myers@uwmacc.UUCP (Latitudinarian Lobster) (10/31/85)
Two Nicaraguan Occasions
Fifth of an eight part series.
One of the most common and frequent Nicaraguan celebrations is
the Sunday celebration of mass. The churches are filled every Sunday
- but I'm going to put off my discussion of the church until the next
article. Today I'd like to describe two less typical occasions which
I was able to attend, the fifth anniversary celebration of the forma-
tion of the CDS (Comite's por la Defensa de Sandinismo), and the Sep-
tember 15 celebration of the Di'a de la Independencia, commemorating
the day all colonies gained independence from Spain.
The CDS is a popular organization which is responsible for many
different tasks, and is one of the most controversial organizations in
the country. The local committees are responsible for distribution of
ration cards (staple foods and gasoline) in all neighborhoods, for
organization of civil defense, for vigilance against internal enemies
of the nation, and as a mechanism of communication between the
national and local FSLN leadership and the people they represent.
Some of the more middle-class people with whom I worked were clearly
uncomfortable with my mentioning that I had attended a CDS meeting.
I'll leave the debates about the pluses and minuses of the CDS to
those more knowledgeable than I, and go on to describe the meeting.
It took awhile for our guide from the ASTC (Associacio'n San-
dinista de Trabajadores Culturales, the cultural workers union and the
Nicaraguan organization hosting tecNICA's visit to the country) to
gain entry for our group of 15 gringos. Once we did manage to get in,
it became clear that it was a very big, televised event, and there
must have been around four thousand people packed into the hall for
the meeting. Everyone not on the stage was standing. A woman
representative from the army was speaking as we arrived and people
continued to pack into the hall - for the most part we were simply
ignored, but it was clear from some friendly jostling that we were not
unwelcome.
I took advantage of this early period to look around. Of the
fifteen or so people seated on the stage, 6 were women. All through
the meeting people alternated between listening and milling around
greeting their friends. There were quite a number of hand-painted
banners with slogans all around the hall - here are some examples:
Carlos Fonseca es de los muertos que nunca mueren.
Carlos Fonseca is one of the dead that never dies.
Los CDS somos fuerza comunal, somos el poder popular.
The CDS - we are communal strength, we are popular power.
Desde la cuadra, por la defensa y la paz, trabajamos por nuestra
comunidad.
Going from this hall, we will work for our community, for the
defense and peace.
Man~ana, hijo mi'o, todo sera' distinto, sin latigo ni ca'rcel,
ni bala de fu'sil.
Tomorrow, my son, everyone will be different, without whips, jail,
or the bullet of a gun.
Next came a very talented political singer of about 50 years, playing
the guitar very well, and spitting rapid-fire political jokes in a
bantering manner. I wish my Spanish had been up to it, because he
was a real crowd pleaser. The only punch-line I got was that
``Reagan tiene una lengua larga '' (Reagan has a long tongue).
Nicaraguans, a very poetical people, seem to have a great time with
double and triple meanings. During pauses by this particular per-
former, there were occasional jokes shouted back at him from the
crowd which also went over well. Following this, the anthem of the
Frente Sandinista was sung.
The keynote speaker was Bayardo Arce, one of the main political stra-
tegizers for the FSLN, who spoke for about 30 minutes and was well
received. A party followed in the hall, but many people left to
return to their homes, or wherever, and there was a real crush to get
out, but everyone seemed to be in high spirits. An electric band
began to perform on stage as we left, and another small, instrumental
band was playing just outside the door of the hall. This was a Mon-
day night.
We saw an atypical CDS meeting because of the celebration of the
fifth anniversary, and also because it was not a neighborhood meet-
ing, but a zonal. Normally they would involve a much less important
speaker, and there would be a question and answer period with the
official or officials involved, as well as more aspects of a business
meeting.
The other major event which we glimpsed was what is basically the
Latin American version of the Fourth of July, Independence Day, the
15th of September. There was a parade down one of the main streets,
with officials, marching bands, etc., down to the Plaza of the Revo-
lution, which is a place worth describing, as most of the big, out-
door events in Managua take place there.
The plaza is normally just a square, two-thirds empty parking lot
(about the same capacity as a football field would be) sandwiched
between four important Managua landmarks. On the north is the huge,
polluted Lake of Managua and lush, green mountains off in the dis-
tance. Just to the south is the National Palace, which houses tax
offices and such. To the east are the ruins of the Cathedral of
Managua, destroyed in the 1972 earthquake - to this day, there are
many destroyed buildings remaining in that part of the city because
Somoza stole much of the international relief money, with which he
had pledged to rebuild the city center. I was able to climb around
the ruins the day before the celebration, met a US tourist, noted
that a squatter family is living in the ruins, and nearly fell off
the stage that had been erected. To the west of the plaza is the
park in which Carlos Fonseca is buried.
On the fifteenth we were heading out of the city for the weekend, but
we were able to catch alot of the parade on TV just before we left,
and seemed just like parades everywhere, extremely dull (my opinion).
On our way out of town, we stopped near the plaza, and most of my
collegues sauntered over to see what was going on - as I had wandered
that part of the city the day before, I was more interested in relax-
ing in the small bus than in a Managua crowd on a hot Saturday, so I
stayed behind with a friend of like mind.
From what our friends told us, the plaza was full of people, there
was a speech by President Daniel Ortega, music, etc. While I'm sorry
I missed it, I'm glad I got the rest!
Next: Thoughts on Nicaraguan Organizations.