Committee for Non-Intervention in Central America Records

The Committee for Non-Intervention in Central America (CNICA) was founded in 1984 by residents of New York City's Upper West Side neighborhood who opposed the United States government's foreign policy in Central America. The organization's name was purposefully worded so as to be positive: to be "for" rather than "against."

Active membership of CNICA--meaning people who attended meetings and helped to organize events ranged—ranged from 10-25 to perhaps as many as 100 at the organization's zenith, and 1,100 supporters who gave their help as needed. A general meeting of the organization was held once a month in spaces at sympathetic agencies, community and religious based agencies with strong social justice programs, such as the Goddard Riverside Community Center and the Interchurch Center. Fred Johnson, a social worker, who spent his career working in various youth service agencies throughout the city, mostly in community centers with low-income, minority youth, chaired the general meetings. A steering committee did most of the active work, organizing, and charting direction of the group. The group's membership was comprised mostly of middle-class, white professionals such as teachers, social workers, academics, and lawyers, many of whom were veterans of the anti-Vietnam War movement. CNICA' s work included lobbying members of Congress, "tabling"(collecting signatures for petitions at tables), voter registration, fund raising, as well as educational and cultural events and participation in demonstrations and direct action, often in collaboration with groups with similar political interests and sympathies (a frequent ally and co-sponsor was the Committee in Solidarity with the People of El Salvador--CISPES--a national organization with chapters in various cities in the United States). These activities included two benefit concerts for humanitarian aid for victims of war in El Salvador, Guatemala, and Nicaragua; an annual awards dinner to honor efforts of politicians and activists working to end United States intervention in Central America; a campaign that collected thousands of signatures on petitions and postcards opposed U.S. government aid to the "Contras"(the rebel militia that fought against the revolutionary Sandinista government in Nicaragua), sent to Congress; joining with another organization to plan and participate in civil disobedience at New York City's Federal Plaza; public meetings and forums, including one led by Noam Chomsky and attended by over 750 persons; a film series presenting documentaries and feature films on Central America, and an annual Walkathon (in cooperation with other groups) to raise funds to provide medical aid for Central America. Under the sponsorship of CNICA the Upper West Side and Tipitapa, Nicaragua became "Sister Cities" in the spring of 1987. The organization had a large mailing list that included New York politicians, including progressive Democrat Congressman Ted Weiss, representing New York's West Side, who sat on the House Committee on Foreign Affairs, and who came to a meeting of CNICA at its invitation. CNICA also supported Weiss in his re-election campaign.

CNICA disbanded circa 1991, after its members concluded that the revolution in El Salvador and Nicaragua was over. The subcommittee of the CNICA that had organized the Sister City relationship with Tititapa continued its work as "Pueblos – the New York-Tipitapa Sister City Project," a non-profit organization working collaboratively with Nicaraguans on projects to improve education, nutrition, and health promotion, environmental health, to promote human rights, and sponsor cross-cultural and educational exchanges.