Berkeley Demonstrators
Maltreated
Thanks for the reminder to renew. I
wouldn’t want to be without NACLA.
Also thanks for “being there” for my
daughter and her friend when their
awareness was sparked into a flame
by the maltreatment of demonstrators
in Berkeley protesting in the streets
this past year. They are now “friends
of NACLA,” and I am proud of all
three of you!
Joan C. Gilmore
Venice, CA
Praise for Nairn
“Endgame” must be one of the
best pieces of analysis I’ve read on
Central America. You can count on
me to encourage all my sister and
brother “hacks” down here in
Washington, D.C., to read it, devour
it and memorize it. NACLA and
Nairn–what a combination!
Cindy M. Buhl
Human Rights
Coordinator,
Coalition for a New
Foreign and
Military Policy
Washington, D.C.
New Role for Dominica
I recently visited Dominica. Since
Report on the Americas rarely covers
events in the Caribbean, I thought you
might be interested in an update of
events there. In Dominica the inva-
sion of Grenada was a striking success
for the government of Prime Minister
Eugenia Charles. It created a wave of
nationalistic pride similar to that Mar-
garet Thatcher ignited with the short
Malvinas/Falklands war. Charles has
seized this opening to implant a string
of measures which militarize or other-
wise extend more authoritarian con-
trol over her country.
Dominica did not receive U.S. mil-
itary aid before Reagan; after the Gre-
nada invasion six military advisers
were sent to train Dominican police,
and several jeeps and a patrol boat
were delivered. The Dominican Army
was disbanded in 1981 after a coup at-
tempt on the civilian government.
Since then, security threats have been
met by a special police Security
Squad, mandated since the Grenada
crisis to keep both internal and exter-
2
nal order.
Charles’ Freedom Party introduced
two bills in February. The State Secu-
rity Act institutes citizens’ arrest for
espionage; the Treason Act allows
death by hanging for those found plot-
ting against the state. (There are six
ex-soldiers appealing treason convic-
tions.) Many objected to the proposed
legislation, and even the pro-Charles
New Chronicle, the only newspaper
published in Dominica, voiced reser-
vations.
The bills sailed through the House
of Assembly and took effect on Feb-
ruary 20. Seventeen of the 21 House
members belong to Charles’ Freedom
Party.
The United States has become a
major player in Dominican politics.
Many Dominicans are star-struck by
the sudden notoriety their little coun-
try-usually confused with the
Dominican Republic-received when
Charles was spotlighted for her coor-
dinating role in the Grenada invasion.
She received an invitation to the
White House in those heady weeks of
the military action, and the aid faucet
has been open since. An aid package
from the United States, Canada and
Great Britain is finally allowing the
government to rebuild the badly di-
lapidated roads of the 300-square-mile
island. No government action could
be more universally popular.
The main U.S. thrust in the region
appears more and more baldly as mili-
tary. Secretary of State Shultz has af-
firmed interest in an expansive “reg-
ional police force” of the Organiza-
tion of Eastern Caribbean States and
Barbados, envisioned to begin with
about 1,800 troops and to cost $100
million.
Jon Stein
New York, NY
The November-December 1984 issue
of Report on the Americas will be de-
voted to developments in the Eastern
Caribbean-The Editors.
Latin American Drug Connection
Just an idea. Maybe you could de-
vote an issue to analyzing the flow of
drugs into the United States-with a
particular emphasis on the various
Latin American connections. Perhaps
you could shed some light on how this
drug capital is laundered; any patterns
of investment in Latin America (or the
United States); ties of the various
Latin exile communities to the drug
trade; how maintaining the drug trade
might be put to domestic political use.
Given the devastating social impact of
this drug trade here, such an issue
may prove invaluable to your readers.
Randy Nyrkkanen
Dearborn, MI
See Pennyv Lernoux, “Golden Gate-
ways Jfr Drugs: The Miami Connec-
tion,” The Nation, February 18, for
an excellent look at this subject-The
Editors.
Wary of Major Media
Your journal has been invaluable. It
is the kind of reporting we simply can-
not get from the major media.
I have recently returned from a
week in Nicaragua with Witness for
Peace. Your Report, “Target Nicara-
gua” and your recent Report, “End-
game,” provided me with background
information I could not find else-
where.
In our meetings with Daniel Ortega
and the Sandinista leadership as well
as with Roger Gamble (deputy chief
of mission, U.S. Embassy) and lead-
ers of opposition parties, it was very
helpful to be well informed.
If there is one thing I learned in a
visit as brief as one week, it is that we
should be wary of major media inter-
pretations of what is going on in Cen-
tral America.
John Fish
Chicago, IL
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