Open letter to Daniel Ortega
ACCORDING to a Voice of America broadcast on Nov- part and parcel alike of that struggle. And it is out of our ember 1, 1985 (the Czech language 6 am transmission), feelings of solidarity with the oppressed that, on the the Nicaraguan government ordered a two-day suspension occasion of this regrettable action against Radio Catolico, of broadcasting by the independent radio station Radio we wish to express our grave concern over developments Catolico so as to punish the station for having transmitted in Nicaragua in the field of human rights and regarding the a recent sermon by the bishop of Managua which included future of democracy in your country.
The recent declaration of a state of emergency, as a two sentences which Voice of America claimed were the cause of the government's ban. The first sentence states result of which numerous personal liberties and rights, that freedom is a great gift from God to mankind, while including the right to strike, have been abolished or the second maintains that it is wrong and against the will curtailed, cannot be justified in our view solely in terms of of God to take away one's neighbour's freedom. the military incursion by anti-Sandinista units operating
We are signatories of the appeal by European intellec- from Honduras and Costa Rica. The counter-revolutionary tuals "Nicaragua has the right to peace" onslaught will either be defeated by the free supporters of has been sent, along with a list of Czechoslovak citizens the revolution or the revolution will perish. In such a case who appended their signatures to it last May, to the it does not seem to matter too much if its defeat will be Nicaraguan Embassy in Prague. Some of us are also caused by outside intervention or an internal development signatories of a declaration signed jointly by people in the which negates all the revolution's ideals and which, with USA and Eastern Europe [which was published in the the so-called aim of "saving the revolution"', gradually sets New York Times on December 1, 1985]. up a bureaucratic dictatorship, a new system of repression
Both of these texts call for non-interference in the and manipulation with empty slogans and full jails. There affairs of Nicaragua and specifically for a halt to the are many who are able to find something positive even in sending of material assistance to such a development. In Latin America, for instance, there armed resistance. In varying including in the Third World.
International Viewpoint 16 June 1986
, the text of which
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though it is used only as a threat against the supporters of the counterrevolution. All the reports that we have seen confirm that so far this is how it has been used. But from the vantage point of external support, the Sandinista government provided sticks with which to be beaten, making defence of their regime more difficult in the countries where the struggle for human rights is an essential precondition for gaining support. Defence through mobilization
The Nicaraguan revolution does not seem to us to be threatened at present by a bureaucratic dictatorial course. And it needs to defend itself, including with arms. It can find its best defence in the mobilization the social layers that suffered misery 22 under the Somozaist dictatorship. And we should not hide the fact that this mobilization is ever more difficult due to the growing difficulties of daily life. This involves choices and therefore conflicts, not only with the segment of the population that ardently hopes for a social and political order that would perpetuate their privileges and that finds hypocritical support in the "free world", but also with layers of the common people who are weary of so many privations.
For its very defence, the revolution will have to deepen, not repress, democratic rights. It is true that the measures recently taken provide the legal possibility for such repression. But to judge the Sandinista regime on the basis of that possibility is as dangerous as judging the regime of the late Stalin by the constitution that he bestowed on the people and which, as everyone knows, was "the most democratic in the world".
US strategy in Nicaragua is clear to maintain an economic blockade and military harassment, so that the popo lation's material gains are reduced to nothing; and then to brandish the weapon of democracy while praying that a segment of the population grows tired and awaits the aid of "the American big brother".
There it is. All this means that on the basis of a common philosophy the signers of the open letter, starting from their experience in Eastern Europe, shine another light on what is happening in Nicaragua.
We feel that their light is useful for ours, because history teaches that in the name of the struggle against immediate dangers, the risk is great of mortgaging the future. Even so, you must fight for there to be a future. We are convinced that this is the thrust of the present struggle of the Sandinistas, even if they have made errors and may make more of them in the future. International Viewpoint 16 June 1986