Word: prensa
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Although in general The Jaguar Smile ignores the plight of the Nicaraguan middle class, Rushdie does make one anomalous attempt to critically evaluate the closing of La Prensa, Nicaragua's main opposition newspaper. While he does not support this move, Rushdie asserts that the government should not be condemned for it. If we look at the broader picture of the country's civil liberties, he argues, the Sandinistas come off looking not nearly so bad as it is portrayed by the Reagan Administration...
This is a valid, if trite, argument. But again, Rushdie cannot leave well-enough alone. Speaking with Violetta Chamorro, matriarch of the La Prensa "family," he stops believing her the moment he notices that she is wearing jewelry. She is rich and therefore cannot be trusted. His objectivity, as much as hers, is brought into question by such prejudgement. Rushdie claims he went to Nicaragua looking for answers. But he seems to have known all along what he wanted to find...
While the former contra head admitted that the first issue of the formerly banned "La Prensa" was highly critical of the government, he said that the Sandinistas were not sincere in "restoring civil rights...
...Reagan Administration's $100 million aid package for the contra forces in Nicaragua dug in and fought. They offered impassioned rhetoric and put forward more than a dozen amendments on matters ranging from the use of U.S. military trainers to funding for Nicaragua's closed opposition newspaper La Prensa. Nearly all of them were defeated. Finally, after two stormy days of debate, the Senate last week voted by the expected margin of 53 to 47 to enact the package. The measure provides $70 million in military help and $30 million in "humanitarian" aid for the contras, plus $300 million...
...catalogs dozens of Nicaraguan violations, including torture, denial of due process to thousands of political detainees, and refusal to allow labor unions to strike or engage in collective bargaining. "The recent actions of the government to expel two Roman Catholic priests and the closing down of the newspaper La Prensa are not new," concedes Nina Shea, a lawyer who wrote the report. "They are part of a pattern of repression against dissidents that has been going on for many years." And given the jangled nerves of the Nicaraguan leaders, the repression seems likely to grow even worse...