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About Portland observer. (Portland, Or.) 1970-current | View Entire Issue (Feb. 27, 1985)
Portland Observer, February 27, 1985, Page 7 U.S. citizens in Nicaragua blast Reagan view of "freedom fighters" by B ill Bigelow In a recent radio address Ronald Reagan was hard put to find enough superlatives to describe the N ic a ra guan co n tras. T h e y are '•fre e d o m fig h te rs ” and ” our b ro th e rs " — "u ltim ately their fight is our fig h t." A few days later, testifying before the House Foreign A ffa irs C o m m it tee, Secretary o f State George Shultz proclaim ed that the U .S . had a "m o ral duty" to support the contras in their fight against a Nicaragua which had fallen "b e h in d the Iro n C urtain." The A d m in is tratio n 's strategy is shifting. N o longer is Reagan pushing aid to the contras by claiming that his real goal is to interdict the supposed arms flow to El Salvador. But with that — always flimsy — pretext gone, Washington needs a new story. Thus we w ill be hearing a lot m ore from the Reagan team about the new red, white and blue freedom loving contras. From Nicaragua, however, comes a portrait o f a quite different reality. Recently the Committee o f U.S. C iti zens Living in Nicaragua (C U S C L IN ) put together a p ro file o f contra ac tivities by collecting testimonies from Americans throughout the country. Below are some excerpts. Sandra Price, Sisters o f N o tre Dame de N am u r: " I am a pastoral w orker o f the C a th o lic church in Siuna, in the departm ent o f N o rth Zelaya. I w ork w ith a priest and a small group o f Nicaraguan religious women in the form ation o f lay relig- ; ious ministers (Delegados de la Palabra) and leadership training with peasant w om en. Since N ovem ber 20, 1984, we have had in our care a small infant ""ho survived a massacre by the counterrevolutionaries. “ The child was six days old when a band o f counterrevolutionaries a r rived at their isolated mountain home in the night and opened fire on the house. The fo ur year old brother and eighteen year old aunt died im m ediately. The fath er, m other, uncle and eight year old brother were wounded. The contras entered the house, took out the inju red men, »hot them, slit the throat o f the father whom they accused o f being a Sandi- nista, and left. “ T h e surviving fo u r children picked up the baby and fled to an uncle's house, leaving the injured mother in agony. Three children re turned to the home in the m orning and found the mother dead. They re turned to the uncle's house and, a few hours later, made a second trip to thejr home. This tim e, all o f the bodies had disappeared. They were later found in the river. The women had been stripped o f their clothes and the mother's face had been flayed ” Sister Joan Uhlen, M arykn q ll Sis ter, and Sister Rachel Pinal, Presenta tions Sister and M aryknoil Associate: " O n June k, 1984, the contras a t tacked O c o ta l, a northern tow n o f about 21 ,000 people, killin g 14 and wounding 34. We are two M aryknoil nuns w ho live and w ork in O c o ta l, and we walked around the town im mediately after the attack " W e began at the lumber yard; it was bleak and shocking. A t the sight o f it, physical pain clutched at R a chel's stomach. W ords can begin to w hen I heard that a group of TELC O R volunteers had been attacked by coqnt^revolutionaries w hile travel ing on a truck. Survivors said that the contras had loaded 21 o f their dead and wounded victims baqk onto the tru ck, doused the truck and bodies, many still alive, with kerosene and set it on fire. I checked with the union and found that M arvin wasn't among the victims. " T h e next day, I was told that my friend was in a hospital in Managua, in critical co n d itio n , " W h ile w aiting outside the inten sive care unit to visit my friend, I was able to talk to other wounded N ica raguans His face had been shot o ff, and they had to rem ove his entire describe the horror o f each place wfc visited, but they cannot tell the whole story. The pain in people's eyes tells more o f that story, that what was done here was not an attack against m ilita ry powers. It was an attack against people: m en, w om en, and most sadly, children. Ellen M oore, member, C U S C L IN : " A close friend o f m ine, M a rv in R am irez, a 21 year old co m m u n i cations technician who works with the government Telecommunications and Postal Service (T E L C O R ), v o lu n teered to pick coffee this year with a group o f co-workers as he had for the past three years, but knowing that this year it was even more dangerous. " I was at home on December 4 w ill never take the revolution fro m us’ ." The C U S C L IN report goes on to catalogue the horrendous toll o f the contra attacks in 1984 alone Last year. 1890 teachers were murdered, 15 schools destroyed and 138 schools abandoned due to repeated attacks To express your opinion on the up coming vote for renewal o f U .S . aid to the contras, write: Sen. Bob Packw ood, 259 Russell Office Bldg , Washington, D C 20510. Sen. M ark H a tfie ld , 322 H art O f fice B ld g., W ashington. D C 20510. Rep. Ron Wyden, 1440 l.ongwortn Bldg , W ashington, D C 20515 Rep. Les A u C o in , 2159 R ayburn Bldg . Washington. DC 20510 Stock-Up On Your Favorite Brands During Safeway’s Steak SAFEWAY Safeway Ouality lean Beet Bone tn Great Broiled. Swiss Baked Oi Cot Thinly lo i W ok Cooking* • A Campbell's boycott Jeno’s Frozen Pizza (Continuedfrom Page /, Column 3/ end up w ith a subm inim um wage, according to F L O C . The com m ittee is also concerned about the return o f child labor to the fields. C am p bell's has responded to the boycott w ith an aggressive public relations cam paign, which F L O C organizers say includes a school pro motion where children bring C am p bell's soup labels to class to save up for cassette recorders, m ovie p ro jectors and Am erican flags for their classrooms. But the cost o f the soup represented by the labels adds up to three times what the items would coat in a store, they say. F L O C is asking fo r a boycott o f Campbell's products and the product* o f companies owned by Cam pbell'*: Cam pbell's soup, Swanson T V din ners, V -8 juice, F ran co -A m erican products, Pepperidge Farm products, Pietro's and Engine House P izza, Herfy's restaurants, Mrs. Paul's froz en fish, Prego Spaghetti Sauce and other products. lower jaw . He talked to me, but he's d iffic u lt to understand, partly be cause he has no ja w and p artly be cause he tries to cover his mouth with his hand, trying to hide his disfigure ment. A fte r about a h alf hour, he said suddenly, ' I saw m yself in the m irror for the first time yesterday — look at what they did to me ' As he started to ro ll aw ay, another m an, who, after 11 months in the hospital, had just been told that they would amputate his leg, said, 'W ait a minute friend. Before you go I w ant to say one thing. What they did to you, what they did to all o f us is h orrible, but even if they take away your uppers or all the bones in your face, they can't take awav what we fought for. They Always A Party Maker. Cnsp'n Tasty. Assorted, 10 Ounce Package Save Up To 80 . No Limit Tillamook Cheese Your Choice Of Medium Cheddar. Monterey Jack Or Colby Cheese. 2 Lb Save Up To $1.80. No Limit! \ M * W w Gold-n-Soft Margarine Fancy No. 1 No Cholesterol. 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