4The Daily Tar HeelThursday, November 16, 1989
Leftist rebeD cootnnue vioDeot yprisiog in El Salvador
By WENDY BOUNDS
Staff Writer
Heavy fighting continued for the fifth
day Wednesday in El Salvador as the
leftist guerrillas proclaimed parts of the
country "liberated territory" under their
control, and the government steadfastly
. denied the claims.
' ; Rebel leaders said Tuesday that eight
of the 14 provinces in the country have
now been liberated and that "people's
governments" would be established.
The government insists it has control of
the provinces.
"The situation is almost totally un
der control of the army," said Miguel
Salavarra, El Salvador's ambassador to
the United States.
Casualties have mounted since the
guerrillas began their largest military
offensive in the 10-year-old civil war
between the leftist rebels and the military-controlled
government.
Labor Department defends
soundness of pension system
From Associated Press reports
WASHINGTON The Labor
Department on Wednesday sought to
quell fears about private pension fund
fraud, telling Congress the system
has "never been healthier," but a
House panel chairman said there is
reason for concern.
David George Ball, an assistant
labor secretary, appeared before the
House retirement income subcom
mittee to dispute warnings from his
department's own inspector general's
office about the potential for fraud.
At the same hearing, the acting
inspector general, Raymond Maria,
said lax auditing and enforcement
have created a "window of opportu
nity" for unscrupulous managers to
pilfer Americans' pensions.
Rep. Bill Hughes, D-N.J., chair
man of the Subcommittee on Retire
ment Income and Employment, said
the public need not panic but cau
tioned: "Ignoring a situation where
such large sums of money are sub
jected to few effective outside inves
tigations, combined with the minor
penalties which are often imposed for
those who have misused funds, seems
to me to be asking for trouble."
The private pension system holds
$2 trillion in assets and covers 76
million Americans. Concern about
the plan's well-being has been height
ened by discovery of several multi
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News Analysis
The latest casualty count of the up
rising is estimated at nearly 700 civil
ians wounded, 200 of them children.
Armed forces said Wednesday morn
ing that 1 0 1 soldiers and 299 rebels had
died in the fighting.
The government of El Salvador has
imposed a 24-hour curfew on residents
in seven San Salvadoran neighbor
hoods. The U.S. Embassy in El Salva
dor was escorting press members out of
the embassy Tuesday at 4:45 p.m.
No one was available for comment
at the embassy at 5:15 p.m. Tuesday,
where a spokesman said in a brief tele
phone interview that they were shut
ting down for the evening curfew from
6 p.m. to 6 a.m.
While the guerrillas do not appear to
million-dollar pension-skimming
schemes and financial problems in the
government's pension insurance pro
gram, which is $ 1 .5 billion in the red.
Ball, assistant labor secretary for
pension and welfare benefits, said that
despite those problems "the pension
system, by any objective measure, has
never been healthier."
In an earlier interview, Hughes ex
pressed skepticism about such assur
ances. "I heard the same sectors saying
the savings and loan situation wasn't
serious five years ago," he said.
Maria, an outspoken former FBI
agent, stayed away from dramatic
comparisons in his testimony Wednes
day, and said "our goal is not to unnec
essarily frighten people, but to stimu
late concern where such concern is
needed, and to avoid potential future
crisis."
He said inadequate regulations and
reliance on civil rather than criminal
remedies have "created a window of
opportunity for those who would em
bezzle and steal from plan participants.' '
Maria also used the forum to air in
house disputes in the Labor Depart
ment, which led to a Justice Depart
ment opinion in March barring his of
fice from directly investigating private
pension plans. That job is now handled
by the department's Pension Benefits
Welfare Administration, which has 300
inspectors to police the nation's 870,000
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have achieved overwhelming popular
support, they nevertheless seem to be
holding out against the goverment's
counterattack.
The current wave of violence is a
result of panic on the part of the rebels,
said Mike Wilson, Latin American
policy analyst for the Heritage Founda
tion in Washington, D.C.
"The rebels are launching this cam
paign as an act of desperation. Attempts
at peace negotiations failed because the
leftist guerrillas' demands were outra
geous." The rebels want to share govern
mental power immediately and want
the military dissolved and remodeled
to include their own guerrilla army,
Wilson said.
But the present uprising cannot
simply be attributed to panic on the part
of the guerrillas, said Robert Kurz, Latin
American specialist at Brookings Insti
private pension programs.
Over the past five years, more than
25 percent of the plans audited by the
agency had violations of the 1974
Employee Retirement Income Secu
rity Act, known as ERISA. But the
PWBA on a yearly average investi
gates less than 1 percent of the nation's
pension plans.
The inspector general's office
wants the law changed to require
private accountants who audit pen
sion programs to report any viola
tions to the Labor Department. It also
says the Labor Department should
pursue more criminal cases against
violators, rather than relying largely
on civil suits.
Ball responded that the
department's enforcement policy is
designed to deliver "the biggest bang
for the buck and affecting the most
participants possible."
He said the Labor Department
concentrates on plans covering more
than 100 employees and targets its
investigations "on plans which we
believe have a high chance of violat
ing the law."
Maria's office, in a report released
to the House subcommittee, said bil
lions of dollars in private pension
money is not being fully audited
because the money was invested in
such institutions as savings and loans.
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tute in Washington, D.C.
'This is a very organized military
exercise. These events are not new. The
guerrilla offense is a rude awakening
and everyone is suddenly rediscover
ing this 'Forgotten War.'"
It is not likely that the rebel forces
will deplete their supplies now, said
Knut Walter, visiting UNC professor
of Latin American history from El
Salvador.
"The war has gone on now for about
nine years, and it has had its ebbs and
flows. The guerrillas have reorganized
their supplies and depots, and they now
have the strength to mount a significant
effort."
There does not seem to be an end to
the war in the near future, Kurz said.
The government's military is unable to
defeat the guerrillas, and there is no
way the guerrillas can win.
"There is a war now in El Salvador,
Bush proposes plan to assist Poland
From Associated Press reports
WASHINGTON President Bush
used Solidarity leader Lech Walesa's
triumphant visit on Wednesday to pro
pose what his spokesman called a "new
partnership between government, la
bor and business" to help Poland.
Bush was to outline the proposal in a
speech to the AFL-CIO, which has been
critical of his policies and those of his
Funding
against the resolution because he dis
agrees with the CIA's activities, he
said. "I do oppose the CIA on all levels.
The CIA is a tax-supported terrorist
organization. This (resolution) is de
signed to put blinders on the CIA Ac
tion Committee."
Rep. Jeffrey Beall (Dist. 7), who
authored the resolution, asked congress
members to set aside their feelings
toward him when they voted on the bill.
"Don't think of your opinion of me.
Congress does too much voting on
friendship lines, and it has got to stop."
Beall has been at the center of sev
eral controversies within Student Con-
PSTOt from page 1
In 1984, Perot sold Electronic Data
Systems, a company he founded in
1962, to General Electric for $2.5 bil
lion. He was the second wealthiest man
in America in 1 984, according to Forbes
magazine. From 1984 to 1986, he served
on General Motors Corp. board of di
rectors. Perot now chairs The Perot Group,
an investment firm based in Dallas.
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there has been a war in El Salvador, and
there will continue to be a war in El
Salvador," Kurz said. "The only differ
ence is that now we are paying attention
to it."
The United States has given the
Salvadoran government more than $4
billion in aid, not including the money
sent by Salvadoran refugees, Walter
said. If the United States were to halt
their aid to El Salvador, the Salvadoran
government would utterly collapse, he
said.
It makes no sense, however, for the
United States to continue to support the
government now, Walter said.
"Initially the U.S. concern was over
the possibility of Soviet control in the
country. But this is not the point now,
and seeing how there are no significant
U.S. investments tied up in El Salva
dor, the U.S. should withdraw their
monetary aid and support negotiation
predecessor. Former President Reagan
did not address the labor federation in
his eight years in office.
But, even before Bush took his turn
at the podium, Senate Majority Leader
George Mitchell, D-Maine, called the
president's support of Solidarity hypo
critical, claiming Bush had worked to
undermine the powers of U.S. unions.
"It's ironic that so many who are
gress in recent months.
The congress also voted to appropri
ate $483 to Omega Psi Phi fraternity to
help cover the cost of its charity pig
picking with Kappa Kappa Gamma
sorority. The event's main purpose was
to promote racial interaction, and pro
ceeds went to several charities, said
Rep. Russell Dula (Dist. 16), a member
of the fraternity.
McKinley
"They can't always win all the time."
The court cases resulting from his
protest activities will not deter him
from demonstrating in the future, he
said.
"The group (CIAAC) will continue
to make ourselves heard. Whether or
not the University is going to try to
clamp down or not. The possibility is
there. That will not deter people from
acting."
If the University would be willing to
call for a debate between CIAAC
members and a CIA representative,
protest would not be necessary, he said.
1'
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-
settlements between the parties, taking
into account the rebel requests."
Although many members of Con
gress favor stopping aid to the Salva
doran government because of its his
tory of human rights abuse, the U.S.
government would have an obligation
as an ally to El Salvador to send mili
tary aid if the present situation grew
significantly worse, Wilson said.
But the war cannot last forever,
Walter said. More than 250,000 adults
have either been killed in the war or
have left El Salvador, and now the
children arerfighting.
"There is no future in this war for
anyone really," Walter said. "The coun
try doesn't have the economic base;
they are floating on foreign aid. But
most of all, there are not enough Salva
dorans in body to continue the war too
much longer."
willing to honor the Solidarity union of
Poland are so hostile to the unions of
America," Mitchell told 800 delegates
and several hundred guests at the
federation's biennial convention.
Bush was expected to steer clear of
the policies of his administration that
concern organized labor as he lavished
praise on Walesa, who addressed the
AFL-CIO the day before.
from page 1
"It's important that Student Con
gress fund and support interaction be
tween black and white Greek organiza
tions," said Rep. Sam Bagenstos (Dist.
14).
The congress also adopted a resolu
tion to include students in the land- use
decision making process. "This per
petuates student self-government," said
Rep. John Lomax (Dist. 13).
from page 1
"If the University would open up
dialogue we wouldn't have to do these
things. But it is necessary if the Univer
sity is going to carry blind eyes and
deaf ears to all these atrocities."
The honor court is not prepared to
deal with cases such as his involving
dissent on campus, he said.
"One of the lessons this should teach
the honor court and the University is
that the honor court is not set up to deal
with cases of a sensitive nature. Politi
cal cases like activism don't belong in
the honor court."
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