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Students, Women And Conscientious Objectors

In the ideological debate surrounding both the draft and later the approved version of the military service law, there have been some main themes. Several of these were treated in the last issue of the ENVIO, and others have been treated in a published document of the Nicaraguan Christian Base Communities ("We Want Peace").

It had been particularly emphasized, but still not sufficiently at a grassroots level, that military service was closely linked to the daily tasks of production and/or education, so that the work needed for the reconstruction of the country is not affected. Currently, there are 1,729 university students who actively participate in the territorial militia, and of that number 777 had been mobilized to combat zones as part of MPS reserve battalions. This caused students to lose some of their studies and it contributed to the low academic performance in the universities. The current law hopes to overcome these deficiencies.

There had not been a public debate on conscientious objection. This can be partially explained by the fact that since the country had been under constant attack, Nicaraguans were thinking much more about the right to defend their lives rather than the injunction, "Thou shalt not kill." So no rule existed about "conscientious objector status" or about an alternative service which would take the place of military service. The evangelical churches under CEPAD (the Evangelical Committee for Aid and Development) have requested that a conscientious objector status be considered and that pastors who must fulfill their military service in lieu of alternative civil service not be moved far from their congregations. Even though the law did not encompass these requests, it would appear that they will be honored.

The resistance from opposition groups in the country centered around military service as a "partisan imposition" or as an "instrument of ideological indoctrination." In sectors supporting the government, the debate has focused on the participation of women in military service.

About 30% of the territorial militia were women. However, the nature of the new military service presented "objective problems" as regards their participation. AMNLAE, the Nicaraguan Woman's Association, fought hard but unsuccessfully to insure the equal participation of women in military service. Glenda Monterrey, AMNLAE's national director, said: "We cannot accept article 6 or article 22 of the draft without discussion, even though we are clear about the objective and subjective limitations both men and women have in carrying out determined tasks... These limitations are a result of the historical development.... of humanity and therefore can be heightened or diminished according to this same development...."

Despite debates, proposals, and declarations of principles, intelligently and ardently defended by the women, the objectivity of these limitations was left fixed in the "letter" of the law. The daily reality in Nicaragua was a better indication of the "spirit" of the law. Thousands of women in the militia, and thousands more who spend the night watching for the public security in the streets, neighborhoods and factories throughout the country, show evidence of a nation armed to defend what had been won.