20 November 2010

The minutes from the Boston NWTRCC meeting are now on-line:

• New England War Tax Resistance and Supporters Gathering and NWTRCC Gathering (Saturday morning)
• Two discussion groups on living above a taxable income and living on a low income (Saturday)
• Coordinating Committee Meeting Minutes (Sunday)

From the 20 November 1909 Sherbrooke Daily Record:

More Than 1,000 Imprisoned

Would Not Pay War Tax to President of Nicaragua.

Many Persons Have Been Killed By Soldiers During the Disorders

Panama, November, 20. — The story told by recent arrivals here from Nicaragua, in substance, is as follows:

More than 1,000 persons have been imprisoned in the penitenitary at Managua, the number including Congressmen, the military commanders of Grenada and Rivas, and many other prominent personages.

No one is permitted in the vicinity of the military barracks or near Zelaya’s residence, where he is guarded by 1,000 picked soldiers. After 9 o’clock at night no one is allowed in the streets of any of the towns under Government control. All houses are ordered closed at that hour.

Up to the present Zelaya has extracted war contributions amounting to nearly $1,000,000. All who refuse to pay the tax are immediately imprisoned. Many persons have been killed by the soldiers during the disorders that occur daily in the towns.

Zelaya’s reign lasted another month, when U.S.-backed rebels forced his departure and, soon after, that of his successor, in favor of a U.S.-leaning president. When U.S. General Smedley Butler wrote his exposé War Is a Racket, he was drawing on his experience leading U.S. troops in Nicaragua/Panama around this time (among other things).