Portland Observer, March 25, 1982 Page 5
Washington Hotline
?ou OVERPAY
by Congressman Ron Wyden
YOUR
Q. Saturday, the A dm inistration
backed down fro m earlier proposals
to weaken health and safety regula
tions f o r A m erica’s nursing homes.
H o w do y o u fe e l a b out this deci
sion?
A. I ’ m very pleased. As 1 outlined
in a press conference Friday, 1 had
been very concerned about what the
proposed changed could mean fo r
America’ s elderly.
A m ong the d ra ft proposals, fo r
exam ple, were those which w ould
have e lim in a te d the requirem ent
that homes receiving Medicare pay
ments provide staff training in areas
such as fire safety, the problems o f
the aged and ill, and c o n tro l o f
infectious diseases.
The d ra ft proposals also w ould
have:
•allowed homes to avoid comply
ing w ith federal hygiene and sani
tary standards unless there arc not
staste requirements at a ll—even if
those requirements are minimal;
•elim inated the requirement that
homes have a m edical d ire c to r on
s ts ff, and that personal physicians
visit patients at least once a month,
and;
•elim inated the requirement that
homes have activity centers.
I ’ m pleased the A d m in is tra tio n
now has switched gears and declared
that nursing home patients deserve
federal p ro te ctio n . But we should
not start celebrating quite yet.
For one thing, the Adm inistration
is not backing o f f o f its proposed
social service budget cuts, many o f
which would seriously impact nurs
ing home patients.
In addition, although the A dm in
istration has had a change o f heart
on the m ajority o f the proposed reg
ulatory changes, Health and Human
Services Secretary Richard Schweik-
er has said he still intends to pursue
changes in the nursing home inspec
tion program that would reduce the
num ber o f inspections fo r homes
that meet federal standards, while
increasing those fo r substandard
homes.
A lth o u g h I agree w ith Secretary
Schweiker that substandard homes
should be inspected more o fte n , I
seriously question the advisability o f
reducing the number o f inspections
fo r homes that meet the standards.
Regular inspections are designed not
only to ensure that homes meet ba
sic standards, but also to ensure that
they m a in ta in them. T o do o th e r
wise, w o u ld be to je o p a rd ize the
quality o f care fo r one o f the most
vulnerable groups in our society.
Q. L a st week, yo u and o th e r
m embers o f the House O versight
and Investigatio ns Subcom m ittee
fin a lly g o t to view the docum ents
that Secretary H a lt has been w ith
holding under an executive privilege
claim. A fte r seeing the documents,
W A S H IN G T O N , D . C . — T im
C oulter, a part-Indian lawyer with
the Indian Law Resource Center in
Washington, had never gotten a call
before fro m the State Department
offering support for his fight for In
dia n rig h ts . So he was surprised
when the Reagan A dm inistration's
Human Rights Bureau called him to
ask i f he would protest to Nicaragua
about th a t gove rn m e n t’ s c o n flic t
with the M iskito Indians.
The first call was over a year ago.
Several m ore have been received
since then, all about the Miskitos.
N e xt, a re tire d U .S. A rm y
co lo n e l, Sam D ickens, fro m the
conservative A m erican S ecurity
Council, issued a press release to say
the Council was sponsoring a visit to
W ashington by a M iskito Indian to
denounce what he called the Nicara
guan government’ s "p o licy o f geno
cide against the M iskitos.”
Secretary o f State Alexander Haig
and President Reagan soon joined
the chorus o f p u b lic protests over
N icaragua’ s "g e n o c id a l actions’ ’
against the Miskitos.
Such unanimous o ffic ia l concern
fo r Indian rights would have been—
in another era— the equivalent o f
turning the U.S. cavalry against the
settlers fo r encroaching on Indian
hunting ground.
N ic a ra g u a ’ s M is k ito s , about
10,000 o f whom live on the Atlantic
Coast pro vin ce o f Zelaya, are
locked in a struggle with the revolu
tionary Sandinist government over
land claims, preservatin o f their cul
ture and self-determination. The in
dignation from the Reagan A d m in
istration was occasioned by the San
d in is t a rm y ’ s forced relocation o f
10,000 M iskitos from their villages
along the Honduran border after a
series o f arm ed incu rsio n s in the
area by groups seeking the o v e r
throw of the Sandinistas.
T o the A m e rica n and in te rn a
tio n a l human rights organizations
that have been m onitoring the situa
tio n and su p p o rtin g the M is k ito s ,
the problem there is o f a piece w ith
that o f long-standing violations o f
hum an rig h ts in B ra zil. Paraguay
and Chile.
The difference— a perplexing d if
ference to Indian rights advocates—
is that N icaragua’ s M iskito s have
been caught in the swirl o f an inter
n a tio n a l g e o p o litic a l h u rrica n e ,
where side-taking becomes wrapped
up w ith ideology and the alignment
o f tra d itio n a l Indian allies and en
emies is skewed almost beyond rec
ognition.
T raditionally, Indian groups have
lo o ke d fo r su p p o rt fo r In d ia n
causes in Latin Am erica to the left
side o f the political spectrum, and in
b o th L a tin A m e rica n and N o rth
American matters they have viewed
the U.S. government as a m ajor ad
versary.
On the issue o f the M iskitos, left
ists have lined up behind the Sandin
istas, rightists and government o ffi
cials have rediscovered In d ia n
rights, and Indian rights groups are
divided—and bewildered.
The stakes in the M iskito Indian
a ffa ir are high. For the Reagan A d
m inistration, the issue is Nicaragua
and its leftist government, whose re
moval is a top foreign policy p rio r
ity. For the Sandinistas and the La
tin A m e rica le ftis t m ovem ents in
general, the handling o f the M iskito
c o n flic t could determ ine whether
other In d ia n pop u la tio n s jo in the
wave o f revolt in Central Am erica—
or re tu rn to the sidelines in a lo o f
distrust.
O f five U.S.-based Indian advo
cacy organizations questioned, two
criticized the Sandinist Indian policy
and condemned the relocation, two
defended the Sandinist action, and
one said it was reserving judgment.
A ll five, however, were critical o f
the role o f the Reagan A d m in istra
tion. Kenneth Taylor, Latin-A m eri
ca co-director o f S urvival In te rn a
tional, said his organization has de
clined to take a position on the relo
cation except to call fo r additional
fa c t-fin d in g and n e g o tia tio n . The
U .S . g o v e rn m e n t’ s expression o f
concern, he said, was "com pletelyh
unprecedented. When we have ar
gued (in international organizations
such as the U N. H um an Rights
C om m ission) the vio la tio n s o f hu
man rights o f Indians by ‘ frie n d ly
a u th o rita ria n regim es’ there has
never been any pro-Indian comment
fro m the State D e p a rtm e n t,”
Taylor said.
In eight years o f In d ia n rig h ts
w ork, he added, he had never even
heard o f the A m e rica n S ecurity
Council.
C o lte r, o f the In d ia n Law Re
source Center, has a M iskito Indian,
A rm stro n g W iggins, on his s ta ff.
W ith the Center’ s backing, Wiggins
presented a form al testimony March
2 to the In te r-A m e ric a n H um an
Rights Commission o f the O rgani
za tio n o f A m e rica n States, de
nouncing the N icaraguan govern
ment’ s action as a "gross violation”
o f Indian rights.
But Colter is uncom fortable with
the attention the problem is getting
fro m the Reagan A d m in is tra tio n .
The M iskitos’ conflict with the San
dinistas, he said, is being used by the
State Department fo r ulterior p o liti
cal motives which, he said, "debases
human rights and undermines In d i
an rights.”
W iggins said he agreed: " W e
know the U.S. government is not in
terested in Indian people, they are
only interested in overthrow ing the
Sandinist government.”
Two organizations, the American
Indian Movement and the Interna
tio n a l Indian Treaty C ouncil, sent
representatives to the Atlantic Coast
area last last year and called for In
dian support o f the Sandinist gov
ernment. The groups accept the N i
caraguan government’s explanation
that the relocation o f the M iskitos
was a m ilita ry necessity because o f
the threat o f anti-government rebel
attacks in the area. The Sandinistas
say up to 60 persons were killed in
such attacks last December.
In a letter to another Indian rights
group, Roxanne Dunbar, an Indian
a n th ro p o lo g is t w o rk in g w ith the
Treaty Council, called for an " a lli
ance” between the Sandinist revolu
tio n and the Black and In d ia n
m inorities o f Nicaragua’ s A tla n tic
Coast.
Dunbar was addressing the editor
o f Akwesasne Notes, a n a tio n a lly
distributed Am erican Indian news
paper, which had published a long
interview w ith Wiggins last year at
tacking the Sandinist Indian policy.
Akwesasne Notes has tried to walk a
thin editorial line critical o f Nicara
guan Indian policy but supportive
o f the Sandinist revolution as super
io r to rightist Latin Am erican gov
ernments.
N icaragua, noted e d ito r John
Mohawk in an editorial, is the first
test o f a le ftis t re volutiona ry gov
ernment in a country with a substan
tial Indian population. It is thus un
der close observation by Indian pop
ulations in other countries.
" I f the S andinist governm ent
continues w ith an In d ia n p o licy
which gives no more than lip service
to the rights o f M iskitos to a con
tin u e d c u ltu ra l existence, it w ill
build a wall between leftist national
lib e ra tio n struggles and Indians in
C entral Am erica which no amount
* /
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THIS TEAR?
do you fe e l the claim o f executive
p rivile g e was warranted? H o w do
you fe e l about the process in gener
al?
A. No, I do not believe the claim
o f executive p rivilege was w a r
ranted. A lth o u g h the docum ents
were relevant to the issue the sub
com m ittee is considering (Canadi-
an-U.S. reciprocity with regards to
m ineral rig h ts), they certainly did
not represent the kind o f national
security matters fo r which the claim
o f executive privilege is usually re
served.
I am most concerned that this
procedure not establish a precedent
fo r how such m atters w ill be
handled in the future. Congress and
the A d m in is tra tio n should— and
m ust— w o rk together in a more
open and o rd e rly fashion. We
should reserve C onstitutional con
frontations fo r matters o f Constitu
tional importance.
Indians look at Meskitos' fate
by John Dinges
Pacific News Service
INCOME TAXES
o f rh e to ric a bout re v o lu tio n can
penetrate,” said M ohaw k. " A n d
w ith o u t the support and in v o lv e
ment o f Indians, liberation struggles
in Latin America are an impossibil
ity .”
An early casualty o f the political
furor over the M iskito situation was
the possibility o f objective accounts
o f what a c tu a lly happened in the
m onth o f January along the Coco
River border, between Nicaragua
and Honduras.
The S andinist arm y adm itted
evacuating about 10,000 Indians
from more than 20 villages, trans
porting them to settlements 50 miles
from the border, then razing the vil
lages, burning the Indians’ thatch
houses and k illin g any rem aining
livestock.
That is as fa r as the undisputed
facts o f the case go. The Sandinistas
contend that no one was injured in
the relocation, although part o f the
operation included the arrest o f over
100 Miskitos suspected o f collabora
tion with Honduran-based rebels.
The Sandinist version is backed
up by John W ilson, the Bishop o f
the M oravian church to which the
m ajority o f M iskito Indians belong.
W ilson and a Baptist church w o rk
er, S ixto U llo a , the d ire c to r o f a
P rotestant social assistance o r
ga n iza tio n active in the A tla n tic
Coast area, came to W ashington
last week as part o f a Nicaraguan
delegation.
"W e are not Sandinistas,” U lloa
said. “ I f we had any reason to think
there had been killings or brutality,
we w ouldn’ t have lent our presence
to this trip .”
T o counter the massacre charges
leveled by Secretary Haig, the San
dinist government has form ally in
vite d the In te r-A m e ric a n H um an
Rights Commission to make an on-
sight, fact-finding trip. Commission
officials said the invitation would be
accepted.
) Pacific News Service, 1982
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