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Nemagon Pesticide Use in Nicaragua |
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Nemagon Workers Are Dying: Urgent Press Release FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE March 28, 2005 Contact: Name: Kristin McKay Managua, Nicaragua- Members of the Miami University Students for Peace and Justice group traveled to Nicaragua March 11th-20th on a Witness for Peace delegation to learn about United States foreign policy. While in Managua, the delegation visited a protest camp of several thousand banana and sugar cane farmers who have been lethally infected by the chemical Nemagon. Nemagon is a virulent pesticide used in banana and sugar cane plantations in Central America, the Caribbean, and the Philippines. Approximately 5000 protesters, who are living in makeshift tents of black plastic and sticks across the street from the National Assembly, say that they will not leave until their government has acted justly by recognizing the horrible conditions in which they've been left to die, covering their burgeoning medical costs, and discontinuing the use of all pesticides that contain Nemagon. The workers asked the students to take their stories back to the United States because the United States corporations Dow Chemical, Shell Oil Co. and Standard Fruit Co. exported and encouraged the use of Nemagon. The protesters claim that over 2000 people have died due to exposure to Nemagon. One worker, Juan Alejandro Varela Sanchez, said to the Miami students who'd gathered on the night of Friday the 18th, "And here we stand talking to you and it looks like we're normal human beings, but we are already dead. Nemagon has already killed our way of life, our energy, and has left us practically lifeless. That's why some of us will be burying ourselves." The students were shown holes, which line a busy intersection, already dug for this purpose. In addition, the protesters are threatening to light themselves on fire or crucify themselves if the Nicaraguan government will not recognize their demands. Negotiations with the government continued through the weekend, but the protesters reiterated to the students that if nothing was decided by Monday, they would act on their threats. Quotes from the protesters " "Our struggle has actually been going on for over ten years. You haven't heard about it until now because it's been kept from your ears. Now we're reaching a point in our struggle where some may be willing to bury themselves in these holes. Some people have talked about burying themselves with their heads underground and just their feet sticking out as a final act of protest. Right now we're not sure exactly what will happen."-- Merlo Antonio Irrutia Silva " "We are not asking you to give us material aid, but to simply demand what we demand: justice. Tell people how we have been here protesting four times, each time for several weeks, each time walking the 150 kilometers from Chinandega while some of us die along the way from the venom creeping inside us. Tell them that many of us left our children behind in a deformed state thanks to Nemagon. When you go back, tell them that we will not tolerate that our government erase the law that is on the books to protect us allowing us to sue the companies that poisoned us. Spread this message not just to the United States but the whole world because this is a world- wide epidemic that affects much more than just Nicaragua." --Juan Alejandro Varela Sanchez The History Nemagon was employed extensively in the banana-growing department of Chinandega, Nicaragua.
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