Word: costa
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...Honduras and Costa Rica, concern about the U.S. presence increases...
Near the dusty cattle town of Liberia in Costa Rica, members of the Civil Guard are listlessly chasing a stray hummingbird through their armory. "Actually, most of these guns are for the birds," jokes Colonel José Ramón Montero, a rice farmer who prefers T shirts to camouflage and diligently observes banker's hours. "These M-1s could have seen service at Normandy, and most of these weapons would be more valuable in Hollywood." His company's mission, however, is no scriptwriter's flight of fancy: his men are serving as a first line...
Neither Honduras nor Costa Rica is currently at war. But both border on Nicaragua, whose imposing military buildup and revolutionary Marxist rhetoric have caused its neighbors alarm. Both are also bases for thousands of U.S.-backed contras, Nicaraguan rebels fighting to overthrow the Sandinista government. Now, to varying degrees, Honduras and Costa Rica are growing apprehensive about the close relationship with the U.S. that their geopolitical predicament has forced upon them...
...contras have not yet managed to take and hold a single Nicaraguan town. Their disarray was illustrated by the arrival in Washington of Pastora, who has been leading a group of contras fighting in southern Nicaragua from bases in Costa Rica. The CIA in May threatened to cut off aid to Pastora's group, hoping to force it to unite with the northern contras, a group Pastora has shunned because it includes former members of the hated National Guard. While Pastora was recuperating from injuries received in a bombing five weeks ago, his fellow rebels voted to join forces...
...Costa Rican President Luis Alberto Monge implied that the Sandinistas might be responsible for the bombing, but ARDE leaders insisted that the camp area was clear of Nicaraguan soldiers. More logical culprits include ARDE members with access to the base, some of whom may have been angry enough with Pastora's decision to kill him. In the aftermath, Pastora's colleagues quickly down-played their disagreements, but the episode promised not only to delay ARDE's alliance with the F.D.N. but to strengthen Pastora's resolve against any union under conditions other than...