Dr. Selden was a volunteer sponsored by the Victoria and Albert Gildred Foundation for Latin American Health and Education. At first he thought hed work in the UNHCR refugee camps. But Miskito leaders in Honduras persuaded him to come to their own villages where there were thousands of Nicaraguan Miskito refugees who desperately needed medical care. The Miskito leaders explained that the UNHCR medical teams refused to go to the villages but insisted the refugees come to the UNHCR camps. This most of the Indians refused to do. According to Dr. Seiden. the Miskito refugees claimed they were much better off in the villages of their own people than In the UNHCR camps. Working in the villages and In visits to UNHCR camps. Dr. Selden found that all the Miskito leaders said was true. In the villages he talked to whole families who had left the camps and In the camps he talked to families who planned to leave. Not only was the food skimpy and poor and the medical care often inadequate. but the refugees said they were subject to "political extortion." As Dr. Selden puts it. "The Indians were very antiSandinista. Alter all. that was why they had fled Nicaragua. They found the U.N. personnel proSandinista and always exerting pressure on them to stop supporting the Contras and go home and back the Sandinistas." The Miskitos most serious charge. according to Dr. Selden. was that U.N. personnel would regularly question refugees to ascertain whether any relatives were serving with the Contras. "If they were. the whole family was denied food rations." Dr. Selden said. "Based on my experiences." Dr. Seiden said. "Our channeling any kind of aid through the UNHCR would be like giving it to the Sandinistas." Contrary to the belief of many. the ICRC has not been neutral in Nicaragua.
Keywords matched
refugee refugees