With the looming prospect of a new Trump administration, left activists face a perilous political moment. Today we look back at the Central America solidarity movement of the 1980’s to discover what lessons can be learned from a movement that succeeded in blunting US military intervention in the region, opening space for regional activists to push their revolutionary projects and hardening stateside opposition to US imperial aspirations.
Patricia Kullberg, who was herself active in the movement, speaks with three other veterans of Portland Central America Solidarity Committee: Millie Thayer was a staff person for Portland Central America Solidarity Committee (PCASC), a Portland-Corinto Sister City liaison and a movement journalist in Nicaragua. She is a sociologist of social movements in Latin America at UMass, Amherst. Diane Hess also worked with PCASC, American Friends Service Committee and the Portland-Corinto Sister City Association. She is a public policy advocate, educator, community organizer and planner. Gideon Hughes started organizing around central America as a student at Lewis and Clark College and later was active with PCASC. He was on the first Ben Linder Construction Brigade to Nicaragua.
Cartoon by local artist and activist Bob Rini.