European Stars And Stripes (Newspaper) - July 7, 1985, Darmstadt, Hesse                                July 1985 the stars and stripes Page 17 Maria counted her inventory and marked items off her hand scribbled she then handed Over a few Hundred and her visitors nicaraguan women prefer Max Factor and Helena she it lasts the Nail pol ish made in Nicaragua comes off in a she says she will sell the cosmetics to affluent nicaraguan As an Maria notes that a bottle of the Nail polish will be sold for the equivalent of about she paid on the Black her business could land her in jail nicaraguans Are prohibited from accumulating Large sums of cur and the cosmetics were imported Maria is proud of her ability to get certain foods and commodities that often Are in Short there is not much she but i do not have any Marias Home in Altamira de Este is Replete with modern from a toaster oven to a Multi Speed the family also watches a Sears color even in the tense months before Somoza fled Nicara she the neighbourhood seemed immune from the the same is True for the War that pits the sandinista govern ment against disaffected Cia backed nicaraguans making sporadic raids Acoss honduran and Costa rican Borders into their Homeland seems As Distant As the fighting that rages in the Middle but for the War is a fixture As Perma nent As the plaster that holds together the Hodgepodge of Wood and Adobe that forms the foundation of her ramshackle the War is As constant As the bomb shelter in her she says the shelter could accommodate 20 but adds with some embarrassment that it remained empty during a june 1984 attack on we were too afraid to go she we stayed n our her eldest 17yearold Williams the family is in the sandinista his Post is on the Nicaragua honduran she says her worry for his safety never and attributes recurring head aches and spinal problems to the night after night she waiting for Denis to return from her and often keep her company past while Rosario says she sees a new future for her poverty four Beds Are shared by six in a House of three excluding the store the Only room with a Concrete the youngsters study in a darkened room illuminated by a single electric bulb hanging from the the bathroom is an bathing Means hauling buckets of water and dumping them Over ones the water comes from a River polluted with sew each Day brings new one Day Rosa Rios Adobe stove collapses into a pile of at least she there is the Hope instilled by the sandinista the daughter of a tenant Rosario was a Domestic in the Home of a Rich Patrone from the age of 7 and never found time for formal she married at 17 and began a her husband left eight years later and she returned to work As a cleaning when the san nistas were gaining ground in the late Rosario hoped for their in she participated in a work stoppage that paralysed the country and signalled Somoza i was very Happy when the Triumph she she the poor May still be but they have her eyes Light up when she talks of Access to education for her this she would induce her to support the sandinista Rosario is Active in her neighbourhoods committee for the defense of the an organization that coordinates civilian patrols and responds to various its also known to sandinista As the eyes and ears of the revolution that spies on Rosario believes her along with Wil Liams military will help Denis get a scholarship to study Medicine the revolution is for the a photo Maria blames revolution for shattering dreams of better tomorrow for her 10 years since Portugal quit Angola amid the Luanda decays by Patrick Reyna associated press although the Workings of the government of Angola remain a Well kept secret from the rare Western there is Little mystery about what the african nations Sovi Etsu plied air Force looks used to ferry Small contingents of officials or and lumbering antonov12s taxi about the runway of Luanda 4th of february Airport As Mig fighters scream past the military int very Happy about official guide Katia Airola but that How the portuguese built the Airport the military runway right alongside the civilian it is 10 years since Portugal relinquished control Over Angola after nearly five centuries of colonization and 13 years of bitter a 54yearold finnish woman divorced from a chose to remain in Angola with her children after she works for the ministry of information and has angolan although the War ended for it has never stopped for the marxist inspired government of the Peoples move ment of angolan liberation Mola which continues to fight a South Africa backed guerrilla movement called the National Union for the total Independence of the reality of All the years of warfare is underlined by the omnipresence of the military and becomes apparent in another Way upon entering a City of from the air the former jewel of Portugal Afri can Empire is a City of tall buildings whose gleaming whiteness contrasts with the ochre coloured Earth and the deep Blue Atlantic on the City streets have taken a decade of Wear and tear with no Upkeep since the massive portuguese the cites 1975 population is estimated to have rubbish remains uncollected in the streets As special trucks imported several years ago sit idly by for want of spare parts for which there is no hard Hal finished shells of apartment blocks abandoned by departing portuguese Are on the Corner of Avenida Karl Marx and Rua Lenin stands a burned out apparently untouched for the cites big hotels Are being renovated for the annual conference in september of Heads of state of Portugal five former african the elegant a gleaming Tower of steel and has already been renovated and is now under the management of the French hotel firm As in most african the angolans Are extremely sensitive about reporters were repeatedly reminded to keep their cameras in their but despite the problems and the the City throbs and bustles with traffic and the traffic lights Airola explains that people and automobiles Are valuable commodities and said authorities crack Down hard on speeders and Drivers who cause although there is a Midnight to 5 gunfire is heard every night in Luanda sometimes just a few shots and other times rounds of automatic weapons four years ago the cites Petroleum refinery was blown up in a nighttime attack claimed by Unita but believed Here to have been the work of South african several Western reporters were recently granted rare visas to Angola following a government announcement that angolan troops had killed two and captured one South african commando May 21 in a foiled raid on the joint Gulf Oil Complex in Northern Cabinda South african officials first denied knowledge of the then said the commandos were gathering Intelli gence on Black guerrillas they say were attempting to overthrow the White South african reporters heard the wounded South who identified himself As 27yearold Winan petrus do Tell a government organized news conference that the raid at the Cabinda Gulf Oil depot at Malongo was intended to cause considerable economic setback to the angolan gov after the often postponed news the govern ment flew reporters to 220 Miles East of Luan capital of a province of the same to see a captured Airdrop of ammunition and supplies in tended for Unita guerrillas operating in the As in the military was including some of the estimated cuban troops in the awaiting transport Back to the the provincial military Ludy Kissa Sun said the 31ton drop had been picked up 36 Miles from the Zaire Border but said it had come from South All serial numbers had been filed off the soviet made ak47 Kalashnikov and portuguese made g3 assault but the medical supplies were manufactured in South and the labels of the plastic bags of Steri sol sterilized water were written in English and