FEATURE Canadian visitors echo Nicaraguan aid appeal By JANICE HARRIS The provisional government of national reconstruction of Nicaragua, led by the revolu- tionary Sandinista National Liberation Front (FSLN), faces tremendous economic and political obstacles even though it has been almost two 32ars since the over- throw of Somoza. Last month, a delegation of trade unionists, NDP MLA Bob Skelly and representatives from church and solidarity groups from B.C. saw first-hand the new Nicaragua struggling to overcome the legacy left by former dictator Anastasia Somoza - a sacked treasury, gutted factories and cities, a huge foreign debt and a distorted economy - during a three week work-study tour. Organized by CUSO (Canadian University Students Overseas) on behalf of Nicaragua’s Sandinista trade union centre, Sandinista Workers Confederation (CST), the group toured the country from coast to coast and talked with workers, peasants, priests, children, farmworkers, women and government ministers. . As requested by the CST, the delegation had a strong trade union contingent, with members from the Canadian Union of Public Employees, B.C. Government Employees’ Union, Canadian Farmworkers Union, Pulp, Paper and Woodworkers, International Longshoremen’s and Warehousemen’s Union and the United Fishermen and Allied Worker’s Union comprising half the delegation. The other half was made up by representatives from church groups, including the Bishop Romero Support Group, a solidarity group from Victoria.” ‘‘After the trip, the group decid- ed, without exception, to build sup- port for the Nicaraguan revolution in B.C.,’? Walter Tickson, a member of the UFAWU and one of the trade union delegates, told the Tribune in an interview las week. . Tickson, along with two other UFAWU delegates, Scotty Neish and Kathy Schultz, talked about some of the solidarity plans that are taking shape, and offered their im- pressions of the Central American country which is striving to throw off decades of Somoza’s tyranny. One of the images which epitomized the task of reconstruc- tion for Schultz, were two partially- built fishing boats sitting forlornly on wooden supports in a meadow. The ship-building factory that had started them was burnt down by Somoza’s national guards in the first days before the people’s vic- tory. “They have remained unfinish- ed because there are no tools, * materials or technical know-how to complete them,”’ she said. It seemed almost criminal to Tickson because of the potential in developing a significant fishing in- dustry in Nicaragua. ‘“They have a potential of 10 million pounds of shrimp annually, as well as a poten- tial, for lobster and crayfish fisheries,’’ he said. Neish, who remained behind a week to introduce some innovative fishing techniques to Nicaraguan fishermen, that fishing programs were stymied by the lack of even such basic gear as hooks, tackle, and lines. The unavailability of boats compounds the problem. “Hell, I’ve got more gear in my attic than they have in their warehouses,’’ he said, adding that the Nicaraguan fisheries depart- ment, IMPESCA, ‘“‘orders and reorders from the U.S. but never gets the stuff it needs.”’ The reluctance by the U.S.,. and Canadian governments to honor pledges for economic aid towards Nicaragua’s recovery are a com- mon problem and the political ramifications were certainly not lost on the majority of Nicaraguans. - The U.S. has cut off all deals previously agreed to and Canada, after Reagan’s Ottawa visit, has reduced its $60 million pledge to $4 million and is now trying to lay down conditions about where the money is to be spent, Tickson said. PACIFIC TRIBUNE—APRIL 10, 1981—Page 10 ABOVE: Fisherman Walter Tickson (r) talks with Edgard M Institute of Fisheries at San Juan del Sur on Nicaragua’s Cathy Schultz finds a boat bearing the unlikely name of Kathy near LOW RIGHT: Also at Bluefields, Scotty Neish works with Nicaraguans construc what materials are available. The success of the revolution largely hinges on the ability of the provisional government to provide the necessary increased living stan- dards expected of it by the masses of people, all three tour members felt. While the FSLN estimated that 90 percent of the people were against Somoza and supported the FSLN, that number does not -translate into the same number of . people opposed to ‘‘free enterprise’ capitalism. The Nicaragua they encountered was volatile, with both private and state sectors of the economy sup- posedly working together in the framework of economic recovery projected by the provisional government. Schultz found that the private sector, especially through their press, La Prensa, was openly hostile to the government and the process of democratization it had embarked on. “After the revolution, the state took over Somoza’s holdings — about 50 percent of the arable land and 155 companies or about one third of the national wealth — as well as placing the banks and im- porting ad exporting under state- control,’’ Neish said. Private coffee-growing com- panies, for instance, can still operate, although they have to sell their products to the state, and the state in turn, sells those products to overseas markets. Although there is no official boycott, and the provisional ‘government has been walking a tightrope trying to avoid one, the U.S. has, to all intents and -pur- poses, slapped one on. The drastic drop in coffee prices engineered by the U.S., which translated into a $60 million loss to the Nicaraguan economy, can be seen as nothing less than retributive, and parallels U.S. manipulation of copper prices following nationalization of the Chilean copper mines under Salvador Allende. Cuba, on the other hand, has sent over teachers to help carry the literacy campaign to the people, as well as doctors to work in areas linked by neither road nor railway which is most of Nicaragua. One of the most important political features in Nicaragua for Tickson, was the transformation of the FSLN, from a military vanguard of the revolution into a political party with essentially a socialist program. “People can join the FSLN if they show they support its pro- gram, which, although it insists on a private sector, is looking to move beyond that,”’ he said. Although the FSLN is not the government, it holds 24 of the 47 seats in the State Council and elects three of the five people to the five- person administrative junta. The other 23 seats in the State Council are held by representatives from women’s organizations, In- dians, churches — in fact, ‘‘all organizations that were part of the revolution.” ' The business sector, because it represents approximately 25 per- cent of the economy also has representation on the State Council and elects the other two people to the junta. Nicaraguans now enjoy an ex- tension of their democratic rights that go far beyond those won by the working people of Canada. Still the FSLN is acutely aware that those rights must be given a material basis through the constant improvement of economic stan- orazan, general manager of the Nicaraguan Pacific coast. BELOW LEFT: Shoreworkels Bluefields on the Atlantic coast. BE _ should hand over the fishing boats ting prawn traps from | dards, and safeguarded by the | ideological commitment of thé people. : “That’s where we come in,’ Tickson said. One of the concrete projects fot Nicaragua that the delegation looking to get off the ground is the purchase of Canadian fishing boats | to send down to Nicaragua, along with gear. “Our federal government they purchased from west coast fishermen unable to make a living in the crisis-ridden industry through its ‘buy-back’ program and give them to Nicaragua,” hé said. Schultz added that the delegates from the Bishop Romero Suppott Group from Victoria were lobby- ing the government to do just that. The group has already approached the UFAWU to muster. thé fishermen to sail them down theré in a solidarity flotilla. ; “There'll be no shortage of volunteers to do that,’’ Ticksot predicted, ‘‘just boats.” Another possibility, if that oné falls through, is to launch a can paign to raise the money to buy a! least one boat, and in the process; reach out to as many Canadial workers to let them know thal solidarity with Nicaragua needs more than motions at a conve’ tion, but concrete aid if the revolu’ tion is not to suffer a setback.” Among other solidarity projects the members of the delegation wil be putting together is a slide-tap’ show of their tour, and, as SchultZ noted, they will be available t0 show anywhere, any time. For it: formation in Vancouver cal Kathy, 253-0744; on Vancouvel Island, call Walter Neish, (112)598-1879.