Solidarity with the peoples of
Central America
Statement of the International Executive
Committee of the Fourth International, June 1987
ON JULY 19, Nicaragua will celebrate the eighth anniversary of its victory over the hated US-controlled
CENTRAL AMERICA
Somoza dictatorship.
Nicaragua
Washington's war against and US military operations in Central
America continues to grow, expressed by the mobilization of some 200,000 in the streets of Washington and San
In those eight years the need for international solidarity with the heroic people of Sandino has grown as
Washington has escalated its war — aimed at trying to bring down the revolutionary government led by the FLN and return the Nicaraguan people to their former state of .
servitude and domination.
NEL SALVADOR, the September
1986 earthquake which destroyed much of the capital city brought even greater suffering to the Salvadoran people, while the Salvadoran bourgeoisie raked in millions through even more graft and corruption. But the increasingly discredited Duarte regime, armed and financed by US imperialism, has since then been on the defensive.
The Salvadoran workers and peasants have pressed their demands with new determination and better organization, especially in the urban centres. The founding of the UNTS in February 1986 and the increased military capacity of the FMLN both indicate the political advances of the revolutionary forces in
The fate of the revolutions in El Sal-
Nicaragua are intertwined.
Any advance of the workers and peasants of El Salvador strengthens the hand of the Nicaraguan people. Any setback in Nicaragua would place an even heavier burden on the national liberation forces of El Salvador, Guatemala and the rest of Central America.
US imperialism understands this well.
From 1979 on, US aggression against the peoples of Central America and the
Caribbean has intensified. Honduras and Costa Rica have been transformed into bases of military operations for imperialist forces and an army of mercenaries, the "contras". Joint manoeuvres, involving tens of thousands of US troops, have been repeatedly carried out on Honduran soil. The Caribbean basin has been the arena of numerous joint naval operations, costing more the entire Malvinas war. Against the
International Viewpoint • July 13, 1987 will of the Puerto Rican people, the US has turned its Caribbean colony into a military base used to threaten the entire region. Salvadoran military forces have been trained in the US and armed with a new generation of weapons, such as those used in the war against the Vietnamese people.
### Contra army defeated politically and militarily
In Nicaragua, despite the hundreds of millions of dollars and the logistical backing of the CIA and US military forces, the people of Nicaragua have politically and militarily defeated the
The capacity of the Nicaraguan govemment to politically disarm the counter-revolution in the vast region of the Atlantic Coast by audaciously pursuing its historic Autonomy Project has set an example of special importance.
But the capacity of the contra forces to inflict economic damage and exact a cruel toll of lives will continue as long as it is funded by US dollars. Moreover, the US economic blockade has further aggravated the economic crisis. Pressure on vulnerable countries like Mexico and Venezuela to cut definitively Nicaragua's lifeline of oil supplies has placed Nicaragua under enormous pressure, dependent as it is on tankers from the Soviet Union and other Eastern European side of the globe. And even those supplies do not meet the growing needs created by the imperialist aggression.
Opposition among the US people to
Francisco last April 25, and by the thousands of US citizens, young people especially, who travel to Nicaragua each year as brigadista volunteers.
This broad opposition to US policy in Central America is one factor underlying Contragate, the US government crisis that continues to deepen.
That crisis, however, by no means signifies an end to bi-partisan Democratic and Republican party support and funding for the contras. On the contrary, both parties have sought to keep all options open to renew or even increase the $100 million voted to fund the contras in 1987. Whether the contras will be kept alive by US imperialism for another year of murder and destruction will be decided in struggle over the coming months. The scope of international solidarity with the peoples of Central America - from street mobilizations to work brigades to material aid campaigns — will weigh in that struggle.
The International Executive Committee of the Fourth International calls on all who support the right of self-determination of the peoples of Central America to redouble their efforts.
• End US intervention in Central America. No aid to the contras. International solidarity to assure Nicaragua the resources needed to defeat imperialist aggression.
• End all aid to the Salvadoran regime. All US military advisors out of El Salvador. Step up solidarity for the people of El Salvador.
• Support material aid campaigns for Nicaragua, such as "Nicaragua must survive" "A flower for Nicaragua and peace for Central America", "Tools for peace", "Quest for peace" and many others.
• We call on working people -especially young people - from every country to join the work brigades in Nicaragua, offering their skills and energles to assure that imperialism's goals will not be realized. *