Comment
Tired, But Optimistic I'm stuck in a factory paying the dues of having "dropped out" ten plus years ago without a parachute. Your magazine is a constant reminder of the man I want to become...
...Mexico, Central give, the law of God must prevail: America, Caribbean $9...
...Armed with a tions to NACLA are tax-exempt...
...If pastoral support is his sole objective, why not establish his program as a legal corporate entity within Nicaragua, or place his funds through existing Protestant agencies such as CEPAD, an agency through which USAID saw fit to channel $500,000 in 1980...
...Reference to "Satan's work through the Nicaraguan government" comes from interviews with pastors who attended Tijerino's seminars in Costa Rica...
...I would love to see Ruth Kaplan NACLA do an in-depth analysis both for the sake of your readers and for Promotion Manager yourselves...
...Nevertheless, the role of such an important institution should be closely analyzed...
...and I, a Maryknoll priest, put on Latin America, Inc...
...One aspect of the analysis of Chile seemed to be, on your part, a deferential attitude toward the Church...
...Microfilm reels of Volumes I through VI and VII through X available at $90 each...
...rang out, "I want to make a special Subscriptions: $18 per year for individuals ($28 appeal to the men of the Army...
...Postmaster: send address changes to NACLA, dorean soldiers...
...MAY/iVNE 1984 17 It appears that the strike may even have been prompted by the multinationals...
...Mendoza told me that "the pastors who receive this aid are selected in a certain way" to avoid what he calls "false pastors . . . who are precisely those who get involved in Nicaraguan politics...
...I don't think anyone would want to reopen the old wounds which are being healed by this rapprochement...
...Further, your article mentions "pamphlets and seminars...
...Keep up your important work...
...elsewhere $14...
...in the name of the suffering people of Back Issues: $3 plus 75 cents postage and handEl Salvador, I ask you, I beg you, I ling...
...This issue did an excellent job of commenting on links between the Chilean experience and popular opinion in this country...
...John Russel Financial Secretary Local 528 Aluminum, Brick and Glass Workers Memphis, TN Latin America's New Church I would like to congratulate you on your recent Report on Chile (September/October...
...John Kessler IINDEF San Francisco de Dos Rios Costa Rica Deborah Huntington responds: Amidst the charges John Kessler makes stand two central complaints...
...The first is valid, that I do not distinguish clearly between Kessler's personal actions and IINDEF's official programs...
...So despite everything, I remain optimistic-tired but optimistic...
...Nellie Rumril is standing on the left in the photo on page 45...
...He holds open house in Ciudad Jardin and has a large notice on the street saying "Centro Cristiano...
...Janet Shenk foreign (and domestic) policy...
...I repeat the statement reported by you that the help is available for any real pastor in need...
...Plympton Street, Boston, MA 02118...
...This excellent three-part series correctly portrayed Costa Rica's "militarization" and rightward shift in economic and foreign policy...
...It is interesting that in a footnote you say that I have resigned from a post I did not have, but that you do not say that Manuel Tijerino is no longer at a post he really did have...
...In the name of God, Europe $12...
...For Air Mail Subscription add, per Before an order to kill that a man may year: U.S...
...I defy anyone to come up with clear evidence that in any such seminar we have talked about "Satan's work through the Nicaraguan government...
...Taking advantage of low international banana prices, they sought to bust the union, demoralize the class-conscious workforce and write off the entire operation as a tax deduction due to losses caused by labor disruption, a practice allowed by Costa Rican law...
...The article alluded to the reforms in education under Allende as a source of the Church's alienation under that regime, and also mentioned the distinct advantage that the Catholic University now enjoys under Pinochet...
...Why is an evangelical leader receiving covert funding from the United States and participating in a program of questionable political character which violates Nicaraguan law...
...Alvarez is the associate pastor to Boanerges Mendoza, who has frequently served as a consultant to Kessler and who describes himself as "one of the founders of this [pastoral support] program...
...At this critical time in El Salvador our loving God asks each of us to hear the cry of the poor and those who have died for the poor...
...Back issue lists available on request...
...My portrayal of Kessler's laundering $5,000 a month through his personal bank account was intended to convey precisely the individual rather than official nature of his pursuits...
...He also told me that the recipients' behavior is "watched very carefully...
...often it is the only body that can dare criticize the government...
...In the silence of the 151 West 19th Street, 9th Floor, New York, NY night, the martyred Archbishop's voice 10011...
...Finally it should be mentioned that the Costa Rican Left is currently in the throes of its worst internal crisis in recent history...
...it is "Kessler's office" which approves it...
...I should indeed have clarified the distinction between the IINDEF staff member and the organization...
...The second largest left party-the People's Revolutionary Movement-lost almost 60% of its membership after publicly declaring that it was no longer Marxist-Leninist...
...Mendoza and others pointed out to me that there is very high correspondence between recipients of the aid program and attendance at these seminars...
...Kate Browne Gary Martinez Subscription Manager Syracuse, NY Cecilia Chacon Distribution Manager A Voice In The Dark Ted Auerbach Here at the Federal Prison in Sandstone, Minnesota, the fourth anniver- On Leave sary of the assassination of Archbishop Judy Butler Oscar Romero of El Salvador has speGeorgia to be armed and trained in military warfare...
...I have never occupied that position...
...I'm a union man in a non-union town, but one thing is certain-and you folks reinforce this belief-where there's life there's hope...
...Indeed perhaps the most disheartening fact is that most Costa Ricans still believe they live in a tranquil, democratic haven, safely protected by the generous, peaceloving North American government...
...The seminars referred to are not IINDEF's but those conducted by Kessler's friends Mendoza and Tijerino...
...The late photographer's work is now represented by Archive Pictures, Inc...
...tree near the barracks of the Salva- Second class postage paid at New York, NY...
...It is not clear whether you are referring to IINDEF seminars or those of another organization, but if you are referring to IINDEF seminars then I declare on behalf of IINDEF that all our seminars in Nicaragua were open to everyone and were in fact attended by people of very different political and ideological persuasions...
...Corrections The photo captions on pages 44 and 45 of the November/December 1983 Report were mistakenly interchanged...
...Contrary to what you state at the bottom of page 28, our offices never left San Jose, and contrary to what you suggest no other motives were involved...
...He said, "Instead of leading to justice and peace in El Salvador, military aid from the United States only sharpens the injustice and repression of our people...
...Indexed by Alternative called us to obey a higher law-the law continued from p. 2 of God which says, "Thou shalt not kill...
...Is there not a better way to express our love for the poor of El Salvador than to stop U.S...
...several conservative pastors I interviewed in Nicaragua told me that upon accepting the pastoral support they also began to receive unsolicited conservative Christian literature and conference invitations by mail...
...After speaking with Kessler in Costa Rica in May 1983, I interviewed a number of pastors in Nicaragua affiliated with his program...
...forinstitutions ($54 for two years...
...DonaFort Benning one night...
...Father Larry Rosebaugh, an Oblate Report on the Americas (ISSN 0149-1598) is pubpriest...
...NACLA), an independent non-profit organization founded in 1966 focusing on Army officer uniforms and entered on the political economy of the Americas...
...Roy Bourgeois, M.M...
...Finally I would mention that our good friend Ram6n Salgado, who heads up the work supported by the Trans Word Mission in Managua has not gone "underground...
...At the top of page 30 you state that I was executive director of IINDEF...
...Accordingly at the beginning of 1980 Rafael returned to San Jos6...
...Letters may be edited for length and clarity...
...Most of Art Direction this type of analysis has been left, Liz Mestres apparently, to returned missionaries or Librarian Church leaders...
...Both then and now Alberto Barrientos occupied the post of director...
...Research Staff How does the experience of the Church Robert Armstrong in Latin America affect the attitude of Deborah Huntington the Church in this country to U.S...
...What is the Research Director interest of the Church in Latin America Steven Volk and why does it behave the way it does...
...Afraid to lose their jobs, they are quietly accepting decreases in real wages as well as the systematic firing of grassroots leadership...
...The photos by Richard Cross which appeared on the cover and on page 16 of our March/April issue were mistakenly credited...
...The woman on page 44 is an unidentified participant in the Feminist Conference...
...and Canada $6...
...In the solitude of prison I think about the letter sent to our President by Archbishop Romero shortly before he was gunned down while saying mass...
...Your magazine is a constant reminder of the man I want to become because of its humanity, sensitivity and commitment to better things and ways...
...The Communist Partywhich historically has led the organized labor movement-split last December...
...More important than these details is the suggestion made in your article of partiality, first by referring to "a carefully screened list of pastors...
...Church opposition to Pinochet was linked in the article to an "interest in human rights and in bolstering the 2 REOI ONTEAEIA I labor movement...
...I know that Deborah Huntington interviewed Modesto Alvarez who does administer the program, but he is not mentioned because he said the same as I did...
...Further, I did not and do not receive a personal check of $5,000 per month...
...Copyright We were arrested and at our trial we 1984 by the North American Congress on tried to show that as Christians our faith Latin America, Inc...
...Second, you refute this statement by quoting "one Nicaraguan program administrator" who according to your note 31 is Boanerges Mendoza...
...These were not, however, the only seminars reported to me as seeking to provoke a sense of impending persecution of Christians by the Sandinistas, or suggesting that economic malaise or natural catastrophe were the result of the "communist," "anti-God" orientation of the government...
...Federal Prison Sandstone, MN Strike Triggered Massive Assault I just completed one and one-half years' research on a Costa Rican banana plantation for my doctoral dissertation...
...The strike-the longest in the history of Costa Rica-marked the beginning of the massive, ongoing assault on the plantation workers' unions by both government and corporations...
...You are a source of strength and hope to me in these days of struggle...
...high-powered tape recorder and the The views expressed in Report on the Americas legendary last homily of Archbishop are those of the authors and do not necessarily Oscar Romero, we climbed a tall pine represent the views of NACLA...
...U.S...
...A growing (mutual) respect seems to be developing out of the realization that the Church can and does often play an important role in efforts to achieve liberation...
...IINDEF's name and Kessler's perceived relation to the organization (confirmed by IINDEF by telephone in October 1983) were invoked in order to situate Kessler as a prestigious individual with access to the Central American evangelical community...
...I send this letter in the hope that it can help get more people to oppose U.S...
...Martha Doggett While the Church's opposition to educational reform may be easily un- Managing Editor derstood, its interest in labor unions Virginia Cannon and human rights is not...
...The Church viewed the unions, writes the author, Editor "as indispensable, intermediary organi- George Black zations to represent the rights of workFeatures Editor ers...
...Readers are invited to address letters to: Comment, NACLA, 151 West 19th Street, NY 10011...
...Unfortunately your article, "Costa Rica: Resisting Austerity" (January/February), as far as it applies to organized labor--especially the banana worker unions--exaggerates the level and effectiveness of popular mobilization in response to the right-wing shift in political and economic policy in Costa Rica...
...I can only hope that you will publish or make known the considerable inaccuracies in your reporting, and that you will also make known that the project to help pastors in Nicaragua is not directly the work of IINDEF...
...Some time ago I expressed that perhaps one weakness of the magazine is that it rarely reports on the solidarity network in the United States associated with the countries which you cover...
...39 for three years...
...intervention in Central America...
...South America, Thou shalt not kill...
...I have been authorized to reply as follows: In December 1976 it was decided to move Rafael Baltodano to Nicaragua for a period of three years and this was minuted...
...I pointed out to Deborah Huntington that the list had to be carefully screened because attempts had been made to include the same person twice, to include people who were not pastors and to distribute the money at variance to the agreed lists...
...This is understandable in light of the animosity which existed between leftist circles and the Catholic Church...
...after consulting my tape recording of our interview-made with his consent--I acknowledge that he does not deposit the funds in an account...
...29 per year killing your own brothers and sisters...
...I did not then have a dollar account here so I could not have passed the money through my Costa Rican bank account as stated by you...
...Significantly, 1983 was the first year in as long as anyone can remember with no strikes on the banana plantations...
...Boanerges Mendoza, as pastor of one of the bigger Managua congregations, is not on the list of pastors receiving help and has nothing to do with the program...
...My two companions were sentenced to 15 months and I got 18 months...
...Philippe Bourgois New York, NY Evangelical Controversy At our meeting yesterday the team members of the International Institute of In-Depth Evangelization (IINDEF) asked me to make use of my right to reply to your article "God's Saving Plan" written by Deborah Huntington and published in your magazine (January/February...
...You are for two years...
...The money reaches me by different channels...
...Kessler's very acknowledgement that he receives money, however, provokes the same questions implied in the article...
...Worse yet, there has been a marked decrease in the militancy of the rank and file...
...Modesto Alvarez, whose main role is to dispense the money, told me that while he believed REPORT ON THE AMERICAS the program was open to all pastors, he himself had no authority in drawing up the recipients' list...
...The 63-day banana strike of 1982-deemed a victory for labor in the article-was in fact a demoralizing defeat...
...75 for three years...
...the second-that I mischaracterize the Nicaragua pastoral support program individually administered by Kessler--I refute...
...In fact, the economic crisis and the accelerated government and corporate repression of labor over the last two years has resulted in a serious erosion in unions' bargaining power...
...This meant more suf- Roberes/Churcher Book store distribution: Carrier Pigeon, 40 fering for the poor of that country...
...Linda Ventimiglia, a physician's lished bimonthly by the North American Congress assistant...
...order you: Stop the repression...
...In conclusion, prospects for effective militant resistance to these trends are not bright-at least in the short term...
...military aid to that country...
Vol. 18 • May 1984 • No. 3
