Honduras This Week Central America July1999

Pan American Games open in Winnipeg, Canada

WASHINGTON, D.C. -- Some 5,000 athletes from 42 teams in the Western Hemisphere will participate in the 13th Pan American Games, being held July 23-August 8 in Winnipeg, Canada.

Sponsors of the Games are calling it the third-largest multi-sport event ever held in North America after the 1984 Los Angeles and 1996 Atlanta Olympic Games.

The Pan Am Games are played every four years, in the year preceding the Summer Olympics. The event was first held in 1951 in Buenos Aires, Argentina.

The United States, represented by 750 athletes, is expected to dominate the race for medals and will be especially focused on 10 events that may affect qualifications for the 2000 Summer Olympics being held in Sydney, Australia.

For instance, the U.S. men's baseball team needs to win at least a silver medal at Winnipeg in order to qualify for Sydney. However, with the U.S. team composed of players from the minor leagues, Cuba should be the favorite in baseball, especially after it showed its talent by beating the major-league Baltimore Orioles in an exhibition game earlier this year. Cuba is expected to be the main challenger to the United States in the medals standings, as it is also strong in boxing, track and field, and in women's volleyball. The Cubans are rated number one in the world in women's volleyball.

The United States is particularly strong in wrestling and track and field, with two-time world champion Terry Brand headlining the freestyle wrestling team along with 1997 world champion Les Gutches. Wrestling is one of 10 sports at Winnipeg holding qualifiers for the Sydney Olympics.

In addition to baseball and wrestling, other sports with direct Olympic implications are softball, where the U.S. women's team, as the 1996 Olympic gold medal winner, is the overwhelming favorite; men's water polo; men's and women's team handball; men's and women's field hockey; equestrian events; rhythmic gymnastics; the triathlon; and badminton.

Women's soccer, which attracted huge crowds recently as the U.S. team won the 1999 World Cup, will also be played at the Pan Am Games for the first time.

The U.S. men's basketball team should be in a battle for a medal against teams from such countries as Brazil, Argentina and Canada. The U.S. roster is composed of players from the minor-league Continental Basketball Association. A U.S. team, composed of the world's best players from the National Basketball Association, in the past week won a spot for the Sydney Olympics by overwhelming the competition at an Olympic qualifying tournament in San Juan, Puerto Rico. In its last game at that tournament, the U.S. team beat Cuba 88-52.

Some 30,000 people are expected to be on hand at Winnipeg Stadium for the Games' opening ceremony July 23. Sponsors say the ceremony will offer a colorful mix of music, dance and local traditions in tribute to Winnipeg and the athletes competing in the Games. Among those performing will be the Winnipeg Symphony Orchestra, the Royal Winnipeg Ballet, and musical productions featuring 3,400 performers. The production number "Go for Gold" stars singer Jeremy Kushnier, who is currently making his Broadway debut in "Footloose." "Go for Gold" tells the story of a young girl striving to be a champion.

The theme of the opening ceremony celebrates Winnipeg as a prairie city at the "Heart of the Continent." Winnipeg, the seat of government in Manitoba province, is home to 650,000 people. The most popular year-round attraction in Winnipeg is The Forks -- a market and meeting place. Archaeological evidence suggests that indigenous people first gathered there 6,000 years ago for trade and commerce.

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Alleged U.S. pedophile arrested in Guatemala, deported

Suspected American pedophile Henry Boyer III, a five-year fugitive from the FBI, was captured and arrested in Quetzaltenango, Guatemala July 14. An operation involving Casa Alianza, the U.S. Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) and the Guatemalan police led to Boyer's arrest.

Henry Boyer III, age 42, was last seen in the state of Florida in 1994, where he is wanted by the FBI on charges of sexually assaulting five children aged between 8 and 15 years old over a two-year period. The assaults occurred in the Jacksonville area of Florida.

The arrest of Boyer, who was using the alias Martin Simms in Guatemala, comes after Casa Alianza was asked to cooperate in an investigation into the suspected pedophile who unwittingly gave himself away in the Guatemalan tourist town of Antigua, where he is believed to have been studying Spanish.

After being tipped off regarding his whereabouts by Harold Willaby, an American student from Oklahoma studying Spanish in Antigua, the FBI in Guatemala was notified. The Guatemalan immigration police arrested Boyer on charges of violating their immigration laws. The distinctive Boyer, who weighs over 380 pounds and has a bright red beard, was held overnight and expelled to Florida July 15 where he will face charges of sexually abusing five little boys.

The decision by the Guatemalan authorities to expel Boyer for being in breech of immigration laws will avoid a lengthy extradition process.

It is not yet clear if Boyer was abusing children while in Guatemala; however, in the Mayan town of Quetzaltenango he was a volunteer with a local organization that works with street children, and reportedly had a 12-year-old street boy living with him.

The investigations, which lead to his arrest, were sparked after he left 50 computer diskettes containing child pornography at the school where he had been studying Spanish.

Casa Alianza will present further evidence in the case to try and indict Boyer under U.S. extra-territorial laws for having traveled from the United States to a foreign country with the intention of sexually abusing children. This carries a 10-year jail term and up to US$ 250,000 in fines in the United States.

This arrest is the latest in a series of detentions of foreign sexual abusers of children in Central America in which Casa Alianza has been involved. The detention of sexual abusers of children -- especially abandoned children -- is part of the organization's ongoing efforts to combat what it sees as the growing problem of sex tourism in Mexico and Central America. Casa Alianza began to sound the alarm over the problem some two years ago.

U.N. Report Cites Huge Income Inequality in Americas
WASHINGTON, D.C. -- Income inequality continues to worsen in some parts of the Americas, although in a few countries the gap between rich and poor improved in recent years, according to a new report issued by the United Nations.

The "Human Development Report," an annual survey done by the U.N. Development Programme, said that while income inequality in Brazil, Chile and Mexico worsened during the 1980s, this trend was halted during the 1990s. In Colombia and Costa Rica, distribution patterns remained "quite stable," while in Honduras and Jamaica income distribution worsened during the early 1990s.

The 260-page report also said that one of the "most striking features" of income distribution in Latin America is the "huge gap between the top and bottom 20 percent."

The report offered a breakdown of the income distribution in selected Latin American countries. For example, in Uruguay, the poorest fifth of the population received five percent of the country's income, while the richest fifth earned 48.7 percent of the total. In Peru, the poorest had 4.4 percent of the income, and the richest 50.6 percent. Meanwhile, in Ecuador, the poorest had 2.3 percent of the income and the richest 59.6 percent, while in Brazil, the poorest earned 2.5 percent of the country's income, and the richest garnered 63.4 percent.

The report said the economies of the region have undergone great changes in the 1990s. High inflation has been halted, deep economic reforms have been adopted to support market operations, and productivity and economic growth have been restored. But the report added that the concentration of income has remained nearly unchanged, with a continued wide gap between the poorest and richest people.

However, this phenomenon is not unique to the Americas, the report suggests. In 1960, the 20 percent of the world's people in the richest countries had 30 times the income of the poorest 20 percent, while in 1997 they had 74 times as much.

The report said that in both poor countries and rich, dislocations from economic and corporate restructuring and dismantled social protections have meant heavy job losses and worsening employment conditions. The report said the pressures of global competition have led countries and employers to adopt more flexible labor policies, and that work arrangements with no long-term commitment between employer and employee are on the rise. In Latin America, for example, the report said reforms in labor laws have increased labor market flexibility and more flexible contracts were introduced. By 1996, the share of workers without contracts or with new kinds of contracts increased to 30 percent in Chile, 36 percent in Argentina, 39 percent in Colombia, and 41 percent in Peru.

The report's opening chapter says globalization is shaping "a new era of interaction among nations, economies and people. It is increasing contacts between people across national boundaries -- in economy, in technology, in culture and in governance. But it is also fragmenting production processes, labor markets, political entities and societies.

So, while globalization has positive, innovative, dynamic aspects -- it also has negative, disruptive, marginalizing aspects."

In one interesting statistic, the report said the world's 200 richest people are getting richer -- fast -- and that they live in both rich and poor countries. North America, the report said, had 65 of the world's richest people, Europe 55, Asia and the Pacific 30, Latin America and the Caribbean 17, and Arab States 16, with a scattering of the world's richest people in other regions.

U.S. defense official says drug menace requires "comprehensive" response
WASHINGTON, D.C. -- Stopping illicit drugs en route to the United States is as vital as working against domestic consumption of the supplies that escape interdiction and arrive to destroy lives and endanger national security, says Under Secretary of Defense Walter Slocombe.

"We as a nation face a comprehensive threat from drugs and must, as a nation, carry out a comprehensive response," he testified to a congressional panel July 14.

"Treatment and suppression of demand are critical elements, and are up to domestic law enforcement and other agencies. But dealing with the source of drugs must also be a key element of our effort," he told the Senate Appropriations Military subcommittee.

Supply involves more than one factor. The National Drug Control Strategy of 1989 "highlights the critical need to shield America's land, sea, and air frontiers from the drug threat by interdicting the international flow of narcotics," he explained. Yet even in 1989, he added, the Defense Department knew that supply had three elements -- source, transit, and arrival.

The key to stopping the illegal drugs lies to the south, where almost all cocaine and heroin consumed in the United States is produced. Mexico and three South American countries -- Bolivia, Colombia, and Peru -- are the "source zone," Slocombe told the senators.

Drug traffickers transport their illicit wares to the United States through a multi-step sea-air-land process across the "transit zone" of the Caribbean, Central America and Eastern Pacific, he said.

Areas where the drugs cross into the United States are called the "arrival zone." In these areas, military, federal law enforcement, and local authorities cooperate to stop the drugs and apprehend the traffickers, Slocombe noted.

Despite successful efforts to stop drugs at all three points in the chain -- about 270 metric tons of cocaine seized per year, as an example -- the 550-650 metric ton production of cocaine "continues to be sufficient to meet user demand in the United States, Europe, and South America," Slocombe warned.

"The bottom line is that while our progress has been significant, the threat remains very potent," he told the lawmakers.

Slocombe pointed out that law enforcement is not a preferred activity of the military and cannot be conducted domestically to the good health of a democracy that operates under the rule of law. But he stated that the Pentagon takes seriously its mandate to stop drugs before they arrive in the United States, as required by the 1989 National Drug Control Strategy and updated by the 1999 Strategy.

"The Strategy states that our domestic challenge is to reduce illegal drugs while ensuring individual liberty and the rule of law. Our international challenge is to develop effective, cooperative programs that respect national sovereignty and reduce the cultivation, production, trafficking, distribution, and use of illegal drugs while supporting democratic governance and human rights," he asserted.

That fine balance is hard to achieve, Slocombe told the subcommittee. But the Defense Department has been careful not to offend any element of the Western Hemisphere's democratic institutions, while logging considerable success against narco-trafficking.

"The key to continued effective execution of this mission is the ability to operate in the source zones," he concluded. "This success continues despite the loss of Howard Air Force Base in Panama as a base of operations against drugs. U.S. aircraft, operating in various hemispheric countries under base use agreements, continue to monitor Caribbean and Central American commerce, relaying messages to sea and land law enforcement agencies where drug trafficking is suspected."

Spanish-language preservation manual for archives is available online

The Northeast Document Conservation Center (NEDCC) recently announced that the Spanish translation of its publication, "Preservation of Library & Archival Materials: A Manual," is available online at NEDCC's Web site at <http://www.nedcc.org>. The translation was made by the National Library of Venezuela, with support from the Council on Library and Information Resources (CLIR).

The manual provides basic, practical information needed to enable non-conservators to plan and implement sound collections-care programs. The manual is one of few preservation publications written in layman's language that is an authoritative reference source for up-to-date scientific research.

The major sections are: planning and prioritizing, the environment, emergency management, storage and handling, reformatting, and conservation procedures. Professional illustrations make the "how-to" leaflets easy to understand and use. The translation makes a core collection of preservation literature available for the first time in Spanish.

The original manual in English was funded by The Institute of Museum and Library Services (IMLS), a Federal agency that fosters innovation, leadership and a lifetime of learning. In addition, NEDCC receives major funding from the National Endowment for the Humanities for its field service program, which is the educational and consulting arm of the Center.

The Northeast Document Conservation Center is a nonprofit regional conservation center specializing in the conservation of paper-based materials including books, documents, photographs, and works of art on paper. It performs paper conservation, book-binding, preservation microfilming, and duplication of photographic negatives. Its purpose is to provide the highest quality conservation services and to serve as a source of consultation and training for institutions that hold paper-based collections.

The Center is located in Andover, Massachusetts, USA. Additional information about the Northeast Document Conservation Center is also available on its Web site at <http://www.nedcc.org>.

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INS extends Honduran, Nicaraguan time for residency filing
WASHINGTON, D.C. -- The U.S. Immigration and Naturalization Service (INS) July 1 granted an additional 45 days for those Hondurans and Nicaraguans who are already eligible to apply for Temporary Protected Status (TPS) to submit their applications.

Given the difficulty that some prospective applicants have faced in obtaining necessary documentation from their home countries, the INS will continue to accept applications until Aug. 20, 1999.

However, applicants should note that the TPS filing instructions do contain provisions for filing without nationality documents. The INS must receive a completed application by close of business on Aug. 20, 1999, in order to process it; thus, applications should be mailed well in advance of Aug. 20. There will be no further extension of the registration deadline, the INS cautions.

The INS is granting applicants the extra time to obtain evidence that could demonstrate eligibility for TPS. However, applicants do not need to wait to apply until they have obtained all of the evidence. The application, Form I-821, Application for Temporary Protected Status, contains instructions for applicants who cannot obtain identity and nationality documentation.

Applicants who do not submit appropriate documentation establishing identity or nationality with their applications must, under the regulations, instead submit an affidavit showing proof of unsuccessful efforts to obtain the documents, explaining why the consular process was unavailable, and affirming that they are nationals of Honduras or Nicaragua.

As part of the Clinton Administration's ongoing efforts to assist countries affected by Hurricane Mitch, on Dec. 30, 1998, the INS announced the Attorney General's designation of TPS for Honduras and Nicaragua for a period of 18 months. This status will expire on July 5, 2000.

Today's action does not alter that date. During the designation period, eligible Hondurans and Nicaraguans will not be subject to removal and will be eligible for permission to work in the United States. Only Hondurans and Nicaraguans who were in the United States by Dec. 30, 1998 are eligible.

Hondurans and Nicaraguans eligible for TPS must submit both an Application for Temporary Protected Status, Form I-821, and an Application for Employment Authorization, Form I-765, along with evidence of nationality and residence in the United States as of Dec. 30, 1998. These forms are available from the toll-free INS

Forms line, 1-800-870-3676, and from the INS Website <http://www.ins.usdoj.gov>. Once completed, they should be sent to the INS Service Center with jurisdiction over the state where the applicant resides. The INS Service Center locations and jurisdictions are listed on the forms.

Form I-821 must include a $50 filing fee, along with a $25 fingerprinting fee. Applicants for employment authorization should submit a Form I-765 with the $100 filing fee. Applicants who already have or do not wish to receive employment authorization still must submit a completed Form I-765, but without the accompanying fee. An applicant may request a waiver of TPS-related application filing fees, but not the fingerprinting fees, by submitting proper documentation of inability to pay.

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INS official optimistic about new strategy
WASHINGTON, D.C. -- The Clinton Administration hopes to maintain faith in the immigration enforcement system through a newly developed Immigration and Naturalization Service (INS) strategy that was developed over the past two years.

Robert Bach, INS executive associate commissioner for policy and planning, told lawmakers at a July 1 congressional hearing that the INS "is committed to preserving the integrity of the legal immigration system and reducing the undocumented immigrant population in the United States while at the same time building community partnerships, promoting public safety and trust, and ensuring that all individuals can exercise their rights under law." The plan lessens the emphasis on identification and deportation of illegal immigrants while strongly promoting programs and mechanisms to prevent and deter new attempts at illegal entrance to the United States, Bach noted.

He stressed that one priority is to address factors influencing illegal immigration, rather than narrowly focusing on the number of deportations. As outlined in the strategy, the INS aims to identify and remove criminal aliens, reduce recidivism, diminish the alien smuggling operation, cooperate with local governments and other agencies, minimize immigration benefit fraud and document forgery, and block the availability of undocumented workers to employers.

Many members of the judiciary committee voiced concern over the perceived lenience of the new INS policy. Lamar Smith, the Texas Republican who chairs the House Subcommittee on Immigration and Claims, called the strategy an open invitation to illegal immigrants. According to Smith, the approach encourages illegal immigration because it does not emphasize deportation of all illegal immigrants, which he described as the best deterrent to illegal entries. Bach argued that "removals from the country are effective forms of law enforcement only if the person deported does not successfully re-enter the United States." The new strategy is a comprehensive solution to illegal immigration and cannot be limited only to deportations, he reiterated.

The INS estimates (conservatively, some legislators claim) that there are more than 5 million illegal aliens within U.S. borders, and that the net total increases each year by 250,000. As discussed in the strategy, "priority one of the Interior Enforcement Strategy focuses on working with governments at all levels of jurisdiction to identify criminal aliens as they are processed through the criminal justice system and remove them as appropriate." The strategy focuses on criminal aliens because they have "severe negative effects ... on local communities and public safety." Bach said that of the non-expedited removals made by the INS in FY 1998, 59 percent were of criminal aliens.

Bach conceded that the INS is "not being sufficiently effective right now," but he reassured the committee that the success rate would improve through the utilization of this multi-layered strategy. He predicted that higher levels of employment, a reduction in crime, and greater confidence in the integrity of documents will be among the benefits of the new strategy.

In hurricane's wake, U.S. reconstruction efforts continue in Central America
WASHINGTON, D.C. -- "I am pleased that the U.S. government, through the Department of Defense, USAID, and a range of other government agencies, has been deeply and intimately involved in helping Central America respond to the tragedy" of widespread devastation caused by Hurricane Mitch last fall, says Carl Leonard, assistant administrator for the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID).

Appearing at a June 24 press briefing, Leonard announced a new phase in the ongoing efforts to rebuild those areas most affected by Hurricane Mitch. He noted that this new phase, known as "New Horizons," will extend through September 1999.

The request to Congress for supplemental funding for this phase was approved in May for a total of $960 million. A portion of this figure will replenish funds spent during the previous two phases, Leonard said. After this reimbursement, $620 million will remain and will be administered to localities by USAID, using established guidelines.

One of the main concerns raised during the briefing was the inappropriate use of funds. However, Leonard outlined a system of checks and balances that would help ensure that the funds are distributed and used properly. These safeguards include audits,inspections, the strengthening of government offices, and heightened media scrutiny.

Leonard then introduced Colonel Bill Knightley, deputy director of operations at U.S. Southern Command in Miami, Florida, who briefed reporters on the military's role in U.S. relief efforts in Central America.

Knightley described each stage in the operation, explaining that during the initial "Emergency Assistance" phase, which lasted about 30 days, the U.S. was able to utilize helicopters, rubber boats and fixed-wing aircraft to help rescue over 1,000 people. Next, he said, the so-called "Rehabilitation Phase" saw the deployment of 5,000 soldiers -- primarily from active U.S. forces -- to Honduras and El Salvador to open roads and repair bridges. He added that the current phase, "New Horizons," was implemented because there was still much work that remained to be done.

"New Horizons," which will continue through September, utilizes over 21,000 personnel -- ranging from medical crews to civil and construction engineers. These personnel are drawn primarily from National Guard and reserve units, representing 48 states. Their professional civilian experience transfers easily to the tasks that they are performing in the reconstruction efforts, Knightley observed.

He predicted that by the end of this phase, in late September, accomplishments will include the treatment of over 180,000 patients (including 4000 immunizations), the construction of 30 schools, 12 medical clinics, construction or reconstruction of 50 roads and/or bridges and 15 freshwater wells. These accomplishments, he emphasized, are in addition to other projects that have been completed in the last 60 days. The bulk of the effort has been concentrated on building or rebuilding the infrastructure of the areas most severely affected by the devastation, such as roads/bridges, schools, and clinics.

Study finds new immigrants blending into U.S. society
WASHINGTON, D.C. -- New immigrants are assimilating into U.S. society just as newcomers have always done -- "slowly, often painfully, but quite assuredly embracing the cultural norms that are part of life in the United States," says the author of a new report on the impact of immigration.

Discussing his report July 1 at a Capitol Hill news conference, Gregory Rodriguez disputed claims by what he called "right-wing nativists" and "left-wing academic multiculturists" that today's immigrants are unwilling or unable to blend into the nation's social fabric. The issue has particular resonance because of the more than 26 million foreign-born persons in the United States in 1998, representing almost 10 percent of the total U.S. population. About a third of these immigrants arrived in the last decade, he said.

The nativists, Rodriguez said, fear that immigration will cause a collapse of the nation's common culture, while the academics argue that today's immigrants should not be expected to assimilate into U.S. culture.

Rodriguez says in his 24-page report, "From Newcomers to New Americans: The Successful Integration of Immigrants into American Society," that immigrants "are living their daily lives very much like those" who came before them. "They are adapting to their new conditions, trying to improve their [own] chances" and those of their children, he said. The report was published by the National Immigration Forum, a public policy research organization based in Washington.

Rodriguez, a fellow at the New America Foundation in Washington, said that "assimilation is not about immigrants rejecting their past, but about people of different racial, religious and cultural backgrounds coming to believe that they are part of an overarching American family."

Each wave of new immigration to the U.S., Rodriguez argued, has sparked controversy over whether the new immigrants had "characteristics" that would keep them from assimilating effectively. For instance, he said that one of the founding fathers of the United States, Benjamin Franklin, had misgivings about German immigrants, who Franklin claimed would not want to assimilate because of their alleged "clannishness and unwillingness to mingle outside their own group." In the 19th century, Rodriguez said, a wave of Irish Catholic immigrants generated unfounded fears that they would not assimilate into a predominantly Protestant country and might be agents of the Pope.

Today's arguments are the same, Rodriguez said, with claims that non-white immigrants cannot assimilate into an essentially white society. A wave of immigrants from Latin America, he added, has caused modern-day nativists to assert that the rise of Spanish-language media is an indicator that Hispanic immigrants will not learn English.

Some people, Rodriguez added, might find heavily Hispanic cities like Los Angeles, Houston and Miami "very exotic," seeing strange words, stores, and restaurants with unfamiliar foods and nightclubs playing unfamiliar music.

"These [new] sights, sounds and smells" might serve as evidence to native-born citizens that the new immigrants have an active resistance to joining into U.S. society," Rodriguez said. Throughout U.S. history, he said, immigrant communities have always had enclaves that featured the trappings of their home country. But that doesn't mean that these immigrants are rejecting U.S. society, he pointed out: "Judging from the historical evidence, the tendency of immigrants to live together in ethnic neighborhoods does not in any way signal active resistance to, or resentment of, mainstream U.S. culture."

The reality, he observed, is that wherever immigrants settle, they influence their surroundings. One such example is Milwaukee, Wisconsin, with a large German population and where bratwurst is served at Milwaukee Brewers baseball games. Similarly, no city in the United States celebrates St. Patrick's Day "as fervently as the deeply Irish-influenced Boston, where Italian, Jewish and non-white Bostonians also celebrate the holiday with zeal." What this means, Rodriguez said, is that "assimilation is not a one-way process. U.S. culture is constantly changing and adapting to immigrants, just as immigrants adapt to it."

Rodriguez, who also is a research scholar at the Pepperdine Institute for Public Policy in California, said four factors indicate an immigrant's commitment to U.S. society -- citizenship, home ownership, English language acquisition and intermarriage. The longer immigrants reside in the United States, the more likely they are to become U.S. citizens, Rodriguez noted. In 1990, he said, more than 75 percent of immigrants who had resided in the United States for 40 years became naturalized citizens.

On the second factor, Rodriguez said that immigrants are making significant strides toward home ownership. According to the 1990 census, about 60 percent of immigrants who had arrived in the United within the last 20 years owned their own homes.

On English-language proficiency, Rodriguez said that within 10 years of arrival, about 75 percent of immigrants spoke English with high proficiency. With second and third generations, virtually all children of immigrants spoke English proficiently. In most cases, the native language of immigrants is completely lost after a few generations in the United States.

Finally, on intermarriage, Rodriguez said both foreign-born Hispanics and Asians have higher rates of intermarriage than do U.S.-born whites and blacks. By the third generation, intermarriage rates for Hispanics and Asians are extremely high. Fully one-third of third-generation Hispanic women are married to non-Hispanics and 41 percent of third-generation Asian-American women have non-Asian spouses.

Of the total immigrant population in the United States, Mexico was the leading country of origin, with more than 27 percent coming from that nation. The Philippines, with 4.6 percent, was the second most common country of origin, and China (at 3.9 percent, including Hong Kong) ranked third. Vietnam, Cuba, and the former Soviet Union are next in line, respectively, as the most common countries of origin.

U.S. on schedule to return military bases to Panama

WASHINGTON, D.C. -- Pentagon spokesman Ken Bacon says the United States is "right on schedule, if not ahead of schedule" for transferring control of the Panama Canal and all U.S. military facilities in the Canal Zone to the government of Panama by year's end.

The 1977 Panama Canal Treaty requires the transfer to be completed by Dec. 31, and "we are right on schedule for doing that," Bacon said, noting that most U.S. military facilities have already closed.

He said the canal "has been largely run by Panamanians for some time," and that he expected Panama to manage it "competently, efficiently and skillfully" and "as the economic lifeline that it is."

The relocated U.S. Southern Command is now operating successfully from Florida, and the U.S. military is in the process of "replacing the airport facilities we have used in Panama ... with forward-operating locations in the Caribbean and other places so that we can carry out our surveillance and other activities that are part of the counter-drug program and our general security program," the spokesman said.

Bacon said the United States military will maintain "a strong presence in Latin America," albeit "more diffuse than it was when we were operating out of Panama." He also sought to emphasize that future U.S. facilities will not be bases, but rather "places from which our forces will be able to operate."

Meanwhile, the spokesman said, the U.S. naval presence in the region will continue. He added that the military-to-military relationships that the United States has with Latin American nations are much stronger now than "10 years ago."

Immigration from Central America said to stay on even keel

WASHINGTON, D.C. -- Despite fears of a massive influx of immigrants from Central America after Hurricane Mitch struck the region last year, "there has been no rush" to the U.S. borders by huge numbers of people attempting to enter the United States, says an official with the Immigration and Naturalization Service (INS).

Briefing reporters June 24 at the U.S. Information Agency's Foreign Press Center, Kelly Ryan, chief of the refugee and asylum law division at the INS Office of the General Counsel, said her agency detected a "blip on the screen" of rising immigration after Christmas last December, but noted that the seasonal increase represented "a traditional immigration pattern" and that the numbers have since subsided.

"We've been relieved to see that," Ryan said, adding that the INS has been watching very closely to see whether its public information campaign warning potential migrants to stay home might be discouraging massive immigration.

Ryan said that new Spanish-language public service announcements, which are being circulated throughout Mexico and Central America by the U.S. Information Service, warn migrants of the risks posed by unscrupulous alien smugglers and other dangers associated with illegal crossings into the United States. Last year, 254 migrants lost their lives attempting to cross the border from Mexico, while 138 have died so far this year. During the first eight months of the 1999 fiscal year, the U.S. Border Patrol has rescued 780 people who were imperiled by their attempt to migrate.

The release of the new announcements coincides with the onset of the deadliest months along the U.S.-Mexican border, the INS said in a June 24 statement. Traditionally, migrant deaths peak in July, August and September, when the daytime temperatures in the deserts climb to well above 37 degrees centigrade.

Ryan noted that earlier in this decade, immigration laws were more "draconian" in nature, in attempting to remove aliens from this country. Some provisions are now considered too restrictive and though they enjoyed bipartisan support in the U.S. Congress in previous years, she said, "it's not clear they would have the same support today."

She said history has shown that periods of restrictive immigration policies are generally followed by an easing of those restrictions, which is the case today. The most obvious example of the trend is the Nicaraguan Adjustment and Central American Relief Act (NACARA), enacted in November 1997, which allows eligible Nicaraguans and Cubans to apply to become lawful permanent residents of the United States. A key requirement of the law is that eligible Nicaraguans and Cubans must have been physically present in the United States since December 1, 1995. To date, roughly 3,000 Cubans and 27,000 Nicaraguans have applied to become lawful permanent residents, Ryan said, noting that this is an important first step toward becoming a U.S. citizen.

Other new legislation, Ryan said, has made it easier for eligible Guatemalans and Salvadorans to apply for suspension of deportation if they have been physically present in the United States for at least seven years. In addition, another measure takes into account the devastation caused by Hurricane Mitch in Honduras and Nicaragua. This law grants temporary protected status (TPS) to migrants from those countries for a period of 18 months. During this time, they will not be subject to removal and will be eligible for permission to work in the United States. Ryan said that Hondurans and Nicaraguans who have resided in the United States since Dec. 30, 1998, can apply for this status.

Ryan said applicants must file for TPS status on or before July 5 and "I would urge anyone [in the United States] who believes they are eligible" to get their application in by the close of the registration period.

Ryan told the reporters that the INS is committed to ensuring that migration into the United States is "safe, legal, and orderly, and we ask for your help in this important effort."

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