A Personal Mission

A PERSONAL MISSION Little Time for Mourning Since the contras killed her son, the first American volunteer to perish in the Nicaraguan conflict, Elisabeth Linder has traveled widely to condemn U. S. policy. By Fred Bruning 07/21/1987 Newsday ALL EDITIONS Page 03 (Copyright Newsday Inc., 1987) MOSTLY, ELISABETH LINDER does not cry. She does not yield to melancholy in public. Even when invited, she does not rhapsodize her son's childhood or glorify his death. She says her commitment is to truth and from her perspective, the truth is inescapable: Benjamin Ernest Linder died as a result of U. S. policy in Nicaragua. "There is no doubt in my mind," she says. "And there should not be in anyone's." Ben Linder , the 27-year-old son of Elisabeth and David Linder of Portland, Ore., was killed by U. S.-backed contra rebels April 28 outside the village of San Jose de Bocay in northern Nicaragua. A mechanical engineer working on a rural electrification project, Linder was the first American volunteer to perish since the contras began their armed campaign in 1981. For Elisabeth Linder, 59, a slight, restrained woman who says, in the past, she has avoided public speaking whenever possible, the death of Benjamin required that she confront more than anger and grief. Her other two children, John, 32, and Miriam, 30, have been touring the country opposing U. S. aid to the contras, raising money for a $200,000 memorial fund to further their brother's work and arguing against proposed legislation limiting travel to Nicaragua. Her husband, 63, is recuperating from heart surgery and intends to begin speaking when health permits. This week, Elisabeth Linder is in New York to take her turn. She will speak to groups in Manhattan, Brooklyn, upstate and Long Island before returning to the northwest. Other trips are planned. It is not the summer Elisabeth Linder expected. It is, however, what the summer has become. "I didn't do anything to be in this position,' she said, as though trying to retrieve her anonymity. "Twenty-eight years ago, we had Ben ." Linder moved away from a microphone at WBAI-FM in Manhattan where she had just finished two early morning interviews. "At the same time, I have more self-confidence," said Linder, a native of Czechoslovakia, who speaks with a faint accent. With three small children, Elisabeth Linder said motherhood was her primary responsibility for many years. When her children were older, Linder began working outside the home - as an advocate for welfare recipients, a trial assistant in the Washington County, Ore., public defender's office, and, most recently, an interpreter for Spanish-speaking defendants. Linder says she and her husband, a pathologist, had an interest in politics - "just regular liberals," she says - but that the atmosphere in their home was something less than supercharged. At the dinner table, Linder recalled, she spent more time persuading John, Miriam and Benjamin to clean their plates than conducting symposiums on current events. Before moving to Portland, the family lived in the Haight-Ashbury section of San Francisco. The neighborhood was not yet the spiritual center of America's counter-culture, but, when scores of young people wearing flowers and granny glasses arrived, the Linders welcomed the change. The family befriended civil-rights activists in the Student Non-Violent Coordinating Committee (SNCC) and on two occasions entertained famous visitors - Stokely Carmichael, the black-power advocate, and Julian Bond, who later served as a Georgia state senator. If Benjamin's views were profoundly shaped by the experience, he didn't let on, his mother said. Even now, Elisabeth Linder says, she is not certain in what party he was registered or what political label, if any, describes him adequately. Most important, Linder says, is that her son was a normal child, small and on the timid side, with an inclination toward mechanical toys and reading. Juggling captured his imagination and, while at the University of Washington in Seattle, he learned to ride the unicycle, as well. Ultimately, his mother said, Benjamin became so adept that, for fun, he one-wheeled himself from the Canadian border to Santa Barbara, Calif. Linder rode his unicycle in Nicaragua, too, often churning through muddy streets in a clown costume to the delight of local children. But Linder's primary mission was as an engineer. He had assisted on one hydroelectric plant in the village of El Cua and was doing field work for construction of a unit near San Jose Bocay when surprised by the contra patrol. Whether or not her son was targeted, Elisabeth Linder says, the fact remains that he was cut down while engaged in a peaceful undertaking - circumstances that have prompted the family to consider a wrongful death suit against Miami-based contra lead- ership and, perhaps, the U. S. government, as well. Precisely how Benjamin Linder died remains a matter of dispute. Pressed for an explanation by the Linder family and Rep. Les AuCoin (D-Ore.), U. S. State Department officials say descrepancies may never be reconciled but note that contra soldiers claim they did not know until later that they had killed an American. According to rebels, Linder was slain during an exchange of fire. The Linder family and Nicaraguans who say they witnessed the attack claim Linder and the others were ambushed and had no opportunity to surrender as the contras claim. They say he died as a result of a shot to the head at point-blank range after being incapacitated, a view that has been sustained by Dr. Michael Baden, head of New York State Police forensic sciences unit, who was asked by the family to view photographs of Benjamin Linder's wounds. "He was murdered," Elisabeth Linder says. Not everyone shares the Linders' outrage. William F. Buckley, the columnist, wrote a piece suggesting Benjamin Linder was a communist, and at a recent congressional hearing, Rep. Connie Mack (R-Fla.) seemed to be speak for those who believe Linder should not have been in Nicaragua. "I don't really want to be tough on you," Mack told the Linders, "but I really feel you have asked for it." "That was about the most cruel thing you could have said," Elisabeth Linder answered. She said her son was not an adventurer, but "a grown man who had done a lot of thinking." "Then I would suggest to you the responsibility lay on your son's shoulders, not on this government's," the Congressman said. "I disagree," said Elisabeth Linder. A friendlier reception awaited Linder in New York. At Washington Square United Methodist Church in Greenwich Village, supporters stood and applauded her appearance. A woman shouted "Presente!" to indicate the spirit of Benjamin Linder would prevail and offered his mother a bouquet. Elisabeth Linder criticized U. S. policy in Central America and said her son knew the dangers he faced. She described the family trip to Nicaragua for Benjamin's funeral - President Daniel Ortega Saavedra held her hand during memorial services, she recalled. Then she showed several slides. Before the audience were scenes of the Nicaraguan countryside, a rural power plant, a street light in a town where previously there had been no electricity. Among the last pictures was one of a small fellow at the side of a stream, taking measurements. It was her son. Elisabeth Linder will meet with Salvadoran refugees at 3:30 p.m. Friday at 5 Centre St. in Hempstead and will speak at 7:30 p.m. in the Monroe Lecture Center at Hofstra University. AP Photo-Benjamin Linder in Nicaragua, above, Newsday Photo by Ozier Muhammad-and his mother, Elisabeth, at right.Cover Color Photo by Mike Kopel-Elisabeth Linder meets supporters at Washington Square Methodist Church in Greenwich Village on Friday; A Mother Takes Up the Cause. Elisabeth Linder's son, Benjamin, was an engineer working as a volunteer in rural Nicaragua when he was killed this spring by U.S.-backed troops. In his memory, she is speaking out against the contras and raising and raising money to continue his work. Cover Color Photo by Mike Kopel-Elisabeth Linder meets supporters at Washington Square Methodist Church in Greenwich Village on Friday