The United States provides all the funding for these camps. and we bear the responsibility for what takes place In them. The agreement on aid for Nicaragua reached by the Congress and the President earlier this year was In part intended to encourage repatriation into Nicaragua or to other countries. However. there are no procedures that allow civilians within the camps to determine whether they would like to stay with the resistance. be repatriated to Nicaragua. or apply for refugee status. The United Nations High Commissioner on Refugees has expressed a willingness to conduct interviews to make these determinations. but the Contras apparently will not permit these interviews to take place in a neutral setting. Reports indicate that there is no mail servIce into and out of the Contra camps. Without such service inhabitants have no way to communicate with their relatives in Nicaragua. or indeed even to know if they are still alive.
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