In fact we have suggested to the government that the name be changed to the Ministry of Development and Social Welfare. Our vision of this ministry is not one of social benefits, but rather one which together with other ministries oversees social development in a planned way.
The government's policy in the social sector needs to be part of a perspective of combining various social services with the communities, so that gradually some of these services will totally administered by the people. That's our conception.
Committees When we speak of supporting community organisations mean those spontaneously during the struggle, civil defence committees, which are now called Sandinista defence committees. created massively in the working class, and rural areas. So we think that these rank and file committees can deal problems In Iner area of services, stration, etc.
everything was going well, but it was a lie. They would show photographs the days when my grandmother was born. Now things different.
Things are calm, and we appointed anyone to stores in the that we have.
be which arose like government These were and and with a number of to be defined.
adminiwere afraid, but because and keep a home?
we knew that if we didn't work here wouldn't find work anywhere else.
So we went through many hard times in this place.
this a state of permanent mobilisation.
Where they do not exist we could create these organisations, or combine them with the defence committees to carry out a series of social welfare programmes. ministry is the one most suited to have this contact with the masses.
Community action In the ministry we have a section which we call community action, and which is in charge of this planning. We hope this will be a link to the mass organisations and help to develop s series of programmes of this type.
For example, at this time we have be in charge of distribution of food. What we have created is an infrastructure for distribution — different towns arranged with the FSLN in the different towns for them to conduct a census so that on the basis of these criteria they can distribute the little food In addition I have defined the sectors with priority for the ministry, such women, the unemployed, etc. So we plan to develop a series of specific programmes aimed at them in addition to the community work.
Few resources In relation to children we want to develop a policy for the protection children, and to do the same with youth and for the advancement of women, a series of political cultural measures. This unexplored area, and so this is a policy that has Our problem is that we have a lot of plans and few material resources to carry them out.
Well, we used to leave the children with a neighbour and many women had to pay for someone to care for their children. Many of us have no family, or have SEVERAL weeks after the insurrection which overthrew Somoza, the country is in the throes of a revolutionary upheaval. A state of dual power exists, but with this difference: the bourgeoisie has no repressive state apparatus atits disposal. The masses remain armed and in The future of the Nicaraguan revolution depends on the political evolution of the left wing of the Sandinistas Our Small Political problem the grocery An important children badly needed at this time.
pressure we have exerted on an I would of to their solidarity concretely at our country.
Scared for. • Before we had none of this even our youngest children, the 11-year-olds, were harassed the National Guard. We were constantly worried. and Our country has been destroyed by a war. The people fought against the dictatorship and there have been enormous losses. Our social and economic inheritance is burdensome.
In addition to the overall plan and general of our ministry, emergency plan: to confront the problem of hunger that we face right now. More than a million people are suffering from starvation.
businesses and commerce nave beer Here in Managua, the country's main city, this is not just an economic problem — It iş 8 political problem which we have to try to solve as soon as possible. Obviously the fact that 50 per cent of the population suffers from starvation is a gigantic problem for any country.
element is solidarity. This is a vital question for us, and we have been werking with international agencies and governments to obtain the aid that is so At this point international aid has not been &s massive as we had hoped. It has improved in this last week due to the calls we made and the scale. But it is not enough to fulfil the present demands. We need between 300-400 metric tons of food daily to be able to solve these problems.
like to take • advantage of this appeal particularty the political organisations, to show with this situation Nicaraguan people face. To solve this problem and to develop a solidarity movement means this time to explain revolutionary process currently taking place in