U.S. blocks aid to Nicaragua

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SOCIALIST ACTION SEPTEMBER SEPTEMBER 7 Most Nicaraguans are desperately hoping that an end to the contra war is in sight with the signing of the new Central American "peace" agreement, reports Socialist Action correspondent Nancy Elnor, who has spent the last three months in Nicaragua.

"Nicaraguans are yearning for peace so that the millions of dollars spent for military defense can be redirected toward meeting human needs," Elnor writes. "They want an end to the bloodshed, to the suffering, to the long food lines, to the hunger."

Edgardo García, secretary general of the Association of Rural Workers (ATC), told Socialist Action:

"If the [contra] war of aggression is stopped, we will be able to organize production effectively, work harder, and meet the social needs of the population. If the contra war is ended, with all our limitations, our revolution cannot be defeated. We are invincible."

An entire arsenal for sabotage Assuming for a moment that the U.S. government is compelled to call a halt—at least for the time being—to the contra war, it is no secret that its ultimate goal remains to crush the Nicaraguan Revolution.

Even if the U.S. government is forced to keep the contra card in its back pocket for some time, it still has a whole set of ... Peace plan (continued from page 1: “[Will new 'peace plan' end war in Central…]”) it states is still the "operative United States proposal."

And the Arias plan is sufficiently vague in many areas to permit the U.S. government sufficient room to maneuver for concessions.

Maneuvering for concessions Specifically, the United States has stated that the Sandinista government's process of "democratization" must be "irreversible" before it is willing to abandon the contras.

Under the Arias plan, what is meant by "irreversible" would be left to an international Verification Commission to decide. If that commission found that the Sandinistas had violated the terms of the agreement, the United States would then have the justification for renewed military aid to the contras-and eventually direct U.S. military intervention.

The U.S. government hopes to use peace negotiations to minimize the extent of public protests-especially in the United States and Central America, if they decide to move in for a kill.

The U.S. government has also demanded that any cease-fire in Nicaragua be negotiated directly between the Sandinista government and the contras. The other means at its disposal to attempt to destabilize the Nicaraguan government and economy.

The U.S. government, for example, controls world finance and commerce. It has blocked foreign credits to Nicaragua from international lending agencies, resulting in the loss of over $550 million in development loans.

It has also put tremendous pressure on the European and Latin American capitalist countries to halt their aid programs to Nicaragua.

West Germany, France, Spain, and Italy, which once had important aid programs to Nicaragua, have ended them. The Netherlands has sharply curtailed its $12-million assistance program. In the case of France, President François Mitterand recently halted disbursements on a $100-million loan because the Sandinistas were not able to make interest payments.

And, more important, the U.S. government has been effective in blocking vitally needed oil shipments to Nicaragua.

[In this, it has received the aid of the Soviet bureaucracy, which last May cut oil shipments to Nicaragua by 40 percent. According to The New York Times (Aug.

forces in the region with the Nicaraguan contras. The FMLN guerrilla forces in El Salvador, for example, must lay down their arms and participate in the political process according to conditions established by the government of José Napoleon Duarte.

But unlike the contras in Nicaragua, the liberation fighters in El Salvador receive virtually no foreign military support. In fact, the contra war in Nicaragua was initially justified by the United States to interdict fictitious arms shipments from Nicaragua to the FMLN.

This aspect of the Arias plan strengthens the U.S.-backed regimes in Central America and contributes to containing and isolating the Nicaraguan Revolution.

Right to negotiate

The Sandinista government, which is under the imperialist gun, has every right to negotiate with whomever it chooses to gain a reprieve against the continued contra But the Revolution cannot Nicaraguan survive in isolation in U.S. imperialism's Andrew Ritchie Funeral for one of 31,200 contra victims 20, 1987), the Soviet leadership made it clear to Sandinista officials that "Moscow was not willing to underwrite the Nicaraback yard. The only genuine allies of the Nicaraguan Revolution are the workers and peasants in the other Central American nations and throughout the world.

The Nicaraguan Revolution is closely bound up with the extension of the revolution and the establishment of a socialist federation of Central American states.

Only then will there be a lasting peace in the region. At the present time, however, the Sandinistas have every right to maneuver and exploit-diplomatically-the contradictions, crises, and difficulties of U.S. imperialism.

Task of antiwar movement The U.S. anti-intervention movement must not be derailed into calling for support to a peace agreement the Sandinistas have been compelled to sign.

In addition to denying the right to self-determination to the people in El Salvador or Guatemala, this agreement only plays into the hands of capitalist politicians in this country who talk about peace while guan early 1960s."] In search of oil In June 1987, the Sandinista leadership made a desperate appeal for international help to relieve Nicaragua's critical oil shortage.

Vice President Sergio Ramirez and FSLN Commander Carlos Nuñez traveled to various countries in Eastern and Western Europe and Africa in search of oil. But, according to Ramirez, the efforts "did not provide the results we hoped for."

In mid-August, following the signing of the regional "peace" agreement by the five Central American presidents, Sergio Ramirez reiterated this appeal for oil. "Unless we receive oil," he said, "we will be facing serious problems and our peace efforts that are unfolding in Central America will be weakened."

During the first five years of the revolution, Mexico and Venezuela had supplied most of Nicaragua's oil. But in 1985, under pressure from the U.S. State Department, both countries suspended oil shipments.

In late July 1987, Mexico and Venezuela again declined to restore oil shipments to Nicaragua-despite the Sandinista government's urgent appeals.

So long as the Sandinista government is committed to defending the Nicaraguan Revolution, political and economic pressures of this kind will inevitably be exerted by the U.S. government to attempt to roll back the revolution.

preparing for war.

While Reagan and the Republican Party have taken the most intransigent stance in opposition to the Nicaraguan Revolution, the Democrats, including their most liberal wing, are no less hostile or treacherous.

The liberal Democrats will also insist on "irreversible" concessions before they will allow the Nicaraguan people to go in peace.

The central reason for the current impasse of U.S. imperialism in relation to Nicaragua is the mass opposition of the American people to U.S. intervention.

Any "breathing space," "guarantees," or temporary peace that the Nicaraguan Revolution is able to secure is based on the mobilization of the U.S. antiwar sentiment and the continued resistance of the Nicaraguan people to contra aggression.

The demands of the movement must remain "U.S. Hands Off Nicaragua!" and "U.S. Out of Central America." These demands, moreover, will give the Nicaraguan government the most leverage for negotiating the best possible settlement in the region.

Dynamics