Forty years of a made-in-the-USA dic- torship has left the people of ragua in a desperate situation. The war which won them their freedom cted a high price. Over 600,000 are Without adequate food, medical atten- tlon, clothing and shelter. if help doesn’t Some quickly many will die, especially most vulnerable — the children. Re- lef efforts have been started — but More is needed — immediately. ees Some 250,000 of Nicaragua’s children er the age of four are suffering from utrition in the wake of the civil war 42 years of Somoza-ism. A letter ssed to External Affairs Minister Fora MacDonald, awaits the signature Sf Canadians who feel the urgency of }*Ving the lives of these children and }untless thousands of adults. They face “arvation, wounds and sickness for Which there are no medical supplies, ex- Posure because of lack of even “Mergency housing, and hardship be- of inadequate clothing. The Nicaraguans, having defeated the Vloody Somoza regime set up and armed »y the USA, now badly need this aid for Survival as their new revolutionary gov- jqument throws all of its strength into the Uefence and well-being of the people and I new state. 4 The Canadian Labor Congress, fol- Wing the Clark government’s recogni- N of Nicaragua’s Provisional Re- Yolutionary Government, took dramatic fr Swift action recently to get funds }-°M its affiliates for food, medical “Upplies, shelter, clothing and other neds. The CLC action followed a report Y¥ John Simmonds its member on the fact-finding commission to Nicaragua, ganized by the International Confed- {ation of Free Trade Unions (ICFTU). 4 In the thick of the fighting between the Srees of the new government — the Gudinist guerrillas — and the National cd of dictator Somoza, another ‘nadian took part in deliberations to ‘Putin motion practical solidarity with the Volutionary government, which had ay that time, proclaimed its final vic- : Venezuela Conference a Quinn, an auto worker and Un- Auto Workers member from Niag- os alls, Ontario, was in Caracus, Ven- thr fla on the eve of the complete over- ‘OW of the U.S. puppet, Somoza. op Oining in the decision-making there, Over 300 delegates from 60 countries, Conk Was part of the demand from that sio €rence for full support to the Provi- Ni Revolutionary Government of — unconditional support. Be attended the conference called by a Orld Peace Council, July 13 - 15, as Co Presentative of the Canadian Peace Niastess. Quinn is a member of the the P, Peace Movement. In a report to face Congress on his return, Quinn The streets of Managua: before Somoza fled he robbed the banks of all the foreign currency, he burned the domestic cur- rency. Even for those with money there is little to buy. Because of the fighting no crops were planted, the National Guard sys- tematically destroyed all the industry, hospitals and schools and their equipment and machinery on the eve of their defeat. The new Nicaragua desperately needs our aid gave these figures to indicate the absence of human rights under the former made- in-USA regime. With such facts in view who. would question the Nicaraguans’ decision to rid themselves of their tor- turer? . Sixty percent of Nicaragua’s popula- tion lived in extreme poverty. Rural in- habitants, half the population, earned less than $150a year, and half of them less than $39 a year! Unemployment ex- ceeded 30% of the workforce, rising to 50% in the off season among agricultural workers. While 70% of Nicaraguan foodstuffs were imports, 50% of the chil- dren suffered from malnutiriton under the U.S.-Somoza regime. Forty-six per- cent died before the age of four. Illiteracy, nationwide, was 60%, reaching 80-95% in the countryside. These statistics were compiled by the U.S. State Department. It was on this background that jour- nalists, and representatives from peace organizations and trade unions, church and legal associations, at the World Con- In 1966 the UN General As- Sembly declared the occupation and ordered immediate and un- Conditional withdrawal by Pre- ‘oria. Thirteen years later, South ““rican occupation and repres- Sl0n not only continues, but has iMtensified. Namibian people under the lead- €tship of the South West Africa People’s Organization (SWAPO) iE ae Concerned About Southern . I. the Ca (CCSA) which reports that gx er of South African | fee PS in Namibia has now Teached 75,000. They are backed, . 4 | - Namibia Day marked — _ OfNamibia by South Africa illegal August 26, the dayon which the CCSA says, by the latest weaponry and aim to retain real | economic-political power in the hands of South Africa’s racists. CCSA charges the elections which were to be held in June have been sabataged by South Af- rica by: e the unilateral appointment of a colonial governor, e the massacre of refugees in Kassinga, e the sham December elections, e the creation of a so-called con- stituent assembly e and the installation of an il- legal national assembly. CCSA reaffirms its solidarity with the Namibian people’s strug- gle for independence and urges the ference of Solidarity with the People of Nicaragua voted unanimously, without abstentions, to mobilize aid for Nicara- guan reconstruction... Mercouri Adds Voice In Toronto, on August 21, a film show- ing was organized — proceeds to aid the revolutionary government of Nicaragua, at which Greek actress, parliamentarian and peace activist Melina Mercouri, spoke of the urgent need for practical assistance to the people of Nicaragua. Like the Greeks who had had to rid themselves of a fascist junta, she said, like the Cypriots who were still fighting for the reunification of their island against the forces of the Turkish invader — a member of NATO — the Nicara- guans had fought tyranny and now needed urgent help from all quarters. The meeting was addressed by Pastor Valle-Garay, Nicaraguan charge d’af- faires in Canada, who stressed his coun- try’s non-aligned stance in foreign poli- cy. A letter circulated at the film showing, addressed to Flora MacDonald, and re- quiring the signatures of millions of Canadians, expressed distress that ‘‘the federal government of Canada has cho- sen not to reply with concrete aid and action to the desperate calls for help that the Nicaraguan Government of National Reconstruction has issued to all the humanitarian nations of the world.” The letter voiced its concern for “‘the fate of the 600,000 Nicaraguan civilians left homeless, starving and ill from the national war that recently devastated their country.”’ It reported that 40,000 had lost their lives, that 250,000 children under the age of four suffer from malnutrition, that ‘due to the conflict, no crops were planted and the traumatized population desperately needs the nutritive and med- ical aid of other nations of the world to survive.” Finally, the letter implores the minis- ter, in this Year of the Child particularly, “to assure that a quarter of a million Nicaraguan children, under the age of four, neither starve nor perish for lack of food, medicine or shelter.’’ The Canadian Labor Congress has made a contribution to the need, many Canadians feel, but it remains for the Clark government to live up. to it humanitarian - billing, _ publicized _for., example in the case of the ‘‘boat people’, and show that its humanitarianism is not just a political gimmick. The new government is presently re- ceiving aid — no strings attached — from the Soviet Union and Cuba. USA Bought Somoza In his contacts with Nicaraguans and others closely associated with the situa- tion in Nicaragua before the overthrow of the Somoza dictatorship, Canadian auto worker Don Quinn learned that since 1970, ‘‘the U.S. Government gave Somoza $150-million in economic aid, $30-million in military aid, and $571- million through the international lending agencies it dominates. ‘*The National Guard,’ he reported, ‘‘was equipped with weapons supplied by the U.S. and Israel, with further aid given by neighboring dictatorships of El Salvador, Honduras and Guatemala.” Quinn said that ‘‘atrocities committed by Somoza’s National Guard seem end- less, and are well documented in the Re- port on the Situation of Human Rights in Nicaragua.’’ They were also well documented in the film shown in Toron- to, Aug. 21, a film whose parts were held together by an interview with general of the new Nicaraguan army, Humberto Ortega Saavedra. *‘During the seige of the capital, Man- agua, the USA maintained four squad- rons of C-147 fighter planes and trained troops waiting in readiness in Panama,”’ Quinn learned. “Daily a plane would leave Panama and fly to Managua to ob- serve the situation...U.S. intelligence was co-ordinated with the Somoza re- pime.-;"* The solidarity actions of today are bet- ter fuelled having the knowledge of what Somoza-ism meant to that country. Canadians who cannot participate through a union or other organization are asked to send financial aid to: Cana- dian Action for Nicaragua, Imperial Bank of Commerce, York Mills and Victoria Park, Account Number 49-10761. PACIFIC TRIBUNE— SEPTEMBER 14, 1979—Page 7