Word: nicaragua
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Dates: during 1980-1989
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...Nicaragua, the Sandinistas declared a unilateral cease-fire in three regions and pulled their troops out of those areas -- a mostly symbolic move, since the Sandinistas exercised next to no control there. In Managua, Ortega opened discussions with unarmed opposition groups across the political spectrum. These moves are called for in the pact signed by five Central American Presidents, including Ortega, in early August. Under that agreement, cease-fires are to take effect in all countries by Nov. 5, foreign aid to guerrilla movements must cease, and the rebels are to be offered a peaceful role in the political life...
Reagan ticked off conditions that Nicaragua must meet before Washington could encourage the contras to lay down their arms: complete freedom of the press and of worship; freedom for all shades of opposition to organize and run for office; liberty for all political prisoners. These demands go well beyond conditions the U.S. has tried to press on any other nation. Republican Senator Bob Packwood of Oregon observed that Reagan's requirement "isn't a standard we apply to Albania or China" -- nations with which the U.S. nevertheless does business. Says Wayne Smith, a former U.S. diplomat and sharp critic...
...derisive words last week, Ortega repeatedly offered to open direct negotiations with the U.S. Some State Department officials believe Reagan should take him up on it. They think that with Nicaragua under pressure to carry out the peace plan and get Washington to call off the contra war, the U.S. could strike a deal for reduction of Soviet aid and Cuban military advisers to Nicaragua, as well as other steps guaranteeing that Nicaragua will not become the Soviet-Cuban military base that Reagan fears...
...worst outcome for the U.S. in Nicaragua would be that the contras would wither away as more and more rebels accepted a Sandinista amnesty, and that the Sandinistas would then repeal the few steps they have taken toward democracy. The U.S. would thus be left to deal with a Marxist dictatorship that had cemented itself in power. There is a real danger that by proposing military aid to the contras, which Congress is almost certain to refuse, and by holding out for pure democracy in Nicaragua, Reagan will isolate the U.S. from peace negotiations that are likely to go forward...
...Washington, he is expected to keep his distance lest he offend Mexican sensibilities. "Salinas is hardheaded enough to know that Mexico's future is bound to the U.S. and not to a tiny Third World country in Central America," says a European diplomat based in Mexico City, referring to Nicaragua. "But there has to be a little prickliness in the relationship for it to be right...