pe World Nicaragua still needs Canada BY DAN KEETON The Nicaraguan visitor observes that, before the election of the right-wing UNO alliance to government last February, Nicaragua used to be called a poor country. “Now it is a starving country,” he says. “The Nicaraguan people deeply regret the historical mistake of voting for UNO. They will never again make the mistake of voting for a capitalistic government,” the Rev. Carlos Escorcia states. Forceful words, particularly considering the source. Escorcia is a Protestant minister whose small church in a poor neighbour- hood of the capital, Managua, used to be connected with Jimmy Swaggart’s Assemb- ly of God. Escorcia has fallen from grace, to use the church parlance, but not because of personal disgrace such as befell Swaggart and other fundamentalist preachers with ultra-right agendas. Rather, it was Escorcia’s political and social sentiments: he is a supporter of the Sandinista-led revolution that toppled the corrupt U.S.-backed Somoza govern- ment more than 10 years ago. Escorcia may be cut off from the still- powerful Assembly, but his credentials are good around the world, as his schedule of visits to B.C. this month attest. He has been meeting with several church people in an effort to re-double intemational aid for Nicaragua’s people. The minister is on his second visit to B.C., and has just completed his 12th to the Unites States. During the years of the contra wars he had appeared before Congressional committees in Washington, D.C., to appeal — with some success — against U.S. fin- ancing of the counter-revolutionary gueril- las. “I came as a Nicaraguan Christian; as a witness, rather than a government repre- sentative,” the U.S.-educated Escorcia ex- plains in fluent English. Forhis pains, he was “de-frocked” by the Assembly in 1984. Escorcia continued as a non-denomina- tional minister in the Ecumenical Religious Community of Nicaragua, hosting a tele- vision program during the rule of the former Sandinista goverment for one year be- tween 1985 and 1986. But what really raised the Assembly’s ire was when, “I hosted in my little church in Managua (Sandinista) President Daniel Ortega,” he says. Escorcia was on his first visit to Canada last April when he received news the As- sembly was targeting him for a lawsuit. “Since the UNO victory, they figured they : could take me to court.” Back in Managua, the reverend struck a deal with Assembly officials to buy the church. In this he has the overwhelming support of his parishioners. “They supported me to the end. They said, ‘Don’t leave, keep our building,’” Escorcia relates. Inspiration to carry on comes from humble sources. Escorcia relates how a parishioner, “Mrs. Freddie,” came to see him the morning after the election when it was clear UNO had triumphed. The woman had lost a daughter fighting in the insurrec- tion that toppled the Somoza government in 1979, “With tears in her eyes she asked me, “What about the blood of our children? What about the sacrifices? What is going to hap- _ pen to our country?’ “If felt that we, the church, were provid- ing inspiration for the people through our Liberation Theology approach,” Escorcia says. One of his goals in travelling abroad is to raise funds “in order to keep the symbol of the church for the working-class people of Nicaragua.” The other is to “interpret the political realities of the country and to fight the mass media blockade imposed by the (U.S. Presi- dent George) Bush administration against Nicaragua. “And to promote the continuation of the solidarity that we badly need, now more than ever.” Under the Sandinistas, a Nicaraguan could have two meals a day. It’s down to one now, Escorcia says. He relates developments known to many intemational supporters of the Nicaraguan revolution: that the government of President Violeta Chamorro is implementing IMF measures that cut social services and cause widespread unemployment. Health clinics are closing; elementary schools and university budgets are cut, as are student subsidies and public transit funding. Cultural projects received an 80-per-cent budget cut, while 40 per cent of the public employees — mostly those with Sandinista sympathies — have been laid off, Escorcia notes. Infant mortality rates are approaching those of the Somoza days, and preventable diseases all but wiped out under Sandinista programs are returning. Hospitals in Man- agua, which has always enjoyed better - medical services than the countryside, are operating “only due to the good will of (unpaid) doctors and nurses.” There are no funds to buy medicine, he reports. Skyrocketing inflation has cut the spend- ing power of Nicaraguan workers, and now “a significant sector of the population is eating only tortillas and salt,” Escorcia says. “So we are facing all the cruelty and revenge of the new government, and the people of the U.S. and Canada must know about it.” Ideological assaults occur, like the “Somocista” mayor of Managua painting over revolutionary murals. But artists have organized, as have the campesino (peasant) organizations, “to resist the efforts of the goverment to dismantle the gains of the revolution,” Escorcia says. Yet itis becoming clear to Chamorro that the real threat to her government comes not from Sandinistas, “but from the U.S. Embas- sy,” he asserts. That’s because the United States has al- lied itself with the ultra-right faction of UNO — the National Opposition Union, an al- liance of several anti-Sandinista parties and groups — represented in the government by vice-president Virgilio Godoy. Godoy, says Escorcia, “represents the death squads, the U.S. Embassy, the contras, the former Na- tional Guard, the Roman Catholic cardinal 1672 E. 10th Ave. Vancouver, B.C. V5N 1X5 PHOTO — KIM BOLAN y VANCOUVER ...first co-ordinated ’s solidari ei Nicargua aid project, 1 981 that led to national Tools for Peace.campaign. Now, more than ever, Nicaraguans need international assis- tance, says Rev. Carlos Escorcia (inset). and the Superior Council of Private Enterprise.” Their agenda is the complete “de-confis- cation” of properties nationalized by the revolution, including those of the former dictator. The radical right faction “is a real danger to the democratic process in Nicaragua,” Escorcia warns. Chamorro’s faction is more moderate, and in fact is really led by her son-in-law: Antonio “Tono” La Cayo, a Harvard-edu- - cated liberal. Such stability as there is for her government is due to the Sandinistas, which still control the army and police, he says. “It would be easy for the Sandinistas to engineer a coup-d’etat. But the Sandinista party is committed to respect the law and constitution, and the Sandinista front will defend the constitutional government of Nicaragua.” The only way the Godoy faction can replace Chamorro is through U.S. military intervention. It can’t muster enough votes in the legislature, where the Sandinistas will side with the moderate UNO members, Es- corcia relates, “We are heading towards co-government — not legally, but in practical terms.” So Godoy’s group concentrates on pro- moting anarchy in the country, to aid the U.S. Embassy’s goal, which is, “not to revive the economy, not to promote democracy — it’s to erase the Sandinistas from the political picture and ensure that during the next election, the Sandinistas are not a political option for the Nicaraguan people.” One of the key national problems is the re-settlement of the contras. Escorcia says there are two categories of the former counter-revolutionary forces: the “fat cats” with mansions in Miami, and the peasants who have been abandoned by them now that their usefulness is ended. “They are starving: no money, no guns, no land. And the Sandinista peasant move- ment is sheltering them, because they iden- tify themselves with the demands of those contras. And so the FSLN endorses the demands of those contras who have been asking the government for tools and land.” The other contra sector has created death squads called the “Committees for National Salvation.” They maintain death lists of local pro-Sandinista leaders and engage in confrontations with police. The aim is to create conditions of chaos to legitimize a U.S.-backed coup, Escorcia says. Such challenges are met by the Sandinis- tas through party re-organization and defence of the weakest sectors of the popula- tion; for example, the widows of revolution- ary martyrs who have lost their pensions through government cutbacks. The other task of the Sandinistas “is to defend the constitution and rule of law,” Escorcia re- lates. “Mrs. Chamorro is caught in a cross-fire, with the U.S. Embassy and the extreme right pressuring her.” But the Sandinistas say it can be stopped, and offer co-operation, such as working out a mutually acceptable pro- gram on de-nationalization. Some proper- ties that might be considered “wrongfully” confiscated in the last 10 years might be restored to the former owners. But the gov- ernment has pledged that no holdings will be returned to the backers of Somoza. The left in N: icaragua “has won the war, we achieved peace, but we lost the govern- ment,” Escorcia acknowledges. The Sandinista electoral defeat has made some North Americans relax international | aid efforts. But while a right-wing admin- istration technically runs the country, the popular organizations still thrive. And those groups need international help, more than ever, Escorcia stresses. “People are not better off, so this hum- anitarian aid should increase, because the situation is worse.” ty”