>From: [EMAIL PROTECTED] >To: "International" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> >Date: Fri, 29 Sep 2000 16:05:18 -0400 >Subject: Yugo Elections: Investigate US Corruptions >International Action Center >39 West 14th Street, #206 >New York, NY 10011 >212-633-6646 >212-633-2889 fax >[EMAIL PROTECTED] >www.iacenter.org > >International Action Center statement-- >September 28, 2000; For immediate release: > >Blatant U.S. intervention in Yugoslav elections protested; Group calls for >investigation > >In response to the emergency situation in Yugoslavia caused by the open >and extensive intervention in that nation’s election process by the U.S. and >West European governments, the International Action Center is calling for >the establishment of a Commission of Inquiry to investigate U.S. >manipulation of elections and other interference in the internal affairs of >sovereign countries. > >This intervention has taken the form of military pressure, with NATO naval >maneuvers in the Adriatic and Mediterranean Seas and threats of resumed >bombings, economic pressure that a 9-year-long embargo would be relieved >only if the vote went against President Slobodan Milosevic, and direct >financing of organizations and parties that oppose the Milosevic-lead >coalition. > >The IAC, founded in 1992 by former U.S. Attorney General Ramsey Clark and >other anti-war activists, has played a leading role in the anti-war struggle in >the United States and in the fight to end sanctions against Iraq, Yugoslavia, >Cuba and other countries. > >In calling for the creation of the Commission of Inquiry Ramsey Clark drew >attention to past U.S. manipulations of elections, giving the examples of >Nicaragua, where the popular Sandinista government was voted out in 1990 >and where Washington injected $54 million into that poor country. He also >spoke of countries where the U.S. overrode the electoral process and >organized violent coups to put in their own person, as with Mobutu in Zaire >(now Congo), or in Chile, Haiti and Iran. > >“In all cases where the U.S. put ‘its man’ in office,” said Clark, “the people >wound up worse off than before. Think of what Mobutu did to the Congo, >what Pinochet did to Chile, and that under the U.S.-backed governments after >the Sandinistas in Nicaragua that country was reduced to one of the poorest >on the earth. After the election in each country, U.S. money stopped coming >in.” > >The U.S. never kept its promises of aid to develop Nicaragua. Currently >Taiwanese bankers and industrialists are the major exploiters of low-paid >Nicaraguan labor in the “free-trade zones,” where conditions of work in the >sweatshops are about the worst in the world. The money Washington put >into the country was not a promise of things to come but an investment >expected to earn a quick return. > >“We need,” said Clark, “to expose the way the U.S. government takes >advantage of elections to put in a regime of their choice, and how this has >always been harmful to the people of that country.” > >The U.S. government has boasted that it injected $77 million into Yugoslavia >to build up the opposition to President Slobodan Milosevic and his >governing coalition. Another $105 million has been authorized on September >26th by the U.S. House of Representatives for similar use. > >“To put this amount in perspective,” said IAC co-director Sara Flounders, >“The U.S. has voted more money to subvert an election in little Yugoslavia >than the total funds both major U.S. Presidential candidates have raised. This >year Al Gore has reported $47 million in contributions and George W. Bush >$87 million. And that’s for a rich country with almost 300 million people. > >“This money goes a long way in Yugoslavia—a much poorer country with >only 11 million people. It’s as if some foreign country recently a U.S. enemy >put tens of billions of dollars behind a candidate in the U.S. And this is only >hard money. What about the millions of dollars in soft money from the Soros >Foundation and the NGOs?” > >“You can only imagine,” continued Flounders, “the hysteria it would arouse >if that happened here. Those taking the money would be labeled as traitors, >refused the right to run and probably charged with crimes.” > >Flounders said the Commission of Inquiry was calling on others who have >the detailed information to show just what methods were used to influence >the Yugoslav elections as well as other elections in the past. Others may >want to illustrate how the U.S. government tried to buy elections in their >countries. She also suggested that organizations in the other NATO >countries might want to investigate what the governments there have done >to manipulate the Yugoslav elections. > >“The Yugoslav people heroically faced NATO bombing for 78 days last >year,” she said. “Now they are facing an equally heavy barrage of high-tech >propaganda beamed in from the most powerful lie machine the human race >ever saw. We plan to reveal the insides of that machine and expose its >dangers to the world.” > >For more information, call 212-633-6646 or look at the IAC web site at >www.iacenter.org. > > > >International Action Center >39 West 14th Street, Room 206 >New York, NY 10011 >email: [EMAIL PROTECTED] >web: www.iacenter.org >CHECK OUT THE NEW SITE www.mumia2000.org >phone: 212 633-6646 >fax: 212 633-2889 > _______________________________________________________ KOMINFORM P.O. Box 66 00841 Helsinki - Finland +358-40-7177941, fax +358-9-7591081 e-mail [EMAIL PROTECTED] http://www.kominf.pp.fi _______________________________________________________ Kominform list for general information. Subscribe/unsubscribe messages to [EMAIL PROTECTED] Anti-Imperialism list for anti-imperialist news. Subscribe/unsubscribe messages: [EMAIL PROTECTED] [EMAIL PROTECTED] _______________________________________________________
