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Statement on the Nicaraguan Elections
By Piri Thomas

From "Democracy in Nicaragua"
An eyewitness report on the 1984 Election and Popular Democracy in Nicaragua
(USOCA--U.S. Out of Central America--Journal)

First of all, the elections in Nicaragua were fair and square. There were no huge convoys of army trucks bringing sullen faced Nicaraguans to the polls. Those who couldn't provide their own transportation walked to cast their votes. It was a pluralistic election with seven parties involved and each had equal television time as well as an equal budget. The elections were orderly, and representatives from all the parties could visit any polling place at a moment's notice to check out if anything was amiss. After each Nicaraguan cast their vote, their thumb was plunged into a red dye that would take days to wear off, so no one could vote over again. Everyone who voted had been registered.

We the observers were able to move around freely and speak to whom we chose. I carried a camera and a tape recorder and asked questions objectively, for emotions were high, and all with the greatest sense of dignity. There is no doubt there was no great surprise when the Sandinistas swept the elections with at least 63% of the voting, for they were the most organized. Nicaragua is a country whose population is very young. Old people stand out in bold relief. My wife Betty joined the crowds numbering into the hundreds of thousands in a huge field to wait the outcome of the elections. As I said, it was no surprise when the Sandinistas swept into the elections, yet, every party that lost was given representation in Congress, including the Marxist-Leninist Party and Communist Party, who came in with the smallest return. They each received two seats in Congress.

The elections were democratic in every way, and with over 600 observers from all over the world, who could freely move about. It would have been difficult if at all possible to conduct an election that wasn't what it said it was to be. I interviewed people at random. One was an old man who said he was 78, gnarled and wrinkled. He smiled, almost toothless, when I asked how did he feel about voting. He said it was the first time he had ever voted in a free election. I asked him how did he know it was a free election? He said that during the Somozas' regimes, "which lasted from father to son, there were only two parties one could vote for and both belonged to Somoza. Which ever one lost, he still won, even if the people did not vote in protest." The old man went on, "Somoza would cast the votes of the dead and unborn."

I interviewed a young soldier. She was no more than 17, and very Indian looking, with eyes that had seen more than children should be forced to see. I asked her what the voting age was. She replied that it was 16, since most who were fighting the contras were of that age with quite a few still only 13, they had themselves asked that age limit to be, since if they could fight and die at 13 they should at least be able to vote at 16. Most of the people were soldiers, militia or otherwise, in uniform or without. With those I spoke to, no matter what they said, they'd always finish with "Patria Libre o Muerte." After the elections, there were complaints here and there from people who voted for the parties that lost. They all felt their parties should have won (just like in the USA), but when I asked if the elections were honorable, they, for the large part, agreed they had been. One outstanding thing, as I was watching the different parties on television winding up their campaign speeches, just before the elections, was the lack of mud-slinging against each other, something not lacking in our own elections. The exception was in a newspaper by the name of La Prensa, which bombarded the Sandinistas with muck-raking in every issue.

We all were aware that a vigil was being held every Thursday morning in front of the U.S. Embassy in Managua by Americans living in Nicaragua, in well-mannered fashion protesting firmly any U. S. intervention in Nicaragua. We loaded on our bus and went to share in the vigil. I took photographs while my dear wife Betty recorded what was being said. It was also being filmed with sound. (The same scene was being recorded wherever we went.)

An American Reverend living in Nicaragua was filmed asking the U.S. government not to use Americans living in Nicaragua as an excuse for invasion (as was done in Grenada). This that I wrote has been recorded on film and by now has traveled the world over (from 600 observers, at least from 599 the truth was sure to go). I saw that the white Americans moving around in an orderly circle, carrying their signs, U.S. out of Central America, were middle Americans in protest, and I gave silent thanks for that. I couldn't help thinking of our government's Manifest Destiny way of thinking, and its constant referral to Central America as its backyard instead of sovereign nations.

We visited places like Juigalpa, up in the mountains of Region Five. The heaviest fighting was going on in Region Six, about two hours away. It was during this time that the contras, notorious for their wars on women and children, had laid a mortar barrage on a village, and killed six children, from 5 to 14 years of age. The contras fight the war according to the Gospel of the CIA, Manual for Murder, Rape, and Torture. During the elections and before, reports kept coming in of voters and poll workers, men and women, being ambushed, kidnapped, raped, tortured, and murdered. It was the contras' hope that spreading this kind of terror would discourage the vote from getting out. The world can see how they did not succeed.

We met and talked with campesinos up in the mountains. We learned of Agrarian Land Reforms. How land was now being put to the best of use, how the farmer now had a share in the land. We learned that the new government worked along with large land owners of pre-Somoza days who were willing to now help Nicaragua in a truly democratic way. At one farm a farmer was proudly showing us how sanitary the milk processing was, no flies were allowed, being counterrevolutionaries. They were still milking by hand, for they were in the process of repairing their automatic milking machine, but the cows were producing proudly even if only by hand. The farmers told us about the long, long years of peonage, their lives lived out in sweat that went into the pockets of the rich land owners in profit. One said, "I could not ever get ahead to even buy a new pair of pants." I took pictures of old and young peasants, here and there carrying weapons. Some were old, of vintage use, but still very deadly, and very useful in protecting their wives, children, and themselves against merciless contra raids. One peasant spoke of how the former owners care nothing about their welfare.

We met many mothers wherever we went who had lost sons in the struggle and more than one asked me, as well as the rest of us, to convey a message to the mothers in America, that they have lost enough sons and daughters, that Nicaraguans have no quarrel with the American people, their struggle is against intervention in Nicaragua by the U.S. government. I remember Comandante Roberto Sanchez asking me if I knew who would be the ones mostly sent to invade Nicaragua? I nodded, "Who?" "Your black and brown children, that's who, along with the poor whites. The sons and daughters of the rich very seldom die in battle." "By the way," he added some days later, after finding out I was of a Puerto Rican mother, "A Puerto Rican was killed with some contras the other day up in the North. We were asked to ship his body back to Puerto Rico. But we said no. We shipped him back to the United States in a body bag, for that is where he came from."

"CIA?" I asked.

"What do you think?" he asked softly, "We of course sent a letter to his family expressing our sorrow for his death. But, truly, he had no business here in our country. We would have been glad to welcome him as a friend, the same as we welcome you all."

Bueno, if I do not stop, it will become a book. But the three pages or so I was asked to contribute just wasn't enough for me. So I'll leave off for the while, with the visit to a hospital in Juigalpa, where we visited the maternity wards. Women become mothers very young in Nicaragua -- it is as if to replace the many young who have fallen and will fall in battle, until Nicaragua is respected in her sovereign right, as a member nation among the nations of earth. We also visited some soldiers, with ugly stomach wounds, none was over 17. I wished them well and asked if I could take a picture. They said yes, and one whose brown face was ashen-colored lifted his head and asked weakly that we tell the world that they were fighting for a free country. He laid back painfully and whispered, "Patria Libre o Morir." I left him with his mother holding his hand. Outside in the corridor I wiped away some tears that were brave enough to come.

I really urge that all who wish and can to visit Nicaragua -- and find out for yourselves, that we truly are a sadly misinformed people. Some believe EVERYTHING our newspapers tell us. Some of what is in the media is true, the rest is what our government tells them, the rest is up to you.

America fought England for her freedom -- Isn't it ironic that Nicaragua has been fighting America for hers? -- long before most of us were born -- check it all out -- it's part of history and it's been written about -- America who fought against being a colony -- has developed a colonial mentality -- ask Puerto Ricans -- They will tell you -- But please please ask the ones who love their island better than the dollars.

Viva Nicaragua Libre all nations alike

Viva all the children who should be with pen in hand instead of smoking rifles

Viva Nicaragua -- Tierra de valor

Viva Nicaragua -- Tierra de dolor que lucha firme contra el golpe

Viva Nicaragua -- con tu canto Patria Libre o Morir

Viva Nicaragua -- Rica con tu dignidad

P'alante Siempre
Un Hermano Más
Piri Thomas Montañez

P.S.: Nicaragua is short on medical supplies and equipment. It's short on balanced diets and suffers from malnutrition. It's short on many things. You can all provide help. One thing Nicaraguans are not short on is in courage. They're more than willing to share that with us. Send your help via USOCA.

We children thank you,

-- Piri