The Sandinistas
I was happy to see NACLA give
so much space to a debate over the
1993 crisis in Nicaragua (Roger
Burbach’s “Nicaragua: The Pot
Boils Over” [January/February
1994], and subsequent letters
[May/June 1994]). But I was disap-
pointed that the participants didn’t
have more to say about what Bur-
bach called the determination of
“the Bush presidency, and now
even the Clinton Administration, to
remove all Sandinista influence
within the [Nicaraguan] army and
turn it into a force that will not dare
to challenge U.S. interests or dic-
tates.” It is instructive to review
what actually happened in the first
few months of “even the Clinton
Administration.”
On March 6, 1993, an unnamed
Justice Department official tried to
link the Sandinista National Libera-
tion Front (FSLN) to the terrorist
bombing of New York’s World
Trade Center less than two weeks
earlier. Then, U.S. officials used
the May 23 explosion of a clandes-
tine arsenal in Managua to charge
the FSLN with all sorts of terrorist
acts and to demand the removal of
army head Gen. Humberto Ortega.
On July 29, liberal senators
Christopher Dodd and Patrick
Leahy formed a bloc with reac-
tionary senator Jesse Helms to push
for suspending U.S. aid to
Nicaragua until the FSLN was
cleared of accusations of terrorism.
On August 19, a rearmed Contra
group took nearly 40 Nicaraguan
officials and others hostage to press
demands for Humberto Ortega’s
removal.
On September 2, President Vio-
leta Chamorro finally announced a
timetable for Ortega’s retirement.
Within a month, the recontra kid-
nappings, the indignant editorials,
the Congressional resolutions, and
the supposed World Trade Center
links had all but vanished. U.S.
leftists have a tendency towards
wishful thinking about the “pro-
gressive aspects” of incoming
Democratic administrations. This
can lead to dangerous miscalcula-
tions in political strategy. The Rea-
gan-style disinformation policy
“even the Clinton Administration”
orchestrated last year should be a
warning against these delusions, and a spur to developing realistic
Left strategies.
David L. Wilson
Nicaragua Solidarity Network
New York, NY
Urgent Action Appeal
Our article, “The Emergence of
Cross-Border Labor Solidarity”
[July/August, 1994], documented
the firing of Mexican workers by
General Electric and Honeywell for
attempting to organize in the sub-
sidiaries of those corporations. We
now ask readers to write, demand-
ing that the workers be offered
reinstatement, that other labor-law
violations be corrected, and that the
corporations promise to respect the
right of their workers to organize.
Send letters to Frank Doyle, Execu-
tive Vice-President, General Elec-
tric Company, 3135 Easton Turnpike, Fairfield, CT 06431, and to Michael
Bonsignore, Chairman, Honeywell,
Inc., P.O. Box 524, Minneapolis, MN 55408. Also, please write to
your Senators and Representatives
requesting a Congressional investi-
gation and hearings on labor-rights
violations in Mexico. Please send
copies of your letters to the
UE/FAT at 2400 Oliver Bldg., 535
Smithfield St., Pittsburgh, PA
15222. Financial contributions can
be sent to the UE/FAT Solidarity
Fund at the above address.
Robin Alexander
Peter Gilmore
United Electrical Workers (UE)
Pittsburgh, PA