A COLLECTION OF WESTERN MEDIA ARTICLES
ON CROATIAN TERRORISM DURING THE 1970s

Throughout the 1970s and early 1980s Croatian terrorists carried out a series attacks throughout Yugoslavia, the United States, and Western Europe. The terrorist attacks, which were aimed at obtaining Croatia’s secession from Yugoslavia, killed a number of American, European, and Yugoslav civilians.

Copyright 1979 Associated Press
All Rights Reserved

The Associated Press

December 28, 1979, Friday, AM cycle

SECTION: Domestic News

LENGTH: 259 words

HEADLINE: U.S. Seeks To Extradite Terrorist To Sweden

DATELINE: NEW YORK

BODY:
Federal officials began proceedings Friday to extradite a Croatian terrorist to Sweden, where he was freed from prison in 1972 at the demand of airline hijackers.

An extradition warrant was filed in Manhattan against Miro Baresic, 29, who is being held by immigration authorities pending further proceedings on Sweden's request for his return.

Baresic, who had been living in Paraguay, was turned over to American officials in Asuncion last July for prosecution on charges of fraudulently applying for a U.S. entry visa.

Late Thursday, a jury in U.S. District Court acquitted Baresic of the visa charges. However, he was immediately detained by immigration authorities pending extradition proceedings.

The Croatian nationalist had been serving a life prison sentence in Sweden after he was convicted in 1971 by a Stockholm Court of murdering Vladimir Rodovich, a Yugoslav ambassador to Sweden.

After hijackers of a Scandinavian Airlines System jetliner demanded and obtained his release, Baresic and another freed Croatian prisoner went to Paraguay and became citizens.

Baresic, using the name Toni Saric, became a lieutenant in the Paraguayan army. Federal officials said he later worked for Paraguay's diplomatic service and in 1977 and 1978 served as a bodyguard and interpreter for Mario Lopez-Escobar, Paraguayan ambassador to Washington.

The American charges against Baresic stemmed from his 1977 application in Paraguay for a U.S. entry visa. He was accused of using a false name and of filing false statements to obtain the visa.

Copyright 1977 U.S. News & World Report
U.S. News & World Report

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January 31, 1977

SECTION: Pg. 37

LENGTH: 2090 words

HEADLINE: HOW UNHAPPY MINORITIES UPSET EUROPE'S CALM

HIGHLIGHT:
From Britain to the Balkans, minority groups that long have crusaded for a better deal are becoming more and more militant. Some are secessionist-minded; their goal is independence. Others want autonomy - with special economic, political, even religious rights. Some, like Britain's 1.5 million blacks and Asians, simply seek an end to job discrimination, police brutality, substandard housing. Not at minority groups are up in arms aginst the majorities in their countries.That goes for the 30,000 Lapps in Northern Finland, Sweden and Norway; 300,000 people of Swedist atraction - 6.5 per cent of the population - in Finland; 30,000 Germans in Southern Denmark. Other countries have similar minorities, some more resentful than others of their cultural or language status. In the Netherlands, for example, the influx of refugees from South Molucca, in what is now Indonesia, and Surinam, a former Dutch colony in South America, has created tensions which are beginning to test traditional Dutch tolerance and patience. A survey by U.S. News & World Report bureaus turns the spotlight on grievances that Americans rarely read about until they erupt in civil war as in Northern Ireland, or guerrilla attacks, as in Spain.

BODY:

BRITAIN: Breakup Ahead

TALK OF BREAKUP no longer is a laughing matter for the 56 million people living in the United Kingdom. Independence for Northern Ireland, Scotland and Wales is not just around the corner, but nationalism in those areas is a political reality that must be dealt with.

Northern Ireland is still ruled from London, and British troops still try to keep warring Catholics and Protestants apart. But underneath the surface, in a country that is two-thirds Protestant and one-third Catholic, a fundamental change is taking place.

Traditionally, Protestants cling to the tie with London. The Catholics just as strongly favor annexation by Eire.

Now, there is a growing feeling among both groups that the ultimate answer to the bloodletting that has been going on for almost a decade may be an independent Ulster. The attraction springs partly from sheer weariness with years of bloodshed - 1,700 dead in seven years and average of one murder a day during 1976 - and partly from a feeling that London lacks the means and will to keep up its involvement. It seems probable to many in Ulster that the 14,000 British troops will soon leave.

Would independence bring peace to Ulster? Many people doubt it, believing the result would be a bloodier war.

Restive Scots. Scotland is much less volatile, but the emotions of nationalism are stirring. There, the Scottish National Party attacks England as a "colonial power" and demands independence for the 5.2 million Scots.

Scotland last had a Parliament of its own in 1707, when it was agreed the two nationsl would merge, with Scotland being given recognition in Westminister, the seat of Government.The British Government has just introduced a bill that would give Scotland, and Wales, too, separate assemblies with lawmaking and spending power in such fields as education and welfare. But there is less than satisfying to the militants, who demand complete separation.

A powerful spur to the independence movement is the discovery of North Sea oil in Scottish waters. As part of the United Kingdom, Scotland by the 1980s probably will be assured of oil revenues worth 700 million dollars annually. But if Scotland were independent, it would enjoy earnings of between 5 and 7 billion dollars a year.

While Scots wonder why they should remain tied to a financially sinking England, the debt-ridden London Government cannot afford to let them go, taking all that oil money with them.

The nationalists already have drawn up position papers on a Scotish foreign policy and formation of separate armed forces. Most Scots still balk at going that far, but the nationalists hope to gain majority backing before 1990. The Scottish National Party won over 30 per cent of Scottish votes in the British general election in October, 1974 - a huge jump from its meager 2.5 per cent in 1964.

Mood in Wales . Welsh nationalists are embarked on the same breakaway route as the Scots, but the nationalist party, Plaid Cymru, so far has managed to win only about 11 per cent of the voters among the 3 million Welsh. Yet the party chief, Gwynfor Evans, predicts the dissolution of the United Kingdom by 1995 and assures his followers: "No national movement in history ever failed after becoming as strong as we are today."

The Welsh are keen to revive their native language, which has been almost totally displaced by English.

They also brush aside London's statistics purporting to show that more money in proportion to population is being spent in Wales on health and education than in England. The Welsh insist that 400 years of rule from London has left them poorer.

They want their own parliament in Cardiff, with full power to shape the Welsh economy. London refuses to go that far, but is offering a smaller measure of self-rule.
YUGOSLAVIA: Tito's Night

FOR 84-YEAR-OLD PRESIDENT TITO and his Communist Government, the strong separatist movement among Yugoslavia's 4.4 million Croatians - one fifth of the total population - is the Trojan Horse inside Yugoslavia.

In neighboring Hungary are Russian troops that Tito and others fear can be used to support Croat demands for a state of their own or, more likely, use Croat separatism as an excuse for a Russian invasion to "save" Yugoslavia from disintegration.

Croat separatism is not an idle dream. Most of Yugoslavia's several thousand political prisoners are Croatians. Many are accused of having had contacts with Russian agents. Croatian exiles constantly agitate for a separate state. In September, 1976, Croatian terrorists succeeded in drawing worldwide attention to their demands by skyjacking a U.S. airliner flying from New York to Chicago, and forcing it to go to Paris, where the terrorists finally surrendered.

Most Croatians are Roman Catholics and, unlike the 8 million Serbs whose historic and religious ties are with Moscow, they look to the West, not the East.

Croatia is one of Yugoslavia's two most-advanced industrial areas. A majority of the 1 million Yugoslav migrant workers in Western Europe are Croats, and their remittances plus earnings from tourism on the Adriatic Coast help make Croatia more prosperous than other parts of the country.

Croatians argue that they could do even better if they had a nation of their own, instead taxed by Belgrade to subsidize Yugoslavia's less developed regions.

AUSTRIA: Border Friction

AUSTRIA WORRIES over its Slovenes, about 20,000 of them living mostly in Carinthia, close to the Yugoslav border.The fear is that the Slovenes, who take on German-speaking extremists in demonstrations and fights, might someday trip this country into a conflict with Belgrade, where the Slovenes have powerful friends.

The Austrian Slovenes complain about discrimination and Vienna's failure to live up to pledges to protect their language and culture. They have promises of support from Yugoslavia, where many fought with Tito's partisans against the Germans during World War II. After Hitler's defeat, Slovenes set about killing German-speaking Austrians who had collaborated with the Nazis.

Bitterness lingers on both sides. In mid-November, 1976, a monument to anti-Nazi Slovene fighters was blowun up by unidentified terrorists, and railroad tracks in Carinthia were bombed. Extremists pulled down road signs in Slovene and German that had been erected in villages with Slovene minorities.

Amid all the tension, the Austrian Government sought to take a census of Slovenes, explaining it would be a step to assure the minority of its cultural and language rights. But many Slovenes boycotted the census, saying they feared it would lead to reprisals by German-speaking neighbors.
SPAIN: Unity Endangerd

THE 750,000 BASQUES in Spain have chafed under Spanish rule for centuries. Their languages has nothing in common with Spanish, and they consider themselves a race and a nation distinct from Spain and its 34.7 million people.

The Basques are as much of a headache to King Juan Carlos as they were to Francisco France during the Generalissimo's four decades of absolute power.

Basque demands for self-rule, marked by massive strikes and violence, met with brutal repression under Franco. The Basques responded with more terrorism. Their militants claimed responsibility for assassinating Franco's Premier, Adm. Luis Carrero Blanco, in 1973, and for numerous political kidnappings and murders. In mid-December, 1976, leftist guerrillas with Basque links kidnapped Antonio Maria de Oriol y Urquijo, the fourth-ranking official in the Spanish Government and a right-wing Basque.

In 1975, citizens of Guernica, the Basque town that was destroyed by Hitler's Luftwaffe during the Spanish Civil War, celebrated Franco's death with champagne toasts.

Now the Basques are demanding that Madrid restore rights they held in centuries past - to tax, maintain law and order and administer justice, as well as to use their own language more freely and promote their own culture.

Bitter Catalans. Spain's other troublesome minority, the 5.1 million Catalans, also opposed Franco in the civil war. But they prefer peaceful demonstrations to terrorism.

Catalans live in the country's industrial heart - the Northeast region around Barcelona - and complain bitterly that Madrid derives 22 per cent of the nation's revenues from Catalonia and returns only 11 per cent.

In mid-January, the Government took steps to deal with some minority complaints. It announced that Basques now may freely display their own flag and gradually will be given the right to use the Basque language.

That may not be enough to heal all the old wounds. A Basque lawyer says: "We fought 40 years for freedom and we'll fight another 40 if we must."
FRANCE: Touch of Terror

MILITANT CORSICANS and Bretons seeking self-rule have caused some deaths and millions of dollars in property damage. They upset many of France's 53 million people.

A Corsican commando blew up an Air France airliner in September, 1976. Two months later extremists destroyed two French television vans.

The Corsican nationalists are only a small minority of the Mediterranean island's 220,000 people. Yet they want a separate republic, as Corsica was for a time before France acquired it in 1768.

Corsicans speak a language closer to Portuguese than to French. A further irritant. The islanders are poor, and they resent the presence of French settlers from Algeria who used Government grants in 1962 to buy land and plant vineyards. The Corsicans say the wine the latecomers produce gives Corsican wine a bad name. The separatists have attacked French winegrowers' homes, as well as banks and stores.

The Bretons of Western France are Celts, but only a handful among the 2.5 million living in Brittany are separatists. These pattern their actions after the militant branch of the Irish Republican Army. They've blown up Government buildings Army barracks.

French Basques, numbering about 120,000, have a core of separatists, but are less violent than those in Spain. A Paris official says: "The Basques are nto a French but a Spanish problem."

Basques who cross from Spain into France create tension between the Governments of the two countries. They welcomed King Juan Carlos's visit to Paris in October, 1976, with a series of bombings in the French capital. Among their targets: the headquarters of Interpol, the international police agency.
HOLLAND; A Color Problem

HOLLAND HAS A MINORITY problem with difference: Many of its nonwhite citizens want to leave the country. They are baiting the Dutch to help them set up an independent republic, separated from the rest of Indonesia.

Thousands of Asians from the former Dutch East Indies settled in the Netherlands after World War II. Their presence has created tensions and evoked violence. Militants among the 35,000 South Moluccans clamor to be returned to their homeland in Southeast Asia.

In purusing their aims, South Moluccan terrorists have attacked the Indonesian Embassy in The Hague, hijacked a train, plotted to kidnap Queen Juliana, and have taken hostages. Four deaths resulted from these activities.

Since Surinam achieved independence in November, 1975, about 150,000 - almost half of the young nation's population - have arrived in Holland and are Dutch citizens. Unemployment among them is high, for few speak Dutch well enough to hold jobs. Racial tension between the South Moluccans and the Surinamese is rising.
SWITZERLAND: Peaceful Change

TRADITIONALLY PEACEFUL SWITZERLAND has a smoothly functioning federal system of Cantons which enjoy considerable autonomy. Each of the three major language groups in the country - German, French and Italian - has its own radio and television network, and the German stations also carry programs in a fourth language - Romansch.

Yet demands by French-speaking Catholics in the Jura Mountains close to the French border for secession from the mainly German-speaking Protestant Canton of Bern have been accompanied by occasional riots and bombings.The separatists are likely to get what they want, a Jura Canton within the Swiss Parliament and in the Swiss embassies in Paris and Brussels, which the militants occupied forcibly, a Swiss commission decided in 1969 that Jura voters should have a say about their region's political future. The question of autonomy was voted on in 1974, and separatism won a majority of the popular vote. Jura may become the 26th Swiss Canton within three years.

GRAPHIC: Maps 1 through 7, no caption; Picture 1 , Withdrawal of British troops and independence for Ulster would probably lead to even bloodier fighting among armed civilians. WIDE WORLD

Copyright 1977 Associated Press
All Rights Reserved

The Associated Press

These materials may not be republished without the express written consent of The Associated Press

June 19, 1977, AM cycle

LENGTH: 440 words

BYLINE: By BORIS STEFANOVIC, Associated Press Writer

DATELINE: BELGRADE, Yugoslavia

BODY:
A blackout reportedly caused by drained aircraft batteries enabled Yugoslav securities men to overpower an armed Bulgarian and put a bloodless end to his hijacking attempt, authorities said Sunday.

The 22-year-old hijacker, auto mechanic Tsankov Dimitrov, commandered the Bulgarian Antonov 22 turboprop plane with 49 persons aboard on a domestic flight over Bulgaria on Saturday, put a gun to the head of a stewardess and demanded that he be flown to Munich or London, officials said.

The plane put down for fuel at Surcin airport, 10 miles north of Belgrade, and sat on a runway for two hours while security men negotiated with the hijacker.

"As negotiations were in progress the lights on the plane suddenly went out, because of drained batteries, and this made possible overpowering of the hijacker without any harm done to the passengers," said airport security chief Zika Jovanovic.

Dimitrije Cavajev, 37, the plane's captain, gave a slightly different version of the incident. He said the stewardess persuaded the hijacker to give up his gun with the promise that he would be taken to Western Europe aboard another plane.

It was then that Yugoslav security men seized him, the pilot said.

The hijacker, wearing a grey suit and with his hands manacled behind his back, was led away by police for questioning.

The 45 passengers and four crew members flew back to Bulgaria on Sunday morning.

Security at Surcin airport, closed for three hours because of the hijacking, had been stepped up because of the 35-nation conference in Belgrade, reviewing compliance with the Helsinki agreement on European security.

Yugoslav and Bulgarian diplomats said the hijacking was not connected with the conference. They also said the hijacker was not linked to Croatian nationalists seeking independence for Croatia, a part of Yugoslavia.

Croatian terrorists living in the United States hijacked an American plane on a flight from New York to Chicago last September and forced the pilot to fly them to Paris, where they surrendered to French authorities.

In another development, a bomb exploded Sunday morning on a train passing through Ljubljana, Yugoslavia, en route from West Germany to Greece. The blast killed one passenger and injured eight others, including two Finnish students.

Police said the bomb was planted on the train outside Yugoslavia, and there was speculation it was placed by Croatian terrorists.

Last week in New York, Croatian militants broke into the Yugoslav mission to the United Nations, wounded a Yugoslav guard and scattered leaflets demanding independence for Croatia before surrendering to police.

Copyright 1978 Facts on File, Inc.
Facts on File World News Digest

September 15, 1978

SECTION: OTHER NATIONS; Yugoslavia

PAGE: Pg. 706 E2

LENGTH: 627 words

HEADLINE: Croatians Release Chicago Hostages

BODY:
Two Croatian terrorists released six hostages in Chicago Aug. 17 and surrendered to authorities 10 hours after seizing the West German Consulate in the city. [See 1977, p. 642A2]

The two Croatians had demanded the release of Stefan Bilandzic from a West German prison. Bilandzic, a leading Croatian nationalist, was serving a life sentence in West Germany for attempting to assassinate the Yugoslavian consul general in Dusseldorf.

(Croatian nationalists were fighting Yugoslavia to gain independence for their region. Croatia was currently one of the six republices that formed Yugoslavia.)

The siege in Chicago began in the morning of Aug. 17 when the two terrorists, described as Croatians from the Chicago area, entered the building on South Michigan Ave. where the consulate was located. They demanded to talk to the consul general, who was not in the building, and then pulled out pistols. One of the men also claimed to have a bomb in his briefcase. Eight persons in the office were taken hostage.

The building was surrounded by police, who started negotiations with the Croatians. One of the terrorists' first demands was to speak to Bilandzic in West Germany. They said they wanted to block his possible extradition to Yugoslavia because they feared he would be killed by Yugoslavian authorities. They threatened to explode the bomb they carried if their demands were not met.

Two of the hostages were released early in the siege, including the daughter of the consul general.

A court ruling in West Germany earlier in the week, opening the way for Bilandzic's extradition to Yugoslavia, apparently provoked the Coatian's seizure of the Chicago consulate. The Yugoslavs had demanded Bilandzic's extradition and that of seven other Croatians held in West Germany in return for the extradition of four West German terrorists held in Yugoslavia. [See p. 438E3]

Police in Chicago and West Germany credited Ivan Bilandzic, brother of the imprisoned nationalist, for bringing about the surrender of the two Croatians. Bilandzic entered the consulate and spoke with the two men for 90 minutes before their surrender.

In other events connected with Croatian nationalism:

* More than 200 Croatian exiles demonstrated in Cologne Aug. 13 to protest a West German high court ruling that permitted the extradition of Stefan Bilandzic.

* Croatian terrorists planted two bombs in New York City Aug. 14 and demanded the release of Stefan Bilandzic from West German custody. Neither of the two bombs exploded. One was found on a window ledge in a United Nations building and the other in a locker at Grand Central Station.

Notes found with the bombs denounced "the terroristic ways of Yugoslavia dictatorship and its genocide of Croatians." Police said the bombs were large and well-made.

* An armed group of 19 Croatians was arrested by Australian police in a remote camp about 250 miles south of Sydney, it was reported Sept. 5. The Croatians had weapons, maps of their homeland and instructions on planting land mines.

The West German government announced Sept. 13 that it would refuse a Yugoslavian request for the extradition of three Croatians wanted in Yugoslaiva for terrorism. The three were among the eight Croatians sought by the Yugoslavian government in exchange for the four West German terrorists captured in Yugoslavia.

The West Germany decision was expected to make the Yugoslavs less likely to return the West German terrorists.

A West German court decided that there was insufficient evidence to justify the extradition of two of the wanted Croatians. The third Croatian, Stefan Bilandzic, was still under investigation by West German police, and therefore could not be returned.

Copyright 1979 Associated Press
All Rights Reserved

The Associated Press

These materials may not be republished without the express written consent of The Associated Press

December 5, 1979, Wednesday, AM cycle

SECTION: Domestic News

LENGTH: 328 words

HEADLINE: Manager of Blast-Torn Shop Arrested On Weapons Charge

DATELINE: NEW YORK

BODY:
The Yugoslavian sales manager of a travel agency torn apart by a Croatian terrorist bomb was arraigned Wednesday on charges of possession of a weapon and stolen property.

Police said further bomb blasts threatened by the terrorists after Tuesday's explosion never occurred. They were awaiting analysis of materials recovered at the bomb site for possible connections with previous Croatian terrorist blasts.

Croatian nationalists are seeking separation of Croatia from Yugoslavia, which was formed after World War I by the merger of several Balkan states.

Nadjo Balac, 29, of Manhattan, was being held in lieu of $10,000 bond and pending surrender of his resident-alien registration card.

Balac, sales manager of the Jet and Cruise Travel Agency, in Queens, was charged after police at the bomb site said they saw him packing a box containing a loaded .22-caliber gun. Investigation showed the gun was stolen seven years ago on Long Island, said police.

Deputy Inspector Joseph DeMartino, head of the city's Arson Explosion Squad, said it appeared that Croatian terrorists targeted the agency, owned by Yugoslavian Vlaho Rudenjak, because "some people feel that his contact with Yugoslavia is detrimental to the Croatian cause."

He said police found similarities to previous Croatian bombings but could not say with certainty that this bombing was connected with them because of dissimilarities in the signing of a communique.

The terrorists called news agencies about an hour after the blast and directed them to a locker in Grand Central Station. A letter there identified terrorists as the Croatian Liberation Fighters and warned of other bombs if demands for an end to economic aid to Yugoslavia were not met.

The bomb slightly injured two agency employees and a police officer who came to their aid, according to police. The blast nearly demolished the stairway in the three-story building and blew out windows of a ground-floor jewelry store.

Copyright 1972 The New York Times Company: Abstracts
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NEW YORK TIMES

January 28, 1972, Friday

SECTION: Page 3, Column 2

LENGTH: 105 words

JOURNAL-CODE: NYT

ABSTRACT:
W Ger reptdly remains main sanctuary of Croatian terrorists who have been organizing bombings and shootings to harass Tito Govt over yrs; about 12,000 Croatians reptdly received pol asylum as 'anti-Communists' in W Ger since World War II; many are members of Croatian exile orgns which have remained active; their common goal is a separate Croatian natl state; key figure in movement is Dr B Jelic, who heads Croatian People's Assembly, 1 of several postwar continuations of Ustasi movement, most extreme of Croatian nationalists; most of funds for his orgn reptdly comes from blackmailing over 500,000 Yugoslavs working in W Ger.

Copyright 1972 The New York Times Company: Abstracts
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NEW YORK TIMES

August 14, 1972, Monday

SECTION: Page 20, Column 2

LENGTH: 52 words

JOURNAL-CODE: NYT

ABSTRACT:
Yugoslav Premier D Bijedic accuses Australia and Austria of having tolerated terrorist and sabotage training by Croatian emigres, known as Ustashi, for action against Yugoslavia, speech in Bosnia-Herzegovina; charges Australia with allowing Croatian terrorists to train for raid into Yugoslavia about 2 mos ago

Copyright 1972 The New York Times Company: Abstracts
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NEW YORK TIMES

September 26, 1972, Tuesday

SECTION: Page 1, Column 5

LENGTH: 31 words

JOURNAL-CODE: NYT

ABSTRACT:
US Sec of State Rogers, asking UN on Sept 25 to convene meeting in '73 to act on international terrorism, cites Sept 15 incident in which 90 Swedes were held hostage by Croatian terrorists

Copyright 1973 The New York Times Company: Abstracts
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NEW YORK TIMES

April 2, 1973, Monday

SECTION: Page 6, Column 1

LENGTH: 131 words

JOURNAL-CODE: NYT

ABSTRACT:
Fed and state policemen raid about 80 homes of Yugoslavs in Sydney, Australia, on Apr 1 in move against alleged Croatian terrorist activity; 13 persons are charged; operation followed statement in Australian Parliament last wk by Atty Gen Sen L K Murphy, in which he accused several Croatian orgns and number of individuals of running Australian-based terrorist operation against Yugoslav Govt; Yugoslavia has charged Australia is being used as training ground for Croatian secessionists, who return to Yugoslavia and commit acts of terrorism; Murphy's statement came after he led invasion of offices of Australian Security Intelligence Agency on Mar 16 and sealed safes and took papers related to Croatian activities; repercussions of Murphy's action on Australian pol situation noted.

Copyright 1973 The New York Times Company: Abstracts
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NEW YORK TIMES

May 29, 1973, Tuesday

SECTION: Page 13, Column 1

LENGTH: 144 words

JOURNAL-CODE: NYT

ABSTRACT:
Pol storm appears imminent in Australia over official actions against alleged Croatian terrorists in Australia who oppose Yugoslav Govt; conservative majority in Australian Sen, over opposition of Prime Min G Whitlam's Labor Govt, last wk voted to conduct com inquiry into circumstances surrounding raids by police on about 80 Croatian homes in Sydney area in Apr; probe is certain to focus on role of Whitlam's Atty Gen, L K Murphy, who ordered raids; earlier, Murphy led Fed police in seizure of documents on Croatian activities held by Australian Secret Intelligence Orgn; in rept to Parliament, Murphy has accused 7 Croatian orgns and number of individuals of running terrorist campaign against Yugoslav Govt led by Tito, appearing to confirm Yugoslav protest to Australia last yr charging Australia is being used as training base by Croatian secessionists

Copyright 1976 The New York Times Company: Abstracts
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NEW YORK TIMES

September 12, 1976, Sunday

Copyright 1976 The New York Times Company: Abstracts
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NEW YORK TIMES

September 12, 1976, Sunday

SECTION: Page 22, Column 5

LENGTH: 148 words

BYLINE: BY JAMES F CLARITY

JOURNAL-CODE: NYT

ABSTRACT:
Surrender of Croatian terrorists who seized TWA 727 and landed in Paris, France, Sept 11 follows arrest on Sept 12 of 1 of hijackers. Hijacker, woman who is not identified by French officials, left aircraft to telephone contacts in US to verify texts of Croatian hijackers' anti-Yugoslav statement had been publicized in US. Earlier US Amb to France Kenneth Rush talked by radiophone at airport with Croatian terrorists who had hijacked plane. Released passenger William Knudson comments. Interior Min, headed by Michel Poniatowski, who is personally directing French actions, confirms rept by French press agency that 'in no circumstances' would plane be allowed to leave airport. In reponse to another of hijackers' demands, US reporter is allowed to approach plane with copies of photostats of US newspapers that had published texts of terrorists' grievances and demands (M).

Copyright 1976 The New York Times Company: Abstracts
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NEW YORK TIMES

September 12, 1976, Sunday

SECTION: Page 23, Column 1

LENGTH: 82 words

BYLINE: BY JOSEPH B TREASTER

JOURNAL-CODE: NYT

ABSTRACT:
FAA investigators believe weapons used by Croatian terrorists in hijacking TWA 727--handguns, explosive materials and possibly submachine gun--was planted on aircraft before passengers began boarding. View developed as some of released passengers reported to investigators that they had seen terrorists picking up weapons that had apparently been secreted in various places on aircraft and after screening devices at La Guardia Airport has been checked and found to be working properly (M).

Copyright 1977 The Washington Post
The Washington Post

June 15, 1977, Wednesday, Final Edition

SECTION: First Section; A3

LENGTH: 645 words

HEADLINE: Croat Terrorists Held in N.Y. Shooting

BYLINE: By William Claiborne, Washington Post Staff Writer

DATELINE: NEW YORK, June 14, 1977

BODY:
Three Croatian terrorists shot their way into the Yugoslav mission to the United Nations today, wounding a guard and then staged a ruse in which they had police believing for two hours that a woman hostage was being held behind barricaded doors.

In an almost comic opera ending to the seige, the terrorists abandoned their ploy of using a falsetto voice to deceive police, and surrendered meekly.

The police, in turn, then scattered the scores of reporters waiting outside the Fifth Ave. building by drawing their weapons in response to a report that a Yugoslav mission employee had broken out a machine gun.

Amid shouts of "get the window closed, get out of here!," camermen and reporters beat hasty retreats in every direction, while the police deftly spirited the Croatians away in squard cars.

Police never confirmed the machine gun rumor.

Police said the last-minute flurry of gun wielding and shouting was designed to prevent possible attacks on the terrorists by persons in the large crowd surrounding the mission.

The drama began shortly before 2.30 p.m. when, police said, three armed men burst into the four-story mission at Fifth Avenue and 67th Street after coolly walking past a uniformed New York City policeman standing guard outside, without arousing his suspiciouns.

Deputy Police Chief Francis McLoughlin said when the terrorists entered a foyer they shot a Yugoslav chauffeur, Radiomir Medich, 58, who was standing guard inside. Wounded in the abdomn, Medich later was reported in fair condition at Lenox Hill Hospital.

McLoughlin said the gunmen then bolted upstairs to a third-floor office, pursued by New York City Patrolman John Gavin, who heard the shot while patrolling outside on the sidewalk.

The terrorists barricaded themselves in the office, which police said was apparently empty at the time, and began throwing hundreds of leaflets into the street below. The leaflets demanded independence for Croatians, whose territory was annexed in 1918 along with that of Serbians, Slones and other South Slavs, to form the kingdom of Yugoslavia.

The terrorists hauled down a Yugoslav flag and shouted to police that they wanted some of the leaflets delivered to the U.N. Secretary General Kurt Waldheim. The police complied.

For the next two hours, members of the police department's hostage negotiating team talked to the terrorists through the barricaded door. McLoughlin said that at one point, the negotiators heard what they thought was a woman's voice, although he said it seemed that the "woman" had a gag over her mouth.

Assistant FBI Director J. Wallace LaPrade, who was at the scene, and New York Chief of Detectives John Keenan later concurred that there was no hostage in the office, and that the terrorists probably had faked a woman's voice.

"They had to surrender eventually and they did. The police negotiators convinced them the only thing to do was come out of there," LaPrade said.

In a circus-like atmosphere, hundreds of passersby and reporters crowded closer and closer to the front entrance of the small mission building, which is wedged between two luxury high-rise apartment buildings in the fashionable East side neighbourhood.

Casually clad youths riding tenspeed bicycles and one man carrying a miniature poodle shoved their way along with reporters closest to the door as rumors circulated that the gunmen were about to be led outside.

Some Yugoslac employees inside shouted, "Kill them. They'll never get justice." A police official at headquarters said later, "Somebody thought they saw 3 machine gun at the window, but we're not confirming that."

The incident was the second time in a year that Croatian nationalists have carried out a terrorist act in New York City. Last September a TWA jetliner with 86 passengers was hijacked at Kennedy Airport and taken to Paris by five Croats.

GRAPHIC: Picture 1, New York police carry heavy equipment into Yugoslav mission to the United Nations after three Croatians invaded it and barricaded themselves in an office. AP Picture 2, A Croatian terrorist, one of three who shot their way into the Yugoslav mission to the U.N., is led away by New York police after surrender. UPI

Copyright 1978 The Washington Post
The Washington Post

August 15, 1978, Tuesday, Final Edition

SECTION: Metro; Around the Nation; B5

LENGTH: 104 words

HEADLINE: 2 Bombs Fail to Explode At U.N. and Grand Central

BYLINE: From news services and staff reports

DATELINE: NEW YORK

BODY:
Croatian terrorists yesterday planted dynamite bombs on a United Nations window ledge and in a locker in Grand Central Station to demand the release of Croatian accused of the trying to kill the Yugoslavian ambassador to West Germany, police said. Neither device exploded.

The notes found with the bombs claimed that they were planted by a group that seeks the separation of Croatia from Yugoslavia.

Chief of detectives James Sullivan called the group "very well-schoolde bomb-makers."

A U.N. spokesman said the bomb found on a window ledge on the Dag Hammarskjold Library was "enough to blow up the library."

Copyright 1976 The New York Times Company: Abstracts
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NEW YORK TIMES

September 13, 1976, Monday

SECTION: Page 18, Column 1

LENGTH: 62 words

BYLINE: BY LESLIE MAITLAND

JOURNAL-CODE: NYT

ABSTRACT:
Article on NYC Police Sgt Terence G McTigue, who was seriously injured during attempted detonation of bomb planted by Croatian terrorists in Grand Central Terminal locker. Recalls McTigue's 16-yr career as top demolition expert. Patrolmen's Benevolent Assn pres Douglas Weaving comments. Meanwhile, Police Dept makes funeral arrangements for Officer Brian Murray (M).

Copyright 1976 The New York Times Company: Abstracts
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NEW YORK TIMES

September 13, 1976, Monday

SECTION: Page 29, Column 6

LENGTH: 31 words

JOURNAL-CODE: NYT

ABSTRACT:
French Interior Min Michel Poniatowski, in Quotation of the Day on hijacking by Croatian terrorists, says 'Only an attitude of firmness can end this kind of odious blackmail'. Por.

GRAPHIC: Illustrations: Photograph

Copyright 1976 The New York Times Company: Abstracts
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NEW YORK TIMES

September 15, 1976, Wednesday

SECTION: Page 89, Column 3

LENGTH: 97 words

JOURNAL-CODE: NYT

ABSTRACT:
Thousands attend Sept 14 burial rites for NYC Police Office Brian Murray, who was killed in blast of bomb planted by Croatian terrorists. Rev John Donnelly officiates at mass, held at St Agnes Cathedral, Rockville Centre, NY, and delivers eulogy. Mourners include Murray's widow Kathleen and 4-yr-old son Keith, Mayor Beame, FBI Dir Kelley, NYC Police Comr Codd and TWA pres Edward Meyer. Officer Henry Dworkin and Deputy Inspector Fritz Behr, who also were injured in blast, arrive by ambulance. Sgt Terence McTigue remains in Jacobi Hosp in critical condition. Illus (L).

Copyright 1978 The New York Times Company: Abstracts
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NEW YORK TIMES

August 20, 1978, Sunday

Copyright 1979 The Washington Post
The Washington Post

July 25, 1979, Wednesday, Final Edition

SECTION:
First Section; A1

LENGTH: 852 words

HEADLINE:
Terrorist Worked As Ambassador's Bodyguard Here;
Ambassador's Bodyguard Was Croatian Terrorist

BYLINE:
By Christopher Dickey, Washington Post Staff Writer

BODY:
From 1977 through 1978, Paraguay's ambassador here employed as his personal bodyguard an international terrorist convicted of killing Yugoslavia's ambassador to Sweden in 1971.

Miro Baresic, 28, a karate expert with a hot temper who was sprung from a Swedish prison in 1972 as part of a ransom demand by airline hijackers, used the name Toni Saric when he escorted Paraguay's Ambassor Mario Lopez-Escobar around Washington.

U.S. authorities did not know his real identity at the time, State Department sources said yesterday.

Baresic left the Paraguayan embassy after he was accused of assaulting a motorcyclist during a minor traffic incident here in March 1978. He avoided arrest by claiming diplomatic immunity.

In recent months, Baresic has become a target of a major federal investigation into acts of terrorism by right-wing Croatian separatists against Yugoslavians in the United States and elsewhere. He and another Croatian terrorist, both of whom were turned over to U.S. officials by the Paraguayan government in Asuncion last week, are being held in New York on charges of obtaining U.S. visas with false information.

Lopez-Escobar said yesterday that he had no knowledge of Baresic's background or real name while Baresic worked here. "He was sent by the government of Paraguay," Lopez-Escobar said. "He came here, I accept him, that's all."

It is not clear to what extent other Paraguayan officials knew of "Saric's" background. Robert B. Fiske Jr., the U.S. attorney in New York City who is heading the investigation, recently emphasized the "important assistance and cooperation" of the Paraguayan government in securing the return of Baresic and fellow terrorist Ivan Vujucevic to this country.

But the authoritarian regime of Paraguayan president Alfredo Stroessner has long been accused of harboring right-wing fugitives, including Nazi Josef Mengele, who supervised the murder of 400,000 people at Auschwitz.

Baresic is reputedly a member of the Ustashi movement, which sided with the Nazis in World War Ii. The group wants to make Croatia independent from the rest of Yugolslavis.

Since the early 1970s the group has focused most of its terrorist activities on Yugoslavs living abroad.

Croatian terrorists were implicated in or took credit for a series of assassinations and assassination attempts ranging from West Germany to Paraguay in the first half of the decade. In 1972, they took credit for blowing up a Yugoslav airplane over Czechoslovakia, killing 29 people. In 1976, they hijacked a Trans World Airlines flight from New York to Paris.

Last month the Federal Bureau of Investigation attributed several more recent violent acts to the Croatians, including three bombings, two murders and numerous death threats. There were also numerous extortion demands, an FBI spokesman said, in which victims were told to mail their money to an address in Paraguay.

Baresic and Vujicevic were at the vanguard of this wave of violence. In April 1971, Baresic was one of two terrorists who shot and killed Yugoslavia's ambassador to Sweden, Vladimir Rolovic. The same year Vujicevic participated in an armed assault on the Yugoslav embassy in Stockholm.

Both were convicted. Baresic was sentenced to life imprisonment and Vujicevic to 3 1/2 years. But fellow Croatian radicals hijacked a domestic Swedish airline flight in September 1972, and the Swedish government released seven terrorists, including Baresic and Vujiceivic, to comply with their demands.

Baresic and Vujicevic went with the hijackers to Spain, where they were held briefly before going to Paraguay, according to sources close to the investigation.

Lopez-Escobar said yesterday that Baresic was "absolutely not" involved in terrorist activities while he worked in Washington from September 1977 through November 1978.

The ambassador did say that there was an incident in which his bodyguard hit "a Negro young man."

The young man, Metrobus driver Jesse Blac, 26, is the son of Alma Black, District Del. Walter Fauntroy's D.C. office manager.

In March 1978, Jesse Black said, he was riding his motorcycle home from work on Massachusetts Avenue when a limousine the ambassador was riding in pulled out from in front of the Paraguayan embassy, forcing him into the oncoming traffic lane. Black pulled in front of the car and stopped at which point "Saric" got out, Black said.

"It was like he jumped up and kicked me . . .kicked me off the bike," Black said. When he was down on the ground, Saric kicked him again.

Black was taken to a hospital and treated for bruises and sprains before being released. His mother, on hearing the Paraguayan explanation of the incident to the police -- that Baresic was only protecting the ambassador and was covered by diplomatic immunity -- decided to pursue the case with the State Department.

As a result, in July 1978, "Saric" reluctantly paid Jesse Black $1,000 in damages.

The worst part of the incident, said Alma Black, was that "I felt like if me or my son had been in P araguay, they would have just locked us up and thrown away the key.

GRAPHIC:
Picture, Miro Baresic, who worked for Paraguay's ambassador here, is a terrorist convicted of killing an ambassador.

 

Copyright 1980 The Washington Post
The Washington Post

June 5, 1980, Thursday, Final Edition

SECTION: First Section; A31

LENGTH: 663 words

HEADLINE: Croatian Group Says It Bombed Yugoslav Envoy's Home Here

BYLINE: By Timothy S. Robinson, Washington Post Staff Writer; Washington Post staff writer Art Harris contributed to this article.

BODY:
A group of Croatian nationalists claimed "full responsibility" yesterday for a Tuesday morning bombing at the Northwest Washington home of the Yugoslav charge d'affaires.

In a two-page typewritten letter mailed to The Washington Post and other news media, the group, "Croatian Freedom Fighters," said it carried out the "action in Washington, D.C. as a sign of protest against the Yugoslav government" and its treatment of the Croatian movement's supporters. The letter, postmarked Tuesday, was in Croatian.

There were no injuries in the 4 a.m., explosion at the home of acting Yugoslav ambassador Vladimir Sindjelic on Quincy Street NW.

The FBI has been investigating "the possibility that the bomb was planted by one of the anticommunist Yugoslavian terrorist splinter groups" that have claimed credit for previous acts of violence, an FBI spokesman said shortly after the blast.

Yesterday's letter appeared to come from one such group.

The letter demanded, among other things, an "urgent investigation into the case of Miro Baresic" and that a Swedish doctor be allowed to visit Baresic in a Swedish prison.

Baresic, a 29-year-old karate expert who was released from a Swedish prison in 1972 as part of a ransom demand by Croatians who hijacked an airliner, worked for the Paraguayan embassy in Washington in 1977 and 1978 under a different name.

Later he became a target of a major federal investigation into acts of terriorism by right-wing Croatian separatists against Yugoslavs in the United States and elsewhere. Baresic went to Paraguay in 1978. Later he and another Croatian terrorist there was extradited to the United States, and spent about a year in a New York jail before being deported to Sweden last month.

"We are turning attention of the American and world public and governments to the decision of the command of Croatian liberation forces that actions toward Croatian fighters and nationalists will no longer be tolerated . . .," the letter said.

The group said it would continue to make its demands "until the creation of a Croatian state."

Since 1971, when the Yugoslav region called Croatia lost some of its autonomy, there have been a number of attacks against Yugoslav government personnel and installations abroad.

Croatian terrorists were implicated or claimed involvement in a series of assassination attempts in various countries, ranging from West Germany to Paraguay, in the first half of the decade. In 1972 they claimed responsibility for blowing up a Yugoslav airliner over Czechoslovakia, a blast in which 29 persons were killed.

In April 1971, Baresic himself pleaded quilty in Sweden to the assassination of the Yugoslav ambassador to Sweden earlier that year.

Croatian nationalists also hijacked an American jetliner bound for Paris in 1976. During that incident a New York City policeman was killed when he tried to disarm a bomb planted in Grand Central Station by Croatians in connection with the hijacking.

A New York City police report earlier this year listed 60 "significant" acts of terrorism by Croatians worldwide since 1962. At least 50 persons have died in such incidents since 1972, the report said.

One State Department official has theorized that the bombing of Sindjelic's home here was "an attempt to throw a shadow" on President Carter's scheduled trip to Yugoslavia next month. Carter is scheduled to visit the country -- to underscore continuing U.S. support for Yugoslav independence following the death of President Tito -- on the way to a meeting of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization in Turkey.

President Tito died May 4 after a long illness, and was replaced by a new collective government.

The State Department official said the agency had warned Sindjelic and other Yugoslav diplomats about possible targets to their safety because of a State Department fear that Tito's death might prompt an outbreak of anti-Yugoslav government violence.

Copyright 1980 The New York Times Company
The New York Times

September 16, 1980, Tuesday, Late City Final Edition

SECTION: Section A; Page 16, Column 6; National Desk

LENGTH: 156 words

HEADLINE: AROUND THE NATION;
3 Arrested in Cleveland In Alleged Terrorist Plot

BYLINE: AP

DATELINE: CLEVELAND, Sept. 15

BODY:

Three Cleveland men have been arrested after the exposure of an alleged plot by Croatian terrorists to kill two people in Ohio and one in New York, according to United States Treasury agents and the Cleveland police.

The police identified the men as Vinko Logarusic, 34 years old, also charged in the 1979 bombing of a Cleveland travel

National news appears on pages A16-20, A22 and A25;

political news, B4-6.
agency; Milan Butina, 32, a carpet layer, and his brother-in-law, Gaines Buttrey, 24, a welder.

The three were charged with conspiracy to commit aggravated murder and were being held in bail of $15,000 each. Treasury agents and members of a Cleveland Police Organized Crime Field Intelligence section confiscated $3,000 from Mr. Butina and Mr. Buttrey, the authorities said. The money was allegedly paid to the men to kill someone, they said. No information was released about the three alleged targets for murder.

 

Copyright 1981 The New York Times Company
The New York Times

January 24, 1981, Saturday, Late City Final Edition

SECTION: Section 2; Page 25, Column 5; Metropolitan Desk

LENGTH: 605 words

HEADLINE: BOMB SHATTERS WINDOWS IN COURTHOUSE DOWNTOWN

BYLINE: By LEONARD BUDER

BODY:

A pipe bomb exploded early yesterday afternoon in the sub-basement of the New York State Supreme Court Building in lower Manhattan, halting trial sessions and forcing out 2,000 employees, jurors, lawyers and others. There were no injuries.

The explosion ruptured water pipes and shattered some ground-level windows facing the street. The noise was heard on the fifth floor of the solid seven-story building at 60 Centre Street, and the impact was felt on the top floor, the police said.

A caller identifying himself as a member of the Croatian Freedom Fighters telephoned United Press International in New York City at 9:45 A.M. and warned that a bomb would go off somewhere in the city ''at half after 12.'' The blast occurred at 12:45 P.M. The caller did not identify the building.

About 45 judges were working when the explosion occurred, with perhaps a dozen conducting trials. Those presiding halted their cases and quickly joined the exodus from the 53-year-old building.

'Could Have Been Disaster'

''It was a miracle no one was hurt - it could have been a disaster,'' said Norman Goodman, the County Clerk. He said 40 or 50 employees were working in basement rooms not far from where the bomb went off.

Judge E. Leo Milonas, the deputy chief administrative judge for New York City courts, said: ''If this had been Monday, there would have been maybe 3,000 people in the building, so we were lucky.'' Monday is the start of a new court term.

Judge Milonas said the worst damage consisted of a broken pipe that caused flooding in the sub-basement. ''We plan to have that repaired by evening and will be open for business again on Monday,'' Judge Milonas said.

Reference Made to Arrests

As soon as the explosion went off, uniformed court officers rushed from room to room ordering an evacuation. The caller who claimed responsibility for the bombing said his group was ''protesting the American Government's ignorance and approval of Yugoslavian persecution of Croatian dissidents.''

''This is a time for Americans to celebrate the liberation of American hostages from Iran,'' the caller said. ''But don't forget there are many innocent Croatians in American jails now kept locked up just to please the Yugoslavia dying regime.''

The news organization said the caller made a reference to the arrest last month in the New York metropolitan area of seven persons accused of being Croatian terrorists.

Shortly after the bomb exploded, WCBS Radio said it had received a call from a person identifying himself as a member of a Puerto Rican terrorist organization and claiming responsibility for the bombing.

Timing Mechanism Attached

James T. Sullivan, the city's chief of detectives, said investigators thought the bombing was the work of a Croatian group. He said the explosive device was a pipe bomb with a timing mechanism that was attached to a foot-long propane gas tank.

Chief Sullivan said the device had been placed in a metal gutter beneath a four-inch water pipe that was suspended from the ceiling. Reports of the explosion brought police and fire units and members of a special antiterrorism unit to the scene. Justice Bentley Kassal, who was in his chambers at the time of the blast, gathered up his papers and later, as he stood on the front steps outside the building, signed documents while waiting for word on whether the building would be reopened.

Copyright 1981 The Washington Post
The Washington Post

March 29, 1981, Sunday, Final Edition

SECTION: First Section; Around the Nation; Addenda; A4

LENGTH: 34 words

BYLINE: From news services and staff reports

BODY:

Five men described as members of a Croatian terrorist group have been convicted on federal charges of plotting to bomb a number of public buildings in New York City and to murder a political opponent.

Copyright 1980 The Washington Post
The Washington Post

June 6, 1980, Friday, Final Edition

SECTION: First Section; Around the Nation; Addenda; A8

LENGTH: 22 words

BYLINE: From news services and staff reports

BODY:
New York officials say Croatian terrorists appear to have been responsible for the bombing at the Statue of Liberty this week.

Copyright 1979 The New York Times Company: Abstracts
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NEW YORK TIMES

December 29, 1979, Saturday

SECTION: Page 24, Column 6

LENGTH: 51 words

JOURNAL-CODE: NYT

ABSTRACT:
US Federal officials begin proceedings to extradite Croatian terrorist Miro Baresic to Sweden, where he was freed from prison in '72 at demand of airline hijackers. Baresic had been serving life sentence after being convicted in '71 of murdering Vladimir Rodovich, Yugoslav Ambassador to Sweden (S).

   

Wiesenthal Center Denounces Plaque With Ustasha Slogan in Town of Jasenovac (December 6, 2016)
"Za dom spremni" usred Jasenovca (Jurica Kerbler | Novosti, 3. decembar 2016.)
„ЗА ДОМ СПРЕМНИ“ ПОНОВО У ЈАСЕНОВЦУ (Lj. Karan, понедељак, 05 децембар 2016)
 

A Jasenovac sono di nuovo "Pronti per la patria" – "Za Dom spremni!", come recita la lapide nera apposta nel novembre 2016 dai veterani ustascia nei pressi dell'ex campo di sterminio che nel 1942-1945 era gestito dai loro ispiratori. Nessuna condanna è venuta da Bruxelles per questo nuovo gesto simbolico ignobile, dopo la "riabilitazione" di Stato del nazi-collaborazionista arcivescovo Stepinac pochi mesi prima...

Dopo  Kutina e Jasenovac, nuove lapidi proustaša anche a Zagabria e a Velika Gorica:
Nakon Kutine i Jasenovca, HOS ploče postavlja i u Zagrebu i Velikoj Gorici (Renata Rašović, 17.1.2017)

Croatia’s Government Still Hasn’t Removed a Fascist Plaque Near Jasenovac Concentration Camp (Aug. 28, 2017 by BALKANIST)
If it’s been eight months and a country’s leadership still hasn’t managed to remove a fascist plaque from the area near a WWII concentration camp, either it can’t figure out how or it doesn’t really want to... After more than eight months, if a country’s leadership still hasn’t removed a fascist plaque from a WWII concentration camp it’s probably safe to assume it doesn’t really want to.