Film Number

7592

Title

'HEROES AND MARTYRS' FROM NICARAGUA - INTERVIEW

Producer

WFA

Date

1985

Gauge

U-matic LB

Colour

colour

Sound

sound

Running Time

62 mins 00 secs

Description

Footage of the visit by the Nicaraguan band 'Heroes and Martyrs' to WFA in Manchester. The group are interviewed by Michael Vaughan and a group of other activists including Maria Isobella Vaughan, May Stone, Dot McGovern, Rosa Hervia and an interpreter translates for the group. They talk about how they were set up - formed by a group of people from the countryside wanting to express the feelings of the people through their songs. Their name comes from a massacre that took place in Nicaragua in 1952 as a way of remembering. The people who were killed were rural workers organising in the countryside. They talk about the attacks of the Contras on the population today and the impact of the economic situation on the country with the US blockade. They are asked questions about the rumour that the Sandinistas are supplying arms to neighbouring countries and how they organise against the atrocities taking place. Also the role of women and how the tour came about which they explain in terms of the growing terror being imposed on them and the necessity to gain more support for their cause.

[Catalogued as part of 'Revitalising the Regions' a Screen Heritage UK project, 2011]