Colombian plane
catches fire in
mid-air; kills 22
ASUNCION, Paraguay — A Colombian
cargo plane caught fire in the air shortly after
takeoff Sunday, killing at least 22 people when
it crashed into houses in a suburban neighbor
hood, the government said.
The plane’s three-person crew and one pas
senger died in the crash. All were Colombians.
The civil aviation office said firefighters found
the aircraft’s black box in the smoldering de
oris.
Among the victims were seven children,
including five brothers, who had been playing
an outdoor volleyball match in the streets of the
Juan Sinforiano Bogarin neighborhood, 2 1/2
miles northwest of the airport and nine miles
north of the capital.
Eyewitness Cesar Rivarola told reporters he
saw the aircraft’s left turbine catch fire in mid
air before the plane apparently went out of
control and crashed.
“It started spinning in the air, as if it was
doing acrobatics, and then fell to the ground
nose-first,” Rivarola said.
A couple told television reporters they had
left their five children with their grandmother,
who had taken them to play volleyball. On
returning to look for them, the parents found all
six were dead.
The plane, which was not carryingany cargo,
crashed into seven houses and burst into flames,
destroying the buildings. Light rain was helping
to douse the fires, rescue workers said.
Parents began a desperate search for chil
dren who had been playing in the streets of the
middle-class neighborhood. Firefighters
searched for other victims among the debris.
Television footage showed several people
raking through the debris. One man was seen
stealing part of the plane’s turbine.
Forbes closes in as rivals try
to derail ‘lopsided’ campaign
WASHINGTON—As if the polls show
ing Steve Forbes pulling even or ahead in
New Hampshire aren’tworrisome enough to
Bob Dole, consider this scoreboard: Forbes
516, Dole 71.
The figures aren’t from any poll, or pref
erence ballot at a GOP event. But they are
troublingnonetheless, representing the num
ber of Forbes and Dole ads that appeared the
week before last on Boston television—the
most important way of reaching voters in
New Hampshire’s Feb. 20 political primary.
And for the other Republican candidates, the
Forbes edge is even more lopsided.
It is an advantage that the other cam
paigns have no way of overcoming as they
scramble for a way to derail Forbes; by using
his own personal fortune to pay for his cam
paign, the multimillionaire publishing heir
can ignore the spending limits imposed on
other candidates.
“If his name wasn’t Malcolm Forbes, he
wouldn’t be a serious candidate for mayor of
a city in New Jersey,” former Tennessee
Gov. Lamar Alexander complained last week.
As of last week, Forbes’ was spending on
New Hampshire and Boston TV at a rate that
suggests the average New Hampshire resi
dent would have already seen 135 of his ads.
By Feb. 20, that exposure will grow to
perhaps 200 Forbes ads, compared to roughly
35 for Dole, according to a Dole campaign
analysis.
It isn’t just the sheer ad volume that has
the other campaigns so frustrated by Forbes.
He has used his ads to change the tenor and
focus of the campaign, frustrating the strate
“We spent a year developing
a campaign to defeat (Texas
Sen.) Phil Gramm and
suddenly found ourselves
over Christmas trying to
design a campaign to stop
Steve Forbes. ”
SCOn REED
Dole campaign manager
gies of candidates who entered the race
months before him.
Dole and most other candidates began the
race believing Republican primary voters
would be thrilled that their party had finally
taken control of Congress and would view
the presidential campaign as a way to finish
the job.
But Forbes has tapped a powerful, linger
ing anti-Washington sentiment, winning over
a solid core of Republicans who supported
Ross Perot in 1992 and also dramatically
increasing the interest of independents, who
are allowed to vote in New Hampshire’s
presidential primary.
Polling shows Forbes beating Dole 2-to
1 among self-described independents. This
trend is particularly true in southern New
Hampshire, where the population has grown
since the last competitive GOP presidential
primary in 1988.
“A remarkably high number of indepen
dents say they plan to vote in the Republican
primary,” said pollster Andrew Kohut of the
Pew Research Center.
This is what drove Dole to enlist friends
to challenge Forbes.
In New Hampshire, popular Gov. Steve
Merrill asserts in a Dole ad that the Forbes
flat tax will raise middle-class taxes. Former
New Hampshire Sen. Warren Rudman, who
remains wildly popular, plans several public
events this week to warn the Forbes ap
proach could balloon the deficit.
And in Iowa, popular Sen. Charles
Grassley spent part of Sunday taping a new
Dole ad criticizing Forbes’ views on wel
fare. Forbes has opposed time limits on wel
fare and denying benefits to illegal immi
grants.
Dole aides believe the criticisms will carry
more weight if delivered by such popular
local figures, and there is some evidence the
strategy may be working. Forbes has com
plained bitterly about the Merrill ad, saying
its assertions about the flat tax are “bogus.”
To the Dole campaign, the protest was viewed
as proof one of its anti-Forbes tactics had
finally worked.
“We spent a year developing a campaign
to defeat (Texas Sen.) Phil Gramm and sud
denly found ourselves over Christmas trying
to design a campaign to stop Steve Forbes,”
said Dole campaign manager Scott Reed.
Serbian president permits
war crimes officials access
BELGRADE, Yugoslavia—Serbian presi
dent Slobodan Milosevic agreed Sunday to per
mit international war crimes investigators to
open an office here, a move that could acceler
ate the gatheringof evidence of ethnic cleansing
in the four-year war in Bosnia.
Thegesture of cooperation with the tribu
nal in The Hague reverses^ two-year refusal
by the Serbian leader to grant investigators
access.
There have been occasional meetings here
between tribunal and Serb officials but no direct
evidence-gathering permitted. American offi
cials said investigators now will be able to
question Serb eyewitnesses to crimes.
In another conciliatory move, Milosevic told
Secretary of State W arren Christopher he would
permit the U.S. Information Agency to open an
office in Kosovo, a predominantly Albanian
province whose autonomy the Serbian leader
reversed in 1989.
Christopher said the U.S. intention in open
ing the office was to bolster the political and
cultural rights of the people there. Many Kosovo
nationalists now want to go beyond autonomy
to independence, which would mean further
splintering of Yugoslavia.
But Christopher failed to induce Milosevic
to arrange for the extradition of war crimes
suspects for trial in The Hague. Serbia has no
extradition provision in its laws. Milosevic told
Christopher any war criminals found in the
“Peace is beginning to take
hold in the former
Yugoslavia. ”
WARREN CHRISTOPHER
Secretary of state
country would be tried in Serbia.
But U.S. officials, who briefed reporters
under rules that shielded their identity, said that
was unacceptable.
The stop here completed a three-nation visit
by Christopher to the Balkans. He urged leaders
in Croatia and Bosnia to free remaining war
prisoners and to protect the human rights of
residents of the three former Yugoslav repub
lics as the Bosnian peace accords are imple
mented.
Christopher expressed optimism about the
outlook for implementing the peace accords.
“Peace is beginning to take hold in the former
Yugoslavia,” he said Sunday at a news confer
ence.
“We are both optimists,” Milosevic said in
his own, separate statement to reporters. But he
also signaled in diplomatic language that there
were rough spots in the meeting. “We have had
very frank and open talks,” he said.
Nefcfraskan
Opinion Page Editor Doug Peters
Wire Editor Michelle Gamer
Copy Desk Editor Tim Pearson
Sports Editor Mitch Sherman
Arts & Entertainment Editor Jeff Randall
Photo Director Staci McKee
General Manager Dan Shattil
Production Manager Katherine Policky
Advertising Manager Amy Strut hers
Asst. Advertising Manager Laura Wilson
Publications Board Chairman Tim Hedegaard, 436-9253
Professional Adviser Don Walton, 473*7301
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