WORLD Nicaragua risks security for peace: ambassador The Reagan administration has no more excuses for continuing to seek aid for the counter-revolutionaries attacking Nicara- gua, that country’s ambassador to Canada states. Sergio Lacayo says his country has removed the last impediments to full com- pliance with a peace plan struck by five Central American nations by unilaterally lifting its state of emergency and setting elections for municipal office and the Cen- tral American parliament. “Continued funding for the contras would be a stab in the back to the peace rocess,” Lacayo, in Vancouver on his way to the Gulf Islands, told a gathering of jour- nalists and Tools for Peace volunteers Jan. 22 Representatives of five Central American countries — El Salvador, Nicaragua, Gua- temala, Honduras and Costa Rica — met in San Jose, Costa Rica Jan. 15-17 to review the progress of the peace plan they adopted some five months ago, known as Esquipu- las Il. The U.S. Reagan administration has been pressuring the signatories to denounce Nicaragua for not living up to the terms of the agreement, or face losing American aid. . For that reason the representatives met in an “air of pessimism,” Lacayo said. But the report by the international com- mission on verification levelled much of its criticism at El Salvador and Honduras. The former country continues to wage war against its people and its government toler- ates the political killings carried out by right-wing death squads. The latter con- tinues to host contra military bases. The peace plan, initiated by Costa Rican president and Nobel peace prize-winner Oscar Arias, called for a ceasefire by all warring forces in the five countries and pledged all signatories to refuse to allow their territories to be used for hostile mil- itary actions against neighbouring states. It also called for “democratization” mea- sures, which has been interpreted by right- wing observers to mean Nicaragua’s ruling Sandinista government should suspend the state of emergency and other measures designed to protect the state at war. When the plan was.signed five months ago the Sandinista government responded by allowing the right-wing, CIA-backed newspaper La Prensa to resume publication and initiating other domestic measures. It opened the door to peace talks with the contras and pledged to lift the state of emer- gency once funding for the counter- revolutionaries had stopped. Last week the government unilaterally ended the state of emergency, abolished the special peoples’ tribunals designed to hear cases of a counter-revolutionary nature, and reinstated municipal elections. “In other words, we complied with the spirit. and the letter of the agreement,” Lacayo stated. Nicaragua has also dropped its former insistence that peace talks with the contras take place outside Central America, and has agreed to talks in San Jose, he reported. “So now it is time to see who is deceiving whom,” Lacayo asserted. “Unfortunately, President Reagan has reacted quite negatively. The United States is claiming their funding of the contras is an insurance policy,” he said. Nicaragua is taking a chance with all its unilateral measures to convince the interna- tional community of its peaceful intentions, the ambassador acknowledged. “We're playing out the risk and normally that’s something a country under attack will never do. “We believe we can’t put things more ‘sincerely to the.international.community,” Lacayo said. But if there is no progress “‘we’ll have to come back to the state of emergency. You can’t fight with one hand tied behind your back,” he insisted. The U.S. Congress votes soon on whether to approve an administration request for further financial aid to the con- Sergio Lacayo, Nicaragua’s am- bassador to Can- ada, told Van- couverites Jan. 22 that his country has gone out on a limb in making concessions to the Reagan ad- ministration so it will end its attempts to overthrow the country’s demo- cratic revolut- ion. > ~ tras. But a substantial anti-contra aid vote in the Democrat-controlled assembly can turn the tide against the Reagan administra- tion. Lacayo praised the Canadian govern- ment for recent initiatives on behalf of peace in the region, including an offer from Exter- nal Affairs Minister Joe Clark to aid in establishing a mechanism to verify that countries are following the peace plan’s tenets. & - : Unfortunately, said Lacayo, the recent San Jose meeting abolished a joint verifica- tion commission, consisting of representa- tives from the United Nations, the Organization of American States and the Contadora countries (Latin American countries which initiated the original Con- tadora peace plan for Central America.) A new commission may involve the par- ticipation of some outside country — pos- _ sibly Canada, Lacayo said. = The ambassador acknowledged that Nicaragua’s _ ground-breaking initiatives have caused tensions within the leadership _ and “within the whole country.” : He said there are fears of “‘secret talks of power sharing (with the contras), that the — revolution is dead, that we'll set back the — clock.” id ay bf ta But, Lacayo stressed, the new initiatives _ can only enhance Nicaragua’s revolution, in that they can usher in the peace necessary to _ build the country’s economy. “| Lacayo was on his way to the Gulf — Islands to participate in a ceremony twin ning the islands with Ometepe Island in — Lake Nicaragua. INTERNATIONAL FOCUS Tom Morris Voting in dream-like calm The charade continues in Haiti. After physically eliminating the Nov. 29 election effort (and many voters), General Namphy’s troops and _ their Tontons Macoutes gangster pals finally held their own rigged vote Jan. 17. : And their man, Leslie Manigat, appears to have won. __ But there are some flies in the, public relations ointment: @ A mere dribble of 10 per cent turned out to vote; @ Of these, most voted several times, many were under age; @ There were no registration lists; ~ @ Ballot boxes never arrived at some voting places; @ All opposition candidates boycot- ted the vote; @ Puppet candidates and supporters handed money out with their ballots which were printed by each candidate. Of course, Manigat and Namphy deny any irregularities, blaming the charges on “foreigners”. The Toronto Star’s Michael Smith reported the vote was carried out in ‘almost dream-like calm,” while the U.S. America’s Watch group called it “a total sham.” 8 e PACIFIC TRIBUNE, JANUARY 27, 1988 © Whatever the Jan. 17 circus is called, the fact is that Duvalierism lives in Haiti in the body of the military; that 90 per cent of the people oppose it; and that the struggle for a democratic breakthrough is still to be won. Debunking a sick myth Jog, don’t walk, to your nearest book- store and buy the Jan. 12, 1988 issue of Village Voice. And if you’re someone who has seen the fraudulent film Harvest of Despair or read the book Harvest of Sorrow, run quickly for your copy of Village Voice. In as competent and damning a piece of research and writing you'll find any- where, Jeff Coplon dissects the Ukrain- ian right wing’s campaign charging the USSR with genocide around the famine years in the Ukraine in the early 1930s. Titled In Search of a Soviet Holo- caust, the article traces the beginnings of the campaign, how the film and book were hatched, and lists the whos, wheres, whens and whys. The film, as we know, was aired on CBC television and the U.S. Public Broadcasting network. Buckley’s Firing Line showed it. The book was favoura- bly reviewed in several major U.S. dai- lies. Coplon shows how the entire scenario was orchestrated and financed, and has interviewed Canadian Doug Tottle whose own book, Fraud, Famine and: Fascism is soon to be released by Pro- gress Publishers. ; ! ' It’s a fascinating and scary story. Time is running out Through the horror Of Israel’s repres- sion in Gaza and West Bank, it’s neces- sary to recall there are courageous voices in the Knesset (Parliament) and outside calling for an end to the terror and for a negotiated settlement. Communist deputies and other pro- i gressives in Israel are proposing an inter- e national conference to include Israel, the & PLO, and the five permanent members of the UN Security Council. F The government refuses. It wants to pick those Palestinians with whom to negotiate. It rejects the PLO, preferring instead “reasonable” Palestinians (read quislings). Mass curfews, repressions and killings continue, u Other Israeli fanatics like the Deputy Security Minister, Michael Dekel, call for deporting the entire Palestinian popula- tion of 1.5 million in a scheme called “monstrous” by Communist deputies. Israel’s hourglass is running out.