Word: junta
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Dates: during 1970-1979
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...Americans have ever felt entirely comfortable with their Government's support for clearly and often cruelly undemocratic regimes. When an old fascist like Spain's Francisco Franco died in 1975, thus finally permitting the restoration of democracy, or when the junta of Greek Colonels self-destructed in 1974 by instigating an abortive coup in Cyprus and made way for the return of Constantine Caramanlis, the U.S. reacted with general relief. Still, the world is full of dictatorships, the U.S. has to deal with most of them, and simply condemning them on moral grounds is not a policy. Support...
First, the U.S. should be especially wary of embracing dictatorships that have sprung up in countries with democratic traditions, like Chile and Greece. The Pinochet junta is an aberration in modern Chilean history and may well go the way of the Greek Colonels. The same could be true of Ferdinand Marcos, although democracy in the Philippines has always been fragile and turbulent. Conversely, the U.S. has little choice but to tolerate military rule where it is the norm. For example, South Korea's Park Chung Hee suppresses dissent by an "emergency decree" superficially similar to Marcos' martial...
...these men as your representatives?" bellowed a Sandinista commander dressed in combat fatigues to the thousands assembled in the plaza below. "If you give them your vote, raise your hands." After an almost unanimous show of hands, the five were sworn in as the city's Municipal Reconstruction Junta, "in the name of the heroes and martyrs fallen in the fight for the liberty of Nicaragua...
Though it is the only organized armed force in the country and by far the dominant political faction, the F.S.L.N. has refrained from stacking the new government with its own adherents. From the junta down, each body has included not only leftists but also representatives of such moderate groups as Ramirez's Broad Opposition Front and the probusiness Superior Council for Private Enterprise. The unlikely coalition of moderates and leftists could well split if businessmen grow disenchanted with the socialist policies advocated by the Sandinistas. Surprisingly, the first serious threat came from the extreme left. Dissatisfied with the government...
...junta has clung to its program of middle-of-the-road socialism not only to reassure jittery businessmen, but also to assuage potential sources of foreign aid, who are concerned about the new regime's leftist cast. Nicaragua's leaders know that they need help to recover from the Somoza dynasty's 46 years of brutality and neglect. More than 45% of Nicaragua's people are illiterate. At least 500,000 persons driven from their homes by Somoza's fierce counterattack must be resettled. Food is in such short supply that long lines form wherever...