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Meeting With Omar Cabezas, 'We Could Have Created Terror But We Are Too Civilized'

By John Lindquist

If you have not read Fire on The Mountain by Omar Cabezas, do so—it's a must. It's a book, the first of three, about the making of a Sandinista. Omar Cabezas was a student organizer and neighborhood organizer in Leon during the late 1960's and early 1970's. Latin American universities have a history of political agitation, which is tolerated by the government because they are universities—not in the mainstream and having little effect on the general population. In Leon they organized against Somoza and dreamed about "going to the mountain" to become guerrilla soldiers.

Cabezas, as the book relates, is finally recruited for guerrilla boot camp. Sandinista boot camp in the early 1970's made USMC boot camp look like a picnic. Bugs, mud, sleeping in hammocks in the rain, and only hard corn to eat at times. It was hard-core. You must read the book. This man was really funny and down to earth, but serious as a heart attack when it came to fighting for Nicaragua.

One of our planned meetings in our VVAW Nicaragua trip was to be with Tomas Borge. Minister of the Interior. He was busy with a meeting on the House of Representatives vote on April 15th, so his second in command, Omar Cabezas, met with us.

You must remember, this guy is our age—38. He looked really tired and had a head cold that would not quit. He started speaking slowly and was very tired. But, the nature of our questions brought out a lot more open and relaxed person; in about 45 minutes, he'd gotten his second wind.

We started by talking about how many resources have been stolen from Nicaragua over the last 95 years. Gold, wood, bananas, coffee—U.S. companies and later Somoza got rich and the country received only our pollution (like 90,000 tons of mercury dumped in Lake Managua by Hercules Chemical Co.). He said that all companies were welcome to invest in Nicaragua, but 50% of all profit must stay in the country—a good idea! Perhaps something like that should be tried here—maybe 'Nam vets would have jobs.

We talked about Contra aid and U.S Navy ships off the coasts. The Contra war has killed 13,000 people with many more wounded and homeless. Fifty percent of all the country's spending goes to the war. The U.S. has mined harbors, funded Contra terrorists and now has refused the decision of the World Court in the Hague.

Among Cabezas' statements: "We could have created terror in America like blowing up hospitals and cities, but we are too civilized for that." "We do not hate the people of the U.S., only your government." "We do not want a Communist revolution or a capitalist one, but a Sandinista one."

The U.S. says there is only black and white, no grey. Because of U.S. TV, people in your country do not know the truth.

"We say no arms or bases in Central America. We understand that the U.S. considers Central America in its sphere of influence. We will not allow foreign bases in our country because that would give the U.S. an excuse to invade us. The U.S. responds to us by building bases in Honduras as close as 18 kilometers from our borders. We are willing to sign the treaty resulting from the Contadora Peace process in June of 86, but we feel that the U.S. will not and wants only to invade us."

How will we stop the invasion? "We have no Navy, only 3 planes in our Air Force, but we have the people of Nicaragua. We already passed out 300,000 AK-47's and are passing out another 100,000 this year. You can take the airport at our capital of Managua, but you will suffer 15,000 casualties. We will fight you as long as it takes to be free. General Sandino started 50 years ago but the people finally won. In order to truly beat us you would have to use atomic weapons."

"Your President is redefining America's values with his policies. All it brings the American people is a loss of respect from other nations in Latin America."

As we listened to him speak 1000's of people were marching in the street protesting the passage of $27 million in aid to the Contras. We could hear them through the windows.

Before opening up to questions, Cabezas said, "Go out on the streets and talk to the people—they will tell you how they feel."

"We are proud of your work in the U.S. Little groups and big groups all have a part to play. Each person you win over or each fact you bring to the people is a light. You add another light, then another, another, another... Finally you have the light of the sun shining."

I asked him how many Contras were ex-National Guard?

He answered that only 20% of the Contra forces are peasants, the rest are ex-National Guard or Somozistas. He said they captured 15,000 ex guards and turned them over to the Red Cross. This was a bad mistake because most went back to fight with the Contras. He also said without U.S. aid, the Contras would not fight for more than a year.

"We will not negotiate with the contras, only with the head Contra, Ronald Reagan." He continued to talk about how foolish it is to say that Nicaragua will invade the U.S. "Our enemies are U.S. big business, not the U.S. people. We go to great lengths to tell our people who the enemy is. We don't hat the U.S people."

He talked about his trip to the U.S.A. He had his wallet stolen in New York City, but still likes the U.S. people. He asked us if we had had anything stolen? We said no.

Some one in our group asked him if they had a problem with post traumatic stress. He answered that some people always have problems with war and killing, but our problems with not the same as those of Vietnam vets, he said. "We respect our veterans as heroes, find them jobs, pay them to finish school and set up veterans' organizations. The only way to deal with their problems is with love, respect and attention. The main difference is that we understand what we are fighting for."

I personally felt this meeting with Omar Cabezas was the highlight of the trip. He kept getting notes to leave but would come back again and again. I urge all members of VVAW to read his book. If Ronald Reagan only understood the determination of the Nicaraguan's to be free, he wouldn't be so quick to waste another generation of America's armed forces. "Come on people, Let's stop the War Now!"

John Lindquist
VVAW National Office