The Michigan Daily Edited and managed by Students at the University of Michigan Saturday, June 7, 1975 News Phone: 764-0552 Nedzi should resign now A recent New York Times article reported that Rep- resentative Lucien Nedzi (D-Mich.), chairman of the House Select Intelligence Committee investigating CIA Irregularities, knew of, but did nothing about that agen- cy's assassination plons and domestic spying on U. S. anti- war activists. And as a result of his actions, or rather lack thereof, he is being pressured to resign or face ouster from the Committee by the full House. I What is frightening in the new, so-called profound sense of post-Watergate morality is the question of where were all the civil libertarians when people were getting their. heads bashed in on the Capitol steps in 1971. Where were all the questions and the doubts about jus- tice when 4,000 pounds of metal per minute were raining down on the Indochinese during the Nixon years? What Mr. Nedzi did was hideous and despicable, to say the least, and it is about time that Congress stop turning their cheeks to this type of shady operations within their own ranks. If Representative Nedzi refuses to step down, he should be ousted by the House. Furthermore, in the in- terests of the American public, he should be subpoenaed to testify before the Committee to tell what he knows. I ____4 1 I 1 - 'r "-- f- - .. - 1- G I --,. / -/r /% I 7,-,; 17 r / r 1ff F" THE MILWAUKEE JOURNAL Folks, Ihave good news and bad news! The recession is bottoming out. .. deeper than we thought!' Exile By ED McCAUGHAN AZUL, ARGENTINA - At dawn, the families of thirteen young political prisoners waited patiently outside the jail for their visitors' papers to be pro- cessed. As on every Saturday since last November 10, when their sons and daughters were arrested by Federal Police, they came bearing those small gifts that make a prisoner's lfe eas- ier - cigarettes, candies, maga- zines. But this Saturday was differ- ent. I was an American stand- ing in line, and in a small cou- try town like Azul - 200 miles south of Buenos Aires - such an event does not go unnoticed. I was waiting to visit Olga Tal- amante, a young woman from Gilroy, California, who is the only American now being de- tained as a political Twisoner in Argentina. Olga was ane of the 13 young people arrested in Azul four days after the govern- ment's proclamation of martitli law in November, giving police wide powers to arrest and inter- rogate suspected subversives. When the guard esorteJ Olga into the cold, damp visitor's room, she looked about nervous- ly, hesitated, then smiled as she recognized her visitor. "SO WHAT are you crazy or something? You want to end up in here with me?" Olga and I had been sndents together at the University of California, where she had grad- uated in Latin American studies. Two years ago, she had gone to Argentina to teach English and study political developments there. The night she was arrest- ed, she was returning home from a baibecue with friends who had worked with the Peron- ist Youth to mobilize popular support for Juan Peron's 1 o n g awaited return from exile. With no explanation for the arrests, the Federal Police had taken Olga and 12 others to the police station where, she told me, they had interrogated and tortured them for sevecal days and nights. "I was strapped naked to a bed, and they applied electric in Azul: Argentine shock to the most sensitive parts found guilty and sentenced to be expected for the 1200 of my body, asking me questions the minimum three years - political prisoners whom I couldn't answer. making them eligible for parole Argentine government as "They forced metosg a after eight months. holding. false declaration while they But Olga would be free by "The situation of human r pressed a gun to my heaI. It's now had the U.S. Embassy oush- in Argentina is deterior a nightmare I'll live with for ed for her release, accoidmg daily," according to Dr. the rest of my life." to her attorney Leonard Wets- aro Carrio, a noted zrimin glass. The embassy offi pals as- torney in Buenos Aires. C ARRESTING officers n o w signed to the case tod Wein- - who sits on the Inter-A claim "arms of war" and "sub- glass they were unaware Olga ioan Commission on H versive literature" -re fou id was being held under martial Rights of the Organisati. in the house where tieparty law - and without charges. American States - says was held. Olga and the others They said they had not even what puzzles him 's that deny any knowledge of this evi- read the medical report of the government's principal ta dence. And their defence at- prison doctor filed in tue court are the very people who we torney in Azul claims the same which substantiates Olga's claim hardest for Juan Peron's r guns, with the same serial num- of torture. to power. hers, have been used by the Now - six and a half months police as evidence in half a after her arrest - U.S. Amnbas- ACCORDING to a forti dozen other political cases. sador Robert Hill says he has ing report on Academic "Everyone knows it," he said. received a personal promise dom and Human Rights i "The case is just a frameup." from the Argentine government gentina, written under the In fact, four of the people ar- that Olga wil be deported in pices of the U.S. Latin Ai other the dmits ights ating Gen- Ial at- arrio ,u man n of- that t the rgets orked eiarn Free- n Ar- aus- mneri- "'Olga is listed by the National Police as a political person subject to executive r a t h e r than judicial power. Should there be a change in government, her life would be in grave jeo- pardy.'" sefs"t-is' aiM mf"it" :fi'>; : : :v:$if}::ti:?s'.s"a S i{"r : 4 rested with Olga have already been ordered released b t h e courts. Yet three of them, in- cluding a 16-year-old girl, re- main in prison under martial law which allows the govern- ment to bypass the judicial sys- tem and detain prisoners wish- out cause indefinitely. The federal judge in Azu', soft-spoken, silver - faired Dr. Ippolito, has known all the Ar- gentine prisoners sin:e they were children. "The worst thing these young people hase ever done, confided Ippolito in his chambers, "is to 25a't slogans on the walls." DESPITE THIS, the state pro- secutor assured me that charges. would soon be filed against the group, and that they would be July, assuming that she is tried. By then, she will have served eight months of her sentence. OLGA'S parents, farmworkers in Gilroy, are hopeful that this is, in fact, what will happen. When they met with Argentine Ambassador Alejandro Orfila in Washington early in May, he told them publicity about the case had caused great "politi- cal embarrassment" to his gov- ernment. He also said ha felt "the Argentine government has no further interest in detaiig your daughter." The verbal pronise to the U.S. Ambassedor that O ga would be deported in Jtily may be a ttin ray of hope, but it is s11 the Talamantes have to rely on. It is probably more han can can Studies Associati>n (LASA), the main targets of harrass- ment, arrest and assassination have been the Peronist Youth - to which Olga's friends be- longed - as well as a number of Peronist governors and con- gressmen, university professors and students, attorneys and journalists. While many of the violnt acts against these groups have been carried out by the rignist, para- military organizations, the LASA report concluded that they (p- erated with at least the tacit ap- proval of he government. According to the repact, "a de facto terrorist situation'" has become "a de jure system of power." Popular discontent with the present government is growing. netallurgical workers are now entering their third maa'h of a militant strike protesing the jailing of more than a hundred of their leaders and fellow work- ers. In the northern province of Tucumen, the army has failed to penetrate the stronghold of left- ist guerrillas. In Buenos 4.res, portraits of President Isabel, adorning hundreds of postrrs, have been ripped out or mark- ed over. THE UNDERLYING ter:-or of daily life in Argentina leads many citizens, who have lived :error most of their lives under mi- tary governments, to feat a military coup. It is this possibility weish new causes the greatest anxiety for the Talamantes, whose daugh- ter will remain in jail for at least another two months. "Olga is listed by the Na- tional Police as a political per- son subject under martial law to executive, rather than judicial power," says attorney W e in- glass. "Should there be a change in government, her lifs as a prisoner in that category would be in grave jeopardy." "The underlying ter- ror of daily life in Ar- gentina leads m a n y citizens, who have yiv- ed most of their lives under military govern- ments to fear military coup. wi~massteswamm-a~StStitma... As I left the jail in Azul, the mother of one of the other pris- oners took my hand and said "Tell Olga's mother to be strong and have courage. Olga is like one of our children and we'll take care of her. Back in Gilroy, the Talamant- es wait. Says Mrs. Talamante, "All the moments that my daughter has lived, I have lived with her. Right now, I am a prisoner awaiting sen-ence." Ed McCaughan, a West Coast free lance writer, has travelled and reported wide- ly on Mexico and Latin America.