NICARAGUA COFFEE HARVEST DRAWS PORTLAND VOLUNTEERS

• Document Type: CREST
• Collection: General CIA Records
• Document Number (FOIA) /ESDN (CREST): CIA-RDP90-00806R000200880021-0
• Release Decision: RIPPUB
• Original Classification: K
• Document Page Count: 1
• Document Creation Date: December 22, 2016
• Document Release Date: June 25, 2010
• Sequence Number: 21
• Publication Date: January 25, 1984
• Content Type: OPEN SOURCE

STAT Sanitized Copy Approved for Release 2010/06/25: CIA-RDP90-00806R000200880021-0
PORTLAND OBSERVER (OR)
25 January 1984
Nicaragua coffee harvest
d raw& Portland volunteers
by Robert Lothian
Nicaragua needs coffee pickers,
and a group from Portland is going
down to help. .
Nancy Webster, a representative
of the Portland Central America
Solidarity Committee and co-coor-
dinator of the Portland-Nicaragua
coffee brigades, says that Nicaragua
has had to shift workers and soldiers
closer to the borders to defend
against contra attacks. Also, she
said, former coffee pickers now
have land because of the country's
revolutionary land reform pro-
grams. The revolution means they
no longer have to pick coffee, she
said.
Consequently,. said Webster, Ni-
caragua has fewer pickers this year,
yet because coffee is one of the
country's essential cash crops, "It's
critical for them to get the crop in so
they can get their cash flow going."
Production battalions have already
been formed in Nicaragua, she said,.
made up of 25,000 volunteers from
cities including students, govern-
men! employees and housewives.
In addition, she said, the Nicara-
guan government has put out a call
for international volunteers, and
fourteen from Portland are going.
They range in age from late teen-age
to age 67, she said, and-will leave
Portland in two groups, one on, Jan-
uary 29th, the other Feb. 12th. Af-
ter meeting in Miami with other
North American volunteers, they
will leave for Managua on Aeron-
ica, the Nicaraguan airline, which is
offering special reduced fares.
Webster said volunteers pay for
their transportation to Nicaragua,
but once in the country the Nicara-
guan government will pick up food,
housing and transportation costs.
She said the volunteers will work
with Nicaraguans, and live as they
do.
Conditions on the coffee farms,
are rugged and the work hard, she
said. Food is mainly rice and beans,
and volunteers can expect to go
without electricity and plumbing.
Work lasts from early morning until
aboukoon, she said, with after-
noons set aside for educational and
cultural activities. Total cost includ-
ing transportaiton is expected to be
$500 -$700.
Webster said the brigades offer
volunteErs a chance to give while the
CIA "ir ins and supplies the con-
tras that are attac ing the country."
Also, she said, volunteers will be
able to experience first-hand Nicara-
gua's revolutionary society. "It's
really important to experience the
people and the country," she said.
"Maybe it's really good for us to
step out of our culture sometimes.
The ultimate thing is that you see
people as people-then you're not
going to want to send bombs and
mortars."
Those who go, she said, are pre-
paring to come back and talk about
their trip with photos, slide shows,
even films. One of their pre-brigade
tasks, she said, is to organize mater-
ial aid-medical supplies and cloth-
ing-which they will take with them
and deliver to the Nicaraguans they
work with. That will inaugurate,an
-ongoing "sister city" material aid
project between Portland and Nica-
ragua, she said.
Webster said Nicaragua needs a
successful harvest to be able to pur-
chase basic foodstuffs, medicine,
spare parts for industry and trans-
portation, and oil. Coffee produc-
tion has been targetted by CIA-back
counterrevolutionaries who have al-
ready inflicted several hundred mil-
lion dollars worth of damage
against oil storage facilities and
other parts of the economy. Accord-
ing to Webster, coffee brigade vol-
unteers will not work in areas where
there is danger from contra attacks.
Presently ten percent of Nicara-
gua's land is dedicated to coffee
growing. The $133 million income
that Nicaragua generated from sell-
ing its 1982-83 coffee harvest ac-
counted for 30 percent of exports.
In addition, 100,000 jobs are creat-
ed during the peak months of No-
vember and December.
(Those interested in joining
brigades should call 282-2407.)
the
Sanitized Copy Approved for Release 2010/06/25: CIA-RDP90-00806R000200880021-0