Yankees Leave Home

The gaily colored Air Florida 737 jet from Miami had barely taxied to a halt at the Tegucigalpa airport when a column of trucks loaded with Honduran policemen careered across the runway to head it off. As police surrounded the aircraft, troops slithered down ropes from helicopters hovering overhead and flung themselves on the ground with rifles ready. The cause of their concern: the arrival of 40 clergywomen, the first planeload of 140 American and Canadian nuns and lay workers headed for a four-day prayerful protest against U.S. policy in Central America. The Honduran government barred the other 100 even before they left the U.S., calling them "subversives," but the Sandinista government in neighboring Nicaragua invited all 140 women to pursue their protest there.

Nicaragua has become a mecca for Americans who reject the Reagan Administration's policy of saber rattling and providing covert aid to the contras seeking to overthrow the leftist Sandinista government. Several hundred American residents of Nicaragua lend the government their expertise in such fields as agriculture, health, culture and industry. In addition, "solidarity" groups in the U.S. sponsor as many as ten different delegations every month for brief but busy tours of revolutionary life.

Housewives, professors, actors, doctors, writers, clergymen, nuns, computer programmers, retirees and students tumble off the afternoon Aeronica flight from Miami, loosening ties and donning VIVA SANDING! T shirts in anticipation of tropical heat and revolutionary fervor. The itinerary includes weekly "face the people" meetings that Nicaraguan leaders usually hold in poor barrios of Managua. "We are ashamed, truly ashamed, as U.S. citizens, about the Reagan Administration policy toward Nicaragua," proclaimed Paula Braverman, a San Francisco physician, at a recent rally.

Once a week between 7:30 and 8:30 a.m., about 30 Americans gather outside the U.S. embassy to wave placards, chant and sing. One popular new song: "Don't rescue me, I want to be free." U.S. Ambassador Anthony Quainton tries to receive every delegation that passes through to "answer their questions."

The first of an expected 500 U.S. volunteers began arriving last week to help harvest the coffee crop, while other U.S. volunteers began rotating two-week vigils in hot spots along the Honduran border. They hope to act as a "human shield" to discourage contra attacks. "We don't want to minimize the risk," says Jim Wallis, a religious organizer from Washington who is now in Nicaragua. "But we believe it's time for U.S. citizens to share that risk."

Despite recent peace feelers by Managua to Washington, most of the pro-Sandinista solidarity groups see little chance that U.S. policy will change. But the Yankees have no intention of going home. Says Witness for Peace Spokesman Dennis Marker: "We are prepared to continue our vigil until the U.S. ends its support of the contras." This file is automatically generated by a robot program, so viewer discretion is required.