Word: nicaragua
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Dates: during 1980-1989
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Only last spring, the civil war in Nicaragua, deep into its eighth year, seemed to be in a peaceful lull. The Marxist-oriented Sandinista government was meeting face to face with the U.S.-backed contras and loudly promising to install democracy in Managua. In Washington the House defied Reagan Administration pleas and voted down military support for the guerrillas. But last week, in a sudden burst of high-handed actions, the Sandinistas raised fresh doubts about their intentions and provoked forceful new White House calls for lethal aid to the contras...
...muscles. But the move could backfire. Resolutions condemning Managua's actions whipped through Congress by overwhelming votes (91 to 4 in the Senate; 385 to 18 in the House), and the crackdown could force congressional opponents of contra military aid to reverse field or risk being blamed for "losing" Nicaragua during the fall campaign. Even Democratic Senator Christopher Dodd of Connecticut, a persistent critic of U.S. policy in the region, conceded last week that lethal aid now stands a better chance of passing the Senate. Yet approval still seems all but impossible in the House...
Some experts now look for Managua to launch an offensive to destroy the contras, perhaps as soon as early August. Government newspapers and radio stations have begun a drum roll of reports proclaiming that "the people" are demanding action against the rebels. An all-out attack by Nicaragua's 70,000- strong army would catch the contras at their weakest. Cut adrift by their U.S. patrons and torn by internal feuding, the guerrillas barely resemble a credible fighting force. About 6,000 rebels remain in Honduras, where the government is increasingly eager to see them leave, or are camped along...
...alternative. Unilateral assertions of U.S. pressure have proved more likely to foster resentment about Yankee imperialism than to promote lasting influence. Nor does Washington always know best: its friends in Latin America have generally proved more adroit at dealing with troublesome neighbors such as Panama's Manuel Noriega and Nicaragua's Daniel Ortega...
...exploded outside the border states," says Ramon Gallardo, a St. Louis restaurateur who founded and later sold the Casa Gallardo chain. In cities with large Latin populations, the trend goes beyond Mexican restaurants specifically to include a wide array of bistros, featuring the less familiar cuisines of Nicaragua, Cuba and Colombia...