Word: ortega
(lookup in dictionary)
(lookup stats)
Dates: all
Sort By: most recent first
(reverse)
Reagan knows that sending his own troops to Nicaragua would be politically impossible so instead he buys rebels, mainly people who were deposed by the Sandinista revolution or in disfavor with Nicaraguan President Daniel Ortega. Like the condottieri of renaissance Italy, these Contras live very well off of American money. (The House voted to give the contras $30 million in economic aid when these rebels don't even have a bureacracy to distribute it. It's likely that a lot of this money will end up in hands of Miami merchants.) The United States, by hiring these mercenaries, fits very...
...democratic "freedom fighters." That conservatives continue to do this is not only mystifying, but frustrating as well. This is exactly the same self-deception that prompted many American leftists to believe the Sandinistas' claim of being a democratic, peaceful source of social good, and to give the Leninist Daniel Ortega repeated standing ovations during his 1984 Harvard appearance...
...wills between Nicaragua's left-wing government, which besides d'Escoto includes two other Catholic priests of Cabinet rank,* and the country's mainline church, in which 85% of Nicaraguan citizens profess membership. In proclaiming a state of emergency that suspended most civil rights last October, President Daniel Ortega Saavedra cited as its principal cause the security threat posed by the U.S.-supported contra forces poised on Nicaragua's borders. But many Nicaraguans believe that the directive was largely aimed at curbing the power of the church. Obando labeled the decree a "step toward totalitarianism...
...Lacayo, the army Chief of Staff, told reporters, "In the last several weeks we have mobilized many thousands of men to the border. But it is absolutely false that Nicaraguan troops have violated Honduran territory." But the Sandinistas undercut their own denials later. At a press conference on Friday, Ortega sought to justify but not deny the raid. "Honduras lost control of its sovereignty by having the mercenary forces there," he said, referring to the contras. "The border area is converted into a war zone. We have a legitimate right to defend our country." That statement made clear that Nicaragua...
Reagan's intent is unambiguous: to stop Gaddafi from fomenting terrorism and to stop Nicaraguan President Daniel Ortega Saavedra from spreading Marxist revolution. Indeed, Reagan would not mind going one step further and getting both men right off the world stage. But eliminating such nemeses is not so easy. For all his make-my-day bluster, Reagan is no less bound than were his immediate predecessors by rules of military engagement that, while rooted in the best democratic traditions, have been carried to unreal extremes: American boys should not be seen dying on the nightly news. Wars should be over...