Word: nicaragua
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Dates: during 1990-1999
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When Panama and Nicaragua took their dramatic turns toward democracy with more than a little push from the U.S., President George Bush declared that both needed aid from America to rebuild their economies. But he did not say where he would find the money. As Congress seemed to dawdle over the problem, Bush last week said funds could be diverted from the military. If Congress agrees, this would be the first budgetary dividend from the global moves toward peace...
Calling the aid a "Fund for Democracy," Bush said Nicaragua should get $500 million and Panama $570 million. To pay for it, the Pentagon would postpone projects at Fort Ord, Calif., Fort Knox, Ky., and Fort Hood, Texas, delay repairing the damaged battleship Iowa and use savings from a hiring freeze. Bush said Congress should vote the aid package by April 6. It is expected to do so, but only after enlarging the pot. Since the President has opened the military vault, Congress presumably will look for the extra cash at the Pentagon...
This afternoon, volunteer mother Connie Garcia, a grandmother with a saint's heart and a tiger's tenacity, latches onto a 28-year-old undocumented refugee from Nicaragua. The woman eagerly shows off her food: tortillas, beans, a head of lettuce, one apple, a bag of stuffing. But it's not enough to feed her family. Last year she and her husband, along with five-year-old daughter Sylvia, a beauty with sparkling green eyes and boundless hugs, walked from Mexico to Texas. When they reached Houston, Sylvia was battling bronchitis. Her parents had no idea where to turn...
...sprawling bungalow in the Honduran capital of Tegucigalpa last week, the contras opened discussions on the terms of their disengagement with representatives of the U.N.O. and the Roman Catholic Church. Honduras is the grudging host to some 10,000 contra troops; up to 4,000 other fighters operate in Nicaragua. The contras' concern for their safety was heightened last week when fighting between Sandinista soldiers and rebels broke out in central and northern Nicaragua; each side accuses the other of provoking the conflict...
...reduce the size of the military. Luis Humberto Guzman, a member of U.N.O.'s senior advisory board, has said that military spending should not exceed 15% of the budget. Under Ortega, defense expenditures totaled 50% of the budget. For that reason alone, demobilization of both armies makes sense if Nicaragua is going to rebuild itself...