ijackers detain Venezuelan jet, push back deadline
By ORLANDO CUALES
Associated Press Writer
WILLEMSTAD, Curacao Two gunmen
who hijacked a Venezuelan jetliner and are
holding 79 people as hostages set a morning
deadline for today for Venezuela to meet
their demand for millions of dollars and an
escape helicopter.
They freed six captives yesterday
afternoon and the pilot of the
commandeered Aeropostal DC-9 corrected
an earlier report that one of the passengers
had been shot.
Reporters monitoring radio
conversations between the plane and the
control tower said the pilot, Arturo Reina,
initially told authorities that Mrs. Roman
Puertas of Argeniina was shot when her
husband, who had been released, failed to
return with $1 million.
They said that in a later conversation,
Reina reported the woman had not been
shot but was about three months pregnant
and it was feared she would suffer a
miscarriage. He said again that the
hijackers would allow a doctor, wearing
only underwear, to board the plane.
The plane was hijacked Sunday after it
left Caracas, the Venezuelan capital, for a
flight to Curacao, but the gunmen forced it
to land in Trinidad and Aruba before it
arrived here yesterday morning.
Olympic watch
For those who can't be in Los Angeles for the Olympics, the TV room in Ritner
Hall is the next best thing, a claim to which Janet Furgivele,(division of
undergraduate studies), Kirsten Hines (liberal arts), Jill Solomon (division of
Last marines leave Lebanon
By•SAMIR F. GHATTAS
Associated Press Writer
The last U.S. Marine combat
force in Lebanon yesterday began
its pullout to U.S. navy ships
offshore on a quiet day in Beirut
marking the end of the 22-month
U.S. military presence in
Lebanon.
As the Marines began moving
out in amphibious vehicles at
dawn, the state radio announced
that Vladimir Polyakov, head of
the Soviet Foreign Ministry's
Middle East Department, was
expected on Friday for talks on
Moscow's proposal for an
international conference on the
Arab-Israeli conflict.
The Soviet Union has called for a
conference to be attended by the
Soviet Union and the United
States, Israel, Egypt, Jordan,
Syria, Lebanon, and the Palestine
Liberation Organization.
Polyakov was the Soviet
Ambassador to Egypt who was
expelled by the late President
Anwar Sadat in 1981.
The departing 90-100 Marines
were from the unit stationed in
west Beirut to guard the U.S.
Embassy compound on the
seaside Corniche Boulevard. The
embassy was destroyed on April
18, 1983, in a suicide bomb attack
that killed 63 people, including 17
Americans.
the
daily
Officials said the sky pirates were a
former Haitian army captain opposed to
Haiti's President-for-Life Jean-Claude
Duvallier and a man with a passport from
the Dominican Republic.
`lf they can have the
money and helicopter,
this will end here.'
—Arturo Reind, pilot of
hijacked jet
Their latest ultimatum was addressed to
the Venezuelan government and said their
demands for up to $5 million and a
helicopter would have to be accepted by
"tomorrow morning," according to the
monitored accounts.
If authorities refuse, "there will be no
more negotiations and we'll all die here in
Curacao," said the hijackers, who are
believed to be armed with pistols and said
they had placed a bomb in the rear of the
plane.
They had initially demanded military
weapons including machine guns, rifles and
grenades, and in their latest demand they
gave Venezuela two alternatives. They said
their demand for a helicopter was not •
Once the embassy moves to its
new quarters, the Marine
amphibious unit offshore also
leaves, U.S. officials said.
Most of the Marines will depart
by helicopter, embassy officials
said. When the pullout is
completed today, a 15-man Marine
guard unit, similar to the teams
guarding U.S. embassies the
world over,.will be the only
remaining U.S. military
personnel.
They will join a force recruited
from local militias to protect two
new embassy sites, one in mostly
Moslem west Beirut and an annex
in Christian east Beirut.
The new west Beirut site is
about 500 yards from the present
seaside Corniche Boulevard
embassy address. The Corniche
has been closed to pedestrians and
vehicles, heavily barricaded and
guarded by the Marines and local
militiamen.
There were no reports of
violence in Beirut.
No official announcement of the
pullout was made. At 5:15 a.m.,
the Marines removed anti-vehicle
barriers and barbed wire from the
eastern entrance of the embassy
compound.
During their stay, 259
Americans were killed, including
241 in a suicide bomb attack
against their headquarters at
Beirut Airport last October.
olle • ian
negotiable, but - they would take $5 million in
cash or $3 million and military arms. They
also said they would drop the money
demand to $2 million depending on the
amount of weapons provided.
Their ultimatum, given at about 9 p.m.,
did not set set a specific deadline hour.
Reporters saw a large number of troops
at the airport, which was closed to normal
air traffic.
.The DC-9 had 82 passengers, including the
hijackers, and five crew members when it
was hijacked.
Four passengers were freed at 1:30 p.m.,
including Argentine businessman Roman
Puertas, and at 3 p.m. a man left the plane
carrying a teen-age girl who was bleeding
from the mouth and appeared unconscious.
She was identified later as Oedjaghir
Soenitadebie of Curacao, and officials said
she was treated for shock at St. Elizabeth
Hospital and released. The man was not
identified.
In the earlier accounts from reporters
monitoring the control tower radio
conversations, the pilot said that Puertas
had allegedly promised to return and give
the gunmen $1 million.
They said Reina was heard at 3:45 p.m.
telling the control tower officials the
hijackers had said that-if Puertas didn't
return with the money within five minutes
undergraduate studies) and Judy Furgivele (division of undergraduate studies)
can attest. The furtive foursome is gazing at some of the Olympic gymnastics
competitions last night. Olympic games coverage continues on Page 8.
EPA seeks lead removal from gas
By MATT YANCEY
Associated Press Writer
The Environmental Protection Agency yesterday
proposed a 91 percent reduction of lead from gasoline
by 1986 under a plan officials said could save 50,000
children from brain damage in just two years.
"The fact is that our past programs toyeduce lead in
gasoline haven't worked as expected," EPA
Administrator William Ruckelshaus said. "The
evidence is overwhelming that lead from all sources is
a threat to public health . . . especially for pregnant
women and young children."
The agency said it was also considering a complete
ban on lead by 1995 as a gasoline additive for boosting
octane and lubricating valves.
Leaded gasoline now accounts for about 45 percent of
all the gas sold nationwide, despite the mandated
installation of catalytic converters requiring unleaded
fuel on all American cars built since 1975.
Ruckelshaus said the new regulations are needed
because recent studies show lead has adverse health
effects at levels much lower than previously believed
He also cited evidence of widespread cheating by
motorists who use leaded fuel in cars not built for it.
It would cost refiners about $575 million to meet the
new standards, Ruckelshaus said.
"But, from a social point of view this expense is more
than offset by the $l.B billion that will be saved during
1986 alone from lower costs for medical treatment and
rehabilitation, reduced vehicle maintenance bills and
improved fuel efficiency, not to mention a higher
quality environment," he said.
The new regulations, if adopted following a 60-day
comment period, would require refiners beginning in
January 1986 to limit the concentration of lead in
gasoline to one-tenth (0.1) gram per gallon. That is 11
they would place his wife in the door and
shoot her.
An airport spokesman confirmed that
Reina had said there were two hijackers
Earlier reports said there as many as
In Washington, a Defense Department
spokesman said the United States had sent
"technical advisers" to Willemstad. Navy
Lt. Tom Yeager gave no details, saying
only, "At the request of the government of
the. Netherlands Antilles, the United States
government is making available technical
advisers."
In Santa Barbara Calif., where President
Reagan is vacationing, assistant press
secretary Mark Weinberg said the
administrition "is making available
tecnhical adviser" because the hijacking
"potentially involves the safety of a sizeable
number of people."
The U.S. army has maintained an anti
terrorist force at Fort Bragg, N.C., for
several years.
Willemstad's Z-86 radio station had said
earlier that a U.S. C-130 cargo plane from
North Carolina landed on the nearby island
of Bonaire, which is part of the Netherlands
Antilles.
Governments of the two Caribbean
islands where the commandeered plane had
landed earlier refused to deal with the
hijackers.
times more stringent than the current standard of 1.1
grams per gallon, set in 1982.
But in announcing the proposal, the EPA said it
might instead order a reduction to only one-half gram
per gallon in July 1985 and "phase down" gradually to
the 0.1 level by 1988 if refiners can show that the
standard could not be met by 1986.
`The fact is that our past
programs to reduce lead in
gasoline haven't worked as
expected.'
—William Ruckelshaus, EPA
administrator
Ruckelshaus, however, indicated that he clearly
favors the earlier deadline.
"We estimate that by 1988, absent this standard,
there would still some 97,000 children in the country
who would have blood-lead levels in excess of 30
micrograms per deciliter," Ruckelshaus said. "As a
result of this standard, we'll move 50,000 children
below this level."
The government's Centers for Disease Control now
uses the 30 micrograms per deciliter concentration of
lead in blood as a guideline for requiring medical
attention. However, an advisory committee for the
centers recently recommended lowering the guideline
to 25 micrograms per deciliter.
EPA officials said brain-wave changes have been
detected in children with lead-blood levels as low as 15
the incentive for motorists to switch fuels arid tamper
with the catalytic converters.
Tuesday, July 31, 1984
Vol. 85, No. 28 16 pages University Park, Pa. 16802
Published by students of The Pennsylvania State University
©1984 Collegian Inc.
House, Senate attempts at
defense compromise failed
By LEE BYRD
Associated Press Writer
WASHINGTON —Congressional
attempts to fashion a compromise
defense budget virtually collapsed
yesterday when Senate
negotiators balked at House
demands that money for the, MX
missile and anti-satellite , weapons
be tied firmly to administration .
efforts on arms control, sources
said.
The impasse produced an
indefinite suspension of the
meetings of the House-Senate
conference committee assigned to
iron out differences on the record
Pentagon authorization bill for the
fiscal year beginning Oct. 1
nearly $3OO billion.
With time running out on the
election-year Congress, the
deadlock heightened prospects
that the regular appropriations
process will be scuttled for the
Pentagon, with money provided
through a so-called continuing
resolution fixing general
spending levels as a percentage of
current amounts. That could •
imperil dozens of proposed new
programs, while giving the
administration a freer hand to
continue existing ones.
House negotiators planned to
meet with Speaker Thomas P.
O'Neill Jr., D-Mass., and other
leaders before formulating their
next move. But several confided
that they believed chances for a
compromise with the Senate had
become very dim.
Caribbean Sea \
ARUBA \
\\\\
4,, \ IRON N I ®ACS
Cara as
VENEZUELA
Venezuela
Hijack
Venezuelan officials said most of the
passengers were Dutch residents of
Curacao, but it was believed there were five
U.S. citizens aboard.
They also said they believed one of the
hijackers was Hilertant Dominique, a
former Haitian army captain who was
living in exile in Venezuela.
That sentiment was echoed by
Assistant Majority Leader Ted
Stevens, R-Alaska, in the Senate
With the standstill over the
authorization measure he said
there was little point in proceeding
on the companion appropriations
bill the measure that actually
hands out the money.
The House passed an overall
$292 billion defense budget in
May; the Senate approved a $299
billion version on June 21.
Secret negotiations in the
conference committee had
zAuced little movement for
acs, with Senate Armed
Se. /ices Chairman John Tower,
R-Texas, fighting for the entire
$299 billion package favored by
President Reagan. Finally, Tower
offered a "compromise" total of
$297 billion.
House members of the panel
agreed, on condition that the
Senate bend on four key issues:
the MX, anti-satellite weapons,
sea-launched cruise missiles and
troops in Central America.
According to sources who spoke
only on condition that they not be
identified, the Senate group did
agree to some arms-control
language on the three weapons
systems, and also to a variation of
the House prohibition against
using troops in Central America
except to save American lives.
But the rub, according to these
sources, was over how much
power to leave Congress for a
further decision next year on the
,
future of the MX.
ifkik= l LziELLY
inside
• Pollock quad appears emptier
than previous summers and
some area businesses are re
porting a decline in student busi
ness, but the University will not
say whether there is a drop in
student enrollment for the 1984
Summer Session Page 2
• Three cars of a high-speed
train carrying commuters and
tourists hurtled off the track near
this village yesterday, killing 13
people and injuring 44, British
Rail and police reported.... Page 5
• Michael Gross of West Ger
many became the first double
gold winner of the 1984 Summer
Olympics yesterday with a world
record performance. Page 8
index
Arts
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State/Nation/World
weather
Partly sunny and warm today and
tomorrow with a late afternoon
or evening shower possible each
day. High today 83 and tomorrow
near 85. Low tonight 63.
by Glenn Rolph