Word: contra
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Dates: during 1980-1989
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...that bleak. The Nicaraguan Democratic Force (FDN), the largest of the guerrilla groups, has about 6,000 troops, up from 4,500 a year ago, deep inside Nicaragua. FDN Leader Adolfo Calero Portocarrero says he is close to Unking forces with the Revolutionary Democratic Alliance (ARDE), another contra group operating in southern Nicaragua. The chiefs of two Miskito Indian rebel groups remain at odds, but disgruntled commanders in both camps are trying to forge an alliance on the battlefield. Though many divisions remain, the FDN is gradually exerting its control over the entire contra movement. "There is an awakening toward...
Though official U.S. aid has dried up, CIA agents still reportedly advise contra leaders on military tactics. The rebels have tapped fresh sources of support; among the countries rumored to give assistance are Colombia and Taiwan. Help also comes from Nicaraguan and Cuban exiles living in Florida as well as from a network of conservative groups in the U.S. Food, clothing and medical supplies have been sent to the families of contras by such organizations as the Christian Broadcasting Network, headed by Virginia Television Evangelist M.G. ("Pat") Robertson, and the Friends of the Americas, a Louisiana-based group dedicated...
...White House plans to try again next year to persuade Capitol Hill to restore contra funding. Congress approved $14 million in CIA aid for the rebels in October, but insisted that Reagan submit the proposal for a second vote in March before the funds could be spent. Passage may be more difficult than the Administration expects. Republican Richard Lugar of Indiana, the new chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, predicted last week that Congress would reject requests for more...
Writing in the New York Times, Cruz argued that the contra insurgency is "the revolt of Nicaraguans against oppression by other Nicaraguans." Cruz then warned congressional opponents of aid that they "have a moral obligation to insist that the Sandinistas restore Nicaragua's liberties and that the Communist world take its hands off our country." Cruz later said that it was "irrational" to believe that a cutoff of aid to the contras will lead to increased political freedoms in Nicaragua "unless you have made sure the Soviets and the Cubans are going to do the same...
...fighting between the Sandinista government and the U.S.-inspired contra guerrillas sputters along Nicaragua's northern border, skirmishes between Washington and Managua continue to rage on broader battlefields: in newspapers, at fund-raising offices, in college classrooms and along the corridors of Congress. Through legal challenges, diplomatic maneuvers and public relations jabs, Nicaragua's Marxist-led government and the Reagan Administration have been fighting for the hearts and minds of the international diplomatic community. In this not-at-all-secret war of words, the U.S. last week suffered an embarrassing setback. The 16 judges of the World Court...