And now:Ish <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> writes: via LadyScribe From: [EMAIL PROTECTED] Return-path: <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> Subject: Latin American Briefs Date: Wed, 13 Jan 1999 18:39:29 EST Latin American Briefs .c The Associated Press ALDAMA, Mexico (AP) -- Dozens of rebel sympathizers blocked 450 soldiers and police from entering their village in southern Chiapas state, exchanging blows and insults with them for more than an hour Wednesday morning. No injuries were reported in the scuffles that started before dawn on a remote rural road. The security forces were on their way to destroy nearby marijuana fields when a large group of men, women and children stopped the 20-vehicle military convoy outside Aldama. Support for the leftist Zapatista rebels runs high in Aldama, about 44 miles north of San Cristobal de las Casas. Protesters threw rocks and military police fought back with police batons and at one time threatened to fire tear gas canisters into the crowd. Aldama residents said they were afraid that if they allowed the army in, the soldiers would set up a base there to fight the Zapatistas. After a lengthy argument, the protesters allowed the task force access to the fields in surrounding hills. The Zapatistas staged a brief armed uprising in January, 1994, demanding greater democracy and Indian rights. Peace talks between the rebels and the government have been stalled since 1996. CARACAS, Venezuela (AP) -- Angry onlookers shouted ``thief'' Wednesday when one of the leading figures in a banking scandal was brought before a judge after four years on the run. Former banker Orlando Castro, 73, was extradited from New York City to Venezuela late Tuesday. His lawyers requested that he be granted house arrest because of his age. The Cuban-born Castro is accused in Venezuela of misusing $229 million of emergency funds provided by the government in 1994 to save his Banco Progreso. Nearly 40 percent of Venezuela's financial system went under during the crisis and had to be taken over in an $8 billion bailout. Castro fled to the United States shortly after Banco Progreso was taken over in December 1994. He had become one of the symbols of the crisis. Just weeks before he fled the country, he handed out buttons with his bank's name that said, ``Here we are, here we stay.'' AP-NY-01-13-99 1839EST 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 The information contained in the AP news report may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or otherwise distributed without prior written authority of The Associated Press.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
