S. Africa death sentences of justice’ Torontonians were in front of the South African consulate offices Aug. 21 to protest the death sen- tences handed out by a Cape Town court against three liberation fighters. The African National Congress has called for world-wide actions to stop the hangings. a ‘travesty The African National Congress (South Africa) has publicly pro- tested death sentences passed on three of its members in a Pretoria court Aug. 19. Anthony Tsobe, 25; Johannes Shabangu, 26 and David Moise, 26 were found guilty of ‘‘high treason”’ in a trial that was ex- posed as a travesty of justice in apartheid South Africa’ as never before. Evidence by the defence’ re- vealed that savage torture .was carried out on the prisoners by the South African Special Branch. One accused was suspended head down by leg irons from a tree dur- ing questioning with a ‘‘ghost mask”’ covering his face until he lost consciousness. Despite extensive evidence of this kind, Justice Theron ruled that statements made to the sec- urity police in such a manner were ‘tadmissible”’. The ANC(SA) has called on the international community to vigorously protest the sentences and to mount an urgent campaign to halt the executions. It further demands prisoner of war status apply to captured freedom fighters: Canadian protests may be sent to the South African embassy, 15 Sussex Drive, Ottawa, Ont: A Grenada warns of U.S. intervention plans ‘Tomorrow it will be Chile’ MIKIS THEODORAKIS World-famous Greek composer — Mikis Theodorakis presented his popular oratorio ‘‘Canto Gener- al’’, with text by the late Chilean poet Pablo Neruda, in Nicaragua’s capital, Managua last month. The ‘‘Canto General’”’ was per- formed prior in Havana, and its performance in Managua was the first in the Latin American sub- continent. ‘*We are hoping to continue per- forming this work in every Latin American country,’’ Theodorakis told the press. ‘‘Today it is Nicaragua, tomorrow it will be El} Salvador and the day after, Chile, ~ when these two nations will be free 99 War Games: larger, more menacing With U.S. naval exercises off the Libyan céast fresh in the news, another, larger joint exercise, ‘“Ocean Ven- ture 81°’ is currently being held in the Atlantic. by November. warn of a U.S. plan for the military invasion of Grenada ‘Pointing to ‘‘Ocean Venture 81”, the press release Calling it ‘‘one more menacing step initiated by the Reagan administration,’ British journalist William Pomerey charged in.a recent article that Washington’s _f aim is ‘‘to extend the range of the NA TO alliance and to bring apartheid South Africa into an operational military alliance with it.” Pomeroy writes: ‘Before it’s over on October, 15, ‘‘Ocean Venture 81,°° as the huge exercise is called, will extend from the North Atlantic approaches to Soviet waters down to the far reaches of the South Atlantic. It will include 250 warships, | ,000 naval aircraft and 120,000 men from over a dozen participating countries. ‘*Preparations for this began some time after President Reagan came into office and after widespread criticism was voiced to his initial pronouncements about forming | closer ties with South Africa and increasing the interven-~ tionist role of the U.S. and NATO. In setting up Ocean Venture 81, U.S. military chiefs are trying to sidestep the objections and to gain their ends by fait accompli tactics. “Of the invited participants, eight are NATO mem- bers (U.S., Britian, Canada, France, the Federal Repub- lic of Germany, Denmark, Netherlands and Portugal). Another, Spain, is a prospective NATO recruit. To these have been added five Latin American countries: Brazil, Argentina, Colombia, Venezuela and Uruguay. The addition of Latin American countries falls in with a long-standing desire on the part of U.S. military planners in particular to organize a South Atlantic adjunct to NATO that would-link Latin America with apartheid South Africa. **Preparations for Ocean Venture 81 were being con- ducted with little fanfare until Norway, a NATO mem- ber that was also invited to participate, sharply rejected the invitation and publicly disassociated itself from the project. Norway's reasons for doing so exposed the U.S. aims in the exercise. ‘The Norwegian government’s statements expressed non-belief in the effort by U.S. Defense Secretary Cas- par Weinberger to claim that the war games would not be seen internationally as a NATO operation. Norway as- serted that the involvement of eight (Norway would have made nine) out of the 15 NATO members would be generally accepted as a step to expand the alliance’s area of “‘responsibility’’ and would indeed constitute such a move. ‘“‘Norway’s strongest protest came over evidence it has received that in the operations scheduled for the PACIFIC TRIBUNE—SEPT. 4, 1981—Page 6 5 a ee South Aianiies the South Attica’ navy will ha a key part. The intention, said Norway, is to make use of the South African navy’s communications system (called Advokaat). which was largely supplied by British com- panies through covert arrangements.”’ ” en ee = In an Aug. 20 news release, the Grenadian govern- ment says it has launched an international campaign to says that exercises on the island of Vieques, off Puerto Rico, includes ‘‘a simulated attack by the U.S. 75th Ranger Battalion on a country code-named ‘Amber and the Amberdines’ with the objective of overthrowing the ‘unfriendly’ Amber government, the stationing of troops on the island pending elections and installation of a pro-U.S. government.”’ The Grenadian government then points to examples of U.S. hostility toward the Grenadian revolution: e The attempt to block funding for construction of the international airport — Brussels conference April, 1981. e The attempt to get Caribbean Community govern- ments to agree to a cessation of certain aid-flows to Grenada through the Caribbean Development Bank. e The use of Miami as a training base for mercenaries who openly speak on U.S. television of their intent to invade-Cuba, Nicaragua and Grenada, : e The revelation that as early as the first week of the Grenadian revolution the then U.S. administration had prepared plans for a naval blockade of the island, - e The statements made in the 1980 Presidential cam- paign by President Reagan and Vice-President Bush who vowed ‘‘to teach Grenada a lesson’’, e The daily, illegal spy flights occurring in Grenada’s airspace. It charges the war games make a mockery of the Caribbean attempt to have the area declared a zone of. peace and recalled it was Grenada which initiated pas- sage of a resolution at the 1979 OAS meeting in Bolivia calling for a zone of peace.in the region. This-call, the statement says, was repeated last June at a meeting of foreign affairs ministers in St. George’s. : * * * : Other military preparations reported by Canadian De- partment of Defence news releases include exercise “Ocean Safari’’ scheduled Sept. 8-18 in the English Channel and Bay of Biscay. Calling it a ‘‘war-at-sea scenario’, National Defence Headquarters says the Canadian vessel Nipigon will join over 80 ships, 280 aircraft and 19,000 troops of eight NATO countries. NDH also reports that Canadian troops will join other NATO members in the 1981 Autumn Forge Exercise running from September to mid-November from the northern coast of Norway to the eastern borders of Tur- key.