BEN LINDER PRESENTE - April 28, 1987

MONUMENT TO BEN LINDER

Assassinated by US-backed Contras, BEN LINDER PRESENTE

by Mike Alewitz/ 1989

NICA School/  Esteli, Nicaragua

Approx. 10’ x 15’

 

Dedicated to the Internationalistas who gave their lives in Nicaragua.

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Ben was working as a water-purification engineer, but he would also ride around on a unicycle and clown for the children, and I decided to paint him that way.  The quote is from the speech by Daniel Ortega at his funeral:

“He is the smile of the children who saw him in his clown costume, illuminating the future that we are making together in the new Nicaragua.

 

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He Came Carrying Dreams 

"For whom do the bells toll?" wrote Hemingway in the midst of the fire that was incinerating the people of Spain, and later, over the ashes cast by fascism; but the song and hope of the people of Garcia Lorca rose up over the ashes and fascism. 

Today we are gathered before Benjamin Linder, citizen of the United States who, filled with love and happiness, gave his life for the "campesinos" of Nicaragua. He knew of the risks of work in Nicaragua, of the danger of going into the mountains, into the communities to contribute with his knowledge, with his dedication and with his example, to better the living conditions of the country people.

He did not come on a flight carrying arms, nor with millions of dollars; he came on a flight carrying the dreams which were born of his conviction that the ethical values of the American people are above the illegal policy of the United States Government.

 He demonstrated that the American people are noble, and that the people of the United States are the enemy of the assassins of Nicaraguan children, women, young people and "campesinos". He demonstrated that the people of Lincoln are the enemy of slavery, the enemy of terrorism and firm defenders of peace between peoples.

He lived and died for the American people and for the Nicaraguan people.

From La Camaleona, where the mercenaries killed him, fulfilling the CIA's plans, to El Cua, Rio San Juan Oregon and Washington, the song filled with love, full of peace and filled with Benjamin Linder's hopes is multiplied by his sacrifice

And what is more powerful than war? And what is more powerful than the hundred million dollars and more powerful than the threat of an invasion?

The people's strength and love, and the example and sacrifice of men like Benjamin are more powerful. He is the smile of the children who saw him in his clown costume, illuminating the future that we are making together in the new Nicaragua.

What salary did he earn? Nothing more than the satisfaction of serving and sharing with those who were as he was

Because he did not live on a CIA wage, they killed him with "two Nicaraguan "campesinos" while they were working out in the country. 

Then, for whom do the bells toll here in Nicaragua? For Pierre Grujean, the 33 year-old French doctor murdered in Rancho Grande. For whom do the bells toll here in Nicaragua? For Ambrosio Mogorron, the 34 year-old Spanish nurse murdered in San Juan de Bocay. For whom do the bells toll here in Nicaragua? For Albert Pflaum, the doctor from the Federal Republic of Germany murdered in Zompopera. For whom do the bells toll here in Nicaragua? For Maurice Demierre, the 29 year-old Swiss agronomist murdered in Somotillo. For whom do the bells toll here in Nicaragua? For Paul Dessers, the 39 year-old Belgain civil engineer murdered in Guapotal. 

For whom do the bells toll here in Nicaragua? For Joel Fieux, the 28 year-old French radio technician murdered in Zompopera. For whom do the bells toll here in Nicaragua? For Bemhard Erik Kobers, the 30 year-old drinking water specialist from the Federal Republic of Germany murdered in Zompopera. For whom do the bells toll here in Nicaragua? For Ivan Claude Levyraz, the 32 year-oldSwiss construction engineer murdered in Zompopera. For whom do the bells toll here in Nicaragua? For Benjamin Linder, the 27 year-old American engineer murdered in La Camaleona, Nicaragua. 

For whom do the bells toll here in Nicaragua? For more than a dozen Cuban teachers, technicians and voluntary workers killed over the course of these years. 

For whom do the bell toll here? For the 40 thousand victims that six years of United States aggression have produced among the Nicaraguan population. 

May the blood of the innocents move the conscience of the rulers of the United States, so the bells do not continue to toll, so the aggression ceases, so the military maneuvers cease, so they accept a dialogue with Nicaragua, so they allow the Latin Americans to dialogue through the Contadora Group and its Support Group, so they let us talk over the Central American governments' peace initiatives, including the constructive peace proposal presented by the President of Costa Rica.

"No to war! Yes to peace!"  Benjamin Linder's blood cries out so that the bells do not continue to toll in Nicaragua.

Daniel Ortega

President of the Republic of Nicaragua

April 30, 1987

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