United Nations reports growing problem Child victims of drug abuse Hundreds of thousands of chil- dren throughout the world are ad- dicted to drugs. For many, the habit starts before they are born, leading to agonizing withdrawal pains within the first few days of their life. This is the grim picture to emerge from a report released by the UN Narcotics Division. Over half 2 million children live in the hill tribe areas of the ‘golden triangle’’ countries — Burma, Laos, Thailand. Their mothers spend up to 18 hours a day tending opium for drug lords. The opium is trafficked at a profit of up to 6,000%, even though the wages are less than a dollar a day. “Mothers are so exhausted in the evening that they lace the gums of young children with raw opium to Why Muzorewa likes Thatcher: The British Tories sent six official observers to Zimbabwe who have yet to make their re- port. But one of the Tory team has already publicly stated that he thinks ‘‘Rhodesia has now complied with the principles demanded by _ successive British governments’’ and will argue for Bnitain’s lifting of sanctions against that country. Small wonder, then, that ““premier’’ Muzorewa greeted the victory of Margaret Thatcher’s Tories. For him and the other puppets who took part in the fake election, world recognition is vital. But the fraud, which elected a so- called Black government, has not gone unnoticed in the Un- ited Nations. An official statement by the Iranian Foreign Ministry on May 2 has revealed that Bishop Muzorewa was a paid agent of the Shah of Iran. The statement said the Bishop was on SAVAK’s (The Shah’s secret police) payroll and also pro- vided training for Muzorewa’s 6,000-man private army. On May | the UN Security Council condemned Zim- babwe’s internal election as a “‘sham’’ and called the results *“null and void’’. It charged the _ exercise was conducted ‘‘to perpetuate white racist minor- ity rule’’. The 15-member Council approved the resolu- tion 12-0 with Britain, France and the U.S. abstaining. Besides the gross _ir- regulantties of the actual voting process itself, the UN resolu- tion took into account that real power remains in the hands of the white racist ‘Rhodesian Front’’ of Ian Smith. It will control six cabinet posts in- cluding police, security forces and judiciary. (There are 106,000 whites and 3.5 million Blacks in the country). The UN resolution appeal- led to all states not to recognize the new illegal government and to strictly observe UN sanc-. tions against the country. The abstention of the U.S., Britain and France from this vote indi- — international focus keep them quiet’’, says the re- port. In Peru, six million kilos of coca leaf — the raw material for cocaine — are consumed by 1.6-million chewers. One out of every five schoolchildren is on drugs. A survey in Colombia found 130,000 young addicts in just three cities, no less than 100,000 were found in two coastal States of Malaysia. Fourteen per cent of the addicts in the Philip- pines are 13 or 14 years old. In the West, the habit begins in the womb. In 1973, one out of every 14 babies delivered in the Philadelphia General Hospital was born to a drug-addicted mother. Surveys have found there are between 2,000 and 3,000 young addicts in the Netherlands, 2,000 in Finland, 6,000 in Denmark. One British survey found that “nine per cent of the young chil- dren interviewed admitted non- medical drug use.”’ Studies in France, Switzerland and Argentina have also indicated that boredom, broken marriages, neglect and parental alcoholism are all major reasons why chil- dren turn to drugs. The report claims some suc- cesses in the uphill fight against drugs — particularly at source. The main strategy is to encourage small farmers to grow crops othe! than coca and poppies. cates these powers are search- ing for a loophole to bolster Salisbury despite world opin- ion. . They, as do the majority of states, see the inevitable vic- tory of the Patriotic Front forces which will achieve real liberation for Zimbabwe. A gesture of true solidarity A fine example of inter- national solidarity was shown recently as nations responded to the crisis on the Caribbean island of St. Vincent following the erruption of the volcano La Soufriere. Some 23,000 per- sons have to date been evacuated from their homes to Safer areas and an international call has gone out for relief aid. One of the first to respond was the new Revolutionary Government of Grenada. Here is how the bulletin ‘‘Free- dom’’, published by YULIMO, described Grena- da’s gesture: “In spite of the fact that Grenada, like St. Vincent, is a ~ very poor country and the new government has been refused recognition by St. Vincent, the -new Revolutionary govern- ment has responded to our ‘crisis in true revolutionary fashion. ...’’ Grenada sent an emergency vehicle, food and blankets. More evidence of Chilean justice The Supreme Court of Chile ruled last week not to permit the extradition of three DINA officers to face trial in the U.S. for their part in the 1976 mur- der of former Chilean Foreign Minister under the Allende government, Orlando Letelier. All three, including former DINA chief, General Manuel Contreras, were named by the killer of Letelier as ordering his. murder. As the murder plot unravel- led, the string led higher and higher — right to Chilean junta leader Pinochet himself who, many believe, could not have been unaware of the extensive DINA operation to murder op- ponents of the regime at home and abroad. ta, Carlos Pratt was murdered. Chile did give over the killer, a U.S. citizen, Michael Townley, who received a re- duced sentence of up to 10 years in return for his tes- — timoney. Townley’s travel re- cord shows him in Argentina when another critic of the jun- He was in Italy when an at- tempt was made on the life of former Chilean vice-president, Bernardo Leighton. And Townley readily admitted planting the bomb which blew up== Letelier's = car “in Washington. Chilean patriots in-exile, in- cluding those in Canada, have for years been charging the DINA with sending murder squads abroad. They have pro- tested DINA activities-against Chileans in exile here and ef- forts to stifle criticism of the regime by applying terror tac- tics against their relatives at home. The Letelier murder and its revelations show this DINA network was and is directed from the very top and the latest refusal by Chile’s highest court to get to the real source makes this clear. And so we have a regime in Santiago which not only brutalizes its people at home, but murders its critics abroad. And this is the regime which Ottawa so eagerly deals with and our multi-nationals and banks so heartily embrace. Orlando Letelier when ar- rested by Pinochet's troops in 1973. When released from pris- on, he was instrumental in or- ganizing resistance to the junta abroad until his murder. PACIFIC TRIBUNE—MAY 25, 1979—Page 6 VIETNAM = Ss : AL RRIT: RESO: | | |}. | | Photos of the death and destruction caused by the chinese if in its attack against Vietnam are beginning to be published. Ti the Tribune who have been reporting on Vietnam’s heroic ii " for independence for many years, there was a sudden tai when we received this latest set of photos contained in the | newspaper Granma. tg We had been publishing similar photos of the havoc on oui for years. When it was French guns or American bombs, thefe™ the accompanying rubble, distraught faces, mutilated bodies. Chinese guns and bombs produced the same result a8 photos, taken from Tribune files and matched to the latest set Whether it was 1972 or 1979, the people of Vietnam paid, once the price in blood. : I Lal } | be Here is part of the eyewitness report by Granma corresp° Mario Rivera: : “The things | have seen in Vietnam are terrible. The pictures taken show this. | am not a journalist, but I feel itis important to 26 es ¥ Above: “Each target”: ol fe _ McNamara, “is chosen 4" naissance photographs enol from urban populations. at operative workers’ apart 4 Christmas raid of 1972. Left cynically said that the in , themselves had built to lay ; one ofthe hundreds of home!