Page 2 Portland Observer, October 26, 1963
Labor's concerns cross borders
by Robert Lothian
Contrary to Reagan adminutra-
tion claims that its Central A m eri
can policy is bringing democracy
and human rights to that war-torn
area, a delegation o f Central A m eri
can trade unionists says the repres
sion continues, and is especially vi
cious against labor activists.
According
to
Miguel
Angel
Albizures, general secretary o f G ua
temala's largest labor organization,
the National Committee for Trade
Union Unity, over 100 labor leaders
have been assassinated in his coun
try in the last three years, and hun
dreds o f rank and file members. A l
so, he said, 47 nuns have been m ur
dered, 17 priests and 300 teachers
during the same period. The words
"sindicato" (union), and "huelga"
(strike), are outlawed, according to
Albizures.
"W h en you live in a country like
Guatemala, there is no choice but to
struggle," he told an audience of
100 gathered at the Retail Clerk's
H all Sunday night.
In El Salvador's civil war, accord
ing to M arta Alicia Rivera, a leader
of A N D E S , the El Salvadoran
teacher’s union, 309 teacher*, have
been assasinated, 4,300 teachers
have become internal refugees, and
4,000 are in exile in other Central
American countries and the U .S. In
addition, she said, U.S.-m ade heli
copters supplied to the El Salvador
an military have bombed and de
stroyed over 1,000 schools. Educat
ing children under such conditions is
nearly impossible, she said.
After 30 years o f military dicta
torships, repression, assassinations
and massacres, said Rivers, "T he
people have said enough— the peo
ple are organizing." But the re
sponse o f the government, she said,
s the machine gun. " N o one can
wall me a liar when I speak out about
the barbarian repression of our peo
ple.”
In M ay o f 1979, Rivera herself
was kidnapped, severely tortured
and left for dead by the El Salvador
an National Guard. In 1980, while
participating in a peaceful protest
march, she received a bullet wound
to the leg when police Tired into the
crowd. She now lives in the U.S.
and has applied for asylum.
Sebastian Castro, intei national
representative o f the Sandinista
W orker’s Confederation, painted
an entirely different picture when he
spoke o f life in liberated Nicaragua.
W ith the revolution, he said, "our
people have found freedom for the
first time in our history. Religion is
protected, and all the political par
ties can organize themselves freely.”
Conditions have improved im
mensely for Nicaraguan workers,
said Castro. They can now organize
themselves freely without fear o f re
pression. They receive full wages
when sick, and companies subsidize
half the cost o f workers* lunches.
Throughout the country, he said,
literacy campaigns, health cam
paigns and reconstruction projects
uan »
Calling for a halt to the deploy
ment o f Cruise and Pershing I I mis
siles,
several
thousand
people
■arched through Portland streets
ist Saturday before assembling for
he area's largest political rally in
years. The Jazzmin Marching Band
led the way.
The "Euromissile Rally” was just
one o f 150 events in the U.S. coor
dinated with actions in Europe and
Canada. Over a million people dem
onstrated
throughout
Europe:
200,000 to 400,000 in London,
300,000 in Bonn, 500,000 in Rome,
and so on.
The purpose o f the massive rally,
according to organizer Margot
Beutler, was " to educate the people
of Oregon on the issues surrounding
the current nuclear arms build-up.
and to join in an international ex
pression of opposition to the de
ployment o f U.S. Cruise and Per
shing II missiles and Soviet SS-20
missiles in Europe."
Master of Ceremonies Herb C aw
thorne emphasized the immediate
ness o f the issue for people o f all
races and classes. Cawthorne told
the crowd that the Euromissiles will
force (he Soviets to decide within a
six-minute period whether or not to
launch a "counterattack" once any
indication that a Cruise or Pershing
II has been launched
Both the American and Soviet
Bantu Dry Cleaners/Coin-operated
Laundro-mat
18th Cr N.E. Dekum •283-0176
W E E K L Y S P E C IA L S
W inter Coats.................................................................................................... »5 00
Skirts & Slacks ......................................................................................... . 81 00
S P E C IA L S E VER Y W EEK
Nice, clean facilities
Energy
Conservation,
Health and You
”BPA will not ignore the potential
health effects of its programs.
Neither should you.”
G ayle H igh Pine o f P o rtlan d C e n tra l A m e ric a n
S o lid arity C o m m itte e (P C A S C I; M ig u e l A n g el A I
blzures o f G u a tem a la: S eb astian C astro of N ic a ra
gua; M a rta A licia R ivera o f El Salvador: and J a m ie
are succeeding because of (he re
newed vitality of the people.
But repression against Nicaragua
continues externally, he said, in the
form of a "secret w ar” conducted
by remnants o f the Somoza N ation
al Guard organized and financed by
the C IA .
"There is a concrete invasion and
intervention in our country," he
said, "w ith the most sophisticated
acts carried out by the C IA . includ-
"W e will not step back," said
Castro. "T h e freedom o f the people
is not discussed, it is defended with
the arms in your hand."
Albizures dropped out of school
in Guatemala City at age 14 to go to
work. He worked his way up
through the ranks to become a lead
ing organizer o f the Guatemalan
National Worker's Confederation.
In 1976, he led an international
campaign to defend the rights of
striking Coca Cola workers, who
eventually won the right to have a
union. But the government and
right-wing death squads responded
with fierce repression, and three
successive Coca Cola union presi
dents were assassinated.
In Guatemala, he said, "D eath is
present every minute, every hour.
The machine gun has replaced d ia
logue. the army has destroyed whole
towns." 143,000 Guatmalans have
been driven to refuge in Mexico.
U.S. economic and military dom i
nation o f Guatemala is responsible
for the repression, said Albizures.
Helicopters and planes used to
bomb villages come from the U .S .,
he said, and U.S. advisers train the
Guatemalan security forces.
"W h a t we don’t want in Guate
mala, in El Salvador, in Nicaragua,
P artrid g e o f P C A S C . discuss p ers e c u tio n o f tra d e
union a c tiv ity in C e n tra l A m e ric a .
(P h o to : R ich ard J. B ro w n )
is intervention by the U.S. You must
transform the foreign policy o f the
United Stales to help our people."
he told the audience.
Rivers began teaching in 1972
Through A N D E S , she organized
slum dwellers to demand better liv
ing conditions, and by 1973 had be
come a regional secretary o f (he
union.
Like Albizures, she sees U.S. in
tervention as the main threat to
peace and democracy in the region
“ W c don’ t want another Viet Nam
in our country," she said. "W e
hope for solidarity with the North
American people. We are struggling
for what Nicaragua has.”
Sebastian Castro was born into a
poor farmworker's fam ily in a small
Nicaraguan town. He became a
shoemaker and eventually a director
o f the National W orker’s Confeder
ation, which after the revolution be
came the Sandinista W orker's C on
federation now representing over
704V of Nicaraguan workers.
" I f it wasn't for the intervention
of foreign governments, the prob
lems in these countries would be set
tled by now ," said Castro.
"T h e revolution is the most sa
cred thing that we have,
we think
that with liberty, we have (he ability
mg the destruction o f ports, bridges
and direct attacks."
The war makes it that much hard
er to rebuild a country "to tally de
stroyed" by the revolutionary war,
and saddled with a $1.7 billion debt
inherited from Somoza. he said.
" A ll the conditions o f misery in
our country are worsened now that
we have to Tight a w a r," said C a
stro. In addition, he said, "w e are
running the risk that our whole peo
ple might be assassinated."
Thousands protest Euromissiles
by Chuck Goodmacher
If you w ant to save t t t t t t
armed forces have gone to “ alert”
status in the past because of human
or computer errors showing attacks
in progress. Since the Cruise and
Pershing Ils will be only six minutes
from their targets, the margin of er
ror is drastically reduced. Thus, said
Cawthorne, these missiles pose a
grave, immediate threat to us all.
Ada Sanchez, o f the People's Test
Ban National Clearinghouse, re
minded the crowd o f our individual
and collective responsibilities to use
every means available to stop our
government’s preparations for gen
ocide and planning for aggressive
war. Citing the Nuremberg Princi
ples. Sanchez noted that when a
government engages in acts against
humanity, then it is the good citi
zen's duty to oppose his govern
ment, even if a lesser law must be vi
olated.
“ It moves us from balance of ter
ror to terror without balance, or sta
bility— from perceiving war as un-
winnable to perceiving it as win
nable— if one strikes firs t," said
Jess Frost, representative to the N a
tional Freeze Campaign for the
Northwest.
British film maker Peter Watkins
spoke o f how propaganda put forth
by the government and repeated by
the mass media makes war seeming
ly inevitable. Constantly, we are
told o f the militant stance o f the So
viet Union and its allies. Watkins,
whose film , The War Game, was
banned for years, is now working on
a film to show the affects o f nuclear
war on "typ ica l" families around
the globe.
Speaking on a more sombre note
was Johann Galtung o f the Norwe
gian International Peace Research
Institute of Oslo. Galtung depressed
the crowd with his assessment that
nuclear war between the (wo super
powers is now inevitable. The only
question, said Galtung, is when it
will occur. Besides escalation o f the
arms race itself, Galtung claims the
increasing deterioration o f social
structures in the U.S. and the Soviet
Union bring us closer to war.
Entertainment was provided by
a diverse assortment o f musicians
and actors. Billy Rancher, Sheila,
and a number o f performers with
P A N D (Performing Artists for N u
clear Disarmament), were all there
As tired as the rally organizers
seemed, it was clear that the many
hours or hard work had paid off.
to reconstruct our country. But
there is something we cannot repro
duce— that is to slop the interven
tion of the U.S. government. That is
your jo b ," he told the audience.
If other governments want to
help, "have them send technicians
to reconstruct our country like the
Cuban people are d o in g ," he said.
The three unionists visited Port
land on a lour o f 14 West Coast
cities sponsored by the West Coast
Labor/C entral America Solidarity
Network, the U.S. Committee in
Solidarity with the people o f El Sal
vador, and the National Network in
Solidarity with the people o f Guate
mala. They are meeting with labor
leaders, unionists, and the public to
bring a deeper understanding of the
Central American situation to the
U.S. labor movement.
So stated Peter I Johnson,
BPA Administrator BPA is tak
ing a long hard look at the ef
fects of expanding its home
weatherization program, the
most extensive in the U S . to
provide "tightening" m ea
sures lor more electrically
heated ho nes
But these measures (storm
windows and doors weather-
stripping etc ) could lower a
home s indoor air quality by
retaining existing pollutants
inside the house
Will the additional energy
savings realized be offset by
the adverse public health im
pacts7 Io help answer that
question. BPA has written a
draft environmental Im pact
statement and is soliciting
public comment on how to
expand the program and on
the draft EIS itself
Your comments can be
given In person at any of the
meetings listed, or in writing or
by telephone until Nov 14,
1983 Write Anthony R Morrell.
Environmental M anager BPA
PO Box 3621-SJ. Portland OR
97208 Or. c a ll: Public In
volvement Office Portland
230-3478, elsewhere in Ore-
gonl-800-452-8429; North
west states 1-800-547-6048
(B e tw e e n R ita's R eck ft 37th)
I v taken close to live
.years Incom plete a tut»
phase, m ull ttin I lio ii dt'lla r
im provem ent program al
Bess kaiser Medic al ( enter
another example «>* our
ongoing com m itm e nt to
provide quality health care
to the community
I he results of our efforts.
You’ll nonce we've kept
exterior cosm etic changes
to a m inim um , putting our
renovation budget where n
really counts
inside
Efficient as well as com
fo rta b le . the Center has
Vour choice
*1
■
e pair
M o n . Set. 10-6 • S un. 12-6
Bem em ber, w e ’re listening
W hat you say counts.
Bonneville
Power
Administration
( «M»e c r k h r e lt tkttf
• • l i t XI I I I H X l’ P E S IS » .-
Sunday V nrinhtr 2« l*R <
12 ncMtn III 4 p m
k j i w r t V r m jn r n tr His; o n a l
(Met
Wtim \ In lr rv la lr V r n u r
K w tlanri
l i t ¿llh
rrrn m g s
Hh««J R v w jrv I h A x » KlsexJ
Ix fN If Kcsptrjhwx himtMWi
\ i i iih h h
in v itin g the co m m u n ity
Io a Health Happening"
on Sunday. November 2(1
at K a is e r-I’e rm a n e n te ’s
RegiiMi.il ( XI ice
From noon til 4 p m .
y o u 'll enjoy all kinds ol
exhibits, m ini workshops
and health screenings, with
entertainment provided lor
kids Check the box to the
left lor details, and come c »in
the tun
there’s no charge'
h a 4 ,u tin in « Zfi
been remodeled to accom
modate today 's so p h is ti
cated technologies Com
p u tc n /c d diag nostic and
treatment equipment such
as a CT scanner and angi
ography suite Increased
support services Andmorv
In the midst ol all the
new. however. y o u 'll lind
th a t o n e th in g h a s n 't
changed The commitment
ol out stall They're canng
people liMiking bjck with
pride , and forw a rd w ith
renewed ilcdicalion
Ready to care tor you
\n invitation to members
and friends.
As |u rt ot our Bess Kai
ser "Rededication to Excel
lence" celebration, we re
We ll he more than happy to
send you our special ho 4 lei
0
t
Booths A Ik m n tis ira ffn n x
A x i'/cn JtlkrcnE cxhtHfs irxIixJ
•nv K tH r pM urv K a K safe ,mU
J m K 'I k eduAjlHMi plus tseipvs
and »ampR' <4 nu(niN<uv hnfeilax
NV4K
Mint-Wiwkxhop*
on the new Hess Kaiser
Medical Center I n x ii H o l
land. call 280-2999; from
Vancouver, call 694-8445
and ask I im our Information
K a
is e r
P E R M A N E N TE
HEALTH CARE PROGRAM
00
M ittovia - Wednesday Oct 2 (
Village Red Lion Blocklool Room
700 W Broadway
lurlay — Thursday Oct 27
Burley Inn Patio Room
800 N Overland
Eugene — Tuekdoy Nov I
Eugene Hilton Joplin Room
66 E Sixth
Portland — Wedneeday Nov 2
BP* Headquarters Bldg
BP* Auditorium
1002 NE Hollodoy
Soaltle — Thursdoy Nov J
Seottie Center Center House
Coni Center
Rm A Mezzanine Level Norm
I
I xen tx's
C o a tu m a je w e lry
Over 300 pairs of earrings in stock
Rickland - Monday Oct 24
Fodorol Bldg Auditorium
825 JOdwin
Spokane — Tu.vday Oct 29
Covonougn Inn Clearwater Room
N 700 Division
Our Bess Kaiser Medical Center
renovation is now complete.
S p rtia l h r i i m
\ l*«4 at the "H rnrs I kMiser
M a n «if M M n n '' exhibit forhw a
tm<v extensile Jispljx nsngx at
the <
H esrvxm I S< k k * ix
3616 N.E. Broadw ay
REGISTRATION 7 PM
MEETINGS 7 3 0 PM
G ood news
for Kaiser members.
lx«« ( >wiHt*i I Valmy vAtih Pam
M v a lih Hvhuvi.vf Ac lax a lu m
Glad's of
Hollywood
M U T IN O SCHEDULE