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Contras in Nicaragua 01Urder U.S. Engineer Crisis deepens for Salvadoran gov't . .. 3 THE Socialists· fight gov't use of spy tiles 11 Drop charges against Los Angeles 8! 14 A SOCIALIST NEWSWEEKLY PUBLISHED IN THE INTERESTS OF WORKING PEOPLE VOL. 51/NO. 17 MAY 8, 1987 75 CENTS 200,000 protest Contras in Nicaragua contra war, 01urder U.S. engineer apartheid BY HARVEY McARTHUR MANAGUA, Nicaragua - At 8:00 BY NORTON SANDLER a.m. the morning of April28, Ben Linder, WASHINGTON, D.C. - "Today's a 27-year-old U.S. engineer, was survey­ march is a great victory. Union members ing a site for a hydroelectric plant in the are disgusted with the policy on the contras northern mountains of Nicaragua. Mo­ and South Africa." ments later, Linder and two Nicaraguan Armando Velez summed up the senti­ workers were dead; victims of a sudden ment of some 125,000 people who demon­ terrorist attack by U.S. -organized contra strated here April 25 in the cold and rain. mercenaries. Velez, a New York hospital worker, and Cecilio Rosales, a worker who survived his family marched in one of the many the attack, said that the contras first fired union contingents that led the demonstra­ tion. As the cheering, banner-waving hospital INSIDE: U.S. protests against workers strode by, they had an impact on murder of Linder, page 7; other marchers. "Look at all the unionists!" editorial, page 14. said one man. With labor contingents making up about 20 percent of the march, it was the largest five grenades, killing Linder and another mobilization ever of union members pro­ worker as they sat on the ground taking testing U.S. policy in Central America. notes for the project. The mercenaries then The march and rally demanded an end to opened fire with automatic rifles and killed Washington's intervention in Central another worker and wounded one more. America and to U.S. backing for apartheid Linder is the first U.S. citizen killed by in South Africa. Organized by the Mobili­ the contra mercenaries. As a mechanical April29 protest outside Washington, D.C., offices ofU.S.-financed contras. March• zation for Justice and Peace in Central engineer, he was working as a volunteer ers condemned contra murder of Ben Linder, who was building hydroelectric plants. America and Southern Africa, the action designing small electric power plants and in Nicaragua. included 19 union presidents among its drinking-water systems for rural towns in sponsors. the north-central mountains of Jinotega Some estimates of the size of the crowd Province. promoted by the U.S. administration," victims, among them 1,996 children, 166 ranged as high as 150,000. The same day, The Nicaraguan Committee in Solidarity Nicaraguan Foreign Minister Miguel D'Es­ teachers, and 52 doctors." 75,000 turned out for an antiwar, anti­ with the Peoples reported that there have coto said in an April 28 protest letter to On April 29, more than 300 U.S. citi­ apartheid protest in San Francisco. (see been an average of 500 U.S. volunteers U.S. Secretary of State George Shultz. zens joined a protest in front of the U.S. story on page 9.) working on different projects here each "The attacks of these mercenary forces embassy in Managua to condemn the mur­ By early morning, demonstrators were year. Many European volunteers also work have usually been directed at destroying ci­ der of Linder and demand an end to the already gathering on the soggy lawn of the here, and nine, including Spanish and vilian and economic targets, including contra war. Ellipse behind the White House. For the French doctors, a Swiss agronomist, and a - many houses, health centers, schools, A delegation from the Committee of next several hours, thousands more poured Belgian civil engineer; have been killed by means of transportation, bridges, electric U.S. Citizens Living in Nicaragua met into the assembly area. Hundreds of cities the mercenaries. power lines, and peasant cooperatives," with U.S. Ambassador Harold Bergold. were represented. Several buses came from Linder's murder demonstrates "the ter­ D'Escoto continued. But he said only that he had "little informa­ Canada. rorist and criminal nature of the actions "Such attacks have caused thousands of tion and no comment" on Linder's murder. Many came in groups organized by their unions. Tens of thousands were high school and college students. Lots of cp!-lrch groups were visible in the South African troops attack Zambia crowd. Many protesters identified themselves as belonging to campus or community Central BY ERNEST HARSCH flees and refugee facilities in Zambia, ac­ the raid's aims was to warn the Zambian America solidarity or anti-apartheid groups. The April 25 South African commando knowledged that some of the buildings had government to stop backing the ANC. For many, it was the first time they had raid into Zambia was a "naked act of ag­ until recently been occupied by ANC mem­ Coming just a few days after the police demonstrated against the U.S. -run war in gression and terror" against that country, bers. It denied; however, that they were murder of six striking railway workers, Nicaragua or against apartheid in South Af­ the outlawed African National Congress military facilities. It also denied Pretoria's Pretoria's attack on Zambia prompted fur­ rica. (ANC) of South Africa declared. claims that a group of ANC guerrillas were ther popular protests at home. The apartheid regime had claimed that on their way to South Africa to disrupt the Hundreds of students at the predomi­ Union partici~tion its attack was directed against ANC "ter­ May 6 white parliamentary elections. nantly white University of Cape Town held Black and Latino workers made up a rorists." In fact, the four people who were The apartheid regime commonly makes a protest meeting on campus April 27. substantial portion of the union contin­ killed were all Zambian citizens. They such accusations in an effort to justify its They were attacked by police wielding gents. As many as half the unionists were were, the ANC said, "murdered by Pre­ unprovoked attacks against neighboring whips and firing tear gas and birdshot, women. toria's crazed killer squads." states that give support and refuge to the wounding several students. The next day Thousands of union members proudly The Zambian government likewise con­ ANC. South African Defense Minister thousands rallied at the university to con­ carried a sign put. out by march organizers demned "this dastardly and unprovoked at­ Gen. Magnus Malan admitted that one of demn the police repression. that read, "Union members say: we work tack." hard for our money, not one penny for the contras." · The assault came early in the morning. Union signs and banners condemning ' South African helicopters, apparently fly~ Indians and Blacks celebrate apartheid were especially prominent. ing from a base in South African-occupied Members of the American Federation of Namibia, dropped the· commandos near State, County and Municipal Employees Livingstone, a town of 80,000 in southern Nicaragua's autononty plan (AFSCME) from cities throughout the East Zambia. They then attacked three build­ ings in different parts of town. made up the largest labor delegation. In BY HARVEY McARTHUR culture, and traditions. New York alone, 70 AFSCME buses had Two unarmed Zambian security guards PUERTO CABEZAS, Nicaragua There are Miskito Indians, who speak been chartered. were shot to death when they blocked the Thousands of Nicaraguans ·- Indians, the Miskito language; Sumo Indians, who Several thousand workers joined the commandos from entering a seven-story Blacks, and Spanish-speaking mestizos - speak Sumo; Rama Indians, who speak well-organized delegation from the Na­ office building. packed the town square here April 24 to English; Creoles, who are descendants of . tional Union of Hospital and Health Care The attackers also poured gunfire into a celebrate the final drafting of an autonomy African slaves, and speak English; Employees Local 1199. Some chanted, residential house. "There was no ANC in law for Nicaragua's Atlantic Coast. Garffonos, English-speaking descendants "Jail Reagan, free Mandela," a reference to that house, just a woman and her daugh­ The law was adopted b5' a Multiethnic of slaves and Carib Indians; and mestizos, imprisoned African National Congress ter," a neighbor later told reporters. Fortu­ · Assembly held·her e in the capital of North­ (ANC) leader Nelson Mandela. descendants of Spanish-speaking peasants nately, the occupants managed to flee. em Zelaya Province April 22-24. The leg­ from Nicaragua's ·Pacific and central re­ About ·the same time, the raiders at­ islation now goes to Nicaragua's National Cudahy strikers gions. tacked a housing compound, killing two Assembly, or parliament, for final ap­ Marching with red "P-40" caps were Zambian brothers in their sleeping quar­ proval and enactment. Prior to the Sandinista revolution of more than 30 members of United Food and ters. A young woman, the niece of the Nicaragua's Atlantic Coast comprises 1979, the Atlantic Coast was dominated by Commercial Workers (UFCW) Local P-40 Zambian defense minister, was also seri­ the provinces of Northern and Southern U.S. corporations, who together with Nic­ who have been on strike at the Patrick ously wounded. Zelaya and is the home of six different ra­ araguan dictator Anastasio Somoza, · sub- Continued OD Page 7 The ANC, which maintains political of- cial groupS, each with their own history, Coatiaued 011 Page 4 Denial of visa to Allende ruled 'inipro:Per' BY SELVA NEBBIA freedom of speech was violated. Mandel, a Belgian socialist and a leader of speech. the Fourth International. An important victory for democratic The defendants in the lawsuit were Sec­ In March 1987 the court ruled that the The government's explanation for deny­ rights was won March 31, when a U.S.
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