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Contras Shot Ben Linder 'At Point-Blank Range'

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Contras Shot Ben Linder 'At Point-Blank Range' Come to Young Socialist convention .. 3 THE Socialists' brief against gov't spy f"IIes 10 Garment workers discuss Nicaragua 15 . A SOCIALIST NEWSWEEKLY PUBLISHED IN THE INTERESTS OF WORKING· PEOPLE VOL. 51/NO. 18 MAY 15, 1987 75 CENTS 1\farroquin wms• • Contras shot Ben Linder 'amnesty' 'at point-blank range' .work permit Brother urges Father details BY HARRY RING NEW YORK -In an important gain for democratic rights, Hector Marroquin, a volu-nteers U.S.-organized Mexican-born socialist, was granted a six­ month work authorization card while his to Nicaragua murder application for residence here is processed under the "amnesty" provision of the new BY HARVEY McARTHUR BY HARVEY McARTHUR Immigration Reform and Control Act. MANAGUA, Nicaragua - "We will MANAGUA, Nicaragua - U.S. en­ For the past decade, the government has tell the truth in every corner of the United gineer Ben Linder was executed by Wash­ prevented Marroquin from working .and States," declared John Linder, brother of ington's contra terrorists as he lay wounded has been trying to deport him because of Ben Linder, the U.S. engineer murdered from a grenade attack, the Linder family his membership in the Socialist Workers by ciA-trai,ned contras while building a told a news conference here May 5. Party. hydroelectric facility in northern Nicara­ Pledging to speak out throughout the Marroquin said he was "jubilant" at re- · gua. United States against the U.S.-organized · ceiving the work authorization and de­ "Everything the U.S. government has contra war, the family reported new details clared it represented a significant gain in told us about Nicaragua is a lie," John Lin­ of Linder's murder. his long fight against deportation. der told a May 5 news conference here. He He and two Nicaraguan workers were He predicted it would prove a benefit to said the Linder family is returning to the slain April 28 by a contra gang as they all immigrant workers and appealed to sup­ United States to speak out against Wash- worked on a hydroelectric facility in north­ porters of immigrant rights to redouble em Nicaragua. The killers first ftred gre­ their efforts. to ensure that he would be nades, then moved in on the victims. granted the residency the new law entitles INSIDE: Nicaragua pays tribute Ben Linder's father David, a pathologist him to. to Linder. U.S. protests pledge from Portland, Oregon, told reporters he Marroquin asked supporters to send more volunteers to Nicaragua. met with the Nicaraguan doctor who per­ messages to INS Commissioner Alan Nel-. formed the autopsies. son in Washington, D.C.,. urging swift, See page 2. "The examining physician and I agree positive action on his residency. Ben Linder working on a.hydroelectric that Benjamin was first immobilized by In the early morning hours of May 5, ington' s "illegal and immoral war against project before his murder by terrorists. [grenade] injuries to his legs and arms," opening day to file for legal status under , Nicaragua" and to urge thousands of U.S. Linder told the news conference. "He was the new law, Marroquin was at the door of volunteers to come here to work on pro­ then killed by a gunshot wound to the head. the Immigration and Naturalization Service jects like the one Ben Linder was part of. United States," she said. "I am grateful that The powder bums suggest that he was shot .office set up here to receive applications. Elisabeth Linder, Ben's mother, told the Ben had this three-and-a-half years in Nic­ at very close range, possibly two feet or He was number two in line. But a Pales­ news ..conference that the U.S. government aragua." less away. tinian immigrant who had been there since murdered her son "for bringing electricity . John Linder said that in response to his "What I am telling you is that they blew ,.! .\ 4:30a.m. relinquished first place to Marro­ to a few, poor people in northern Nicara­ brother's murder, "More Americans his brains out at point-blank range as he lay quin on learning the facts of his case. gua. He was murdered because he had a should do what Ben did," by coming to wounded." "I've been waiting for a green card for dream and because he had the courage to Nicaragua to help bring more electricity, Pablo Rosales, one of the Nicaraguans eight years," the Palestinian told a reporter. make that dream come true. water, class rooms, and health care to the slain in the attack, was also only wounded "He's been waiting 13." "We have been overwhelmed by the love Nicaraguan people. He reported that U.S. in the initial grenade assault. He was then The "amnesty" clause was included in and respect of the people of Nicaragua for volunteers have already pledged to finish killed when the contras stabbed him in the the new law in a move to take some of the Ben, for us, and for the people of the the project his brother was working on. chest, Linder said. curse off its reactionary content. The law makes undocumented immigrants even more vulnerable to discrimination and Sllperexploitation by making it a crime for Strike protests apartheid elections them to hold a job here. 'Plose who can document that they have been here since before Jan. 1, ·1982, can be BY ERNEST HARSCH first, followed by Oliver Tambo, the But, declared Winnie Mandela, the na­ granted legal status for 18 months and, As white voters were going to the polls ANC's exiled president. Desmond Tutu, a tional protest strike was "a barometer with after that, can apply for permanent resi­ in South Africa May 6, some 1.5 million prominent anti-apartheid spokesperson and which the · government should measure dency. Blacks were casting their votes against church figure, was third. what their real opposition is .... It is the Marroquin told reporters that under the apartheid by taking part in a national labor In the election results for the white par­ Black nation." terms of the new law, he fully qualifies. and student strike. liament, early returns showed President UDF leader Murphy Morobe made a The long legal record of the government Long denied the right to vote, such ac­ Pieter Botha's governing National Party re­ similar point, stating that the strike showed drive to deport him, he observed, is alone tion was the only way the country's Black taining its solid majority. The liberal Pro­ the government that "when they return to power on May 7, they will find tis more de­ ~ufficient to establish his continuous resi­ majority could express its political views .. gressive Federal Party appeared to have ~~~ncy since before 1982: The two-day strike, which began May 5, lost a few seats, while the far-right Conser­ termined and more united against apartheid A .'ltudent activist in Mexico, Marroquin was called to protest the whites-only char· vative Party picked up a few. and National Party rule." Continued on Page 13 acter of the election. Supporting the action were many labor and anti-apartheid groups, including the Congress of South African Trade Unions and the United Dem­ New stage in U.S. gov't crisis ocratic Front (UDF), which have been in the forefront of the massive mobilizations BY FRED FELDMAN sins, was so far out of whack with this of the past few years. The widespread indignation throughout mood that they rapidly retreated. The strike was the biggest anti-apartheid the United States against the killing of Ben When the murder became known April demonstration since the regime imposed a Linder by Nicaraguan contras has coin­ 28, presidential spokesperson Marlin Fitz­ state of emergency 11 months ago. In some cided with the opening of congressional water said that U.S. volunteers in Nicara­ parts of the country, such as the Eastern hearings on the Reagan administration's gua "put themselves in harm's way." But Cape, the walkout was total. secret dealings with Iran and arms ship­ Vice-president George Bush was soon "This election has nothing to do with ments to the contras. · prais~ng volunteers and claiming that he us," one Black worker in Tembisa .told a These events mark a new stage in the did not object to their work in Nicaragua. reporter. "That's what the people are say­ deepening crisis that has gripped the U.S. The April 29 New York Times sought to ing by not going to work today." government since the covert operations give credence to the idea that work crews In most Black townships around the· were made public last fall. And they are such as the one Linder participated in are country, students boycotted classes. Stu­ dealing new blows to the dirty war that "part of the Sandinistas' defense structure" dents at the predominantly white univer­ Washington has been waging _itgainst the and that Linder may have been armed and sities in Cape Town and Johannesburg also people of Nicaragua. was thus supposedly fair game for contra shut down their schools. Millions of working people have been hit men. By May 6, however, the Times In Soweto, the huge Black township out~ moved by the glaring contrast between Lin­ was sympathetically describing the mourn­ side Johannesburg, the Sowetan newspaper der's dedication to helping Nicaraguan vil­ ing for the slain volunteer in the village of conducted a mock election. Its largely lagers and the brutality and corruption of El Cua where, in addition to his contribu­ Black readership voted overwhelmingly Washington's contra war. tions as an engineer, he had often enter­ Militant/Martin Koppel for leaders of the anti-apartheid struggle.
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