NetNews Usenet Archive 1992 #20/NN_1992_20.iso/spool/misc/activism/progress/6404

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From: [e-mail] (Rich Winkel)
Subject: NICANET HOTLINE -- 09/08/92
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/** reg.nicaragua: 148.0 **/
** Topic: NICANET HOTLINE -- 09/08/92 **
** Written 11:28 am  Sep  8, 1992 by nicanet in cdp:reg.nicaragua **
            NICARAGUA NETWORK HOTLINE ** 202-544-9360

                         September 8, 1992

You have reached the Nicaragua Network Hotline recorded Tuesday,
September 8, 1992.   To reach our office, call: 202-544-9355.

Topics covered in this hotline include: Tidal wave casualties
continue to rise; State Department continues to hold up aid; and,
Police Chief and 11 commanders sacked in response to US pressure.

Casualties continue to rise from a tidal waved caused by an
undersea earthquake registering over 7.2 on the richter scale
which struck the Pacific Coast of Nicaragua on September 1.  Over
100 people are confirmed dead, 700 missing, 300 injured, and
16,000 made homeless.  Hundreds of people who rely on fishing for
their livelihood saw their boats destroyed and nets lost, and
several whole villages were washed away.  Fifty percent of the
victims were children aged 40 days to 13 years because they were
already in bed when the wave struck. The earthquake's epicenter
was located 75 miles Southwest of Managua.  The resulting tidal
wave affected every community from the Costa Rican border to the
Port of Corinto. After initially offering only $25,000 in
emergency assistance, the US has authorized Nicaragua to spend $5
million which had been appropriated for job creation.  This was
not part of the $104 million in aid that continues to be held up.
If you wish to contribute to relief measures, send your tax-
deductible contribution to the Nicaragua Network Education Fund
at 1247 E St., SE, Washington, DC  20003. Designate your
contribution for tidal wave relief. We will forward your donation
to the Augusto C. Sandino Foundation (FACS). which already has
programs on the ground bringing relief to the victims of
Nicaragua's latest disaster. Quest for Peace continues to ship
containers to Nicaragua, and Nicaragua Medical Aid is collecting
materials on the West Coast.  There are many alternatives being
offered as channels for aid.  We strongly recommend that US
solidarity activists use solidarity channels to insure that the
aid reaches those most in need.

The Nicaraguan government was forced to divert its attention from
the urgent needs of the tidal wave victims by the arrival of an
official delegation from the US State Department sent to force
more concessions from Chamorro as a condition for the release of
US aid.  The State Department is letting Sen. Jesse Helms call
the shots on Nicaragua aid due to their fear that Helms will hold
up ambassadorial nominations to other countries.  Since Helms
routinely does this anyway, this pandering to Helms' bigotry can
be seen as a Bush attempt to help his electoral campaign with
those on the right who think Oliver North is a hero and distrust
Bush's conservative credentials.  The supposed reason for the
State Department delegation was to investigate charges made in a
report written for the Senate Foreign Relations Committee by
Helms staffer Deborah DeMoss.  State Department Spokesman Richard
Boucher said, "we're taking the issues in this report very

seriously."  Boucher said the mission will investigate charges
that the Nicaraguan government "is controlled by terrorists."
While there are an increasing number of former US backed contra
terrorists being appointed to positions of power, we suspect that
Boucher was referring to Sandinistas as being terrorists in yet
another effort to rewrite history.  The Helms report is so full
of outright lies and unsupported allegations that it is difficult
to debunk in a short hotline.  For instance, it claims that
Nicaragua has the largest army in Central America.  The truth is
that the Nicaraguan army, with 18,300 soldiers is the smallest.
Honduras has 28,000 in its army, El Salvador 64,000, Guatemala
56,000, and Costa Rica's security forces which are an army in all
but name number 26,500.  The Helms report puts seven conditions
on the release of US aid.  The most important are: 1)
substitution of the top command of the police and army by former
contras; 2) return of all confiscated properties to their former
US and Nicaraguan owners, and 3) naming new judges and a "total
reform" of the judicial system.  The report also criticizes
Chamorro for not making major changes in the constitution.
Additionally, the Helms report says that no ministry or
governmental body should have more than 40.8% Sandinistas, the
percentage the FSLN received in the 1990 election.  Most
ministries have far fewer Sandinistas than that and we wonder if
Helms would advocate applying the same political test to the US
civil service, army, and judiciary.  Minister of the Presidency
Antonio Lacayo in a news conference said about the report, "I
consider it to be full of lies."  He then proceeded to list three
or four specific untruths and said, "And that's just on page
one."  We hope to get a copy of the Helms report this week and
will publish a detailed rebuttal.

Finally, in an effort to gain release of the US aid, Chamorro
last week sacked National Police Chief Rene Vivas and 11 top
commanders of the police.  $100 million of the $104 million of
the held up aid is for international debt payments.  If it is not
released by the end of this month, Nicaragua will fail to meet
conditions placed by the IMF for additional loans, and the
minimal economic progress Chamorro has made at the cost of so
much suffering by the poor majority will come crashing down.
Should all hope of economic improvement disappear, it is feared
in many quarters that this will ignite a social explosion which
will potentially result in direct armed US intervention.
Chamorro replaced Vivas with Fernando Caldera, who is also a
Sandinista and has been police commander of the Southeastern
region of the country.  Chamorro also created a new position of
Vice Minister of Government for Citizen Security.  The Police
Chief will report to this Vice Minister instead of the Minister
of Government as was formerly the case.  Chamorro appointed a
conservative rancher Ronald Aviles to the post.  Aviles was an
admitted collaborator with the contras and was arrested several
times by Caldera during the US-backed contra war.  This
combination of personalities is either a sign of continuing
reconciliation, or a recipe for disaster.  Daniel Ortega warned
the Chamorro government not to give in too far to US demands.  He

has asked former US President Jimmy Carter, the OAS Secretary
General, and Elliot Richardson to intercede in the US to end the
pressures and avoid a profound political crisis.  Ortega warned
that if the government gives in, the FSLN will have to rethink
its decisions, based on reality, and not its support for the
government. Barricada reported Ortega as saying that in difficult
situations, governments have had to step back to make way for
others who know how to take the helm, adding that the FSLN "would
be an accomplice" if it continues to give the Chamorro government
the support it has provided up to now.  A very serious crisis is
brewing in Nicaragua as a result of continued, heavy-handed
efforts by the Bush Administration to dictate Nicaragua's
internal policies. We urge you to call your Senators and
Congressperson today to demand that the held up $104 in US aid be
released immediately. Particularly while the country is trying to
respond to the needs of the tidal wave victims, now is not the
time for the State Department and Jesse Helms to be playing
politics with the aid money.

To become a supporter and receive our publications and mailings,
please contact us.  The Nicaragua Network's address is: 1247 E
St., SE, Washington, DC  20003; our phone: [phone].
** End of text from cdp:reg.nicaragua **