Community Solidarity in La Grecia

There have been many examples in the past few weeks of the community of La Grecia coming together in solidarity. The trial of December 13th was very significant in this way. Also, a large community gathering at the Padilla´s house a few nights after the hearing was a very powerful. The event was religious, with one man reading passages from the Bible, and a group of musicians playing as others sang. (see pictures)

I was told It was the first time in years the community had come together, for fear of upsetting the landlord (McEwan). Most of the Campesinos do not own their land, they do not have formal title as Vicente does. The members of the community fear that if Vicente loses the case, their small farms and homes will be next. It is commonly believed that Vicente´s property was ¨attacked¨first because he is the community leader. If his land is under the control of McEwan, the land of his neighbors will be easier to obtain.

Also, a series of Human Rights workshops have been taking place in the community. The first was for adults and youth of La Grecia and San Ramon. The second two were smaller and included only the youth of the community of La Grecia, children from ages 10-20. It was inspiring to listen to many of the young adults speak about their rights and the rights of the people of their community. As many of them witnessed or where victims of the police brutality of December 29th, their passion to change the situation was especially heart felt. (See Pictures)

The next human rights workshop is scheduled for Feb 28th, if anyone is interested in attending or supporting the workshop financially, please contact Grace at msgracecary@comcast.net.

Hearing on December 13th

On December 13th a hearing took place at the courthouse in San Ramon to determine if the case of property damage (damages occuring last September) and land ownership would go to trail. McEwan´s lawyer wanted the case dismissed, while Padilla´s lawyer argued there was sufficient evidence for a trial.

At least 50 activists and supports, from Padilla´s comminity of La Grecia and students from Managua and the United States, accompanied Vicente into the courtroom. This large presence made an impression on the judge, as well as McEwan and his lawyer. McEwan´s lawyer spent the fist part of his opening statement asking that the supporters be forced to leave. The Judge said they were welcome to stay if they remained silent, which they did. McEwan had come with his own ¨support,¨ three armed guards, who put their automatic weapons away at the site of activists with cameras.

After hearing from lawyers on both sides, the Judge ruled in favor of Padilla and set the date of the trial for Feb 3rd. This is a small victory for the Padilla family and those that support them. There will hopefully be just as large a presence at the trial on the 3rd.

Thoughts on the events of December 29th

The police up for hire by the highest bidder, is to me one of the most important aspects of the brutality of December 29th. The police of San Ramon should be actively working to protect the people of that community. Unfortunately the police are being used, transported in PRIVATE vehicles, to do exactly the opposite. It is amazing that McEwan could drive to San Ramon and pick up the police in his own truck, drive them to Padilla´s farm, and then sit in the truck watching as the brutality took place. There is no system of protection for Campesinos. When Vicente went to the San Ramon police station to file a formal report of the harrastment and brutality, he had to look the same men in the eye that just days earlier had beaten him unconscious.

With the help of Human Rights workers, the police chief of Managua has been informed of the corruption in San Ramon. A formal investigation is to take place. Also, CENIDH (an independent human rights organization) and La Procuradoría de Derechos Humanos (The government run office of Human Rights) both located in Managua, have been informed of the situation. Various activists from Nicaragua, the United States, and Canada have also been staying with the family to provide support and a certain level of protection.

I would also like to point out the racism toward indigenous people has a huge effect on the treatment of campesinos in Nicaragua. The idea that an indigenous person, lacking European blood, is inferior and should not be listened to or taken seriously, or in most cases abused and exploited, is prevalent in society. It is amazing to see this in contrast to the strong sense of pride and culture alive and well within the indigenous community.

December 29th, 2005

Below is a letter written by an activist here in Nicaragua, which I think captures the events of December 29th well. It was addressed to a number of different police authorities.

January 12, 2006

First Commissioner Edwin Cordero; Inspector General, Aminta Granera; Chief of Internal Affairs Juan Baez Nicaraguan National Police

I am writing to protest a case of police brutality in Nicaragua. Eye witness accounts have been brought to my attention that on Dec. 29, 2005, seven members of the Special Forces Police (TAPIR) accompanied Hacienda owner Jose Esteban McEwan to the home of peasant land owner, Martin Vicente Padilla in La Grecia, Yasica Sur, Matagalpa. The police hit Mr. Padilla with a rifle butt, beat him brutally until he lost consciousness and continued to beat him even after handcuffing him and tying his feet together. They dragged him to one of the vehicles that also transported the police. The vehicles are owned by Mr. McEwan or la Finca Santa Emilia, owned by State Street Coffee. According to the report of the forensic doctor, Mr. Padilla has a broken rib.

Witnesses also reported that the police brutally beat up two of Mr. Padilla's sons, one a 16 year old and four other neighbors there at the time. The police chased his small children through the coffee plants so they could not go tell neighbors. They also pushed his wife who is traumatized psychologically. Mr. Padilla and his oldest son were imprisoned for two days, then released without charges brought against them. While they were in prison, police were on the farm while Mr. McEwan's workers picked the coffee from the plants on Mr. Padilla's land.

Witnesses affirm that Padilla met the police peacefully with a camera in his hand to document this aggression. They also affirm that guards working for Mr. McEwan have, on other occasions, come to Mr. Padilla´s farm, fired guns, made threats, and destroyed property. Human rights activists in Nicaragua have photos which have probably reached you by now.

There is an ongoing legal dispute over land that began in 2000. Mr. Padilla has had title to the land and worked the land since 1991. This dispute needs to be resolved in the courts and certainly not through police brutality.

This case creates the appearance that the police in Nicaragua are now up for hire by the highest bidder. Since 1979 the Nicaraguan police have been known for their respect for human rights, their professionalism and independence. The role of the police is to maintain order and to protect the citizenry. In this case they have created disorder, and violated human rights by beating Padilla unconscious even while handcuffed.

that you carry out a thorough investigation of the events that took place on December 29, 2005. I am concerned for Mr. Padilla's life and that of his family as well as other peasants, who, like all of us, depend on the police. I hope that the police will return to acting in a professional and nonpartisan manner. Those police who committed brutalities should be brought to justice. When this happens we will know that these were acts of members of the police and not of the police as an organization.

History of the Padilla Case

Many of the details of the Padilla case miror the larger history of land distribution in Nicaragua. In this sense, the Padilla case can be seen as a case study. His story is the story of thousands of campesinos all over Nicaragua.

Jose Esteban McEwan Callejas, a landlord of Scottish descent, owned a large coffee plantation (over 1,000 mazanas) called "Santa Emilia" during the Somoza era. He left his land and moved to the United States before the Sandinistas took power. In the early 1980´s his land was redistributed; the majority became a state run farm, some small parcels were given out to campesino farmers to be cultivated.

One of these farmers, Wilfredo Blandon Vasquez, sold his 5 manzanas to Vicente Padilla in 1991. Vicente therefore has a legal document proving his title to the land (something many campesinos, unfortunately, did not have when the revolution ended).

McEwan returned to Nicaragua in the mid-1990´s to reclaim his land. Although he had already been paid reparations, he was able to buy the section converted into a state farm back from the government. The small parcels given to individual campesinos were still not under his control. One day when Vicente and his family were at a religious procession, McEwan's workers bulldozed a road through the property and fenced off three of the five manzanas. (One manzana is 1.7 acres). They then secured it with armed guards.

Here began a long and draining legal battle. Over the course of the next five years, up to the present day, this battle has cost the family a huge amount of money, in many cases paying lawyers instead of eating.

The battle has also turned violent at times, as harassment by McEwan´s armed guards has increased. The guards have at times shoot bullets over the house, and stopped by to intimidate the family when they know Vicente is out working and his wife and children are alone.

In August 2005, a judge named Padilla the temporary owner of all five manzanas until the case was fully resolved. Padilla remarked his land with a new fence. On September 13th, McEwan´s guards tore out the fence and caused other property damage. The final assult came on December 29th, 2005 when McEwan arrived at Padilla´s small house with armed riot police, who beat up and arrested Vicente, his two sons, and a handful of other men in the community. While Vicente and his oldest son were inprisoned, McEwan sent his workers and armed guards in to pick the coffee growing on the three disputed manzanas. (see more on December 29th in next entry)

Background information - Somoza and the Sandinista Revolution

Under the Somoza dictatorship, the lands of Nicaragua were divided into large estates, often owned by foreingers or people of foreign decent, supporters of the Somoza dictatorship, or members of the Somoza family themselves. 80% of the airable land in Nicaragua made up these large estates.

When the Sandinistas took power in 1979 many things changed. Through argicultural reform, the lands of the Somoza family and their associates were confiscated. Many large land owners, fearing the same would happen to their property, left Nicaragua for their countries of origin, or the United States. The land they left behind, and other lands confiscated, where turned into state farms, peasant co-operatives, and other small farms owned by individual campesinos (peasant farmers). This was the Sandinista way of returning the lands of Nicaragua back to the Nicaraguan people.

When the Sandinistas lost power in 1990, Violeta Chamorro was elected and the rules of land distribution changed yet again. Should the peasants now occupying the land, in many cases without formal titles, be considered the owners? Or should Somoza era landlords be allowed to reclaim the lands lost or left behind in 1979?

Chamorro´s government pay reparations to many landowners of the Somoza era. But in many cases, with the help of the United States, Somoza era landlords were able to reclaim what they had lost. The peasants owners and peasants working on state farms and co-operatives where therefore forced to return to the status of low paid workers on large privately owned estates.

In many cases they were not able to cultivate crops for local consumption. The land was converted back into large export crop plantations, where cash crops such as coffee are grown. Using the campesinos as cheap labor, the landlord can sell the coffee on the international market and make a large profit. Without local crops to rely on, the campesino is forced to try to feed his family with the meager wage of about $1 per day. Today, 80% of Nicaraguans live in poverty.