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About Portland observer. (Portland, Or.) 1970-current | View Entire Issue (March 25, 1982)
Portland Observer, March 25,196 2 Page 5 Washington Hotline ¿OVERPAY by Congressman Kon Wyden your Q. Saturday, the Administration backed down from earlier proposals to weaken health and safety regula tions f o r America’s nursing homes. H o w do you fe e l about this deci sion? A. I'm very pleased. As I outlined in a press conference Friday, I had been very concerned about what the proposed changed could mean for America's elderly. A m ong the d raft proposals, for exam ple, were those which would have elim in ated the requirem ent that homes receiving Medicare pay ments provide staff training in areas such as fire safety, the problems o f the aged and ill, and con tro l o f infectious diseases. The d ra ft proposals also would have: •allowed homes to avoid comply ing w ith federal hygiene and sani tary standards unless there are not staste requirements at a ll— even if those requirements arc minimal; •elim inated the requirement that homes have a medical director on stsff, and that personal physicians visit patients at least once a month, and; •elim inated the requirement that homes have activity centers. I ’ m pleased the A d m in istratio n now has switched gears and declared that nursing home patients deserve federal protection. But we should not start celebrating quite yet. For one thing, the Administration is not backing o ff o f its proposed social service budget cuts, many o f which would seriously impact nurs ing home patients. In addition, although the Adm in istration has had a change o f heart on the majority o f the proposed reg ulatory changes, Health and Human Services Secretary Richard Schweik- er has said he still intends to pursue changes in the nursing home inspec tion program that would reduce the num ber o f inspections fo r homes that meet federal standards, while Increasing those fo r substandard homes. Although I agree w ith Secretary Schweiker that substandard homes should be inspected m ore o fte n , I seriously question the advisability o f reducing the number o f inspections for homes that meet the standards. Regular inspections are designed not only to ensure that homes meet ba sic standards, but also to ensure that they m aintain them. T o do o th e r wise, would be to je o p a rd ize the quality o f care for one o f the most vulnerable groups in our society. Q. Last week, you and other members o f the House Oversight and Investigations Subcommittee fin a lly got to view the documents that Secretary Watt has been with holding under an executive privilege claim. A fter seeing the documents, W A S H IN G T O N . O . C . — T im C o ulter, a part-lndian lawyer with the Indian Law Resource Center in Washington, had never gotten a call before from the State Department offering support for his Tight for In dian rights. So he was surprised when the Reagan Adm inistration's Human Rights Bureau called him to ask if he would protest to Nicaragua about that governm ent's con flict with the Miskito Indians. The first call was over a year ago. Several m ore have been received since then, all about the Miskitos. N e x t, a retired U .S . A rm y c o lo n e l, Sam D ickens, fro m the conservative A m erican Security Council, issued a press release to say the Council was sponsoring a visit to Washington by a Miskito Indian to denounce what he called the Nicara guan government's "policy o f geno cide against the M iskitos." Secretary o f State Alexander Haig and President Reagan soon joined the chorus o f public protests over N icaragua's "gen o cid al actions" against the Miskitos. Such unanimous official concern for Indian rights would have been— in another e ra — the equivalent o f turning the U .S. cavalry against the settlers for encroaching on Indian hunting ground. N ic a ra g u a ’ s M is k ito s , about 10,000 o f whom live on the Atlantic Coast province o f Z e la y a , are locked in a struggle with the revolu tionary Sandinist government over land claims, preservatin o f their cul ture and self-determination. The in dignation from the Reagan A dm in istration was occasioned by the San dinist a rm y ’ s forced relocation o f 10,000 Miskitos from their villages along the Honduran border after a series o f arm ed incursions in the area by groups seeking the o ver throw o f the Sandinistas. N eed 7 bucks today? I An easy, relaxing way to pick up cash —all that's required is a plasma donation We pay $ 1 tor each donation & special bonuses enabling you to earn up to $ 15 a month Come In today' BRING THIS AO FOR NEW DONOR BONUS! CX Alpha PLASMA CENTERS 427 S .W . 11th 2706 S.E. A n k e n y T o the A m erican and in te rn a tional human rights organizations that have been monitoring the situa tion and supporting the M iskito s, the problem there is o f a piece with that o f long-standing violations o f human rights in B razil, Paraguay and Chile. The difference— a perplexing d if ference to Indian rights advocates— is that N icarag ua’ s M iskitos have been caught in the swirl o f an inter n atio n al g eo p o litical hu rrican e, where side-taking becomes wrapped up with ideology and the alignment o f traditional Indian allies and en emies is skewed almost beyond rec ognition. Traditionally, Indian groups have looked fo r support fo r In d ian causes in Latin America to the left side o f the political spectrum, and in both L a tin A m erican and N o rth American matters they have viewed the U.S. government as a major ad versary. On the issue o f the Miskitos, left ists have lined up behind the Sandin istas, rightists and government o ffi cials have rediscovered In d ia n rights, and Indian rights groups arc divided— and bewildered. The stakes in the M iskito Indian affair arc high. For the Reagan A d ministration, the issue is Nicaragua and its leftist government, whose re moval is a top foreign policy prior ity. For the Sandinistas and the La tin A m erica leftist movements in general, the htmdling o f the Miskito conflict could determine whether other In dian populations jo in the wave o f revolt in Central America— or return to the sidelines in a lo o f distrust. O f five U.S.-based Indian advo cacy organizations questioned, two criticized the Sandinist Indian policy and condemned the relocation, two defended the Sandinist action, and one said it was reserving judgment. All five, however, were critical o f the role o f the Reagan A dm inistra tion. Kenneth Taylor, Latin-Am eri ca co-director o f Survival In tern a tional, said his organization has de clined to take a position on the relo cation except to call for additional fac t-fin d in g and negotiation. The U .S . governm ent's expression o f concern, he said, was "completelyh unprecedented. When wc have ar gued (in international organizations such as the U N . H u m an Rights Commission) the violations o f hu man rights o f Indians by 'frie n d ly a u th o rita ria n regimes' there has never been any pro-Indian comment from the State D e p a rtm e n t,” Taylor said. In eight years o f In d ia n rights w ork, he added, he had never even heard o f the A m erican Security Council. C o lte r, o f the In d ia n Law Re source Center, has a Miskito Indian, A rm strong W iggins, on his s ta ff. W ith the Center's backing, Wiggins presented a formal testimony March 2 to the In te r-A m e ric a n H u m an Rights Commission o f the O rgani zation o f A m erican States, de nouncing the N icaraguan govern ment's action as a “ gross violation" o f Indian rights. But Colter is uncomfortable with the attention the problem is getting from the Reagan A d m in is tra tio n . The Miskitos' conflict with the San dinistas, he said, is being used by the State Department for ulterior politi cal motives which, he said, “ debases human rights and undermines In d i an rights.” W iggins said he agreed: " W e know the U.S. government is not in terested in Indian people, they are only interested in overthrowing the Sandinist government.” Two organizations, the American Indian Movement and the Interna tional Indian Treaty C ouncil, sent representatives to the Atlantic Coast area last last year and called for In dian support o f the Sandinist gov ernment. The groups accept the N i caraguan government’s explanation that the relocation o f the M iskitos was a m ilitary necessity because o f the threat o f anti-government rebel attacks in the area. The Sandinistas say up to 60 persons were killed in such attacks last December. In a letter to another Indian rights group, Roxanne Dunbar, an Indian anthropologist w o rk in g w ith the Treaty Council, called for an " a lli ance" between the Sandinist revolu tion and the Black and Ind ian minorities o f N icaragua’s A tlantic Coast. Dunbar was addressing the editor o f Akwesasne N otes, a nationally distributed American Indian news paper, which had published a long interview with Wiggins last year at tacking the Sandinist Indian policy. Akwesasne Notes has tried to walk a thin editorial line critical o f Nicara guan Indian policy but supportive o f the Sandinist revolution as super ior to rightist Latin American gov ernments. N icarag u a, noted ed ito r John Mohawk in an editorial, is the first test o f a leftist revolutionary gov ernment in a country with a substan tial Indian population. It is thus un der close observation by Indian pop ulations in other countries. " I f the Sandinist governm ent continues w ith an In d ia n policy which gives no more than lip service to the rights o f M iskitos to a con tinued c u ltu ra l existence, it w ill build a wall between leftist national liberation struggles and Indians in Central America which no amount THIS YEAR? do y o u je e l the claim o f executive privilege was warranted? H o w do you feel about the process in gener al? A. N o, I do not believe the claim o f executive p rivilege was w a r ranted. A lth o u g h the documents were relevant to the issue the sub committee is considering (C anadi- an-U .S. reciprocity with regards to m ineral rights), they certainly did not represent the kind o f national security matters for which the claim o f executive privilege is usually re served. I am most concerned that this procedure not establish a precedent for how such m atters w ill be handled in the future. Congress and the A d m in is tra tio n should— and m ust— w ork together in a m ore open and o rd erly fashion. We should reserve Constitutional con frontations for matters o f Constitu tional importance. IP YOU HAVE ALREADY FILED YOUR 1981 INCOME TAXES BUT ARC WONOERINQ r YOU D O IT RIGHT, ABK ABOUT OUR •N O -C H A N G E NO CHARGE S E R V IC E ! WE W ILL REVIEW YOUR TA X RE T U R N FOR N O CHARGE - EVEN IF T H E R E A R E CHANGES NE CESSARY. THERE s 7 ; W IL L BE NO « 1 CHARGE UNLESS YOU W A N T US TO R E -D O Y O U R TAX RETURN FOR YOU. TO» MMce can maud»' Tuaa»»r«a* M A R C H O N L Y : 2 0 % O F F on your income tax return, if unemployed. Indians look at Meskitos' fate by John Dinges Pacific News Service INCOME TAXES ¿ur m i M c m are aiao located at Sean aind moet l^red Meyer store« g o f rh eto ric about revo lu tio n can pen etrate,” said M o h a w k . " A n d w ith o u t the support and in volve ment o f Indians, liberation struggles in Latin America are an impossibil ity.” An early casualty o f the political furor over the Miskito situation was the possibility o f objective accounts o f what actu ally happened in the month o f January along the Coco River border, between Nicaragua and Honduras. The Sandinist arm y adm itted evacuating about 10,000 Indians from more than 20 villages, trans porting them to settlements 50 miles from the border, then razing the vil lages, burning the Indians* thatch houses and k illin g any rem aining livestock. That is as fa r as the undisputed facts o f the case go. The Sandinistas contend that no one was injured in the relocation, although part o f the operation included the arrest o f over 100 Miskitos suspected o f collabora tion with Honduran-based rebels. The Sandinist version is backed up by John W ilson, the Bishop o f the M oravian church to which the majority o f Miskito Indians belong. Wilson and a Baptist church w ork er, Sixto U llo a , the d irecto r o f a Protestant social assistance o r g an ization active in the A tla n tic Coast area, came to W ashington last week as part o f a N icaraguan delegation. " W e are not Sandinistas,” Ulloa said. " I f we had any reason to think there had been killings or brutality, we wouldn’t have lent our presence to this trip ." T o counter the massacre charges leveled by Secretary H aig, the San dinist government has form ally in vited the In te r-A m e ric a n H um an Rights Commission to make an on- sight, fact-finding trip. Commission officials said the invitation would be accepted. ©Pacific News Service. 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