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Archives: September 2008
Senate Act Would Restore Rule of Law to Immigration Enforcement
American Immigration Law Foundation
September 26, 2008
Washington, DC - On Friday, September 26th, Senators Robert Menendez (D-NJ) and Edward Kennedy (D-MA) proposed the "Protect Citizens and Residents from Unlawful Raids and Detention Act" (S.3594) to establish minimum standards of treatment for U.S. citizens, lawful permanent residents and immigrants who are impacted by immigration enforcement operations. The following is a statement by Ben Johnson, Director of the American Immigration Law Foundation (AILF)-an immigration policy, litigation, and education organization in Washington, DC.
"The American Immigration Law Foundation applauds Senators Menendez and Kennedy's efforts to reintroduce the rule of law and the basic principles of fairness and humanity to the enforcement of our country's immigration laws with the Protect Citizens and Residents from Unlawful Raids and Detention Act. Due process and equal treatment under the law are fundamental rights that our country has stood for and are at the heart of the Menendez-Kennedy bill.
In recent months, Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) has dramatically stepped up interior enforcement efforts and it's no secret that hundreds of ICE detainees have been grossly denied not only due process protections, but also the fair treatment that every person, regardless of their immigration status, deserves. This failure to abide by the rule of law has resulted in utter chaos: U.S. citizens and lawful residents have been mistakenly detained; workers have been retaliated against for exercising their rights to organize in the workplace; and DHS officials have raided private homes without a warrant.
Immigration raids, detentions, and mass deportations terrorize workers and wreak havoc on families and entire communities with no real payoff. We can't expect to deport our way out of our immigration problem and we can't expect to improve wages and working conditions by simply removing a class of exploited workers. What we need is fair and practical comprehensive immigration reform that restores the rule of law through realistic regulation.
Yet in the meantime, we can't lose sight of who we are and what America stands for. As a country, we have always valued the need for fairness, due process, and the ability and freedom to have a voice in our judicial system. However, when it comes to immigration, our nation's noble legacy has been bluntly disregarded by federal officials. It's encouraging that members in Congress are prepared to challenge the current administration and reaffirm our uncompromising commitment to these principles."
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For more information contact Andrea Nill, 202-507-7520 or email anill@ailf.org
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Latin America Rebelling Against US Interference Now!
Over the last few days a number of serious incidents have occurred, some related and possibly all related:
1. A civil rebellion led by right-wing separatists in the Bolivian prefecture of Santa Cruz have taken at least eight lives and caused millions of dollars of economic damage.
2. Bolivia expelled US Ambassador Philip Goldberg for his support of the uprising
3. The US declared persona non grata Bolivia's ambassador to the US
4. A coup plot against Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez was exposed including video showing three military officers plotting the coup.
5. Venezuela expelled US Ambassador Patrick Duddy, giving him 72 hours to leave the country.
6. The US declared the Venezuelan ambassador to the US persona non grata in retaliation.
7. The US Treasury Department Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) cited two current and one former high Venezuelan official for allegedly providing weapons and material support to Colombia's Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia.
8. Russian military jets visited Venezuela.
9. Today Honduras told the new US ambassador not to enter the country. Will other Latin American countries follow suit?
This is an escalation of worsening relations with Latin America that include US support for the failed 2002 coup against Venezuelan President Chavez, an attempted assassination, attempt involving shots fired into a caravan that was supposed to have been carrying Bolivian President Evo Morales, and more recently a suspicious fatal helicopter crash of the helicopter in which Morales usually flies.
This is on top of electoral interference in Venezuela, Bolivia, Nicaragua and currently El Salvador. US Agency for International Development (USAID), and the National Endowment for Democracy (NED) are the two agencies primarily responsible for the US efforts to manipulate other countries' elections. Bolivia is the greatest recipient of USAID money in Latin America and was expelled by one prefecture (state) a few months ago after civil society groups complained of its support for the right-wing and frequently racist's opposition. USAID and NED are investing heavily in Venezuela and Nicaragua's upcoming local elections and is deeply involved in El Salvador's presidential campaign in an effort to stop the election of FMLN candidate Mauricio Funes who has a commanding lead in the polls. Visit www.cispes.org and www.respect4democracy.org for more information.
These incidents are the result of centuries of US policy toward Latin America and specifically the result of reckless policies of the George W. Bush regime. We need to demand that the US government take no further action to exacerbate what are already dangerous situations that could easily spin out of control involving tragic losses of life and spiking oil prices as we in the North enter the heating season.
The Venezuela Solidarity Network calls on you to be prepared to take action in the coming days. Immediately we ask you to call your Congress person and Senators to demand that the US not escalate the crisis and that it stop intervening in other countries sovereign affairs. The Capitol Switchboard number is (202) 224-3121. Demand that your elected representatives find out and reveal the extent of US payments to Bolivian opposition groups as advocated today by the Center for Economic and Policy Research.
Write letters to the editor pointing out that this crisis is the result of seven years of reckless and immoral foreign policy initiatives of the Bush regime as well as making the point that the US government should not escalate these crises. For additional background information visit
http://www.rethinkvenezuela.com/index.html and http://soaw.org/article.php?id=1678
http://www.vensolidarity.org
from Alliance for Responsible Trade www.art.org: regarding Bolivia
In response to the crisis in Bolivia, an emergency meeting of nine Union of Nations of South America (UNASUR) Presidents was convened on Monday September 15th in Santiago, Chile. The meeting was a success for Bolivia and for UNASUR itself, reflecting a changing balance of power in the hemisphere. The call for a UNASUR, rather than an OAS meeting, effectively excluded the United States from participating.
A clear, firm statement was issued, recognizing the commitment to democracy in Bolivia, affirming the mandate of President Morales, especially in light of the recent Referendum, condemning the massacre in Pando, the ongoing violence and the takeover and destruction of public offices. UNASUR also agreed to create a commission of "aid to the government of Bolivia" to accompany the process of dialogue.
Chilean President Bachelet, the president pro tem of UNASUR read the final declaration. She likened the present situation in Bolivia to what people in Chile experienced 35 years ago when United States orchestrated a coup against democratically elected Salvador Allende. President Uribe from Colombia, who shortened his U.S. visit in order to participate in the meeting, signed the final declaration. President Lula from Brazil, one of the most important participants in the meeting only agreed to participate if all parties in Bolivia would agree to come to the table. He is viewed with respect by all parties in the dispute in Bolivia.
In an interview with the press in Brazil on Wednesday, Lula justified Bolivia's expulsion of Ambassador Goldberg stating, "If it is true that the Ambassador of the United States was meeting with the opposition leaders, getting involved in internal affairs, President Morales is doing the correct thing by expelling him". Lula went on to say, that the famous interference of the U.S. Embassies during critical moments throughout the history of the American continent is not something new". He pledged to help Bolivia get rid of armed groups in the department of Pando, and assist in other ways to reduce the possibility of further violence in that region.
DIALOGUE PROCESS
The dialogue process in Bolivia was scheduled to begin on Thursday morning, September 18th just outside of Cochabamba. Initially, some Governors refused to meet unless Governor Fernandez, under arrest as the intellectual author of the massacre in Pando, is released from custody. This demand was eventually withdrawn, and the dialogue began as scheduled. President Morales attended the first session, which lasted about 6 hours, and requested that the dialogue continue uninterrupted until an agreement could be reached, even if that took 4 or 5 days.
Other government officials participating in the dialogue process include the Vice-President, three government ministers, the Governors of eight of the provinces, the Presidents of the Senate and the Lower House. Representatives of four important political parties in Congress are also participating: Movement towards Socialism (MAS), Social and Democratic Power (PODEMOS), National Unity (UN), and the National Movement of Revolutionaries (MNR). Representatives of the group of "Governments which are Friends of Bolivia" including Brazil, Argentina and Colombia as well as representatives from the Catholic, Methodist and Evangelical Churches are present. Delegates from UNASUR, the Organization of American States and the UN are acting as facilitators.
The principal issues being discussed include; autonomy for the provinces, the new Constitution, disbursement of resources from the Hydrocarbon Taxes and decisions about filling judicial vacancies.
WATCHING AND WAITING
Campesinos, workers and miners have mobilized and are making their presence felt in critical places. In Santa Cruz, Expocruz, an important annual fair was to begin today however thousands of workers and campesinos have set up blockades on at least five of the roads leading into Santa Cruz. Four of the blockades have been in place since last Tuesday. Some of the groups are demanding that the institutions which have been occupied by the right wing in Santa Cruz be returned, and damages be paid for. Others are demanding that all must agree to approve the new Constitution as part of the dialogue process. Their presence is impacting Expocruz. Local newspapers report that 45 companies have withdrawn their participation in the fair. In Cochabamba groups have also mobilized in support of the President, seeking to exert their own influence on the negotiations.
The President of the Committee for Santa Cruz, Branko Maronkovic, cited these popular occupations to the press today as further examples of the way Evo Morales has acted against the Bolivian people and part of the violence provoked by his party (MAS). He also claimed that the National Democratic Council of Bolivia (CONALDE) was willing to participate in the dialogue process. At the same time, Marinkovic will be travelling to Argentina, Brazil, Chile and Paraguay to "denounce the violence which the MAS has provoked in Pando, the threats being used during the process of dialogue in Cochabamba, and the involvement of the Venezuelan military in the blockades in Santa Cruz." On this trip, he will also promote the autonomy process for Santa Cruz, which he claims has been carried out with legal and legitimate methods.
A spokesperson for the President made the following statement: "In Bolivia, we say that we are accustomed to the fact that our conflicts take us to the edge of the cliff, before we begin to dialogue. I think this is what is happening right now".
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COLOMBIA: Free Trade Agreement (FTA)
Stop the U.S.-Colombia FTA from a Lame Duck Vote and tell the U.S. State Department that their decision to clear the Colombian army of human rights violation is the wrong one.
With the 110th Congress wrapping up at the end of this month to prepare for the November 4th elections, U.S.-Colombia FTA supporters are lobbying in full force as they desperately seek a vote on the deal before Congress officially adjourns. Since a vote on the controversial FTA before the elections would be too politically costly for many members, proponents are banking on a Congressional “lame duck” vote in December if Congress reconvenes.
As the human rights tragedy in Colombia continues, it’s important that the State Department keeps using its influence – instead of throwing its leverage away – to push and prod the Colombian government into bringing those who have committed human rights abuses to justice and to do more to stop the systematic killings of trade unionists and civilians. The State Department’s decision to clear Colombia of its abusive human rights record is worrisome and eerily timed given the pro-FTA lobby blitz.
from Jobs with Justice:
Supporters of so-called "free trade" in Congress, together with their allies in the Colombian government, are putting on a full court press in Washington DC to try to get the Colombia Free Trade Agreement (FTA) passed in the US Congress this year. The Colombian government has sent more than 70 representatives to put maximum pressure on the US Congress to approve the FTA, and this weekend Colombian President Uribe will be in Washington to continue the lobbying. These proponents of the Colombia FTA fear that if the agreement doesn't pass this year while Bush is still in office it will never pass, so they are pushing to have it come to a vote during a possible "lame duck" congressional session at the end of this year.
Hundreds of groups working for human rights and economic justice in the U.S. and Colombia – including trade unions, peasant groups, indigenous organizations and women’s organization – remain firmly opposed to the Colombia FTA. On September 10 AFL-CIO President John Sweeney spoke out against the Colombia FTA, against the increasing violence in Colombia against trade unionists, and against the impunity for the murders of unionists. “It is unconscionable that the Colombian government is continuing to expend significant resources here in Washington to lobby for passage of the U.S.-Colombia Free Trade Agreement as the violence facing trade unionists in Colombia escalates,” said Pres. Sweeney.
The deal is wrong for workers in the U.S. and Colombia. The Colombia FTA is a desperate attempt by the Bush administration to expand the free trade model that has proven to have failed. This trade policy agenda has contributed to the loss of more than 3 million manufacturing jobs since 2000, skyrocketing trade deficits, and shrinking paychecks for US workers. Meanwhile, millions of small farmers in Mexico, Central America, and the U.S. are being forced off their land and out of their livelihoods by these agreements.
Act now to stop the Colombian FTA and to put a halt to this attempt to further expand corporate power in the hemisphere before Bush leaves office. Send to decision makers via this link:
http://www.unionvoice.org/campaign/colombia_fta2008/
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EL SALVADOR: Community Concern over MCC-Financed Infrastructure
The Millennium Challenge Corporation (MCC) is a corporation of the United States government that provides financial aid to developing countries in order to promote economic growth as a means to reduce poverty. The MCC and the government of El Salvador signed a Millennium Challenge Compact on November 29, 2006 that outlines a five year, $460.94 million anti-poverty campaign in the Northern Zone of El Salvador. Over half of the funds provided in the Compact, $233.56 million, have been allotted to the transportation project, $139 million of which will finance the design, construction, and rehabilitation of a transnational highway that will extend across the Northern Zone. According to the Compact's description, the transnational highway is being built in order to reduce physical isolation of the Northern Zone, and increase access to health and educational centers. El Salvador President Antonio Saca has announced that actual construction will begin in December 2008. The design phase of the transnational highway was set to end in June 2008, although the public has not yet been informed of any final design decision.
Community Resistance
The community of Guarjila, a long-time partner of the SHARE Foundation located in the Chalatenango department, is composed of repatriated refugees and people who were wounded during the Salvadoran Civil War. They have faced many hardships throughout their displacement, their return to El Salvador from refugee camps in Cerro Grande, Honduras, and the resettlement process. The community met the construction of the transnational highway with resistance because they felt that they were not included in the public consultation process for the design of the development plan for the Northern Zone. Because the transnational highway designs pass directly through the middle of their rural community, it will completely alter the social fabric of their way of life forever.
When the team of architects first came to Guarjila in order to survey the area, community members pulled out the surveyor's stakes in order to show their disagreement with the plan. Soon thereafter, community members decided to form a committee to voice their concerns with the construction of the transnational highway. Jose Serrano, a member of the Guarjila Transnational Highway Committee, has said, "Not only will the highway physically destroy the place in which many of us live; it will also destroy the sense of community and social life that we have here in Guarjila, and the tranquility of the people who live here. It has cost us so much to resettle here and to gain that tranquility."
Displacement of Families
In October 2007, the design company invited community members of the Northern Zone to a public meeting in which they shared the three possible designs for the highway route through Chalatenango. After seeing the potential designs, community members had a better idea of how many families and houses would be affected by the construction; however, they were not permitted to have copies of the design plan to distribute in their community. According to the Guarjila Transnational Highway Committee, the different design options for the transnational highway will displace anywhere from 10 - 50 families and their homes. One of the designs is planned to run directly through the Jon Cortina Museum, an important site of community patrimony that celebrates the life and work of Father Jon Cortina, a Spanish priest and engineer who accompanied the community throughout their resettlement to Guarjila through the design and construction of approximately 200 houses with aid from the Spanish government. Another design option will affect access to a communal water source. Construction for the section of the highway that will run through Guarjila is planned to occur between June 2009 and June 2011.
Juan Jose Llort, Executive Director of FOMILENIO, the Salvadoran agency charged with the responsibility of implementing the funds from the Millennium Challenge Corporation, has state that all rights of way will be purchased prior to construction. Llort has also confirmed that expropriation and reassignment of persons who live on the rights of way will be the last resource; first, they will evaluate the value of the property and make an offer for sale based on that evaluation. The National Center of Registration is in the process of registering the ownership of land of all persons who reside near the future transnational highway while verifying which rights of way need to be purchased prior to construction. Llort has estimated that they will need to acquire the rights of way of approximately 400 families, but he estimates they will only need to "resettle" 6 - 10 families. The families in Guarjila who will be displaced by the highway construction would like to collectively bargain the sale of their rights of way, homes, and land to FOMILENIO, to better ensure that they are getting a fair deal and that there are no hidden terms throughout the negotiations.
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IMMIGRATION: ICE Raid in Mississippi
On August 25, agents of Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) descended on Howard Industries in the small town of Laurel, Mississippi. Agents arrested 595 workers in the largest immigration raid in U.S. history. Workers have been separated from their families and the local immigrant community has been terrorized. The superintendent of the county school district reported that half of the 160 Latino students were absent from school the next day.
"Basically, they create a major humanitarian crisis for 20 families and spouses and children," Bill Chandler of the Jackson-based Mississippi Immigrant Rights Alliance (MIRA) told the *Hattiesburg American*. In some cases, he said, both parents were now gone in the raid, leaving their families totally alone.
The ACLU is investigating cases of civil rights abuses that took place during the raid. "We are deeply concerned by reports that workers at the factory where the raid occurred were segregated by race or ethnicity and interrogated, the factory was locked down for several hours, workers were denied access to counsel, and ICE failed to inform family members and lawyers following the raid where the workers were being jailed," Mónica Ramírez, a staff attorney with the ACLU Immigrants' Rights Project who is meeting with family members, said in a statement.
At this rally and press conference, activists from the Washington area
immigrant rights movement will gather to speak out against this raid and demand an end to raids and deportations. The Mississippi raid comes shortly after a devastating raid at Dulles Airport and a smaller action in suburban Maryland just this week.
David Thurston
Administrator
Metro D.C. Interfaith Sanctuary Network
646-382-4181 (cell)
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PERU: La Oroya (Doe Run) mine update
Dear Friends of La Oroya--
As you know, for the last two years the Blacksmith Institute has listed La Oroya, Peru as one of the 10 most polluted places in the world. A few months ago, it came to our attention that Doe Run Peru invited and paid for a team from Blacksmith to come to La Oroya and visit the Doe Run Peru metallurgical complex. Following that visit, Blacksmith seemed to back off their original assessment concerning the degree and urgency of the contamination and health situation there. I wrote to Richard Fuller, President of Blacksmith Institute concerning this. Anna Cederstav (co-author La Oroya Cannot Wait) of AIDA (Interamerican Association for Environmental Defense) has been in conversation with him and has sent him a critique from AIDA regarding Blacksmith'e May 2008 Report concerning La Oroya/Doe Run Peru.
Below is Anna's cover letter for the attached crititque. It is important that we continue to be updated and informed in order to monitor this and other situations regarding La Oroya.
Thanks for your continuing concern for the health and wholeness of La Oroya.
Ellie Stock
Helping Hands
Giddings-Lovejoy Presbytery
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NICARAGUA NETWORK HOTLINE
Topic 1: Nicaragua signs IMF letter
On August 28, the Nicaraguan government signed a letter of intent with the International Monetary Fund in which it commits leaders to promote macroeconomic stability to guarantee development in the country. Antenor Rosales, president of the Central Bank, and Treasury Minister Alberto Guevara signed the letter which was handed to IMF representative in Nicaragua Humberto Arbulú. This finalizes a long process in which the government of President Daniel Ortega, through tough negotiations, made the IMF back down and support Sandinista poverty reduction measures, free education and health care, and subsidized food. Previous governments signed IMF agreements implementing draconian structural adjustment policies that increased poverty and misery for poor Nicaraguans. The program will go to the directors of the IMF on Sept. 10.
Rosales said that the government confirmed that the Gross Domestic Product would grow by between three and four percent. He added that the government expects to finish the year with an 18.1% inflation rate and he expected international reserves to total US$1.23 billion, which is equal to three months of imports.
In other economic news, Rosales announced that as of Sept. 1, the Central Bank will publish on its web page month by month all information about international aid received from all sources including Venezuela and aid distributed through non- governmental organizations. Some analysts estimate that Nicaragua receives at least US$1 billion annually in foreign assistance, including loans and grants. According to Rosales, the posting of information on the web page will answer a public demand for access to information about all foreign assistance and how it is handled.
Topic 2: President Ortega receives US Ambassador Callahan; IRI investigated
On August 27, the new US Ambassador to Nicaragua, Robert Callahan, presented his credentials to President Daniel Ortega. Callahan was a top assistant to John Negroponte in the 1980s when Negroponte was ambassador to Honduras and a primary architect of the contra war against Nicaragua. Ortega called Callahan a "brother" and then said, "Some will ask, 'Daniel, how can you say brother to the yanquis?' Yes, we are brothers. All who live on this planet are brothers. We have differences and we don't hide them. But we have said from the first days of the revolution in 1979 that we want a respectful relationship with the United States." When someone called out a question to Ortega about the Democratic candidate for President, Barack Obama, Ortega used the opportunity to say, "Look, we don't get involved in the U.S. elections because we don't like it when they get involved in ours. We have to respect each other." La Prensa asked Callahan about the case of the SAM- 7 missiles and the new ambassador replied that he hopes to reopen the negotiations for their destruction.
Meanwhile, Julio Acuña, director of the Office of Attention to Political Parties, filed a denunciation with the office of Attorney General Julio Centeno against the International Republican Institute (IRI) saying that the organization "brought to the country a foreign lecturer who denounced the branches of government and gave instructions to the population on how they should vote." Acuña said that former Mexican President Vicente Fox violated several articles of the Nicaraguan constitution during his IRI-sponsored visit. The Attorney General has 20 days to respond to the accusation.
Fox visited Nicaragua on August 12 and gave a speech in which he said that Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez and Nicaraguan President Ortega had the same policies and the same intentions. "Believe me," Fox said, "this is my viewpoint, this model is proven and it doesn't work." The newspaper El Nuevo Diario said that its reporters tried to contact the IRI representative in Nicaragua, Sergio Garcia, but he did not answer his cell phone.
Topic 3: Poll finds Nicaraguans dissatisfied with leaders and institutions
A new poll found large majorities of Nicaraguans unhappy with political leaders and institutions of government. The exception was Sandinista mayor of Managua, Dionisio Marenco who scored an incredible 90.4% approval rating for his governing of the capital city. The polling firm M & R Consultants conducted the poll from Aug. 14-19, interviewing 1,600 randomly selected urban, semi-urban and rural residents. The poll has a 2.5% margin of error.
The government of President Daniel Ortega slightly increased its approval rating over that found in a similar poll in June. Just over 24% think that the government is "going in the right direction" while 53.3% think Ortega is leading in a "mistaken direction." Three months ago 60.6% thought Ortega was leading in a "mistaken direction." Raul Obregon, owner of the polling firm, noted that Ortega had recovered some of his lost approval among Sandinistas due to the Zero Hunger and Zero Usury campaigns, the response to the fire in the Eastern Market, and the celebration of July 19. He also said that he noticed a small movement among independents into the "undecided" category. However, Ortega's support is still below the 38% of votes he won in the 2006 election.
Other Nicaraguan politicians and leaders fared poorly in the public opinion poll as well with "no one" winning 34,4% of the survey question asking who could best lead the political opposition. Eduardo Montealegre, who is the Constitutional Liberal Party Alliance candidate for mayor of Managua followed with 22.3% while 14.4% didn't answer and 9.9% favored former president and convicted felon Arnoldo Aleman. Mayor Marenco was named by 8.8% while former presidential candidate for the Sandinista Renovation Movement, Edmundo Jarquin was the choice of 2.2%. Even Cardinal Obando y Bravo did not fare well in the poll with 55.8% disapproving of his work on the Verification, Reconciliation, Peace and Justice Commission while only 21.1% approved.
The institutions of government are not held in high esteem by Nicaraguans either with 93.1% responding that they do not feel represented by the National Assembly. Concerning the judiciary, only 23.1% believe that the courts respond to the interests of the citizens, and the Supreme Electoral Council, which is responsible for elections, is held in "no confidence" by 47.2% of those polled while only 9.3% expressed "great confidence."
Topic 4: Ernesto Cardenal fined by judge; defended by international response
On August 26, Judge David Rojas revived a case of slander against internationally recognized Nicaraguan poet Father Ernesto Cardenal and ordered him to pay a fine of about US$1,000. The accusation of slander came from Immanuel Zerger, the owner of Solentiname Tours, who with his wife Nubia Arcia, has been involved in a dispute of many years with Cardenal over management of a hotel in the Solentiname Archipelago in Lake Cocibolca (Nicaragua) that belongs to the Development Association of Solentiname. Arcia was director of the Institute of Tourism for a time in the current Ortega government leading to charges that the suit is politically motivated.
In 2005, Cardenal was absolved by a lower court. Last week Judge Rojas reversed the previous judge's decision ordering Cardenal to pay a fine before Friday or face a penalty that could include jail had the judge not eliminated that possibility due to Cardenal's age. Cardenal replied in a public letter that the revival of the case, on which he said the statute of limitations had run out, was a purely political reaction to declarations he made in Paraguay when attending the inauguration of President Fernando Lugo. Cardenal did not appear in court on Friday and on Monday a new judge, Ronaldo Moran, took over the case, Moran said he was studying the case and expected to issue a ruling on Wed. Sept. 3.
Cardenal, one of the best known living poets in the Spanish language, was Minister of Culture in the first government of Daniel Ortega (1979-1990) but he broke with Ortega over how he was running the Sandinista Party after 1990 and became one of Ortega's fiercest critics. Nicaraguan and international intellectuals immediately came forward in support of Cardenal. Portuguese Nobel Literature Prize winner Jose Saramago wrote a letter of solidarity with Cardenal which was signed by over 50 poets and writers from the Western Hemisphere and Spain. Revolutionary Cuban academic Celia Hart wrote that while she did not have a problem with closing down a political party, as occurred recently with the MRS, "You, Ernesto Cardenal, are not a political party. Your name and your actions are linked to the best times of revolutionary Nicaragua and you merit much more consideration and reverence. You have received the Jose Marti medal and other decorations of the Cuban Revolution and are thus a little piece of it."
Cardenal said he had planned to travel this week to the US to read his poetry at six universities and that if he was not allowed to go, he would make clear to them the reason why he was not able to appear.
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