September 28, 1974

5 armed Dominican leftists, led by convicted plane hijacker Radames Mendez Vargas, kidnap US Information Service dir Barbara A Hutchison, take over Venezuelan consulate and seize 7 more hostages; plant bombs throughout consulate and threaten to blow it up unless US pays them $1‐million in ransom; band also demands release of 38 prisoners from Dominican prisons; Venezuelan Consul Jesus Gregorio de Corral and Hutchison, both hostages, comment via telephone; Hutchison recounts kidnapping; Amb Robert A Hurwitch meets later with reprs of kidnappers; Hutchison por (M)

NJ Pub Defender Stanley C Van Ness, citing new evidence of alleged perjury by 2 key prosecution witnesses, calls for new trial for Rubin (Hurricane) Carterand John Artis, who are now serving life terms for triple homicide; Passaic County Prosecutor Joseph D Gourley to oppose retrial; says case was handled correctly; Van Ness por (L)

Sens Jacob K Javits and Claiborne Pell, members of Sen Foreign Relations Com, fly to Cuba on Sept 27 on fact‐finding trip to discuss possibility of resuming diplomatic relations despite lack of expressed approval by Ford Adm, which reptdly asked them twice to postpone trip ‘in natl interest;’ are greeted by Foreign Ministry dir Jose Raul Viera and protocol chief Roberto Melendez; trip to Cuba apparently pleases Castro Govt who admitted 28 US news orgns reprs to cover visit; Javits and Pell por (M)

Pres Ford opens natl conf on inflation on Sept 27 in Washington with renewed appeal for bipartisan cooperation on econ policy; pol and ideological divisions omitted apparent at onset, with harmony and sense of unity that pervaded 1st preliminary meeting conspicuously absent; critical remarks by Dem Cong leaders, labor reprs and others underline prevalent feeling that Ford's pol ‘honeymoon’ is over; Ford, in opening speech, says problem of inflation ‘transcends Amer's many special interests‐whether Repub or Dem, labor or business, urban or rural'; HR Speaker Carl Albert follows Ford speech with ‘tough’ remarks that point to wide divergence of views between Dems and Repubs on econ policy and emphasizes that Ford cannot automatically expect Cong Dem support; offers broad program for dealing with inflation prepared by HR Dem Caucus, suggesting that Ford Adm has taken toonarrow view on nation's econ problems; also challenges Ford's comments that Cong had equal role in inflation conf process, asserting that exec branch had managed entire proceeding; Sen Mike Mansfield attacks ideological assumptions of Adm's econ policies; notes that most talk by Ford's econ advisers had been about need for tight budget and tight money; says that ‘Fed budget is only a fragment of the answer to our difficulties'; contends inflation is ‘soc dynamite,’ but so is recession; adds that budget cuts and curbs on credit might not be worth cost in ‘lost jobs, lost output, lost pub services and business failures'; says ‘it is time to put aside evasions and circumlocutions'; Sens Hugh Scott and John G Tower urge that pol and partisanship be ommitted from econ policy debate; both strongly endorse ‘old‐time religion’ of fiscal and monetary restraint as chief cure for econ ills; Tower, in speech, says meeting was called to fight inflation and that participants are not there to ‘win elections'; says after meeting that Dems appeared to be raising flag of partisanship; many speakers bluntly tell Ford to get rid of his econ advisers; econ columnist Sylvia Porter calls on Ford to exercise leadership by enlisting all of nation's consumers in battle against inflation; Ford says he is ‘greatly impressed’ with Porter's suggestion and indicates that he would follow her recommendation; also reponds to comments about repts that mgt consultants are now advising their clients to raise prices in anticipation of renewed wage and price controls; agrees with Sen Jacob K Javits that such suggestions are ‘unpatriotic’ and says that he has no authority to reimpose controls and he is not going to ask Cong for such authority; Dems suggest that they will oppose Ford's policies if they entail excessive unemployment, sharp cutbacks in soc programs or other inequities; illus (L)

Fed Govt, conceding that it jailed wrong man for 5 mos, frees Carlos Choy Zeballos, Chilean who maintains he was forcibly abducted by Fed agents; case, involving narcotics indictment, has brought to light disclosure that dozens of Chileans were turned over to US Govt during 1st yr of mil regime by means of summary expulsion rather than formal extradition; spokesman for Drug Enforcement Adm admits Chile has been cooperative in expulsion of known drug traffickers since junta assumed power, but maintains Zeballos's claim of forcible abduction is ‘patent nonsense'; arrest and confinement of Zeballos and other similar claims of mistaken identity discussed; pending cases of Rafael Mellase Campos, Jorge Dabed‐Sumar, Carlos Baeza and Francisco Toscanino cited (L)