Speech #1000026228

You are talking about a rather small territory. in other words. in terms of land. as we think of it in country terms. And in the country of Honduras with its borders to Nicaragua and to El Salvador. you have enormous numbers. thousands and thousands of those who have left those two countries because of the war conditions existing in those countries. The Nicaraguan refugees we did not find much change in from a previous visit that I made to that area and to those camps a couple of years ago. They still have essentially the same population. not the Contras now. but the civilians who do not choose to participate in either side of the conflict in Nicaragua. who have been farmers. who are poor peasants. who have come to flee from the activities that are there and in large measure to flee from what they perceive as an institution and government which suppresses their right to grow their crops and to dispose of them as they want. There is a socialized system that they are not used to which exists in Nicaragua today. We do still have young men who have fled from the draft in Nicaragua and they are a troubling element because they do not really have a place. they do not fit in. they want to go. they want to leave and be placed somewhere else. but there is no one who wants to take them and no place for them to go. The camps are somewhat depressing but they are run by the United Nations High Commissioner on Refugees. and they have the support of many volunteer organizations and I would say. all things being considered. the two major camps in Nicaragua. or in Honduras for Nicaragua. are well run. healthy and doing as well as one can expect. The two camps that are there on the Salvadoran border are also run by the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees. Their conditions are. from the standpoint of refugee camps. quite good. We were able to visit one of those. Mesa Grande. which is the largest. There are about 15.000 refugees in that one camp. some 20.000 to 25.000 refugees all together in the two camps along the SalvadoranHonduran border. Most of these refugees are children. You are talking about better than 60 percent of the 15.000 or so in the Mesa Grande camp being under the age of For them life in a camp like that is truly a tragedy. Even though they have some opportunities for education. it is nothing like they should have. even though they have food and health care. there is not an opportunity to grow up as a child even as they would in the poorest of the poor regions of El Salvador. So I say for those many. many children it is a tragic circumstance. not to mention the fact that it certainly is for their parents as well as their grandparents who are forced into this condition of living or choose to because they feel that the matters are too much in conflict to go back home to El Salvador. Now there is hope. though. and I think that that is something that needs to be commented on. The Mesa Grande refugees. as opposed to the Nicaraguan ones. are now in a position to consider returning because the warlike climate in El Salvador has diminished considerably. The Government of El Salvador has indicated some interest in repatriating these folks. The United Nations has been sending a few back.