World

. Our achievement
ts to have people
Participate in all

that we are doing’

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| ort le Bibl | L

ee Pe Oe

‘prem trea cael

Earlier this year, the U.S. Congress
approved the continuation of aid to the Nica-
Yaguan contras. Although military assistance
was halted by Congress last year, aid in the
form of food, clothing and medical supplies
was extended in the new aid package at arate
of about $4 million a month.

Leonor Huper, charge d affaires of the
Nicaraguan Embassy in Washington, D.C. is
the highest ranking Nicaraguan official in the
U.S. since the Reagan administration
expelled Nicaraguan Ambassador Carlos
Timmerman last year. She was interviewed
by People’s Daily World report Chuck Idel-
son for World Magazine.

What will be the effect of the new contra
aid package?

it will impede the democratization of
Nicaragua because we offered to do so
many things.

They say we have to democratize. We are
going to have the elections eight months in
advance — in February 1990 instead of
November. But as long as the contras are
keptin Honduras, the people there won’t be
coming back to Nicaragua, which is what
we want — for all the Nicaraguans to come
back to Nicaragua in whatever political
party they want.

That’s why we freed the political prison-
ers who were in jail since Somoza: They can
Stay in any political party as long as they
don’t go into armed struggle again. But by
keeping the force in Honduras they give
hope to Nicaraguans that have left that the
contras are going to overpower the Nicara-
guan government, which they are not.

The contra policy has been a complete

- failure.

What do you think will be the impact of the
U.S. role on the development of Honduras?

The only development Honduras has
had is enhancing and training of the army.
That is a drawback. We consider having an
army in Nicaragua a drawback. We’ve had
to have it because we have to defend our-
selves.

Honduras has been on constant man-
oeuvres with the U.S. since 1982. They’ve
just signed a new military agreement.
Instead of giving money for better living
conditions better schooling, better health
conditions, the U.S. keeps giving money for
the army, for fighter planes, things like that.

It seems to be so difficult for the U.S.
government to understand that what Cen-
tral America needs is justice. What has hap-
pened in Central America up to now has
been wrong. As (Cuban President Fidel)
Castro said, we are condemned to repetition
because the U.S. doesn’t want to learn. As
long as they keep people in Central America
the way they are, we are bound to have
revolutions, we are bound to have unrest.

I guess the U.S. wants to keep it that way.

What are some of the ways the U.S.

government tries to destabilize the Nicara-
guan government?
__ Sending money to the contras is destabil-
izing. So is trying to destabilize the country
through an economic squeeze. The embargo
that has been imposed on us means that
instead of paying 20 cents for a bolt to repair
U.S.-made equipment in Nicaragua, we
have to pay $50 for it through Panama or
Guatemala. Remember, all our equipment
was U.S.-made. I didn’t see a tractor in
Nicaragua that was not U.S. or British
made until 1983, when tractors from the
Soviet Union and East Germany came.

Our tractors were no longer working for
lack of spare parts. It began to be difficult to

get spare parts even for our X-ray machines. .

So things have become very difficult. The
U.S. has done a very good job of destabiliz-
ing the country economically.

What kinds of things do you think the U.S.
might do to try to influence the outcome of the
February election?

They are trying to send money to the
other political parties, which is against the
law in any country in the world. You havea
law against receiving money from other
countries.

They’ve been trying to send money to the
Catholic church hierarchy up to $100,000 a
month.

We hope these parties get together with
one candidate, two candidates, as many

‘candidates as they want. They’re saying
Mrs. Chamorro (editor of La Prensa) is
going to be the candidate. Fine. We want
them to have a candidate, and we will have
our.candidate, and we will see who wins.

You’re confident of the outcome of the
election?

I am confident that the people will make
the difference. The people realize that if we
haven’t accomplished all we wanted to it is
because we have had a war imposed on us

for the-past eight years that has. drained
money and resources.

Imagine instead of spending up to 40 or
50 per cent of our budget to maintain the
army, we could use it to buy medicine.

What are some of the problems still
remaining from the effects of Hurricane Joan
last year?

Tremendous problems. As you know,
Bluefields was completely destroyed and
Rama, another big town right next to the
Rama River, was also destroyed. The river
rose 70 feet and flooded the whole area.

We don’t have the capacity to process all
the lumber in the fields that was uprooted
by the hurricane. With our present capacity
it would take us 50 years to process all that
lumber. Which means that two years from
now most of that lumber will be rotten.

Bluefields has been rebuilt through the
efforts of the people, mainly the Black pop-

supplies sent from the U.S. and elsewhere
have enabled some sawmills to in Bluefields
to process the lumber around there.

So we are reconstructing, but we have a
scarcity of food, especially now through
June, because we won’t be getting a new
crop until July. Last year we were supposed
to have a record crop of corn, enough not
only to use, but to export. We were going to
have enough rice for the country, but a
shortage of beans.

We need help, especially in the months to
come. Once it starts raining we start plant-
ing and in June we will have corn and fresh
vegetables.

This July 19 your country will be celebrat-
ing the 10th anniversary of the overthrow of
the Somoza regime. Even with the hardships
of the war, what do you think are some of the
most dramatic changes that have taken place?

Someone asked that question of (Nicara-
guan president) Daniel Ortega. He said,
“The greatest achievement is to have the
people participate in everything we do, to
have the people stand for what they think.”
That is something wonderful — we have

LEONOR HUPER

given back to the Nicaraguans their confi-
dence in themselves.

The literacy campaign continues, even if
some of those who learned to read and to
write did not continue their education.
Many are going on to finish or have finished
their high school education. That is a very
significant achievement. In Latin America
only the most fortunate children go to
school up to the second or third grade. So
for us to have a large number who go on to
the 8th, 9th and 10th grade is a tremendous
achievement.

We have achieved victories in controlling
some childhood diseases. The agrarian
reform has given the people rights to land
that they can work and live on, and sell to

_whomever they want.

The people have a right to do whatever
they want, to survive like human beings. I
don’t think they are willing to give up those
things. They have been given back some-
thing that they had lost, and you can not
take that away.

When we were writing the constitution,
there were about 170 open discussions
about each aspects of the document. I don’t
think there’s a constitution in the world that
has been so widely discussed. Women know
by heart what their rights are, and they
won’t go back to Somozism, no matter how
many mistakes we might have made in the
process.

What is the perspective in Nicaragua on
the debt problem as a regional problem in

. Latin America?

We are part of Central America. The
debt affects all of Central America. We
want to revive the Common Market of Cen-
tral America, which once functioned. We
need a Central American market, which
would really help Nicaragua. Trading keeps
us together, keeps us more united.

Since the U.S. is the master of the eco-
nomic world, it sets the prices and controls
the economies. So there has to be an under-
standing. What could be better for the U.S.
than to have a Latin America that is deve-
loped. What could be more profitable for
the United States than to have a captive
market in Latin America of 400 million
people with TV sets and all those things.
Instead of being able to buy, there is always
a deficit. We’re the only part of the world
with whom you don’t have a deficit.

Pacific Tribune, June 19, 1989 « 9