AB hi a encanta _ememenmennens

SWAPO hits U.S. policy

NEW YORK — Sam Nujoma, president of the South West Africa People’s Organization (SWAPO) of Namibia, said that the Reagan administration and U.S. cor- porations are ‘‘the main obstacles in the way of ensuring independence of _ Namibia.”

He told the UN Security Council June 11 that the Reagan administra- tion is giving full backing to the apartheid regime in South Africa, which has Namibia under illegal mili- tary occupation. Namibia is a UN trust territory, and the UN recog- nizes SWAPO as the sole legitimate spokesman for the Namibian people. _ “The present U.S. administration | IS responsible for the Namibian _ People’s continuing sufferings and | hardships,’’ Nujoma said. ‘‘Since _ the Reagan administration took of- fice, it has kept maneuvering with a view to ‘searching for alternatives’ to UN Security Council resolution 435, which is the only basis for peaceful settlement for the Nami- bian problem.’’ Resolution 435 calls for South African withdrawal, UN- Supervised elections and inde- pendence.

ow: ae SWAPO militant

Tom Morris is on vacation. In-

By ALEX McLENNAN

The vote in the U.S. House of Rep- resentatives to discontinue the ban on U.S. military aid to the contras, the CIA-backed counterrevolutionaries who are fighting to overthrow the legally elected government of Nicaragua, has been hailed as a “‘stunning victory’’ for Ronald Reagan. The House also voted $27-million for so-called ‘“‘humanitarian aid’’ for the contras.

It was reported that the vote was a reaction to President Ortega’s recent visit to the Soviet Union, seeking aid. Is one to assume that a visit by the head of any sovereign state to a socialist country is sufficient cause for the United States to adopt an attitude of hostility?

The truth is that the Nicaraguan army already had the contras on the run, and the support both in the House and the Senate of Reagan’s war against the Nica-

’ ‘Humanitarian aid’ another lie

- raguan people can be seen as an act of

desperation in defence of a lost cause. It was Reagan’s embargo and other sanc- tions which forced Daniel Ortega to seek Soviet and other aid.

There is no American reference to Ortega’s having visited close allies of the U.S. such as Spain, France, Italy and the Scandinavian countries. Nor is it stated that his vice-president Sergio Ramirez visited West Germany, The’ Nether- lands, Belgium and other western Euro- pean countries. These countries treated the Nicaraguan leaders with friendship and consideration and concluded eco- nomic cooperation agreements worth $392-million.

This is humane assistance to a sovereign state which is under siege in an undeclared war by gangs of professional assassins previously used by Somoza in terror campaigns against the people, be-

These children were murdered as they were eating breakfast by contras who attacked a cooperative in the town of San Gregorio with heavy mortars in October 1984.

As a result of this recent about face, the U.S. Government is now in a position to channel government funds through legal channels to continue its policy of military action and economic destabilization to overthrow the Nicaraguan government.

It should be noted that while Republi- cans were attempting to justify the con- tras’ war against Nicaragua, ‘‘in defence of democracy and peace in Central America’, the Government of moral principles or for humanitarian rea- Nicaragua was repeating its offer of a sons, but because their class interests _ cease fire. Reagan does not want a politi-

White House, for which the Reagan administration is well known. According to the Globe and Mail of June 13, this action represents a reversal of policy by the House of Representatives, and is an indication that the escalation of Reagan’s rhetoric and the war of nerves against the people of Nicaragua is having an effect within the United States. What utter nonsense! Those who voted to support the contra butchers did not act out of high

fore h deposed by the.democratic... dictated the political expediency of fall- _ cal solution. in .Nic Ww a et IR SORA ith Resgaae policy 1 Seren. <2 saesolit fon Ap -NicArpgt io Ae. wants: 2 ;

movement.

The U.S. claims that the funds will be used to give the contras ‘“‘humanitarian aid’’ for food, clothing and medicines, but not for materials which can be used

ing in line wi

Six weeks ago, the House of Rep- resentatives turned down Reagan’s re- quest for aid for the counter-revolution. They also passed an amendment against

cracy and the re-installation of a Somoza-type government which would again suppress the people and carry out the neo-colonial policies of U.S. im-

ternational Focus will be re- Sumed next issue.

to inflict serious bodily harm or death. & This is typical of the lies originating in the

Aid to contras labelled |

In a decision which Pastor Valle-Garay, consul general of Icaragua in Toronto told the Tribune was ‘‘absolutely illegal, absolutely immoral, and absolutely criminal’’, the U.S. House

of Representatives last week voted to give $27-million to Nica-

Tagua’s terrorist contras for what the House called non-military aid’.

Valle-Garay said that no matter what aid the contras get from the U.S., they will ‘‘not make a dent’’ in Nicaragua because they lack popular support. ‘‘The people of Nicaragua will Never accept them as leaders or a government; they are noth- Ing but a band of criminals, whether Reagan calls them ‘his

Tothers’ or not. pe ‘What we see in that aid approved for the contras’’, the

Consul continued, ‘‘is in effect carte blanche given to Ronald

“sagan for the direct commitment of American troops for an 'MVasion of Nicaragua. Reagan will feel now that he has official €ndorsement from Congress for sending troops which he and €cretary of State Shultz have been discussing since the aid Was approved. The commitment of U.S. troops = precisely is Cause the contras are incapable of winning any kind of war — More possible now than ever. :

What this aid, together with the economic embargo,

amounts to, is military and economic blackmail.”’ © reason why the House changed its mind and voted for

Money to the contras, Valle-Garay said, is that Reagan is able —

© Capitalize on American feeling that anybody who votes

against the president is ‘‘un-American’’. He called U.S. con-

Ressmen ““cowards’’, because they are ‘‘prepared to starve Nraguans through the embargo; they are prepared to kill a ans, rather than have the nerve, the guts, the integ- ties to tell the president of the United States: ‘no, you are a

‘Immoral and criminal decision’

Turning to the recent trip by Canadian External Relations Minister Monique Vezina to Nicaragua, following which she announced an $11.1-million aid grant to that country, Valle- Garay congratulated the Canadian Government for its ‘“‘very courageous stand, on its own’’ regarding Nicaragua.

‘*We are encouraged not just because it puts Canada and the United States on different political wavelengths; we are en- couraged because Canada has taken the time and the trouble to see for itself what is going on in our country, which is what all the U.S.A.’s west European allies have done.

“‘We are encouraged because Canada has taken an inde- pendent step based on sound political and economic judgment; both the government and the Canadian people see that all Nicaragua wants to do is establish its sovereignty and self- determination,” he said.

Valle-Garay said that Nicaragua had dealt with Canadian business people for the past six years, ‘‘and they have treated. us with respect and fairness. If Canadian business, which used to write off Central America to the Americans, takes up the slack and continues the aggressive trade policies it has now started, $200-million in trade could be picked up.”’

It would benefit Nicaragua, the Consul said, because his country would not have to go all the distance to Europe to buy things, especially agricultural technology, which it “‘could buy

right here in Canada’’. :

Valle-Garay said the United States ‘has done us a favor, because it has broken, through the embargo, once and forever,

the trade monopoly it held on Nicaragua, and has given us an -

opportunity to finally implement something for which we have

been working for the past six years: to diversify our trade’’.

— MS.

the use of U.S. funds for military or para-military operations in Nicaragua.

perialism. He tries to justify U.S. poli- cies in Latin America by attacking Cuba and the Soviet Union. He has the effron- tery to refer to the contra butchers as ‘freedom fighters’’; comparing them to the Fathers of the American Revolution. In this, Reagan not only slanders the memory of Franklin, Paine, Henry and Jefferson, but displays a pitiful ignorance of the history of his own country. While more than half of the American people oppose aid to the contras, Reagan proposes to use their taxes to finance these professional killers in their cam- paign of murder and terror against the Nicaraguan people. The contras continue to destroy hospitals, schools, and kindergartens, burn farms and crops. Reagan has stated that his administra- tion is determined to pursue political and not military solutions in Central Ameri- ca, that his policy for Nicaragua ‘‘is the same for El Salvador and all of Central America,”’ that he supports the demo- cratic centre against the extremes of both the right and left, and wishes to secure democracy and peace through national dialogue and regional negotiations. How does one reconcile this with his declaration of six weeks ago, invoking the trade embargo against Nicaragua which states: “‘I, Ronald Reagan, Presi- dent of the United States of America, find that the policies and actions of the Government of Nicaragua constitute an unusual and extraordinary threat to the national security and foreign policy of the United States and hereby declare a national emergency to deal with that threat.”’ Are these the words of a man of peace? Let us hope that the American people will learn the difference in time to restore the honor of their country, and bring peace to Nicaragua and to all of Latin America.

PACIFIC TRIBUNE, JUNE 26,1985¢9