Word: managua
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FIDEL CASTRO Makes his first ever state visit to Paris (sure beats Managua...
Within 24 hours, Comandante 31 and his band of ex-Sandinista officials responded by storming the Managua headquarters of the conservative National Opposition Union (U.N.O.). Seizing 34 people including Vice President Virgilio Godoy Reyes, they demanded the release of the El Zungano hostages and U.S. war reparations of $17 billion. For six days, Nicaraguans feared the worst as mediators sought a compromise between the outlaw bands. Finally, both sides agreed to free all hostages, and the government and former contras signed an eight-point plan aimed at alleviating tensions...
...spectacle was hardly edifying to Washington. For most of a decade, the U.S. made Nicaragua a prime ideological battleground, spending hundreds of millions of dollars, enduring bitter domestic debate and engaging in illegal- arms deals to face down Managua's Soviet-backed rulers. Only the end of the cold war prompted the two superpowers to bow out. Americans thought Nicaragua's problems were solved when Violeta Barrios de Chamorro was elected President in early...
...done little to pull the country out of its mire. When the government faltered on its promise to deliver land and reparations, former contras and ex-Sandinista troops took up guns again to grab territory and settle scores. In Managua the leader who pledged national reconciliation could not even reconcile the players within her own government. Last January the 12- party U.N.O. broke with her, along with Vice President Godoy. That has left Chamorro politically dependent on the Sandinistas, who were allowed to retain de facto control of the army and police forces. Now they too are pulling away...
Analysts connect the snarl of problems to a single thread: the lack of any patriotic spirit. Says Angel Saldomando of cries, a private think tank in Managua: "There is no political class with a national consciousness, no social base from which to resolve the problems." That leaves Chamorro, out of touch and over her head, fumbling to start a national dialogue. Late last week she seemed to be signaling new resolve as reports circulated that the ex- Sandinista army intelligence chief, now director of army information, was about to be dismissed...