Letter from Harris County Jail (Part II)

By Joseph Mulligan, S.J.

Ed. Note : This essay is the second part of one full article by Joseph Mulligan on U.S. foreign policy and Central America, specifically in terms of Nicaragua and the conservative/reactionary political leadership of that nation. It is critical to first read Mulligan's first letter to Witness readers (written in early February) before reading this one, since this is a continuation of that earlier piece. The first installment was written from the Muscogee County Jail in Georgia. In late February, Mulligan and several other political prisoners were moved to another county jail in Georgia. People who wish to write to him may do so to the following mailing address: c/o Harris County Jail, P.O. Box 286, Hamilton, GA 31811. Another piece from the author that specifically addresses his trial will be published soon.

(Continued from February)

Nicaraguan president Enrique Bolaños, who began his term in office by presiding over the prosecution of a few corrupt officials (including former president Arnoldo Alemàn), is a wealthy businessman totally committed to CAFTA (the Central American Free Trade Agreement), the privatization of state companies (e.g., telephone, electricity, and even water), and the minimization of government services.

This has resulted in “austerity” (actually, misery) for the vast majority of Nicaraguans, while Bolaños and other high government officials are receiving salaries and benefits which make them the envy of most governments of the hemisphere.

Unemployment is at least 60%; i.e., only 40% of Nicaraguan workers are earning regular salaries, while the “underemployed” are selling rear-view mirrors, plastic bags of water, and other items in the street or washing windshields at traffic lights or begging. Most of the salaried employees earn wages which are not sufficient to support their families. For example, teachers in the public schools, nurses in the hospitals, police, and factory workers earn about US$70 a month. Farmworkers earn even less, and their employment is unsteady. According to most estimates, the cost of living for the average family is US$200 a month. Not surprisingly, most Nicaraguans are seriously undernourished.

When a worker cut his hand and wrist accidentally with a machete. . . I paid about US$25 for the x-ray. . . the doctor sold me the thread, alcohol, and bandages required to stitch the wound. If I had not had my car and money, the man might well have died.

Regarding medical care, most people can be seen by a doctor in a public hospital or health center but cannot afford to pay for lab tests, x-rays, and prescribed medicines. When a worker cut his hand and wrist accidentally with a machete, I took him to the emergency room of a large public hospital. His hand was not bleeding any more but wrapped in rags; and the doctor immediately said that we had to go to a private x-ray clinic about 3 miles away, since the hospital did not have the equipment for a hand x-ray.

After driving to the clinic, I paid about US$25 for the x-ray. When we returned to the hospital, the doctor sold me the thread, alcohol, and bandages required to stitch the wound. If I had not had my car and money, the man might well have died before he could get around on buses trying to borrow the money.

In another instance, just before I left Nicaragua to come to our trial in Georgia, the newspapers reported that patients in the ob-gyn hospital in Managua were lying on the wire frames of the hospital beds due to a shortage of mattresses. At least here in jail I have a mattress.

In the area of education, the teachers' insufficient salaries are matched by their inadequate resources. Most students, who now, in the “free-market” system, have to pay small but significant fees, do not get to high school; of those who do, only a small fraction go to college.

As a member of the free-market capitalist system, Nicaragua must make payments on its foreign debt and take the required measures of “austerity” and “structural adjustment.” In recent years, with export earnings at an abysmal $600 million a year, the country has been paying about 1/3 of that for service payments on its $6 billion debt.

Very recently, as the nation awaits receiving the dubious distinction of being deemed worthy to be included in the HIPC club (highly indebted poor countries), it has been allowed to pay significantly less than $200 million a year.

Once it is classified officially as an HIPC, almost 80% of its foreign debt may be canceled. But the interest payments this impoverished country will continue to have to pay will still be a major drain on resources, which are vital to the people's survival.

The fact that Nicaragua is now such a basket case (competing only with Haiti for the status of poorest nation in the hemisphere) is due largely to U.S. foreign policy – as carried out by the Contras and the economic embargo to undermine the Sandinista revolutionary government, and as implemented by the U.S.-controlled International Monetary Fund and World Bank to keep the country in the fold of “free-market democracies.” (Native corruption and oligarchical greed and social irresponsibility are also important factors.)

Free-Market Democracy – From Nicaragua to Iraq

U.S. foreign policy has traditionally been based on the enforcement of “free-market democracy,” which obviously serves the interests of American corporations since they are among the biggest players in the game and thus can dominate free-trade areas, while the U.S. government continues to use tariff barriers to keep out unwanted competitors' goods.

Until the demise of communism in Eastern Europe, the U.S. government's defense of capitalist interests was presented as a struggle to contain communist expansion.

But even before the Russian revolution and the birth of the Soviet Union, Washington had invaded various countries to protect U.S. corporate interests -- e.g., Nicaragua, Haiti, and the Dominican Republic in the early 20 th century. (Outright invasion , of course, is another U.S. weapon to control the countries' economies and political systems. This most obvious form of intervention has been seen in modern times in the Western Hemisphere in the U.S. invasion of the Dominican Republic in 1965, Grenada in 1983, and Panama in 1989.)

And since the demise of the Soviet Union and of the “communist threat,” the U.S continues its commitment to control the world for its own economic interests, imposing “free-market democracy” wherever it is not yet completely in effect.

Colin Powell and other Bush officials do not try to camouflage this. Rather, they talk freely about the U.S. commitment to promote and even create “free-market democracies” in Iraq and other areas, thereby giving the lie to U.S. pretensions to promote self-determination, true freedom, and democracy.

The U.S. has already dictated that the “new Iraq” will have a free-market economy, wide open to foreign multinationals' control and profit-taking. If “democracy” means literally “rule by the people,” what rule or power will the Iraqi people have if they cannot even structure their own economy?

The U.S. has already dictated that the “new Iraq” will have a free-market economy, wide open to foreign multinationals' control and profit-taking. If “democracy” means literally “rule by the people,” what rule or power will the Iraqi people have if they cannot even structure their own economy?

Any attentive student of political philosophy can see that “free-market” theory has to do with economics , whereas democracy has to do with the body politic . Those who join the words as if they were synonymous or inseparable must think that democracy means rule by private corporations.

The invasion and occupation of Iraq can be understood in this light. Not only oil but the entire economic structure is being privatized, with overwhelming advantages being bestowed upon giant U.S. multinational companies.

U.S. capitalism also has its sights set on other parts of the Middle East, North Korea and Cuba – wherever governments have “too much” control of the economy and where the markets could be “freed up” and opened up for U.S. profit.

U.S. corporate interests are enhanced not only by the economic control of Iraq but also by the vast profits harvested by the military-industrial-aerospace complex as a result of the invasion and occupation of Iraq and as a benefit of the war on terrorism.

American neo-colonialism, formerly cloaked as the war against communism, is now presented as the war against terrorism. Not that anyone, after September 11, 2001, would deny that horrendous terrorist acts are being committed; but it is precisely U.S. neo-colonialism, sharpened by the arrogance and unilateralism of the Bush administration, which provokes nationalist terrorism.  

My Trial

This is why I presented self-defense as one of my lines of argument in my trial.   I stated that the American people are living at a high level of fear and anxiety, and logically so since there is a very real danger of terrorist attack – but that this danger is intensified and exacerbated by the militaristic, unilateral and arrogant actions of the Bush administration, which has put the whole population on the front lines of war.

I explained that I participated in the action against SOA/WHINSEC (School of the Americas/ Western Hemisphere Institute for Security Cooperation) in order to stop the export of terror and repression represented by the School and in order to contribute to the withdrawal of U.S., Nicaraguan, and other foreign troops from Iraq – and thus to help to move U.S. foreign policy away from the aggressiveness which provokes terrorist reaction.

In a special Issue in September 2001, TIME reflected: “If you want to humble an empire it makes sense to maim its cathedrals. . . The Twin Towers of the World Trade Center. . . and the Pentagon. . . are the sanctuaries of money and power that our enemies may imagine define us. But that assumes our faith rests on what we can buy and build, and that has never been America's true God.”

In reality, do we live in obedience to any God beyond profit-maximization and government authority (the latter especially in times of war)? Is our personal and national self-interest our “ultimate concern”? When we sing “God Bless America” (which I enjoy), is the verb more of a command than a request?

Hasn't it? If we were to add “and defeat” (looking at the Pentagon), would that constitute the trinity in which our nationalistic religion believes? In reality, do we live in obedience to any God beyond profit-maximization and government authority (the latter especially in times of war)? Is our personal and national self-interest our “ultimate concern”? When we sing “God Bless America” (which I enjoy), is the verb more of a command than a request?

With other U.S. citizens in Nicaragua, I wept uncontrollably on September 11, 2001, after hearing about and seeing the terrorist attack on the city of my birth. I cried again when I visited the crater some time later but was moved with gratitude and appreciation the next day upon viewing Bowling for Columbine – thankful that such a clear, systemic analysis of American violence could be made and shown to many audiences. Outside the theater people were getting signatures on a gun-control petition.

About five years ago I spent a few days in the company of my friend Dan Berrigan, S.J. After lunch on Staten Island, we returned by ferry to lower Manhattan and rode up to the top of the Twin Towers. Looking out over Wall Street and the rest of the stupendous human creation, I asked Dan, “What to make of all this? What does it mean?”

“I always come back to the prophets,” he replied, “to keep things in perspective.”

My second line of defense in my trial was that I wanted to prevent imminent harm to the people of Latin America who continue to suffer repression at the hands of SOA/WHINSEC graduates. I cited the high level of massacres and the human-rights violations committed by the armed forces of Colombia and Mexico and noted that these countries send large numbers of troops to SOA/WHINSEC.

The problem is systemic : the military forces in Latin America generally suppress movements for social change in order to protect a highly unjust distribution of wealth. Thus, by strengthening the hand of these forces of repression, SOA/WHINSEC and other instruments of U.S. military “aid” are causing harm to the poor majority. As a former U.S. soldier who served at Ft. Benning and who is now doing five days here in jail for disorderly behavior put it succinctly: “We train their troops so we won't have to go there ourselves.”

This shows that we are not talking only about past atrocities, which could be glossed over by an institutional name change. I cited the recent cases of two friends of mine in Honduras. One was assassinated because of his work to protect the environment. The other, a Jesuit priest, received serious death threats because of his defense of the claims of peasants to land which had formerly been occupied and used by the U.S. military to train Central American special forces; he had to be asked by superiors to leave Honduras to protect his life. I told the courtroom that it is common knowledge in Honduras that threats and assassinations are either the direct work of Honduran officers or are carried out with their connivance or cover-up.

My third line of defense was that I entered Ft. Benning to help the U.S. and Latin American soldiers to save their lives from the imminent danger of death awaiting them in Iraq. I sought to assist them by suggesting that they analyze the reasons given for this war and that they form their conscience concerning this most crucial moral question, and that they apply for “conscientious objector” status if they have come to the conclusion that they cannot justify participating in war.

In this way we expressed our love and support for the soldiers – not simply urging them on to battle, praying for them, and grieving when they return in coffins, but taking actions to save their lives (as well as the lives of the Iraqis they might kill).

True patriots are not those who, like the commandant of Ft. Benning, blasted loud martial music through the gate to drown out a peaceful, democratic, American demonstration which had a city permit; real patriots are those who love their country and will criticize it to make it better.

Fighting Terrorism

Terrorism must be fought by truly multi-national mechanisms of prevention and prosecution, with the whole community of nations being the police of the world – rather than letting the super-power monopolize the security role in its own self-interest. The U.S. should be an active participant in the new International Criminal Court rather than a declared enemy of it.

Today as I got in line to receive my lunch tray through a slot in the wall (since I'm fasting, I give away the food and keep the liquids), Senator John Kerry was on the tube saying “The one person in the U.S. who should be unemployed is George Bush.” “Amen to that,” commented an African-American man behind me, adding, “Bush should be incarcerated and brought to the Hague.”

Terrorism must be combated not only by multinational corporations but also at its roots – i.e., at the level of the political and economic policies which serve as its seedbed. For example, the U.S. must withdraw from Iraq, ceding power to a UN commission if that is the method the Iraqis choose to solve their problems. And the U.S. must stop threatening to refashion the rest of the Middle East in the image of Western development.

Moreover, we must take a truly even-handed approach to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.

Connecting the Dots

This essay began with a reference to a little card mentioning Ben Linder, the Contras, and the SOA. I have tried to connect the dots.

Ben Linder did what he could do to help the Sandinista revolutionary government in its efforts to build a new Nicaragua with a mixed (not totally free-market) economy and an option for the poor majority.

SOA graduates have used the methods of torture and repression which they have learned at the SOA (as well as the ordinary military skills acquired there) to help suppress movements for radical social change and thus to prevent “another (Sandinista) Nicaragua.”

Just as Ben was murdered by the Contras, the Sandinista experiment was defeated by them and by other weapons in the U.S. arsenal. In other Latin American countries, SOA graduates have used the methods of torture and repression which they have learned at the SOA (as well as the ordinary military skills acquired there) to help suppress movements for radical social change and thus to prevent “another (Sandinista) Nicaragua.”

Now, as an ally of the U.S. in the free-market system, Nicaragua is like other countries in the hemisphere: its only distinction is that it's at or near the bottom of the barrel.

Ben wanted to prevent that. But now, indeed, Nicaragua is sending troops to SOA/WHINSEC, which gave an award in late January to the Nicaraguan minister of defense, citing him as a representative of the country's “democratization.”

And, tragically and ironically, Nicaragua (along with Honduras, El Salvador, and the Dominican Republic) has sent troops to Iraq to assist the U.S. occupation. If the country had not succumbed to U.S. pressure to be part of the “coalition,” it probably would have lost a large share of its civilian and military aid from Washington and probably would not be invited to send troops to WHINSEC.   Quid pro quo; tit for tat.

Ben Linder risked and gave his life to help to build a Nicaragua which would never forget that it was once occupied by U.S. troops (1912-33) and that the U.S. supported the Somoza dictatorship for decades; a Nicaragua which would structure its economy with a real option for the poor majority, unlike other countries which are “helped” by the SOA and other forms of U.S. military and civilian assistance; and a Nicaragua which would never send its troops to help in the U.S. military occupation of another nation.

The struggle continues, Ben.

Fr. Joseph E. Mulligan, a Jesuit priest from Detroit, works in Nicaragua with Christian base communities. He is presently serving a 90-day sentence for his participation in the Nov. 23, 2003 protest against the School of the Americas at Ft. Benning, Georgia. Joe is the author of The Nicaraguan Church and The Revolution (Sheed & Ward, 1991) and The Jesuit Martyrs Of El Salvador – Celebrating the Anniversaries (Baltimore: Fortkamp, 1994). Prayers for Joe and others arrested for their SOA/WHINSEC protests are deeply appreciated; he has been fasting during much of his imprisonment.