European Stars and Stripes (Newspaper) - September 12, 1989, Darmstadt, Hesse                                Page 28 the stars and stripes tuesday september 12.1989 greeters message we come to Freedom by Effie Bathen Sidvin Ccrawley staff writers passed West Germany a West German bus Driver and his wife their car filled with fresh bananas wailed at the austrian Border monday afternoon greeting refugees from the East. They insisted that their names not be used. The Day. They said belonged to the East germans who were finally Given permission on sunday night to leave hungarian refugee Camps after weeks of waiting. We just Hope to bring them some courage and encouragement the bus Driver s wife said. The couple who Are in their 50s and live i Mainz crossed Over from East Germany 32 years ago and were on vacation near the bavarian Bordertown of Passau when they heard that the refugees were being allowed to leave Hungary. We Don t know any of them personally the bus Driver said after giving his address to an East Ger Man family. We Only want to say Welcome to Germany. Welcome to Freedom " at the West German austrian Border one East German woman described her journey. She. Like other East germans interviewed monday did not want to be identified. She said that she. Her husband and her son made a spontaneous decision at the end of August to leave their Home in cast Dresden. They arrived sept. I at a refugee Camp in Budapest and spent the next 10 Day there. On sunday they and their fellow citizens received the news for which they had been waiting an announcement that generated an outburst of Joy among the refugees she said. After sleeping a few hours the family left the Camp at 5 . And drove More than eight hours tothe austrian West German Border. They brought Only passports and clothing. We left everything a four room apartment furniture everything she said. Among the woman s belongings that she brought along were pictures of her daughter and her late Mother. She hoped that her decision to leave the East would not have a negative Impact on her daughter who married and with children stayed behind. They decided to leave because life in East Ger Many is too confined and there was no Freedom of speech she said. The most important reason though was her son s future she said. He is 20. And she Hopes that he will be Able to get a Good Job. They plan to join her brother in win him. Near Mannheim. At an autobahn rest Slop Between hangers Borg and Passau refugee Camps a hungarian tourist pulled Over and talked about the East germans exo dus. Referring to their plight since the end of world War ii he said it was a Long journey. It took 40  e. German from Page 1 departure by car bus and train to a new year s eve Celebration with horns blaring and people  thousands of East germans had flooded into Hun Gary on tourist visas after it Tore Down its Border Fence with Austria in May. East Germany accused Hungary of interfering in its Honecker from Page 1 which has been bitterly at Odds with communist East Germany for decades. In East Berlin Over the weekend. Communist party sources said there were Clear signs that Honecker s mental capacity was failing and that his health prob lems have delayed several top level decisions. The sources speaking on the condition of anonymity also told the associated press that it is difficult to gauge Honecker s exact condition. In Bonn West German foreign ministry spokesman Jorgen Chrobot told the a in a Telephone interview that reports on Honecker s condition Are pure speculation. We have no first hand information on  Western intelligence sources two weeks ago said Honecker s Gall bladder surgery had to be abandoned due to weakness of surrounding tissue. At that time news reports also speculated that Honecker has cancer. Internal affairs by allowing the mass flight and becom ing the first East bloc government to help citizens of an ally freely leave their Homeland. The state run news Agency adn said Hungary under the Guise of humanity nazism has engaged in the organized smuggling of human  there have been news reports that the East German government was planning to curb travel to Hungary but the East Berlin leadership has denied it intends to impose such restrictions. But while Hungary risked worsened relations with an East bloc ally it could develop closer and potentially lucrative tics with common Market member West Germany. West German foreign minister Hans Dietrich Genscher whose country offers East germans Auto Matic citizenship and help getting settled hailed Hungary s move As representative of its humane  an estimated 60,000 East germans were in Hun Gary on sunday and the hungarian foreign minister Gyula Horn suggested that Many More than the 6,500 formally registered As wanting to leave might Cross into Austria. Even As the first convoys of refugees made their Way into Austria new East German arrivals were reported at several refugee Camps in hungary1. In Bavaria the refugees lined up to Register with charities and Border authorities. As parents stretched filled out forms or cupped hands around containers of Coffee handed out by volunteers children lined up in the morning Mist for Teddy bears picture books and other donated playthings. West German red Cross workers had braced for the Economy from Page 1 Gross National product grew 4.6 percent during the first half of the year. The Gnu is the total value at retail prices of All the goods and services produced by a nation s Economy. As an additional Benefit to the country the refugees will inject Youthful citizens into the country s aging population said Bado Gaw a spokesman for the ministry of economics in Bonn. Our population was getting older with the ensuing problem of not having enough people working to support our pension and social by slams with their taxes Gaw said. The new citizens will help alleviate that  Loci Cicoski said the majority of refugees from East Ger Many will quickly be absorbed into West German life. There s no language problem. They re mostly Well trained in their professions and arc Young and flexible enough to go where work is offered he said. Experience has shown that one third of them need Only four weeks to find work. Another third will need three months. The other third mainly persons with College de Grees will have a More difficult time. They will need a longer time to find work and 10 percent of them will need a very Long time before finding their Niche in work and  about three years ago Lecht Jewski was forced to give up his Job As a lecturer on political science at Humboldt University in East Berlin and come to the West. Onslaught by hastily erecting tent communities in Sev eral bavarian towns last month. But most of those arriving Early monday opted to drive on to relatives in cities As far away As Hamburg. For Many of the thousands who began crossing into Austria shortly after Midnight leaving Hungary was occasion for tumultuous Celebration. Lines of cars horns honking formed on the Hungar Ian Side with some passengers waving Champagne bottles out of car windows. On arrival in Nickels pro an austrian Border town dozens jumped from their cars to dance in the Street cheered on by a growing crowd of austrians. While the crossing into West Germany was More subdued for most some of the East germans again were overtaken by emotion. A Man from thu Ringen. Accompanied by his wife and their 3-year-old son told reporters of the Joy he and his countrymen experienced when told sunday night that they could leave for the West. My wife and i bawled and the Little one laughed he said chuckling. This is great shouted do a 26-year-old from Dresden one of a group of four East germans in their 20s who shared a car for the Freedom Convoy. We applied to leave three years ago and we got rejected a month ago he said explaining his decision to flee through Hungary. For those without cars the austrian Federal rail ways had readied 90 rail cars capable of carrying 8,000 people West German rail officials said. West Germany moved an additional 40 railway cars to several Border Points while austrian transport officials had More than 50 buses ready. Anti drug crusader shot dead in latest Medellin terror attack Bogota Colombia a gunmen on monday killed an anti drug activist who was a former mayor of Medellin the focal Point of the nation s cocaine Indus try and most of the violence in the country s narcotics War police said. At least two attackers dressed in Black shot Pablo Palacz Gonzalez As he was being driven to his Medel Lin office where he operated a local company making tin cans City police said. Pllaez s Driver also was killed said a police spokeswoman who declined to be identified. Radio stations reporting from the scene of the shooting said the killers apparently on foot fired 9mm automatic pistols at the former mayor s Bow Sedan shed their Black outer garments and fled. Palacz 45, a lawyer and former police inspector served As mayor from 1984 to 1986 in Medellin a Cit of 2 million and Colombia s second largest. He was elected on the Liberal party ticket the party of presi Dent Virgilio  then founded a local group called love for Medel Lin aimed at eliminating drugs and crime. Last week the 4th army brigade in Medellin announced the arrest of four suspected leaders of a cocaine Cartel hit squad that sarcastically also called itself love for Medellin no group immediately asserted responsibility for Palacz s  is the latest in a siring of daily bombings and shootings in Medellin where wealthy drug lords have focused efforts to terrorize colombians since Barco announced an  government crackdown on traffickers aug. 18. In a related development Justice minister Monica do Gruiff. Who left Colombia last month for the in itch states amid death threats from drug traffickers re turned to Colombia sunday night and met monday with Barco her office said. The crackdown has been supported by . Presi Dent Bush and is the focus of a . Meeting that opened monday in Vienna Austria. If Colombia were to lose this War against the Traffick Erse should All be lost Margaret j. Anstice director general of the . Office in Vienna told top government and Law enforcement officials from 100  sunday Colombia signed extradition papers for three alleged traffickers. But the most wanted cocaine chieftains remain at Large and the government does appear to know where they Are despite a $250,000 Reward offered for information about them. During the weekend the army kept on confiscating Lav ish properties that fugitive cocaine traffickers left behind. At least five properties were seized along wit olympic size swimming pools 600 head of cattle 200 exotic tropical Birds 80 fighting Cocks show horses trucks and an idyllic estate on a so called fantasy is land on the Magdalena River running through colom Bia s  properties Are said to belong to the lop two suspected drug lords Pablo Escobar and Gonzalo Rodriguez Gacha. They Are Worth billions and the seizures Are not believed to have drastically diminished the reputed drug Barons wealth