Letters

I have just returned home after a very
informative and emotional trip to Nicara-
gua. The tour was organized by Elders for
Survival of California and I was privileged
to be asked to join, having previously partic-
ipated in a coffee harvest brigade with that
group in January, 1987.

_ We spent a very intense two weeks visit-
ing factories, farms, schools, health clinics,
co-ops, women’s centres and religious cen-
tres, and listened to speakers from news-
papers, farm workers, trade unions and the
United Nations team of observers.

Meetings were held with members of the
Electoral Council which is in charge of run-

ning the coming federal election to be held -

on Feb. 25. This election is being called “the
most observed election in history,” and our
experience corroborates that statement.
There are observers such as our group from
dozens of countries and also official groups
such as the United Nations, the Organiza-
tion of American States, the Ex-Presidents
Committee, headed by former U.S. presi-
dent Jimmy Carter, the World Council of
Churches and others.

Donations to expedite the election have
been made by many countries. Spain and
Germany, for instance, have given compu-
ters, Switzerland has donated paper,
Sweden ran a workshop, France and Bel-
gium gave fax machines and Canada is
, supplying ballot boxes and voting booths.

So far as we could see, the U.S. and
Britain have given nothing in the way of
help. But the U.S. has given over $32 million
to fund the opposition candidates which are
a very loose and precarious coalition called
UNO (not to be confused with United ,
Nations Organization) and include 12 par-
ties. going from Violetta Chamorro on the
far right — she is the owner of the opposi-
tion paper La Prensa — to the Communist
Party on the ultra-left. the UNO group
refused to meet with us although we tried on
several occasions to make an appointment.

A portion of all the money from foreign
sources such as the U.S. must, according to
Nicaraguan law, be given to the Electoral
Council which does all the television adver- ‘
tising on the state-owned TV channel. I saw
ads for several of the parties on the TV set at
our hotel. The rest of the U.S. money has
been used sadly to line the pockets of a few
people.

_ Despite the U.S. disruption, and the con-
tinued harassment by the contras, the Nica- '
raguan people are, in my opinion, strongly °

U.S. PRESIDENT GEORGE BUSH WELCOMES VIOLETTA CHAMORRO IN

WASHINGTON ... massive U.S. backing for Nicaraguan opposition.

supportive of their government headed by
the Sandinistas (FSLN). I attended two ral-
lies of the FSLN and in the thousands of
people at these rallies, I saw enthusiastic
people dancing and singing (we joined
them) and cheering the speaker, not in a
forced manner but in genuine sincerity. You
could see it on their faces. I saw no soldiers
with guns (as I did in Mexico) and if anyone
had wanted to assassinate vice-president
Sergio Ramirez — who spoke at both meet-
ings I attended — they easily could have as
he stood on the outdoor platform in full
view of all with no visible guards around
him. I did not see Daniel Ortega as he
seemed to always be somewhere else speak-
ing where we were not. He moved from
small town to large town every day and
spoke to thousands of people each time as
we saw in the papers.

Our tour also included a visit to the grave
of Ben Linder, the young American engi-
neer who was murdered by the contras in
1987 while helping to install an electrical
system, and who is now a national hero to
the Nicaraguan people.

.Very impressive to me also was how fac-
tories and co-ops took care of the needs of
their women workers. We visited a large
textile factory which employed about 900
workers, over 70 per cent of them women.

The place had three shifts, and the large,
bright, colourful day care centre and the
cafeteria were open 24 hours a day so the
mothers could see their children and feed
them on their breaks if necessary. Babies
can be taken in at 48 days and up to six
years. There are many single mothers in
Nicaragua, many of them widowed by the
war of the last 10 years. Time after time, I
was moved by their strength.

There is much more to tell about our visit
but the one thing that came through most
clearly to me was the fact that the people in
that tiny country of 3/2 million want more
than anything else to get on with building
their country, improving their health care
system which is sadly lacking in supplies
and trained personnel and abolishing illiter-
acy. Above all they need peace and the
assurance that they will be free from
unwanted interference by outside forces. I
would like as many people as possible to
hear about their need to have their demo-
cratic election and peace in their country.

I will be available to speak to any organi-
zation which would like to know more.
Please call me at home, 247-8368, or drop a
line to me at RR 2, Site 22, C-8, Gabriola
Island, B.C. VOR 1XO.

Jean McLaren,
Gabriola Island

Coverage of Mid-East issues appreciated

I write with regards to Professor Adel
Safty’s article in your Dec. 18, 1989 issue
(“Israel intransigent as world shifts”).

I want to congratulate you and Prof.
Safty not only for the insightful analysis of
the Israeli-Palestinian conflict but particu-

Sa iB

The Tribune welcomes letters to the
editor and particularly comments. on
articles: which have appeared: in the
paper. We'strive to run letters in full but
reserve the right to edit for length.

larly for the courage and sustained interest
that you and Prof. Safty display at a time
when mainstream media seem to have lost
interest in the Palestinian uprising.

Young Palestinian men and women con-
tinue to be shot at and the toll of tragic
death continues to rise. Family homes of
sacred value to the Palestinian people con-
tinue to be demolished. Entire communities
suffer routinely from collective punishment.
All of this continues to happen on a daily
basis but the mainstream media seem to
have lost interest in the Palestinian uprising

because, ironically enough, the killing has
become routine, and routine has no sensa-
tional value for sensational media.

Your courageous paper which continues
to show interest in the plight of the opposed
people is the more remarkable for not fol-
lowing the crowd of mass production news-
papers.

I am delighted to extend my support to
you and please count me among your regu-
lar readers. Enclosed is my subscription.

Hiyam M. Deeby,
Vancouver

Canadians
join rally
in Moscow

The five member delegation of the
Canadian Peace Congress — Gordon
Flowers, Miguel Figueroa, Bill
Thompson, Darrel Rankin and I —

.who were en route to Athens for the

World Peace Congress convention,
played a small role in Sunday’s huge
pro-democracy march in Moscow. At
the noon break during a briefing held
by the Soviet Peace Committee, the
delegation secured some banner
paper and hand-lettered three slo-
gans: “Canadians Support Gorba-
chev,” Canadians Support Pere-
stroika” and “Canadians Support
Democracy.”

We scrambled into a subway sta-
tion and managed to get a train to
take us to another station.close to the
starting point. The march had just
started and we ran to join in. Keen
interest was shown in our slogans.
Dozens of marchers came up to us,
nodded approvingly and gave victory
signs. A parade marshal with a bull-
horn told the marchers about our
presence and our slogans. A big cheer
went up.

Many people engaged us in discus-
sion as we marched along. By chance
we were joined by a number of
English-speaking members of the
Institute for World Economy. In 1984
and early 1985, the Institute was
headed by Alexander Yakovlev, the
former Soviet ambassador to Can-
ada. In April, 1985, as perestroika was
being launched, he was an ally of
Gorbachev and is now a key member
of the Politbureau.

The members of the Institute
explained to us the nature of the
diverse forces, from the centre to the
left, making up the marchers and how
critical this particular show of support
was to the future of revolutionary
perestroika.

The crowd lining the streets was
nearly as dense as the “people-jam”
caused by marchers 40 to 50 abreast.
There were many other homemade
banners and slogans much like the
Vancouver peace marches, but even
more so. Bystanders frequently made
comments, including one elderly man
who shouted vigorously: “This should
have happened 15 years ago.”

I estimated the crowd at about
300,000.

Mixed as the composition of the
marchers was and diverse as the slo-
gans were, it ‘was overall a dramatic
show of support for the reforms tak-
ing place in the Soviet Union. Look-
ing back up the slope of Gorky Street
as we neared the end of the eight-
kilometre march, we could see the
huge river of humanity united in a
dynamic surging movement.

We all agreed that it was a tre-
mendously moving experience for us
all to have taken a small part in this
historic event.

Bruce Yorke,
Vancouver

Pacific Tribune, February 12, 1990 « 5