From: rich@pencil.cs.missouri.edu (Rich Winkel)
Subject: NICANET HOTLINE -- 09/08/92
Followup-To: alt.activism.d
Originator: rich@pencil.cs.missouri.edu
Organization: PACH
Date: Wed, 9 Sep 1992 00:47:02 GMT

/** 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: 202-544-9355.
** End of text from cdp:reg.nicaragua **

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