COMPANY STORE
By Tom Sanders
The clerks running the U.S. conmpany store in Central America known as "Nicaragua, Incorporated" realize that they will soon face new problems. The light from the fires lit by guerrilla forces in neighboring Guatemala are sufficient to throw frightening Vietnameselike shadows on Nicaragua's store windows.
However, it is nothing new for the people of Central America to be involved in wars of this kind.
William Walker's North American filibusters in the 1850's were the first to give Nicaraguans the baptism of U.S. firepower; but their visit was brief, although it met little opposition. The first invasion of Nicaragua by United States forces in the twentieth century took place in 1909; and by 1926, during the third invasion, there was major resistance.
The second occupation by U.S. troops started in 1912 and lasted for fourteen years.
It was very profitable for the foreign owners of the property and investments the soldiers "protected." The principal business venture of the New York bankers was the purchase of a modest 51% of the stock of the Pacific railway from which they enjoyed a fantastic 20.75% return annually upon their origi-
nal investment.
As a sideline, and in order to
"help" the Nicaraguan government with its
so-called fiscal reforms, the friendly
American bankers founded the National
Bank of Nicaragua as called for by Nica-
raguan law, but organized the bank as a
Connecticut corporation under a charter
certified by the Connecticut secretary
of state on June 7, 1912, the very year
this occupation began!
It opened for business two months
later with a board of directors composed
100% of North Americans. But the board
was democratically minded and only one
year later permitted the Nicaraguan gov-
ernment to appoint two members.
A further step towards the solu-
tion of Nicaragua's financial crisis was
made by the friendly American bankers
when they discovered that it was within
Nicaraguan law to make the notes of the
bank legal tender, eliminate import du-
ties on necessary supplies, gain tax ex-
emption and maintain their reserves on
deposit in U.S. banks. The bankers more
than showed their sense of fair play by
agreeing to a time limit to their bank
concession, a conservative 99 years!
Banking is difficult for people to
understand, especially in a country like
Nicaragua where the national literacy
rate is 33%. But treaties are another
matter.
In 1926, a Liberal party revolt, headed by General José Maria Moncada, attempted to overthrow the regime of President Emiliano Chamorro, a general who owed his position to the U.S. marines and who showed his appreciation by signing the Bryan-Chamorro treaty.
This ceded to the United States "in perpetuity and for all time" (Article I), "free from all taxation or other public charge, the exclusive proprietary rights necessary and convenient for the construction of a canal, by way of any route over Nicaraguan territory," together with the perpetual privilege of fortifying the Corn Islands and of constructing a naval base on the Gulf of Fonseca, for a price of $3,000,000 (Article III) that must remain in the U.S. to cover Nicaragua's debts and credits.
The treaty was immoral, because Nicaragua was not a free agent, and illegal because her 1905 constitution specifically forbade all public servants from Signing any treaty unless authorized to do so by Congress.
In 1917 the Court of Central American Justice also declared the treaty to be illegal.
In order to maintain legality, the government cancelled the constitution and convened three constitutional congresses in a row. Each time, however, Congress retained the treaty regulation article.
The U.S. opposed Moncada in his attempt to overthrow Chamorro in 1926 and to make sure that the revolt failed, U.S. Secretary of State Kellog denounced Central America and Mexico as centers of Communist propaganda and sent the U.S. marines.
The marines soon had the situation well in hand and imposed a new election plan which was contrary to Article 84, paragraph 2, of the Nicaraguan constitution which states that Congress shall "regulate the votes, judge and declare the election of President and Vice President...
But one of Moncada's lieutenants, a farmer and mining engineer named Augu-~ sto César Sandino, refused to acquiesce in abrogating his country's constitution. On May 24, 1927, five days after his thirty-fourth birthday, he wrote Moncada that he would not surrender his arms to the marines. He then departed, with his small band, for the northern mountains in order to resist the invasion.
Several hundred volunteers were attracted to Sandino's cause from many Latin-American countries, swelling his effective fighting force to about 1,000 men.
The marines were so frustrated by the guerrilla tactics used that they systematically bombed the Nicaraguan villages in the guerrilla zone -- 70 in all (including Las Timas and other villages in Honduras by "mistake").
The American commander, sick of chasing shadows through the rain forests and mountains, attempted a concentration policy at Ocotal in May 1930. All inhabitants of specified areas were ordered into six designated villages by June l, 1930. All persons found in the restricted area were considered enemies and dealt with accordingly.
By December 1932 command of the Nicaraguan National Guard, which had been operating under the marines, was entrusted to Moncada's under-secretary of foreign affairs, Anastasio Somoza, a former mechanic and storekeeper, who had received his college education in the U.S.
Somoza proved to be the kind of storekeeper the Nicaragua company store needed. On February 21, 1934, one year after the marines gave up and left Nicaragua, he sprung a trap (approved by U.S. Ambassador Arthur Bliss Lane) and murdered Sandino and his chief assistants long after they had disbanded their army and established a government-sponsored cooperative farm.
With Sandino dead there was no one capable of stopping Somoza, who ruled and looted Nicaragua with a Liberal party terroristic military dictatorship for over 22 years.
Anastasio Somoza was assassinated in 1956. His two sons -- Luis, an agricultural engineer (a graduate of the University of California) and Anastasio Jr. (a graduate of West Point) -- continued the dynasty.
Iuis died, reportedly of a heart attack, in April of this year. The San Francisco Chronicle reported in its obituary that he was "credited with having helped write a social security law enacted in 1956 which benefited 30,000 work~ ers.
In 1962, as president of the country, luis Somoza did push reform measures through Congress. The working day of domestic servants was drastically cut to 14 hours a day and they were given the legal right to one day off a week.
In June 1963 he set the minimum daily wage for any job at six cérdobas [seven cérdobas = U.S.$1].
This brilliant record was not un-
marred. In June 1962, after months of futile negotiations, teachers unions in the Federacién Sindical de Maestras de Nicaragua struck for higher pay. They asked for $71 [U.S.] a month; Somoza's best offer was only $57.
This writer tried to live in the cheapest boarding houses he could find in Leén and Managua, the capital, on #100 a month and found it to be impossible.
The recent "election" was won by Iuis' brother Anastasio. It remains to be seen what "reforms" he will undertake; but it can confidently be predicted that they will not be much.
That part of the "free world" known as Nicaragua is in the firm hands of a leader who heads the National Guard, who knows how to manage both police and army as well as the postal, telegraph and telephone services, and who has had experience in chasing the shadowy figures of the various Frente Sandinista de Liberacién Nacional groups through the rain forests and mountains.
One of these days Somoza's soldiers will catch up with the Sandinistas -- and then we shall see whether or not they will prove receptive to the idea of a new perspective for their country. For the Sandinistas, like Che Guevara, say:
"Wherever death may surprise us, let it be welcome if our battle cry has reached even one receptive ear and an-
AUGUSTO CESAR SANDINO
arms, and other men come forward to join
in our funeral dirge with the chattering
of machine guns and new calls for battle other hand reaches out to take up our and for victory."
In this issue Page
Mao Takes Leon Trotsky as Target for Attack -- by Les Evans ooiicecccecccccccccs tees eeenes 586 Death of Omotosho -—— a Blow to Nigerian Socialists cece cssseessecesseeecseesseessesnneesneee 588 The "Cultural Revolution" and the Japanese Left -- by S. Okatani 589 Cuban Captured in Venezuela "Found" Hanged im Cel ieee: 592 The Futile Effort to Ban Proliferation of the Bomb -- by Henri Valin . 593 Johnson Plans Electronic Wall for Vietram oi cccccccccsscssseeesssseesseseessstessie 595 Alarm in Japan over Escalating Danger of World War 596 Johnson Flounders in Middle East Crisis -- by Joseph Hansen ..... 596 U.S. Soldier Convicted for Antiwar Opimioms oe icecccccccccessssssssssessssesssseesesssessseneescssseessssessesseesessseses 598 Régis Debray Case: Report Régis Debray Bedmg Starved eee cece eesseessssssenssesecevsssnsessecesnssnnmessecscessusss seseccessssnassessssessnsanessees 599 Tre St Lr MeOKL CO ieee cccccceeeessssseneecesssnsesseesennesscessnnseccesnnnesseessnnseseesnnaesececsnnesceesnnees 600 Balaguer Gives Paper Concessions to Dominican Deputies 601 Cost of Living Continues to Climb in Brazil bees 602 COLTS] CELON ieee cece ceecccsesnsssesssnnesecessnnsececessnseneenssnscsteessnesessssusssTesrsnussssesssusesscssssnscssssssusesenssnusesscansuseecssnsscsesessuseceesssneseessnnsescessameeeseecaneeeseee 602 Book Review: "Castro's Cuba, Cuba's Fidel" -- by Harry Ring 603 Philippine Freedom Leader Given Life Sentence .............. 606 Nicaragua -- U.S. company Store -- by Tom Sanders 606 Bombs at Carnival Anger Haitian Dictator cece cecccscsesssesssecssseecsuvscsseessnsssssucsssesesecsssessenssssessssessssesseceees 605
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AUGUSTO CESAR SANDINO