Word: nicaragua
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...Nicaragua wins a propaganda victory over the U.S. in the World Court...
...fighting between the Sandinista government and the U.S.-inspired contra guerrillas sputters along Nicaragua's northern border, skirmishes between Washington and Managua continue to rage on broader battlefields: in newspapers, at fund-raising offices, in college classrooms and along the corridors of Congress. Through legal challenges, diplomatic maneuvers and public relations jabs, Nicaragua's Marxist-led government and the Reagan Administration have been fighting for the hearts and minds of the international diplomatic community. In this not-at-all-secret war of words, the U.S. last week suffered an embarrassing setback. The 16 judges of the World Court...
...dispute arose when the U.S.-backed rebels claimed responsibility for mining Nicaragua's harbors last February and March (the mining stopped by April). The Sandinistas lost no time in going before the United Nations Security Council in New York City, introducing a resolution that called for the immediate end to the mining of Nicaraguan ports. The U.S. used its Security Council veto to block the resolution. The Nicaraguans then decided to take their complaint to the World Court, the judicial arm of the U.N. and the highest forum for resolving disputes between nations. When the U.S. learned of Nicaragua...
...last week's decision was nonetheless a clear rebuke to the U.S., a longtime champion of the rule of law, by a court not widely viewed as partisan. Respected jurists from such U.S. allies as Britain, France, West Germany, Italy and Japan found in favor of Nicaragua. The sole dissenting voice on the crucial issue of Nicaragua's standing in the court came from the only American member of the panel, Reagan-appointed Judge Stephen Schwebel...
...other U.S. alternative is to refuse to fight the case and, if Nicaragua wins, simply to ignore the decision. That might lead to an even greater loss of face among the community of nations. Nonetheless, the move would by no means be unprecedented. Over the past 15 years, several nations, including such upstanding international citizens as Iceland, India and France, have refused to submit to the panel's rulings. Yet the most recent example of defiance occurred when Iran ignored a 1980 judgment from the court to pay reparations for seizing the U.S. embassy in Tehran...