Where Was U.S. in Nicaragua’s Hour of Need? : Denial of Humanitarian Aid Clashes With Open Hearts Toward Armenia

The sight of rescue teams from around the world ignoring politics and rushing help to victims of the earthquake in Soviet Armenia has been one of the bright spots of a holiday season dimmed by disaster. We in the United States can take pride in our contribution.

The instinctive response to the plight of the Armenians sent forth a signal that the people of the world realize that we live in a global village. Leaders of the Soviet Union abandoned their policy of secrecy and isolation while long-time adversaries of the Soviet Union put aside past animosities.

The lesson of Armenia is that politics is not an issue when human beings have suffered terrible loss. A notable example came from an Israeli rescue team, some of whom had emigrated from the Soviet Union with no thought of returning. Although the two nations have not had diplomatic relations for more than 20 years, this did not hinder the mission in Spitak and Leninakan. The team stayed for more than two weeks, triumphing when a 15-year-old boy was pulled alive from the debris eight days after the earthquake.

Unfortunately, there are children much closer to us geographically than those in Armenia who are homeless and hungry and whose parents have lost their lives or livelihoods in a natural disaster. These children and their families have not received aid through the government of the United States. They are the victims of Hurricane Joan in Nicaragua.

While the disaster in Armenia was of much greater dimension, Hurricane Joan had a devastating effect on Nicaragua. It left 250,000 persons homeless. Almost 3 million people lost crops or otherwise suffered economic loss. Hospitals and schools were damaged or destroyed. A team of United Nations economists has estimated the loss at $840 million.

Despite appeals from members of Congress and private groups such as Oxfam and the American Friends Service Committee, the United States has refused assistance to Nicaragua. Jamaica and Costa Rica, hit by the same storm, received help from this country. There have been no explanations as to why Nicaragua was counted out. Politics is the only apparent cause.

Historically, U.S. policy has been to provide disaster relief as a purely humanitarian gesture, independent of politics. This dates back to a successful program led by Herbert Hoover to restore Europe after World War I and has continued through the Marshall Plan until today. In 1988 such aid went to victims of floods in Bangladesh and the Sudan, monsoons in India and Nepal, Typhoon Ruby in the Philippines.

These actions flow from the Foreign Assistance Act, which authorizes the President “to furnish assistance to any foreign country, international organization, or private voluntary organization, on such terms and conditions as he may determine, for international disaster relief and rehabilitation.” The responsibility is clearly the President’s.

President Reagan, in a recent interview with David Brinkley, called Nicaraguan President Daniel Ortega a “shameless dictator” who “doesn’t stand in the same box with (Soviet President Mikhail S.) Gorbachev.” Has the politics of aid reached the point of distinguishing between avowed communists when giving or withholding humanitarian aid? Should we allow the behavior of the Sandinistas to keep us from responding to people stricken by disaster?

While we are not in open conflict with either the Soviet Union or Nicaragua, the recent history of national enmity makes it imperative to maintain the principle of nonpolitical humanitarian aid to innocent civilians. To undermine this principle erodes the internationally accepted Geneva conventions that have enabled the Red Cross, the Red Crescent and other agencies to bring medicine and food to noncombatants in times of war.

The only country in the world that could pose a serious, immediate threat to the United States is the Soviet Union. Yet, we have responded generously to innocent civilians in that country in their hour of need. Under Anastasio Somoza, whose regime was more brutal and repressive, the United States provided relief to Nicaraguan earthquake victims.

Reporters have been told that the Nicaraguan government would not accept assistance if it were offered. The National Assembly did reject a portion of the Contra aid package intended for all children who had been injured by the civil strife. In mid-November Ortega clarified that the ban was limited to the Contra package. Shortly thereafter, the Nicaraguan charge d’affaires in Washington said publicly that U. S. aid would be accepted through international organizations.

The new openness of the Soviet government, as it welcomes outside help and becomes more a part of the world community, is a sign to the incoming Administration to reverse a foreign policy that has too often put ideology above basic human needs, above values that transcend government or party. It is time to reaffirm the American tradition of generous response to need simply because the need exists.

Providing humanitarian aid promotes the national interests of the United States. We must recognize, however, that such aid makes its greatest contribution to our credibility and our reputation in the world when it is delivered in a nonpolitical manner.