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NEWS RELEASE- Free Burma Activists



Subject: NEWS RELEASE- Free Burma Activists Target Local Suzuki Dealership

For immediate release						June 22,
1999

Media Contacts:
DC-Burma Activist Network -- Ted Hobart  (703) 524-9773
Burmese Women's Union -- Ahtar  (301) 762-0006
Free Burma Coalition -- Dr. Zar Ni  (202) 777-6009

Free Burma Activists Target Local Suzuki Dealership

Japanese company propping up narco-dictatorship in Burma

Wheaton, MD. - Burmese and American democracy supporters will
demonstrate
on Wednesday June 23 at 3:00 pm in front of the Fitzgerald's Wheaton
Suzuki, 10915 Georgia Avenue.  The protesters are demanding that the
Japanese government and Suzuki, Inc. stop doing business in Burma and
stop
supporting the country's highly repressive military junta.

In April 1999, the Free Burma Coalition announced a boycott of Suzuki,
Inc., because of that company's support for the illegal military junta
in
Burma.  Suzuki automotive, motorcycle and marine dealers around the
world
are all targeted for boycotts.

Ignoring international opinion and the request of Burma's own
democratically elected leader, Suzuki announced on Oct. 13, 1998 that it
was investing $10 million dollars into a joint venture with the generals
in
Burma to build cars and motorcycles there.

Aung San Suu Kyi, who is the legitimate representative of the Burmese
people, has asked foreign companies not to come to Burma before
democracy
does.  "We are not against investment," said Mrs. Suu Kyi, in a March
30,
1998 interview in Businessweek.  "But we want investment to be at the
right
time... investing now is [not] going to be profitable either to
investors
or to the people of Burma."

A rapidly-growing number of U.S. and European companies have withdrawn
from
Burma.  "Japanese foreign investment and foreign aid are today among the
last lifelines for an army junta that is dealing death in Burma and
abroad," said Dr. Zar Ni, founder of the Free Burma Coalition. "Without
the
financial support of companies like Suzuki, the generals would be
bankrupt.
People who buy Suzuki products should know that they are giving dollars
to
dictators."

Burma is ruled by a narco-dictatorship that is widely regarded as one of
the worst human rights offenders in the world.  The generals running
Burma
are international pariahs, banned from setting foot in the United States
or

the European Union.  They have been condemned for human rights
violations,
including summary executions, torture, forced relocations, systematic
rape
and the ethnic cleansing of Christian, Moslem, Buddhist, and other
minorities groups. The U.S. Department of Labor recently documented the
massive use of forced labor in Burma.

In addition, the junta has turned Burma into the world's largest heroin
exporter.  According to the U.S. State Department, the country has
become a
global center for narcotics money laundering.

			January 1997: 		Pepsi pulls out of
Burma.
			February 1997: 		Compaq pulls out of
Burma.
			March 1997: 		Kodak pulls out of Burma.
			April 1997:		Seagram pulls out of Burma.
			September 1997: 		Texaco pulls out of
Burma.
			August 1998: 		Arco pulls out of Burma.
			September 1998: 		Ericsson pulls out of
Burma.
			October 1998: 		Suzuki invests in Burma.

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