European Stars and Stripes (Newspaper) - January 9, 1992, Darmstadt, Hesse                                Page 8 b the stars and stripes thursday january 9, 199222 quit ships tracing Columbus voyage Cabo Rojo puerto Rico a a Spanish flotilla retracing Christopher Columbus route to the new world was grappling tuesday with the same old problem a a mutinous Crew. Twenty two sailors quit their ships monday night and put up at a local hotel after the Spanish Quin Centennial commission announced it intended to fire one Crew member for leaving his duties As ship guard to go into town. Ignacio Fernandez vial a commission official overseeing the voyage said he was holding talks with the 22 sailors in their hotel. Vial said the commission was offering to Send Back to Spain any Sailor who wanted to leave. Eighty Crew members in All have been travelling aboard replicas of Columbus three wooden caramels the Nina the Pinta and the Santa Maria in a re enactment of his 1492 voyage to the americas. Columbus also had to handle a restive Crew As he sailed then uncharted seas in Small cramped vessels. The replica ships arrived in puerto Rico in mid december. They landed at Cabo Rojo on the Western coast on monday. The ships were expected to leave for the Virgin islands As soon As the dispute was resolved. They Are to be used there in filming a movie about Columbus and then sail to the dominican Republic. The flotilla sails this month to Miami then Heads for new Orleans Tampa Fla St. Augustine Fla. Charleston . Norfolk a. Boston Newport . And new York where they will Lead a procession of tall ships into new York Harbor for fourth of july celebrations. World High air pollution Levels prompt ban on Athens cars from wire reports Athens Greece a the government on tuesday banned private cars from Central Athens As air pollution Levels soared. In addition it ordered a 24-hour reduction in Industrial fuel consumption and buildings Central heating. The ban on All private cars and half the City a taxis was to be in effect from 6 . To 8 . Wednesday the environment ministry said. Industries in the Athens area were asked to limit fuel consumption by 30 percent for 24 hours starting 6 . Wednesday. All Public buildings excluding hospitals kindergartens and old age Homes were ordered to shut Down their Central heating for the same period. The ministry also called on athenians to limit their use of private Central heating  testing ordered Budapest Hungary a the transport ministry announced tuesday that it would impose emission control testing on All vehicles in an Effort to clean up the country a air pollution which it said was the worst in Europe. Hungary a 2 million cars trucks and tractor trailers and its aging Fleet of Public transportation buses will have to be tested first Between May 1, 1992, and april 30, 1993. After. May 1, 1993, All cars registered in Hungary must have an environment Protection certificate and will have to be checked once a year. Cars with catalytic converters must Only be checked once every three  taken in Romania Bucharest Romania a for the first time in decades romanians on tuesday took part in a census without fear that their answers would be used against them. A now you can say you believe in god and nobody will hold it against you a said 40-year-old Helena Hal magi after a 25-minute session with census takers. A you can even Tell them what your nationality is a added Halmagyi whose husband is a member of the country s Large hungarian minority. Reliable figures on minorities were unavailable under dictator Nicolae Ceausescu who tried to assimilate the Many gypsies hungarians serbs and other minorities living in Romania. Ceausescu was ousted and executed in a revolution two years ago. The country a first head count since 1977 is also expected to provide needed information on the handicapped and other groups. Under communism the country a aids epidemic among babies was kept under wraps and the existence of lepers was not recognized. The census should reveal the True effects of emigration and decreased birth rates since the revolution. Some officials believe that romanians population now estimated at 22 million has declined by almost 1 million since 1989.ukraine buys 1 7 planes Warsaw a the polish state owned air lines lot has sold 17 outdated soviet built planes to Ukraine spokesman Jerzy Wojdylo said tuesday. Wojdylo did not reveal the exact figure the newly Independent former soviet Republic paid for the planes. Quot they paid several million dollars a he said. Quot it was Good business for  among the deliveries were seven 11-62 airliners considered to be Gas guzzlers and 10 medium Range an-24s. Lot has already purchased three Boeing 737 Milanes to modernize its Fleet. Nine others Are to be de Vered by the end of the year. 2 freed from iraqi jail recall screams cold horror stories Kuwait City a three mine Field surveyors released from iraqi jail described brutal treatment at the hands of their captors but two of them said they will return to work in the demilitarized zone where they were arrested last month. A never in my wildest dreams did i dream that i would go through or survive anything like this a said Joe Ducat 24, of the Philippines. A i will go Back there on thursday because there is a Job to be done but it bothers me a said David Martin of Blue Springs to. The third Man Jim Aduddell returned to the United states for medical treatment. Martin said Aduddell had kidney and Back problems in addition to sores from sleeping on rough Concrete in jail. The three explosives experts were arrested dec. 6 while surveying mine Fields for a private company in the demilitarized zone. Although . Troops patrol the area that stretches six Miles into Southern Iraq and three Miles inside Kuwait they do not have jurisdiction inside the zone. David Martin left of Blue Springs mo., and Joe Ducat of the Philippines Are Back in Kuwait City after their jailing in Iraq. The men were released last thursday and returned to Kuwait on saturday after an iraqi court found them not guilty of illegal entry of Iraq and espionage. During their incarceration the three were moved from one prison to another in Basra and Baghdad. They were Given Little to eat and were kept awake during Long cold nights by the screams of other prisoners being beaten. Martin said they were kept in a Concrete cell naked with no water or food for five Days. Ducat who works for the Kansas City based Martin explosives corp. Said he lost 20 pounds. A it was so cold in there we could see our breaths a said Martin adding that they  have made it out alive if they had been held in separate cells. A we Only had one Blanket and we used body heat to get  during their detention in Baghdad the three talked to other prisoners mostly iranians syrians and egyptians. They heard stories of How some were tortured with electrical shocks and Hung upside Down. Martin said the youngest prisoner he saw was a 9-year-old Arab. A iraqi authorities Are terrible very brutal a Martin said. A i feel sorry for the people for having to live under such a  on dec. 25, the three men were moved from detention to officers quarters where they had Beds to sleep in and food every Day. An official from the polish embassy who visited told them they were going to be tried for illegally entering Iraq and for espionage. Iraq Cut diplomatic relations with the United states last february during the Gulf War. Poland represents . Interests in Baghdad. Their iraqi attorney convinced the court that the three were innocent because they were arrested on the kuwaiti Side of the Border. 3 . Terrorists caught Cuba says Mexico City apr Cuba said wednesday that it arrested three Miami residents who tried to infiltrate the country last month to carry out terrorist attacks using methods similar to those of the Cia. A they belonged to a terrorist organization acting from the United states and were trained and sent to Cuba to carry out violent acts against the revolution a cubans Interior ministry said. A the statement which did not identify the group that allegedly sent the men or give their nationalities was carried by the official Prensa Latina news Agency and radio Havana both monitored in Mexico City. The Interior ministry said the three men were arrested carrying weapons and incendiary bombs the night of dec. 29 near Zucaro in the coastal Region Northeast of Havana. The statement did not say if the men were caught on land or offshore. In Miami several Hundred cuban exiles signed a letter tuesday urging president Bush to allow exile groups to renew military activity against cubans government. The letter was in response to the release of newly declassified documents from the 1962 cuban missile crisis. The papers indicate that despite verbal assurances to soviet leaders president Kennedy ultimately refused to sign a pact barring the United states from attacking Cuba in return for the removal of soviet missiles from the Island. A Perez Roura general manager of Wadi am and chief promoter of the letter said he hoped to get at least 100,000 exiles to sign the letter by feb. 24. The White House declined to comment on the letter. Throughout most of his 32-year Rule cuban president Fidel Castro has used the threat of a . Invasion to rally support. Those warnings have increased As Cuba s Economy has collapsed Over the past year because of the loss of soviet bloc Aid and Trade. A .-backed invasion Force of exiles attacked Cuba on april 17, 1961, at the Bay of pigs but it was quickly Defeated. Radio Havana said the three men arrested last month told cuban authorities they had left from Marathon key in Florida a aboard a yacht manned by other elements who returned to the United states after putting them aboard a Motorboat several Miles from the cuban