Word: nicaraguan
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...benefits of "symmetry," the latest buzzword in Washington. By symmetry Administration policymakers mean doing to the Sandinistas what the Sandinistas are doing to the government of El Salvador, namely backing a group of insurgents aimed at its overthrow. Some U.S. officials are convinced of the need to harass the Nicaraguans in order to impress upon them the notion that they cannot export revolution with impunity. Symmetry could come to imply that the Sandinistas may have to negotiate a political accommodation with the contras along the lines of the negotiated power sharing that some leftists in El Salvador are seeking. Some...
...addition, the contras have been stepping up the frequency and ferocity of their raids in recent weeks. There is fear of more attacks as the counterrevolutionaries try to establish permanent bases on Nicaraguan soil. "That is a terrible prospect," says the Sandinistas' Ramirez. "Already this year we have had 500 military and civilian casualties in the fighting with the contras. In the U.S. the proportional loss would be about 50,000 people...
...tone in which Democrats in Congress accuse Reagan of dishonesty in his Central America policies has lately been rising. The latest of accusations charges that he is violating the Boland Amendment, a law banning use of U.S. funds to overthrow the Nicaraguan government. "There are certainly a number of ways to interdict arms," dryly observed a House Intelligence Committee report last Friday, "but developing a sizable military force and deploying it in Nicaragua is one which strains credibility as an operation only to interdict arms...
...indeed "strain credibility." Currently supporting nearly 7000 insurgents in Nicaragua at a cost of $30 million for 1983, and asking for more money for 1984, the Reagan Administration has all but announced that its adherence to the Boland Amendment is purely formality. While publicly denying any designs on the Nicaraguan government. Reagan, in a press conference two weeks ago, called the U.S.- backed insurgents "freedom fighters." Confessed one aide: "It was not a programmed response. That's what the man believes...
Ironically, our friends in Nicaragua have failed completely to accomplish their alleged aim of interdicting arms shipments. Noted the Committee report, "In 18 months, the committee has not seen any diminishment in arms flow to the Salvadoran guerrillas." Not that the insurgents have been idle. They have repeatedly battled Nicaraguan troops on and within the borders of Nicaragua, and have attacked, according to the report, "targets unrelated to arms interdiction...