NetNews Usenet Archive 1992 #20/NN_1992_20.iso/spool/misc/activism/progress/6501

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Subject: Somoza's Kingdom (Addendum)
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Somoza's Kingdom (Addendum)

    In Honduras, plantation workers have been jailed by government
    troops for organizing unions. In Nicaragua, the new government is
    helping peasants and factory workers to set up their own
    organizations, with leaders elected by the members.
 - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
    In Guatemala an El Salvador, nuns and priests have been killed by
    the army after they helped villagers to organize farming
    cooperatives and reading classes. In Nicaragua, large number of
    clergy are working in government-sponsored health, literacy, and
    agricultural co-op programs.
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[text preceding "Alongside this impoverishment of the majority"
follows. Use GET command as per above for full Oxfam Report]

In July, 1979, the 45-year dictatorship of the Somoza family was
overthrown and a new era in Nicaraguan history began. In the first
year after the revolution, half a million adults learned to read.
After three years, Nicaraguans were eating 30 to 40 percent more rice,
beans, and corn than before. Today, infant mortality has been reduced
from 120 to 88 deaths per every 1000 babies under one year old.

These changes have come about in the face of tremendous obstacles.
When Somoza left the country, the majority of its people were living
close to the edge of survival. A major earth-quake and the
revolutionary war had devastated the cities. The U.S. imposed a
partial economic blockade and is now financing a "covert" armed
invasion. Despite all this, reconstruction continues. What makes it
possible is the direct involvement of the poor in the process of
making change. An Oxfam America Board member who recently toured the
country remarked, "We heard directly from the campesinos, over and
over again, that this is *their* revolution, not just a revolution of
their government."

                     ============================
                     The Threat of a Good Example
                     ============================

During the Somoza era in Nicaragua, "government" meant the system used
by the wealthy to extend their power and suppress dissent. This is
still what government means in most other countries of central
America.

In Honduras, plantation workers have been jailed by government troops
for organizing unions. In Nicaragua, the new government is helping
peasants and factory workers to set up their own organizations, with
leaders elected by the members. In Guatemala an El Salvador, nuns and
priests have been killed by the army after they helped villagers to
organize farming cooperatives and reading classes. In Nicaragua, large
number of clergy are working in government-sponsored health, literacy,
and agricultural co-op programs.

In the view of the U.S. government, the Nicaraguan revolution poses a
threat to its neighbors. But what is this threat? It can only be, in
the phrase of Nicaraguan Interior Minister Toma's Borge, "the threat of
a good example." Nicaragua shows that genuine social reform is
possible in Central America, even in a small country with meager
resources. And, because the new Nicaragua has refused to allow its
domestic or international policies to be dictated by Washington, it
shows that revolution can be the basis for political independence.
What U.S. policy makers apparently fear is that the poor of Honduras,
Guatemala, and El Salvador will be inspired and made bold by
Nicaragua's new model of development. The result could be a Central
America that is no longer economically and politically subordinate to
the U.S.

                       Roots of the Revolution
                       =======================

The poverty and repression which led to the revolution have deep roots
in Nicaraguan history. The country was colonized by Spain in the 16th
century and remained under the Spanish flag until 1821. During the
early years of colonial rule, most of the native Indians were killed
in the wars of conquest or by disease, or were sent out of the country
as slaves. In the 19th century, cattle ranches owned by the wealthier
colonists coexisted with small farms where peasant farmers, the
campesinos, grew their own food. While these small farmers were far
from well off, they did have a degree of self-sufficiency. But this
did not last.

   - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
 [ Photo: "Not  only the  very poor  support the revolution.  Noel
 Velazquez, shown here with his family, is a bank employee and head
 of the  Sandinista  Defense  Committee in his    neighborhood  in
 Esteli'. ``My family, even my children, are ready to fight for
 this revolution,'' he says. ``For centuries we liveed under the
 boot. Now for the first time, we control our own history.'' ]
   - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -

During the world coffee boom of the 1880's, the Nicaraguan economic
elite used a combination of self-serving legislation and violence to
force peasants off the most fertile land.  Without enough land to
support their families, the displaced campesinos had no alternative
but to work for below-subsistence wages on the new coffee plantations.
The condition of the rural population grew worse during the twentieth
century, as increasing amounts of land were taken over for the
production of export crops: cotton, sugar, beef, and bananas as well
as coffee. By the eve of the revolution, 60% of the people in the
countryside had no land at all. More than half the country's land was
in the hands of 1% of the landowners. The majority of the population
lived in dire poverty. 50% of children over five suffered from
malnutrition. 46% died before the age of four.

Alongside this impoverishment of the majority, the other theme
[...]
[see previous post and/or Oxfam Report]


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   -->  [Send the 1-line message GET OXFAM84 NICARAG ACTIV-L to  ]
        [[e-mail] for a copy of the complete file  ]
   -->  [Send GET ACTIV-L ARCHIVE ACTIV-L to above address for a ]
        [listing with brief descriptions of other files available]
 - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -



            =============================================
            T h e   " N i c a r a g u a   L i b r a r y "
            =============================================

*
* =========
* Nicaragua
* =========
*
  WHO-WERE CONTRAS    Contras' origins; make-up; practices - documented
  FSLN     H-RIGHTS  Documented HRs comparison w/Somoza,Guat,ES,others
  FSLN     MISKITOS  Sandinista treatment of Miskitos;Charges & Realit
  FSLN     NICAJEWS  Debunks charges of Sandinista 'Anti-Semitism'
*
  OXFAM84  NICARAG   Oxfam America's 1984 report on Nicaragua, in full
  FSLN     ACHIEVE   Documented: achievements of the Nica. revolution
*
  NICA-84  ELECTION  Documented: Fair under Sandinistas; US subversion
  FAIRNESS NICA-USA  Flwup:`Is Nicaragua More Democratic than the US?'
  NICRAGUA ELECTION  Study in US subversion of '90 Nicaraguan election

NOTE:

======================================
To get a file named FILE NAME from the
archiver (files are two words  separa-
ted by a space), send the 1-line message

GET FILE NAME ACTIV-L

to: [e-mail]
[or: [e-mail]]
======================================

Use GET with the file ACTIV-L ARCHIVE for a listing of
files available with the GET command.