NICARAGUA • AROUND THE WORLD
International Viewpoint #149 • October 17, 1988 then obviously we won't hesitate to direct all of our resources towards coffee production, even if doing so paralyzes the lemonade industry. As for the workforce which is then out of a job, we will have to explain the problem politically and see whether they can be transferred to the productive areas of the agricultural sector - which is the most important part of the Nicaraguan economy. "Subsidies amount to more than 15bn córdobas"
These measures also allow us to better adjust our subsidies, since we're not implementing the International Monetary Fund's dictatorial model plan. It is true that we are applying some strategies from the market economy framework, but that doesn't mean they correspond to a capitalist pattern. It simply reflects the reality of Nicaraguan society where we have many small proprietors in rural areas, where we don't have large-scale industry, but many craft workers. This is what forced us to look for ways to stimulate production without, however, renouncing our policy of subsidies.
At present, despite some very harsh measures, we immediately approved subsidies for education, health, milk for infants under six months old, for day-care centers, and for children wounded in the war. They amount to more than 15 billion córdobas. These subsidies will have an inflationary effect, but we cannot abandon them. They are consciously intended to benefit these layers of the population and will not be "diverted" into the pockets of small shopkeepers as happened before, especially in the case of basic foodstuffs.
We see the practical application of these measures as the way in which we can redirect subsidies towards those productive enterprises and social sectors we think must be the beneficiaries.
So, although we may not be able to make big plans for the extension and completion of the social programs wanted by the Nicaraguan people, neither are we conducting a policy that will sacrifice the gains of the revolution. The people want more education, more schools, and we can't provide them because we haven't got the means.
What do we propose to do? We plan to educate more than a million Nicaraguans, which requires the retention of 57,000 educational workers, counting those who work in rural areas, and whose contribution is essential. This means a policy of subsidies, and no reductions in the education budget, while explaining to teachers that the situation is very difficult.
The other solution would be to cut the budget, and we don't want to do that. The same goes for health. So, we want to preserve basic social services, since we cannot expand them as we would wish. But at least we can continue the programs that have an 24 important effect on the lives of every Nicaraguan. *
AROUND
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INTERNATIONAL Contra funds MARTA Rodríguez describes herself as "a good friend of Israel". In her position as the ambassador to Honduras of the International Christian Embassy Jerusalem (ICEJ), Rodríguez has also been a good friend to the Nicaraguan contras. Her "embassy" is instrumental in funnelling cash and supplies to those trying to overthrow Nicaragua's Sandinista government, as well as maintaining important links between the
US-based evangelical Christian groups, Israel and South Africa. On the ideological front, ICEJ's evangelical proselytizing helps to dampen political protest in Central America.
Despite its appellation embassy, the ICEJ represents no national entity. It was established in 1980 in Jerusalem in response to that year's exodus of all 13 foreign embassies from the city in compliance with a UN resolution....A recent ICEJ press release on the Palestinian uprising said that the deportation of Palestinians in violation of international law "was the most human act Israel could employ against people, some of whom are convicted terrorists, who inflame the masses to rebellion and murder."
During its short existence, ICEJ has blossomed into an operation with a yearly budget of over $1 million and a staff of 30 fulltime and 200 part-time employees. It claims to have branches in 50 countries. ICEJ activists are concentrated in Europe, especially in Finland and West Germany, in the US and South Africa. There have been persistent, but unverified, reports that South Africa is a major financial backer of the enterprise. ICEJ director Johann Luckoff is a Dutch Reformed minister from
In Central America, ICEJ has embassies in Honduras and Guatemala, headed by ambassadors who sit on ICEJ's International Council. There are also ICEJ representatives in El Salvador and Costa Rica, and plans to establish embassies in both
The ICEJ's mission in Central America combines public relations work for Israel with the evangelical agenda of proselytizing and supporting Reagan administration policies, so in addition to the expressions of support for Israel generated by ICEJ outposts, and junkets to Jerusalem for demonstrations during the Feast of the Tabernacles, ICEJ in Honduras also works to support the contras.
For instance, Honduras has granted special diplomatic status to the ICEJ, giving it the right to bring a wide range of goods into the country duty-free. looks at our things," Rodríguez says. "They're sealed." Could they bring in aircraft? "'We can do it, but why? I'm not a pilot." Still, the embassy bring in vehicles for other right-wing religious groups known to help the contras. And ICEJ and Gospel Crusade, Inc., a leading player in the US evangelical network aiding the contras, bring some of their supplies to Honduras on US military transport. ICEJ's links with Israel, which has funnelled major military support to the contras through Honduras since the early Reagan years, underscores
Gerald Derstine, founder of ICEJ in Honduras, is a prominent leader of the US religious right. He and his son Phil boast of having delivered over 100 tons of "humanitarian" assistance to the contras. In an interview with Debra Preusch in Tegucigalpa, Phil Derstine confirmed a 1987 report in Covert Action Information Bulletin that Oliver North had placed both Derstines in contact with the contra leadership in 1985. Now both men boast of their close connections to contra leaders Adolfo Calero and Enrique Bermúdez. The Derstines have also established close ties with high government officials in Honduras, including
The ICEJ in Guatemala was established only two years ago. Embassy director Reverend Jorge López also heads a pentecostal and charismatic church, Christian Fraternity. López has reached out to military officers and has succeeded in placing several officers on Christian Fraternity's board of directors....
The military-dominated government of Guatemala has benefited enormously from the activities of Protestant evangelicals, who have converted more than 20 per cent of the population to a quiescent, accepting, and above all "anti-communist" creed. Yet, perhaps because the retoric and practices of ICEJ and its associated groups are so backward-looking, so alien, they have remained largely outside of the framework of policy discussions in the US. Those with an interest in sending and receiving sealed packages for the contras probably prefer it
By Debra Preusch and Jane Hunter, from the August 31 issue of the US
$11,600 or less for a family of four to
The increase in the official rate of poverty for Blacks was the first since 1983, when Susan Caldwell (Canada) • Jake Cooper (U.S.) • Gerry Foley (International the US economy was in a recession. At that Viewpoint) • Rosario Ibarra (Mexico) • Zbigniew Kowalewski (Poland) • Claudio time the poverty rate among Blacks hit Mangani (Italy) • Charles Van Gelderen (Britain) • Esteban Volker (Grandson rate among Blacks declined somewhat in 35.7%. Before 1987, the official poverty of Leon Trotsky) • Alan Wald (U.S.)
the course of the current economic upturn.
But it remained above the 30.6% level reached a decade ago in 1978. The rate of
SOUTH AFRICA Conference banned THE BIG anti-apartheid conference that was supposed to have been held on September 24 in the Cape has been banned by the South African government. Discussed at COSATU's congress last July, the assembly was intended to bring together dozens of labor, political and community organizations. Five hundred delegates were expected for the occasion. The government justified its decision by arguing that the conference would put pressure on the electorate to boycott the next municipal
This meeting could have been of paramount importance for the opening up of a thorough-going debate on the perspectives for the anti-apartheid movement and on unity within the mass movement. The regime feared that this initiative could have given new life to struggles just as it is attempting to solve the question of residence regulations for good with the Group Areas
It is ready, in fact, to legalize the opening up of certain neighborhoods to all races, in this way belatedly recognizing an already existing fact. But it also wants to use this legislation to minimize the number of nonwhites who until now have lived illegally in poverty among whites dropped to 10.5% from the 1986 rate of 11%. The number of Blacks recognized as poor rose by 700,000 to nearly 9.7 million. The number of Latinos below the poverty line rose by 360,000 to nearly 5.5 million. There were 32.5 million people in the US living below the poverty line in 1987 -more than one-eighth of the population.
The official overall poverty rate of 13.5%, down from 13.6% in 1986, was higher than for any year in the 1970s, including the 1974-75 recession. Robert Greenstein, an economist cited in the September 2 New York Times, said that there are 8 million more people below the poverty line than in 1978. Moreover, the share of the national income that goes to the poorest working people — Black, white, and Latino - has shrunk, while that going to the richest sector of the population has
The richest 20% of US families, with incomes over $52,910, received 43.7% of income, up from 40.4% in 1967. The poorest 20% received 4.6%, down from 5.5% in 1967. About two-thirds of those the government classifies as poor are white.
Even those with regular jobs have been hit. A report by the private Economic Poli-
New York
AROUND THE WORLD cy Institute said that the number of fulltime, year-round workers with incomes below the official poverty level increased by 600,000 between 1979 and 1986. Reasons for this, according to the Institute's figures, included a 9% drop in weekly wages adjusted for inflation since 1979, and a 12% drop since 1973 in the income of the average family headed by a person between the ages of 25 and 34.
Twenty per cent of children in the US lived below the poverty line, while 45.8% of Black children did so. Of people over 65 years of age, 12.6% were officially regarded as living in poverty.
The Census Bureau reported that the median income for all families — a figure that lumps together families ranging from billionaires to the homeless - rose in 198687 period by 1%, to $30,850. (After inflation is taken into account, however, this figure has been essentially stagnant since 1973 — rising on $30.)
Among Black families, income slipped almost 1% to $18,098. The income of Hispanic families dropped 2% to $20,306. The median income for white families rose to
From the September 16 issue of The
Admission: $10 for the entire weekend For mere infermation, call: (212) 633-2007 some city centres, estimated to number more than seven million. Sanitation or safe- celebration of the Fiftieth Anniversary of the Fourth ty regulations may now be used to evict people and then demolish the buildings. The legislation will also be accompanied by a hardening of residential segregation for all other urban areas. For example, a white who rents to anyone of "another race" would have to pay a fine of between $160 and $4,000. The government will be looking for much more widespread expulsions than at present; there are estimated to be around 200,000 people living outside of their "racial zones" in this way. The government also intends to attack the squatters who have created gigantic shanty-towns on land earmarked for other uses. * Poverty on the increase THE OFFICIAL poverty rate among
Blacks in the United States rose in 1987 to
International
Friday, October 14,
7:00 P.M.
Saturday, October 15,
10:00 A.M.
Hunter College
West Building (Room 714)
68th Street and
Lexington Avenue
(IRT Number 6 to 68th Street)
Program:
Friday, October 14:
Trotskyism in America
Saturday, October 15:
The Soviet Union Today:
Glasnost and Perestroika
33.1% from 31.1% in 1986. The percentage of Latinos living in poverty, according to a report from the US Census Bureau released August 31, rose to 28.2% from 27.3%. The bureau's official poverty line ranges from $5,800 per year or less for one person to $23,000 or less for a family of nine.
Partial List of Speakers:
National Liberation and Socialist Revolution
Electoral Polities and
Revolutionary Strategy
Rally: Fifty Years of the Fourth International
25
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