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About Portland observer. (Portland, Or.) 1970-current | View Entire Issue (Oct. 10, 1984)
Page 2. Portland Observar, October 10,19B4 Thin evidence against Nicaragua by BUI Bigtiow The American war against N k a- ragua grinds on. Despite the official cut-off o f C IA funds to the counter revolutionaries, U.S. policy remains consistent: to create the conditions for the overthrow o f the Sandinista government. In recent weeks U.S. strategy has assumed three different but related approaches, each aimed at smoothing the path toward an eventual direct military intervention: — Assistance to the contras; — Undermining Nicaragua's inter national standing; — Building the prestige o f the con servative Nicaraguan opposition. Though last June the Senate reluc tantly voted to end aid to the contras, the Reagan administration apparently finds this mercenary war against Nica ragua loo valuable io abandon An investigation by Jack Anderson re vealed that the contra aid is still fiow- ing. The Reagan administration en courages private foundations, church groups, corporations and foreign countries such as Israel, Taiwan and Guatemala to pick up the slack in the funding The New York Times re ports that this funding has lotalled over $10 million in the last six months alone. Nicaragua estimates a death toll of 7,400 during the last three years. In a recent and frighteningly typical at tack, 200 mercenaries entered the tiny village o f Tapasle. deep in the Mata- galpa mountains. When villagers refused to single out members of the voluntary police and to o l election board, the contras randomly chose eight young people and slit their throats as their families looked on in horror. T o fairly distribute the burden of defense throughout the entire popu lation, the Sandinistas have resorted to a military draft. The government has also been forced to hold down wage increases and other social spend ing to pay for the war. The Reagan administration hopes the measures will generate divisions and intense conflict throughout Nicaragua. In Reagan's dream scenario the Sandi nista party itself would buckle under the military and economic pressure, necessitating a "rescue mission" a la Grenada. The war o f words against Nica- ragua is also escalating. Recently, President Reagan condemned the country as a "totalitarian dungeon" and ridiculed Nicaragua’s upcoming elections as a "Soviet-style sham." In July, the U.S. Defense and State De partments jointly released a back ground paper which charged that Nic aragua was “ a nerve center of subver sion to neighboring countries” and a "pernicious" aggressor against Nica raguan government of trafficking co caine to American cities. Evidence is thin or non-existent in all cases. One ex-C IA analyst. David Mac Michael, said the Administra tion's subversion report was based on charges that "they can't back u p ," and the Nicaraguan government has pointed out that, if the country is such a large-scale arms exporter, it's strange that not a single shipment has yet been inteicepted. Surely the hope o f the U.S. government is that if enough charges are leveled against Nicaragua — no matter how ground less — some will stick, and an image o f Nicaragua as a bandit nation will emerge. Consistent with this desire has been the U .S .' portrayal of Nicaragua's up coming elections as meaningless. In fact, the elections promise to be the most democratic in the country’s history. A ll political parties have been guaranteed radio and T V time in order to argue their points o f view, rhough Nicaragua is still at war, par ties have been assured the right to travel throughout the country and to hold public assemblies. Contrary to Reagan’s derisive char acterization o f the elections as a one- party race, there are actually seven political parties contesting for presi dent, vice-president and the 90 as sembly seats Political perspectives of these groups range from conservative to liberal to Marxist-Leninist. The U.S. government's obsession with portraying Nicaragua as a rene gate nation is based not on fact but on fear. I f Americans were to see Nicaragua successfully developing a genuinely democratic and indepen dent society — both politically and economically — they might not be so easily convinced that all third world revo.utionaries are puppets o f the 'soviet Union. U.S. policymakers would then be forced that much clos er to admitting the underlying eco nomic factors motivating their McCoy on the issues decisions. Ariuro Jose Cruz returned to M a nagua in July and announced his in tention to run for President o f Nica ragua. Cruz, former Nicaraguan am bassador to the U .S .. and now darling o f that country’s right wing, imme diately assumed the leadership o f the Democratic Coordinating Com mittee (C D N ), an alliance o f the Pri vate Enterprise Council (C O SEP) and three conservative parties. The group has been characterized by the Washington Post as “ weak, poorly organized and incapable of serving as a political alternative in Nicaragua." But despite Cruz' announced elec toral aims, the C D N had little to gain from participating in the elections — no observers gave the alliance a prayer of winning — and much to lose: its claim to be representative o f popular opinion in the country. Thus, Cruz and company began making demands upon the Nic-.raguan government they knew would not be met, in order to justify their ultimate decision to boycott the elections, they wanted the elections supervised by foreign coun tries — not just observed, but con trolled by non-Nicaraguans Other preconditions included an end to the military draft and an agreement by the Sandinistas to enter into negotia tions with the contras, whom most Nicaraguans see as mass murderers. These were set as preconditions for participation, rather than as part of a platform on which the C D N could run and test its popularity. The winners of this spoof on de mocracy are: the Reagan administra tion, which can now claim lhat the Sandinistas "excluded" the opposi tion and really are anti-demos ratic; the contras, whose prestige was en hanced by Cruz' recognition o f them as a legitimate politicai force; and Cruz’ own C D N alliance, which is now being trumpeted by the U.S. as the real democratic alternative in Nicaragua. Taken together, the components of U.S. strategy towards Nicaragua aim at laying the groundwork for a possi ble military intervention I f all goes aocording to plan the contra attacks will continue to weaken Nicaragua economically and undermine popular support for the Sandinistas. A t the same time Reagan, the Great Com municator, will attempt to deceive McCormick: Americans and Ute world that Nica ragua has become a dope-dealing, revolution - exporting, totalitarian nightmare, and hat to be removed. Meanwhile, the Administration will lionize the Cruz alliance as the genu ine democrats o f Nicaragua, the true proponents o f Sandinismo. For his part, Arturo Cruz will use his new found prominence to turn the world against Nicaragua and position him self to be leader when the Americans invade. A big question mark, as the Reagan administration orchestrates its pre texts for a military intervention, is die consciousness o f the American people. Daniel O nega, Sandinista leader and candidate for Nicara gua’s president, believes that the an swer lies with Americans who un derstand the true situation in his country. The battle for Nicaragua, he said recently, "must be fought with in the United Sûtes." KEN BERRY B la c k R e p u b lic a n s h o st D ig n ita rie s The Oregon Black Republican Council is very delighted and honored to have in our d ty the following dis tinguished individuals: —Samuel Pierce, Housing and Urban Development Secretary, who is one o f the highest ranking cabinet members in the Reagan Adminis tration. — Mrs. LcOree Daniels, chairper son o f the National Black Repub lican Council. — Dr. Edward Victor H ill, pastor since 1961 o f M t. Zion Missionary Baptist Church o f Los Angeles, C al ifornia — Don Newcombe. baseball star for many years, now lecturer. The following agenda is planned for the Portland area starting Tues day, October 16: Breakfast— Holiday Inn Coliseum, 7.-00 a .m ., $10.00 per person. Limited seating, so please come early or call 249-0711 to reserve your seating. Dinner— Red Lion M o tor Inn, Portland Center. 5:30, N o Host Bar; 6:30, Dinner, $17.00 per person; 7:30, Program. Please call for reser vations at 228-0616. LILLY TAM URA c la u d ia M c D uffie Help for United Way Four area residents are on loan from their employers this fall to help United W ay o f the Cohim bia-W il- lamette reach its $16.3 million goal. Joining United W ay as Loaned Ex ecutives are: Ken Berry, administra tive assistant, Portland Public Schools; Kathi Harvey, driver, T ri- Met; Claudia M cD uffie, classroom teacher, Portland Public Schools and Lilly Tamura, personnel analyst. City o f Portland. Loaned Executives come from a variety o f fields, including govern ment, education and private indus try. But, for the next ten weeks will combine their talent a salespeople, fundraisers, public speakers and ne gotiators collectively raising more than 60*/. o f the total campaign revenues. Throughout the campaign, the 82 Loaned Executives seek corporate contributions and assist company campaign chairmen conduct em ployee giving drives. Campaign ’84 is scheduled to end with a Victory Dinner Tuesday, Nov. 27 at the Hilton Hotel. Uiiited W ay o f the Columbia- Wilhimette serves 97 agencies in Clark, Clackamas, Multnom ah and Washington Counties. RAINBOW RALLY AT Pioneer Courthouse Square Saturday, October 20th 1P M Nothing groat wroa aver achlavad without anthualaam • Emareon. j ob development For more Inform ation, call 283-0090 Continued from Page 1 Col. B) The plan was originally endorsed by some parents, the Urban ».’ague and the N A A C P . However, the even tual scattering o f Black students, who bore the desegregation efforts, raised outcries from the Black com munity. But M cCoy attributed the problem to an individual who did not want a middle school in her neighbor hood. "She did not want Black chil dren from the inner city brought in. The District did not desegregate on the basis o f race but on providing the best program for our students.” M cC oy said the scattering of Black children occurred in advance of the formation o f middle schools "T he Board spent time trying to get school funding levies passed. This set us b ack." However, she admitted, “ W e were not sensitive to the fact that we had so many kids going to so many different schools " After the mobilization of the Black community and two school boycotts, the unfair provisions in the plan were shelved M cCoy is criticized today for her continuous support o f the plan, even after independent research vali dated its negative impact on Black students. She refused to respond to this criti cism. "Some people were critical while others were supportive. The is sue is not relevant to the C ity Council. I'm not going to rehash it,” she quipped As County Commissioner, M cCoy said her presence was not always felt in the d ty . "B ut when people had problems we just solved it ." She maintained an active commitment to senior citizens, developed a short term youth employment program, the 911 emergency phone number, sured up the financial stability o f the library system and supported health services for low-income residents Critics stated M cCoy was silent on a number o f other issues facing her Northeast constituencies. "Even though the Northeast was my dis trict, policies that were made at the county level were reflected in the un incorporated areas of the City, M cCoy said as City Commissioner she will be able to do more because of quantitative and qualitative increases in resources coupled with the ability to operate witltin any boundary in the dty. McCoy has been called a tradition alist who sometimes represents th- status quo. Her name fam ilian., ■' (Continuad from Paga 1 Col. 41 «fr*. t ë f i s z ’ A i - Paid for by tbs Oragon Rainbow Organizing Comirwttea. Kay Sohi Traaaurar His main campaign issue is job development. “ Oregon is one o f five states in the union with chronic un employment. I have a history o f creat ing jobs in the private sector that shows fiscal responsibility. The City Council would show strong, affirm a tive leadership by working with all communities in Portland to bring jobs to the Sute. Portland is the win dow o f Oregon and my 17 years in business will bring this about." T o beef up the City's Affirm ative action record, McCormick said he would employ a group o f "lean, mean private businessmen to provide commendable. But it is not worth the rest o f Ballot Measure No. I," she concluded. Herndon said communities o f color would suffer disproportionately if this measure passes. " I t is document ed that when police officers had the choice to give citations or make ar rests. Black people were arrested in much higher percentages than other groups. The likelyhood o f abuse is too high. The individual rights of Oregonians will slowly erode if it passes." quality leadership with strong follow- through" to address the problem. H e said his Affirm ative Action record at his many restaurants "is ex cellent." “ I don’t know how many I employ but one o f the people I do is Charles Jordan’s brother. I don't dis criminate on the basis o f sex, age or race.” McCormick said his advisors have narrowed the field of other City Council candidates down to seven se rious contenders. "A n d the Black community is not going to be dis enfranchised if I'm elected. The proof is in the pudding o f my 17 years in business." BACON ARMOUR PAN SIZE SAVE 40* 12 •< PKG LUNCH MEATS ARMOUR ___ ¿VARIETIES ® 00 T h e Black U nited Front T eenage Care Project - 232 9751 A Public Sarvtca of t h . 10 T« 12 ax HOTDOGS P o rtla n d ( M o o n a t ARMOUR Portland W o m e n 's Crisis Line with an expeienced political base places her in an advantageous posi tion with voters in a dty-wide race. She expects a victory in November and predicts a run-off election. " I'v e proven my worth as a decision maker to recognize issues and cut through red tape io solve problems That type o f background is important to the d ty ." Ballot Measure No. 8 voters have turned down Prison Bond levies,” Hertzmark added. She does not expect the measure io impact criminal but everyday citi zens " W e want to see victims have a greater role within the criminal justice system. And there are aspects in Bal lot No. 8 already available under ex isting laws." Hertzmark said only one provi sion o f this measure lhat enfranchises victim’s rights. "Requiring the Parole Board to notify victims and prosecu tors o f upcoming parole hearings is (Continued from Paga 1 Col. BI 232 9751 A Public S w v ic . ot t h . P o rtla n d C M o t n t r 99 CHEDDAR CHEESE ALL MEAT f t Ol. BANDON MEDIUM AGED s 0 Curls ♦25°° SHOP Good Until Octobar 31 TC t Curo Nro MB » Now U S 00 Relaxer $17" 2~S3” aro ••»«n.!’.’« Open M on.-S at. 8-6. (By appt. only) JANAE'S HAIRSTYLES FOR Men end Women 4711 N . In te r s ta te 249-8440 IE N O W S FOR R R A N D I you know V A R IE T IE S y o u lilaa S U IS yo u w a n t twWub « i a*» a s * t •«»’«« da ) ) 'd a m i Oi aro- a $ i o*»••••« e« <9. *e>e 1$-d a *»••< Brorroglda Iro'a r»- m »»• FlA.ro t row a O iw a t» • a g Ifja» a« 1 I O l airon' . ■ Bl, • « a f • »-« ' • ( > a . O '* « « roa««.a • „«mt «vili
