Word: nicaragua
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When the Reagan administration began its war against Nicaragua, I recognized a deeper affinity with that small country in a continent upon which I had never set foor....[A]fter all, I was myself the child of a successful revolt against a great power [and had] at least some knowledge of what weakness is like, some awareness of the view from underneath, and of how it felt to be there, on the bottom, looking up at the descending heel...
Although in general The Jaguar Smile ignores the plight of the Nicaraguan middle class, Rushdie does make one anomalous attempt to critically evaluate the closing of La Prensa, Nicaragua's main opposition newspaper. While he does not support this move, Rushdie asserts that the government should not be condemned for it. If we look at the broader picture of the country's civil liberties, he argues, the Sandinistas come off looking not nearly so bad as it is portrayed by the Reagan Administration...
...Speaking with Violetta Chamorro, matriarch of the La Prensa "family," he stops believing her the moment he notices that she is wearing jewelry. She is rich and therefore cannot be trusted. His objectivity, as much as hers, is brought into question by such prejudgement. Rushdie claims he went to Nicaragua looking for answers. But he seems to have known all along what he wanted to find...
...CONTRAS are stepping up the killing in Nicaragua, and they are doing it with our tax money. Of course, this is nothing new. They have been doing exactly that for five years now, and they are no closer to beating the Sandinistas than they were in 1982. Our frustrated contra policy has thus far only created more corpses, not better policy options...
...just empathy with the people of South Africa that sends these thousands to Washington; it's not just anger at the South African backed UNITA rebels, who fight to topple the Angolan government; it's not just sympathy with the people of Nicaragua, who endure the contra war; it's not just solidarity with the people of El Salvador, whose "democratic" government pursues a reign of terror against them. It's not just empathy, anger, sympathy, and solidarity which brings people to Washington, but it's an even more striking moral issue--responsibility...