Word: nicaragua
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After 100 days of ruling Nicaragua, what power does the Violeta Chamorro government actually wield? Not much, according to State Department officials, who believe that the ousted Sandinistas still run the country. "The civilians hold the offices, but the Sandinistas have all of the muscle, and they monitor phone calls at will," says a U.S. diplomat just back from Nicaragua. Humberto Ortega, brother of the ex-President and Chamorro's army chief, earns grudging American respect as the most politically adroit figure in the country. Chamorro gets a harsh assessment. "Even her friends call her 'Rag Doll,' " says...
...both Chamorro and Ortega appealed for calm, hotheaded civilians armed with rocks, Molotov cocktails and AK-47 rifles erected cobblestone barricades, ignited piles of tires and engaged in sporadic gunfire. From some trenches flew the red-and-black Sandinista flag, from others Nicaragua's blue-and-white flag. At least four civilians died and scores were wounded. Fretted a local businessman: "This must be how Beirut began...
...With Nicaragua on the brink of chaos, Chamorro offered last Wednesday to reopen talks with the unions and Sandinista leaders. By the next morning, agreement was reached and calm restored. Union leaders pointed triumphantly to the long list of concessions. Chamorro's supporters hailed as a victory the army's decision to obey orders and not back the strikers. They cited with particular pride a public pledge of loyalty made by Daniel's brother, General Humberto Ortega, who heads the armed forces...
...watchword of the Chamorro presidency has been reconciliation, and in that she has enjoyed a measure of success. In April she prodded the Sandinistas and U.S.-backed contras to sign a permanent cease- fire, which was followed two months later by the demobilization of the rebel forces, ending Nicaragua's 10-year civil war. But other aspects of reconciliation continue to elude her. She has not harmonized the competing interests of her supporters and detractors or brought Nicaraguans to accept the bitter pill of economic retrenchment. Perhaps most difficult of all, she has not persuaded extremists of either right...
After 2 1/2 years of the intifadeh they have built a nation but not a state. No matter what happens, they will never be the same. -- Yeltsin's departure could leave Gorbachev in charge of an irrelevant Communist Party. -- Chamorro navigates Nicaragua back from the brink of chaos...