Is Contra War Over?
I have just returned from Managua after attending the fourth North American-Nicaraguan Health Colloquium. More than 160 American health professionals attended in addition to representatives from many countries of the world.
The international support for Nicaragua is felt also in the numbers of health workers from Canada, Sweden, Germany, Italy, Spain, as well as those from socialist countries who risk their lives by working to deliver health care to the people of Nicaragua.
The isolation of the U.S. government in its illegal war against Nicaragua is expressed in the condemnation by the World Court. And now, upon my return, I find that the Reagan Administration in its attempts to pursue this brutal war against the people of Nicaragua, with disregard for Congress and the democratic process, has further isolated itself.
The contras avoid confrontation with the Sandinistan army, preferring a war of terror against the populace through the murder of health workers, teachers, harvesters. Civilians are the main victims from the mines placed on central highways. The effects of the U.S. blockade are also experienced by the whole of the population as basic medical supplies and equipment become unavailable.
There are few facilities for lab analysis. In one month there will be no reagents left to type blood. More than 20 medications are unavailable in Nicaragua, including potassium needed in the treatment of diarrhea, a leading cause of death in children. Fifty percent of admissions to Mascota Children’s Hospital have severe diarrhea and dehydration. These are indirect effects of the war.
Reagan’s aggressive policies toward Nicaragua are uniting the people of Nicaragua behind the Sandinistan government and are outraging the peoples of the world. Now is the time for the American people to speak out against this war. It is the time for Congress to act if it still has the ability to control the unrestrained, illegal, and increasingly irrational actions of the Reagan Administration.
CLAUDIA McCRAY
Los Angeles
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