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PASTOR GENERAL'S REPORT, APRIL 22, 1983.
PAGE 9
other Southern Hemisphere regions, including Australia and parts
of South America. They fear it is part of a long-term dry cycle
that could last several more years.
South African economists estimate that the loss to the country•s
export earnings from crop failures will total the equivalent of
$822 million this year, offsetting much of the foreign-exchange
gain from the improved gold price in the past six months. Agri
cultural exports earned $1.92 billion in 1982. In a normal year
they constitute 291 of all exports, excluding gold. South Africa
also exports corn, fruit, sugar, cotton, tobacco and other
crops••••
[It is estimated that] corn production, the agricultural sector's
backbone, will slide this year to 185 million bushels, compared
to
570
million bushels produced by farmers two years ago•.•• Corn
will almost certainly have to be imported in 1983 [up to
$275
million worth says another report J. Ranchers are slaughtering
their animals because there isn't any feed. The Meat Board•••
warns that this forced slaughtering will create future shortages
and could make prices soar.
The electricity supply commission that provides South Africa's
electric power warns that unless the drought is soon broken in
the eastern Transvaal, location of eight power stations generat
ing 661 of the country's electricity supply, inadequate water for
cooling will force power cuts by August.
Central America--Battle Lines Shaping Up
The worldwide Communist-terrorist network was caught literally "red"-handed
on Tuesday, April 19. Four Libyan planes carrying "medical supplies" to
Nicaragua were found instead to be transporting weapons, probably to help
fight off anti-government forces now operating on two fronts in that coun
try. The planes were refueling in Recife, Brazil, when Brazilian authori
ties, suspicious of the cargo's declared manifests, made the discovery.
The Reagan Administration responded with an immediate "See there, we told
you so," to the largely unfazed news media.
A deeply-concerned President Reagan has decided to go the route of address
ing a joint session of Congress next week in an urgent appeal to free stale
mated military funding for El Salvador. He is greatly disturbed over dete
riorating conditions in Central America. One White House official said the
President's advisers realize that he has convinced neither the public nor
Congress that the United States should continue providing arms and training
for the Salvadoran army. "And the strong feeling is that unless he makes
the case, El Salvador could go down the tubes," the official said.
While the President is worried over the prospect of "losing El Salvador,"
the country as a whole is traumatized over the possibility of "another
Vietnam"--meaning, according to that context, a deepening direct U.S. in
volvement, with little hope of success. Communist-backed forces realize
the President is in a weakened position at home on this issue. They also
know that the United States is reluctant to intervene directly in Central
America out of concern of reviving once again, charges of "Yanqui imperial
ism."