Page 2 Portland Observer, May 16, 1984
BARGAIN CENTER
Life on the Nicaraguan cotton crew
2 -» H A N D STORE
728 N.E. Killingsworth 97211 _ ,
by Robert Lothian
76 ti u the third article in a series
about the experiences o f a group o f
Portlanders who picked cotton in
Nicaragua in February as part o f an
international solidarity brigade.
Each brigade had a name. W e
named ours after M aura C lark, the
American nun murdered in El
Salvador. She had spent con-
siderable time helping out in
Nicaragua. The brigade previous to
ours was the M artin Luther King
Brigade They left a large wall pain
ting o f K in g at the farm next to
ours.
By 7:10 on our first morning at
Apascali, it was already getting hot.
We waited— organizing 150 Am er
icans was not easy. Orientation
went through the morning. We
were filled in on the history of
the farm , its problems, and changes
brought by the revolution.
Apascali had been owned by
m illionaire
landowner
Alfonso
Robelo. He was anti-Samoza and a
member o f the first revolutionary
government, but later split with the
Sandinistas, decapitalized his vast
land holdings and left the country.
N o w , allied with Eden Pastora's
contra forces on the southern bor
der, he has been mentioned in the
news, lately, as a possible candidate
for leader o f a contra government.
For four years, Robelo reaped the
profits but returned little to the
farm Debts piled up. Equipment
bro '
do
The
farm
was
rial
tali.
n 1983, but the effects
o f war, decapitalization and a
closing o ff o f trade with the U .S.
are evident. Due to the U .S. trade
embargo, parts for U .S. made
equipment are unobtainable. When
a 11 s -mad" tractor or pump breaks
down, it can t be repaired. Produc
tion problems rc.ult and water, the
lifeblood of the farm, isn't always
available A labor shortage added to
the
farm ’ s
problems.
The
Nicaraguans worried
that they
might not be able to get the entire
harvest in, even though the cotton
was desperately needed for foreign
exchange.
We picked cotton for the first
time
that
afternoon,
plucking
"beards” o f cotton from star
shaped brackets on the six-foot high
bushes and stufling it into bags tied
5
W*
Everything from teapots
to tools - nice things at
fair prices
W e do not boy anything
from the street
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M » n y w ig « j» n c « 4 « I *4 *1 0
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$4*
(Photo: Kevin Qerien)
A Nicaraguan family.
Betty CaO«* Proprietor
to our waists, which we dragged
along the rows. About 20% o f the
cotton is harvested by hand, and
80% by combine machines. The
fields had been dusted with her
bicides, which removed the leaves
and made picking easier and the cot
ton cleaner, but which made us
worry about poisoning.
The picking wasn’ t hard, just ex
tremely hot and dusty. We drank a
lot of foul-tasting iodine-purified
water, talked and took breaks. The
Americans picked an average o f 30
lbs. in a 5- to 6-hour day, for which
we recieved board and room. The
Nicaraguans picked 130-200 lbs
during ten-hour days and up to 300
lbs. some days, six and seven days a
week. They were paid one cordoba
for every two pounds of cotton
picked, or about $2.50-13.00 per
day. I t ’s a meager wage, but accor
ding to a CBS report from El
Salvador, cotton pickers there get
about $1.00 per day. Kitchen
workers at Apascali received ap
proximately the same wage as field
workers for their long shifts.
Some children worked in the
fields, although they appeared to
come in at noon while the adults
stayed. School vacation coincides
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Phone: 283-2487
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with the harvest, which runs from
January into March.
The cotton went from the fields to
the processing plant, the “ gin” , in
tractor-drawn
trailors.
There,
modern machinery operated around
the clock to clean and bail raw cot
ton ready for export.
Santo Torres worked in the
processing plant, operating a bailing
machine on the graveyard shift He
worked 12-hour shifts, seven days a
week for 70 cordobas a day; about
$2.50. It wasn’ t clear whether the
long hours were required, were
worked out o f dedication to the
revolution, or whether the workers
just wanted to get the work in while
the harvest lasted. When 1 described
for Santo wage scales for factory
workers in the U .S ., he seemed truly
amazed. I wondered whether he
could comprehend these riches or I
his poverty.
Santo’s ten-year old daughter,
Rosa, and six-year old son, Elmer,
weren’t shy around the Americans.
Elmer’s pet parakeets perched on
his head to the delight o f the camera
happy
foreigners
Rosa
washed
clothes by hand, but need a block o f
wood to stand on to reach the sink.
Obvious results of the revolution
at the farm included polio vac
cinations,
subsidized
food,
a
popular militia and a farmworkers’
union. A women’s group was just
getting organized.
The union meant power to change
wages and conditions o f everyday
life which the workers never had
under Samoza. Union leaders and
government managers met weekly as
equals, and they worked out a new
agreement each month. There was a
meeting while we were there during
which wages for field and kitchen
workers were adjusted. Prizes for
the most productive workers were
also discussed. The grand prize was
to be a furnished house worth
40,000 cordobas and a trip to Cuba.
Discussing
the
problem
of
alcoholism at the farm , the workers
told the manager that they were
keeping a list of problem drinkers
and would call in the police if
someone got out of hand rather
than try and take care of it them
selves. One man had been killed in a
brawl the previous week, and farm
equipment had been damaged by
drunken operators. The workers
also confronted the overall manager
o f six state-run farms in the area
about the labor shortage, and
requested that a detachment o f
soldiers be sent to help with the har
vest and guard against contras.
O ur routine at Apascali was: up
each day at five, breakfast, gather
and move out to the fields by 6:30,
then work until noon. Then lunch
and a long break during the hot
early afternoon. Sometimes we
worked again in the late afternoon,
sometimes we didn’t. Food was rice,
beans tortillas, sweetened coffee,
and sometimes beef, vegetables, fish
and fruit juice. W e drowsed through
the nights, sweating in our bunks.
Rice and beans stuck in our throats.
Many of us got sick.
W hile we probably didn't help
much materially with our picking,
we learned a lot and made friends
with many o f the Nicaraguans at the
farm. We promised to write. Back
in the U .S ., we established an aid
campaign for Apascali. A tractor
repair kit and a new pump will be
Next: We talk to more workers
about their lives, play with children
and experience a tragic accident at
Apascali.
Poet to read here
Plant remains show that forests grew in Antarctica
millions of years ago.
There are five million different species of insects in
the world.
The name "John” comes from
jochanan. meaning "God is gracious."
the
Hebrew
Pure gold is so soft it can be molded with the hands.
W e do n o t do business w ith South A fric a
/Imbrican State
Bank
AN INDEPENDENT BANK
Mead Office
2 7 3 7 N. E. Union
Port in d . Oregon 9 7 212
Margaret Randall, poet, trans
lator and essayist w ill be reading
both her own work and her trans
lations o f Cuban and Central
American poets at the Northwest
Service Center, I8 I9 N W Everett,
Tuesday, M ay 22nd at 7:30 p.m.
From 19 6 2-1969, Randall co-edited
the influential bi-lingual literary
journal E l Corno Emplum ado out
o f Mexico City. Moving to Cuba in
1969, she became an editor for the
Cuban Book Institute in Havana,
where she had the opportunity to
work
with
developing
Cuban
writers. Most recently she has been
living in Nicaragua, where she
worked first at the Nicaraguan
Ministry o f Culture, and most
recently at the Foreign Press Center
in Managua. Her over 15 volumes
o f poetry include P art o f The
Solution (New Directions, 1972),
and Carlota, Poems and Prose fro m
Havana (New Star Publications,
1978).
This event is presented as part of
the Portland Poetry Festival.
T k --
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Street Beat
W ith the Election returns now coun
ted, the Street Beat team asked, “ How
did you feel about the election
by Loruta D uke and Richard Brown
results?”
Lori Joseph
Unemployed
Patricia Andrews
House Mother
“ M y three sisters live in
Colum bia
V illa.
W e voted
against Ivancie. W e did not like
the way he treated C o m
Connie Leechmen
Student
” 1 think there would be a
change 1 see the change coming
from Bud C la rk .”
m issio n e r J o r d a n .”
Tm
very
happy
for
Margaret Carter. It seems like
was a good candidate I
started to vote for Ed Leek, but
when I found out he let
juveniles
out
that
commit
crimes, I did not want him to
represent me.
Pet Shockey
Stete-wlde Fund Reiser
for NOW
’ I feel terrific that Bud Clark
It is time for a change to
some
of
these
hack
8*<
politicians out o f the way to
make way for someone who
could make a change. I t ’s time
for women to make a change”
•‘ I ’ m not really interested.
Politicians do not have any
guts. They spend all our money
for the state.”
.
T
\
MRS. C’s
WIGS
*
A
.
Phone 281 5812
§ 4
4
A M . PRINTING CO.
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Batty Ehrssman
Nurse's Aid
” 1 hoped M ondale would
have gotten it but after H a rt’s
speech, I don’t know .”