Neo-Liberal Wars in Central America

by Miguel D'Escoto

Miguel D'Escoto, a Catholic priest, works with the communal movement in Nicaragua. He was the Foreign Minister under the Sandinista government. This article appeared in the Summer 1992 edition of Central America Update, a publication of the Jesuit Centre for Social Faith and Justice in Toronto, Canada.

A war is being fought today, and not just in Nicaragua but all over the world. It isn't a military war now; it's an economic war, a war of the haves against the have nots.

During the last decade, the attack on the poor in Nicaragua was very direct, very clear: literally a military war of U.S. intervention. You could see the war, it was on the front covers of Newsweek. The modality of attack now, however, which is no less vicious, and which will have no fewer victims, is these inhuman and criminal economic adjustment policies.

Now, you can take pictures of people suffering from hunger, or of the huge lines of unattended patients in an emergency ward in a hospital. But that isn't as clear, it isn't as obvious and direct as the kind of pictures you saw in the 1980s. So, because the situation is just as bad because there are just as many victims solidarity is as important as ever.

Stability in Our Backyard

The Enterprise for the Americas Initiative will make clear that we are all subject to the same kinds of economic measures. The North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA) and the Enterprise for the Americas Initiative fit right into the New World Order. These neo liberal plans have the purpose of ensuring stability and profitability for the United States in its backyard.

Profitability will result from the increased competition among our countries to see who will work for the lowest wages. Stability will result from the transfer of power from governments to corporations, which is really the main reason for these treaties and agreements: to take the power that governments have and formally hand it over to the multi national corporations.

Because once that has been done, then if the people get upset about something, it's already too late; the government can't help them, because these free trade agreements have given the decision making power to the big corporations.

Yet they can still call it democracy, because you still have an elected government. This is the loophole; they found a way to avoid the essence of democracy while keeping the facade.

The strength of resistance to the neo liberal scheme will only come from the people themselves, through the popular organizations. We must help the popular sector to understand how to organize not only in order to defend itself against the aggression of a very inhuman system, not only to neutralize the attack, but also to reverse the whole thing, to attack the established order and win new gains for the people.

This is becoming an increasingly difficult task because the greater the transfer of power under neo liberalism to the multi national corporations, the greater the amount of organization that will be needed to turn things around. To the extent that we are able to unify the working class in resistance to neo liberalism in the region, and force governments to redefine their priorities, I think we can provide a model of an alternative.

Solidarity is Crucial

For those of us who are interested in a different kind of world, those of us who struggle for justice, it's absolutely vital for us to coordinate our activities and support one another. Solidarity is essential for success in the struggle for justice. If we do not link up with one another, we are really doing a favor to those who seek to maintain and strengthen a system of injustice.

In the present context, to the extent that we are able to unify the working class in resistance to neo liberalism in the region, and force governments to redefine their priorities, I think we can provide a model of an alternative. As the modality of attack on the poor changes, so the modality of solidarity must also change.

When that happens, people will realize that when we say the struggle for justice is one and indivisible, it's not only a rhetorical expression, it's literally true. When any part of the world suffers injustice, the whole world suffers.