brad brace contemporary culture scrapbook

One of the main sources of jobs for people on the Caribbean Coast of Nicaragua is the cruise line industry. Many families are dependent on the remittances sent back by family members on the ships. But a recent BBC Radio Four programme exposed the super-exploitation that goes on in one of the fastest growest global industries.

One cruise line worker, described as from Central America, but with a Bluefields or Corn Island accent, revealed the reality of working conditions. “I had to get up and work, maybe 18 hours sometime, maybe sometime no time to sleep because just time to make money. Ship is money. You go on ship to make money. They have a timesheet, they are giving you from such a hour to such a hour to complete, like, 8 hours, so we can say we only work 8 hours which, that’s a lie. For instance, I go like from 5am and I will stop like 10am, then I will go back again like 2pm, and then I will stop working like, sometime, midnight. We are just supposed to report 8 hours.”

The wages are so low that the workers depend on tips: “That’s our salary. Our salary from the company is $50 a month. That’s nothing my friend, so if we don’t get tip, we don’t have any salary.” The crews work every single day for months at a time.

The President of the Cruise Lines International Association, Terry Dale, thinks everything is hunkydory. “Creating and fostering a positive work culture is critical to our success. These are highly sought after jobs and our staff will spend years working with us in the cruise industry because they find these jobs very rewarding and lucrative.” Perhaps that’s why some workers can pay up to $2,000 to an intermeidary to get a job.

The United States of America started to view Nicaragua as a serious threat when, on 19 July 1979, the Nicaraguan dictator, Anastasio Somoza, was overthrown by the Sandinista National Liberation Front. To ensure that Nicaragua would not become a communist government, America began to support the Contras groups and decided to take up the responsibility of assisting the local communities to fight against the government, but without encouraging a revolt. It was with this in mind, that the C.I.A. began to compile the Freedom Fighter’s Manual.

In any war, revolt or uprising it is always the innocent civilians, children and women that seem to bear the brunt of the fighting. They often feel helpless, as they do not have the means, knowledge or tools to either be a part of the war or to be in control of their own destinies. The Freedom Fighter’s Manual was designed to be easily understood and was a fifteen page booklet of ideas, plans and actions that citizens would be able to use to destabilize the government, without the use of weapons or putting themselves in harms way.

In 1983, thousands of the booklets were airdropped over Nicaragua. Even though the Freedom Fighter’s Manual recommended that all actions were to be taken in pairs of two, there were a few pages that could benefit individuals. Divided into various sections, the booklet had instructions on how to disrupt the workplace by causing damage, calling in sick, clogging bathroom toilets and cutting cables. Public disruption was also included with methods, such as setting livestock free, graffiti, blocking roads and cutting the electricity. To disable vehicles, the booklet suggested how to cause damage with dirt, ice picks and candles and explained how the electrical system worked. The booklet even showed citizens how to make a Molotov cocktail and use explosives.

The existence of the Freedom Fighter’s Manual was exposed in 1984 when a copy of the booklet was given to an American journalist by a Nicaraguan Contra.