The Miami Herald from Miami, Florida • 92

0 A FRIDAY JUNE 30 1989 THE MIAMI HERALD NATIONAL WORLD NEWS i TODAY IN THE HERALD A-one train Caracas subway: Take the REPORT FROM VENEZUELA ACTION LINE 7E LATIN NEWS 16A BUSINESS 1C LIVING TODAY IE CLASSIFIED 130 LOCALNEWS IB COMICS SE MOVIES 6H CROSSWORD 7E PEOPLE 21A DEATHS 48 SPORTS ID EDITORIALS 22A TELEVISION 3BH FLA NEWS 6A WEATHER 21A By ANDRES OPPENHEIMER Herald Start Writer CARACAS In a country where most public services are monuments to inefficiency there is one major exception: The Caracas subway is a model of tidiness and punctuality with few parallels in the world Venezuelans often joke that descending to the subway is like entering a fantasy land where their countrymen converse with British politeness and refrain from throwing trash on the floor As soon as they get out of the station and hit the street they go back to their usual unruly ways they say The Caracas Metro is indeed a peculiar place in this crammed city of 35 million people In most stations there are shiny electric escalators ble exception of Petroven it has not been run by political appointees economists say Most ranking managers of the Metro have been in their jobs for more than a decade immune to political changes Jose Gonzalez Lander president of the Caracas Metro has presided over the French-built Venezuelan-administered subway system since construction began in 1977 Today he says the Metro fully covers its operational costs While it cannot even begin to pay the $3 billion that the Venezuelan government has invested in it so far its financial performance is better than that of most subway systems around the world Gonzalez Lander said Most public transportation systems in other countries including those in big US cities cannot even cover their day-to-day operations he said The Caracas average fare is very low by North American standards about 10 US cents a round trip But the income is relatively high because of the large number of riders who use it About one million passengers or half a million people making round trips ride the Metro every day Began running six years ago Other Latin American subway systems especially those in Mexico City in Santiago Chile and in Sao Paulo Brazil also are success stories Gonzalez Lander said But he added that the Caracas Metro stands out because it is the most modern: It began operating only six years ago Despite current financial crisis the government plans to dedicate four more subway stations in November The system has 31 stations covering 23 miles with plans to extend it to 60 miles by 1995 Crime is no problem There were only 10 purse-snatchings in all of 1988 Gonzalez Lander said There are cameras on the platforms and unarmed guards in every station The Metro has a subcontract with a private company to keep its facilities clean keeping the Metro clean has been relatively he shrugged are so proud of it that they litter" that take you to the train Next to the ticket counter you can find about a dozen automatic machines from which you can buy magneticard tickets If you have change there are plenty of automatic change machines The rubber-carpeted subway platforms appear spit-shined On a recent morning after the rush hour there was not one cigarette butt on the 300-yard platform at the busy downtown Capitolio station Once your train arrives it does punctually every 2 Vi minutes during peak hours and every 3'A minutes during off-peak hours you enter a new air-conditioned car island of There are several maps with the itinerary in each wagon and a loud friendly voice announces the arrival at each new station There are no graffiti inside or outside the trains and nobody recalls ever seeing any Metro is an island of efficiency in the middle of a sea of said Attorney General Ramon Escovar Salom the man in charge of fighting mismanagement and corruption in public administration me the Metro means that we Venezuelans are not condemned to screw things Left-of-center politicians say that the state-owned Metro as well as the state oil monopoly Petroven prove the fallacy of the free-market theory that only private companies are well-managed Private-sector advocates counter that the two companies are exceptions to the rule Most other Venezuelan state-run services such as the mails and the telephone system are worse than their counterparts in much poorer countries There is so little confidence in the post office for instance that most Caracas businesses use motoriza-dos as motorcycling messengers are known to deliver their city mail Most big businesses ask foreign trading partners to send their mail to post office boxes in Miami One reason the Caracas subway does well is that unlike most other state-run companies with the possi- Spike Lee left wrote directed produced and stars in Do the Right Thing opening today See Weekend 13H FRONTPAGE A House committee approved a one-year extension of the ban on oil drilling off Florida NATIONALWORLD Bush administration nears a deal with South Korea on high-tech fighter 14 A Scientists may have isolated a gene linked to developing multiple sclerosis ISA EFFICIENT: Subway train glides into Caracas station FLORIDA House speaker to hire attorney to get data IN THE NATION needed to tackle road problems 6A Devices used by shrimpers credited with decrease in dead sea turtles 7A i -t WEEKEND TABLOID SECTION Great Balls of Fire the story of Jerry Lee Lewis is great fun 5H LIVING TODAY Two families are vying with love law and prejudice to keep Crystal DeMetro IE SPORTS Things have turned around for baseball's Vy Big Bad Birds from Baltimore ID No 3 seed Gabriela Sabatini and No 5 Zina Garrison fall at Wimbledon ID BUSINESS Raider Boone Pickens lost his bid to sit i 1 5 i I i 1 i I i I I i I I i on the board of a Japanese firm 1C Blue chips plunged 46 points as European countries hiked interest rates 1C NEWS TO USE BOAT MUSIC: New stereo gear lose its sound to the four winds 3E The issue is a particularly emotional one for Findlay designated by Congress in 1974 as the Flag City President Bush attended the first Flag City festival during his campaign last fall The Flag City title recognizes large number of flags flown from houses and firms Roller coaster stalls riders are stranded SANDUSKY A wind gust stalled cars on the Magnum roller coaster at an amusement park Wednesday stranding 33 riders about 80 feet above the ground some for more than three hours Firefighters rescued riders by lowering them in the bucket of a Huron Township fire truck No injuries were reported and the stranded riders were offered free dinners hotel rooms and phone calls home TEXAS Ex-convict arrested in poisoning of tree AUSTIN An ex-convict was arrested Thursday in connection with the most publicized crime in Austin this year the poisoning of the historic Treaty Oak Paul Steadman Cullen 45 of Elroy was booked on a criminal-mischief felony which could bring fines of up to $10000 and imprisonment for 20 years He was once convicted of stealing narcotics from a drugstore The 500-year-old oak is struggling to live after being poisoned a few months ago with Velpar a potent chemical herbicide Police Sgt John Jones said the chemical sold at a feed store where Cullen worked was poured in a way that suggested a folk ritual or curse The crime had stirred intense public sentiment The grand live that Stephen Austin' thefrther Poice in Seoul South Korea fight off flames Thursday after being hit by firebombs thrown by of Texas had signed a treaty with radical students at Hanyang University More than a thousand students protested the govern-the Indians under it ban on participation in a youth festival in North Korea that starts Saturday Ha 5 jet -a 0 j-A sJ A SETTING THE RECORD STRAIGHT In Weekend The Herald reports that Jerry Lee fourth wife Jaren Pate died of a drug overdose It was fifth wife Shawn who died of a methadone overdose in 1983 Jaren Pate drowned in a swimming pool in 1982 The following are corrections made in the Movie Timeclocks after the press deadline for the Weekend section: CALIFORNIA CLUB VI 652-8558 850 Ives Dairy Rd Miami Ghostbusters II pg 12:30 1:00 2:50 3:20 5:10 5:40 7:30 8:00 9:50 10:20 Great Balls of Fire pg- t3 12:45 3:05 5:30 7:50 10:10 See No Evil Hear No Evil? 1:15 3:30 5:45 8:00 10:15 Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade pg-w 1:30 4:10 7:15 9:55 Dead Poets Society pg 1:45 4:20 7:25 10:10 FLORIDA LOTTERY RESULTS Thursday's Cash 3 1-8-2 From Herald Wire Services CALIFORNIA Man-made fire destroys 6 homes LAKE ELSINORE A manmade fire destroyed six homes Thursday and authorities said most of the houses burned because owners failed to clear away dry brush before the start of Southern fire season The Riverside County blaze faded under dying winds later Thursday along with another that claimed one home and three other buildings in Los Angeles Antelope Valley Thousands had been forced to evacuate both areas briefly as the fires burned 9750 acres of brush The Riverside fire ravaged five mobile homes and one house near Lake Elsinore said Barton Ball county Fire Department spokesman was man-made not caused by lightning or an act of he said He added that there were witnesses but refused to give details A probe will determine if the fire was arson HAWAII Weakened Marcos undergoes surgery HONOLULU Former Philippines President Ferdinand Marcos battling for his life against multiple organ failure was wheeled into surgery Thursday a lospital official said A St Francis Medical Center spokeswoman declined to say why surgery was being performed and did not say how long the operation would last The 71-year-old exiled leader hospitalized since Jan 15 suffered liver failure Wednesday and had a fever as high as 104 degrees a hospital administrator said NEW YORK Man is accused of poisoning attempt NEW YORK A cleaning-crew worker tried to poison his boss by dumping cyanide into a water cooler in a US Food and Drug Administration office authorities said The boss drink the water But an electrician working in the federal building office in Brooklyn drank from the cooler and become violently ill June 21 The electrician was treated at a hospital but was not seriously hurt Hector Cabassa 25 had told the FBI he stole the cyanide from the laboratory and put it into the cooler after he argued with his boss officials said OHIO rallies for stars and stripes FINDLAY staged a red white and blue rally Thursday to show support for proposals for a constitutional amendment to forbid protesters from desecrating the American flag the flag has to be a mortal said Jim Dauterman of Fostoria who rode his motorcycle to the rally with a group of Vietnam veterans take cape you take the mask off the Lone Ranger and you burn my flag" IN THE WORLD The Miami Herald KNIGHT RJDDER 79th Year No 212 (USPS 344-200) The Miami Herald is published every morning by The Miami Herald Publishing Co a division ot Knight-Ridder Inc One Herald Plaza Miami Fla 33132-1693 The entire contents ot each issue ol The Miami Herald are protected under the federal copyright act Reproduction of any portion ot any issue will not be permitted without the express permission ot The Miami Herald have begun an international manhunt for a convicted Nazi murderer who fled to avoid arrest a state prosecutor said Thursday Prosecutor Friedhelm Gabriel did not rule out the possibility that an underground group might have aided the escape of former Nazi death camp guard Gottfried Weise Weise 69 was convicted last year of killing at least five prisoners in 1944 at the Auschwitz concentration camp Weise disappeared after a federal court upheld his conviction and life members said Thursday Uno has declined all comment on the scandals that publications have alleged involve a number of women including a 16-year-old apprentice geisha Members of the governing Liberal Democratic Party said that Uno 66 had tried to resign Tuesday night after fresh reports of illicit affairs but was persuaded to stay until the July 23 elections SOUTH AFRICA De Klerk in tears over power sharing JOHANNESBURG National Party leader FW de Klerk declared "a new in South African history Thursday and wept before committing the white rulers to sharing limited power with the black majority Conservatives among the five million whites condemned the plan as a sham to surrender control to blacks Clive Derby-Lewis of the Conservative Party likened the plan to sales talk of an unscrupulous car Spokesmen for the 28 million disenfranchised blacks said the proposal uses "new labels for old as a ploy to retain white rule and impress foreign leaders From Herald Wire Services CANADA Government cancels Chinese film The government yanked a film about first emperor from a gala museum opening and replaced it with one about geese due to the sensitivity of the subject matter at a time when Beijing is cracking down on dissent Communications Minister Marcel Masse said it would be inappropriate to show the 40-minute film a Chinese-Canadian co-production which has 2000 Chinese army cadets in its cast and depicts Chinese authorities burying dissenters alive The film had been scheduled to premiere at the opening of the National Museum of Civilization in Ottawa Thursday JAPAN Uno to stay in power despite sex scandals TOKYO Japanese Prime Minister Sosuke Uno enmeshed in a web of sex scandals will stay in office at the insistence of party elders at least through upper house elections next month party SOVIET UNION US investigating sailor who defected The Pentagon said Thursday it does not know whether former US sailor Glenn Michael Souther gave damaging secrets to the Soviet Union but acknowledged he was under investigation even-before he defected to Moscow in 1986 The Soviet Union said Thursday that Souther 32 had committed suicide because of psychological problems He was praised in an obituary as a valuable KGB agent MOSCOW Soviet and British officials signed an agreement Thursday for the first Soviet-British space mission and announced their search for the man or woman who will become the first Briton in space The Briton will accompany two cosmonauts to the Soviet orbiting station Mir in 1991 WEST GERMANY Manhunt under way for convicted Nazi FRANKFURT Authorities ETC Home Delivery Rales Standardratestorsevendaysaweek $220 Three-day weekend package $123 Home Delivery Numbers Dade 3S0-2000 Brevard 562-1743 Broward 462-3000 IndianRiver 562-1743 Palm Bch 686-2883 Collier 262-6651 Palm Bch 272-2883 KeyWest 294-4683 Marlin 287-4295 Lee 334-1833 St Lucie 879-6206 763-1551 St Lucie 464-3837 All other counties 1-800-282-1825 For International Edition information call local distributor or 376-3202 Home Delivery Problems: If you tail toreceiveyour newspaper by 630 am onweekends) call 350-2000 in Dade or 462-3000 in Broward before 1 0: 30 am Monday-Saturdayand 1 1am Sunday Elsewhere in Florida call home-delivery numbers listed above Mail Delivery: Write Mail Subscriptions or call 1-800-825-MAIL First-and second-class postage paid at Miami Fla 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