Santa Ana : Group to Launch Bid Against Contra Funds

Santa Ana-based Alliance for Survival plans to launch a three-month petition drive today at five Orange County locations in an effort to dissuade Congress from funding Nicaraguan contras in the wake of the Iran-contra affair, spokeswoman Trudy Pridham said Friday.

The petition, in the form of ballots that will allow signers to vote for or against U.S. military involvement in South America, will be sent to Sen. Alan Cranston (D-Calif.) in June because the group “feels he works the hardest,” Pridham said, to keep the United States from funding the contras’ attempted military overthrow of the Marxist-led Nicaraguan government.

With a membership of 2,800 in Orange County, the group’s drive is part of a nationwide “grass-roots” campaign sponsored by the Committee in Solidarity with the People of El Salvador and the Network in Solidarity with the People of Guatemala.

Aside from the five “polling places” at Orange County supermarkets and post offices, Pridham said that 10 volunteers will walk door-to-door though various neighborhoods asking residents to sign the petition and donate money for medical supplies to be sent to civilian hospitals in Central America.