Cable briefs

Press, 31 May 1982, Page 8

Cable briefs

Compensation The Argentine Government has authorised payment of compensation to the Falkland Islanders for damage Caused by Argentine civilian or military personnel, but said war damage would not be covered. A Government decree gave authority to the governor of the islands, General Mario Benjamin Menendez, to pay compensation up to 100 million pesos (JNZ93OO). Damages over this amount should be claimed in court—Buenos Aires. Journalists well Three British journalists jailed in the extreme south of Argentina pending trial on charges of espionage have said they are in good shape and well treated. They have repeatedly said they are innocent, but said they feared the outcome of the Falklands war could affect their situation. Simon Winchester. lan Mather, and Thomas Prime, who were detained near the town of Ushuaia on April 13, told the independent Argentine news agency, Noticias Argentinas. they were aware that many international organisations had asked for their release-Buenos Aires. Bid to buy parts Two Argentine Air Force officials attached to the Argentine Embassy in Washington were threatened earlier this month with expulsion from the United States for trying to buy vital militatry equipment for Argentine fighter bombers, the “Washington Post" has reported. The Argentines were seeking spare parts, especia>'y longrange fuel tanks for Ameri-can-built A 4 Skyhawk jets, the paper said. President Reagan’s sanctions against Buenos Aires, imposed when the United States decided to back Britain in the Falklands conflict, prohibit the export of such material to Argen-tina-Washington. • Diplomat held A Bolivian diplomat has been arrested at Kennedy International airport when skg of pure cocaine with a street value of SUS 3 million was found in his luggage, customs officials said. Victor Vargas, aged 58, cultural attache at the Bolivian Embassy in Mexico City, was handed over to Drug Enforcement Administration agents, charged with smuggling drugs and held in custody. Mr Vargas is the fifth foreign diplomat in two months to be charged with smuggling drugs into the United States. Three diplomats from the Dominican Republic and one from Thailand recently were charged with similar offences—New York. New mayor killed A woman just appointed to succeed an assassinated mayor, and her 10-year-old daughter, were shot dead in the kitchen of their home in . Chinameca, in El Salvador, Christian Democratic Party officials have said. They said three members of the town’s Civil Guard, a rural security force under the command of the Defence Ministry, had been arrested in the case and the police were searching for eight other suspects. The killing of the new mayor took to 12 the number of activists and officials in the moderate party murdered since May 12—San Salvador.