From vvaw@blythe.org Tue Jan 11 23:31:23 1994 Date: Wed, 01 Sep 93 13:58:52 EDT From: vvaw@blythe.org To: pauls@css.itd.umich.edu Subject: DMZ_8/93 Via NY Transfer News Collective * All the News that Doesn't Fit = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = DMZ: the newsletter of the Clarence Fitch Chapter Vietnam Veterans Against the War New York/New Jersey August 1993 = = = Online edition = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = WELCOME TO THE DMZ = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = DMZ (De-Militarized Zone) was started in 1987 to provide a voice for the New York/New Jersey chapters of Vietnam Veterans Against the War, and for all veterans. Unfortunately at that time we were unable to sustain it and suspended regular publication. Here we go again. Our plans are a little more modest. To begin with we want to put it out every six to eight weeks, and eventually monthly. This is the second issue in the new series. DMZ's purpose is to promote the programs, activities and views of the Clarence Fitch Chapter (New York/New Jersey) of VVAW, and to serve as a forum for our members and friends to sound off about issues and events. All material can be used or distributed freely (except where noted). But to make it successful, we need your involvement and help. Here are a few suggestions: (1) Submit articles, photos, poems, etc. which you would like published. (2) Help with the production of the newsletter. (3) Distribute the DMZ to your friends and at places where other vets gather such as vets centers, VA hospitals, unemployment offices, union halls, and other veterans organizations. (4) Make a contribution to help cover the costs of publication and mailing. All submissions and inquiries should be sent to: Clarence Fitch Chapter Vietnam Veterans Against the War P.O. Box 74, Van Brunt Station Brooklyn, New York, 11215 E-mail: vvaw@blythe.org Or call us at 718-826-1789, anytime day or night. = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = CONTENTS = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = VIET VET EXECUTED IN FLORIDA, by Dave Cline BUSH PARDONS CRONIES, by Steve Geiger CHAPTER NEWS, by Dave Cline & Ben Chitty HOMELESS VETERANS UPDATE, by Mike Gold BIG MOUNTAIN UPDATE, by Bruce Dunnett THE MORE THINGS CHANGE (LAREDO), by Steve Somerstein DISAPPEARED-DETAINED JUNE 10, 1990, by Louis De Benedette VETERANS INTERNATIONAL, by Ben Chitty VIETNAM VETERANS AGAINST THE WAR: Where We Came From, Who We Are, Who Can Join = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = VIET VET EXECUTED IN FLORIDA By Dave Cline = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = On Saturday, May 8, the State of Florida executed Larry Joe Johnson. Johnson was 49 years old, and had over 12 years military service, beginning when he had joined the National Guard at age 16. In 1968, he enlisted in the Navy, and did two tours of duty in Vietnam. After his discharge from the Navy, he rejoined the National Guard in his native state of Kentucky, rising to the rank of sergeant in an armored unit. In 1974, during training maneuvers, he was hit in the head with a smoke grenade and knocked to the floor of his tank. After this injury, friends and members of his family spoke of a personality change, and he was diagnosed as experiencing a re-emergence of post-traumatic stress disorder, from which he had suffered immediately after his return from Vietnam. He later also received compensation for severe skin disorders and headaches due to Agent Orange exposure. On a trip to Florida in 1979, Johnson and a friend stuck up a gas station. During the robbery, he shot and killed a gas station attendant, James Hadden, 67, when he saw Hadden make a sudden move. At Johnson's trial the same year, while the friend testified against him, Johnson's state of mind was never made an issue. Johnson was convicted of murder and sentenced to death. As his statutory appeals ran out and his execution date approached, a number of Vietnam veteran organizations, including Vietnam Veterans of America, Veterans for Peace, and VVAW, along with the Center for Constitutional Rights and the National Coalition to Abolish the Death Penalty, attempted to have his sentence reviewed. His attorneys argued that in 1979, a time when PTSD was just beginning to be recognized as a mental health problem for many Vietnam veterans, Johnson's psychiatric history and condition had not been properly considered during the sentencing phase of the trial, and that the death sentence was therefore not appropriate. Their arguments were supported by evidence submitted on Johnson's mental history, including a PTSD diagnosis confirmed by a number of nationally-know experts on post-tarumatic stress, among them Dr. David Niles of the Trauma Recovery Center, himself a retired Army lieutenant colonel and Vietnam vet. The attorneys hoped to get his sentence changed to life in prison. On Tuesday, May 4, a U.S. District Judge in Tallahassee granted a stay of execution and ordered a new hearing on the sentencing portion of Johnson's trial. The state immediately appealed, and the next day, Wednesday, a federal appeals court lifted the stay, clearing the way for the execution to proceed. With an election coming up, and wanting to paint himself as a "law and order" candidate, Florida governor Lawton Chiles ordered the sentence carried out. In a last ditch effort, Johnson's attorneys appealed to the U.S. Supreme Court, which refused to halt the death. On May 8 at 10:07 PM, Johnson was declared dead, the 31st man to die in Florida's electric chair since 1979. He had no last words. Outside the prison, about 50 Vietnam veterans and opponents of the death penalty held a candlelight vigil. A spokesperson for the Gainesville chapter of Veterans for Peace summed it up when he said, "I'm ashamed of my governor that he didn't have to the courage to do the right thing and give us justice. Instead he took the weak way out and gave us law." Upon his execution by the State of Florida, Johnson became eligible for full military burial rights for his service to the country. His name, however, will not appear on the Wall in Washington, DC. - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - Dave Cline serves on the national committee of Vietnam Vterans Against the War, and is a member of the Clarence Fitch Chapter. = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = BUSH PARDONS CRONIES By Steve Geiger = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = On December 24, 1992, President Bush granted a "full, complete and unconditional pardon" to six Reagan administration officials for crimes related to the Iran/contra operation. Four had been convicted; Caspar Weinberger and Duane Clarridge had been indicted but their trials had not yet commenced. The announcement was made to the press not by the president but by some White House functionary after Bush skipped town for the Christmas holiday. The timing of the announcement on Christmas Eve, traditionally America's busiest shopping day and least news- conscious day (in a nation bombarded by newless news broadcasts), could only have been calculated by the White House to avoid the scrutiny of the press, surely an act of evasion and cowardice and somewhat ironic in a president who continually fought a "wimp factor." Made in the last month of the Bush tenure, the announcement also competed for news space with the blitz of legislative and procedural announcements from the departing administration and the headline-grabbing appointments of the incoming Clinton administration. Actually two more individuals were pardoned by the action. Bush simultaneously pardoned himself and Reagan, closing the door on what Special Prosecutor Lawrence Walsh termed President Bush's "misconduct" in withholding his 1986 campaign diary and on any investigation into the Reagan/Bush role in Iran/contra. "Misconduct" is certainly a genteel characterization for where these diaries might have led. Mr. Walsh had charged that Mr. Weinberger's efforts to hide his notes may have "forestalled impeachment proceedings against President Reagan." But the pardon nullified Weinberger's notes from the 1986 meetings where Iran/contra was discussed - the very notes that Walsh had officially declared as "evidence of a conspiracy among the highest-ranking Reagan administration officials to lie to Congress and the American people." Vice President Bush claimed to have been out of the loop, but was obviously present at those meetings - no contradiction there. In true Watergate fashion, "the Bush" claimed to have come clean by turning over his diary. Nixon only erased 18 minutes, but there was a crucial month missing from Bush's account. In like manner, what was missing from the diary could have proved far more valuable than what the de facto (or should I say post facto) diary revealed, if in fact it could be relied upon as a representation of anything resembling actual events. At best his diary contained little of substance. At worse it was self-serving - an accurate description of the pardon as well. If Ford's pardon of Nixon was unprecedented in its exemption of the recipient from future prosecution, Bush's pardon was unprecedentedly egregious for its distorted use of the power to pardon himself. In his pardon statement President Bush claims, "For more than 30 years in public service, I have tried to follow three precepts: Honor, decency, and fairness... I know the American people believe in fairness and fair play." This statement and the acts it excused are an insult to all Americans and to our nation of laws. This is a case of privilege for the privileged. Indeed only a president can exercise a pardon at this national level of criminality and for the first time a president has used it to pardon himself. All Americans should be incensed at this abuse of power, but veterans in particular who have a special understanding of sacrifice for democratic principles, should demand a review of this power of pardon. Isn't it a throwback to monarchial hubris? We have a right to question the "fairness" of this outright gift to those who purposely broke the law and demeaned the very Constitution for which we fought and which our leaders swore to uphold. President Bush in his plea on behalf of Caspar Weinberger cited Weinberger's precarious health and his wife's cancer as contributing factors. As evidenced by the smiling image over his byline, Weinberger was evidently healthy enough to accept a position as publisher of Forbes magazine, a glossy forum from which to pitch his sham defense of high-tech profit-makers such as SDI. What better place to campaign for profit out of the misery of others? Particularly disgusting is the pardon of Elliot Abrams, previous mouthpiece for Reagan's policies of lies and murder in Central America. Convicted of withholding information from Congress, he had been sentenced to two years probation and 100 hours of community service. That sentence alone was a gift considering the death and destruction he seemed to take personal pleasure in defending and his lies to Congress about national policy matters which were in direct violation of congressional law, e.g. the Boland Amendment, the Arms Export Control Act of 1976, the Intelligence Oversight Act of 1980, and probably the Neutrality Act of 1937 - more flashbacks of Watergate. Although Nixon's crimes were many and impeachable, Iran/Contra was no third-rate burglary. It was a direct assault on the Constitution and Congress, a much more serious threat to our system of laws. (If we are a nation of laws.) The social contract under which we consent to be governed allows for some restrictions on our individual freedoms for the good of all - an even playing field if you will. No one is to gain unfair advantage. Our system of justice, basic to this contract and the very core of democracy, decrees that one who has illegally gained advantage should pay a price to society. Simultaneously this payment should set an example to those contemplating abuse of the contract. While we know that in the political scheme of things not everyone is created equal, it helps if we all play by the same rules, especially if some of use have been asked to put our lives on the line in defense of "liberty" along the way. As it applies to our elected representatives the implied agreement has always been: you have asked for our trust (vote), we expect you to uphold that trust and represent us with "honor, decency, and fairness" and dare I add truth? The erosion of democracy, "honor, decency, and fairness" has been long and insidious. It started before November 22, 1963 (and perhaps the field can never be completely level), but December 24, 1993 is the most putrid vomit yet to be spewed on us. The self-serving power structure in Washington is so corrupt that they do not even acknowledge that they should respond to the mockery of justice that was foisted on the "republic" on December 24th. We have been had - again. At the very least we should demand that the pardon process be subject to review by Congress. Since 1974 it has become entirely politicized. The power of the pardon is the last vestige of monarchy. It has legitimate use, but we cannot trust our leaders to demonstrate "honor, decency, and fairness." We should demand Bush and his pardon join monarchy in the dustbin of history. - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - Steve Geiger is a member of the Clarence Fitch Chapter of Vietnam Veterans Against the War, and serves on the chapter Steering Committee. = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = CHAPTER NEWS By David Cline & Ben Chitty = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = May Chapter Meeting: The main focus of the meeting was a report from Brother Frank Toner on the health care proposals being studied by President Clinton's task force. Frank has been working with the New York State Health Care Campaign, and explained the limitations of the Clinton team's expected "managed competition" recommendations. After explaining the technical aspects of the issue, he encouraged everyone to support the "American Health Security Act of 1993" (the "Wellstone Bill"), a "single-payer" proposal. In the following discussion, many questions were asked about what Clinton's plan will mean for veterans and the Veterans Administration system. Concerns were expressed about future care, especially given the cuts in VA health care and benefits that have been made over the last few years. A demonstration being organized by the Campaign for Peace and Democracy was discussed. The demonstration will call for an end to the arms embargo on Bosnia. While everyone expressed opposition to US intervention, and felt that United Nations "peace-keeping" had so far failed, some felt lifting the embargo on Bosnia would only widen the war. Others argued that lifting the arms embargo would at least allow the Bosnians to defend themselves. The group endorsed the demonstration. The chapter will march on Memorial Day in the New York City parade, and try to raise the issues of reconciliation with Vietnam, no intervention or bombing in Bosnia, and decent health care for all veterans. Brief reports were given on recent and upcoming high school presentations, the "Hidden Client" conference, Louie DeBenedette's meeting with the Organization of Revolutionary Disabled in Nicara- gua, and the execution of Larry Joe Johnson in Florida. Annual elections were held, and the results are: Ben Chitty, David Cline, Steve Geiger, Mike Gold, Brian Matarrese, and June Svetlovsky elected to the Steering Committee, with John Nevarez and Steve Somerstein elected as alternates. Submitted by David Cline June Chapter Notes: At the regular monthly meeting on June 22nd, the Clarence Fitch Chapter - -- Reviewed participation in the Manhattan Memorial Day parade and ceremony, and the Tex-Mex picnic catered by Brother J.J. Garcia of Houston, Texas and hosted by Brother Brian Matarrese; -- Planned participation in the NYC Veterans For Peace social, the Central Park rally for Leonard Peltier, the UN protest on Somalia, and the Montclair (NJ) Fourth of July parade; -- Continued discussion on Bosnia, endorsing the statement on Bosnia printed in the current issue of The Veteran, and agreeing to consider the statement on Somalia being drafted by the War Resisters League and other groups. Sister Elena Schwolsky-Fitch proposed that the chapter endorse and support the making of a video documentary on the life of Brother Clarence Fitch. His experience in Vietnam, his heroin addiction and recovery, and his life with AIDS, could have a lot of meaning for young people today, especially young African-Americans. The documentary would be produced by Tami Gold, using resources available to Brother Fitch's family and friends. Cost is estimated at $25,000. The chapter unanimously endorsed the proposal, and agreed to make its resources (including the Clarence Fitch Youth Educational Fund) available for the project. Submitted by Ben Chitty In other news... Members of the Chapter participated with the Gay Veterans Association in the March for Gay, Lesbian and Bisexual Rights in Washington, D.C. (Photo Denis Lund) Some of the guests at the Tex-Mex picnic (the rest went swimming). Inset: Brother J.J. Garcia, Robert Kennedy Garcia, and a Matarrese family cat, resting after their labors. (Photos Brian Matarrese) = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = HOMELESS VETERANS UPDATE By Mike Gold = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = I have lately been very disappointed and upset about the lack of progress on behalf of homeless veterans. There had been some good news: in November 1992, a Veterans SRO (single-room occupancy) opened in East Harlem as 22 East 119th Street in New York City. It is a newly renovated, beautiful place for vets to live. Over 120 vets live there now, and the rest of the rooms are for vets with serious medical diagnoses. A total of 155 vets will live there. This project also shows what a local veterans group can do with an experienced service agency. But not much else is happening for homeless vets recently. So I decided to shake the trees myself and try to get some projects going. In February, the Dinkins administration decided to start implementing the Andrew Cuomo Homeless Report. They placed HRA's homeless shelter facilities out for bid to New York City not-for- profit agencies and organizations. I called John Greco (New York State VVA Council President) and Jerry Donellan (Rockland County VVA Chapter #330) to hook them up with Al Peck of the Salvation Army to become part of proposals the Army was preparing for several facilities. I contacted the Volunteers of America, which runs the Charles H. Gay Men's Shelter on Ward's Island. We had an initial discussion and toured the Ward's Island facility. A letter of agreement is being prepared for VOA to run an alcohol, drug and PTSD rehabilitation unit with at least 50 beds for vets, with the Joint Veterans Council on Homeless Veterans as their advisory board. The idea is to get the money Gov. Cuomo promised four years ago to run this same program in a rehabilitated state building in Williams- burg, Brooklyn. Jim Peluso (Director of the New York State Divi- sion of Veterans Affairs) has been going around the whole state to his leadership meetings telling veterans that this program is going to start imminently. He had also listed it in the Division's publication Programs for Veterans in New York State. This continues the Cuomo-Peluso policy of saying something is happening when it's not. Sadly I have to report that Howard Weiss, past state commander of the Jewish War Veterans and founding chairman of the Joint Veterans Council on Homeless Veterans passed away in March, after a very painful illness. He was a wonderful and forceful advocate for homeless vets. John Rowan is the acting chair of the council. I have become acting chair and convenor for the New York City Homeless Veterans Standown Committee, which includes Jerry Donellan, Pat McGlade, Frank Lauria, John Scarimbolo, John Rowan, and Vinnie Muscari, all Vietnam veterans. I also want to mention that President Clinton's ill-fated economic stimulus program includes $423 million for supported and transitional homeless housing, five times more than was appropriated in the last four years. But of course this is yet to be passed by Congress. They call this pork! Everyone should help bring more pressure to bear to make quick and more substantial progress on projects for homeless veterans. Call and write your congressmen, senators and state legislators to push for more funding for homeless vets. - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - Mike Gold is Director of the Office for Veterans Affairs for the City University of New York, and member of the Steering Committee of the Clarence Fitch Chapter of Vietnam Veterans Against the War. = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = BIG MOUNTAIN UPDATE Letter from Bruce Dunnett = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = Dear Brothers & Sisters in VVAW, My letter concerns the struggle of the Indigenous People at Big Mountain in Arizona. On May 23rd, the same day we held the benefit you co-sponsored, the Dineh people and their supporters were gathering to celebrate the removal of the foreign and oppressive instruments of U.S. intervention through the puppet governments established by the Bureau of Indian Affairs--the barbed wire fence. The people, both Dineh and Hopi traditionals, had decided to meet at the fork in the road at the spot where the fence begins. They planned to begin their own removal of this obstacle to unity in defiance to the "mediation process" forced upon them by the U.S. Department of Justice in total disregard of their religious freedom and national sovereignty. It seems the invading forces did not want any bad publicity at this time, so they sent their own paid (BIA) agents to start dismantling the fence. Also the mediation deadline has been extended until December 15th. The people's spirit is very strong. The council of Elders and Youth has issued a statement that they will no more be concerned with trying to create understanding in those who refuse to understand. They are done waiting for foreign "authorization" to live and pray in their own ways. They understand this "mediation process" is a mechanism of deceit, installed to create confusion and disharmony while the tentacles of the industrial beast grab ahold ever stronger! They have begun to rebuild their lives and ceremonial centers upon the Sacred Areas given to them by the Cre- ator at the beginnings of time, as they have been taught by their ancestors and as they continue to pass on to their children. So May 23rd turned out to be a day of celebration, and we have been honored to participate in this moment together! Over the following days, through many meetings in the various communities at Big Mountain, came a plan to make a trip to Washington, DC, tentatively scheduled for the end of July or the beginning of August. So far twenty elders and youth from all the affected communities have committed to this: the total may exceed forty. We have already contacted supporters in the Washington area, who will provide housing and local transportation. Funding for travel expenses is being raised by the Tucson Big Mountain Support Group/Peabody Watch in league with Native Support Network on the west coast. They are working on raising money from west coast musicians such as The Grateful Dead and hope to get people from the old Hog Farm to supply buses. The Big Mountain resisters expect a long hard winter, necessitat- ing a good supply run from all the support groups. We are already working on another benefit, scheduled for November at Columbia University in New York City, in league with Rastafarian people in Jamaica. We may be able to coordinate this benefit with the annual Navajo Rug Show. We have to use these events to generate as many supplies as we can. Will keep you posted! In the struggle for the truth to be realized, we are related. Bruce Dunnett Society P.I.C.T July 2nd, 1993 - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - Bruce Dunnett heads the Society to Preserve Indigenous Culture & Tradition of Brick, New Jersey, and is a member of the Clarence Fitch Chapter of Vietnam Veterans Against the War. The Big Mountain fund-raiser at Art Stocks Playpen cleared over $1000 for the resistance. The community at the Anna May Survival Camp has decided to use the money to buy reconstruction materials. (Photo by Graywolf) = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = THE MORE THINGS CHANGE... By Steve Somerstein & Ben Chitty = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = Remember back in the bad years, 1988 when the Reagan/Bush administration stopped the Veterans Peace Convoy to Nicaragua at the border crossing at Laredo, Texas? Think things must be better? Check this out. Pastors for Peace organized its second US+Cuba Friendshipment this summer, a 100-vehicle caravan carrying 100 tons of humanitarian aid. One vehicle is a yellow school bus, donated to the Ebenezer Baptist Church in Havana. The caravan got to the border at Laredo, and began crossing Tuesday, June 29th. The hundred tons of aid got to Mexico, transported by truck and foot across the border bridge without incident or restraint from Customs officials. Then the news media covering the Friendshipment left, and the bus, driven by the Rev. Lucius Walker of New York City, came up to the International Bridge. The Customs Service stopped, seized, and confiscated the little yellow school bus. Whereupon the people on the bus - fourteen in all, including an 88-year-old woman, an 86-year-old man, three clergymen, and a Cuban-Canadian student - declared a hunger strike. The bus and its occupants were towed and impounded in the holding pen at the Customs compound. At a press conference the next day, Customs stated it was prepared to "wait it out," and would not release the bus. At first the strikers were denied even toilet facilities (though after congressional intervention, the feds relented, and have provided a port-o-potty and fresh drinking water). There is some concern for the health of the strikers - the temperature in Laredo goes over 100 every day this time of year. Friendshipment attorneys wrote a letter to the Laredo Customs office asking if a doctor could go on the bus to check the passengers. The feds refused even to accept the letter. The caravan's political aim is to stir public opinion against the 30-year-long US economic embargo and blockade of Cuba. Designed to strangle the Cuban Revolution and force Cuba's return to its pre-1959 neo-colonial status, and strengthened by the passage of the Torricelli bill in 1992, the embargo violates international law, has been condemned by nearly all the countries in the United Nations, and is been widely opposed throughout Latin America. The caravan's organizers had refused to apply for or accept a license as required under the terms of the US embargo. The Customs Service had previously declared it would not let the prescription medicines, computers, and buses cross the bridge into Mexico. (In fact, the stuff carried across the border June 29th, along with 270 caravanistas, has already arrived in Havana.) Tom Hansen, Pastors for Peace director (and Veterans Peace Convoy survivor) asks, "Why have they seized a school bus after allowing tons of aid to cross the border? Is the government afraid of Cuban kids going to school or to church? The absurdity of this policy becomes ever more evident." The hunger strikers (less the 86-year-old, who had to drop out for urgent health reasons) will remain with the bus until it is released. Rev. Walker said, "We are being held as political hostages, confined to this little yellow school bus by the US Government, which refuses to recognize our right to provide humanitarian aid to a country which is not our enemy and with which we are not at war." In solidarity, 150 other caravan participants have joined the hunger strike and maintain a continu- ous vigil at the compound. Nobel Peace Prize winner Rigoberta Menchu, Congressmen Charles Rangel, Jose Serrano and Esteban Torres (all New York), Senator Paul Wellstone of Minnesota, author Alice Walker, the Rev. Jesse Jackson, the United Steelworkers of America, Local 8751 in Boston (school bus drivers and monitors), and the Cuban American Committee in New Jersey, have all called for the release of the bus and its occupants. Pastors for Peace have called a "national demonstration" for Saturday, August 7th, in Laredo, beginning at noon with a march from the Laredo Courthouse to the Little Yellow School Bus in the Customs Holding Pen #1. - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - The writers are members of the Clarence Fitch Chapter of Vietnam Veterans Against the War. Brother Somerstein joined the Veterans Peace Convoy to Nicaragua in 1988. Story compiled from reports by IFCO/Pastors for Peace and the International Peace for Cuba Appeal, as distributed through the NY Transfer News Collective. For more info, call the Pastors at 210-725-2401 (Laredo) or 612- 378-0062 (Minneapolis), or IFCO at 212-926-5757. - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - EDITOR'S NOTE: The yellow school bus was released at 6:15 PM on August 20th after a 23-day hunger strike. = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = DISAPPEARED-DETAINED JUNE 10, 1990 By Louis De Benedette = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = On June 10th three years ago, my friend Guadalupe Ccalloccunto Olano was kidnapped and disappeared by Peruvian soldiers as she lay sleeping with her youngest daughter in her arms. She was in her home in Ayacucho. Seventeen armed and hooded men entered the house, terrorized the family, and dragged her out into the night at gun point. She has never been seen again. I first met Guadalupe in Lima in 1984. I was in Peru helping at an orphanage with Vietnam veteran Father Joe Ryan. She had just completed a march with a group of relatives of the disappeared and a priest, Neptali Liceta. Guadalupe's husband Elario had been disappeared in 1983. Guadalupe, 24, a mother of four small children, helped found a committee of relatives of the disappeared and joined SERPAJ ("Service for Peace and Justice"), a non-violent activist group. I had kept in constant contact with this dear friend, and campaigned for her release from prison in 1986, when she was declared a prisoner of conscience by Amnesty International. It had always been an honor to serve her, and she named me the godfather of her children when they were baptized. In 1990, I went to Peru to search for her, and help the children who were still young. I returned again in 1992 to see the children. I was joined by Dave MacMichael, ex-CIA in Nicaragua. Sendero Luminoso ("Shining Path") is not the "champion of the people" some ignorant opportunist groups such as the RCP would have us believe. Sendero wants violence, just like the fascist elements in the military who disappeared Guadalupe. Peru is full of non-violent resistance, and many like Guadalupe suffer the ultimate fate at the hands of either the military or Sendero (the military kills about twice as many people as Sendero). None of us know what we would do given certain situations of repression until we are in it. Guadalupe always dreamed of peace and a life for her children. She chose a non-violent way in the face of horrible violence. I hope that her non-violence fell somewhere. We always shared and encouraged each other towards non-violence, but she did it much better than I did. The memory of a friend disappeared is very painful. Brother Dave Cline encouraged me to write this piece and to share a little information about this woman of courage. Peru is not going to get any better for the Indian Quechua people since it appears that the military would as soon kill all of them. We can't let this happen. I wrote this poem about Guadalupe during the Iraq war, since I believe that the living and the dead continue in the struggle for peace together forever. I wish to share this with you. New Haven, Connecticut June 11th, 1993 "My Lupe" I cannot forget the sound of your voice, And the hope you left behind, My Lupe. I must have stood in your presence, For only the hours it takes For a newborn to sleep; But your words were as abundant as the seeds Of a thousand fields of Kabat sunflowers, Passing softly, sweetly through my memory. Come back to me always, Guadalupe, For I cannot face the pain of your disappearance. I must have some of your courage, Or you could not have liked me. My poem is difficult to write, Since I do not know where you are, Or what they had done to you. Let me remember your beautiful face, And those hands that touched a million victims. All of you is hidden some place, But your arms touch the war-torn sky, And you feet, next to the Christ, Carry the desert dead away. One day I want to embrace you again -- One day I must embrace you again -- You are always a mother, woman and wife, Smiling with incredible innocence, And protecting your Quechua nation. Never will I be worthy for what you have done, Yet grateful for your trusting embrace. We are together in the struggle forever, My Lupe; You are leading and I still following. One day the birds of torture will no longer be free, And the Bushes of the world will know your truth. And your children will be happy as you dreamed, Don't let me quit, my non-violent Guadalupe. February 28, 1991 - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - NOTE: Brother De Benedette traveled by truck to Nicaragua in March 1993 as a representative of the Clarence Fitch Chapter. He visited members of ORD ("Organization of Revolutionary Disabled") in Managua, including Fernando Lopez (president of ORD until 1990), whom VVAW hosted at Kent State and helped sponsor on tour in New Jersey and Baltimore. Brother Lopez sends his fraternal and revolutionary greetings to all who remember him. He reports that the general situation among the disabled vets in Nicaragua is critical. The Chamorro government has not provided medicine or an adequate increase in pensions. Veterans are dying solely from lack of ordinary medicines once available to them under the Sandinista government. Anyone interested in helping these vets should write or call Brother De Benedette at 164 Kimberly Avenue in New Haven, CT, 96519 (telephone 203-624-6748). = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = VETERANS INTERNATIONAL Compiled by Ben Chitty = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = FRANCE Brief but informative, our meeting with Luc Barroy, national secretary of the Association republicaine des anciens combattants (ARAC). Barroy was in town with a delegation representing non- governmental organizations (NGOs) to talk to the United Nations Secretary-General about Bosnia and the Balkans, especially non- violent organizing efforts in Serbia. But he wanted to check out the Vietnam Memorial and to tell us about the Vietnam Friendship Village project. We wanted to hear about the project, but we were also curious about French opinion on the Bosnian crisis and about ARAC itself. Here's what we learned. The "Vietnam Friendship Village" is planned for Mat Bang Toan The, a site six kilometers from Hanoi. Approved by the Vietnamese government in December, 1991, the village will include a hospital, a school for 350 children, a technical school for another 100 young people, a cultural center with a library and conference areas, and lodgings for the children, resident students, staff, and visitors. Estimated total cost: $3,700,000. The Hanoi venture is an offshoot from the "Friendship Village" in Germany, Brother George Mizo's project which provides care for children with war injuries. Brother Ruben Gomez from California hopes to organize a fund-raising concert once the embargo is lifted. So what, we asked, do the French think about Bosnia? Well, General Philippe Morillon, the French commander of the UN force, became a national hero when he refused to abandon the Muslims in Srebrenica. (Of course this was after French Colonel Patrice Sartre had allowed Serbian soldiers to assassinate a Bosnian deputy prime minister in January.) Many people agree with Morillon: he opposes intervention primarily because of the cost in human lives, but also because peace cannot be imposed from without. Barroy noted also how the Western media have demonized the Serbs and their concerns. And ARAC? Founded in 1917 by Henri Barbusse, a decorated French veteran of the Great War who wrote the famous pacifist novel Le feu, journal d'une escouade (1916, usually translated as "Under Fire"). Already a revolutionary socialist, Barbusse became convinced that war could not be eliminated until exploitation ended, and joined the Partie communiste francaise (PCF) in 1923. >From 1929 until his death in 1935 while on a trip to Moscow, he concentrated on organizing intellectuals into the struggle against fascism. ARAC first organized support for soldiers and sailors who mutinied or refused to fight. After the Armistice, ARAC agitated against the Treaty of Versailles and the demand for German reparations, opposing the occupation of the Ruhr and calling for self- determination in Alsace-Lorraine. It opposed the Allied intervention in the Soviet Union, and supported rebellions in the French colonies of Morocco and Syria. Barbusse's concept of a "Veterans International" was picked up by veterans' leagues all across Europe in the 1920s and 30s, strongest perhaps in Italy before the rise of Mussolini. ARAC sent thousands of men to the International Brigades in the Spanish Civil War; one of the best known was Charles Tillon, veteran of the 1919 Black Sea mutiny, later commander of the Francs-tireurs et partisans francaises in the Resistance. In the 60s, ARAC added "et victimes de guerre" to its name to reflect its dual focus on both veterans and peace issues. Still associated with the PCF, ARAC has about 100,000 members, and organizes support for soldiers' and veterans' rights and assistance to all victims of war. Its leadership now comes mainly from vets of the Algerian war - Barroy himself was conscripted into the French army in 1959, and served two years as a radio operator. - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - VVAW was represented by David Cline (National Committee), Steve Moctezuma (New Jersey), and Ben Chitty (New York). - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - SALVADOR On Tuesday 20 May, police in San Salvador attacked a demonstration of disabled veterans, arresting 10, injuring scores, and (by some reports) killing four. Here's what happened. In February the legislature passed the "Law of Provision for Disabled Veterans," directing President Alfredo Christiani to appoint a board of directors to allocate benefits to "lisiados," disabled ex-combatants of both sides. Funded by international aid (including $5.5 million from the US), disbursement was scheduled to begin 21 April. By mid-May, President Christiani had not named the board, and the two main disabled veterans organizations - ALFAES (Asociacion des lisiados de fuerza arma de El Salvador) representing government vets and ASALDIG (Asociacion Salvadorena des lisiados y des incapacitados de guerre) representing FMLN vets - staged a two-day encampment in front of the Presidential Palace, demanding a meeting with the president. Christiani offered to meet with ALFAES (and not ASALDIG), but the army vets - angered by the government's failure to provide for disabled vets from enlisted ranks - refused. (The government does take care of disabled ex-officers). Early in the morning of 20 May, 3,000 lisiados and their families gathered in Cuscatlan Park and made their way on crutches and wheelchairs through the city. The blind vets marched in file, each with his hand on the person ahead of him. The procession arrived at the Palace about half past 10. There they were halted at a barbed-wire concertina fence by 30 National Police in full battle dress, armed with G-3 assault rifles. Led by the wheelchair vets, the lisiados started to move the fence aside. The police launched tear gas grenades, the vets responded with rocks, and shooting began. The blind and crippled vets tried to flee: "I didn't know even how or where to turn," said one blind FMLN veteran. The police continued fire, and chased the lisiados down, kicking the legs out from under one, kicking and beating others, dragging several away. Santos Martinez, an 18-year-old disabled FMLN vet, was shot in the head. ALFAES identified three Army vets also killed - two buried by police in a military mortuary, one taken by his family. (Fear of government reprisal has apparently prevented confirmation of these three deaths.) ONUSAL (the United Nations observers) got to the scene about 11 AM, just in time to rescue a police infiltrator (in civilian clothing wearing an FMLN headband) from the angry vets. The UN escorted escorted the presidents of ALFAES and ASALDIG - Dr. Oscar Santamaria and Gen. Mauricio Vargas - into the Palace. The anti- riot police withdrew, the government released three captured demonstrators, further meetings were promised, the first on 26 May. But FMLN vet Gregorio Abarca, speaking for both organizations, told reporters the economic and medical needs of the lisiados were not resolved: "I don't know what we're going to do...the issue can't be left like this." Martinez was recovered by volunteer paramedics and taken to a mortuary, then to FENASTRAS headquarters, where hundreds of lisiados kept a 24-hour vigil over the corpse. Next morning thousands of members of both vets groups turned out for the memorial service and carried his coffin through the streets to the La Bermeja Cemetery. On 24 May, President Christiani announced results of a preliminary investigation. Martinez had been killed by a G-3 bullet, apparently a ricochet. Five police G-3s had been fired. Five policemen were under provisional arrest. The officer in charge "will be removed from his post." But Christiani also accused the lisiados of provocation, "coming prepared to provoke disorders," and "manipulating this politically." A civilian filmed shooting a pistol has not yet been identified. At the 26 May meeting, the government agreed to name directors for the "Provision" fund, and to recognize both veterans organizations. But ALFAES and ASALDIG have also demanded new procedures for the police anti-riot squads, and the dismissal of National Police Director Col. Francisco Humberto Salinas. Both ALFAES and ASALDIG insist the police action against the lisiados was premeditated. The day before the lisiados' march, President Christiani had pledged to break up demonstrations and silence protests. For his part, Col. Salinas first denied that he was present at the demonstration. Confronted by reporters who saw him put on a gas mask and open a box of grenades, he admitted he "just happened to be" inside the Palace when the action started. Col. Salinas is best known in El Salvador for his service with the Army's 2nd Brigade, which promoted and practiced the policy of "quita cabezas" - decapitation. According to ALFAES and ASALDIG, there are 3,486 disabled FMLN veterans, 8,000 disabled Army vets, and about 3,000 war-disabled civilians in El Salvador. - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - Based on reports from El Rescate Human Rights Department and CIDAI, the Center for Information, Documentation and Research Support of the Central American University in San Salvador. - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - ISRAEL Yesh Gvul: Soldiers with a Conscience Hanoch Livneh and Steve Langfur are Israeli "refuseniks," army reservists who have refused to serve in the Occupied Territories and have been jailed as a result. Both spoke recently at a series of meetings in Chicago. "Yesh Gvul," Livneh explained, "means two things. First, there is a limit, a boundary (pre-1967 war boundaries) beyond which we will not go. Second, there is a personal limit to the behavior in which we will engage." Yesh Gvul was established in 1982 during the Israeli occupation of southern Lebanon, the first war many Israelis did not consider a defensive war. Many also thought it an unnecessary war, and 160 reservists were jailed for refusing to serve in Lebanon. In 1986 Israeli Chief of Staff Moshe Levy admitted the refusal movement in the Lebanon war influenced the government's decision to withdraw from most of Lebanon. "The army made me an activist," acknowledges Livneh. "It was quite clear to me that I was going to refuse." It wasn't always clear to Langfur. As a tour guide in Israel, he remembers, "I used to say it's true the occupation is evil and in an evil situation evil men will tend to exercise their own personal evil. But what choice do we have? I would say it is evil, but the least of evils." Before the Intifada (Palestinian uprising), Langfur continued, "one could think the majority of Palestinians were reconciled, were willing to live with the occupation. My image of the Palestinians was of a people who were willing to bend their necks, to live under the rule of another people, incapable of uniting and turning their national will to determine the course of their lives. It was exceptional for Israelis to meet Palestinians who weren't in some way or another bending their necks. Looking at Palestinians that way I saw them as somewhat less than human, because to me a human being has a certain limit beyond which he won't bend his neck. "With the Intifada they reached the limit. They came out into the streets. Suddenly they became human beings. We had been sitting on top of them for 21 years when the Intifada began, and why haven't we moved toward the creation of a new and better alternative?" Langfur decided to refuse his reserve duty in the Occupied Territories. "People looked on the Intifada as abnormal. I recognized right away the Intifada is normal and the 20 years of submission abnormal." Langfur believes Yesh Gvul is important far beyond the numbers who have refused. During the Lebanon war, he notes, "Yesh Gvul signified the breaking of the Israeli army; a fissure opened up. There was a whole unit (of reservists) they didn't mobilize because they were afraid they wouldn't show up. This army was something sacred until the Lebanon war. Today, refusal which was previously considered anathema, is now much more acceptable. I wasn't looked on as a kook. Still the army has such symbolic value for Israel that people in Yesh Gvul are seen as violating something holy." Violating that "something holy" can lead to jail. Reservists often serve one month a year. If they refuse to serve in the Occupied Territories they can be assigned elsewhere or put in military jail. Livneh reported that as of May 21st, "109 have been jailed. At least 1,000 have refused to serve in the Occupied Territories and have been reassigned and not jailed. There are also 'grey refuseniks,' thousands more, who get sick, go abroad, and get out of serving. "If in one day there are 100 refuseniks in prison, they can no longer go on with the occupation," Livneh believes. "Real negotiations will begin. Negotiations will lead to a peace agreement." The two Israelis are seeking support in the United States. Livneh pointed out that when reservists serve they are paid. "Once you refuse, you get no payment. There is a family to feed. There is a project to adopt a refusenik. The adopting group sends some money, a letter to the family, to the refusenik, to the defense ministry." Refusenik families need the emotional support letters bring. Letters to refuseniks in jail help them survive. As Livneh remarked, "the authorities check out all the letters. If you want to send some money, instead of sending a letter to the defense minister, send it to the refusenik - the defense minister will see it before the refusenik himself." Yesh Gvul tries to educate other soldiers. Livneh explained "we help them to know where they will draw their red line: at transferring (expelling) Palestinians, shooting into a crowded home, shooting at children, or serving in the West Bank or Gaza." - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - Based on a PeaceNet story by Myron Perlman, Insight Features. = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = VIETNAM VETERANS AGAINST THE WAR Where we came from, who we are, who can join = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = Vietnam Veterans Against the War, Inc. (VVAW) is a national veterans organization that was founded in New York City in 1967 after six Vietnam vets marched together in a peace demonstration. It was organized to voice the growing opposition among returning servicemen and women to the still raging war in Indochina, and grew rapidly to a membership of over 30,000 throughout the United States as well as active-duty GIs stationed in Vietnam. Through ongoing actions and grass-roots organization, VVAW exposed the ugly truth about US involvement in Southeast Asia and our first- hand experiences helped many other Americans to see the unjust nature of that war. VVAW quickly took up the struggle for the rights and needs of veterans. In 1970 we started the first rap groups to deal with traumatic after-effects of war, setting the example for readjustment counselling at Vets Centers now. We exposed the shameful neglect of many disabled vets in VA hospitals and helped draft legislation to improve educational benefits and create job programs. VVAW fought for amnesty for war resisters including vets with bad discharges. We helped make known the negative health effects of exposure to chemical defoliants and the VA's attempts to cover up these conditions, as well as their continued refusal to provide treatment and compensation for most Agent Orange victims. Today our government is still financing and arming undemocratic and repressive regimes around the world. Recently American troops have been sent into combat in the Middle East and Central America for many of the same misguided reasons that were used to send us to Southeast Asia. Meanwhile many veterans are still denied justice - facing unemployment, discrimination, homelessness, post- traumatic stress disorder and other health problems while already inadequate services are being cut back or eliminated. We believe that service to our country and communities did not end when we were discharged. We remain committed to the struggle for peace and for social and economic justice for all people. We will continue to oppose senseless military adventures and to teach the real lessons of the Vietnam War. We will do all we can to prevent another generation from being put through a similar tragedy, and we will continue to demand dignity and respect for veterans of all eras. This is real patriotism, and we remain true to our mission. VVAW is a democratic organization. Chapters decide on local rograms and projects under the general guidelines of the national program. Chapters elect local leadership and representatives to annual national meetings where major organizational decisions are made and national coordinators elected. These coordinators are responsible for the day-to-day organizational leadership of VVAW and for issuing national publications. The Clarence Fitch Chapter is the New York/New Jersey area chapter of VVAW. You can support us in a number of ways: (1) Join Vietnam Veterans Against the War. Membership is open to all veterans, their families and friends. An application is available on request. Annual dues are $20 (FREE to unemployed and incarcerated veterans and friends). You get all local and national publications, like this issue of DMZ, and notices of local chapter meetings and events. We have ongoing speaking, video, publication, reconciliation, and humanitarian aid projects which need your participation and support. (2) Make a contribution. Any amount will help, no matter how large or small. But we suggest at least $10 to stay on the regular mailing list. On request, we can now arrange to send reminders if you wish to make a monthly contribution. A sustainer form appears on the reverse of the membership application. We hope to hear from you. In solidarity, for VVAW Ben Chitty, Dave Cline Chapter Coordinators Clarence Fitch Chapter Vietnam Veterans Against the War P.O. Box 74, Van Brunt Station Brooklyn, New York, 11215 E-mail: vvaw@blythe.org (Telephone 718-826-1789, anytime day or night) -30- + Join Us! 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