Central Americans bring war home to N.Y. audience

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NEW YORK CITY-About 700 people attended a Dec. 8 meeting at Hunter College to protest U.S. intervention in Central America. Sponsored by a coalition, New Yorkers for Peace in Central America, the program featured speeches by representatives of Salvadoran, Guatemalan, and Nicaraguan opponents of U.S. intervention.

Romeo Poseda, representing the FMLN-FDR of El Salvador, reported that there have been more than 200 bombings directed by U.S. spy flights since Duarte took power. Since El Salvador has a population density of 345 persons per square mile in an area the size of Massachusetts, the number of persons killed by these bombings is great.

The situation in Guatemala was described by Rigoberta Menchu, a member of the United Guatemalan Front. One million peasants have been displaced from their land and homes, she said.

Menchu, who has herself lost father, mother, and brother-all killed in the struggle-returned to Guatemala in secret recently to investigate conditions there. She found a climate of terror in which peasants are herded into concentration camps and forced to participate in civilian patrol units. The policy of the government is to annihilate popular support of the guerrillas by massacres and terror, hoping in that way to destroy the guerrilla movement.

She emphasized, however, that the guerrilla forces have not been defeated and the popular organizations remain intact.

Magda Enriquez, general secretary of Foundation Augusto Cesar Sandino and national represêntative of AMLAE, the Nicaraguan women's organization, vividly evoked Nicaragua's 15 months of suffering under the attacks of the U.S.-backed contras. Eight thousand are dead—proportionately more than three times as many as the Americans killed in the entire Vietnam War. Damage amounting to $300 million has struck a cruel blow to the economy of the struggling country.

But, Enriquez asserted, Nicaragua has survived thanks to international solidarity. Its people have learned to differentiate between the government of the United States and its people. Now all opponents of intervention in the United States must mobilize further.

Her eloquent words roused the audience and called forth a standing ovation that expressed the resolve of the assemblage to fight U.S. intervention.

...S.F. coalition (continued from page attended by CISPES, the Nicaragua Information Center, San Francisco Peace Council, and other organizations and activists. Approximately 60 people were present.

That same evening, 120 others, mostly unionists, crowded into the ILWU Local 6 hall. That meeting, initiated by Al Lannon [see interview in this issue], was endorsed by some 100 individuals and organizations representing the labor movement, the religious community, the gay community, students, and minorities. Over half of the participants were elected union officials or union staff representatives.

The number of union leaders in attendance at this antiwar meeting was unprecedented. James Herman, international president of the ILWU, was applauded vigorously as he gave greetTschirhart, executive director of the San Francisco Nuclear Weapons Freeze Campaign and a member of the coalition's interim coordinating committee; and Bob Hernandez, representing the League of United Latin American Citizens.

United coalition provides example The Dec. 20 unity meeting, which brought together elected representatives of the two antiwar groups, issued a statement which "recognized the urgency of uniting to build the largest and broadest possible coalition."

It announced that "one single coalition exists in the Bay Area, with one single purpose-to build for a massive turnout on April 20."

The formation of a united antiwar coalition with a strong labor component reflects the growth of opposition to Socialist Action/Joe Ryan U.S. intervention in Central America. And, with the rapid healing of the rift in the antiwar movement, the Bay Area April 20 protest could be one of the most effective demonstrations in recent years.

With the formation of a unified and authoritative coalition, the antiwar movement has registered an important gain. Moreover, union leaders have stepped forward as never before to take responsibility for the success of an antiwar mobilization.

Five months before the April 20 action, working committees are already in place and coalition organizers are calling for a mass meeting on Thursday, Jan. 24, 7:30 p.m., at the First Unitarian Church in San Francisco. They expect 300-400 activists to participate in that important next step in building the April 20 demonstration.