El Salvador Trip Notes   by Rick Steves, December, 1991:

(This is a rough copy of my journal from the two week Center For Global Education
tour I took with 22 others. For simplicity and for the safety of some of the
locals we met, I've made minor changes in a few names, places and times. We very
likely will sponsor a return trip for 12 days in December, 1992. Call me at ETBD
for more information. Any part of this journal may be reprinted. Thank you for
reading about my experience in these countries--Rick.)


Culture Shock without Jet Lag: Flying South
     On the drive to the airport talk radio entertained normal folks mourning
the imprisonment and suffering of white hostages in Lebanon and dealt with the
problem of making after-Thanksgiving left-overs more interesting. First World
loved ones wondered why anyone would go to the risk and expense of visiting El
Salvador and Nicaragua. I was reminded that I have a wife and children. A trip
down there was risky.      
     The Houston airport lobby, filled with Salvadorans, was a developing world anti-
chamber. Men sported new boom boxes and women carried flight bags on their heads.
I was charmed by their beautiful kids, but wondered where they get their money?
Boarding the plane I passed a family in first class who paid a campesino's annual
wage for the option to fly on that side of the curtain.
     It took thirty minutes for the flight attendant to get everyone
straightened out - people in the right seat, bags properly stowed, overhead
lockers finally squeezed shut. The problem was the norm. Our flight landed on
time.
     Hot and muggy, we disembarked to be greeted by El Salvador's most famous
poster child: the one-legged "the innocent victim of the leftist guerrillas." She
hadn't moved since my visit three years ago. But a new guy stood next to her, a
poster of ARENA party president Cristiani. It will be interesting to see just how
El Salvador's "fledgling democracy," as our embassy calls it, has grown since my
1988 visit and in the two years since the far right wing ARENA party assumed
power. There is a tense, fragile but hopeful truce in the air and we sailed right
out of the airport, through the throng of craned necks and black heads and into
the street to meet our guide. He had seven busy days of meetings and experiences
lined up for our group of 22. This was "educational tourism" and the class was
"problems, poverty and politics of Central America." Part one was El Salvador.
Next week we'd do part two: Nicaragua.

First Day. Liberation, Opium and Orphans:
     We started our Sunday visiting a liberation theology church in a poor
neighborhood of San Salvador. Local children learn the bible through developing world
eyes. When asked in what form Jesus was sent to them, they answer "poor." This
is the church of the "popular class"...standing room only under corrugated tin
and dangling neon. The paper doves on the wall are named "Justicia" and "Amore". 
     In the rebel offensive of 1989 this church was bombed. The new church was
built just outside the community but this is a base Christian community, the
briquettes of the popular dissent, and they insist on worshipping inside their
neighborhood. This is their reality. Their life is faith based. If the priest
wanted anyone to preach to, he would have to preach inside the community.
     Churches that are part of an organized community are persecuted. This
church, San Salvador's oldest and most active base Christian congregation, has
lost over 620 martyrs, all slain since 1980. After the bombing it was too
dangerous to worship here so they went into their "period of pilgrimage" moving
weekly from home to home. 
     Standing at the back of the church, my eleven year old girl friend in a
white dress, big brown eyes and a ponytail tied in pink tugged on my arm and
introduced me to the portrait of "El Signor" above us. Romero, the assassinated
archbishop, hung next to portraits of three of the neighborhood's martyrs. The
paintings, riddled with machine gun holes, showed the anger this poor community
aroused. 
     El Salvador's largest coin is worth a dime. The offering was only coins.
A soldier, equipped with two years' wages worth of uniform and weaponry stood
outside, low profile but very much there. As the congregation stood I could count
all 24 of our group. Even Art was tall in this crowd.
     After the mass we met with some women church and community leaders. Their
favorite book was the Acts of the Apostles and they modeled themselves after the
first Christian communities.  "The gospel is to be practiced, not just read. Then
it becomes the living word." Their one message to us: "our beloved El Salvador
needs you to help stop this war."  
     After lunch we had a free hour at the hotel. Two blocks away a stadium was
filled and festive. A fundamentalist revival, government blessed and well-funded,
was packing them in. Ushers in bright outfits and big smiles, a powerful sound
system, pop music and all the escapist theology out-stretched arms can handle.
Religion in the squalor of Central America can be a powerful opiate. When the
Catholic church went popular, "sects," as the locals call the charismatic,
fundamental-type churches that remind the poor that your rewards await in heaven,
appeared to fill that void. The message: "We are not of this world (but vote for
me anyway)."
     Later that day we drove out of town, into a conflictive zone near the
Guazapa volcano, to a Lutheran-sponsored orphanage. We celebrated the mass with
the teachers and children of the orphanage. Eucharist of tortillas and wine from
a Cinzano bottle. Afterwards the kids entertained. The tots doing jumping bean-
type dances to tunes called "the frog" and "Everybody loves bananas." They wore
green shirts, given to them as the class of the offensive of '89. (There is a new
wave of orphans after each offensive in this civil war.) The war is pervasive
here. Even the kid's Christmas songs talk of happy days when the war is over.

Martyred Nuns and the '89 offensive.
     December 2. Eleven years ago today three nuns and a lay worker (all US
citizens) were stopped by the military on the way into the capital from the
airport, taken down a side road, raped, tortured and murdered. We drove to the
spot for a memorial service presided over by six priests including a bishop from
California.
     Maryknoll sisters played guitar and sang as Gringos and locals remembered.
Small guitars, sweet voices,the tropical drone of bugs, and a percussion of
machetes hacking sugar cane in the distance. Sweat dripped about a drop every ten
seconds from the bishop's chin as he reminded us that it is great to die for
truth but it is also great to live for it.
     I could only imagine what these trees had seen on that horrible day. Today
the weeds were trampled not by soldiers, rape and nuns but by pilgrims
remembering this event in solidarity with the continuing struggles of the
Salvadoran people. Passing the peace of Christ on this spot was powerful. Each
hug and handshake said clearly peace with justice. This was our third communion
in two days--it had me wondering about spiritual diabetes.
     Back at our hotel we met with an Englishman who reports for the BBC, NPR
and the Washington Post. He explained that in 1988 the international community
told the FMLN (leftist guerrillas) that if they win the war there would be no
money to run and rebuild the country. The FMLN realized a negotiated settlement
was the answer. The Offensive of 1989 effectively disproved claims from the right
that the left was loosing steam. The guerrillas carried out the offensive to win
respect at the negotiating table. They nearly won the war. 
     Americans who were in San Salvador during the '89 offensive tell
fascinating stories. Our guide was going home on the eve of the anticipated
explosion. He forgot the beer, drove a block to the store, got out of his car,
turned around and the previously empty street was filled with fully armed
guerrillas. He crawled under his car, waited out 30 minutes of gunfire, noticed
that the lady in the shop was actually still open, bought the beer and went home
to sit out the rest of the battle. A Center for Global Education group, just like
ours, had just arrived and spent four days holed up in our hotel. The reporter
remembered going into the rich neighborhood and running along side members of the
coffee elite fleeing with Gucci bags filled with their belongings saying, "We
can't kill all these people. We have to negotiate."
     The new US policy in El Salvador is one of neglect and how to get cleanly
out of this mess. Locals know that the post war battles will be a political. The
FMLN knows its only future is as a political power rather than a military one.
(Not an easy transition for the hardened commanders in the hills). The population
(right and left) is of a mind set to oppose whoever (right or left) blocks the
move towards peace. Colin Powell recently reportedly told foot-dragging right
wingers that a tropical storm can be even worse than a desert storm.

Be a patriot. Kill a Priest.
     We visited the Democratic Convergence party headquarters -actually in the
government now with 8 of 64 seats in congress. Three years ago their leadership
was in exile for their own safety.
     A deputy explained to us that it's clear now to most that negotiations, not
war, is the way. The Oligarchy-backed far right military faction wants to cause
chaos to derail negotiations. Even Bush himself sees he can only loose by
maintaining a communist focus in El Salvador. Remember the standard insult from
the right around the world is that the others are communists. With the end of US
money in sight the right must deal with reality...and that's the people of this
country. The chiefs of the army are nervous. El Salvador armed itself because
political spaces were closed. That is changing. As a people we want to show the
world a political El Salvador, able to solve its problems peacefully.
     About 80% of Salvadoran activists are Christian. Faith powers them - even
in the FMLN. El Salvador's rich history of martyrs led to this moment of
negotiated peace.
     The growth of sects is a problem throughout Latin American. It's a
political, and not religious problem, imposed upon us from the North. It stops
people from being involved in political action. Many are financed by US AID. Our
local Christian TV station was brought to us with US AID money. 
     Next we crossed the hall and the political spectrum to meet with the far
right Arena party. As I pressed the deputy on if the government is able to
control the army to Christiani's satisfaction, a shady character appeared in the
back and our guide decided we shouldn't pursue this topic. He had seen this guy
at many of his meetings.
     Then we drove through the elite class neighborhood to the lush and cool
haven of learning, the UCA (University of Central America). This wasn't so cool
in the offensive of 89. It was here that the Jesuit leadership of the school, six
priests, were murdered. We visited the spot and heard the story, seeing gruesome
photos and relics of the violence: a Bible ripped in two by machine gun bullets,
a scorched portrait of Romero with a melted frame, another portrait with a bullet
in the heart, and the rose garden planted on the spot of the murders by the
caretaker whose wife and daughter were also killed so there would be no
witnesses.
     At the campus chapel next to the graves of the Jesuits were crosses of
other nearly nameless victims of this war- names and dates of death on crosses,
stacked like folding chairs against the wall, a quiet audience next to the much-
visited graves of the six Jesuits. At the entrance of the chapel reads two famous
Romero quotes: "With the people of El Salvador it's easy to be a good pastor." 
And "if they kill me I will be resurrected in the people of El Salvador." He knew
when the military circulated slogans like "Be a patriot. Kill a priest." that
they weren't kidding around.
     That night, to shake things up a bit, I ganged up with seven others in two
cabs and went to the Sheridan Hotel (scene of the famous guerilla attack
embarrassing the Yankee green berets in '89) in search of local elites or First
World agents of oppression. The place was pretty dead. A security guard followed
us around until he figured we were too stupid to be of any trouble. We settled
into the bar for rum and cokes, recognized, even here, as Cuba libres. We
practiced saying CIA in pig latin. I said I was with the YMCA. We decided a fun
way for peasants to play pranks on gringos enjoying "homestays" is to bed them
down on the spot the family cow is potty trained on. I am working on a cure for
US AID (Acquired Independence Deficiency) and pondering the relationship of the
massacres of '32 and the early '80s to the Biblical Jubilee year. 
     Back at our hotel a dance was going on. It was the finale of the hair-
styling convention. Imagine that, a hair-styling convention in El Salvador. Four
of us talked ourselves in without the $10 cover and were immediately adopted by
the nicely coiffed and dance-hungry ladies.

Salvadoran history lesson: 
1522 - Land discovered by Europe, given to Conquistadors. Indigenous groups had
communal system, no concept of land ownership. 
1821 - Independence of local land-owners (Criollos) from Spain
Wealth came from crops: 
Indigo - first plantations. Made purple dye.
Cacao  - next big cash crop
Coffee - third stage, in the 1850s. Coffee grows well where cacao and indigo
didn't, in the highlands. Unfortunately, this was the only affordable land left
for people to live on. This very profitable "brown gold" takes three years to
mature so it's impossible for the hand-to-mouth peasant to get into it as a
business. Coffee only needs two to three months of labor a year so peasants will
by definition be under-employed.
1881 - The Oligarchy declared all non-coffee land was rightfully the state's. The
state then sold it to the highest bidders. There was no mass up-rising as El
Salvador's infamous "14 families"  emerge. These were mostly Europeans getting
in on the bottom floor. (Christiani is Italian. His wife's family was German.
They were among these).
1881 - National Guard (which the US funds today) was established in this same
year. The roots of today's wealth and problems were planted in these coffee
fields.
1929 - A first world depression is a developing world cataclysm. Wages and employment
fall with the market.
1932 was a horrific year. Four percent of El Salvador's population was massacred
as Indians organized with urban communists (whose leader was an intellectual
named Farabundi Marti). Anyone in Indian clothes was killed. The uprising, with
lousy organization and communication, was a total flop. It's called the Matanza
(bigger than a massacre). 40,000 were killed in five days. To be an Indian was
a crime (even today, you'll see no Indian dress). Marti was executed. The
National Guard, in synch with the latest European styles, wore fascist uniforms.
For the next generation, peasants looked only at the ground (a stark contrast
today).
1950-1970 - Cotton and sugar cane became the new cash crops.
1970s - Export crop system collapses. With the help of Marx in the cities and
liberation theology in the rural areas, the peasants organize. The stooped
peasant was tired of carrying the weight of two repressive institutions - the
Oligarchy and the church. 
     In Liberation Theology the priest is necessary primarily for sacramental
purposes. He is directed from below. Because of liberation theology, peasant
raised his eyes. The FMLN (the Farabundi Marti National Liberation Front, named
after the early organizer who was executed in the Matanza of '32) was formed to
work on the land distribution problem.

Colonial Theology (pre-Liberation Theology Catholicism):
1. strict separation of heaven and earth, bodies and souls
2. stressed individual rather than community needs. 
3. wealth was a blessing, poverty was God's will. Don't question it. Slave ships
were named after Jesus and the saints.
4. stressed obedience to authority, church and political.
Salvation was determined by your acceptance of your place.
5. when you die - heaven is great. That's all that matters.

The roll of the priest is to help assure your salvation along these lines. Only
in '65 after Vatican II did things change. Bibles became available in Spanish.
People read the word.
     About this time, many Christian workers came to Central America after
Castro, enthusiastic soldiers in the fight to stop the spread of Communism.
Ironically, their first hand experience with poor communities led them to get
liberation theology rolling.
     In Liberation Theology all have dignity by being creatures of God therefore
society should be structured to give that dignity.
Liberation Theology rescued Jesus. The Virgin Mary was the prime focus in
traditional Latin American outlook. Traditionally, women in church could identify
closest with the pain of a woman whose son had been crucified.
     In Liberation Theology, Jesus lived out the faith to its ultimate
consequence and was killed. He challenged all aspects of life - like Romero,
Jesuits and Base Christian leaders. These people are manifestations of Jesus.
     "Gospel" was a word used in Roman times for a political message, a military
propaganda term of the Roman army. The cross announced Rome's "good news" that
another subversive had been done away with...a Roman victory. For Christians to
use the Gospel and the cross was a radical turning of the tables.

Methods of Liberation Theology:
1: Analyze and reflect on your life situation socially
2: study scriptures in light of this and in search of direction.
3: take action.
Base Christian Community success is based on real participation and the
solidarity of the communities.
     Vatican II decided that the church must be in this world. "How can the
Bible be relevant to modern world of progress. The Medellien conference of Latin
American bishops in 1988 followed this up asking the Bible can be applied to the
oppressed and poor world.
1. Institutionalized violence (landlessness and structural hunger) is as sinful
as individual violence.
2. Neutrality is impossible. If you're not involved, you're involved.
3. The Bible preaches a preferential option for the poor.
     The answer the "You're not of this world" argument, interpret this as one
can stand up to and not conform to the dominant culture.

New Hope Close to the Ground in El Salvador     by Rick Steves
     The world is full of islands, sunny but not fit for cruise ships. Only
"educational tours" visit the less idyllic corners of what we too optimistically
call the developing world. Landlessness is the weight which has kept peasants
down throughout history. Land is life in Central America. And land is the
necessary focus of any "reality tour" of Latin American.
     I spent two weeks in El Salvador and Nicaragua. To visit the land reform
battle front, we drove two hours from San Salvador city through army checkpoints,
over bombed-out bridges--heavily guarded and precariously rebuilt--into the
"conflictive" zone of Usulatan.  Our target was a refugee community of about six-
hundred people. Like a fifth of all Salvadorans, they fled the bloody death squad
1980s. After ten years of exile in a peaceful unclaimed corner of Panama they
returned to their homeland. Their camp was becoming a town. Its name, Nueva
Esperanza, or "New Hope."
     We met with the community leaders in their outdoor chapel of San Romero de
America. (Locals aren't waiting for the Vatican to saint their patron, the
Salvadoran arch-bishop who was assassinated by the army.) The community lives off
a little international charity and what they can grow. They all eat equally,
spending the equivalent of $4000 ($7 per person) a month for food. Money needed
to finish the homes must be spent on milk for the kids and the sick. They hope
to buy cows soon. Meat was a once a month treat. But lately that's not possible.
Poor as they were, they still provided a warm welcome. A lady brought a crate of
Coke on her head as we listened to the community's epic story. As we opened our
Cokes our host joked, "We're here to serve the client."
     The Salvadoran government is threatened by "non-government organizations."
Even today, it calls most "NGOs" communist fronts. It allows refugee repatriation
only to those who abandon their community, and are willing to be dispersed one
family at a time. Most communities insist on staying together. "In El Salvador
if the poor don't struggle, we die."
     As a council person explained the problem of land reclamation, like a slow
moving lasso, it surrounded us. A cowboy-looking messenger came with urgent news.
The dreaded National Guard was moving a new neighboring community of refugees out
of the land they claimed. The people of Nueva Esperanza needed to stand in
solidarity at the crossroads to head off the National Guard and convince them
that the new group could stay at Nueva Esperanza. The leader requested our
presence. This village, which had nothing,  automatically mobilized to help 150
strangers who needed land. There was no question, they would stand up to the
National Guard and then take the refugees in--a refugee camp within a refugee
camp. The popular class of Central America has only one weapon: solidarity.
     This upped the anti considerably and we suddenly saw ourselves slipping
from concerned students to active participants. Group dynamics kicked into high
gear. All of us wanted to help. Many felt a need for a quick gut fast solidarity
response. Others were more careful. As our guides discussed the appropriate
action to take, a breathless woman with long straight black hair and a blue shawl
arrived. Her message: the National Guard had taken the community's leader (a one-
legged man, whose physical condition was evidence enough that he was a former
FMLN guerilla) and five Europeans (detained and charged for "inciting land take-
over and violence against the army"). But the community was allowed to come to
Nueva Esperanza...a victory for now.
     Then, just as we realized our dilemma on whether or not to act was solved
for us, over the clearing streamed 150 refugees: men, women, children, all
carrying their worldly belongings in corn bags that read USA. Little girls with
loads on their heads marched as adults. They calmly set up camp, hitched
hammocks, comforted babies, and got out the tortillas as the United Nations
observation jeep rolled in.
     The community held a fascinating pow wow - cowboy hats, machetes and ragged
jeans. The children played quietly and waited calmly--not traumatized, just
waiting again for the bus to justice.   A deep purple sunset was the warm-up
act for a sky full of stars and the chirping of countless crickets. Nueva
Esperanza housed 150 refugees and 25 gringos graciously. To make the new-comers
feel more welcome, the villagers gave us the town hall filled with mattresses and
spread the refugees out among the community families. The open air church was
filled with hammocks.    Most of our group slept in the hall. I dragged my
mattress out under the stars, a decision that seemed great until the wind sent
the temperature down. Satellites blipped across the sky, a constant reminder that
there was a First World looking on. 
     Roosters from all corners howled competitively through the night. At one
point a human on a radio seemed to be singing with them as an operatic
accompaniment. Pigs roamed threatening to snuggle. I was so cold I might not have
argued. A black silhouette dog pranced in and out. A child coughed through much
of the night.
     At dawn the roosters seemed to taunt each other... I can't heeear you.
Fires crackled and the community began to stir. Watching one particularly
organized family set up was impressive. Their platform was filled with roosters,
dad rolled up the ground clothes and stowed the hammocks, as mom carried water
from the well. Corn hung from the leafy roof of their shelter, fire wood was
stacked neatly, and two boys listened to the FMLN radio report with all the
interest of a gringo commuter checking the traffic report. I could see clearly
the popular foundation of a revolution that has survived even against the ingrown
ideology of the USA (and $4.5 billion of military aid). These people don't ask
for the American dream (as El Salvador's US-backed ARENA party so eloquently told
us). They don't apologize. To them, land and peace are the staples of a decent
life.
     A villager narrated the community story (a modern-day Exodus) as told in
the church mural: with the need to bury Bibles, the murders, exile in Panama, the
return--with this mural, plank by plank--the new land, the assassination of
Romero, and the "nueva esperanza." As children watched and listened, the seeds
of much future folk lore were planted. Some day, when the war's over, life will
be good in Nueva Esperanza.

(Rick Steves, author of Europe Through the Back Door, recently returned from a
tour by Augsburg College's Center For Global Education in Minneapolis.) 
      
The Jesuit on a motorcycle
     Driving out of Nueva Esperanza, the local priest rode his motorcycle in the
safety of our international wake. In the middle of nowhere on a long and rutted
muddy road, the Marines stopped us and eyed the priest. The major insisted, in
fluent English, that he come with him. The priest explained he was legitimate
priest of this parish and blocking him was unconstitutional. They talked soft and
frank. Ten camouflaged marines armed to the teeth and 24 gringos in tee-shirts
and cameras stood by. I was five feet from the major as he told the priest, "We
don't need this shit. Stay in your country. This is our place." (We passed an
armed American advisor at the next bridge, who was apparently welcome to meddle).
Understanding the power of our presence, we stayed and waited things out. To see
the steel nerves of the priest and the macho power of what the locals call
"insecurity" forces square off was more thrilling than I can explain. After
searching our buses (we had bags of the five interantionales who were arrested
yesterday) we were on our way. The priest was allowed to follow us...this time.
He was making a point that according to law, the armed forces cannot intimidate
campesinos in their daily routine by stopping them and asking for their
identification papers.

US EMBASSY in San Salvador:
     We visited the fully airconditioned boonsborough of Capitalism behind the
most fortified wall in El Salvador. Nothing but the best for the forces of
freedom and liberty. Promoting democracy is making the developing world safe for
investment. (It's amazing to me that an American who worked here could read this
and perceive it as complementary.) 
     During our meeting the American official explained that the US embassy is
here to help US companies looking for a market. This is a positive time, a time
of negotiations. In spite of his  bureaucratic kind of detached compassion and
his pure party line, he spoke with more flexibility and understanding than I
heard here three years ago. He actually admitted that the popular armed
insurrection was justified from 1930 until 1987. But now, with a negotiated
settlement possible, continuing the war is wrong.

The Salvadoran Pentagon:
     The publicity man for the Salvadoran army started his talk saying that the
Salvadoran army is so good on human rights that when their war is over, it can
help UN forces. He reminded us that "a rapist or thief will still be a rapist or
thief after joining any army. Education is the problem."
     He showed a destain for the "popular" (Catholic) church explaining that
these days priests are too materialistic and forget the nature of spiritual
bread. He sounded relieved to report that the sects, "who feed the soul and leave
the body alone" are growing fast.
     "Land is not a problem. The real challenge for the Salvadoran society is
to create jobs and develop respect for private property. No where on earth has
land reform resulted in any progress. If we give every family land soon we'd all
have about as much as the tile I'm standing on to live on. Why not build
factories?" I thought, refusing to see campesinos need for land is like expecting
American Indians to just go to the factory. "Okay, here's your starter kit. Now
fit in."
     Showing the army's sensitivity to world opinion, he complained, "The whole
world screams at us if we stop a priest from being political." He added, "And
CISPES is just a front for a world wide communist conspiracy." Just like three
years ago, the army representative made a point to single out CISPES as the most
effective solidarity group in the USA. "How could little El Salvador struggle
against such a huge organization as that which supports CISPES? Only with the
help of the US government. But we want peace. Violence begets violence. We'll
even negotiate with the FMLN to bring peace." 
     When asked about the five arrested internationales..."if you were caught
pushing the campesinos to land take-overs you'd be in big trouble too. They are
self-deporting today." (great double speak.) Our country is plagued by what we
call "return ticket revolutionaries."
     In each of these meetings with the right (US embassy, ARENA, the local
military) I felt like a kid given one wack at the Pinyata of political truth.
With a large group, it was frustrating to have only a question or two, especially
when the politicians were so adept at dodging questions.

Interviewing the FMLN (a week later in Nicaragua)
     A small wiry, nervous man, who kept rubbing the fingers that stuck numbly
out from his too tight cast and who's eyes darted about as if he was expecting
an ambush said we could tape record but please no photos. He was a 35 year old
biologist from University of Central American in San Salvador. He was able to
meet with us openly as a member of the FMLN only because we were outside of El
Salvador. It was a thrill for all of us to actually talk with a member of El
Salvador's leftist armed resistance. 
     He welcomed us by making it clear that the FMLN always recognizes the
difference between governments and their people. Below are a few quotes from our
interview with him:
     The situation right now in Central American is that every country is
basically in line with the neo-liberal policy of the US. Neo-liberalism proposes
to overcome economic injustice of the region but it ignores the roots of the
problem: economic inequality, lack of democracy and poverty.
     The conflict in Central America is not created by the USSR and Cuba. For
two years the USSR is basically gone, Cuba is in economic crisis and the
Sandinistas are out of power but the struggles in El Salvador and Guatemala
continue. The USA still cannot accept that a revolution can have internal roots. 
     With the fall of socialism, the US is changing. It sees the  structural
roots of poverty, which the FMLN is fighting, as hurdles to peace. Unfortunately
this is ten years late. 175,000 have been killed in Guatemala, 70,000 in El
Salvador and 50,000 in Nicaragua. This is a lot of death in a small region based
on the US fear of communism. Now they have decided that the threat is not there.
     The best contribution that the USA can make is to allow people in Latin
America to solve their own problems. We are political adults here.
     Poverty here is deep and widespread. Over 50% of the people are in extreme
poverty. In Guatemala 2% of the people own 60% of the arable land. 60% of the
adults are illiterate. These societies have failed. Capitalism here has failed
as dramatically as socialism has failed in Eastern Europe. But the US press gives
us publicity only when there is a war.
     In Guatemala, El Salvador and Honduras the military forces are the power
behind the "democracy." Real democracy here requires demilitarization. There has
been a change in El Salvador lately in most sectors. Salvadoran society cannot
bear the weight of the military and still succeed.
     We are realistic. We are fighting the rear guard of the USA. It has
sustained the El Salvador military and can easily continue. For instance, one day
we gunned down six helicopters. It cost an enormous amount of lives, munitions
and resources and the mission was planned for months. It was a brilliant success
but within two weeks there were twelve helicopters in their place. Negotiation
is more rational. In '89, the US had 70,000 men ready in Panama. Their
intervention, had we pushed our offensive to military success, would destroy El
Salvador. Many civilians would die. In El Salvador, 70% of the war casualties are
non-combatants. The FMLN cannot be adventuresome. We are not at war because we
like war but to achieve justice. Right now in the world, the left understands
that financial support will dwindle. Negotiation is the rational answer.
     I could be a geologist with a home, a job and a family but I chose this
struggle. The University is the natural entree to this struggle. After seeing two
El Salvador elections won by the opposition and stolen by the military, like
many, I joined the FMLN.
     Today, the FMLN has veto power in Salvadoran society. We have enormous
popular support. There is hope from moderate president Cristiani backed by
modern-thinking business elements that a consensus with the FMLN can be found.
People are seeing that only a government with that broad base of support could
effectively rule a peaceful El Salvador.
     While industrialization may be the long term answer it cannot happen
without land re-distribution. 60% of Salvadorans are farmers. They need a life
before they can consume.
     Today the land is poorly distributed. 54% of the capital is in 5% of the
people. The FMLN respects problems that East Europe, Cuba and Nicaragua had with
their socialist models. We understand that market forces must be respected. We
are looking for a model with pluralism and justice. We'd like socialism as a
moral base with a capitalist motor.
     The result of the negotiation may turn the FMLN into a legal and unarmed
political party. The most difficult part will be integrating the FMLN into the
armed forces. Nicaragua has done very well in this respect. It's army is down by
75%. Today in Nicaragua an amazing thing is happening: a leftist (formerly
Sandinista) army is supporting and protecting a US-backed government. The
Sandinistas recognized that you can't start from zero with each election. The
army is an institution which protects the government and state. They key is to
allow the politicians to fix the problem rather than having it fixed by
politicized armies. 
     95% of El Salvador is Christian. Liberation Theology has given religion a
powerful push into politics. They legitimized the armed struggle. But they are
a force for peace too. The Jesuits told the FMLN there was no possibility of
victory by war and we would have to negotiate long before the rest of us realized
that. The murder of the Jesuit leadership of UCA was a great loss. The fall of
the Berlin Wall coincided with the Jesuit murders. In the developing world these two
events are of about equal historical importance.  
     Electronic preachers have a clearly defined agenda. Removing people from
politics is their politics.  But the sects are not considered a real threat to
the forces of peace with justice.
     The key to all the debate among the left today is how much freedom will the
USA give us. Central America is the USA's back yard. Recently the US has used
Honduras as a dumping ground for their toxic waste. We are second class people.
Our alternative tho that role is war. That is what Viet Nam, El Salvador and
Nicaragua are all about. Why must the US have no exceptions to its plan (Cuba).
Not all can think alike. In parliament you have left and right. Is Central
America really democratic if we must all follow the US party line. In the USA
there are only two parties. And 33% voted in the last election. And Bush wants
to teach us about democracy. This black and white, bad and good conception of the
world makes life in the developing world difficult. We see clearly the devastating
result of Nicaragua's attempt at independence. That is the reality of life south
of the USA.
     Peace is coming in El Salvador. That I think is irreversible and more
necessary than ever. The tendency is for Central American to be forgotten in
peace time and just left with its poverty. Please don't forget us.


El Salvador Final Analysis

Five most powerful forces in El Salvador
force:       source of power:                accountable to:
1. USA (including 1,000,000 Salvadorans in USA)
      Military and economic might. Accountable to its electorate and business
2. Armed Forces  
     Empowered by the Salvadoran constitution and USA money. Accountable only
to the USA.
3. FMLN     
     Empowered by the people and the teaching of liberation theology.
Accountable to the goodwill of the people.
4. Oligarchy    
     Empowered by its land, tradition, the army, and the church hierarchy.
5. The Salvadoran government
   Empowered by its constitution, its electorate, and the USA. Accountable to the
USA.

Money sources in El Salvador: 1-Salvadorans in USA
                              2-US aid
                              3-coffee and exports
                                the tax base is tiny
Money sources in FMLN: taxation of land controlled
                       rich locals
                       international solidarity groups
   In FMLN territory, landowners get an annual letter explaining how much they'll
pay their workers and their tax bill. If they want to grow crops, they'll meet
these obligations. 
     This is the analysis of the leading UCA Jesuit. In a fascinating group
think process, we arrived at his same conclusions. I figured the Oligarchy was
#5 because the value and extent of their holdings is dropping, the military is
becoming an elite class because of all their corrupt wealth, and because some
democracy is being forced upon the country even now. All agreed that the
Oligarchy is on a downward trend.
     The leading Jesuit (who was one of the six murdered and considered the
leading proponent of liberation theology) explained that power sectors of
Salvadoran society must concern themselves with the USA's military and economic
might. In war those with arms are next. US armed alleys are stronger than the
FMLN. War has really messed up the Oligarchy. Only government is not independent
anywhere. The Constitution gives power to others. FMLN collects taxes.
     The church is conspicuous in its absence. It's too divided to be a power.
In 1980 95% on the people were Catholic. This is splintered now with the church
hierarchy and the sects on the right and the liberation theology and base
Christian communities on the left.
     The Intelligencia was murdered. And most of the 80,000 disappeared are from
non-government organizations in the popular movement--all the union, human
rights, teacher groups that are the peaceful voice of opposition. They are now
meeting as the Permanent Committee of the National Debate. With peace, they will
coagulate and, according to the Jesuit, they are the hope and on the rise.

     Taking at break for a swim on the vast and nearly empty sandy beach of the
Pacific coast we could only see the potential of a happy land. Body surfing, we
did battle with the crashing waves. The waves, like the obstacles that seem to
keep coming into the people's path, were relentless. But on the crest of an
unusually big wave I saw, in the thin nearly transparent slice of water that zips
along the top, a fish swimming gracefully ahead of the breaking crest and into
the sunset.




Nicaragua Trip notes, by Rick Steves, December 1991

Issues in 1991:
     While the US-backed coalition UNO government under Violetta Chomorro rules,
many are frustrated by the effectiveness of the popular army, under former
Sandinista Humberto Ortega, in protecting the gains of the revolution and
frustrating attempts to recoup losses among the industrial and landed elite.
     The speed of privatization is a major issue. Just how much and how fast
should cooperative and worker-owned industry and farms forced back into the more
efficient realm of private enterprise.
     Land reform and the undoing of it is a major hot point and could very well
be the explosive issue as the 120,000 small family farms created by the
Sandinistas are threatened by the returning big land owners.
     The FSLN (Sandinista party) continues to be a force with about 40% of the
parliament. While Mrs. Chomorro rules, the Sandinistas have enough votes to block
any changes to the constitution. Much can be done with a simple majority however.
The FSLN has assumed the role of the loyal opposition and the army is trying to
become institutionalized as a non-political organ of the government.
     The 14 parties that made up UNO were united only in their hatred of the
FSLN and the warmth provided by financial support of the USA. Now that FSLN is
out of power and the USA is not as interested, UNO is ready to crumble. The far
right wing is opposing the Chomorro wing. Chomorro is just an image of
reconciliation and a tired figurehead. Her son-in-law really runs the show and
is the most powerful man in Nicaragua. 

Nicaragua's Parliament after the 1990 election:
UNO - 14 parties, 55% of vote, 51 seats
FSLN - 1 party, 41% of vote, 39 seats

La Purisima - the purest Virgin
La Purisima is a uniquely Nicaraguan festival on December 7th celebrating the
Immaculate Conception of the Blessed Virgin. In 1988 I celebrated Purisima in
Managua. Back then it was the capital's party of the year with everybody who was
anybody frolicking through the streets. Now, under UNO, Purisima is no longer a
big deal in Managua. So, we drove 90 minutes to Leon, Nicaragua's third city, a
stronghold of Sandinism and a very Marian place, for the best La Purisima
festivities in the country. 
     In Leon we met with an old woman who was a long-time FSLN supporter. She
used to run a safe house for the guerrillas. She explained that La Purisima, with
its huge insulting paper mache dolls of aristocratic ladies, was historically the
people's protest against the Spanish elite. Indians could express their repulsion
with humor and be safe. Mary was ever present as the protector of the people.
"That's why we have such a devotion to her." (Europe celebrated the "Carnival"
during its feudal age for the same reason, as a safe and anonymous way for the
low class to let off steam and express their frustration at the ruling elite.)
     This biggest holiday of the year is the Nicaraguan equivalent of trick or
treat, a time when it's great to give and it's great to receive. Children go from
participating house to house and say "What is the cause of so much joy?" The
resident says "The conception of Mary" and gives out presents or sweets. "Hooray
for the Virgin" is the delighted response. 
     Our host gave a good liberation theology explanation of the Latin American
love of Mary. "Jesus reminded those who worship Mary that more blessed than Mary
who carried Jesus in her womb are those who hear the word and put it into action.
We can't be so pure, we can't be the mother of God. What we can do that Mary did
is hear the word and act. Mary is not a Goddess. She came from simple
people...people just like us.
     The festival is kicked off in front of the cathedral, an imposing place
dark with tropical rot on the outside, bright with Catholicism on the inside. The
cathedral seems a bit grand for Leon. It was supposed to be constructed in Lima,
Peru. Even before Dan Quayle, colonialists got these countries confused. 
     At 6 pm the bishop, with a gaggle of government bigshots, makes a statement
and yells the first "What is the cause of so much joy?" Then the bells peel, fire
crackers roll like angry tumble weeds through the streets, children launch bottle
rockets from their hands and families pour through the streets trick or treating.
Wide open houses shined with lighter-than-air decor honoring the Virgin Mary.
     
     With my phonetic cheat sheet, I chimed, "Kien cowsa tanta alley gria." It
worked and I was given two ugly but tasty thumb-sized bananas. (Norte Americanos
who like bananas come home with an understanding about the trade off in the
banana business between good looks and good taste.) The cathedral square was the
magnet for all the strolling families. Sculpted lions looked terrified on their
pedestals. The striking contrast to El Salvador was the complete absence of
police or soldiers. I didn't see a gun all night.
     For some reason I skipped a cool beer in our hotel's leafy courtyard for
a trip into the throbbing disco across the street. My glasses fogged up the
moment I entered. Sweat sloshed across the floor. Just walking through it, the
dribble draining down my spine wet my pants. The wall danced with giant MTV
images of great Spanish language pop stars' love ballads and the latest American
rock. This was a hot spot in a hot spot. Getting out was like making my way
through an over-crowded bus rolling over a cliff.
     The next morning we had a little time to wander. At the train station
people waited like produce behind chicken wire walls. There was one class of
train car--literally cattle class with wooden slats to keep people either in or
out. Concession stands were balanced atop wandering heads.
     A street raffle entertained the crowd in front of the station. I helped
out, hamming things up with the mic to help the man sell his tickets. Three
cordobas (50 cents) for 5 raffle numbers. He called on me to dig into the big tin
can and pick a numbered Coke cap. I drew 159...my number. The crowd seemed
entertained as I waded through the prizes and chose a big desk clock shaped like
a wrist watch--so tacky it will end up in my office.
     Back at our hotel we met the Assembly of God dental crew which flew down
from various southern states to spend a week doing dental work. Nice, I think.
But they were oblivious to the local politics. They were worried about Managua's
riots two weeks ago but had no idea what set them off (the right wing bombing of
the left wing hero's tomb). I couldn't help but visualize the priest on his
motorcycle surrounded by Salvadoran military at Nueva Esperanza. Two styles of
Christian compassion.
     Driving back to Managua we passed the most fortified building in Nicaragua,
the American Embassy. I couldn't help but shout "What causes so much joy?"

Low Intensity Conflict:
Five Nicaraguan images reflecting today's reality:
1. A 75 year old ice cream cart man proudly practicing his letters between sales.
He's learning to write.
2. When asked if he was able to get credit under Somoza the small time vendor
just laughed.
3. The childrens' choir applied three times for visas to perform in the USA and
three times they were turned down. They performed in Canada instead.
4. Just before the a key congressional vote in mid-80s, Contras were sent deep
into the country on a suicide mission to illustrate to the American public that
they were committed and that the Sandinistas were a real threat. They were
slaughtered. Congress voted for aid.
5. Exhausted by the psychological strain (sonic booms, threatened invasions, etc)
of low intensity conflict, the American went to the beach for a swim. As the surf
crashed over his head and the water rolled off his face he saw four US warships
stationed just off the coast.

Questions about American Foreign Policy:
How could El Salvador's government be acknowledged as a democracy and not
Nicaragua's in the 1980s?
How do we justify the use of terror tactics.
Why does the USA undermine every regional peace initiative.
Why is Nicaragua such a threat.
Why does the USA target liberation theology and support the fundamentalist sects.

A national security state has been our preference since WWII. These are states
in which:
1. The military is the highest authority within a country
2. Democratic elections are viewed with contempt. Democracy is a bonzai tree. It
looks nice on the window sill, but if it grows to big you cut it back.
3. The military is an important economic and political actor and has power beyond
its weapons.
4. Capital needs to be concentrated in the hands of a few for freedom and
development.
5. There are enemies everywhere. And life revolves around these enemies.
6. Any means you use against these enemies is justified.
7. Secrecy pervades the government. Death squads roam after dark. Reagan issued
275 secret NSC directives.
8. The church must work within a defined role.

"There was a massively popular revolution in El Salvador and we had no other
choice." - How an official at the US Embassy explained the 1980 to 1982 terror,
accidently showing his cards.

Five ways for a Central American government to become a target of US foreign
policy:
1. If you awaken a strong sense of national identity.
2. If you are redistributing wealth from rich to poor.
3. If your rich don't rule.
4. If USA does not control the army.
5. If your progressive church aligns itself with forces for social change.

Examples of Low Intensity Conflict:
- The US defines its people as enemies. "The US people and the press lost
Vietnam."
- Psychological war experts are targeting US public. They created the "Office of
public diplomacy" under the NSC.
- The Contras were a military force designed to destroy Nicaragua  economically,
not win militarily.
- The Panama invasion just before the Nicaragua election was a strong reminder
of what the US can easily do if necessary.

In the 1980s we managed the: 
1. Greatest transfer of money from 3rd to 1st world ever.
2. Greatest transfer of money within USA from the popular class to the elite.
  In 1980 1% of Americans had 20% of the country's wealth.
  In 1990 1% had 44% of a smaller pie since Japan had taken much also. The sad
joke is on the lower 99% of Americans.
3. A huge transfer of wealth from USA to Japan and Europe
4. The US military is at its zenith. As in any country with a lopsided economic
situation, this is a necessary development for future internal security. By the
way, deception is more important in democratic countries than in totalitarian
ones.

International monetary fund (IMF) and Agency for International development (AID)
are the leading police forces in the world.
Their command is "export, export, export and make opportunities for foreign
investment." The IMF is dominated by the USA. Votes are weighed according to
contributions.

Recent "neo-liberal" initiatives in Nicaragua:
Privatization of industry and education
No public health
undoing land reform
communication is used to stoke material appetites
food aid for apathy through conservative churches
An agency has been created rewrite history (e.g. to document only FSLN
atrocities).
drop world court decision 
propping up Godoy and the far right under Chomorro.
(for more information on Low Intensity Conflict, read War Against the Poor by
Jack Nelson-Pallmeyer.)

Market Survey in Managua's biggest market.
Breaking into four small groups, each with a translator and survey sheets, we
went deep into Managua's "Oriental Market," the best place to meet the
"unorganized poor."  We interviewed various small business people. The market is
a vast field of shaky tarp-covered stalls selling everything from beans to TVs.
The typical vendor here gives a new meaning to the term "small business." Each
night many can tuck their "shops" under their arms and walk home. 
     Back home we compared notes. Of 20 surveyed, 18 had no political preference
and two were UNO. None supported the FSLN. 80% said they were doing worse
economically now than last year. UNO has cut wages and employment so the new
unemployed are now in the market selling. And there are fewer buyers than ever.
Before there was plenty of demand and no supply. Now there's plenty of supply,
but no demand. New supermarkets were cutting into market. A good income was $100
a month. Many hoped to make much less. 
     This is the unorganized poor. They generally voted against the FSLN but now
Chomorro has not done her promises. The political apathy or reluctance to show
one's political colors was striking. 

Commandante Fireplug:
     Our next visit was to a shanty town of repatriated Contras. They prefer to
be called the Resistance. We met with a Contra Commandante named "Fireplug" in
Spanish (long after Fireplug was etched into the journals of our minds, our
translator confessed this was a mistranslation of sparkplug). Fireplug was a
passionate and articulate man in a wheelchair with a belly hanging out from his
too small tee-shirt and a urine-filled catheter bag hanging out of his shorts.
He enjoyed the wheelchair equivalent of a chauffeur. Fireplug was accompanied by
a man who proudly introduced himself as a former Somoza national guardsman.
     Our group filled Fireplug's house - dirt floor, fresh cut wood siding,
under a corrugated tin roof with black tarp walls defining interior rooms. The
community had commandeered water and electricity and seemed to operate on the
barest of resources but with pride. Children played while women washed clothes
and dishes in outdoor tubs. Barbed wire defined each family's claim to land and
kept the family chicken in.
     Fireplug told us that the UNO government was the same as the FSLN.
Violetta's there, but it's still FSLN. He was bitter about the USA's support. The
USA supplies the money, we supply the cadavers. We're subjects of the USA. When
they're done with us we're abandoned...tossed out like old bones. Philosophizing
further he said "Nicaragua must have a rich patron, either the US or USSR. I'd
support anyone over the FSLN. But this government isn't much better. Around here
they say governments are the same old dog, only the collar changes."
     "Here in Nicaragua you have to be either right or left. The FSLN forced
their communism on us. It doesn't fit our culture. We Contras were around well
before US support. The US used us to stop communism but we were created by the
people. If we had won with arms we'd be in control now. The US wanted us to
negotiate without victory. We were abandoned because we had too much popular
support. Our own leaders betrayed us. Peace with hunger is no solution.
Negotiations were the "stab in the back". If I wasn't an invalid, I'd be out
there with the re-Contras. We all know that the best communist is a dead one.
     Yes, we're a client state of the USA but I'd rather be under the USA than
under communism. Wherever the US boot lands it leaves a dollar. The US will
accept anything but a red Central America. 
     About human rights. War is war. There are no crimes in war. It's your life
or theirs. I believe the CIA killed (Contra chief) Enrique Bermuda. He's been CIA
all his life. They couldn't control him.

The Promised Land
Next we visited another new suburb, a Hooverville of 475 families living in a
field of cardboard, tin and scrap lumber huts that looked much like Fireplug's
neighborhood. Chomorro promised these people land. All they have received is a
fight over this unused bit on the outskirts of Managua. They call their town "the
Promised Land."
     A community leader explained that 80% had no jobs. The police, who are more
repressive now than before the elections, said they give Managua a bad image and
to find a park or live in the streets.
     The community council, a non-governmental organization, is working to
formalize the people's rights to this land. UNO considers NGOs "communist
fronts." 
     Our guide was a teacher. He makes $70 a month. AID's condition for loans
is that the government must cut its payroll. That translates into the laying off
of about 75% of the teachers. Supposedly those who remain will make a better
income. This year students had to pay for books for the first time. AID is
offering what's called the "golden handshake," $1000 to $2000 severance pay for
government workers to voluntarily give up their jobs. Teachers are now in the
Oriental Market selling TV antennas and soap.
     It seems that these people have given up on politics. There is no hope from
UNO or the FSLN. Their only hope is grassroots community organization.
     I asked the leading question, "Is it generally understood that the IMF is
a clever way for first world to take money from the developing world? The locals
answered yes. When I asked if you have to be a clever developing world person to see
that, they said "no." I answered you have to be clever in the first world to see
that.

Managua's UNO city council
     We waited an hour for three UNO city administrators to meet with us. The
air condition was on strong, we were served Coke and Oreos as they began their
talk by telling us "you are in the Central American country of Nicaragua. Its
capital is Managua, where you are now..." They were arrogant, flip and avoided
answering any of our difficult questions directly.
     AID has given them $4.2 million. He refused to discuss what strings were
attached. When we referred to the squatter towns we had visited they explained
that these are deceptive. "You see, many, if not a majority of these people are
going around claiming many titles. They were in actuality landlords." When I
repeated his answer to affirm my understanding that he was discounting the
homeless problem he said simply, "That's right." I was rolled out of the room in
a carpet of exasperation.

Sightseeing in Managua
Twenty years after the earthquake, Managua is still a vacant lot, a concrete
ruins, a one-story city. Two buildings, the Intercontinental Hotel and the Bank
of America, stand tall as Texans over a million people who've never ridden an
elevator. Ruined buildings were vacant three years ago. Today they are black tarp
condos. Winding through the potholes of Simon Bolivar boulevard, named after the
man who freed Latin America from colonial Spain, we passed more monuments than
buildings. We also passed the assassination spots of Sandino, Chomorro and
Bermudez on our way to the recently bombed tomb of Carlos Fonseca, the founder
of the Sandinista party. Progress seems stranded in a mine field. Political
passion and memories of oppression are strewn like body parts of this sad
country.
     Retired FSLN soldiers were voluntarily standing guard to keep Fonseca's
tomb safe against the assumed wishes of the Managua's far right UNO mayor,
Aleman. The soldier we interviewed explained that the mayor put a memorial to a
member of the Somoza military band in the garden of Fonseca's tomb. Sandinista's
took it down. Right wingers then blew up Fonseca's tomb. And the city erupted
into riots. The mayor's office was burned. The black remains of two burned up
trucks still litter the history stained main drag that used to be called Somoza.
     On the square, the ghostly shell of the national cathedral, who's clock
still reads 1:30 from the 1972 earthquake, mourns what was its city. The cross
on one spire dangles broken and the black and red FSLN flag flies furiously from
the central saint. Just a vacant lot away lies the ignored and weed-eaten
waterfront of a dead lake that swallows a million poor people's waste.

The fibrillating heart of a banana republic's economy
David Dye, and independent economist and long time resident and student of
Nicaraguan life met with us in our dining room/study hall. He explained the
latest on this ramshackle local economy.
     
Three Hopes After the Election
1. A fast transition from war to peace.
     In the war time over 50% of the national budget was sucked up by the war.
Now military spending has dropped from 45% of the 1989 budget to 16% of the 1991
budget. 
2. Change from instability to economic stability.
     In 1988 Nicaragua set a new Western Hemisphere record with 33,000%
inflation. In 1989 it was better at "only" 1700% but in 1990 it rose again to
13,000%. Like Germany in 1923, the Sandinistas were paying war-related bills by
printing money. The new government employed a classic IMF fix--cut wages, cut
employment, cut government expenses. In 1991 they finally had it down to about
30%. The economy is now stable but the political costs may be high.
3. Recovery from long economic decline.
     For seven years in a row the Nicaragua GNP declined. 1980 - $900 average
yearly income. 1990 = $500. While the drop in the value of export crops made this
a regional problem, Nicaragua was by far the worst off. In a recent press
conference UNO bragged that the 1991 growth would be zero - a real
accomplishment.

In the Somoza days, a small elite and middle class lived North American standards
off of an export-based cheap-labor economy. The revolution addressed the needs
of the bulk of the population with its "mixed economy" but suffered from FSLN
mismanagement, the war with the USA and the USA's effective embargo. Now, the UNO
government has moved to a "Neo-Liberal" model in the belief that a developing world
economy must work within first world parameters and the best way to lift the poor
is to let the rich run the economy more efficiently, as only free enterprise can.

The guiding principles of the revolutionary economy (1979-1989) were:
1. To change the economy fast for the poor. In order to do this the state must
guide and produce. FSLN had a naive faith in government as an efficient producer.
FSLN failed here and Nicaragua is stuck with many good intentioned white
elephants. UNO government relies on privatization. In the name of efficiency and
to attract investment, the state must divest itself of revolutionary holdings.
2. FSLN believed that fast popular change needed entrepreneurial opportunities
outside the elite. In an attempt to create a new entrepreneurial class, they
democratized the economy, let workers run factories, offered easy credit (with
hyper-inflation and almost no foreclosures) to the little guy, and created over
100,000 small farms by giving over 5,000,000 acres to formerly landless farmers.
UNO believes entrepreneurial talent resides only in the proven business elite.
And that elite isn't helping Nicaragua by living in Miami.
3. FSLN believed that to favor popular classes, the free market needed to be
controlled. Prices needed to be set and regulated. UNO says the economy operates
efficiently only with market dictating prices. 

"Structural Adjustment" through programs like AID and IMF have been very strong
since 1985 throughout the 3rd world.
Exports boomed from 1950 through 1980. In the 80s, exports stopped and oil prices
went way up. This resulted in skyrocketing debt and a developing world crises.
Diversification was needed. Costa Rica now does strawberries and macadamia nuts.
AID is helping Nicaragua grow cantaloupe. "Maquiladora," first world branch
plants set up to enjoy cheap labor and easy environmental restrictions are the
coming thing. UNO is banking on this in Nicaragua. With 57% unemployment, as in
Nicaragua, this is politically popular. AID is quick to remind Nicaraguans that
if they don't work for Guatamalan wages, Guatamalans will get all the work.
     All this is based on the assumption that the only way for a poor country
to dig itself out is to fit into the first world economy. 

UNO-style Structural adjustment requires four features:
1. Reduce burden of government on the economy.
Neo-liberalism calls for smaller governments with less taxes, smaller payrolls,
a shift from social investment to production investment and less regulation.
Small farmers' basic staples were subsidized. This has stopped and peasants are
poor, landless and fall into "wage economy". The direct effect is a large urban
under-class and more poor cotton pickers.  Credit to small farmers virtually
disappears. 80,000 peasant family farms were getting government aid under FSLN.
Now only 15,000. FSLN loans were wiped out by inflation so they stoked inflation.
The rationalization for this "Neo-liberalism" is efficiency. The actual result
is the reconcentration of land into a landed elite.
2. Liberalization of Economy--do anything to stimulate competition.
3. Privatization of industry and agriculture. 
4. Open the economy to foreign investment

US AID in the former IBM building.
     We went through the typical tight security of any place representing the
USA government to meet with the local director of the US Agency for International
Development, Janet Ballentine. My body knows now whenever it feels air-con it's
right of center.
     In her briefing Ms. Ballentine explained to us that this is a time of
promise. It's not all doom and gloom. $552 million has been invested in
rebuilding Nicaragua in 1990 and 1991, a large amount for a country of 4 million.
Most of that simply powered this broken economy with oil, fertilizer and wheat.
"The courage of the folks who elected UNO deserves to be supported." 
     UNO inherited a distorted economy. Labor costs here are double that of
Guatemala. Our charter is to "level the playing field" so we can develop a market
economy. (In other words, she was admitting that to compete in the existing
structure, you can't exceed a bare subsistence wage.)
     In answering our questions she explained that the "golden handshake"
(voluntary severance pay option) will cut out 150,000 state workers. Major
accomplishments are controlling credit, the money supply and inflation. The
Sandinista's didn't do so much land reform until they lost the election. Then
they had their pinyata. It was the great Nicaragua land grab. When I asked about
the 100,000+ family farms created in the early 80s, she wrote that off as
insignificant. (100,000 out of 1,500,000 people in the countryside is about one
out of every three families.)
     Ballentine acknowledged that the problem was from the conflict of two
reasonable rights: right of firm defendable title to land and right of the tiller
to a piece of land. The lack of respect for firm title to land has scared away
the investment necessary for agricultural recovery. "Sure, everyone needs land.
But how much is enough."  
     Somoza got too greedy. He's no longer around. So now they (the poor) are
determined to get land. In a comment that seemed to tip her hand, she noted that
the economy is agricultural and will remain so for at least five years.

The Sandinista Party 
     Next, we bussed to the FSLN foreign relations department and met with a
young man who, in order to practice his English, insisted on having no
translator. Our meeting room was a simple concrete meeting hall with a large
portrait of Sandino behind the front table. A dingy black and white of the ten
commandantes in happier times, just after the Sandinista triumph in '79, hung
like a comatose revolution in the back of the room.
     He very humbly and honestly appraised the ten years of Sandinista rule.
They dropped illiteracy from 70% to 12%, offered free education to all, and
allowed the popular class to organize. (Not even the Sandinista's remember to
credit themselves from freeing Nicaragua of Somoza.) The problems they had with
the US government were caused by their Marxist influence, they worked for a truly
independent economy, and they "exported revolution" by helping El Salvador's
FMLN.
     They lost the election because they neglected the countryside peasants and
some of their leaders developed an arrogance of power. "We forgot our roots and
distanced ourselves from the people." The draft was very unpopular and people
believed Bush when he promised that the war would last as long as the FSLN stayed
in power.
     But the party is changing. The FSLN, not the USA, gave democracy to
Nicaragua. We didn't fight to go from one dictator to another.
     UNO has given Nicaragua stability, peace, more commerce, no inflation, no
negative growth. But, from a social point of view, life is not good. Education
is no longer free. And the poor will go without schooling. There is no investment
in health and no interest in cultural activities. UNO does its pinyata
better...it looks legal. For instance, the man who's doing the new passports will
earn $800,000.
     Historically, there has been no room for division within the FSLN. The old
guard is still fighting Somoza. It's not democratic. The Chamorro split is a
shame. Nicaragua needs unity. The FSLN will be blamed. The FSLN wants stability
and democracy. It is accepting UNO's economic package and doesn't even want the
government leadership now.
     "Please don't forget Nicaragua. We are not fighting the USA. We are not
killing each other in the mountains. We need help not because we are
revolutionaries but because we are human."

The finest hotel in Matagalpa
     For our peek at rural Nicaragua, we drove three hours north into lush
mountain country, to the town of Matagalpa. As we parked under the barely
readable "Hotel Ideal" sign, our guides smirked "tonight we'll be sleeping in the
finest hotel in Matagalpa." We swaggered past the girl selling Chicklets through
the swinging saloon-type doors and into a lobby that echoed "out of business"
with each footstep. Four motionless turtles decorated a pale blue concrete pool.
I could tell they were real by the smell. Maybe real dead but still real. The
receptionist was watching TV. The picture was just clear enough for viewers to
understand that a rotund white Santa Clause was drinking Coke in a palatial only-
in-dreams-or-the-USA suburban home with the perfect family peeking down on him
from the top of the stairway--a white Christmas in any weather. Well, it's
morning in North America, but Coke still hits the spot in Matagalpa.
     My room, number 6 according to the orange crayon on the door, was nice
enough. The peely ceiling was the next best thing to a canopy bed. They had no
plumbing but that didn't matter since it's Wednesday and that's a no water day
in Matagalpa. The only liquids available, beer and Coke, were imported. (Part of
the new world order is free trade.) The Coke's are bottled in Costa Rica.
Nicaragua's national beer, Victoria, is now "canned and brewed" in Monroe,
Wisconsin. In capitalism you make money any way you can. If a third of the
family's income is squandered on beer by the dad, the least neo-liberalism can
do is make sure it's marketed cleverly and imported.
     For breakfast we shook the ants out of our pants and went to the nearby
Restaurant of the Unknown Soldier run by the mother's of the heros and martyrs
(a group we'd be meeting with shortly). Breakfast "number one and only" was rice
mixed with beans, fried plantains, scrambled eggs, tortillas and toast with black
sweet coffee, coke or red pop. The toast was so dry it turned into dust in my
mouth. I knew better than to ask for butter or jam. The salt shaker lid fell off
with the first shake. Luckily the salt was stuck solid to the bottom. The Pepto
Bismol wrappers in the ashtray reminded me how lucky I was to be healthy. A
poster of Ben Linder riding his unicycle with a "Stop the war before it starts"
sign shared the wall with other martyrs. His grave is on the edge of town, the
first civilian American casualty of the Contra war. Black and white portraits of
courageous soldiers against Somoza were yellow on the wall. 
     Looking through the dusty glass louvers and the rusted chain link screen,
which now protects only chipped china and a few dusty condiments in the best
restaurant in town, the view was children selling newspapers, the broken monument
to Carlos Fonseca (the hometown boy who founded the Sandinista party) and the
graphic picture of the a country ground down by the American fear of communism.
A dark haggard man stood silently near the window. He didn't need to beg. He got
a rice and bean tortilla sandwich. I got a memory I'll never shake.

From an interview with the UNO mayor of Matagalpa:
     "76% of Matagalpa voted for UNO. Today the people on the street are happy
about the peace but would say they are worse off economically now.
     When pressed to say something positive about the Sandinistas he said the
FSLN taught us the difference between right and left dictatorship. We now know
the evil of left as well as right. The FSLN also taught us to work more closely
with the people. He had no criticisms about the US involvement here. About Ben
Linder (the young North American social worker who was killed near Matagalpa):
some said he was working for our community, others said he was carrying a gun.
     US AID is helping lots but the money comes too slow and in the wrong way.
We need dollars and the freedom to use it to make employment. All three UNO
people present agreed that the Somoza system was more benign than the FSLN. The
war was provoked by the Sandinistas for economic and political reasons. 50,000
died and the country was destroyed. I criticize the USA because in '83 Reagan
said he wanted not to put out the FSLN, just to keep them busy. Because of this,
the war took seven years.
     I would like to ask the USA to run out all the Nicaraguan doctors. We need
them here.      


Rich farmers to war widows
Again our encounter with the right was with callous and flip people. The poor,
especially when organized, were a nuisance...an obstruction to prosperity. From
there we went to the mothers of the heros and martyrs of the revolution.
     Before we had even emptied our bus applause poured out of the tin-roofed
hall filled with war widows and their children. Walking in I felt desperately
needed--like a wealthy young man who never visits his destitute grandmother. The
walls were hung with portraits of courageous women and their lost sons, fathers
and husbands. As we sat there was a thunderous drumroll and the sky opened up.
And water trickled from the corrugated tin into buckets.
     This was the local chapter, 600 strong, of a national group. They are
strong supporters of the Sandinistas and keep vivid memories of the "War of
Liberation" alive. They were wearing their tattered best clothes and explained
to us how "We struggled side by side with our children to see a free homeland.
For years, the Contras destroyed everything the revolution accomplished. 
     Now we have peace, there is no embargo, and the shelves are full. But we
have no money. This government is like Somoza's. Land is being taken back.
Chomorro won by fraud. The CIA gave her money to buy votes. They won by promising
no draft but it was they who waged the war in the first place. We will defend our
rights, and all that we learned from the FSLN. We will fight with the workers and
peasants with strikes until our rights are recognized. It is more sad to die in
the streets as a beggar or drug addict than in a struggle for freedom." 
     "So you can understand how life is here for us, I live on a war widow's
pension of 75 cordobas a month ($15). This year for the first time we must pay
10 cordobas a month for each child in school. With three children, that leaves
me 45 cordobas to live on. Then they also charge us for pre-registration, for
report cards and for diplomas. When I try to make some money by selling things
in the streets, the mayor says "no selling in the streets." My daughter has a
nursing degree from Cuba. Degrees from Cuba are now worthless and she has no job.

     I don't have a president--this woman. My president is Daniel. He's an
honest man, a man of the poor. We used to see the peasants on TV. But today we
are an ugly part of Nicaragua. We see only the capitalists. We will continue the
struggle our children taught us. Even though we are old.
     Things are not good now. Alfredo Caezar (fast-rising leader of the right
wing faction of UNO) gets campaign money from the CIA. The killing continues with
the re-contras. Anything that smells of FSLN is shut out from aid and
opportunities. Only those coming back from Miami will be educated, not the poor.
Large coffee owners are in business to send their kids to US schools and buy the
latest cars. And they mess up the environment.
     The biggest and shadiest tree left by the ten years of revolution is the
farmer's union (UNAC). But a drought could come. The organization of big business
and big landowners (COSEP) is now funded by the USA. The dog dances for whoever
has the money.
     But we poor women have strong spirits. The revolution will return with
God's help and the Virgin's. Violetta's democracy is out of touch with the poor.
Daniel is the president of the poor."
     As I surveyed the 40 tired-of-fighting faces with deep dark seen-it-all
eyes, my spirit drooped--like the limp children on their laps. 
     They gave testimonies and explained how they work together. When I asked
about the employment created by a recent AID project ($85,000) giving a new
street to Matagalpa the energy level in the room picked up like the hair on a mad
cat's back and the several women replied that no Sandinista families saw any
employment, only UNO people. To this government we're not human. Two old women
here died of starvation. We complained and our mayor said "that's two less plates
of food needed." That's the aid we get.
     The markets are filled with foreign things and our eyes get very large. One
thing is very clear. Prices are rising but not our income. They say there is no
inflation but our buying power is down. Sugar, rice, beans...all the things that
the poor eat...are nearly double the price of a year ago.
     The Mothers of Heros and Martyrs were an emotional high point of our
Nicaragua visit. They were nearly too tired to be desperate. They made it clear
that they needed us. They gave us a huge applause and mixed us all up so we could
all hold hands with each other as they said a prayer. Sixty people saying the
Lord's Prayer in English and Spanish at the same time was a verbal drumroll of
faith and hope.

UPANIC- Nicaraguan Big Business
     What is UPANIC? That's what big business does when the FSLN takes power.
We visited the organization of big business men and they were in all respects--
save their concern for the poor--big. Their hairy knuckles and glittering rings
gave me the Somoza creeps. A painting of a large coffee grower from Matagalpa who
was gunned down by the Sandinistas looked down on our meeting. 
     They started their talk with "we assume you want all of us in this Western
hemisphere to have the common denominator of democracy and peace. There has been
a small improvement since the election but the damage of ten years of FSLN
misrule is still a major problem stalling our economic take-off. Agriculture
owners were hardest hit by Sandinista regime. Our hope was that the new
government would undo the FSLN land grab. 
     There is a myth in Central America that economic and social injustice
causes revolutions. It's not fair to compare us with rich nations. We weren't as
bad under Somoza when the Latin American norm is considered.
     When I pressed them, they wouldn't talk about Somoza excesses--just
Sandinista. The people were tired of 40 years of Somoza dictatorship but after
the FSLN experience we found something worse. We were forced to live off of
international charity and money laundering. This is not a solid basis for an
economy.
     The Sandinistas were initially supported by Cuba and your peanut farmer,
Carter. In one way or another the USA and USSR had to fight it out. We were the
necessary battleground.
     The FSLN (Sandinistas) can only exist in disorder and anarchy. Today it is
the FSLN army that keeps the government from applying the law. Stability is
required and the only road is neo-liberalism.
     The war was not won or lost. The election brought mediocre change. The FSLN
is actually still in power. The US support of the Contras was more than good. It
was an obligation if we were to defend the ideology of democracy.
     His talk was punctuated by lots of heavy sigh realism: "Unfortunately, in
this world..."
     When asked if US AID developed dependency he explained that economic
independence is impossible. AID develops the private sector to produce. The only
bad thing about AID is that it is basically for the private sector but the
Nicaraguan government eats it all up. Dependency is healthy and necessary.
Internal corruption is the problem. This government is playing with fire--the USA
the richest and most powerful country in the world. You've got more than your
share of beggars to maintain within your own borders. Who's your new candidate,
Duke or Buchanan? He's right. America needs to look out for the 50 states.
     When asked about money laundering they said "We can't talk too strongly
about this. The Mafia aren't politicians, they'll kill you. All Nicaragua is one
big business of superfluous goods. But there's more money than you can imagine
in this country. Businesses are popping up impossibly. Where there's money, it's
laundered money. These businesses make it clean."
     Chomorro has a good understanding with the FSLN. If she steps down vice
president Godoy takes over. With Godoy there would be complete change and a
conflict with the army. In reality the army would not let Godoy take power. It
would turn its back and let the people run wild. Umberto Ortega, today's Somoza,
would help these people and the government would be the hostage of the army. The
problem is that Violetta has not developed a presidential police. With a
Sandinista police, the president is ineffective. But little by little the forces
of Sandinism have been and are being eroded.

Tour Wrap-up
Center's teaching is based on Paulo Freire's model:
Education begins with experience, then analysis, then action. Action continues
the cycle with more experience and so on. If action is not taken, learning is
truncated. The poor are a real part of society. Their experience must be
incorporated into societal progress.

How has this trip challenged me personally?
     It's much easier not to delve into things. Ask the people of Munich in 1940
about Dachau. The average American is a latent US AID worker. If he stays
ignorant he supports AID. If he learns, he believes in AID's commitment to neo-
liberalism.
     For the same reason that free market economies become powerful, free market
thinkers wield power. The truth without power is like swimming in a flushing
toilet with a life jacket.
     I'm standing on the rim. The sun is out and I've got some munchies and a
nice drink. Will I jump in, swim with the truth or cling to lies and ignore the
reality of half of human kind. The Developing World is better called the Two-thirds
World, or, better yet, the "Real World."
     As a Christian, I know the truthful life is not ignoring the oppressed. But
as a First World Christian there are plenty of comfortable alternatives. The
answer is the Mother Theresa approach. Make eye-contact with the homeless, do
what you can. Don't despair if the job is eternal.

What insights has this trip given me into issues in our own society?
El Salvador is a high contrast heat sensitive photo of the USA. The powers and
needs and pitfalls are no different in the USA than in El Salvador. If the
powerful can keep the powerless complacent through comforts they will. But there
are uglier means to the end of maintaining a lopsided economic situation.
     It must be a lot easier to correct trends earlier than later. As a
Salvadoran warned, "When governments are allowed to abuse people far away, they
develop a capacity to do the same thing to their own people. The tide is rolling
in on the poor and civil liberties. 

After two weeks and two thousand dollars...my conclusion:
     That's a lot of time and money to spend not finding the answer. But I did
learn a lot about the Central American question. It's frustrating to bring home
a clear picture of life under the USA but no clear marching orders.
     In comparing this experience to my educational two week trip three years
ago the fundamental issue is still land. In Central America, land is life. The
average peasant has no land. I'll give hope the benefit of the doubt in El
Salvador and I've affirmed my anger at the USA's power to destroy a country that
tries to be truly independent, as Nicaragua did. 
     Nicaragua is on the verge of "africanization," a term first world
economists use for a developing world country becoming such an economic basket case
that it's not worth even controlling. 
     The value of Nicaragua's strangulation is that the armed forces of the
Salvadoran popular class, the FMLN, learned that their victory would bring a
similar fate upon their country. The USA will not tolerate any nation not playing
by its rules in its hemisphere. The people of El Salvador understand the veto
power both the USA and the FMLN hold over their lives. And the people, including
most forces of the left and the right want to negotiate an end to their civil war
while there's still a country to rebuild. It will be rebuilt within parameters
set by the USA, but since the cold war is over and the American appetite for
further Central American adventures is weak, the popular class will be allowed
some real political space.
     What can the USA do to help Central America? Given the track record of
Yankee help, the simplest answer is to just get out. Central America doesn't want
wars, dictators, Cuban missiles, or poverty. They are political adults and should
be allowed to find their own answers. Ugly as land-reform is to the first world
land owner, landlessness is the root of the region's poverty and thus its unrest.
And the region's foreign debt makes any real growth impossible. Interest alone
on many "banana republic" national debts is more than their entire export
earnings. The money, loaned from first world elites to their developing world
counterparts, will ultimately have to be paid by either our working class or
their peasantry. The dictators and their cronies who borrowed the money are
mostly long gone. The money that wasn't squandered on corrupt and worthless-to-
the-local-people projects in those countries is now in Florida or Switzerland
(with many of the original borrowers). For first world consultants to fly in and
find ways to squeeze this money out of the poor masses is futile, counter-
productive for all involved, and unjust. This debt was corrupt from the start and
should be forgiven. As a tax payer, this is one scandal I'll happily cover.
     And for a real win win solution, rather than force the "American dream" on
campesinos, we could mellow out and learn a little from the Salvadoran and
Nicaraguan dream.

Home to Miami
     The flight was over-booked, which seemed logical given the future I see for
Latin America. It is a powerful feeling to be able to step into an America-bound
airplane and mull over just how much of the Real World's problems I want to fit
into my life. Of course, I have my troubles and problems. But, if I choose to be
honest, the worst of my problems would be a blessing to the normal Latin
American. The Central American lady next to me had cute little Christmas bells
painted onto her fingernails. So did her daughter. We're all going home to Miami.