West German aid-workers kidnapped by contras
AS WE GO to press, the West German aid workers kidnapped on
May 17 have not yet been released, although the contras have reportedly asked for a ceasefire in order to return them.
the occupation as an attempt to influence the policy of the West German government through pressure. (This gent, of course, found only hard words for the friends of those kidnapped. The government is involved on the quiet in negotiations with the kidnappers.)
The West German government has long since made its political choice clear. Immediately after the right came to power, development aid for Nicaragua was put on ice. In statements of position, this government has adopted, with only minor differences, the language of the US and the contras, who talk about a lack of democracy and Communist dictatorship in Nicaragua.
If the Foreign Office is taking legal steps today, they are not directed against the kidnappers but against the brigade members. On May 21, Genscher's ministry announced that the government in Managua would be requested to investigate the occupiers. It is possible that charges will be lodged against some of the occupiers whose names are known in Bonn.
The reaction of the internationalist workers in Nicaragua was firm and unambiguous. In order to thwart the contras, a new international brigade was formed. Aid workers from Cyprus, the United States, Kenya, Canada and West Europe are going to Jacinto Vaca as a replacement brigade to continue the work of those kidnapped.
In West Germany, in the meantime, actions have been underway to put pressure on the government. In Frankfurt on May 5, a protest was held in front of the consulate. A resolution by the Hannover Nicaragua committee noted, for example: "The contras are financed, trained and supported by the US. The US, therefore, bears the responsibility for the kidnapping of the work brigade, as well as for the daily terror against the Nicaraguan population."
The statement went on to make the following demands on the West German government:
"Get those kidnapped released immediately by putting pressure on those responsible for this action in the United States.
"Condemn the policy of the United States in Central America.
"Immediately resume aid to Nicaragua.
"Condemn clearly the trade boycott against Nicaragua announced by Reagan in West Germany on May 1, and make a commitment to send machinery, spare parts and other such materials to Nicaragua."
This statement has since been supported by a broad spectrum of signatories. International Viewpoint 16 June 1986
In the early morning hours of Saturday May 17, the 500 or so inhabitants of the Jacinto Vaca village were awakened by machine-gun fire. Between 70 and 100 armed terrorists from the US-financed contra organization, the FDN, staged an attack that had clearly been planned long in advance. They searched the houses, shot two farmers and forced those who had taken refuge under their houses to come out by threatening to throw hand grenades into the shelters.
Twelve members of a West German work brigade fell into the hands of the contras. Four of them managed to get away shortly afterward; eight remain in the power of the FDN.
Who are these eight workers? The West German organ of the contras, Welt, in its May 23 issue claims that "the kidnapped Germans were carrying weapons from the Soviet Union. Moreover, some of them were wearing parts of uniforms -jackets, pants and caps."
They include Doris Altenburg (psychologist), Dominique Diehl (medical student), Angelika Goetz (GEW member), Siegfried Ruttig (bricklayer), Astrid Stelter (teacher) and Reingard Zimmer (student). They belonged to a work brigade that arrived in Nicaragua in May. In Jacinto Vaca they were helping to build a new settlement on the outskirts of the area.
This new settlement was planned after the first contra attack in December of last year. It was to help reinforce the local cooperative and shore up the morale of the village population. The work brigade measured building plots, dug holes and laid the foundations for eight houses.
With the help of tools collected in West Germany, a workshop was set up. The settlement project decided on by the Sandinistas and taken charge of by the solidarity movement in West Germany was, among 6 other things, to provide accommodation for refugees from the nearby area bordering on Honduras and for defectors from the contra ranks.
One of the participants in the first work brigade in Jacinto Vaca in early March said: "We had been active more than a year in the Nicaraguan solidarity movement, and we thought that work in Germany was important but that there we could only get to know the revolution in a theoretical way. Going to Nicaragua meant participating directly in a living process, supporting it in a practical way and defending this revolution by our presence. In fact, we are also a shield against the threat of US intervention. By our presence, we increase the price to be paid for a direct military attack." It was precisely at this role of the work brigades that the contras struck by a deliberate kidnapping of the internationalist workers.
On Whitmonday, about 70 German work-brigade members occupied the West German embassy in Managua. They demanded that the embassy intervene actively to secure the release of the kidnapped workers.
In particular, they demanded that the ambassador send a telegram to US President Reagan, who has not only proclaimed himself a contra but is also the one who holds the decisive strings and provides the money. The ambassador refused.
One of the occupiers reported: "He thought that such a move would only annoy the Yanks, and refused to wake up the American ambassador by telephoning him. If we had not been there, he would probably have gone for a swim. He was very nervous and talked too much. He knew, he said, that what they were doing was not enough, but that there were political reasons for that."
In Bonn, the minister for economic cooperation, Warnke (Christian Social Union, the rightist Bavarian wing of the Christian Democrats) described
SOUTH AFRICA