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WORLD

~~ U.S. Congress shoots down

Reagan’s ‘contra’ aid plan

Following intensive lobbying and mass public actions
across the United States, the coalition of forces opposed
to Reagan’s $14-million bill to fund contras against the
Sandinista government won a significant victory April
22. Though a modified version passed narrowly in the
Republican-controlled Senate (53-46) the Bill was
Toundly defeated in the House (248-180).

It was a serious setback to Reagan’s Central American
Policy and confirmed recent public opinion polls show-
Ing a majority of Americans opposed to U.S. military
actions aimed at destroying the Sandinista revolution.

On April 23 the House also killed a Reagan plan to funnel

$14-million in so-called ‘‘non-military”’ aid to the contras.
Immediately following the voting, the Tribune spoke
With Pastor Valle-Garay, consul-general of Nicaragua in
Oronto to get his reaction and his government’s views
On what lies ahead:
* * *

“There’s no doubt we are elated with the outcome,”
Valle-Garay began. ‘‘It’s time the American people saw
through the vicious policies of the Reagan administration
against our country. In this context, there was no way
the U.S. people could buy Reagan’s plan.

“What to do with the contras now has become a con-
tentious issue. Having called these people ‘‘freedom
fighters”’ and likened them to the U.S. founding fathers,
Reagan has a problem. The 15,000 contras are among the
Most vicious criminals in Latin America. Where will he
put them?”’

Valle-Garay pointed out that even Honduras, from
where the contras operate, is asking for their removal.

But no country in the region wants them. I doubt they
would even be welcome in the U.S. as most are former
Somoza National Guard whose only trade is killing. I
think the American people and the Congress are begin-
ning to see that they have built themselves a monster.

“Hopefully the defeat of Reagan’s bill will give im-
petus to the Contradora process. More so because
Reagan’s so-called peace plan and the $14-million which
Was part of it, was designed to undermine the efforts of
the Contadora group.

“Reagan knew his proposals could not be accepted by
Nicaragua and, in fact, we rejected them within 24 hours.

‘It wasn’t a peace plan. It was an ultimatum.

‘‘Along with the efforts of the Contadora group to-

wards peace in the region, Nicaragua considers it vital
that bilateral talks take place between our government
and that of the United States.

‘‘We know that such talks are essential and can not be
substituted by so-called third parties such as El Sal-
vador, Costa Rica or Honduras who act at the suggestion
of the White House. This was proven last year when the
Contadora peace proposals were accepted by Nicaragua
and, under U.S. pressure, rejected by these govern-
ments. This action wrecked a peace plan that could have
now been in effect.

‘It is important the U.S. understand that Nicaragua
has been making every effort — through the World
Court, the United Nations, via the Contadora group —to
achieve peace. We have employed every legal, diplo-
matic and political avenue toward this goal.

‘‘The only country that has put obstacles in the way of
this process and prevented settlement has been the
United States.”

Replying to White House charges that Soviet military
personnel are operating with Sandinsta troops, Valle-
Garay said, ‘‘This is another charge in a systematic
campaign of absolute lies to justify the overthrow of the
Sandinista government. The latest charge is similar to
earlier ones that Soviet Mig jets were in our country and
that we are enlarging an airport to receive Soviet planes
for military purposes. .

‘‘Only last week Reagan gave a black tie dinner for
some prominent Nicaraguans where he held up a small
child dressed in typical native dress. He said she was one
of the ‘victims of Sandinista atrocities’. The girl turned
out to be the daughter of wealthy Nicaraguan parents
who have lived in the U.S. most of their lives. The girl
was a U.S. citizen and had never been to Nicaragua.
‘*The same thing happened earlier when Reagan told the
press the Pope supported U.S. Central American
policies, a claim immediately denied by the Vatican.

‘The important thing, however,’ Valle-Garay em-
phasized, *‘is that the American people and Congress are
beginning to see through what is essentially a campaign
of lies against Nicaragua. Dozens of U.S. Congressmen
have been to Nicaragua in the past weeks and have
concluded there is no justification for aiding the contras.

““A recent secret paper circulated in Washington
which leaves the door open to direct U.S. military inter-

TRIBUNE PHOTO — ALAN TATE

ail
°

*
eS

NO INTERVENTION! the theme of this 5,000-strong

demonstration in Toronto, April 20, which expressed its

solidarity with the people of the Caribbean and Central
- America.

vention in Nicaragua shows that even the White House
knows the contras have no chance of winning — no
matter how much money they. receive.

‘*Passage of Reagan’s contra aid bill would have been a
green light to persue his policies. He was seeking a vote
of confidence by Congress and the American people.

‘‘But the mood of the American people was different.
This was seen in the mass demonstrations April 20 ac-
ross the country in which non-intervention in Nicaragua
was a major theme.

‘*However, the danger still exists. So long as the U.S.
refuses to take part in meaningful bilateral talks with
Nicaragua, the problem remains. And we don’t mean
talks based on threats or with conditions injurious to the
integrity and sovereignty of Nicaragua — such as
Reagan’s demand we incorporate the contras into our
armed forces or limiting our right to friendship and co-
operation with other countries.

“We will never bagain away our people’s right to
decide its own desity.”’

International Focus

Tom Morris

God according
to Reagan

Ronald Reagan loves God.
He’s always telling us so.

Being on the side of the
~ angels is one of the tricks of his
trade. Along with The Flag,
Liberty, and America, God-
according-to-Reagan fits nice-
ly. It gives policy greater force.
It turns mere acts into
crusades.

Imagine, then, the chagrin,
the utter vexation Reagan
faces over his Nicaragua
Crusade (again, with God on
his side), to find that his na-
tions’ main churches are to-

REAGAN: God is politics. :

tally opposed to what he’s do-
ing.

‘Direct military aid to any
force which is attempting to
overthrow a government with
which we are not at war and
with which we maintain dip-
lomatic relations is illegal and,
in our judgment, im-
moral ...’’, Archbishop James
Hickey told a congressional
committee on the eve of the
vote on Reagan’s $14-million
to fund contras. Hickey spoke
for 300 Bishops representing
52 million U.S. Catholics.

The United Methodist
Church with 9.6 million mem-
bers charged the contras ‘‘are
inflicting terror, torture and
death’’ on Nicaraguan civilians
and urged Reagan to cut off
support. The U.S. Presby-
terian Church with 3.1 million
members takes the same posi-
tion.

So what God does Reagan
speak for? It’s the God of the
ultra-conservative, funda-
mentalist churches — the Fal-
wells, the Bakkers, the Swag-
garts and the other mind-bend-
ers who preach hatred, bilk
their flock and have become
the gurus of Reagan and his
crowd.

God is like a rifle. It depends
which way it’s pointed.

Shooting children
for apartheid

Evidence mounting at the
commission of inquiry into the
police shootings March 21 at
Uitenhage, South Africa,
shows the killing of 20 people
was premeditated and unpro-
voked.

In addition, the figure of 20 is
disputed by facts which indi-
cate 43 died and that police
concealed bodies. Twenty-
three persons, including a 2
year-old child, are missing.

Other facts uncovered:

e Police were issued only
heavy calibre weapons and
were instructed to ‘‘eliminate
rioters’;

e Seventeen of the 20 listed
by police were shot in the

_ back;

e Nine of the murdered
were 16 or under, including a
girl, 11 and two boys aged 13
and 14.

Other testimony shows
police holding up an ambu-
lance for 30 minutes as dead
and wounded were being

“thrown like sacks’’ into
police vans.
While the commission

meets, Blacks are being shot
and beaten each day and lead-
ers arrested for treason as
opposition to apartheid turns
into a country-wide, all-inclu-
sive movement.

From his plush United Na-
tions office in New York, how-
ever, Canada’s ambassador
Stephen Lewis clings to his de-
fence of trade and diplomatic
relations with the Pretoria re-
gime. Obviously his children
are safe.

There is no
time limit

Someone might explain to
Reagan what Hitler’s SS (elite
guard) were.

One million men wore the SS
uniform during World War
Two. The Waffen SS were
Hitler’s shock troops, fanati-
cal nazis, political troops. The
Totenkopf SS (Death’s Head)
were. sadistic camp guards,

mass murderers whose job was
to ‘‘purify the-aryan race.”’

Reagan visiting SS graves ai
Bitberg next month is an open
slap at millions of SS victims,
including U.S. servicemen
murdered by the Schutzstaffel.
His haste to get on with his
crusade against communism
(the SS crusade also) has led
him into a hornet’s nest.

Backing murderers, rapists
and torturers has become so
commonplace with Reagan,
his limited historical vision has
become blurred. The contras
are todays SS, as are the White
Hand death squads in El Sal-
vador.

Unfortunately for Reagan,
the world does remember. And
it won’t forget this visit.

Pa ra

THE SS AT WORK: Dzierzaznia labor camp for children in Pol

P

ll

and.

PACIFIC TRIBUNE, MAY 1, 1985 e 23