Word: faction
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Dates: during 1980-1989
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...third guerrilla faction includes Edén Pastora Gómez, a Sandinista hero who became disillusioned with growing Soviet and Cuban influence over the revolution and defected from the Nicaraguan government in 1981. The group that includes Pastora has been biding its time in the democratic oasis of Costa Rica and has refused, in public at least, to deal with any of the other dissident groups that include former National Guard members, notably the F.D.N. Several weeks ago, Pastora slipped secretly into Nicaragua, and late last week he suddenly re-emerged in the Honduran capital of Tegucigalpa...
More than a year ago the F.D.N. guerrilla faction began to take an active military posture. Its well-armed forces moved directly into the provinces of Jinotega and Nueva Segovia. According to the Sandinistas, those forces represent ten groups of 250 men each. But anti-Sandinistas who have close ties to the F.D.N. claim to have 16 battalions of 750 men each within Nicaragua. U.S. intelligence sources, while not disputing the fact that the rebels are active, consider their numbers to be grossly inflated. In the U.S. view, F.D.N. strength is probably closer...
During the eight-day journey that began last Wednesday in Costa Rica and that was to take him to Nicaragua, Panama, El Salvador, Guatemala, Honduras, Belize and Haiti, John Paul was visiting nations torn by insurrection and political change. Each faction on the ideological spectrum would examine his every utterance, hoping to find an endorsement of its political views. But first and foremost John Paul had come as a pastor, offering instruction, strength and solace to his Central American flock of 25 million Roman Catholics...
Only two years old, the Alliance lacks the political machinery of the two more established parties and has beaten the Conservatives in only three contests so far. But in its short life it has established itself as a moderate faction between the Conservative and Labour extremes, maintaining liberal positions on domestic and foreign affairs and walking the thin line between Labour's increased spending for jobs and the Conservatives' tax cutting. It could gain even more ground if Labour continues its drift toward the far left and if the increasingly unpopular Foot remains at his party's helm...
...future of Labour, and therefore of the Alliance, depends much more heavily on what the 69-year-old Foot does next. In his years as Labour leader, Foot has had to contend with splits within the party, attempting to satisfy both the radical faction-- led by the flamboyant Anthony Benn--and the more moderate group headed by former Exchequer Chancellor Dennis Healey. The balancing act has not produced a coherent opposition to Thatcher, but, rather, seems to have wedded Foot to the most awkward and alienating position on every recent issue, from his vocal support of striking unions this summer...