Nicaraguan women mobilised by Sandinistas: what will happen to next year's planned elections?
The worst ever disaster for
IT IS ONLY now that the extent of the damages caused by Hurricane Joan on October 22 is being known. It is the worst ever disaster that hit this country already plagued by fifty years of military dictatorship, two years of revolutionary war, eight years of foreign aggression, and natural disasters such as the 1972 earthquake which flattened Managua, and the 1982
The front page of the Nicaraguan Nuevo Diarto dated October 24 had a harrowing picture that looked like Hiroshima after the bombing. Headline: Here war Bluefields.
Of the main port of the Atlantic Coast, the centre of Crule culture, only five houses were left standing. It had a population of about 40,000 and survived on fishing and agriculture. But all the fishing boats, all the plantations, all the crops. the whole infrastructure of the Atlanlic Coast have gune. The hurricane hiew at 160 miles per hour. Less is known about Puerto Cabezas since there is no more inland access to it. The silting of many rivers and destruction of 15,000 square kilometers of new forest represent a major ecological disaster.
Heavy rains and strong winds hit the rest of the country. The percent of the population has been made homeless, the main export crop, coffee, has been hardest hit, eighty per cent of it
Jost. Three hundred schools, the fruit of many years of the literacy campaign, have been
Never in its history has Nicaragua suffered so much. But what is less well known is the way in which the country and its government reacted to the disaster. The Sandinista leaders organised an extremely efficient evacuation of some 240,000 people from the coastal or lowlying areas to rafer places and shelters equiped with food and medical supplies. Thanks to this, the death toll was limited to seventy-nine
Press censorship was brought in lo prevent the right-wing La Prensa from creating panic. The apposition newspaper's coverage of the was minimal and it attacked the goverment for 'militarising' the disaster. Intemational aid was immodiately requested by the Sandinistas, stating that Nicaragua will accept any type of aid, as long as there are no conditions attached.
The US govemment accused the Sandinistas of incompetence, claiming that they could not be trusted to administer reliel assistance? and that they wanted to use the storm as another platfom for propaganda against the contras. But all Latin America countries have heen called on to come to the aid of Nicaragus, Mexico setting the example: The first plane to land was Cuban. The European Community.
Spain, France, Belgaum, Austna, the conservative West German govemment, all sent immediate relief, despite Washington's pressures to hlock it. The British goverment's response war pathetic, £10,000 was first announced. then €250,000. Thishowever is for the wholeregion, and it is unlikely that Nicaragua will get much if anything. The solidarity campaign and the main charities launched an emergency appeal and some councils like Manchester. Lambeth and Edinburgh twinned with Blucfields and Puerto Caberas on the Atlantic Coast set up their own appeals.
Rocovery will be an extremely slow process, in extraordinary burden as the economy was in deep crisis already following eight years of Foreign aggression. Attacks have since been carried out by the contras and several civilians
Despite the lack of media coverage, it is essential that the extent of the disaster and its political implications should be widely known. What for example will happen to the municipal elections planned for the next year, Nicaragua needs nassive aid so that the revolution can survive. Long-term solidarity at all levels is the
Hurricane Appeal: Nicaragua Solidarity Campaign. 23 Bevenden Street, London NI
Maria Astorga