And now:Ish <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> writes: From: [EMAIL PROTECTED] Message-ID: <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> Date: Sun, 3 Jan 1999 19:35:14 EST From: [EMAIL PROTECTED] Return-path: <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> Subject: Latin American Briefs Date: Sun, 3 Jan 1999 17:58:05 EST Latin American Briefs .c The Associated Press MEXICO CITY (AP) -- Mexico's Interior Secretariat denied rebel claims that the government is waging a war on Indians and guerrilla supporters in the southern state of Chiapas. ``Such a war does not exist,'' the secretariat said in a press statement released Saturday. The Zapatista rebels on Friday accused the government of offering Chiapas Indians only ``war and destruction'' and blamed it for the Dec. 22, 1997 massacre of 45 Indian villagers in the Chiapas hamlet of Acteal. Several state police officers have been arrested for failing to stop the massacre or helping supply weapons to the pro-government group that allegedly carried out the killings. The government blamed the rebels, who rose up in 1994 demanding greater democracy and Indian rights, for a lack of progress in peace talks that have been stalled since 1996. LIMA, Peru (AP) -- President Alberto Fujimori has denied allegations by an opposition legislator that he has cancer and said he is in perfect health. Leftist Congressman Javier Diez Canseco told reporters last week that Fujimori may have cancer and was using his frequent trips abroad to consult with cancer specialists. ``My health is very good from top to bottom,'' Fujimori told reporters on Saturday. He called Diez Canseco's comments a tasteless joke. Rumors about Fujimori's health have circulated since May 1997, when the government said that doctors had successfully removed a benign tumor from the president's tongue and advised him not to speak for several days. Fujimori was elected as a political outsider in 1990 and re-elected in a landslide in 1995. RIO DE JANEIRO, Brazil (AP) -- In an effort to combat police brutality, Rio's police force will be monitored by a civilian review board for the first time. ``We have long been campaigning for this as a means of controlling extreme police brutality,'' said James Cavallaro, the director of the Brazil office of Human Rights Watch. The review board will offer a toll-free number for citizens to file anonymous complaints against police for abuses like murder, torture, beatings and corruption. Human rights activists have long complained that Brazil's poorly trained and low-paid police routinely beat, torture and execute criminal suspects. The review board is the idea of Rio de Janeiro state Gov. Anthony Garotinho. He has vowed to curb abuses by the city's police force, which has a reputation for violence and corruption. Julita Lemgruber, a respected sociologist who will head the new review board, said Sunday that ``any democratic society should have an organ for citizens to complain about police abuse.'' BOGOTA, Colombia (AP) -- U.S. diplomats have met secretly with a Colombian guerrilla faction the United States officially considers to be terrorists, according to U.S. and Colombian officials. Details were still sketchy about the meeting in Costa Rica between U.S. State Department officials and members of the 15,000-member Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia, or FARC, a powerful guerrilla insurgency that plans to enter negotiations with the government on Jan. 7. Officials only confirmed the meeting after it was revealed Sunday in a Colombian newspaper. The U.S. government lists the leftist FARC -- which has kidnapped and killed U.S. citizens -- as a terrorist organization. American officials have taken a keen interest in peace talks with the Colombian government, hoping for an opportunity to curb cocaine production. MEXICO CITY (AP) -- Mexico City authorities invited thousands of city residents to literally take the cake Sunday -- a mile-long concoction of traditional holiday pastry. Wrapped around several blocks of the city's ancient downtown, authorities hope the cake is big enough to put it in the record books as the biggest `rosca' ever baked. Roscas, narrow wreaths of sweet bread baked with dried fruit, are traditionally eaten in Mexico on Jan. 6 for the Three Kings' Day holiday. According to custom, a slice is given to the first poor person who asked. But this year, thousands of city residents lined up along the tables where the bread was laid out by over 300 participating bakeries to get a slice. Dubbed the `Rosca of the Millenium,' the cake -- baked in two-foot sections -- was served along with tiny cartons of milk to thousands of people. A notary public was on hand to measure the cake, which city authorities estimated at just over one mile. AP-NY-01-03-99 1756EST Copyright 1998 The Associated Press. The information contained in the AP news report may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or otherwise distributed without prior written authority of The Associated Press. <<<<=-=-=FREE LEONARD PELTIER=-=-=>>>> If you think you are too small to make a difference; try sleeping in a closed room with a mosquito.... African Proverb <<<<=-=http://www.tdi.net/ishgooda/ =-=>>>> IF it says: "PASS THIS TO EVERYONE YOU KNOW...." Please Check it before you send it at: http://urbanlegends.miningco.com/library/blhoax.htm
