NetNews Usenet Archive 1992 #20/NN_1992_20.iso/spool/misc/activism/progress/6541

Text File | 1992-09-14 | 7.5 KB | 144 lines

Newsgroups: misc.activism.progressive
Path: sparky!uunet!gumby!wupost!mont!pencil.cs.missouri.edu!rich
From: [e-mail] (Rich Winkel)
Subject: NICANET HOTLINE -- 09/14/92
Message-ID: <[e-mail]>
Followup-To: alt.activism.d
Originator: [e-mail]
Sender: [e-mail]
Nntp-Posting-Host: pencil.cs.missouri.edu
Organization: PACH
Date: Mon, 14 Sep 1992 22:54:23 GMT
Approved: [e-mail]
Lines: 129

/** reg.nicaragua: 166.0 **/
** Topic: NICANET HOTLINE -- 09/14/92 **
** Written 12:24 pm  Sep 14, 1992 by nicanet in cdp:reg.nicaragua **
             NICARAGUA NETWORK HOTLINE ** 202-544-9360

                         September 14, 1992

You have reached the Nicaragua Network Hotline recorded Monday,
September 14, 1992.   To reach our office, call: 202-544-9355.

Topics covered in this hotline include: State Department
delegation causes nationalistic backlash; Assessment of tidal
wave destruction continues to rise; new mechanisms created to
settle property disputes; Supreme Court strikes down
parliamentary maneuver, Atlantic Coast controversy continues; and
Senate may pass foreign aid bill this week.

While Nicaragua was trying to contend with the tidal wave
catastrophe, government officials had to take time away from
relief efforts to deal with a State Department mission lead by
Under-Secretary of State John Maisto.  Maisto came peddling
positions from Jesse Helm's vicious report which essentially
would require Nicaragua to give up its sovereignty in exchange
for a release of US aid.  One of the conditions Maisto and the
Helms Report would require would be the establishment of a
commission headed by Cardinal Obando y Bravo and including former
contras who would rule on property returns, appoint replacements
for Sandinistas in the army and police, courts, etc., and
essentially take over the powers of the Presidency.  Nicaraguans
were outraged by the State Department demands and the net effect
was to stimulate some patriotic fervor even among UNO members of
the National Assembly who owe their election to US support.
Chamorro refused to "set up an alien group that is not sworn in
under the national flag."  Armando Zambrana, National Assembly
delegate from the Christian Democratic Party called the US
proposal a "political miscalculation."  A deputy of Vice-
President Godoy's Independent Liberal Party said there was no
need for the commission which would amount to co-government. And,
Nicaraguan Socialist Party delegate Gustavo Tablada said, "it's
unacceptable that a junta of advisors should say 'yes' or 'no' to
proposals to resolve the country's problems."  He added that
democracy cannot flourish on the basis of an advisory junta, but
can only develop by respecting the results of the February 1990
elections. (Inter Press Service, 09/12/92)  Maisto also met with
FSLN National Directorate Member Henry Ruiz.  Ruiz told him that
any national plans must take the FSLN into consideration because
the FSLN is a political reality.  The FSLN is by far the largest
single political party in Nicaragua.  Ruiz told Maisto that the
FSLN has the will to resolve conflicts through dialogue and that
they want constructive relations with all nations.  Ruiz also
gave Maisto an open letter from Daniel Ortega to George Bush
which decried the efforts to promote "a witchhunt against those
citizens who uphold their adherence to Sandinista thinking."  The
Nicaragua Monitor will print an extensive rebuttal of the Helms
Report in its issue which will be out in a week or 10 days.  If
you do not have a subscription, send $1 for a complimentary copy.
If your committee needs the rebuttal quickly we can mail or fax

it to you. Call the Nicaragua Network at [phone].

The Civil Defense Department of the army released new figures on
tidal wave casualties.  The army lists known dead at 118, with 63
still missing, 89 injured, and 13,633 people left homeless.  In
addition, thousands of endangered sea turtle eggs and hatchlings
were destroyed by the wave and mangrove trees that are breeding
grounds for shrimp and other commercial fish.

In yet another effort to satisfy Helms and others demands on
return of property confiscated under the Sandinista Government,
President Chamorro announced the formation of the office of
Property Ombudsman.  Minister of the Presidency Antonio Lacayo
also announced the creation of an Office of Quantification of
Compensation which will also deal with claims for return of
property.  Lacayo made the announcement in Waslala at a ceremony
granting 342 property titles which will benefit 1400 families of
former contras, former members of the army, and repatriated
peasants.  The new policy will be to return confiscated
properties if possible and to compensate the previous owner if
the property is presently occupied.  The Chamorro Government
emphasized that those who were confiscated for having close ties
to Somoza and those who were already compensated by the
Sandinista Government, will not be eligible -- a reasonable
position that is sure to draw Jesse Helms ire.

The Sandinista Bench of the National Assembly and seven UNO
deputies won a Supreme Court challenge to a parliamentary
maneuver by Assembly President Alfredo Cesar.  The day after the
tidal wave Cesar refused an FSLN motion to adjourn the Assembly
so that Delegates could deal with the crisis.  When the
Sandinista Bench and some UNO delegates walked out, Cesar, who
was left without a quorum, filled two vacant positions in the
Assembly leadership that have been the source of much political
maneuvering.  The Supreme Court decision leaves the position
vacant.

In another case of political maneuvering, some South Atlantic
Autonomous Region councilmembers who support ousted Governor
Alvin Guthrie accused Sandinista member Ray Hooker of bribing
some UNO councilmembers to attend the meeting which ousted
Guthrie and elected Hooker. Councilmember Johnny Hodgson said the
UNO members wrote themselves checks with council money and later
said they got it from Hooker.  Hooker was elected with a clear
majority of FSLN and YATAMA members as well as three UNO
delegates.  YATAMA was an armed indiginous group which was allied
with the contras.  Its members support for Hooker demonstrates
both the widely held perception of Guthrie's corruption and the
extent to which reconciliation is happening on the Atlantic
Coast.

And finally, the Senate Foreign Relations Committee and possibly
the full Senate is likely to consider the 1993 foreign aid bill
this week.  Committee Chair Patrick Leahy has pledged to try to

report out a bill that does not include political conditions for
the release of aid to Nicaragua, but he has warned that there
will likely be motions on the Senate floor to attach conditions.
The bill includes $170 million for Nicaragua.  The House of
Representatives has already passed its foreign aid bill without
conditions.  We urge you to contact your Senators immediately
with the following demands: Pass the FY93 foreign aid bill
without conditioning the release of aid to Nicaragua; Do not
include aid to El Salvador's military in the bill; and, pressure
the State Department to release the $104 million in FY92 money it
is holding up at Jesse Helms' request.

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 **