78-06-A1

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Guinea

Transcript Does the United Nations have a duty to people who are subjected to torture? Perhaps my question really should be, what is our obligation, the obligation of each one of us to our fellow human beings who are being denied even a nominal right to life and certainly no right at all to liberty and the pursuit of happiness. Where the coast line of Africa bulges out into the Atlantic just north of the Equator lies a former colony of Spain, since 1968 an independent nation called Equatorial Guinea. It is about the size of the state of Maryland and is ruled by a former civil servant Macias Biyago. (Ma-sias Bee-ah-go) Dictator Biyago lives in a walled compound in perpetual fear of assassination. But don't waste any pity on him. In the 10 years since independence, half the population has fled the tiny country and tens of thousands have vanished without a tract. Those who remain live in terror. Western correspondents are barred from the country so our information comes from the few remaining diplomats, business men, technicians and, of course, the refugees. Biyago has set up a dictatorship backed by a militia drawn from his own tribe plus some Cubans, Russians and Chinese. Incidentally, all American diplomats have been expelled from the country. Amnesty International and the London based Anti-Slavery society have denounced the regime as the most brutal in all the world. Death is the penalty for dissent and the method of execution is by beating, administered by the soldiers of the militia. A former government minister now living in exile (after escaping through the jungle while the militia combed the countryside looking for him) gives an account of life--or perhaps I should say-- death in Equatorial Guinea. From 1971 to 1975 he was kept naked in a cell seven feet long and two feet wide--his bed the concrete floor. Those dates are just figures and don't really stimulate our imagination to think of four years, 24 hours a day in a bare enclosure only two feet wide and seven feet long. Oh, there was a little diversion. Every Saturday all prisoners were given 50 strokes with a metal rod. Minister E-Kong said he kept track of the prisoners who were beaten to death in the prison courtyard. Their screams would stop when their backs were broken. Then he would make a mark on the wall. When he escaped there were 157 marks. I know we can't give the United Nations the authority to intervene in the internal affairs of nations, but it does seem there should be some supervision over the transition of former colonies to statehood, especially when we were all party to the elimination of colonies as a step toward universal freedom. Come to think of it the Russians and their Cuban stooges say their destiny is to free the downtrodden and they are right there in Guinea at the dictator's elbow. Maybe we could ask them to take on that chore. This is Ronald Reagan. Thanks for listening.		Details Batch Number 78-06-A1 Production Date 02/20/1978 Book/Page RihoH-170 Audio Youtube? No
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