Speech #990025100

traditionally poor do not have any supporters or backers outside of their own refuge camps. Being resourceful and having a tradition of living from the land. they have been able to survive on a subsistance level without any outside help. "However. extreme poverty. starvation and lack of medical attention has taken a great toll. "The Honduran government already strapped by its own people and political problems and 40.000 documented refugees. cannot offer much help. The Hondurans although kind and sympathetic to the Miskitos plight. discourage them from growing crops because they are not legal residents of the land. "Church and missionary help is rare and it was told to our group that the missionaries feel that if they help the refugees they well be branded as Contra sympathizers. Also many of their American congregations support the Marxist Sandinista government. "And although Honduras has the largest number of Peace Corp volunteers in the American hemisphere. they too are politically strapped and cannot help the refugees. "Alarming to the MISURA is a new church missionary group which has recently set up near the camp called the "Friends of the Americas." The "Friends" tell the refugees that the Sandinistas have "forgiven" them and want them to come back into Nicaragua. The MISURA are shocked by these statements of the "Friends" because of daily accounts of the horrors of civilians being forced from their homes and the continual influx of refugees. "It is estimated by the MISURA office located in Tegucigalpa that before the revolution. there were more than 125.000 Miskito. 25.000 Suma and Rama Indians and 22.000 Black Creoles living peacefully in Nicaragua. An offical count by the MISURA estimate that more than 50.000 of their number have been killed and many more unaccounted for. possibly forced into concentration camps somewhere inside Nicaragua. Over 40.000 refugees have chosen to live in Nicaragua they say. Because the Sandinista government will not disclose even to relief and amnesty organizations how many are in the camps or imprisoned that number is not known. but it is estimated to be between 20.000 to 50.000 people. "Willson and Smith say that the genocide of the MISURA and the Black Creoles have been going on for more than five years now and want to know why the American people and its press organizations have not addressed their plight. They also want to know why church groups support a government that suppresses and discourages religion of all kinds.