The electoral offering

A critical examination of indigenous movements

"Mitch" in Nicaragua (II): a map of the disaster

News Briefs

THE ELECTORAL OFFERING

Notwithstanding t heir repeated promises to wage a high-level campaign, in keeping with the new winds blowing at the interior of the party, ARENA could not resist its inveterate and visceral inclination towards anti-communism. They launched their campaign at the site of a massacre, in 1932, of thousands of peasants accused of being communists, who in reality were only they were suffering from hunger. With fists raised high and thumbs pointed downward, ARENA party members called for the death of the "reds", compared themselves with a tank on a battlefield and promised to defeat communism at the ballot boxes, convinced that the presidency of the republic is their private property. Meanwhile, the population of Izalco watched the spectacle of ARENA from the sidelines.

A sudden heavy rain did not permit the candidate to speak, to whose lot it would, perhaps, have fallen to moderate those slogans of anticommunist war arising from his party. However, while the candidate declared war on poverty and delinquency, ARENA itself declared war on communism. The divorce between the anticommunism of one and the social agenda of the other is clear.

The FMLN, for its part, went north, to seek the rural roots of its candidate. With great creativity and enthusiasm he compared his adversary with the hurricane "Mitch": both have devastated the country, but with the difference that the ARENA hurricane could be stopped at the ballot boxes while the other was moved by natural forces. The presidential candidates wanted to establish from the beginning of the campaign their Catholic faith, by attending a mass before the political event, as well as their respect for private property. For all the rest, they concentrated on the electoral promises which the candidates did not appear to tire in repeating: to combat poverty and delinquency. The FMLN knows that the opinion polls do not speak in its favor and, as a result, work s to broaden their voting base.

Meanwhile, in a half-full gymnasium the Christian Democratic Party of Umaña launched its campaign; in another hall, an important fraction of the same political party called for his removal once again and elected new authorities. While the true and authentic Christian Democrats grouped themselves around Umaña, and the other meeting hall voted in favor of support for a coalition with the FMLN and the Christian Social Union. While the green candidate sought to awaken a sleeping party, a part of that same party sought new awakenings in better company.

The United Democratic Center signed the document that gave it political life, but has yet to be able to deal with its presidential candidates. The five small parties that made it up aspire to become a center option between two radical extremes and in the political force that could break the polarization. Nevertheless, the center vacillates at the moment of nominating its candidates. At times it would seem to incline towards candidates coming from the private sector, in favor of new figures, outside the realm of politics; but at other times it would seem to incline towards well-known political figures. The indecision of a force which aims toward clarity in the future of the country is not the best force for fomenting the necessary certainty in order consolidating the discontented votes between the two polarized options..

No candidate with presidential aspirations forgets to mention that his priorities are fighting poverty and crime. That is the "commitment" of ARENA and "the change" promised by the FMLN. Doubtless, it is a step forward that the two national problems which most concern the majority of the Salvadoran population seem to be priorities for the candidates as well. Nevertheless, none of them has yet explained what this double combat is made up of. That explanation is important because both problems are complex.

For a decade now ARENA has supposedly dedicated itself to governing for the poorest of the poor, but the only thing that it has succeeded in doing is establishing some macroeconomic indices at the cost of creating more poverty. The prosperity promised by its political economy has not come to pass. President Calderón Sol will not be able to comply with his promise to devote half of the national budget to social spending. The individualization of the progress, which ARENA announces as a novelty in the recently initiated campaign, does not reach more than a privileged minority. Until now, the commitment of ARENA with the progress of a banker is not the same as commitment with a worker, a peasant or a housewife. Individual progress is not equivalent to the progress of everyone. It is a strange commitment that ARENA pretends to make.

The FMLN, on the other hand, promises to change the state of affairs, which implies reforms. For this reason, some fear a possible electoral victory of the coalition. A government committed to change is a threat to its interests, even when reforms only seem tributary and institutional. Such a government considers it an acquired right to pay small amounts of taxes or evade them and that the goal of the government is to defend and promote its own particular interests. From this premise it may be difficult to imagine how ARENA will comply with its individual commitment to the progress of all Salvadorans without making changes. Many others, however —skeptics and those who are not naive—do not believe that the changes promised by the FMLN will be possible and fear the instability which a coming to power of that party might occasion.

Successful struggles against delinquency demand a policy of integral security of short, medium and long range. Occasional or isolated measures will not contribute to resolving that anxiety-causing social problem. Up until now, no candidate has explained the fundamental lines of his action in this area. The fundamental problem of security is not with low-level thieves but with organized crime; not in the penal codes, but in the National Civilian Police; not in the participation of the population, but rather in the lack of police intelligence.

The big communications media of the society have already begun to be inundated with electoral propaganda. ARENA seeks to consolidate its lead. The FMLN works to close the gap which separates it from ARENA. The Christian Democrats aim to take votes away from ARENA and the United Democratic Center aims to be the true party which decides between the extremes. The electoral dynamic unleashed, the candidacies and the victory are most important. National problems are now laid to one side awaiting the moment when a new government shall come to power.

A CRITICAL EXAMINATION OF INDIGENOUS MOVEMENTS

Surrounding the situation of indigenous groups which still exist around the world has arisen a polemical debate, the central point of which has to do with the need for governments to recognize the autonomy which, in view of the previous existence of all kinds of colonization, descendents of native peoples ought to enjoy. As a consequence of this, it is necessary to establish not only geographic, but also juridical, economic and political limits which define and differentiate —or which should take up— that state of autonomy inside the predominant social structure. Central America has not remained outside this discussion. In reality, certain recent events reveal that the indigenous community, in the midst of the identity crisis which confronts it, is still capable of organizing itself and applying pressure in order to carry out changes in its favor.

At the root of any proposal or consideration in relation with the situation of indigenous peoples on the isthmus is the ineluctable fact that these peoples live and have lived in precarious conditions of life, without support as they face a social system which, in the majority of cases, has shown itself to be incapable of offering them equality of opportunity. Added to this, in Central America, the indigenous community has had to suffer submission —which in many occasions took the form of violent repression— as it faces the interests represented by local oligarchies in their alliances with the governments in office. The custom of ignoring the value of areas which ancestral populations hold "sacred" and which come to be considered historical pieces which play a part in any fruitful retrospection regarding Mesoamerican cultural identity seems to be the prelude for devastation by government or rural landowning authorities.

Nevertheless, it is very difficult to encounter evaluations which are more or less objective concerning the viability of projects offered by the organized indigenous population, or which at least concern themselves with the nature of discourses which they appear to use, in order to maintain their social base cohesive around "common" interests. Without disparaging the work and successes achieved up to the present moment, this critical approximation seeks to open the way for other specialists who may wish to stop a moment and evaluate the future of indigenous demands which have been established so that they may be achieved.

In principle, let us focus our reflections on the necessity for the state to offer autonomy to indigenous peoples in order to facilitate life and survival of cultural schema which are almost extinct. This discussion is summed up in the petition to recognize customary law of indigenous peoples —the most recent advance in this area is being drawn up at the present moment in Guatemala, thanks to the encouragement accorded this activity by the signing of the Peace Accords in that country. The concern, then, is for the state to delimit the area in which the indigenous peoples might administer the resources which are to be found in that area, to define and govern themselves by means of their own legal entities and carry out activities which might better their quality of life, while maintaining this activity within the possibilities established by the Universal Declaration of Human Rights.

In this sense, any autonomous state would have to assure the indigenous peoples within its borders access to basic services for subsistence, among other things, with the objective of diminishing marginalization and isolation. Given this, it might be opportune to present some reflections. In the first place, one must ask if the establishment of new borders within nations is a real solution to the problem of indigenous marginalization. In the second place, one must evaluate in what measure the survival of autochthonous cultures might be facilitated by giving indigenous families a piece of land for mere subsistence. One should not lose sight of the fact that what defines the cultural identity of indigenous peoples could well correspond to the manner of conceiving reality which a determined style of life, which, for all the rest would be condemned to the category of mestizo under the supposition of locating it in a social context with equality of opportunities.

On the other hand, to the discourse concerning rescue and conservation of the customs of indigenous peoples must be added the struggle for the environment. It might seem "natural" that the condition or state of being indigenous carries with it not only an attitude of respect and protection of natural resources, but also the use and rational exploitation of them. If, as one confronts the aspiration of maintaining Mesoamerican native customs intact, doubts arise. The idea expressed above might become questionable from any perspective. It should not be forgotten that the poverty characteristic of indigenous communities has generally resulted in the constant exploitation of resources such as wood and water —although in lesser degree than it was at the hands of big business. Definitively speaking, the proposal to trust to the hands of indigenous peoples the rational administration of the environment ought to base itself, first of all, on the solution to their condition of poverty and, in second place, in the carrying out of the practice of their particular concept of nature.

Nevertheless, one should not lose sight of the fact that to be an adherent of a schema of thought does not imply its effective implementation. The broadly accepted differentiation among religious "practitioners" and "non-practitioners" is an example of this idea. Finally, another element present in this discourse must be taken up and it is that which refers to the supposed unity which the indigenous movement enjoys, at least in the countries of the Central American isthmus. Prominent leaders of the indigenous movement espouse the ideal of achieving a single Central American nation, an idea rooted in the fact of the common history which the region possesses and which has its origin in the very existence of the community of direct descendents of pre-Columbian ethnic groups. Given this perspective, the social agents which would do well to collaborate in achieving this ideal would be the indigenous peoples themselves and they ought to serve as an example for breaking down barriers which divide the nations. Before supporting this notion, the veracity of this supposed unity must be determined.

The ideal of a Central America without borders ought not to be taken up lightly, because it does not mean the homogenization of customs and conceptions of the world but rather the levels of life and the possibilities of egalitarian participation. It is one thing to support a political proposition which favors a group at least in its basic aspects, and it is another entirely to think of an eternal, granite-like cultural unity. These and other arguments might well serve to maintain the hope of a better tomorrow for a sector of the isthmus’s population which only with great difficulty might see the results of their demands. It is not upon them that one ought to base the work of an indigenous movement. As was pointed out above, the idea is that, by means of a struggle for the benefits which ought to accrue to the descendents of pre-Colombian ethnic groups, to achieve better conditions of life and equality of opportunity in subsistence, development and participation for those who have historically been marginalized in such a way that, hand in hand with all members of society —be it at the national, regional, continental or world-wide level— the foundations might be laid for the true construction of this better tomorrow.

"MITCH" IN NICARAGUA (II): A MAP OF THE DISASTER

Nicaragua has been seriously wounded along the length and breadth of a broad area of its geography as a result of devastating rains which accompanied the passing of the hurricane "Mitch" through the territory of Honduras. Although "Mitch" never entered Nicaraguan territory, its indirect effects were more damaging than the direct effects caused by the 40 hurricanes which have affected Nicaragua throughout the twentieth century. The level of the rains broke all historic records. In Jinotega they were 1000% greater than the historic average for the entire century. In Chinandega, they were 800% greater. And so it is through the major part of the country. Flooding, swollen rivers and lakes, together with mudslides caused tragedies. It was worse than the 1972 earthquake.

Managua was safe. The part of the country which was devastated is the broad sector of rural Nicaragua from the west (Leon, Chinandega) to the north (Matagalpa, Jinotega, Las Segovias): the peasant sector which produces foodstuffs for survival, for internal consumption and for export. There was significant destruction in various cities of the area hit: Esteli, Matagalpa, Ocotal, Jalapa, Ciudad Dario; there was destruction in the area of Granada and Rivas...The destruction of the highway infrastructure of that broad area fragmented the national territory leaving Managua without communication. The zones hit in Managua were the municipality of San Francisco Libre, the nearby municipality of Tipitapa and the miserable slums on the banks of the Lake Xolotlan, which rose more than four meters greater than its historic high water mark over sea level to a point at which its waters almost joined with those of Lake Cocibolca.

The greatest disaster at short, medium and long range is to be found in the poorest areas of peasant production, some of them having been battlefields in the war of the 1980´s: Wiwili, Quilali, Bocay, Raiti... Of these towns nothing was left standing. "Mitch" added pain to the wounds which had not yet been healed among the population and the demobilized of these heroic points in the geography of the country, in whose estimation, the hurricane was more destructive than the war. The waters of the River Coco —the biggest river in Nicaragua— rose more than 4 meters, covering the rooftops, and the river above covered almost all of the tallest coconut palm plantations, carrying away with it all of the known world in the remote zones of Jinotega and the North Atlantic. The destruction of the rural highways of these areas makes the challenge even greater in these isolated little towns where the only production is that which allows them to subsist and in which no strategic crop is harvested.

Comparing any of these figures with the material losses which have appeared with the thousands of millions of dollars which the Asiatic stock markets have lost or with the value of the shares in the transnational corporations, the devastation which "Mitch" produced in Nicaragua is insignificant. According to calculations, 1,500 million dollars is the amount of material losses. The real magnitude of any number can only be seen in contrast when we consider the data in the context of a Nicaraguan dimension.

In the first evaluation, the National Union of Agricultural and Livestock Owners (UNAG, for its initials in Spanish) gave up as lost some 215,000 acres of the most diverse crops, some of them almost ready to be harvested —corn, beans, sorghum, rice, soy, sesame, peanuts—, which represent some 52% of the total area of land cultivated and some 35% of total production for the 1997-1998 season. So it is, then, that the UNAG estimated that the losses in agriculture were at least in the amount of some 52 million dollars. This is only a few million more than what Kenneth Starr has spent investigating Mr. Clinton’s sexual adventures.

Without knowing the exact amount of the loss, point for point, in the affected zone —where some 44% of the livestock-producing zones are located— some 42% of all milk production is now considered lost. The fertile valley of Sebaco became a giant lake. The rice which was cultivated there suffered heavy losses and the strategic harvests of beans and legumes in this area were completely ruined. Carrots, onions, cabbage and other vegetables will have to be imported from Costa Rica. This shortage —which was felt immediately— together with the destruction of so many areas dedicated to basic grains, is an attack on the already precarious food security of the Nicaraguan population and demonstrates the fragility of an economy which depends fundamentally on the agricultural sector, but which has its greatest percentages in the population of the cities.

The crop which suffered least in the hardest hit zones were coffee. Nevertheless, early estimates by producers in Jinotega and Matagalpa —the principal coffee-producing zones of the country— spoke of 30% of their harvest as lost and the rest, now ripe for harvest, threatened with being lost owing to the fact that more than one thousand kilometers of roads which lead to the coffee-producing haciendas are lost. Some 4000 kilometers of highways were damaged in the disaster zone.

What is more difficult to calculate is the number of chickens, pigs, goats and other smaller livestock lost. These play a key role in the economy of the poorest peasants. A house can be built relatively rapidly, but the reactivation of a peasant production unit is a process which can be calculated in time only in proportion to the money available. Some areas of the countryside have been completely bankrupt as a result of the unexpected avalanche of rain and mud.

After the years of exclusion and forgetfulness, rural producers in this area of Nicaragua rise up from the water and mud before the eyes of Managua as the doleful players in a tragedy. For them the rain fell on what was already a flooded area: those which already had so little, those who had less and less, now, suddenly, had nothing. Only the muddy clothing which they had on when they fled from their homes and were rescued from rooftops, trees or hilltops. What has happened is that now they are no longer dispersed, nor can they be so easily "hidden" or disguised behind the figures of economic growth and stability.

The world, astonished at the Central American catastrophe, looks, perhaps for the first time, at their faces. But they did not just begin to suffer with "Mitch". They carry in their bodies malnutrition and the forgetfulness of many years. The pain of these rural areas will question, from now on and the cries of the obscene levels of corruption among those who in neoliberal Managua have lived satisfied in recent times. Will this tragedy provoke a turnabout in the direction towards greater solidarity and social responsibility?

For many years, many of those who lived in the disaster zones abandoned by official policy were set waited patiently and hopefully for alternative development projects. These were varied productive projects. A number not yet calculated of these projects have been destroyed. And they must start from zero or less than zero. An example is the tragedy of San Francisco Libre on the shores of Lake Xolotlán, a very poor community that was on the way to recuperation of their humanity and their economy by means of a series of alternative projects. The swollen waters of Lake Managua covered the municipality and razed the new crops of pitahaya, the livestock production of pigs, with fruit trees, with goats and tilapia production. All gone.

On top of this, more than seven plagues threaten the broad territories of the country. Because of the excessive rainwater —dozens of latrines were destroyed and with this destruction arose a huge contaminated lake for the cultivation of such epidemics as malaria, dengue, parasitism, fungus of all kinds, respiratory ailments of all kinds and now the terrible leptospirosis. At the same time, the shortage of potable drinking water will cause other sicknesses: Cholera, conjunctivitis, hepatitis, typhus, infections. Before the arrival of "Mitch", these were getting out of control as a result of the crisis in the current health system, in the process of privatization. In 1998 cases of dengue multiplied throughout the whole country and in all social classes.

In a situation as critical as the current one, Nicaragua could begin to feel greater social decomposition than it is already experiencing. There could be outbreaks of social disorder if the government and society do not respond with unity and solidarity as they face the emergency. There are many, many people who have been left with nothing when they already had almost nothing and little opportunity for regaining even the little they had.

In the early days of the tragedy, a mass of starving townspeople from Telica, Chinandega, ravaged two container trucks full of thousands of pounds of meat which were parked at the roadside of the Panamerican Highway unable to move because of the damage to this highway which is the backbone of Central America. During the mass pilfering two small children died, crushed. Ten days later, thousands of townspeople from Esteli demanded fresh food from the mayor’s office armed with machetes. Two days later, the inhabitants of Ciudad Dario kidnapped the mayor for a few hours asking in payment for his release bags of beans to eat... The emergency of hunger and a foreseeable increase in unemployment among thousands of persons who were left without housing, will last for months. How will the consciousness of those suffering hunger develop in the context of a clear crisis of political leadership such as that from which the country has suffered from much before the rain and mud?

It is foreseeable that the processes of urbanization will accelerate, along with the migrations from the countryside to the cities already plagued by unemployment of those coming from rural zones who arrived before "Mitch". The liberal government has maintained a permanent discourse on the topic of the rural sector —to make Nicaragua the grain basket of Central America", the hour of "the rural revolution", etc.—, but without providing the basic services which make it attractive to live and work in the rural sector. Will it do so now? How can the rural population in such a critical state be made to stay in the rural zones? Massive migrations are also foreseeable —greater than ever— towards the "paradise" of Costa Rica and the United States. Even from Mexico and Guatemala.

What will be more difficult to measure or quantify are the marks of trauma which this unexpected tragedy will leave on the conscience of the Nicaraguan people and the marks which will cause post-traumatic stress among so many thousands of men, women, boys and girls who saw their family members, friends and neighbors die and lost everything in an avalanche for which no meaning can be found. On the eve of the hurricane, Nicaragua was a society of unemployed people with high levels of violence against women, girls and boys in the homes, a society assaulted by despair in which each 24 hours a Nicaraguan somewhere in the country committed suicide.

The neo-liberal model has imposed upon countries such as Nicaragua a state which reduces or abandons its social responsibilities, which cuts back public and social spending more and more, and which holds up the blessings of privatizing health and education. What cruel meaning might this "modernizing" theory have in a country such as this which faces a tragedy such as it just suffered? Will it be possible for a political and business elite in Nicaragua to continue being the same as it was on the eve of the tragedy? It seems as though, if not ethically, it is certainly technically impossible.

_____________________________

This article presented by "Equipo Envío", Nicaragua.

MINORS. According to a study recently carried out by International Defense of the Children (DNI, for its initials in Spanish) together with other entities charged with protecting children, the prostitution of minors has risen to worrisome levels in San Salvador. The investigation documents the fact that 1,300 women work in prostitution in some 150 brothels in San Salvador and 50% of these are of between 16 and 18 years of age. Social problems such as family disintegration, extreme poverty and sexual abuse have been some of the causes which have caused women to engage in this work, according to the study. In this sense, the Salvadoran Institute for the Protection of Minors stated that, between January and September of 1998, some 83 cases of child abuse had been treated. There are also abundant denunciations of sexual harassment of minors. DNI representative Carmen Virginia Martinez stated that networks of people have been detected who are engaged in the traffic of children between Guatemala and other countries in the area, with the objective of involving them in prostitution. "There are networks, but if those investigating come too close, they are threatened. There exist networks and large and small trafficking", she explained. On the other hand, the study indicated that many of the minors who engage in prostitution in San Salvador expressed their desire to leave this practice and "establish a family in which there is permanent emotion affect (El Diario de Hoy, November 19, p. 18).

AGRICULTURE. The Chamber for Agriculture, Livestock and Agroindustry of El Salvador (CAMAGRO, for its initials in Spanish) called upon the government, on November 19, to repair rural roads and byways for access to the countryside in order to be able to bring out the already ripe harvests. According to their statements, if this work is not done quickly, danger exists that the crops which were saved from hurricane "Mitch" will be lost if they are not brought out. For this reason, representatives of CAMAGRO demonstrated the need for an immediate rescue plan for the harvests which are almost being lost after having been isolated by damage caused by the torment. As a result of this state of affairs, roads and bridges which lead to the production zones have been closed, obstructing access to these areas. "We must not lose more time. We call upon the Ministry of Public Works (MOP) to send in ground levelers in order to open up closed roads", explained Mercedes Llort, Executive Director of CAMAGRO. For its part, MOP estimated that "Mitch" damaged 3,972 kilometers of the highway system. Some 1,308 kilometers of these were paved highways and 2,664 kilometers were neighborhood and rural roads. According to statements by MOP, the highway infrastructure will not be repaired for approximately four months, which the agricultural and livestock sector considers to be too much time, given the pressing needs of the moment (La Prensa Gráfica, November 19, p. 28).

CAMPAIGN. The electoral campaign of the ARENA party began on November 19 with its slogan "your progress is my commitment", according to the promotional team of that party. The proselytizing campaign aimed to bring to future voters the promise that the candidates will work for a solution to the problems of all social sectors. They stated, moreover, that televised messages will place great emphasis on the academic merits of the candidates, Francisco Flores and Carlos Quintanilla Schmidt, without insulting their opponents. "Mr. Flores has toured the whole country and has seen the needs of the population. With this slogan, he acquires the commitment to work for them", stated Rolando Alvarenga, executive director of the ARE NA campaign. According to his statements, the intention of this personalization is that people feel that the candidate is directing himself to them personally. The amount of financing for the campaign is an unknown figure because Alvarenga did not choose to be specific about the amount. However, he stated that the funds come from "donations, the emission of bonds and money-making activities". Mr. Flores’s government plan will be made known as the campaign advances. Finally, the director of the campaign said that, although no written documents have been presented, the plans for government are now ready (El Diario de Hoy, November 20, p. 10).