Word: ortega
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...scorn was clear in Ronald Reagan's voice. "The little dictator who went to Moscow in his green fatigues to receive a bear hug," he said of Nicaraguan President Daniel Ortega Saavedra, "did not forsake the doctrine of Lenin when he returned to the West and appeared in a two-piece suit. He made his choice long ago." The President was speaking last week at a fund raiser in Oklahoma City, but his real audience was members of Congress who were once again considering the resumption of aid to the contra rebels struggling against Ortega's Sandinista regime...
...could be provided. Nor could the money be used to fund activities that violate international law or the charter of the Organization of American States, which prohibits "coercion" of countries, unless specifically authorized by U.S. law. The House seems less willing to go along, but some Democrats, embarrassed by Ortega's visit to Moscow in April, may be ready to accept a compromise. This week the House will vote on a $27 million package of humanitarian aid, but the proposal would bar the CIA or Pentagon from distributing the funds. The proposal is being opposed by the top Democratic leadership...
...take the urban centers and several thousand lives would be lost on both sides, Barnes was told. "But then the Sandinistas would control the countryside," he says. From there they could wage a guerrilla war that would require a prolonged military occupation and counterinsurgency campaign. Nicaraguan Defense Minister Humberto Ortega Saavedra was quoted as saying, "This is not going to be like fighting on the plains of Europe in the Second World War." A Rand Corp. study estimates such an operation could require at least 100,000 combat troops...
...Nicaragua, Ortega seized on the increased speculation about invasion plans as proof that his repeated warnings of U.S. intervention were not "something we invented, but rather something that is being discussed and prepared by American strategists." Meanwhile, the Sandinista army continued to press its attacks on contra bases along Nicaragua's borders in some of the most intense fighting of the more than three-year conflict. Government troops drove the rebels from all of their camps along the San Juan River, which forms part of the country's southern border with Costa Rica. Sandinista bombers then pounded guerrilla communications installations...
...past, Sandinista forces usually avoided crossing borders when chasing the rebels, who have been operating from base camps in both Honduras and Costa Rica. But now they seem to have little concern for such formalities. "We are going to keep on destroying the contras," Ortega told workers during a visit to a textile factory Tuesday night, "even though we know that the U.S. will try to take advantage of these confrontations to create greater tensions between us and Honduras and Costa Rica." By crossing the borders in "hot pursuit" of the contras, Nicaraguan soldiers could create a pretext for greater...