WORLD Nicaraguan leader tells Canadians: Our children want peace By PAUL OGRESKO “Children grow up quickly in Nicaragua,’ Com- Mmandante Olga Aviles Lopez told-the Tribune during her - Tecent stay in Toronto as a participant in the World Peace Dialogue. A long-time activist in the struggles ‘waged by the FSLN, a commander in the Sandinista Army, and President of the Nicaraguan Peace Commit- tee, Aviles Lopez speaks from the perspective of one who has devoted her life to the struggles and aspirations of her people. Constantly threatened by a U.S. invasion, surrounded by the sight of family and friends killed and maimed in the terrorist attacks of the contras, children in Nicaragua know little of what we regard as the “‘innocence”’ of childhood. vost __ Children want peace, they want the chance to enjoy life,”’ Aviles Lopez stressed. ‘‘But how can they?” Recently Managua children organized their own pro- test rally outside the U.S. embassy in Managua in which they demanded that the U.S. stop its attacks on Nicaragua and give the children a chance to grow up in peace. “‘The child who addressed that meeting,”’ Aviles Lopez said, ‘“‘was an 11-year old boy named Lucas. When he was nine, the contras attacked his village. Armed only with a rifle bigger than himself, he helped defend his town until assistance arrived.” Life-long fight Aviles Lopez herself has known the struggles of the icaraguan people since childhood. Her mother, a sec- ond cousin: of Sandino, had always supported the San- dinista cause, and in the days of Somoza this put one’s life and family in constant danger. Throughout her School years Aviles Lopez was taught in an education System organized by the dictatorship and with school- books supplied by the United States. “We were taught that Sandino was a bandit, that the United States was our friend, and that Somoza was our benefactor. Even so, people knew it was all lies’’. At university Aviles Lopez became a student activist, took part in the seizure of a government building, and Subsequently had to go underground. Throughout the years of working underground, in exile and in armed Struggle, Aviles Lopez remained confident of the ulti- -Mate victory of the Sandinista revolution. Although we knew it would come, it never occurred to us to see it as the victory of a few individual heroes, but as a manifes- tation of the will of the Nicaraguan people.”’ Priority now education The new Nicaraguan government has put the highest priority on a national education programme. Evidence of its success lies in the latent ‘statistics. The illiteracy rate has fallen from a pre-revolution figure of 50.3 per cent to under 10 per cent. Before the revolution 9,000 children attended pre-school programs. Now there are 66,850. From 369,640 primary school pupils in 1978, attendance now numbers 635,637. Before the Sandinista victory there were 37,838 teachers. Now there are 53,398. There is one slogan that really rings true in the new Nicaragua, and that is ‘‘every student a worker, every worker a student.” ‘‘Since many of our workers are defending our bor- ders, students are picking up the slack,’ Aviles Lopez said. We have student production brigades working part-time in the coffee, sugar and tobacco fields. Due to the emergency and real possibility of direct U.S. inter- vention, this year the students have gone into the fields armed and ready to defend themselves. U.S. violates UN Charter “Jf all Canadians had the opportunity to go to Nicaragua, they would see for themselves the reality of the situation. The people, all of them, are prepared to defend themselves.” The Reagan administration has done all it can to por- tray Nicaragua as an aggressor nation, as a threat to its _ neighbours in Central America. This, Aviles Lopez said, was a gross distortion of historical fact. ‘*Many Nicaraguans feel anxiety about the slanted facts spread by the Western media,”’ she said. ““Itis very important that people analyze the propaganda; those who do so will be able to see the distortion of what is actually happening in Nicaragua.” Nicaragua’s foreign policy is based on the principles of the United Nations Charter: national sovereignty; self- determination for all peoples; non-intervention in the internal affairs of other nations; peaceful settlement of disputes and rejection of force or the threat'of force as a means to resolve conflicts between states. are frequent targets of counter-revolutionary attacks. _—— : Students returning home following the 1982-83 cotton harvest in the border region with Honduras. Cash crop plantations PHOTO — MARGARITA MONTEALEGRE Many children injured in contra attacks have been sent to the socialist countries for treatment. This youngster is on the way to the GDR where with help, he will walk again. “If there is a country continually violating the UN Charter, it is the United States,’’ Aviles Lopez said. And what of the ‘‘Soviet expansionism” that the Rea- gan administration constantly refers to? “There was a nine-year old girls named Brenda Roach’’, Aviles Lopez replied, ‘‘who lost her left arm when the contras attacked her village. She was sent to the Soviet Union, where she received an artificial arm. If this is ‘Sovict intervention’, it gives life and hope to our . children.” The position of women is gradually changing as the new Nicaragua begins to throw off the centuries of feudal behavior inherent in machismo and servitude. ‘‘In Nicaragua and Latin America the general conditions facing women had been very conservative,”’ Aviles Lopez explained. But Nicaraguan women’s parti- cipation in the revolution, although limited, allowed them to see that the revolution was necessary. Women’s participation in the Nicaraguan revolution does not mean confrontation or competition between women and men. It is participation and cooperation alongside men. We are requiring the same political, educational and labour rights.”’ Throughout our conversation Aviles Lopez time and again underlined Nicaragua’s firm will to maintain its independence. If peace is not obtained, if the U.S. does intervene militarily, the world will know that the Nica- raguan people, although lacking adequate arms, food and shelter, will nonetheless fight to the end. They will defeat imperialism or die in the process. They share the same moral conviction that 40 years ago enabled the people of the world to defeat fascism. “The solidarity we have received from people around the world has been very significant.”’ Aviles Lopez con- cluded, ‘‘It is the solidarity that will be invaluable in preventing a U.S. invasion. Our presence at this World Peace Dialogue signifies our unity with the peace move- ment, our desire to live in peace and friendship. This is a desire I believe we share with the Canadian people and with the people of the world. The struggle of Nicaragua is part of the struggle for world peace.” The joint statement by Foreign Minister Gromyko of the USSR and U.S. Secretary of State Shultz, outlining the framework for negotiations to ‘‘work out ef- fective agreements aimed at preventing an arms race in space and terminating it on earth’, promises to be the first step to- wards a return to detente and disarmament by the U.S. Admin- istration, the Communist Party said in a statement released Jan. World ‘breathes easier’ as agreement reached On talks eee 9; The Soviet Union had pressed for such new negotiations cover- ing both non-militarization of outer space and nuclear arma- ments (strategic and medium range) and their interconnection. The world breathes easier that the first step has been taken. Whether this promising first step will lead to ‘‘the complete elimination of nuclear arms everywhere’ depends upon the peoples of the world, on the anti-war and anti-missile move- ments. By their efforts they helped to make the first step pos- sible. Now greater efforts, greater unity will be required to make, the second step possible. One should have no illusions, | the statement cautioned. The U.S. military-industrial complex, the Pentagon, elements in the U.S. Administration, the cold warriors in NATO including Canada, have not given up their efforts to achieve military superiority over the Soviet Union and the Warsaw Pact countries. They will continue to throw mon- key wrenches in the way of achieving arms control based on equality and equality of security. Canadians should not forget that Canada now has a govern- ment which is committed to sup- port of U.S. foreign policies, to its Star Wars program, to continued U.S. cruise missile testing on Canadian soil, to increased arms expenditures, to opposition to a nuclear weapons. This short- sighted policy which undermines Canada’s security must be re- placed by an independent foreign policy of peace. Vigilance and ever more pow- erful peace actions are required to ensure that the forthcoming negotiations open the door to agreements which could lead to peace and disarmament and an_ end to the threat of nuclear de- struction. PACIFIC TRIBUNE, JANUARY 16, 1985 e 9