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Show Alo ____ TheSalt Lake Tribune WORLDSunday,April 27, 1997 Fujimori Gets Boost From Actions, But Will Bubble of Success Burst? TOM HARVEY PERU: Whentheeuphoriadies down after the successful raid that ended the hostage crisis at the Japanese ambassador's house, Perustill will be a desperately poor nation. President Alberto Fujimori, soaring in the polls now after dipping to a lowof 37 per- cent approval beforethe raid last week, faces a nation in which his economic reforms have yet to benefit the majority of citizens who are largely poor and un- skilled. “I don't believe the de- cline in the polls has ended, but it is going to be suspended for some THE ASSOCIATED PRESS LIMA, Peru — President Alberto Fujimorihas emerged once again as Peru's man of the moment, riding a surge of popularity following the bold hostages rescue. But the euphoria maynot last. Fujimori, already credited with taming economic chaos and quelling the political violence that bloodied the 1980s and early 1990s, is as much a hero as the two commandoskilled in Tuesday's raid, which saved 71 of the 72 capt “It is what Fujimori knows how to do best: Assumehis role in difficult moments,” wrote commentator Jaime de Althaus, deputy director of the pro-government Expreso newspaper. Peruvians aren't accustomed to a leader “doing what has to be done,” he said. In a country characterized by vacillation and unreliability, Fujimori is seen by many asa role months,” Luis Jochamowitz, author of a biography on Fujimori, said after the raid. “We'll have to model — someoneto iead Peruvians to stability see how many points of populari- mori’s already arbitrary and authoritarian rule. Polls showmost Peruvians nowbelieve a mili- ty he recovers. NICARAGUA:Central American leaders will ask President Clinton to expand free trade to their countries when hevisits in May. Nicraguan President Ar- noldo Alemansaid Central American countries want to share in the benefits of the North American and prosperity. But others say the heady success of the Entebbe-style raid will only harden Fuji- tary rescue was theonlysolution, in contrast with surveys before the attack that had most saying the opposite — that negotiation was the only way it Poet Anthony Cisneros said most Peruvians really believed a rescue was necessary, but doubted their armed forces could pullit off. out. “Nobody expected this efficiency, this speed. In military terms it was a First World job, not Third World,” Cisneros said. “This has given us back little dignity.” The raid hardly seemed the workof a military that only days before was mired in scandal over accusations of torturing and killing its own intelligence agents. The use of force to resolve thecrisis is only likely to fortify Fujimori’s already close ties to the military, which date to his 1992 coup when the armed forces backed him in closing Congress and the courts. This, say his crities, will only make him more autocratic. Even so, Fujimori’s popularity jumped 30 points overnight from a near record-low 35 per- cent, and talk of a political crisis in his govern- mentwassilenced. But Peruvians have long shown themselves to be cynical of politicians, even Fujimori. Miguel Jugo, co-director of Peru’s Pro-Human Rights Association,said Fujimori will run into problems as hetries to be more authoritarian. “It is going to clash with public opinion,” he id. Jugonoted that a poll by the independent company Apoyo showed 90 percentof those queried after the rescuestill wantedan investigationinto the accusations of torture and assassinations of intelligence agents. Gena Atoles for Blitzkrieg Bombing of Spain’s Guernica ‘THE ASSOCIATED PRESS the shelter emerged after the GUERNICA, Spain — Sixty years ago, Hitler’s warplanes saw a Dante-esque scene. There bombed this mountain town to rubble. Forthefirst time, Germa- ny atoned for the slaughter in a solemn tribute on Saturday to the more than 1,000 civilians who died. As a bell recovered from a church destroyed in the April 26, 1937,attack tolled forits victims, German Ambassador Henning Wegenersat in the front row of woodenseats in Guernica’s cemetery, his head bowed. German President Roman Herzog planned to apologize today for the attack, the first air bombardment of an undefended town in history and immortalized in Pablo Picasso's “Guernica.” ARGENTINA: Former Economic Minister Domingo Cavallo says he is forming a new centrist party he hopeswill carry him to the presidency. ‘I don’t hide the fact I want to govern Argentina,” he said last week in unveiling his Action for the Republic party. Cavallo, 50, said he plans to run in congressional elections in Octo- ber as a candidate in Buenos Blaek, Pearls Red Door True Love oliayes Aires, the capital. President Carlos Menemfired Cavallo last year after a string of disputes. ea) eererntesd ter when it began,” recalled Miren de Gomeza, 76, who along with Wegenerplaced wreathsat a victims’ memorial. “We thought we would die, and began to pray together, but we couldn’t hear our voices above the bombs.” When de Gomeza and others in CUBA: Jobs in the emerging private sector mightbe luring stu- once Dior meraco dents away from lower-paying teaching posts, threatening the Communist nation’s success in Opitim education, the Communist Party Oscar De-EaRenta daily newspaper Granmareported. It cited a decline in students entering education fields, appar- oe oathstee CG ently becauseof higher salaries in newjobs opening up due to eco- nomic reforms. The article also admonished Cubans that the “country will not advance muchif its only driving force is material incentives.” MEXICO:Federalandrail officials confirmed recently that in the last 18 months there have been at least 10 major food heists by peasants attacking freight trains and blaming hunger as the cause. In Durango, women and children turned out by the hun- dreds to rob six freights in five months last year. The brazen assaults, law-enforcementofficials and independent criminologists told the Los Angeles Times, are among the dire steps rural Mexicans are taking to cope with the harshness of the poverty that two years of a brutal recession has FRAGRANCE BONUS J A PERSONALIZED GIFT FOR HER Purchase $50 or more from the selected fragranceslisted, andyour gift will be packaged in one of the two sizes of brocade boxesavailable. Just the perfect container for those cherished things that Momsloveto keep, Ocean Dr or Our beautiful brocadecovered keepsake box makesthe presentation of yourgift of fragrance as special as the gift itself. esi israyeg Nicole Miller Leourite arenc Givenidhy Fragrances ‘olina Herrera Prono Cool Water Woman Casmir only worsened. COLOMBIA:Justice Minister Carlos Medellin quit Monday to preparefor next year’s elections. He is expected to seek office in 1998, possibly in Congress. Interi- or Minister Horacio Serpa is expected to resign this month to prepare for a race for president. Serpais an ally of President Ernesto Samper, who was nearly ' Aquaflore Catalin Herren toppled last year by allegations of drug corruption. |) f , EL SALVADOR:Salvadorans protestedin front of the U.S. Embassy in San Salvador, demanding that the U.S. Army's Schoolof the Americas beclosed. Based in Fort Benning, Ga., the schoolis a training center for Latin American of- ficers. Human-rights groups accuse it of educating officers in interrogation techniques and pro- ducing graduates geared to brutalizing civilians. The several doz. en protesters carried photographsof people who disappeared or died during armycoun- terinsurgency campaigns of El Salvador's 1980-1992 civil war HONDURAS:A farmer dig. ging foundationsfor his housein northern Honduras turned up a grave site containing the remains of six bodies, The area was the baseof operationsfor the 15th Infantry Battalion during the 1980s when the Honduran army con ducted a counterinsurgency cam paign. A December 1993 govern. ment report concluded that an army squad known as Counterin telligence Battalion 316acted as a death sq in the 1980s, when it killed at least 184 civilians. Ce oa Salt Lake Tribune desk editor Tom Harvey, a former corre spondent in Latin America based this column on news ser man CondorLegion, which follght alongside Gen. Francisco Franco’s fascist forces in the Spanish Civil War. Jt was the first time they were used against an urban target. The death toll has never been clarified. Estimates range frpm 1,000 to 1,650. Thelackof outcry from Britain, which pursued an appeasement policy with Hitler, emboldened more,’ the Germans may have cen capers eae White Diamonds dropped on Guernica by the Ger- ““Wewerein a sandbaggedshel- istée‘ Lauder ragrances streets, andall the houses were on fire.” Incendiary devices were among the 100,000 pounds of bombs the Nazis and led to their bombing civilian targets in World WarlI, according to historian Paul Pres- late for survivors who remember the attack as if it happened yesterday. scheduled to meet with Central American headsofstate in Costa Rica on May8 as part of a tour through Mexico, Central America trees andutility poles coveredthe Germany’s atonement comes after six decades, butit is not too Free Trade Agreement. Clinton is and the Caribbean. three-hour bombardment, “we was a red cloud over the tawn, Shop Mondiy-Saturday 10-9 and Sunday 12-6 at all Dillard's locations. Wewelcome your Dillard's Cragit Card, The American Express® Card, Diners Cjub International, Mastore ard? Visa® and The Discover Card ton. “Had the British said ‘No backed down,” Preston said from his office at the London School of Economics. “Instead, the Gprmansand Italians moved from being seared of Britons to believing they were absolute wimps and that they could get away with ahything.” | |