‘

WORLD

An interview with Nicaragua’s Vice President

Canada and the peace
process in Central America

Dr. Sergio Ramirez, Vice Presi-

- dent of Nicaragua, paid an official

visit to Canada for talks with Federal
government officials, and opposition
political leaders, as well as represen-
tatives of labour, church and selidar-
ity groups in an effort to win support
for peace in Central America.

Dr. Ramirez’ visit comes at a mo-
ment when the five Central American
governments are preparing to put in
place the Arias Plan and the Reagan
administration is moving heaven and
earth to scuttle it. In both private
discussions and at public meetings in
Ottawa and Toronto, Dr. Ramirez
outlined his government’ s fervent de-
sire for peace and expressed the hope
that Canada will play a role in the
process. The Tribune spoke with him
in Toronto.

Tribune: How were your discus-
sions with External Affairs Minis-

sented Central America with his
own ‘peace’ plan. It was rejected
by all five countries. Not surpris-
ingly, Reagan is dissatisfied with
the Arias Plan because it isn’t
Washington’s, and he is trying to
defeat it.

Four of the signatories (Nica-
ragua excluded) have travelled to
Washington whére efforts were
made to convince them to accept
more U.S. contra funding. None
of the presidents agreed. The plan
states very clearly that rebel
forces must not be supported by
other countries.

The only way the plan will fail is
if the U.S. Congress agrees to
fund the contras with another
$270-million to continue the war.
We should remember that five na-
tions in that region have totally
rejected Reagan’s intervention
policy. Any limitations or flaws

w‘We raised the role we think
Canada can play in helping
fulfill the aims of the plan,
especially concerning
supervision and control

mechanisms.”’

ter Clark? Did the Canadian gov-
ernment respond to Nicaragua’s
views and to the chance for peace
in the region in a positive way?

Ramirez: The opportunity to
visit Ottawa was special for us
because it was the first time a se-
nior officer of my government had
a chance to come here on official
terms.

We had the opportunity to dis-
cuss with Mr. Clark the need for
economic cooperation between
our two countries and, of course,
we went through the present
situation in Central America in
regard to the Peace Plan.

I briefed Mr. Clark on the plan
and how we see it, possible dif-
ficulties that may arise, and the
hopes we have about it.

We also raised the role we think
Canada can play in helping fulfill
the aims of the plan, especially
concerning supervision and con-
trol mechanisms which are need-
ed to ensure specific points of the
agreement are adhered to con-
cerning security of borders. We

feel Canada could develop such ~

appropriate mechanisms to help
make the plan work. It won't
without them.

Mr. Clark will visit Central
America next month where we
will continue to discuss these mat-
ters with him. Before that visit we
will contact other Central Ameri-
can governments to try to per-
suade them to accept the parti-
cipation of Canada in the devel-
opment of these mechanisms.

Tribune: Can the Peace Plan
succeed?

Ramirez: We will achieve
peace in Central America as long
as President Reagan’s forces stay
out of the region. The accord was
signed at a time when Reagan pre-

that may arise in the Plan can be
negotiated and corrected by the
five presidents under peaceful
conditions.

By contrast, the U.S. is push-
ing a war policy. Reagan is trying
to isolate Nicaragua economically
and politically; to blockade us in
every sense, to chastize us as a
devil, to deny any recognition to
our Constitution or our govern-
ment, to destroy the revolution.

national economy. That is why
we suffer an enormous inflation
rate. Prices are always rocketting,
we have shortages of almost
everything.

But Nicaragua has abundant
natural and human resources. We
are sure that only with peace can
this small but rich country
recover.

Tribune: Can you see coopera-
tion around the Peace Plan leading
to closer Canada-Nicaragua rela-
tions in other spheres?

Ramirez: We would like to see
relations between our countries
improve. Of course, the Plan is a
very good opportunity for Canada
to lend support to a region that is
going to need rebuilding, since
these economies are in very bad
shape. ©

Cooperation exists today.
Canada has forms of cooperatién
with Costa Rica, Honduras and
Nicaragua. We feel Canada is a
natural partner for Nicaragua.
Traditionally we have looked for
relations from both the northern
and souther hemispheres to moni-
tor what the U.S. is doing in
Nicaragua.

Canada can play a very im-
portant role in Latin America,
and specifically in Central
America at a difficult moment
such as we have today, to help us
achieve peace and to help Central
America after peace is achieved
— because our problem doesn’t
end with the fulfillment of the
peace plan.

I did not come here to obtain
ideological support from the
Canadian government for the
Sandinista Front. That is im-
possible. We have ideological dif-
ferences. Here it is a conservative

“Nicaragua has’

abundant natural and
human resources. We
are sure that only with
peace can this small but -
rich country recover.”

Tribune: Could you describe
what the contra war has already
cost your country? |

Ramirez: It has taken the lives
of more than 40,000 Nicaraguans,
mostly young people. It has
caused more than $4-billion in
material damage. For us that

_Yepresents 15 years of our coun-

try’s exports.

In the countryside there is
heavy loss of machinery, farm in-
Stallations, crops, schools, co-
Operatives, trucks, communica-
tions equipment — everything.
Some 2,000 people suffer severe
mental illness brought on by the
war.

The contra war has been a dis-
aster for a poor country like ours,
it has taken a national effort. We
have financed our defence
through out own resources. De-
fence costs a full 50 per cent of our

8 e PACIFIC TRIBUNE, NOVEMBER 4, 1987

Oe Ss eR tee GH Res

party and in my country we are a
revolutionary power. But as long
as Canada supports peace in
Central America, then your coun-
try is playing a very constructive
role.

Tribune: Were you pleasantly
surprised when Costa Rica’s
President Arias was awarded the
Nobel Peace Prize?

Ramirez:
Nicaragua. It was declared our
national day because we believe
an end to the war will mean peace
for all Central America, and
especially because this will help
prevent new moods for boycotts
against Nicaragua in the United
States.

I hope Reagan’s personal ob-
session with Nicaragua will end
when the Peace Plan is imple-
mented.

We celebrated in —

From Berlin

Gerry van Houten

*

Rats on a sinking ship

BERLIN — “‘This is worse than in 1929. Everyone is rattled. |
It’s happening so fast.”’

This was how an analyst for Paul Morgan Associates in Singa-
pore described the stock market collapse of Oct. 19, — Black —
Monday.

The day saw the Dow Jones industrial average fall by 22.6 per
cent — more than the one-day declines of Oct. 28-29, 1929 when
losses were 12.9 per cent and 11.7 per cent respectively.

From Oct. 5 to 19, the value of stock on the New York Stock
Exchange fell by more than 36 per cent. Similar losses were ©
experienced by all other major stock exchanges around the
world. So shaken was the Hong Kong stock exchange that it was
closed for four days. Within half an hour of re-opening on Oct. 26, —
stock prices fell an additional 25 per cent.

Aggravating the panic is the speed at which prices fell and how ~
quickly it spread worldwide. In 1929, the stock market crash took
several weeks to spread from New York to other exchanges. This
time it took less than 24 hours.

What happened?

One immediate reason was the decision of the West German
government to raise interest rates, a move which would have
precipitated a considerable slowdown in the flow of foreign capi- —
tal into the U.S. This inflow of capital is in essence the main factor —
in keeping the U.S. economy afloat in the face of huge budget and ~
trade deficits. It has sustained U.S. economic growth, the fragil- —
ity of which is now very apparent to all.

Only vociferous howls of protest from the White House forced

~ the West Germans, heading one of the strongest economies in the

capitalist world, to reverse their decision. 1
But the damage was done. Stockholders finally realized how |
fragile the U.S. economy really is.
It is widely recognized that the roots of the stock market crash
go much deeper — just the minimum reaction to the huge U.S.

a

‘trade and budget deficits.

Despite the continuing fall of the dollar in the last year, U.S.
trade deficits have defied big business predictions by remaining at
near record levels. :

In fact, this columnist predicted precisely such a development
(Tribune, Dec. 15, 1986) almost a year ago. I wrote then that “by
pouring investment dollars into the military sphere, the U.S. has —
failed to renew the productive capacity of its civilian sectors
which are outdated and uncompetitive.’’ And, ‘the civilian sec-
tors are so capital-starved they cannot compete with other coun-
tries even when the dollar declines.”’

So far, the Reagan administration has refused to recognize that
at the root of the budget deficit is military spending. It has sought —
to reduce the budget deficit at the expense of social programs,
meagre as they already are in the U.S., so that the military-indus-
trial complex can continue its wild orgy of profit-taking.

There is really only one way to cut the huge U.S. deficit and at

. the same time release badly needed capital to renew the civilian |

economy — sharp cutbacks in military expenditures. It has, for
example, become an urgent need for the U.S. to end SDI, adhere
to Salt-2 and the ABM treaty and come to arms control agree-
ments with the Soviet Union which will cut strategic missiles by
50 per cent, ban chemical weapons and end nuclear testing.

Will-there be a depression or a recession? This question is
now hotly debated by big business economists throughout the
world.

One columnist writing for the International Herald Tribune, for
example, saw no parallel with 1929 because ‘‘the crash then
followed a period of excessive economic boom that is nowhere |
apparent today.’ Nowhere apparent? How quickly he has for- |
gotten that the present boom, now in its fifth year, was based on |
an unprecedented arms race which has lead to fantastic profits for |
a small clique of transnationals belonging to the military-in- |
dustrial complex of the U.S. and other NATO countries.

In the opposing camp are those who point out that ‘‘fear of a
recession is at its highest level in Some time. And many econ-
omists who have been warning of a recession in late 1988 and 1989
are moving up the schedule.”’

And what is the reality? In the post-war period, three relatively |
minor drops in stock exchange prices were not followed by |
recessions. On the other hand, every single recession which did
take place were preceded by declines in the New York and other |
world stock exchanges. a

The future is very dark and the worstis still to come. And this is |
what the Mulroney government has tied Canada to when it |
reached a free trade agreement with the U.S.!
It’s quite a spectacle to see. the Tory rats join the sinking U.S. |
ship. :