This Day In 1970's History: Sunday January 13, 1980
- The Soviet Union vetoed a United States plan to cut off all shipments to Iran, except for food and medicine. The Security Council vote in the United Nations was 10 to 2, with 2 abstaining. Washington had secured more than the nine votes needed for passage, but the veto from one of the five permanent members was decisive.
Foreign Minister Sadegh Ghotbzadeh of Iran said that American-initiated sanctions against Iran would have no effect and that the deposed Shah had to be returned for the hostages to be released. His comments made plain that Iran had not softened its position despite speculation on a compromise. Mr Ghotbzadeh said, "They should understand that these kinds of pressures don't deter us at all." [New York Times]
- Hanoi's political "re-education" of its former South Vietnamese foes took the place of the "blood bath" that American officials thought would follow the Communist takover, according to a former South Vietnamese army officer and official who spent four years in Vietnam under the Communists. Tran Ngoc Thau, who is now living in Van Nuys, Calif., said he did not know of any person on the South Vietnamese side who had been executed for their actions in the war. But he said many thousands of former South Vietnamese were still in detention camps. [New York Times]
- A Soviet sports paper accused President Carter of "using sport as an instrument of political blackmail," in sugesting that American participation in the summer Olympic Games in Moscow be withdrawn in retaliation for the Soviet intervention in Afghanistan. The journal of the Committee for Physical Culture and Sport of the Council of Ministers said that attempts to organize a boycott of the Moscow Games would fail. [New York Times]
- Abuse of illegal aliens by the Border Patrol and its parent agency, the Immigration and Naturalization Service, which for years have been accused of shootings, beatings and rapes, have infrequently resulted in criminal charges by local prosecutors and rarely by the Department of Justice. Michael Walsh, the United States Attorney in San Diego, whose jurisdiction encompasses the most violent segment of the California-Mexico border, said brutality cases were difficult to prosecute because most consist of an alien's word against federal officers. He said, though, "Nobody's kidding anybody. We know this goes on." [New York Times]
- Police civilian reviews boards will be sought across the nation by the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People. Benjamin Hooks, the association's executive director, said that its chapters would give top priority to the boards. [New York Times]
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