= 1 Mette Ad Ru

ti 48

ReeatGresteayayy
oo

Friday, October 3, 1975

VOL. 37, No. 40

‘5c

ESI

CASSIAR AY |

Mw.

{
A, .

saene

The ghost of the notorious
€nner-Gren giveaway deal,
hich former premier W. A. C.
ett and his Socred govern-
&nt entered into in 1957, came
ck this week to haunt the son of
i with publication of a book
a he dealings of the Swedish
e Neier and promoter.
| petty in February, 1957, W.-A. C.
: acct announced the scheme in
4. B.C. legislature under which
into ocred government entered
; Reese agreement with the shady
oe dish financial _ interests,
heat Ning the way for Wenner-Gren
: cee as the book calls it, “‘the
Bi ccc king”’ of a B.C.
Ehglang empire the size of
ate Wenner-Gren deal was one
“enter, Most notorious giveaways
‘ ae into by the Socred
of Sees It involved one-tenth
Squa 1 ish Columbia, some 40,000
Te Miles and included power
: Shaaban mineral and forest
ell t Ces. Bennett attempted to
“dust py Scheme as ensuring ‘‘in-
: lal development” of the
a but it immediately ran into
m© Public opposition.
J€ Close link between the
= _ Sovernment and_ the

nuiePrince George ee
Wings. 4 ‘s AS

Map showing northern B.C., where the Socred government was
Prepared to hand over 40,000 square miles for a private empire to
€nner-Gren interests, appeared in the Tribune on Feb. 22, 1957, only
oe after the sellout deal was announced. The Tribune fought the
| “enner-Gren deal until it was scrapped some five years later.

government to

» %
‘ Se,

3a) eae
ut pee

4 Nes
aging oe ae

coMmyet. Y

Co

Wenner-Gren interests aroused a
further storm of protest when it
was revealed that Einar Gun-
derson, former finance minister
and close association of Bennett,
was named as one of the directors
of the newly formed Wenner-Gren
Development Company in B.C.

The book, Dance Around the
Golden Calf, written by Swedish
writers Ragnar Bowman and
Ingrid Dahlberg, was published
following research for a Swedish
television documentary about
Wenner-Gren. It makes the
startling revelation that Wenner-
Gren invested only $800 of his own
money in what was to have been a
billion dollar scheme.

The book also discloses that the
agreement with the Socred
government was entered into in
1956 and was kept secret by Ben-
nett for one year, being formally
announced on Feb. 12, 1957. It also
discloses that the Wenner-Gren
interests entered into an
agreement with the Socred
put up a _ per-

formance bond of $5 million, but
that it only spent about $2.5 million,

mainly for surveys.
When the project was finally

See WENNER-GREN, pg- 12

Condemnation. of the Franco
regime by hundreds of thousands
of demonstrators swelled by of-
ficial government protests echoed
throughout the world this week
following the execution of five
Spaniards last Saturday.

Strikes — deemed to be an act of
sedition in fascist Spain — spread
throughout the northern Basque
province as thousands of workers
joined students at universities in
protesting the judicial murders of
the five.

Thirteen countries throughout
Europe recalled their am-
bassadors to register their official
protest while Swedish premier Olaf
Palme called the executions
“satanic murders.’’ Mexican
president Luis Echeverra severed
all relations with Spain and joined
with the socialist countries in
calling for a world wide boycott of
Spain.

The five went to.the.firing squad
Saturday, the first victims of
Spain’s brutal anti-terrorism law
passed August 22 by the Council of
Ministers. Despite massive in-
ternational protest Franco
proceeded with the executions
under the law.

An indication of the savagery of
the regime was seen in the original
execution order which called for
capital punishment to be carried
by the medieval garrote, an iron
collar which is fastened around the
neck and causes slow strangulation
as a screw on the collar is
tightened.

The authorities only changed the
punishment to the firing squad
when it was feared that death by
the garrote would have sparked
even greater protest, even among
prisoners.

Demonstrators in London, England, protesting the death sentence of

five Spanish anti-fascists who were executed last Saturday. Similar
demonstrations have taken place around the world.

Two of the most dramatic cases
which touched off international
protest were those of the Basque
anti-fascists, Joe Garmendia and
Angel Otaegui. Arrested in August,
1974, Garmendia was accused of
having killed a Civil Guard in
Azpeitia in the Basque country.
Otaegui was accused of harboring
Garmendia after the exchange of
gunfire in which the guard was
killed.

Throughout his trial, Garmendia
was prostrate as a result of head
injuries sustained during his
arrest. He had been unconscious
for two months prior to the trial
and had spent some time in
hospital suffering from paralysis
in both arms and legs.

Despite his condition,. police had
beaten him while in hospital in

order to elicit from him a con-
fession of his guilt.

Evidence presented by his
lawyer showed that he had been in
France at the time of the shooting
and four witnesses also testified
that they did not recognize him as
the killer. é

Otaegui, charged with sheltering
Garmendia, stated that he had
never seen the other man prior to
his trial.

Although both were sentenced to
death, Garmendia’s sentence was
later commuted to life im-
prisonment as a result of the in-
juries to his brain. Otaegui,
however, was shot.

But in order to carry out the

sentences demanded by the
prosecution, the regime had first to

See PROTESTS pg. 12

’“§top blockbusting” says large banner carried by protesters last Sunday in the 2500 block East Pender Street

in Vancouver as tenants took up the fight to halt demolition of low rental housing by speculators to make
way for more profitable commercial development. Story page 11.

~—Norman Nawrocki photo —

ate ik
on