Word: costas
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Dates: during 1980-1989
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...significance of that buildup was, and still is, in dispute. Some CIA experts thought the actions were aimed primarily at strengthening Nicaragua internally. But the Defense Department was concerned that it might be the prelude to a Nicaraguan strike at Honduras or Costa Rica, another neighboring country from which anti-Sandinista exiles have been conducting guerrilla operations against Nicaragua. The same fear had been expressed by Honduran officials, who were concerned that by letting the main group of contras set up bases and train in their country with U.S. arms, they might be exposing themselves to Nicaraguan invasion. The Sandinistas...
Clark sided with the worriers, and Pentagon planners, led by Iklé, successfully argued for a show of U.S. force to give the Nicaraguans pause and reassure the Hondurans and Costa Ricans that the U.S. would not let them be overrun. To that end, the Pentagon revved up planning that had begun as early as last February for naval and military maneuvers. The Defense Department last spring had won approval in principle from all agencies involved in Central American policy that maneuvers should be conducted, but had not specified how big or how long they would...
...Costa Rica is Central America's stablest democracy. It does not have an army: that institution was abolished in 1949, and order is maintained largely by 7,000 lightly armed civil and rural guardsmen. The country's 1982 per capita income of $1,164 is the second highest, after Panama, in Central America, and its society is largely lacking in the unhealthy extremes of wealth and poverty that afflict Guatemala and El Salvador...
Despite those advantages, Costa Rica is a land of anxiety. It is, for one thing, virtually bankrupt. In the past two years, the colón has been devalued by almost 600%, and the country shows few signs of being able to repay an estimated $4.2 billion in foreign debt. While still relatively tranquil, Costa Rica has begun to experience tremors of violence that in some cases can be traced to the leftist Sandinista government of Nicaragua, whose rise Costa Ricans enthusiastically abetted. Providing sanctuary and financial support for the Sandinistas during their 1979 revolution was a top priority...
...result of that change in attitude, Costa Rica has become a haven for refugees from the Sandinista regime, a role that has not gone unnoticed in Nicaragua. In recent weeks, Sandinista-inspired agents have been arming and instigating Costa Rican squatters to take over land in the area of Guápiles, 25 miles northeast of San José, the capital. A Sandinista agent two weeks ago tried to plant a bomb in the Costa Rican headquarters of a Nicaraguan dissident group. The device exploded prematurely, killing the agent...