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FEATURES

By JIM STANFORD

MANAGUA — Many Americans have been horrified to learn of the corrupt and deceptive escapades of Rich- ard Secord, Bud McFarlane, and ‘‘Rambo’’ Oliver North, which are being exposed live on day-time televi- Sion from the Contragate hearings in Washington. Their various James Bond-like schemes to channel funds and arms to the contras would be laughable for their inep- | titude, were it not for their viciously criminal motive: to

€stroy the Nicaraguan revolution, using terrorism, €conomic sabotage, and selective assassination.

What does not receive so much North American Media attention, unfortunately, are the actual conse- quences of this dirty U.S. war against Nicaragua: over 3,000 killed by the contras during the 6-year war; close to

3-billion in economic damage caused by the fighting; and a defense effort that gobbles up an estimated 50 per cent of Nicaragua’s badly-needed GNP, creating a dif- ficult economic crisis here.

But despite these hardships caused by the contra war, the latest developments have reinforced the conclusion In Nicaragua that the contras have been dealt a strategic defeat, both politically and militarily.

On the military front, the contras’ much vaunted

Spring offensive’’ has fizzled out. Despite the receipt of the latest $100-million official American aid package, Contra forces still cannot lay claim to a single acre of

Icaraguan territory. Some 365 contras were killed in Combat in April alone, and the six-month rainy season is Now beginning, which will further reduce contra military effectiveness.

Sandinista military officials estimate that there are approximately 5,000 contras now operating within Nica- Tagua, supplied by CIA-organized air-drops from E] Sal- | Vador and Honduras. But these contra forces are kept on the run by special irregular Nicaraguan army battalions, and have no base of support among the Nicaraguan Population. As a result, contra military actions are limit- ed to attacks on isolated villages, ambushes of civilian transport vehicles, assassinations of leading pro- Sandinista personalities in the outlying regions, and Other forms of terrorism.

American Murdered

3 One recent attack claimed the life of an American citizen, 26-year-old Benjamin Linder of Seattle, who

Internationalists at work in Nicaragua. Providing essential assistance to '3 the revolution.

F

Standing up to the U.S.’s dirty war

was an electrician doing volunteer work on a small hydro-electric project in San Juan de Bocay, near the Honduran border. Linder had received previous death threats from the contras because of his work, which was helping to bring electricity to isolated mountain villages, and thereby consolidating support for the Sandinista revolution among the campesino population.

Linder was assassinated along with two Nicaraguan colleagues on April 27 while working at a hydro site. His body was later examined in Nicaragua by his father —a pathologist with 30 years of experience. This autopsy revealed evidence of torture and a close-range bullet wound to the head, proving that Linder was deliberately murdered, and was not ‘“‘caught in the crossfire’.

Linder’s murder by U.S.-backed terrorists makes a farce of the Reagan government’s campaign against ‘international terrorism’’. U.S. Vice-President George Bush’s response to Linder’s death was to say that Linder would still be alive ‘‘if he had done his volunteer work in a more democratic country’’. This is equivalent to de- claring open season on anyone who actively assists the Sandinista cause, regardless of their nationality. At least nine other volunteer workers from various West Euro- pean countries have also been killed by the contras, together with numerous teachers, medical specialists, and technicians from Cuba.

U.S. Maneuvers

As destructive and demoralizing as this contra terror- ism is, however, it is now clear that the U.S. attempt to use the contras to overthrow the Nicaraguan government has been defeated. This is cause for celebration in Nica- ragua, but also for concern, for it increases the risk of direct U.S. intervention in the war, which is the only option left to Reagan in his unholy campaign against the FSLN government.

Ina thinly-disguised dress rehearsal for the invasion of Nicaragua, a record 50,000 U.S. troops participated ear- lier this month in the ‘‘Solid Shield’’ military maneuvers, in which neighboring Honduras was ‘‘invaded”’ by U.S. forces landing by sea and by air. Sandinista leaders believe that the U.S. government is now looking for some kind of a border incident to serve as a pretext for invasion; failing that, they suspect that U.S. involve- ment could start with ‘‘surgical”’ air-strikes in support of the contras, broadening to a larger-scale invasion later.

Thus the importance of the political battle — to stop escalating U.S. intervention — is increased, and here, too, the contras are suffering setbacks. The highest pro- file, of course, is generated by the Contragate hearings, which are exposing one lie and cover-up after another, the result of Reagan’s insistence to support the contras despite U.S. legislation. Polls show that at least 80 per cent of American citizens oppose military aid to the contras, and an even higher proportion is against direct U.S. intervention. Despite this, however, Democratic Party opposition to Reagan’s plans is so weak that the next $105-million aid installment for the contras is still given considerable chance of being approved by Con- gress later this summer.

The credibility of the contras has been further under- mined by internal feuding among the contra leaders, and by the lack of any visible political support within Nica- ragua. No Nicaraguan opposition party — even the far- right parties, that at U.S. bidding boycotted the 1984 election — has been able to identify itself with the con-

aes A Gas 3 Benjamin Linder working on a hydroelectric project in Nicaragua shortly before his murder by contra forces.

members that make up the bulk of the contra forces. The recent process which resulted in a new Nicaraguan con- stitution this January served to draw further segments of Nicaraguan society into the revolutionary process, and shored up opposition to the U.S. campaign. Without an ‘internal front’’, the credibility of the contra movement as a ‘‘legitimate’’ opposition force is non-existent.

Tensions are naturally created within Nicaragua by the serious economic difficulties accompanying the war effort. Inflation runs at something close to 1000% per year, and there are shortages of many goods. But a tighter distribution system and a range of development projects included in the 1987 economic plan should guarantee basic foodstuffs and other staples for all Nica- raguans, and it is clear that most people here blame the U.S. war — not the FSLN government — for their economic hardship.

Barriers to Peace

Internationally, the American government is as isolated as ever in its efforts to destroy the new Nicaragua. New governments in Guatemala and Costa Rica, anxious to

’ exert a nominal degree of independence from their U.S.

sponsors, are increasingly reluctant to offer diplomatic support for the more extreme U.S. positions. A growing nationalist movement in Honduras, rejecting the com- plete American military domination of that country, is making life awkward for the contras based across Nica- ragua’s northern border. And the Contadora nations, whose efforts have had the full support of Nicaragua, are increasingly specific in their recognition of U.S. policy as the major barrier to peace in the Central American region.

Nicaragua was host in early May to a world congress of the Inter-Parliamentary Union, attended by several hun- dred parliamentarians from some 120 countries. This as- sembly was a timely indicator of the degree of inter- national solidarity that the Nicaraguan revolution has generated. Motions condemning the illegal U.S. trade boycott of Nicaragua and the assassination of Linders

- were passed by overwhelming margins, with the support

even of staunch U.S. allies such as the U.K. and West Germany.

The danger, of course, is that Reagan has never let public opinion — whether in the United States or in the world at large — inhibit his military adventures. The Contragate scandal has shown that Reagan doesn’t let U.S. law get in his way, either. Friends of Nicaragua will have to step up their efforts in coming months to prevent further funding for the contras and direct U.S. military intervention, and thereby ensure that the current defeat of the contras is their final defeat.

— ay aecNicA,_-#7aS, SO Strong is popular hatred of the ex-National Guard

SAN FRANCISCO (PDW) — “I accuse President Ronald Reagan of being the murderer of Ben Linder,” Dina Redman, Linder’s close friend in Nicara- gua, declared to 1,000 mourners crowded in the Hebst Theatre here May 4.

Just a week after the 27-year-old engi- neer and his two Nicaraguan co-workers, Sergio Hernandez and Paulo Rosales, were killed while working on a hydroe-

leona, more than 1,000 people gathered in front of the Federal Building for a candlelight vigil and to denounce the Reagan administration for its role in the

murders.

lectric project in the village of Cama- .

In Nicaragua, military doctor Fran- cisco Balladares announced that Lind- er’s wounds indicated that he was

tortured and shot at close range by con-

tras on April 28. The administration has claimed Linder was killed in crossfire between the contras and Nicaraguan mil- itia.

Dr. Balladares, who examined Linder at the German Pomares Military Hospi- tal in Jinotega, Nicaragua, said May 6 that Linder had bullet wounds in the backs of his legs, pin-like holes in his face and a bullet wound on the right side of his head.

An autopsy carried out by Dr. Bayardo

Gonzalez Vargas revealed that Linder was first immobilized by wounds to his legs and then killed by a shot to the head.

In San Francisco, Redman told mourners that Linder “didn’t expect any notice or praise, just joy at putting his skill to something needed.” The night the lights went on for the first time in the small town of El Cua he had electrified, she said he told her “how lucky we were to be in at the beginning of the revolution and to have a part in it.”

The Nicaraguan government has awarded Linder the highest honor ever given to an internationalist, the Order of Commandante Jose Benito Escobar.

PACIFIC TRIBUNE, MAY 27, 1987 e 5