CIVIL RIGHTS VIOLATIONS GROW Guyana moves | towards dictatorship By TOM MORRIS The Mirror, newspaper of the People’s Progressive Party in Guyana, as well as several other publications, in- cluding that of the Catholic Church, have all but ceased publication due to a news- print squeeze imposed on them by the Soe of Prime Minister Forbes Burn- This situation is part of a planned at- tack on all forms of opposition to the Burnham ~~ government, Nagamootoo, a member of the PPP leadership and Mirror journalist told the - Tribune last week. “Our paper has published continu- ously for 19 years with a daily circulation... of 20,000,’" Nagamootoo said. ‘‘ Today we are down to a 4+-page mini-weekly and paper stocks are running out. We’re down to a three week supply.” Nagamootoo said this is the culmina- tion of a stepped-up plan” by the au- thorities to attack all opposition. “It’s symbolic of what Bumham is doing in Guyana. We have today the threat of a one party dictatorship. “The stamp of Burnham's = People — on the judiciary, the media, the armed forces. The regime owns the country’s two radio stations. It publishes 13 news- Moses — party is everywhere | papers — — there's no shortage of news- print .. The newsprint squeeze is performed “‘legally”’. Forced to apply for permits to import newsprint, publications are at the mercy of officials who simply do not issue them. The excuse is used that the . country is short of foreign currency needed to import this product. But the phoneyness of this claim was shown last month when the Mirror was refused a permit to bring in newsprint donated free to it by the Caribbean Broadcasters and Publishers’ Association. Nagamootoo emphasized the news- print squeeze is just one dictatorial act among many since Burnham won the election last year in-an-internationally- _ condemned fraudulent vote: ‘*Progressive and honest-minded journalists have been fired from many posts for speaking out against the PNC’s stranglehold on the country’s life,’’ he. said. ‘‘ They operate on an ‘enemy of the state’ concept, characterizing all criti- cism of the PNC as anti-state. ‘Public meetings are attacked by thugs while authorities stand by. Scab- bing is encouraged in strikes — every strike being deemed a ‘political act’ by the regime. Firings and intimidation are wholesale.”’ TRIBUNE PHOTO — MIKE PHILLIPS by Bumham to close the Mirror is ‘‘a political one’’ and appealed to inter- national ‘opinion to condemn this anti- democratic act. Canada, he pointed out, is Guyana’s chief supplier. And he urged Canadian labor to boycott the handling of paper to that country until Burnham Treinstitutes press freedoms. — Despite ‘the~-squeeze, _Nagamootoo said, the Mirror will find ways to-publish _~ arms budget and continue its fight against the government’s violatioris of civil and ~ human rights. “‘We are lobbying UN- ESCO, the UN Commission on Human Rights and world governments,” he said. Moses Nagamootoo explained that the heightening of repressive measures re- flects a whole series of steps to build up an anti-popular apparatus in face of ‘‘One in 35 Guyanese is in one or other _ branch of the military or paramilitary. That’s the highest on earth. There’s a NAGAMOOTOO: “The (Guyanese) people will effect change. The growing government repression will suggest to the people the method raedes an restore democracy. The regime itself today is telling our people how to respond .. _ dispute as Washington depends in insta- — _ government repression will suggest to © INTERNATIONAL FOCUS _ The PPP spokesman said the decision Thirsty for talks? Pick up the phone In his July 4 message, -the acting U.S. ambassador to the Soviet Union said that Presi- dent Ronald Reagan was “‘thirsting for a dialogue’’ with the USSR. That's nice to hear, but it makes you wonder who is keeping Reagan from the well. Way back on February 23, Soviet Premier Brezhnev pub- licly called on the United States for a dialogue to discuss key international and bilateral issues. He specifically called for a Summit meeting with Reagan — that was two ge after Reagan took of- The USSR has repeatedly renewed that call stating that « the world’s international cli- mate depends largely on U.S.-Soviet politics and that today’s dangerous state in rela- tions between them calls for a dialogue at all levels. That's pretty clear, isn’t it? Since Brezhnev’s proposal, and in the four months follow- ing, the new administration in the White House has broken all PACIFIC TRIBUNE—JULY 24, 1981—Page 8 modern records of anti-Soviet- ism. It has accused the USSR of being an international ter- rorist. It has blamed ‘‘Soviet intervention” for the situation in Central America, the Middle East, Persian Gulf and South- east Asia. It threatens the USSR witha new family of missiles in. Europe and has set itself the highest war spending budget in U.S. peacetime history. It has scuttled Salt-2. ~ That’s ‘‘thirsting for a dia- logue’’, all right. If Reagan wants to talk rather than posture and threaten, that’s good. The world certainly would greet his response to the USSR’s prop- osals and welcome dialogue and agreements between these two states. All Reagan has to do is pick up the phone and get the pro- cess started. Kampuchea — its friends and foes | Speaking at.an international conference last week, External Affairs Minister MacGuigan voiced Canada’s objective of an ‘‘independent, viable, prosperous Kampuchea.”’ The conference also heard U.S. _ Secretary of State Alexander Haig again threaten Vietnam and propose an international - UN “peace-keeping force’’ to ‘supervise free elections’’ in Kampuchea. These two spokesmen are whistling in the dark. Kampuchea held its election this year and, with aid from its friends, especially. Vietnam and the USSR, is on the road to recovery after the years of Pol Pot genocide and U.S. carpet bombings. The United Nations, led by the capitalist states, has to this day refused to recognize the new government. It (and Canada and the United States) still recognize the butcher Pol Pot as head of state. This de- spite irrefutable evidence ‘in- cluding four million mufdered people) that Pol Pot and his Khmer Rouge perpetrated one ' of-the foulest acts in human history. Haig, whose nation bombed Kampuchea mercilessly and who himself fought in Vietnam against the liberation forces, now speaks of ‘‘free elections’ and ‘‘peace-keeping forces’’. MacGuigan, whose country grew rich on the Vietnam war, who today fights for recogni- tion of Pol Pot and his gang, now speaks of an ‘‘indepen- dent, viable, prosperous Kam- puchea.” Both these men, who repre- sent states that have reneged on reparations payments and promised economic ‘aid to war-torn Vietnam, today mouth words of hatred against Vietnam, a nation whose cour- age and self-sacrifice needs no elaboration. Vietnam and the USSR are boycotting this phoney at- tempt to reverse the course the Khmer people have chosen. To their credit they aren’t par- ticipating in this crude attempt to once again interfere in Kam- puchea’s affairs. Instead, they are working for Kampuchea’s national reconstruction supplying tech- nical and economic aid. They are giving — without strings — the material Kampuchea needs” ? take the position that there is : te something immoral about arms What a contrast in ideals this sales’’. is with the cheap threats: and cheaper words of Haig and MacGuigan. possibility of a military coup as the anger of the people rises and all democratic roads are closed to them,’’ he warned. — Nagamootoo said that the present Guyana-Venezuela border dispute is | being used to whip up nationalism and — militarism in the country and is, in reali- ty, a conspiracy against the national and social liberation struggle. -This-is.seen in Guyana’s burgeoning — which has climbed from $16-million in 1965 to today’s $160-mil- — lion. He said the hand of the U.S. State | Department can be seen in the border” bility and the growth of military force in the region to stem social change: “But the people will effect change,” Nagamootoo said. ‘‘The growing the people the methods needed to restore democracy. The regime itself is today — telling our people how to respond.”’ Human rights dumped Based on a State Department — determination that “‘there have — been significant improvements in the human rights situation’’ in Chile, Argentina, Paraguay and Uruguay, the Reagan administra- tion has ordered its spokesmen to international development banks to back loans to these dictator- ships. Since 1977 the U.S. has op- posed loans to these states be- | ‘cause of gross violations of human rights. The revised policy is contained in a Treasury De- partment letter to delegates to the International Bank for Recon- struction and Development, International Finance Corp. and the Inter-American Development Bank. They have been told to support $483.8-million in loans to the four countries now pending. In a related move, the United States said it would reverse form- er President Carter’s ban on arms shipments to states deemed in — violation of human rights. This will no longer be a factor, an un- named official said. ‘‘We do not - The two decisions have stirred | bitter opposition in the U.S. Con- | gress by members who argue that human rights violations continue — and favor the ban’s retention.