The Militant(logo) 
    Vol.62/No.45           December 14, 1998 
 
 
U.S. Troops Bring `Aid' With A Dropper  

BY HILDA CUZCO
Despite the unprecedented economic and social dislocation in Central America in the wake of Hurricane Mitch, the U.S. government has done little to respond to the urgent needs of millions of people there. Washington's reaction stands in sharp contrast with Cuba's generous and selfless solidarity (see above article).

Honduras and Nicaragua, already among the most exploited nations in Latin America, have been the hardest hit, with estimated losses of almost $5 billion -nearly half their gross national product.

In Honduras 90 percent of banana production - the main export crop - was wiped out, and it will take years to recover. Dole and Chiquita, the U.S.-based agricultural giants, have suspended their operations in Honduras, laying off 17,000 farm workers. Hundreds of thousands of small farmers have had their livelihoods washed away. At the same time, the Central American nations remain crushed by foreign debt. Honduras has a debt of $4.1 billion and Nicaragua $6.2 billion.

Initially, U.S. officials announced a paltry $3.5 million in assistance. Later Washington raised its pledge for Honduras and Nicaragua to $290 million in emergency relief and food supplies.

On a recent swing through the region, White House representative Hillary Rodham Clinton announced a two-year moratorium on U.S. debt repayments, postponing 54 million the two countries were supposed to pay by the year 2000. Honduras has a debt of $282 million and Nicaragua $85 million to U.S. institutions.

International Monetary Fund chief Michel Camdessus, on a mid- November visit to the area, called for issuing new 30-year loans with 0.5 percent interest.

Even some big-business newspapers in the region have noted the contrast with Cuba, which canceled Nicaragua's $50 million debt. Paris and a few other imperialist governments have reduced or canceled Central America's debt.

While Cuba has sent volunteer doctors to Central America, Washington is deploying its soldiers to provide "aid." The initial U.S. military presence of 1,500 is expected to grow to 5,600. This includes the 500 U.S. army and air force troops permanently stationed at the Honduran air base of Soto Cano, whose official role is "counter-narcotics missions" and removing the deadly mines that U.S. military forces planted along the Honduran-Nicaraguan border in the 1980s.

At that time Washington trained, armed, and directed a mercenary army against the workers and farmers government that had taken power in Nicaragua. It turned Honduras into a massive military base for U.S. forces, pouring billions of dollars into the contra war.

So far, the U.S. military has delivered about 1,250 tons of supplies in Honduras, including food, water, medical supplies, and clothes, using military helicopters to transport provisions and personnel. The U.S. Southern Command, which is overseeing the "aid" effort, is staffing a second military task force near the international airport in San Salvador to organize relief operations in Nicaragua, El Salvador and Guatemala.

U.S. Marine Corps and other military engineers are building bridges, clearing roads, and providing limited medical care in the region. The Washington Post reports that the recent U.S. war moves against Iraq, "which required the deployment of thousands of troops and tons of equipment to the Persian Gulf, slowed the flow of supplies into Honduras."

 
 
 
Front page (for this issue) | Home | Text-version home