[The following article appeared in the September 15 issue of the Sandinista daily Barricada. The translation is by Intercontinental Press/Inprecor.]
A Committee of Solidarity with Nicaragua has just been set up, composed of outstanding world political and artistic personalities. Among them we can mention Hortencia Bussi de Allende, Alejo Carpentier, Shirley MacLaine, Martha Graham, James Taylor, James Brown, Butero, Sophia Loren, Jean-Paul Sartre, and Gabriel García Márquez, according to a report to Barricada from Blanca Pérez Macías (Bianca Jagger].
Blanca is one more Nicaraguan ready to make her contribution to the Sandinista People's Revolution. On being interviewed in the Plaza de la Revolución she indicated her surprise at the massive participation of the people.
"Even the language has changed. Previously it seemed to me that part of the people were resigned to the Somozas, but they later showed the opposite by fighting for their freedom. Due to the situation of poverty and illiteracy in Nicaragua freedom seemed an unattainable dream. But today, as Comandante Tomás Borge says, it has ceased to be a dream," said Blanca who, in addition to being known on an international level, has a degree in Political Science.
"Today our people know that they have a country and they are ready to contribute to changing that country. Every one knows that they have contributed and participated in order to change the future. The Revolution has also raised the stature of women; their participation in the armed struggle, shoulder to shoulder with men, gave them this right," she said.
She pointed out that the International Committee of Solidarity with the Nicaraguan Revolution will be coordinated by Chancellor Bruno Kreisky of Austria and its first objective will be to provide surgical supplies for the Children's Hospital.
It will be remembered that after the earthquake Blanca, along with several artists, carried out activities to collect funds to help the victims in our country. At that time an argument took place with the Somoza government, and she refused to turn over the money to it. "Now we trust the Government of National Reconstruction and we feel that they are honest people," she pointed out.
Blanca feels that "the aid for Nicaragua must be unconditional. This struggle was not just against the oppressor, but also to win self-determination, because each country must be master of its own destiny and no one has the right to refuse it."
She showed her sympathy for the true
Aid from Peru, Panama
In a move reflecting the popularity of the Nicaraguan revolution among the masses of Latin America, the Peruvian government has opened a $10 million line of credit to Nicaragua.
The $10 million credit, announced September 20, will be channeled through SELA, the Latin American Economic System. The Peruvian regime also agreed to send seventeen tons of food and other supplies.
In addition, a $20 million loan has been offered by Panama, according to a report in the October 2 Wall Street Journal, and the Dutch government has set aside $11.7 million for aid to Nicaragua.
agrarian reform that is being carried out in Nicaragua, which she felt was the prerequisite for a deep-going change in our country. Blanca knows full well the cost our people paid for their freedom because during the time of the fighting she was working with the Red Cross providing food to the prisoners of Somozaism.
She told us that the British press supported our revolution. She arrived in Nicaragua two days after the death of Stuart, the ABC reporter. The Somozaist government, through Luis Pallais, tried to convince her that the people did not support the FSLN.
She has been having discussions with the Minister of Health Dr. César Amador Kühl, with Miguel D'Escoto, and with Ernesto Cardenal. Regarding our Sandinista People's Revolution, she said that she considers it unique and that it is ridiculous to make comparisons.
She explained that her identification with the struggle of the Nicaraguan people is not the result of the victory, and that she always participated on the level of denunciation, but that the big press never wanted to tell the truth on Nicaragua and always kept a curtain around the real policy of Nicaragua.
"The Revolution in Nicaragua is generous. Implacable in combat and generous in victory are the words of Carlos Fonseca Amador, which the leaders tirelessly repeat," Blanca pointed out. "We don't follow anyone. We follow Sandino who said a long time ago 'A Free Country Or Death, struggling against U.S. oppression."
Finally she pointed out that "it is very gratifying to me as a Nicaraguan to see how this revolution is going about eradicating the false scale of values that Somozaism had implanted and uprooting the complex that foreign is better. Today it is different, we have a Free Country.