Word: sandinistas
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Ever since the overthrow of Nicaraguan Dictator Anastasio Somoza Debayle in July 1979, the Sandinista revolutionary government that succeeded him has been careful to temper its radical rhetoric with some solid accomplishments. Its most admired effort, for example, has been an exhaustive teaching campaign that the government claims has reduced the country's illiteracy from 50% to only about 12%. Of late, however, there have been signs that the Sandinistas are not moving as swiftly toward full democracy as their Western friends might wish. Now, in their most disappointing move to date, the Sandinistas have confirmed that there will...
...decision, which became official a week later with a vote of the 47-member Council of State, underscored the differences and distrust that separate the government from the opposition political parties. Many of the Sandinista leaders, who enjoy the support of a majority of the Nicaraguan people, are openly scornful of the kind of rigged balloting that characterized the Somoza era. More important, the leadership remembers how the three main Sandinista factions did not join forces until the later days of the anti-Somoza struggle and is fearful that elections could destroy their new-found unity. On the other hand...
Fidel Castro, meanwhile, did not hesitate to show his own support. Within hours of the Sandinista victory, he began sending Cubans to work in Nicaragua as doctors, teachers, engineers and military advisers. Today they total more than 2,000. But Nicaragua does not seem to be turning into a docile Cuban appendage. Says William Baez, director of a private enterprise group: "The government wants to go to some kind of socialist situation, but they don't want another Cuba...
Often described as "gutsy" and "street smart" by fellow diplomats, onetime School Teacher Pez zullo is judged to be particularly effective in developing personal ties with Nicaragua's revolutionary Sandinista rulers at a time when nation-to-nation bonds are anything but happy. Relations between Washington and Managua were especially sticky during congressional stalling on the $75 million aid package. By the time it was approved, the Sandinistas were no longer grateful, to say the least. Pezzullo, who had fought hard for the aid's passage, managed to minimize the political damage...
Pezzullo also played a hand in another touchy episode. He delicately indicated U.S. support for the Sandinista proposal to replace two moderate junta members, who had resigned, with representatives of similar beliefs. Says one of Pezzullo's superiors in Washington: "Larry had to make it clear as day that we considered private-sector representation on the junta a crucial matter, but he had to do it with such a light touch that the Sandinistas could not protest that we were bullying our way into their internal affairs...