Sandinistas, peasants
MANAGUA, Nicaragua (AP) - Bowdler and leaders of a provisional
Guerrillas and peasants in the coun- government named by the Sandinistas
tryside have begun seizing farms as a met for a fifth time in three days in San
food shortage caused by six weeks of Jose, Costa Rica.
civil war worsens, according to reports They have been trying to agree on
reaching here yesterday. conditions for Somoza's resignation and
The head of the Nicaraguan Red a cease-fire.
Cross said three U.S. cargo planes Somoza has said he is prepared to
made available for Red Cross relief resign but only if his Liberal Party is
flights would begin bringing food into represented in any new government,
the capital to help alleviate the and his National Guard kept intact. The
desperate shortage for hundreds of United States is known to have sought
thousands of refugees. an expansion of the junta to include
more moderates.
FIGHTING BETWEEN Sandinista THE GUERRILLAS hold or control
guerrillas and the forces of President 26 major cities and towns and virtually
Anastasio Somoza was at a lull yester- all highways. The guard holds
day. U.S. Ambassador-at-large William Managua, where Somoza yesterday
The Michigan Daily-Friday, July 13, 1979-Page 9
seize farms for food
was holed up in his fortified office- fighting in Nicaragua, bringing to
residence. 25,000 Nicaraguans - one of every 100
The head of the Nicaraguan Red - the number to have died in a year
Cross said three U.S. cargo planes and a half of violence.
would be made available for Red Cross
relief flights to help the hundreds of Most of the dead are civilian non-
thousands of refugees here, but later combatants, Reyes said.
the United States changed signals and Reyes also estimated there are
hired one private plane. 600,000 homeless living as refugees on
THE DIRECTOR general of the the brink of starvation, crowding Red
Nicaraguan Red Cross, Miguel Cross centers, or living in lean-to
Schiebel, said the U.S. Embassy told shelters made of sticks and plastic
the Red Cross it "is not convenient to sheeting.
send military airplanes." Reyes said that three U.S. Air Force
Ismael Reyes, president of the C-130 Hercules transports would begin
Nicaraguan Red Cross, estimated soon to fly in food and medicine daily
yesterday that at least 20,000 people from a number of points in Central and
have been killed in the past six weeks of South America.
House panel says Carter can ration gas
WASHINGTON (AP) - A plan to
give President Carter standby
authority to ration gasoline and require
Americans to leave their cars at home
one day a week was approved yester-
day by a House subcommittee.
The 13-8 vote by the House Commerce
energy and power subcommittee gave a
major boost to the legislation, which
Speaker Thomas O'Neill predicted the
House will pass by the end of July.
"I THINK IT will sail," O'Neill said.
He said the new plan stands a far better
chance than Carter's original standby
rationing plan, which the House rejec-
ted May 10 by a 256 to 159 vote.
The new measure, the result of Car-
ter's challenge for Congress to come up
with its own plan, would give the
president standby power to:
- Draft a rationing plan which could
be triggered by a 20 per cent decrease
in U.S. oil supplies or a seven per cent
drop in world production. Congress
then would have 15 days to review the
plan, during which time either chamber
could vote to block it.
- Establish fuel-saving targets for
states and the nation as a whole. In the
event of a 10 per cent shortage of sup-
plies, states could take steps of their
own choosing to meet these goals.
* In states failing to meet the fuel-
saving targets, impose a sticker plan to
prohibit driving on the day listed on the
sticker. The motorist could pick the day
of the week.
* Require gasoline purchases of no
less than $5 - or $7 for eight-cylinder
cars - to discourage "topping off" gas
tanks.
. The full House Commerce Committee
was expected to approve the bill next
week, and floor action has been ten-
tatively set for the week of July 22.
SAID REP. John Dingell, (D-Mich.),
the subcommittee chairman: "I think
the gasoline-station lines and the
tremendous price increases and events
of the last several months since the
Iranian crisis have substantially bet-
tered the chance of passage of this
proposal."
Under new federal pricing rules the
Energy Department plans to im-
plement Sunday, motorists could be
paying three cents to five cents more
for a gallon of gasoline as early as next
week.
The new rules, intended to improve
service station owners' profit margins,
will allow a markup of 15 cents to 20
cents per gallon, department officials
say privately, compared to the present
average of 12 cents a gallon.
THE ENERGY Department mean-
while has advised the president in an
option paper that the United States
could produce 500,000 to two million
barrels of synthetic fuels by 1990, said
an administration source who declined
to be identified. U.S. Oil imports now
total 6.3 million barrels daily.
Last-minute efforts at a White House
meeting apparently failed to avert a
strike of independent service station
dealers in Pennsylvania and Delaware,
starting Friday, according to Pen-
nsylvania members of Congress who
took part.
The new gasoline rationing bill would
repeal part of a 1975 energy law that
gives Congress two chances to vote on
details of any rationing plan - when it
is proposed and when it is to be invoked.
WHEN THE House votes on the new
one-step bill, members will not know
how much gasoline their states would
get under rationing. In May, by con-
trast, state-by-state lists were
published.
All details of rationing under the new
plan would be left up to the president. If,
Carter tries to put the plan into effect,
Congress would have only one chance to
vote, during the 15-day review period.
The parts of the bill dealing with state
conservation targets, the sticker plan
and the minimum purchase would not
be subject to congressional veto.
The subcommittee approved the bill
as a substitute for a Senate-passed
measure which would authorize the
president to take a variety of energy-
conservation steps short of rationing,
but also separately approved Carter's
original standby rationing plan.