Nicaraguan telethon for Cuba
By Stephen Marks
MANAGUA — The Cuba solidarity campaign held Nicaragua's first telethon on May 14. Thousands of Nicaraguans responded to the broadcasts on the Sandinista Channel 4, and several FM and AM radio networks that linked up in a nationwide hookup.
In Managua the popular open air dance arena, La Piñata, was swamped with people bringing 16,355 pounds of powdered milk as well as medicines, cash, pencils, soap, toothpaste, foodstuffs and clothes. Many stayed and danced on as salsa and meringue bands brought to a climax the appeal for "a pound of milk for the children of Cuba".
Twenty-three committees nationwide are organising Nicaragua's contribution to the international campaign in solidarity with Cuba. The milk campaign was organised in response to the recent hurricane disaster in Cuba and follows on from last year's "a notebook and pencil for Cuba" campaign.
I spoke to, José Raúl Sylva, first secretary of the Cuban embassy, on the morning of the telethon. Sylva was moved by the warm response coming from the poorest sector of the population and related a couple of examples.
In one impoverished suburb where few people have jobs and their cardboard and plastic homes hardly have roofs, the community collected and pooled almost worthless small denomination notes. They saved up enough to proudly contribute 28 pounds of milk.
Among the poorest of the poor in Nicaragua are the woodcutters who make a few cents by gathering and selling firewood. One wood cutter made his way to a collection centre with his humble but valued contribution. "I want to do something for the children of Cuba", he said. "I don't have anything else, so please take this coconut."
The mass organisations of women, the community movement, farmers, health workers and unions all were involved in the campaign. Collections were taken up at workplaces such as the Pepsi Cola factory, the National Development Bank, religious schools, the National University and among units of the Sandinista Popular Army.
Sylva was pleased with the broad response to the appeal which cut across many political and social divisions. The government, recognising the popular support of the campaign, provided fuel to fly the donations to Cuba. President Violeta Chamorro had also made available the Ruben Dario National Theatre for a pre-telethon concert organised by Nicaragua's most prestigious performers.
Sylva saw this popular support as a broad ranging condemnation of the US Torricelli Act and US aggression against Cuba. The recently formed Friends of Cuba group of the National Parliament read a resolution on the telethon supporting Cuba and calling on the US Congress to lift the blockade.
Cuba has responded with great generosity to every crisis which Nicaragua has faced over the past 20 years. There are still 80 Cuban doctors in Nicaragua and 1500 Nicaraguan students study in Cuba. Hundreds of Nicaraguans receive free medical specialist treatment in Cuba.
Gadiel Arce, president of the Sandinista National Liberation Front's Cuba Solidarity Committee in Managua's District Six, explained to me why Nicaraguans respond so warmly to the campaign: "The Cuban people provide the world with the greatest example of solidarity and dignity to which anyone could aspire".