By Pat Werner
March 26, 2015
By the middle 1980s the Contra war dominated all aspects of Nicaraguan life. The Contra, using a plan developed by chief Contra planner Emilio Echaverry, made a complicated three pronged attack on Ocotal. They did not take the town but about a third of the town was pretty badly shot up and the government radio station was burned down. The Contra attacked the North highway at La Trinidad and succeeded in blowing up the highway bridge there. The government attacked the Contra with their new Soviet MI-24 flying tanks and shot up and killed most of the attackers. The harbor at Corinto was mined. In a three month window of opportunity the CIA sent thousands of M 14s and H and K G3s, many with Salvadoran army markings, to the Contra Southern Front by the San Juan River.
The head of the Southern Front had taken a girlfriend, and apparently during pillow talk spoke about this arms shipment. The girlfriend apparently sent the information to Managua, and the complete arms shipment was taken by the government. The CIA inspired a crack-brained revolt of the younger field commanders of the Contra against their superiors at their base on the Rio Coco, Banco Grande, which acted to disorganize Contra activities for over a year. All Contra efforts to organize urban cells in Managua were effectively neutralized by one very effective double agent, known colloquially as El Pez.
In this process, the Ejercito Popular Sandinista, or EPS, grew by leaps and bounds, and food rationing was instituted. A complete United States embargo was instituted and it had the effect of stopping the importation into Nicaragua of all food stuffs, car parts, all sorts of equipment, and goods and all manufactured goods. The Soviets imported many Soviet Fiats, called the Lada, Robur heavy trucks, and the WAS, a Russian jeep with a very good engine and ergonomically perhaps the most uncomfortable jeep ever built. Government actions nationalized all food production, so the only place producers could sell their produce was to the government buyers.
By 1970 the Mantica family had established a series of supermarkets. They were a quality product. At first, they were able to maintain operations. But as the war continued, they lost the ability to import items for sale, and soon they ceased operations. By the late 1980s, the buildings were still there, as at Plaza España, but the products were eastern block, i.e. Cuban Rum, Soviet vodka, Soviet powdered milk, which was very good, Sputnik magazine, a sort of Soviet Readers Digest, and locally produced, moldy vegetables. A high point was a couple of Bulgarian products. Their Blackberry preserves, and canned veal with vegetables were excellent, and when the war ended I bought a case of each for use in trips to the mountains.
For everyday Nicaraguans, life was hard. The monthly ration card had to be filled only at the local CDS outlet, or Committee For the Defense Of Sandinismo. A separate Ministry, called Micoins, was instituted to stop speculation at the large, local markets such as the Oriental, Montenegro, and Huembes. If the ministry found evidence of speculation, the sellers´ goods were confiscated.
Such a system resulted in flagrant rule breaking. The consumer products were not good. The ground coffee appeared to be mixed with ground, parched sorghum, which made for a very bitter cup of coffee that stained the cup. The lard was many times inedible and resembled soap. Farmers who had chickens, hogs, or cattle, literally had to sleep with their animals to prevent them from disappearing, as in sleeping in the same room. A sort of gourmet response in the local markets was to slaughter old carriage horses and sell them as beef. Gentle reader, horse meat is meat colored, but it has no fat, is a bit dark, and tastes a bit like liver, but sweeter. But if you know the taste of essence of horse, you can tell pretty quickly. There was no rationing of horse meat, nor dog nor cat.
Once in a while something humorous would occur. When the Chernobyl disaster took place, soon after potatoes began appearing in the CDS, to which some asked if they glowed in the dark. If so, maybe they could be used for light bulbs, as Russian light bulbs did not last very long. The Chernobyl potatoes were given away for free. When word got around about them they were not only free, but you had to take some with you, no choice.
Feeding small children became a problem as the rationing cards, regardless of the quality of the foodstuffs in the CDS, were very skimpy. One example:
A single mother with two small children to feed conspired to obtain two pounds of pork. She and her fellow conspirators agreed to steal a 200 pound hog, and slaughter it. On the night of the dirty deed, the person dressed as to go to a party, and traveled by bus, with a large purse, to about a kilometer from the hog killing, that was actually done inside a private home late at night with the windows covered with blankets. She had to walk the kilometer in a formal dress and pumps. The hog was killed, butchered, and the meat distributed among the conspirators. The conspirator walked a kilometer back to the bus line, took a bus home, and her children had pork to eat for a day or so. This sort of conspiracy was repeated thousands of times, usually by women who wanted to feed their children.
To find fresh produce you had to go to the local markets. There you would find that, completely opposite to what a classic laisse faire economist would predict, no free market at all, but complete monopoly. I walked down an aisle of onions and found that all the vendors offered produce at the same price, so comparative shopping was an illusion. I suspect the sellers got together at 4:00 in the morning and made a blood oath, or dire threat, to sell onions at a certain price, on pain of death. Or so one of them told me. The markets experimented with inventive ways to offer products in times of war. Crema (sour cream) is a good example. One seller used to offer crema in an unrefrigerated, 50 gallon barrel. I noticed that flies dive bombed the crema but pulled out of landing at the last second. I also noticed the crema was pretty tangy. I finally asked the seller what magic he used to protect his crema. Me smiled and only said one word: formaldehyde. He added formaldehyde so the flies did not like the brew. Another example was in the fish market at the Huembes market. They had on display very fine pargo and corvine. And flies never landed on them. I wondered why. One day I watched the fish counter and saw the answer. When no one was looking the seller sprayed each fish with a liberal amount of Raid.
1987 was the bloodiest year of the war and the hardest time for people trying to get by. The Contra finally got planning down, and attacked, successfully, Las Minas and the long bridge at Muey de los Bueyes in eastern Chontales. There were up to 50 armed engagements a day, usually in Nueva Segovia, Jinotega, and eastern Chontales. And getting food just got harder. The superiority of the Soviet flying tanks was largely nullified by the introduction of ground to air hand held missiles. Any helicopter flying at any height at all over a contested area would get shot down. The Contra also got Barrett .50 caliber semiautomatic rifles, which also were very effective against the rotors of the Mi 24s.
One respite from the shortage of food products was the institution of the Diplo Tienda, the Diplomatic Store. Apparently developed in Eastern Europe, persons with diplomatic passports, or some approved identity card, could enter, buy items in dollars, and find many things that could not be found anywhere else. Prices were usually quite reasonable. As it developed, one large jet airliner full of food and things was imported into Nicaragua every day, mostly from Canada. Those of us who had access made regular trips there. Located in Managua where the DGI offices are located, it gradually expanded its offerings. One shortcoming is that Canadians do salad dressing quite different than Americans, and most Europeans. Getting Thousand Island dressing never got resolved until George Bush ended the embargo in 1990.
With the election of 1990 and the victory of Violeta Chamorro, everything changed, and the country began morphing into what most foreigners know today as Nicaragua. Before that, one high Polish official told me that the country had been more transformed into an Eastern European country in 11 years than Poland had been transformed in 40 years. The Colonia store in Plaza España opened in the early 1990s, and McDonald´s came to the Rotunda El Gueguense in 1995, with Burger King coming in 1997. PriceSmart opened in 2003. Alas, Taco Bell still has to open a franchise here, with the closest Taco Bell located in San Pedro, Costa Rica, catywumpus from the main entrance to the University of Costa Rica, which I visit regularly. There is still room for improvement in the Chica Patria.
The post How It Was Part 2 – Finding Food During the Contra War appeared first on Nicaragua Community.