Amnesty group reports on political killings
LONDON (AP) — Thousands
of people, especially in Central
America, were killed last year on
the orders of their governments,
Amnesty International said in its
annual report Wednesday.
It urged international action
against political killings
‘ Governments must not be
allowed to evade responsibility
when they choose to obliterate
suspected opponents," the
London-based human rights
movement said in the 367-page
review of political imprison
ment, torture and executions in
121 nations in 1981
The Nobel Peace Prize-win
ning organization stuck to its
tradition of refusing to make
comparisons or identify the
world’s worst offenders against
human rights
The report ranged frgm ca
taloging "continuing repression
against all forms of dissent" in
the Soviet Union to expressing
concern at a record 924 people
on death row in the United
States It cites El Salvador.
Guatemala and Syria for civilian
killings by troops or officially
approved "death squads."
Amnesty said Iran, where Is
lamic courts condemned an
average 13 people a day, in
cluding children, to death by
firing squad during the second
half of 1981, topped the 34 na
tions where death sentences
imposed by courts were carried
out.
The organization, which op
poses capital punishment, said
3,278 prisoners were known to
have been executed during the
year — nearly treble the number
in 1980
These officially announced
figures included 2,616 people in
Iran and 96 in white-minority
ruled South Africa but left out.
for example, an estimated
' hundreds" sentenced by mili
tary courts in Pakistan and
similar executions in other
countries
Oh to be where palms sway, steel drums
play... now it’s Jamaican ganja season
DUNCANS, Jamaica (AP) — Heaped at the
end of an airstrip between the Jamaican coastal
resorts of Montego Bay and Ocho Rios, a rusted
DC-3, a stripped Piper Cub and an engineless
Cessna lay in a field of red peppers
"They were just too loaded down with dope,”
says Samuel Bazin, 24. a tour guide in the Mon
tego Bay area He says the field, adjacent to the
blue-green waters of the Caribbean, is a well
known landing strip for planes picking up mar
ijuana
"Ganja," as the Jamaicans call it. is the
island's No. 1 crop.
Grown in the Jamaican interior by reclusive
natives called Maroons, marijuana is being har
vested now, and federal drug agents say most will
be shipped or flown 700 miles north to hidden
off-loading sites in southern Florida. ,
Those planes that don't make it — such as the
three at Duncans — are often grounded through
negligence and greed, locals say
The marijuana is hastily transferred from the
planes, which are looted of valuable airplane
parts, before the well-to-do traffickers abandon
the planes.
"It's just written off as a ioss," srys FBI
special agent Jim Freeman in Miami It's the cost
of doing business "
Freeman recently visited Kingston s police
chief to plot a U S -Jamaican attack on the large
scale drug trade, which originates primarily in
Colombia and Jamaica
Prime Minister Edward Seaga says marijuana
is still the island s chief source of revenue
Officials estimate island ganja growers reap
an estimated $11 billion annually — more than
Jamaica's foreign debt — on about 2,000 acres of
cultivated land
In 1980, 97 suspected pot planes suffered
crashes or were seized at island landings spots
That figure declined to 46 in 1981, Jamaican
StatfStiCS iri\jiCat6
By September of this year, there have been
13 crashes or seizures — 10 in August, officials
say
But Jamaican authorities dehy marijuana
traffickers are active on this island this year.
"There's not much ganja around,. California,
that's where it is now, with their sensimilla," says
Jamaican consul Sidney Abrahams in Miami
Sensimilla — seedless marijuana mostly grown in
Northern California — is "better (quality) weed
than that grown in Jamaica," he says
But Freeman cautions: "Things aren’t ,as
quiet as some want us to believe ''
At the Montego Bay airport, locals openly
approach tourists outside the terminal with offers
to sell "spliffs" — a cigar-sized marijuana cigar
ette For $20, they offer ganja "guaranteed to
make you fly."
Unemployment on the island is 35 percent
Prices for its top export commodities — bauxite,
sugar and bananas — have fallen as much as 25
percent from 1980 ievels
Seaga has said that without the island’s
marijuana underground business, his island na
tion would be bankrupt
All but a few hundred of the
condemned Iranians died in an
"upsurge of executions ’ after
the June 20 ouster of President
Abolhassan Bani-Sadr. said the
report More than 3,800 people
are known to have been ex
ecuted since the February 1979
revolution which brought Aya
tollah Ruhollah Khomeini to
power, it said
The 21-year-old group, which
has long campaigned for the
release of political prisoners,
focuses its latest report on dis
sidents and threatened minori
ties in nations which resort to
political killings
The victims, dead or "disap
r
peared." were "countless.” the
review noted This is a report
about people, not statistics. "
Such killings, said Amnesty,
took place in countries with
widely differing political philo
sophies — from right-wing Cen
tral American regimes, through
Syria's socialist Baath govern
ment to the world's largest
democracy, India
In El Salvador, the report said,
refugees' testimony confirmed
reports that identified regular
security and military units as
responsible for widespread tor
ture, mutilation and killings of
non-combatant civilians from all
sections of society ”
Oregon and Washington file
to block off-shore drilling
SALEM (AP) — Oregon and Washington filed briefs with
a federal court Monday in an effort to block the Interior
Department from going ahead with plans to let oil leases off
the northern California coast
The states argue that the leases should not be approved
because of potential environmental problems and the econ
omic losses they could suffer if an oil spill polluted their
coastal waters
The offshore leasing program was approved earlier this
year by Interior Secretary James Watt The briefs were filed in
the states' lawsuit before a federal court in Washington, D C
The brief quoted Oregon Gov Vic Atiyeh, who in April
said Watt had failed to consider the environmental effects of
the leasing plan on Oregon and Washington Both Oregon
and Washington depend heavily on tourism and fishing, and
an oil spill could cause them serious damage, Atiyeh said
The states argue that Watt's failure to consider the
environmental problems means his decision lacked the
proper balance between the possible.discovery of oil and the
potential damage a spill would cause.
The briefs said the Interior Department's environmental
impact statement on the leasing program was inadequate
because Oregon an,d Washington were excluded from the
review Finally, they say the leasing program violates prc - •
sions of the federal Coastal Zone Management Act.
Attorney General Dave Frohnmayer said, "The interior
secretary's plan is drafted as if the environmental effects of
offshore drilling stop at state borders Because there is no
proposal to lease lands off the Oregon and Washington
coasts, Secretary Watt completely failed to consider the
effects of offshore drilling in neighboring states."
The case is expected to be argued in December before a
three-judge federal panel in Washington, D C.
MEETINGS
Th« University Marketing Association will hold a
meeting today at 4 30 p m in 243 Gilbert
Alpha Kappa Pal Business Fraternity Is now accepting
pledges. General information and pledge materials are
available at the AKP cottee sales in the east stairwell of
Gilbert before 10:30 am. or during themformational/
pledge test I meeting tomorrow night at 7 in 336 Gilbert
The last pledge test will be held Wed . Nov 3 at 7 p m in
336 Gilbert
PI Lambda Theta, national honor society tor Educa
tion majors, will be holding a meeting tomorrow night at
7 in 151 Education The meeting will include introduc
tions, goal-setting for the year and a talk by Dr Fay
Haisley All Education majors welcome
There Is a Druids meeting tonight at 6: >5 in the Carson
Gold Room For more information contact Dan Gossack
at x6248
MEChA will have a meeting today at 4 pm in 16-D
EMU All Chicano and Latin American students are
welcome.
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MY. moo BACK A WNS MAY
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There will be a meeting tor all women Interested In
forming a Women's Community Center to serve the
Eugene-Springfield area tonight from 6 30 to 8:30 at the
Eugene Public Library We»are currently a small, diverse
group of women, exploring the need for and interest in
establishing a space devoted to assisting women in the
pursuit of their physical, emotional, spiritual and econ
omic goals For further information, please contact Wren
Davidson at 342-6369
OSPIRG (Oregon Student Public Interest Research
Group) Consumer Hotline will hold a meeting tomorrow
night at 7. OSPIRG office is located in the EMU
Everyone is welcome to attend For more information call
OSPIRG at 686-4377.
The EMU Board House Committee will meet today at
4:30 p m in 108 EMU. The committee will deal with space
allocation in Suite 1, EMU
ORCA will meet tonight at 7 in Century B, EMU,
Members wishing to ride in the van to HP should attend
and sign up. Contact Greg Stewart at 342-8528 tor more
information
SPEAKERS
Slate Representative Mary McCauley Burrows and
Oregon Taxpayers Representative Dan Gritting will
discuss Ballot Measure Three: Constitutional Real
Property Tax Limit Preserving 85 ot Districts' 1979
Revenue Will voter approval of this measure affect your
college education? This question and others will be
addressed today from 12:30 to 1:30 p m in 108-109 EMU
Open to all. Sponsored by Episcopal Campus Ministry
Peace and Justice Forum. Call 484-1707 for more
information
British Broadcasting Corp. Correspondent Pamela
Creighton will be speaking to Women In Communica
tions tonight at 7 in 221 Allen The public is welcome
Dwight Lang will speak on “Sex, Race, and Class
Inequality In the Academic Hierarchy" today from 3 to 4
p m in 605 PLC as part of the Fall Term Presentations
sposored by the Center tor the Study of Women in
Society
MISCELLANEOUS
All University students Interested In learning more
about the Issues of nuclear war and the nuclear freeze
are invited to a free showing of The Last Epidemic" in
Carson Hall Gold Room tonight at 7:30 Off-campus
residents welcome
Creme Dyment Dormitory Big Brother Court tryoute
will be held tonight from 7 to 8 All residence hall men are
welcome to tryout Call backs will be held tomorrow
night
Episcopal Camus Ministry communion worship ser
vice will be held today at 4:30 p m at Koinonia Center
Chapel, 1414 Kincaid All baptized Christians are
welcome to attend Bible study following the service will
be held from 5:30 to 7 p.m Call 484-1707 for more
information.
"Hard Time Lunches" — a benefit for Salvadoran
Refugees, will be held today from 11:30 a m to 2p m at
1236 Kincaid Authentic, homemade Salvadoran food
will be served and there will be live Latin music Cost is
$1.50.
Eckankar: “A Way of Life" presents an Informative
program, “Life, It's All Learning." Learn how to realize
one's divine self and discover the direct path to God
Realization tomorrow night at 7:30 at the Eugene Public
Library, 100W. 13th For more information call 343-2657
The Golden Gate Poets (Kush, John Curl, Andrew
Hayes and friends, all from the San Francisco Bay Area)
will perform their works on Monday, Nov. 1 at 7:30 p m at
the Homefried -Truckstop. 790 E 14th This is part of their
tour of the Pacific Northwest
Polarity: A Weekend at the Coast LCC Heceta House
Nov 5, 6, and 7. Preregister at LCC Downtown Center by
Nov 1 Cost is $35 (includes vegetarian meals and
lodging). Call Judith Lindsay, M A at 344-1101 or
343-1937 for more information
Learn how to buy, store and cook with bulk foods.
Sponsored by Head Start For more information contact
Michelle Kane at 689-9290 or 935-1005
Attend the People's Law School this week and learn
all about wills. The class is free and meets tonight from 7
to 9 p m at Patterson Community School. 1510 W 15th
Learn how a will is prepared, whether a will is necessary
and how to avoid problems There is no cost or registra
tion For more information contact Sue Heinl at
342-6056
Gay men’s Health Issues. First in a series of presen
tations on saxually transmitted diseases concerning the
gay community: Kaposi's Sarcoma ("Gay Cancer") will
be held tonight from 7 to 10 p.m at Keystone Cafe. 5th
and Lawrence Presented by a Eugene doctor, com
municable disease specialist. There is no charge for this
series