Nicaragua needs urgent aid
JUST OVER TWO weeks after Hurricane Joan ravaged the Atlantic Coast of Nicaragua, decimating the town of Bluefields among others and leaving at least 116 dead, the embattled country is still trying to salvage what little remains after such a large-scale natural disaster. ELIZABETH MILLER M ANY Nicaraguan leaders have said that the destruction is worse than that wrought by the earthquake of 1972, which obliterated most of Managua, the capital. In this second emergency 300,000 people, or onetenth of the population, were affected or left homeless after winds measuring over 290 km/hr tore through Bluefields, the major city of the more isolated Atlantic coast region, and continued on through across the country.
Almost worse than the leveling of people's homes is the fact that large parts of most staple crops were lost, as well as the crucial export crops such as coffee, which are Nicaragua's sole source of export revenue. International solidarity began trickling in as soon as the winds had fallen enough to permit safe travel, as planes from Mexico and Cuba loaded with food and medical supplies landed at Managua Airport.
Supplies followed from government ministries and international aid organizations in Western Europe. The West German religious group Caritas is giving $280,000 and the "Swedish Friendship" group is sending $70,000. Even the Tory government in Britain has responded, although their contribution of $17,000 is a paltry sum. Conspicuous by its absence - although this is hardly surprising — is the name of the United States. In fact, while the National Emergency Committee was working through the nights leading up to the hurricane on organizing relief efforts, evacuations, and setting up shelters, the US government sententiously declared that it was "warning" Nicaragua to abide by the "democratization measures contained in the Esquipulas Accords." If not, "the Congress could approve new military aid to the contras." contras"
Two days after the hurricane had passed, leaving mayhem in its wake, the United States augmented this statement by not only refusing aid, which it said "could be used against the contras, ," but forbidding the entry onto US soil of any Nicaraguan diplomat or government official. This is an action that makes access to multilateral organizations that could help the country nearly impossible.
The Voice of America radio station has also thrown doubts upon how international aid will be used in an effort to block such solidarity efforts, especially on the part of the so-called free world.
Nevertheless, all of the closest American allies, not excepting Britain, have managed to detail supplies or money to Nicaragua. On October 25, the United Nations passed a motion with only two voices against (predictably, those of the United States and Israel) calling for the United States to immediately abide by the ruling of the World Court at the Hague on June 27, 1986, which declared that the US-backed war against Nicaragua was illegal and required damages to be paid to the Nicaraguan government. In all, 99 countries voted for the motion, and Western Europe abstained.
Just before the storm, President Daniel Ortega had announced that despite the safety precautions still being taken in the country, between October 17-20 the contras had killed five civilians and wounded five more, including one sick child in an ambulance. And, interrupted only by the hurricane, Honduran troops had been mounting harassment operations against the Nicaraguan soldiers stationed at the borders of the two coun tries on October 19, 20, 22, and 23.
Hurricane Joan left nothing untouched, and the project of reconstruction requires international solidarity on an unprecedented scale. The Nicaraguan government has sent out preliminary lists of the food, medical and construction supplies it estimates will suffice at minimum for 300,000 people for one month. This and other information should be available via national or local Nicaragua solidarity committees, or at the Nicaraguan consulate or embassy nearest you.
We urge every one of our readers to get involved in solidarity work for Nicaragua, a revolution under siege from many directions many directions. *
USSR From perestroika to the People's Front LEADER of the Socialist Initiatives Club in Moscow and one of those responsible for the samizdat publication Levy Povorot ("Left Turn"), Boris Kagarlitski was one of the founders of the grouping of informal associations that gave rise last year to the Federation of Socialist Clubs. The platform of this organization was published in International Viewpoint 129, November 9, 1987. Today, it is giving impetus to the formation of a Russian "People's Front."
Kagarlitski, a sociologist of art, has published many articles and his book, The Thinking Reed, has just been published in English. At the end of the Brezhnev period, he already led circles of Marxist students and a clandestine publication. For this activity he got 11 months in prison.
One of the interesting aspects of the interview is that it grapples with the national question in the USSR, which is new for Russian dissidents, but Kagarlitski has clearly not yet systematized his views on this subject.
Kagarlitski was interviewed in September in Moscow for International Viewpoint by Sasha Petrov. The second part, on the Russian People's Front, will be published in our next issue.