a THOUSANDS GREET FREED PUERTO RICAN INDEPENDENCE . FIGHTERS SAN JUAN, Puerto Rico — Thousands turned out to welcome the return home of four patriots following their release from U.S. prisons Sept. 10. The four, Lolita Lebron, Rafael Cancel-Miranda, Irving Flores Rodriquez and Oscar Collazo, spent more than 25 years in jail making them the longest-held political prisoners in the Western Hemisphere. Before leaving the United States they were welcomed at a 3,000-strong rally in New York where they pledged to continue their struggle for Puerto Rican independence. Photo below: Rafael Cancel-Miranda, Irving Flores, Lolita Lebron and Oscar Collazo responding to the audience’s greeting at a New York city rally Sept. 12. BREZHNEV TO VISIT GDR FOR 30th ANNIVERSARY: BERLIN — Soviet premier Leonid Brezhnev will head the USSR delegation to the German Democratic Republic to mark the 30th An- niversary of the GDR Oct. 7. Articles in the Soviet press have outlined the many achievements of the GDR since its founding in 1949 and the continuous fraternal bonds between the two socialist states. VIETNAM CHARGES CHINA WITH TROOP BUILD-UP _ troop strength along the China- Vietnam and China-Laos borders: In a recent interview with Mexican newspaper Excelsior, Vietnam’s prime minister Pham Van Dong warmed that ‘‘China’s aim is to seize Viet- nam, since our country is the greatest obstacle to its expansionist strategy.’’ Radio Hanoi has broadcast that 12 Chinese divisions and six army corps are on Viefnam’s border and four Chinese divisions are stationed near Laos. GREEK PREMIER ON FIVE DAY VISIT TO SOVIET UNION MOSCOW — Greek premier Constantine Karamanlis arrived in Moscow Oct. 1, for a five day visit, the first visit ever by a Greek premier to the USSR. Karamanlis was greeted at the airport by Alexei Kosygin, Chairman‘of the USSR Council of Ministers. POPE APPEALS AT UN FOR END TO ARMS RACE UNITED NATIONS — The Pope addressed the United Nations general assembly Oct. 2, and issued a strong appeal for an end to the nuclear arms race. It was the first time a Pope spoke there since 1965. Pope John Paul II was in New York following visits to Ireland and Boston. GDR AID TO NICARAGUA BERLIN — Sergio Machado Escobar is among the seven badly- wounded Nicaraguan patriots who arrived in the capital of the GDR for medical treatment aboard a special Interflug flight. The flight which brought the wounded to Berlin had delivered relief aid to Managua. The wounded are undergoing special medical treatment for various war injuries and will remain in the GDR for extended care. In addition to the complicated surgery performed, the hospital staff is doing everything to help the patients get used to their new surround- ings. Nurses often shop for them on the their free time and the kitchen staff is learning to cook Nicaraguan national dishes. : PACIFIC TRIBUNE— OCTOBER 12, 1979—Page 8 HANOI — Vietnam has charged that China continues to increase its - PHOTO — ADN Government refuses to sell newsprint Guyana bans opposition papers | The following is a press state- ment issued by the Association of Concerned Guyanese. It outlines the anti-democratic closing of the Mirror, paper of the People’s Progressive Party and other jour- nals by the Burnham government. The statement appeared over the signature of Kishore Jagger- nauth, Publicity Director of the ACG. aoe 2 oie Press freedom in Guyana re- ceived a death-blow at the end of last August when Prime Minister Forbes Burnham, refused to grant any more licenses to printers of the ‘‘Mirror’’ newspaper, of the People’s Progressive Party, to buy newsprint. For several years, Burnham has been trying to sup- : press all forms of democratic op- position in the country, and in doing so his unlawful régime sing- ” Jed out the ‘‘Mirror” for special attacks. Many times even the publishers themselves, and poor people who sold the ‘‘Mirror’’ to earn a meagre living were terrorised or brutalized or both, by gangs of armed thugs who roam the coun- try and are believed to operate on orders given by Burnham and some of his most notorious Cabinet Ministers including De- puty Prime Minister Hamilton Green and Minister of Labor Ptolemy Reid. When the printers of the ‘‘Mir- ror’ ordered-a new and modern set of printing equipment from an American company, paying a large deposit of -$3,200 (Guy.), Burnham railroaded through the National Assembly two Orders, one in December 31, 1971, the other on February 19, 1972 which made it illegal for the first time in the history of Guyana, for printing material and newsprint to be im- ported from any country, includ- ing the USA, without a govern- ment license. The haste with which those two Orders were made proved that the Burnham regime’s sole intention was to block the New Guyana Co. Ltd., which prints the ‘‘Mirror’’, from importing the new printing press. The authorization which the company had obtained to transact its foreign business expired be- fore the American firm was ready to ship the printing equipment and” the Burnham regime refused to renew it or to grant the required licenses for buying the printing press — a Goss Community Rot- ary Offset Newspaper Press —. which was partly paid for before the coming into force of the two Orders. As a result, the Guyanese printers lost their $3,200 (Guy,) deposit to the American com- pany. The legislative methods used by the Burnham regime to give itself total control over printing materials and newsprint reduced the power of the democratic op- position forces to inform the people about what was happening in the National Assembly, about the regime’s policies on vital so- cial and economic matters, and about local and international news in general. Realising that an informed elec- torate would be a threat to his il- legal regime, Burnham flagrantly broke both the country’s Con- stitutional laws and international treatises when, on several occa- sions, he issued decrees, like the two Orders, to deprive the people of their right to be informed and, worst of all, their right to express their opinions at work or at public meetings. _ By denying licenses to printers and publishers who are in the bus- iness of informing the populace, Burnham is contravening an ex- ceedingly important section of the people’s Constitution where it is stated in Chaper 2 under the title “Protection of Fundamental Rights and Freedoms of the Indi- vidual’’ that: Except with his own consent, no person shall be hin- dered in the enjoyment of his freedom of expression, that is to say, freedom to hold opinions without interference, freedom to . receive ideas and information without interference, freedom to communicate ideas and informa- tion without interference. (Section 12.1). Besides the ‘‘Mirror’’ other of- ficial organs were affected by the regime’s refusal to issue licenses for newsprint. The ‘‘Thunder’’ for example, cannot be printed anymore. This was the educa- tional organ of the Opposition People’s Progressive Party. In addition, the trade union news- paper “‘Quill’’ and “‘Ratoon’’ the news organ of the Working People’s Alliance (W.P.A.) all of which were printed by the New Guyana Co. Ltd. were forced out of publication. The Prime Minister must be reminded of the ‘‘International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights?’ which his government ratified on February 15, 1977. This Covenant is legally binding on any government which ratified it, and its violation must be consi- dered a serious crime which no one, not even Forbes Burnham, not even Hamilton Green, not even Ptolemy Reid nor any ac- complices of theirs would be al- lowed to commit with impunity. Article 19, paragraph 2 of the Covenant states that: Everyone shall have the right to : freedom of expression; this right _ Shall include freedom to seek, re- ceive ‘and impart information and Top: Demonstration by workers at the Mirror, the newspaper of the ’ People’s Progressive Party after the Burnham government refused t? grant licenses to buy newsprint. Below: Truck loads of newsprint leav@ Guyana mill. . ~ Viera, upheld legal submissions” ideas of all kinds, regardless of | frontiers, either orally, in writing | or in print, in the form of art, or | through any other media of his” choice. ‘ When the People’s Progressive | Party challenged the Constitu- | tionality of the two previously mentioned Orders in the Supreme ~ Court of Guyana, the Judge, Mr. © en made by the -PPP’s counsel and | concluded thus: ‘. ... What it | basically amounts to is this: no | license and/or printing press —no freedom of expression. This clear- | ly, to my mind, amounts to news- | paper control and not: newsprint andlor printing equipment con- | trol.” a After the High Court Judge | made the above decision in favor of the PPP, Burnham) appealed. The Judges of the Guyana Appeal Court reversed | Justice Viera’s decision in favor ” of Burnham whose political par- | ty’s flag flies over the Guyana Appeal Court building. Opposi- tion forces in the country are ag- | hast at the doctrine of ‘‘the para- | mountcy of the People’s National | Congress (PNC) Party” which Burnham leads. 1 Bribery, blackmail, intimida- tion and threats govern the minds — of lawyers and judges, rather than — the nobel principles of law. The | Appeal Court’s decision in favor | of the Burnham regime is popu- larly understood to have been made because those so-called | learned men tremble like mice in the presence of Burnham who sustains himself and his ruling clique’ in power through the | maintenance of organized thuggery and the armed cult, | named the House of Israel which © is led by an escaped Americal criminal who calls himself Rabbi Washington. 3 Burnham and his accomplices must know that where the will of ; the electorate is not allowed to- prevail, and where any govern: | ment ceases to be conditioned by | the supremacy of the rule of law; | revolution will inevitably follow.