Fete Marks 10 Years of Sandinistas : Attacking U.S. Policy, Group Tells of Strife in Nicaragua

The scene was relaxed, even festive: folk dancers, speeches, tables of ethnic food and handicrafts, a jumbo cardboard cake, an appearance by radio personality Casey Kasem and singing by a South African student choir.

But the festival on Saturday, marking the 10th anniversary of the political revolution in Nicaragua, was cause for serious reflection by scores of peace activists and Nicaraguan immigrants who gathered at Culver City High School.

Recollection of Visit

For Sally Gordon, it took her back to a night in the tiny city of San Juan de Rio Coco, high in the hills near the Honduras border. Gordon was there as a member of the church-affiliated group “Witness For Peace,” which sends its members into the war-torn country to observe it first hand.

At 2 a.m., Gordon recalled, Contra rebels began trying to topple the electrical pole at the city border that carried virtually all the town’s power. Alarm swept the streets.

“Our hostess . . . a young farm wife . . . got up, put on her rifle and pack, and was out into the hills,” Gordon said. “No one got killed . . . (but) the attack lasted all night, and at 6 a.m. the people had to go to work.”

Like others attending the festival, Gordon found that her experiences with Nicaragua put her at odds with U.S. policy makers. Festival organizers, who even whipped up a jumbo cardboard cake to mark the rise to power of Nicaraguan President Daniel Ortega, claim the U.S.-backed Contra efforts are damaging a country that hopes only to pull itself together again.

Contrary to official U. S. pronouncements, Nicaragua has made laudable progress in the face of great adversity since the revolution occurred a decade ago, the organizers contend. With their event--the fourth staged by many groups making up Los Angeles’ large Nicaraguan population--they hope to correct what they called inaccurate portrayals of their country in the American press and to bring an end to U.S. aid to the Contras.

Distortions Seen

“Here we get such a distorted picture,” said Lydia Brazon, one organizer who travels to Nicaragua two or three times a year to visit relatives in Managua. “When you go down there . . . you’ll hear them gripe. Inflation is 120% and unemployment is high. But I never cease to be amazed at how committed the people are to the revolution.”

Even as the festival was getting under way, a handful of Los Angeles residents, including Academy Award-winning director Oliver Stone, were boarding a plane for Managua to participate in talks marking the anniversary. Altogether, about 50 Americans will meet with Nicaraguan officials as part of a trip sponsored by the Office of the Americas, a Santa Monica-based organization.

Executive Director Blase Bonpane said the group was invited by Ortega himself. “Ortega wants to talk about democracy in a revolutionary situation,” Bonpane said. “We will also be asking Congress to lift its embargo against Nicaragua.”

Stone said he was going to celebrate the revolution’s anniversary and to provide support for the Nicaraguan people, though he downplayed the significance of his own participation.

“I’m just an individual,” the director said. “But I want to offer some spiritual and verbal support. We (the group) would like for America to help Nicaragua rather than to hurt it.”

Target of Criticism

The trade embargo was a frequent target of critics attending the Culver City festival. Organizer Brazon, who last visited Nicaragua a few months ago, said she saw the effects everywhere.

“Hospitals have equipment but they can’t get parts, because it is U.S.-made equipment from before (the Sandinistas took power),” she said. “You see a lot of cars that don’t run--no parts.”

Brazon said she was struck by the vigor and optimism of the people--and also by the young children left without arms or legs because of land mines and Contra attacks.

Lisa Alvarez, a member of the Westside chapter of SANE/Freeze, a national pacifist group, visited Nicaragua in 1984 and spent three weeks in towns such as Managua, Leon and San Juan del Sur.

In one town, Esteli, “you couldn’t walk down the street without seeing buildings that were shot up,” she said. “One man held up his shirt and showed us his shrapnel wounds.”

Posters and banners underscored the political message: “Stop the Bombing!” “Let Nicaragua Live.” One poster depicted Uncle Sam clutching a Nicaraguan infant, with bold red letters: “Hands Off Nicaragua.”

Organizers said they were almost forced to cancel the festival after two pro-Contra groups put pressure on the high school. But attorneys from the groups reached an agreement late Friday night that allowed it to go on.