Word: costa
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Diplomatic Correspondent Strobe Talbott just completed a tour through Costa Rica, Nicaragua and Guatemala to learn how U.S. policy looks from Central America. "Arriving in Guatemala in the violent aftermath of last week's elections," he reports, "and meeting with defense officials, I found an embattled, suspense-charged atmosphere that reminded me of western films, in which the gunslingers are getting ready for high noon." On a different front, Washington Correspondent Johanna McGeary has also been covering the Salvadoran conflict, but long-distance at the State Department. She has been reporting what she calls "the war of the words...
...Nicaragua (pop. 2.5 million), the Sandinista guerrillas took power in 1979 and, despite their early vows to encourage "pluralism," have been moving zealously leftward ever since. Honduras (pop. 3.9 million) has a moderate government, but is fearful that it will catch the virus of rebellion from its neighbors. Even Costa Rica (pop. 2.3 million), a stable democracy, fears that its economic problems will cause social unrest that could lead to trouble...
...country's economy needs American investment. Second, the military is going to become desperate for U.S. arms to fight the guerrillas. As a condition for aid, the U.S. should insist that the generals who run the country stop repressing political opponents and start sharing power more widely and genuinely. Costa Rica's Monge believes that there are young officers in the Guatemalan army who realize that their country has to be more democratic to survive. Monge's advice to the U.S.: identify with those elements and help them prevail. > In Nicaragua the Sandinistas are unquestionably oriented toward Cuba...
...should give political and economic support, and plenty of it, to Honduras and Costa Rica, the two democracies that are holding on in the whole troubled area. While Costa Rica's standard of living will suffer as the country takes the steps necessary to avoid bankruptcy, there is still good reason to hope that the underpinnings of its democratic institutions will remain intact...
...killer brigades to wander the countryside, aimlessly murdering civilians while battling the ill-defined forces of the left? And what of the Nicaraguan bases. Cuban-built or not? They only become dangerous if interpreted as the first falling dominos in a potential avalanche tumbling across El Salvador, Hondouras, Guatemala, Costa Rica, and then the shipping lanes of the Panama Canal. Wouldn't the United States be better off working toward genuine economic and social reform in those countries, improving our chance of long-term ties, rather than stubbornly endorsing the status quo and whining about the pernicious Cuban influence...