Activists ‘Dump’ U.S. Trade Policy Against Nicaragua

About 20 demonstrators gathered at a Fountain Valley park Saturday to protest the U.S. trade embargo against Nicaragua that has barred a convoy carrying food, medicine and clothing--some of it donated here--to war victims.

“At the Boston Tea Party, they dumped tea. Well, we’re drinking the coffee and dumping the embargo,” said Shirley Cereseto, founder of the Orange County Committee on Central America.

Members from several local groups opposed to U.S. policy in Central America who gathered at Mile Square Park on Saturday said the embargo has made it impossible for them to send humanitarian aid to those suffering from hunger and malnutrition in Nicaragua’s war with the Contra rebels.

‘Coffee Party’

The “coffee party” in Orange County was one of 50 held nationwide Saturday afternoon to coincide with the efforts of a group of war veterans making a second attempt to cross the U.S.-Mexican border with a “peace convoy” of trucks, food, medicine and clothing.

The group was stopped at the border last month when the U.S. Customs Service seized the four trucks the veterans intended to leave in the country. Under the embargo, the Reagan Administration will only allow delivery of items “intended to be used to relieve human suffering.”

On Saturday the convoy’s efforts were thwarted again, when eight of its members were arrested during a melee in Laredo, Tex., after they tried to cross a bridge into Mexico. The scuffle broke out when officers sprayed a cayenne-based irritant into the truck, which had blocked a traffic lane for four hours.

The White House considers giving the trucks to the country a violation of the embargo. The veterans argue that the vehicles would be used by social service groups, schools and hospitals, not the military.

Raised $5,300

Cereseto said that Central American peace groups in Orange County raised $5,300 for the convoy and that $3,500 went to buy 9 tons of oats (enough for 150,000 meals) and $1,500 helped pay for the trucks. Since the veterans were stopped at the border June 15, another $300 has been raised here.

The group on Saturday drank coffee that was grown in Nicaragua but did not violate the embargo to get it, Cereseto said. Witness for Peace, another Central American peace group, bought the coffee from Canada, a country that processes Nicaraguan coffee beans.

While others were spending a sunny day at the park, drinking sodas and tossing Frisbees, the protesters blew on hot coffee steaming from their paper cups and took turns tossing into the lake a cardboard box that had copies of the embargo order attached. A rope was tied around the box so it could be retrieved.

“The U.S. should be helping the peace process, not impeding it,” Cereseto said as she tossed the box in the lake.

“Dump it!” the protesters shouted.

James and Lou Gaut of Pottstown, Pa., were staying in Orange County on vacation but had heard about the protest and decided to join.

James Gaut, a retired die maker, spent three months in Nicaragua last year teaching agricultural machinists how to repair their equipment.

“This is for the farmers of Nicaragua who told me they’d like to use (American) tractors,” Gaut said, hurling the box in the water. He said that the Nicaraguans do use some American vehicles but that they are forced to repair broken parts because the embargo prevents them from getting replacements.

“This is for the children,” Gaut’s wife, Lou, said as she tossed the box. “We drink coffee so that the children of Nicaragua can eat.”