Berkeley Demonstrators Maltreated Thanks for the reminder to renew. I wouldn't want to be without NACLA. Also thanks for "being there" for my daughter and her friend when their awareness was sparked into a flame by the maltreatment of demonstrators in Berkeley protesting in the streets this past year. They are now "friends of NACLA," and I am proud of all three of you! Joan C. Gilmore Venice, CA Praise for Nairn "Endgame" must be one of the best pieces of analysis I've read on Central America. You can count on me to encourage all my sister and brother "hacks" down here in Washington, D.C., to read it, devour it and memorize it. NACLA and Nairn--what a combination! Cindy M. Buhl Human Rights Coordinator, Coalition for a New Foreign and Military Policy Washington, D.C. New Role for Dominica I recently visited Dominica. Since Report on the Americas rarely covers events in the Caribbean, I thought you might be interested in an update of events there. In Dominica the inva- sion of Grenada was a striking success for the government of Prime Minister Eugenia Charles. It created a wave of nationalistic pride similar to that Mar- garet Thatcher ignited with the short Malvinas/Falklands war. Charles has seized this opening to implant a string of measures which militarize or other- wise extend more authoritarian con- trol over her country. Dominica did not receive U.S. mil- itary aid before Reagan; after the Gre- nada invasion six military advisers were sent to train Dominican police, and several jeeps and a patrol boat were delivered. The Dominican Army was disbanded in 1981 after a coup at- tempt on the civilian government. Since then, security threats have been met by a special police Security Squad, mandated since the Grenada crisis to keep both internal and exter- 2 nal order. Charles' Freedom Party introduced two bills in February. The State Secu- rity Act institutes citizens' arrest for espionage; the Treason Act allows death by hanging for those found plot- ting against the state. (There are six ex-soldiers appealing treason convic- tions.) Many objected to the proposed legislation, and even the pro-Charles New Chronicle, the only newspaper published in Dominica, voiced reser- vations. The bills sailed through the House of Assembly and took effect on Feb- ruary 20. Seventeen of the 21 House members belong to Charles' Freedom Party. The United States has become a major player in Dominican politics. Many Dominicans are star-struck by the sudden notoriety their little coun- try-usually confused with the Dominican Republic-received when Charles was spotlighted for her coor- dinating role in the Grenada invasion. She received an invitation to the White House in those heady weeks of the military action, and the aid faucet has been open since. An aid package from the United States, Canada and Great Britain is finally allowing the government to rebuild the badly di- lapidated roads of the 300-square-mile island. No government action could be more universally popular. The main U.S. thrust in the region appears more and more baldly as mili- tary. Secretary of State Shultz has af- firmed interest in an expansive "reg- ional police force" of the Organiza- tion of Eastern Caribbean States and Barbados, envisioned to begin with about 1,800 troops and to cost $100 million. Jon Stein New York, NY The November-December 1984 issue of Report on the Americas will be de- voted to developments in the Eastern Caribbean-The Editors. Latin American Drug Connection Just an idea. Maybe you could de- vote an issue to analyzing the flow of drugs into the United States-with a particular emphasis on the various Latin American connections. Perhaps you could shed some light on how this drug capital is laundered; any patterns of investment in Latin America (or the United States); ties of the various Latin exile communities to the drug trade; how maintaining the drug trade might be put to domestic political use. Given the devastating social impact of this drug trade here, such an issue may prove invaluable to your readers. Randy Nyrkkanen Dearborn, MI See Pennyv Lernoux, "Golden Gate- ways Jfr Drugs: The Miami Connec- tion," The Nation, February 18, for an excellent look at this subject-The Editors. Wary of Major Media Your journal has been invaluable. It is the kind of reporting we simply can- not get from the major media. I have recently returned from a week in Nicaragua with Witness for Peace. Your Report, "Target Nicara- gua" and your recent Report, "End- game," provided me with background information I could not find else- where. In our meetings with Daniel Ortega and the Sandinista leadership as well as with Roger Gamble (deputy chief of mission, U.S. Embassy) and lead- ers of opposition parties, it was very helpful to be well informed. If there is one thing I learned in a visit as brief as one week, it is that we should be wary of major media inter- pretations of what is going on in Cen- tral America. John Fish Chicago, IL
