Editorials
Monday, April 27, 1998

Mass executions could
spark more bloodshed

RETRIBUTION for the genocidal slaughter of some 800,000 minority Tutsis and moderate Hutus in Rwanda in a three-month orgy of violence in 1994 was inevitable. But the wholesale executions being conducted in Rwanda after skimpy trials smack more of blind vengeance than justice.

Last Friday 22 people were executed by firing squads in the capital of Kigali and four towns despite a plea for clemency from Pope John Paul II. An appeal by the United States to delay the executions until all appeals had been exhausted was ignored.

U.N. Human Rights Commissioner Mary Robinson urged the Rwandan government to reconsider.

It appeared that more executions would be carried out although no announcements have been made. More than 100 prisoners, including two Roman Catholic priests, remain on death row after being convicted at trials that began in December 1996. About 130,000 suspects, overwhelmingly Hutus, are crammed into prisons awaiting trial.

A spokesman for Amnesty International said the executed persons were unfairly tried. He called on the international community to "put enough pressure on the Rwandan government to stop this pretense of justice."

After the executions in Kigali one man shouted: "They have died but one million of us died." But if the executions are to be anything more than legalized massacres, legitimate trials have to be held and the right to appeal respected. Otherwise the executions could trigger another wave of revenge killings. Nelson Mandela and other African leaders should join the effort to stop this bloodbath.

Tourist crime victims

MEANWHILE in Mexico the problem is not mass executions but a crime wave with tourists as targets. Mexico is a prime competitor of Hawaii for tourists, which makes crime in that country of interest here.

In Mexico City, the number of attacks on tourists -- both foreign and Mexican -- has doubled in the first months of this year. An average of 20 tourists are attacked each day in Mexico City. Five are foreigners, four of whom are Americans. Eight Americans have been killed in Mexico in the last four months.

An estimated 600,000 U.S. citizens live in Mexico, and hundreds of thousands of U.S. tourists are in the country at any given time. The recent killings have worried some tourism officials that visitors might be scared away.

The most common crimes are thefts in the streets, hotels or taxis. However, occasionally those thefts turn violent, as in the case of American real estate executive Peter Zarate. He was shot to death when a gang of armed men tried to rob him aboard a taxi in December.

In March, Joseph Edward Poston, a dancer, was found mutilated and stabbed to death in his Mexico City home. Poston lived alone, and his body was not discovered for about 18 days.

Even boxing promoter Don King was not immune to the crime wave, although he has some formidable friends. During his visit to Mexico City last month, robbers stopped his car and stole his Rolex watch, reportedly worth more than $100,000.

The situation in Hawaii isn't so frightening. It was front-page news when a tourist was murdered in Waikiki a few years ago, evidence that major crimes against tourists are mercifully rare here. However, the former Japanese consul general warned that his countrymen could be scared off if crimes against tourists continued to increase.

Hawaii must protect its reputation as a safe place to visit. What is happening in Mexico could have a devastating effect on tourism there, and the same could be true here.

It’s way too late

A coalition of community organizations has come up with an alternative set of recommendations on economic revitalization. Unfortunately for them, the proposals come too late for consideration at the current legislative session, which has only about a week to go.

This is the same group, called the Community Revitalization Coalition, that asked the legislators to declare a five-day recess in order to canvass the community on solutions to the state's problems.

It was an impractical suggestion that was, not surprisingly, ignored. Legislators have all year to listen to their constituents. A recess would only prolong the session and increase the cost to taxpayers. This idea was tried in the past and discarded.

Among the proposals: cut income taxes for the low- and middle-income brackets; don't raise the general excise tax; maintain environmental, education and health and human services programs; encourage use of local products and services. Nothing very unusual there.

A spokesman for the group explained that the proposals were presented late in the session because the coalition held meetings in the community from late March until last week.

Presenting them at this time, when the legislators are trying to wrap up the session's business, is a guarantee that they will be ignored. The lawmakers simply have no time for them, and anyway the deadlines for introducing legislation are long past.

Needless to say, the community hasn't waited for the coalition to organize meetings to express its views. We print letters voicing their ideas every day and publish surveys of public opinion periodically.

Talk shows, TV programs and paid announcements are full of people sounding off on the economy. Legislators hold hearings and meet with their constituents.

The Community Revitalization Coalition should have learned an important lesson from this experience.

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Rupert E. Phillips, CEO

John M. Flanagan, Editor & Publisher

David Shapiro, Managing Editor

Diane Yukihiro Chang, Senior Editor & Editorial Page Editor

Frank Bridgewater & Michael Rovner, Assistant Managing Editors

A.A. Smyser, Contributing Editor