Word: nicaraguan
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...support for the contras, begun in 1981, dropped off following revelations 14 months ago that CIA operatives had helped them mine Nicaraguan harbors. When the Administration began sounding out legislators on the chances for a resumption early this year, it quickly became obvious that there was little sentiment in favor of military aid. The Administration sought to get around this opposition by drafting the "nonlethal" formulation, and seeking to push it through Congress in the midst of a budget debate. Result: a defeat in the House by the squeaker difference of 215 to 213, with 14 Republicans voting against...
Congressional sentiment began shifting almost immediately. For one thing, many conservative Democrats had voted against the White House plan on the assumption that it would be supplanted by their own bill, which called for $10 million in aid for Nicaraguan refugees. They were appalled when their liberal colleagues joined Republicans in axing the Democratic measure, leaving the U.S. with no aid at all for the anti-Sandinistas. Then, within days of the vote, Nicaraguan President Daniel Ortega Saavedra made a highly publicized journey to Moscow in search of increased Soviet aid. Said Joseph McDade of Pennsylvania, a key architect...
...Beyond the individual talking points, moreover, the Administration succeeded in convincing some skeptics in Congress that the aid package was a genuine step toward a diplomatic settlement. As drafted by National Security Adviser Robert McFarlane, the plan involves working through a new, broadly based anti-Sandinista group, the United Nicaraguan Opposition. It includes ex-Sandinistas who turned against the government because of its repressive measures, as well as some former followers of deposed Nicaraguan Dictator Anastasio Somoza. Though the Sandinistas have so far refused to negotiate with the group, the Administration believes that UNO can eventually lay legitimate claim...
...Nicaraguan Foreign Minister Miguel d'Escoto denounced the House action as "a vote in favor of death, destruction and suffering." President Ortega announced that as a result of the vote, he was lifting a five-month-old voluntary moratorium on arms imports. That raised the possibility that Ortega would buy Soviet-built MiG jets, a move that Washington has previously warned might provoke a U.S. military response. Asked after his speech whether he had MiGs on his mind, Ortega replied cryptically that "Nicaragua is almost the only country in Central America that does not have the ability to defend itself...
Already Costa Rica has downgraded diplomatic relations with Nicaragua over recent border incidents. Two of its civil guardsmen were killed in an ambush that it blames on the Nicaraguan army; Managua denies responsibility. In addition, a 40-man Costa Rican patrol that went to retrieve one of the bodies was shelled from Nicaraguan territory, even though Nicaraguan Foreign Minister Miguel d'Escoto had been advised of the operation and had promised no interference...