Word: contra
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...guerrillas. Last week he moved to honor those pledges, restoring civil liberties, disbanding an unpopular ad hoc court system and inviting the rebels for face-to-face negotiations. But the coincidental arrest in Nicaragua of five opposition leaders and hints that tough measures might follow approval of new contra aid strengthened suspicions about Ortega's motives. "All the Sandinistas care about now is stopping that aid," says an opposition leader in Nicaragua. "They will withdraw their concessions as soon as they have achieved this...
Certainly, Ortega has used well-timed gestures in the past to sway Congress. Shortly after the Reagan Administration made known its intent last September to seek $270 million in contra funding, Ortega went on a public-relations offensive. He announced the reopening of two opposition news outlets, the newspaper La Prensa and Radio Catolica, and pardoned 16 jailed rebel sympathizers. Sensing defeat, the U.S. Administration scaled back its request to just $30 million. Still, Ortega pressed on. He agreed to indirect talks with the contras and designated Miguel Cardinal Obando y Bravo as the mediator. In the end, Congress granted...
Ortega's shrewd diplomacy has already had considerable impact on the pending aid vote. Just a month ago, the Reagan Administration still planned to request $270 million in contra funds, much of it to be designated as military aid. Last week, however, Fitzwater conceded that the "$270 million figure has been overtaken by events." After several days of discussions, the White House decided to ask this week for less than $50 million, with only 10% earmarked for lethal purposes. But Capitol Hill buzzed with proposals to postpone the aid vote. Among those championing a delay was Senate Minority Leader Robert...
...Ortega's head, they apparently worked. The note of compromise that Ortega struck in San Jose two weeks ago while meeting with the peace plan signatories quickly evaporated when he returned home. During a visit last week to Ciudad Dario, a town north of Managua, he warned that if contra aid was approved, the Nicaraguan government would gain a "free hand to take necessary measures to defend the sovereignty, self-determination and independence of our country." The implication was that even a single additional cent of aid would provoke the Sandinistas to withdraw some, if not all, of their concessions...
...Sandinistas continue to wage peace in Central America, Washington braces for a crucial congressional vote on contra aid. -- Noriega stubbornly clings to power in Panama. -- Israel switches from bullets to beatings in attempting to control Palestinian unrest. -- Mozambique suffers under the double grip of famine and civil...