJAK Associated Press Writer PresiBOGOTA, Colombia dent Ernesto Samper's links to iiIhiiv r)QV cril4 hto ut.wu tiitci liiJ- joiug iviuj jtiqnal image and left him badly weakened at home, where guerrilla attacks and social unrest worsen by 'the day. i He's also minus a U.S. visa. I But that's not stopping Samper, who won election in 1994 with $6 jmillion in drug contributions, from jheading for New York to propose a strategy before global anti-dru- g the U.N. General Assembly on r. hi iMonday. Samper insists he will serve out four-yeterm, and has survived all manner of domestic challenge. He has even gone on the Counterattack. ! This week, he charged that Washington is treating developing nations unfairly, making aid and access to U.S. markets conditional on compliance with its demands on jdrugs, human rights and the i !his ar envi-ronme- ! is the "Conditionally new Iname for (U.S.) interventionism !and that's what I will say at the United Nations," Samper, who chairs of the Movement, told the .Brazilian newspaper 0 Estado. Samper's U.N. trip was scheduled after Washington canceled his tourist visa in July, angered that a highly partisan Congress cleared the Colombian leader of drug charges. The United States has not yet decided whether to slap travel restrictions on Samper while he's 114-nati- Non-align- cor--rapti- Ernesto Samper in New York as it did last year for Fidel Castro, who was limited to a radius. "There are discussions in the works," State Department spokeswoman Susan said Snyder Wednesday. The United States has tried hard to marginalize Samper though U.S. officials meet regularly with his ministers and cooperate closely with trusted Colombian police and prosecutors. y The scandal forced Samper to cancel all but one trip outside South America this year. President Jacques Chirac of France received him last month but Spain's prime minister, Jose Maria Aznar, snubbed him. Samper insists Colombians are not the vilmainly the victims lains of the narcotics trade. But 80 percent of the cocaine and a 25-mi- le drug-mone- s g But the fumigation has had limited success rebels shoot at herbicide-spraying and also planes violent sparked coca-grow- er Just before the protests ebbed, guerrillas launched their most successful offensive ever. The Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC), the largest and oldest rebel group, has a vested interest the coca growers because it draws most of its revenues from taxing drug production. FARC guerrillas infiltrated the coca-growprotests. And authorities claimed masked guerrillas also were among rioters who, angry over energy price hikes, set fire to city hall on Tuesday in Facatativa, 20 miles west of Bogota, in disturbances that left one person killed and 25 injured. Guerrillas have killed more than 100 soldiers and police since Aug. 30 and have paralyzed traffic in much of the countryside, burning more than 40 trucks and buses. As the rebels grow stronger, Samper has ceded more power to the military. Washington is on the verge of approving the sale of 12 Black-haw- k helicopters mounted with twin M60 machine guns to Colombia's armed forces, something it refused to do in the past because of the military's dubious human rights record. The helicopters would be used primarily for fighting the narcotics trade, Gelbard says, but Colombia may use them for operations because it is a cash sale and not classified as aid. By VIVIAN SEQUERA Associated Press Writer CARACAS, Venezuela After more than two years under house arrest, former President Carlos Andres Perez is a free man. Now he wants to run for Venezuela's Senate, he says, to regain his dignity. "I feel happy to be in the middle of this huge crowd as a free man," said Perez, after walking out of big, hope at 12:01 a.m. Thursday. Reporters, bodyguards and followers clustered around him. "The one thing I have done now, for dignity's sake, is decide to become a senator again," said Perez, 73. Former presidents are given titles as honorary senators, but Congress voted to strip Perez of the honor. Venezuelan The two-tim- e leader said he would run for a seat in his home state of Tachira, 400 miles southeast of Caracas. Perez or "Cap," as he is known because of his initials was impeached in May 1993 after four tumultuous years in power. He was imprisoned and placed under house arrest. The Supreme Court convicted him in May of misusing $17 million in public funds, acquitting him of a more serious charge of embezzlement, and sentenced him to two years and er , PageTtT Former president who was impeached: wants to be senator :. assembly growing amount of the heroin on the U.S. market is processed here. Under U.S. pressure, Samper's government has arrested or forced the surrender of the Cali dmg cartel's top four leaders over the past the same people who 15 months helped bankroll his campaign. In July, Samper proposed legislation to stiffen jail terms for drug lords, make it easier to seize their assets and crack down on money laundering. But Washington is skeptical. "We don't believe there is a serious push on the part of the govfor the ernment, particularly reform of the sentencing and asset forfeiture laws," Robert Gelbard, assistant secretary of state in charge of narcotics, said by teleon phone from Washington Wednesday. The three Ochoa brothers who ran the violent MedeHin cocaine cartel with the late Pablo Escobar all were released this summer after reduced prison terms. Fabio Ochoa, freed Monday, served the 69 months. longest At the United Nations, Samper will make a "concrete proposal" on the international drug war, including "control of supply and demand, money laundering and prosecuting drug traffickers," said his international affairs advisor, Diego Cardona, without offering specifics. In addition to the new drug legislation, which would more than double maximum sentences for trafficking to 30 years, Samper's government has intensified coca eradication efforts. THE DAILY HERALD. Prove, Utah iuui ui iiuuat autai. The Venezuelan constitution says those sentenced to more than three years can be barred" from office, so Perez missed that cutoff by eight months. Since he had already served most of his sentence awaiting the verdict, Perez was released Thursday. Perez said he will visit Venezuela's cities "like the best . times" of his 1973 campaign, in which he walked 3,800 miles on "" the campaign trail and won his first term as president. "I'm leaving with my pres' tige intact, with the confidence of the people," he said in an" ' interview Wednesday at his house. "I don't need to lower my head, and have nothing to be: ' embarrassed about." Perez wants to position him- - ' self as a one-ma- n opposition"J force, though he says he has no' intention of seeking another. presidential term. In his house in the mountains overlooking Caracas, two aides' scrambled to answer telephones j unci- - , itnu oiiaugc " views for the impatient former statesman. He ticked off the dates and' cities of his upcoming tour.' Between Friday and Oct. 4 he, plans to visit 10 of Venezuela's 22 states, beginning in his home4 ' state in the Andes. ic Spread of diseases in East Europe highlights failing health system: By CRISTI CRETZAN Associated Press Writer Romania BUCHAREST, Polio, meningitis and other old scourges have killed dozens of people and sent hundreds to hospitals in recent weeks in formerly Communist lands suffering from crumbling health care systems. Romania's health ministry said Wednesday that six people had died of meningitis in the previous 24 hours, bringing the toll there to J8 since early August. More than 400 people have been hospitalized. That is only the most serious example of the inability of poorly funded health care systems in Cen ; . tral and Eastern Europe to control illnesses that largely have been eradicated in more prosperous western half of the continent. Seven people have died of polio in Albania. Tuberculosis is spreading rapidly in Russia, and cholera is an annual problem in much of the region. Health experts attribute the problem to the Communists' failure to crack poverty and low health standards, and to the low priority governments health have given their state-ru- n systems. "We failed to teach people that washing themselves is not a luxury," said Costin Nitulescu, a doctor with Bucharest's sanitary service. "Some people still think that an every day wash is reserved for prostitutes." Romanian health authorities have yet to determine exactly how viral meningitis is spreading around Bucharest, but suspicion falls on contaminated water and food supplies. Most of the victims have been poor and elderly, but authorities have been forced to delay the opening of elementary schools in Bucharest to prevent the disease from spreading. In Albania, old, leaking water pipes are suspected of allowing the spread of cholera and polio. Officials said hundreds of thousands of children were vaccinated against polio early this year. Weakened germs were included in human waste that seeped into water and infected adults. The number of polio cases in Albania is higher than the number reported in all the rest of Europe this year, the World Health Organization says. In Russia, a newspaper reported Tuesday that tuberculosis had increased 70 percent since 1991. Nitulescu said Romania's Communist authorities hid diseases like cholera. They preferred to increase the number of hospital beds and doctors, which they regarded as quantitative signs of progress, rather than invest in new services and equipment. Susana Jakab of the WHO office in Copenhagen said the Communists' mistakes have been compounded by a lack of resources and a lack of commitment to health care. "We try to push governments to understand that the health problem is a problem of the whole society, not only of the health ministry," she said. But doctors remain poorly paid, and a tradition of bribery for better service persists. The average doctor in Rom nia earns about the same as the average factory worker, the equivalent of about $100 ,,a month. Polish debtors make the equivalent of $260 a month, com. pared to the average salary' of $360. incomes Low encourage, bribery. Hospital employees "don't ask for money, but everyone, from the cleaning lady to the surgeon,-i- s waiting for a tip," said Alexandru Dragomir, who was hospitalized in Bucharest's Emerr v gency Hospital for an ulcer. They were nice even after we bought it. Ever notice how some it ATtf Wireless people suddenly forget r ' your name once you ve i Services j1 Authorized Oaetar mm bought a car fomthem? Its quite the opposite with Saturn. In fact chances are we will, remember your name, . VWliC3!KIe). ; long after you buy a car from us. Because while .Sa&rai hi. II Ml we put a lot of energy into building cars, we put just ; as much into building relationships. 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