Nicaragua-Atlantic Coast Unrest
Jamail, Milton
In early October, a potentially, explosive week-long protest in Nicaragua's Atlantic Coast city of Bluefields was defused by the government. The demonstrators, who at one point numbered...
...The 75 soldiers 42 and militia members flown in from Managua the previous day asked the marchers to disperse, then fired into the air when they refused...
...There is a history here, a culture, a reality for the revolution...
...On the other hand, Bluefields residents are now aware that the FSLN is firm in its convictions to defend the gains of the revolution...
...In a variant of the old saw, "...like taking coals to Newcastle," the current sugar shortage was rumored to exist because Nicaraguan sugar was being supplied to Cuba...
...Reports that the man later died are generally believed to be false...
...In the weeks preceding the Bluefields incident, rumors about the Cubans had begun to circulate...
...Regional Isolation Most people in Bluefields have had more ties with the neighboring Caribbean nations, with Costa Rica and with the United States than with their compatriots on the Pacific Coast...
...There were continued military patrols the rest of the week, but no more demonstrations...
...The revolutionary structures and programs transplanted from the Pacific Coast will not easily take root in the Atlantic region...
...In a few minutes, the demonstrators scattered and 70 persons were arrested...
...A week later, the government produced one of the leaders of the Bluefields incident, Hernan Wesley Savery Harrison, who confessed to being involved in a secessionist plot to take over the Atlantic Coast, and another to kill the entire FSLN leadership...
...A general strike closed all the stores and stopped the boats and planes...
...The meetings that occurred after Bluefields have provided a new basis for mutual understanding...
...But after seeing the entire week of military actions, I was most impressed by their patience...
...Bluefields, the largest and most important city on the coast, is still accessible only by plane or boat...
...Even before the Bluefields incident the government understood that the long process of integrating the region into the revolution required first the construction of badly needed infrastructure (roads, medical facilities, development projects...
...Of the 170,000 persons living in the region, the vast majority are Miskito, whose ancestors allied with the British throughout the colonial period to fight off the Spanish colonizers...
...The people in the street were well aware that the Sandinistas would go to great lengths to avoid a confrontation, and appeared surprised when the military would not back down...
...Stories spread that Cubans were taking jobs from Nicaraguans, that gold from the Atlantic Coast mines was being sent to Cuba, that Cuban doctors were making all important decisions at the local hospital and that Cuban ships were unloading arms just off the coast...
...The demonstrations were well Center of Bluefields, looking toward Atlantic...
...Shortly after their meeting with the Blufilerios, Comandante William Ramirez, the government official in charge of the development of the region, explained to a meeting of FSLN militants, "The movement that took place in Bluefields was not counter-revolutionary although its leadership had a reactionary character and was opposed to the revolution...
...The noise of the firecrackers blended with the sound of shots: the Sandinista military was firing into the air to prevent demonstrators from entering the military barracks...
...Blufileijos experienced neither the destruction suffered by many Pacific Coast cities during the war of liberation, nor the jubilation of victorious battle...
...Some people were upset over a delay in the start of the literacy campaign in the region (which must be bilingual to meet the needs of the Englishspeaking, predominantly Black populations of the port cities such as Bluefields, and the Indian populations of the Miskito, Sumu and Rama who predominate in the inland and coastal regions to the north...
...cu co NovlDec 1980 41update*update update update organized and orchestrated...
...The government now recognizes that its blueprints for the rest of the country must be modified for the Atlantic Coast, and that it is vitally important to have indigenous forms of organized participation in the revolutionary process...
...On Wednesday, the demonstrators mounted one final march...
...The Atlantic Coast region, isolated from the rest of the country by vast roadless jungle, is rich in mineral deposits, abundant forest reserves and fertile fishing grounds, all of which were controlled by the Somoza dynasty, often in joint ventures with U.S...
...Until the new government remedied the situation earlier-this year, there had never even been telephone lines, or radio or television relays linking the two parts of the nation...
...In the 17 months since the Sandinista victory, more projects to aid the region have begun than were attempted in the previous half century...
...Playing on the frustrations and fears of the residents, reactionary leaders were able to create strong popular sentiment around the issue of the Cubans...
...But when a man bleeding profusely from a head wound was led away, the atmosphere turned serious...
...In the face of provocateurs shouting threats and slogans such as, "Things were better under Somoza," and, "You are the same as the National Guard," the security forces acted with amazing restraint...
...Workers in the fishing industry-the largest employer in Bluefields and primarily state-run-were concerned over a proposed change in payment from a percentage of the catch to straight salary...
...However, in the first two days of the protests, most people appeared unaware of the gravity of their actions and the atmosphere was often less than serious...
...Adding to the confusion, the streets were filled with people celebrating the religious festivities in honor of San Jer6nimo...
...The residents of Bluefields had many complaints...
...For some, the demonstration seemed merely a diversion...
...Like the rest of the coastal region, Bluefields was detached from the most important event of recent Nicaraguan history...
...But there are reports that strong-arm tactics were also used by the instigators, including threats to burn down shops that did not close...
...After years of hearing about "godless communism" from the Somoza media, reinforced by the anti-communist rhetoric of some of their fundamentalist missionaries, the Blufilehfos could be moved to believe the rumors...
...After the compas (the Sandinista fighters) had captured the barracks in Estel( land Somoza's bunker in Managua, the National Guard in Bluefields quietly placed their weapons in a pile and surrendered or escaped in the Guard's motorboats to Honduras...
...With the report that several weapons had been stolen during the night, the security forces were directed to take a stronger stand...
...During the week of the demonstrations, the Junta went on television to explain actions being taken, and stated that counterrevolutionary actions such as those in Bluefields would not be tolerated...
...By Friday, stores were open and the boats were running...
...In the resulting confusion some people ran, laughing, toward the shots...
...The tradition of enmity between the costeiios and what they still call the "Spanish," combined with the regional isolation, racism, cultural denigration and ruthless extraction of the region's wealth by the Somozas, have left deep wounds...
...NACLA Reportupdate*update update update Reflections on the Problem Within days after calm had been restored, Comandante Jaime Wheelock visited Bluefields to meet with townspeople and local officials for a firsthand account of what had transpired...
...Rumors in Bluefields are an important source of information-or misinformation...
...On Tuesday, the third day of protests, a late afternoon demonstration coincided with the peak of the San Jer6nimo festivities...
...But these projects have also brought more contact between the two regions and thus, more potential for conflict...
...Cubans had been working for several months on the Atlantic Coast, mainly in the remote areas where there is an acute shortage of medical personnel and teachers...
...It seemed apparent that the anti-government demonstration and the festival were planned to overlap...
...The problems of the Atlantic NovlDec 1980 Coast and the strains between its people and the government in Managua will not be alleviated overnight...
...FSLN Evaluates Role In the self-criticism that followed the events in Bluefields, FSLN leaders commented that the armed forces "did not use tact" in confronting the situation...
...Reactionary Agitation Nicaragua's opposition newspaper, La Prensa, and the foreign press spotlighted the antiCuban aspects of the protests...
...According to early reports from the Sandinistas, this Cuban scapegoating had been stirred up in part by radio broadcasts coming from Costa Rica, Colombia and the local Voice of America...
...firms...
...All around, huge firecrackers were being set off...
...This was the first time the Sandinista army and police had confronted such a situation...
...Bluefields Under Siege Many of the Bluefields demonstrators were protesting the presence of Cuban doctors, teachers and technicians working in the area, but others publicly expressed their discontent with government policies and their distrust and suspicion of the leadership in Managua...
...In appreciation of the irony that the demonstrators were exercising a political freedom that only came to the coast with the Sandinista victory, Bluefields residents explained that this had been the city's first political demonstration in 50 years...
...Finally, others were disturbed that there were fewer ships coming to Bluefields now, and consequently less opportunities for work on the docks and fewer imports to purchase...
...The demonstrators, who at one point numbered 2,500 (government sources cite a figure of 1,000 while the opposition claims there were more than 5,000), were met by a restrained but firm military presence, and a government which subsequently proved open to legitimate complaints...
...As Jaime Wheelock commented, "The political line has to be more creative...
...Gigantonas-young masked men wearing women's dresses with large pillows in their backsides-were chasing people through the streets, hitting them with rolled-up newspapers, while people in the crowd struck back at them...
Vol. 14 • November 1980 • No. 6
