Word: sandinistas
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After months of lying low, Nicaragua's contra rebels are on the attack once more. Last week, in action more vigorous than any seen in a year, the guerrillas staged a quick series of assaults that were bound to alarm the country's Sandinista rulers. Outside the village of La Palmita, 80 miles north of Managua, the capital, the rebels ambushed a military convoy, killing 29 government soldiers. Over the next two days, on the outskirts of the northwestern city of Esteli (pop. 75,000), they damaged two bridges on Nicaragua's main artery, part of the north-south...
...first time in their four-year campaign, the contras claim that they are strong enough to pose a credible threat to the Sandinista government. Their numbers continue to swell, with support coming in particular from poor Nicaraguan campesinos. The Nicaraguan army has attempted to keep the Nicaraguan Democratic Force (FDN), the main contra group, bottled up along the 550-mile border with Honduras. But the rebels claim that since late June they have infiltrated 14,000 guerrillas, operating under 13 regional commands, into Nicaragua, and that 53,000 more are awaiting training and outfitting on the country's borders. Moving...
...might, the Reagan Administration cannot seem to avoid controversy in its espousal of the Nicaraguan rebels who are seeking to overthrow their country's Sandinista government. Last week the White House was stuck with two new varieties of contra fuss. In the first case, a group of American citizens was kidnaped by the rebels. In the second, the White House had to come to grips with revelations that it has sailed close to the edges of a congressional ban on direct military aid to the insurgents. The Administration's controversial move was assigning a member of the National Security Council...
...announcement seemed partly directed at Nicaragua, which U.S. officials charge with supporting the leftist guerrillas thought to be responsible for the attack. Washington last week also issued a warning directly to the regime in Nicaragua, which was celebrating the sixth anniversary of its Sandinista revolution, saying that it would be held responsible for future attacks against Americans in the region. The State Department did not say why the first offer of a reward came in response to the Salvadoran shooting rather than to the hijacking of the TWA passenger jet to Beirut last month, after which a reward was discussed...
Armed with what was considered "hard evidence" against Nicaragua's Sandinista government, Administration hard-liners pressed for a retaliatory air strike after the café killings. President Reagan, however, declined for fear of killing civilians and alarming U.S. allies in Latin America. According to one well-placed U.S. official, the bombing option "never got that close." Instead, the Administration "put Nicaragua on notice" that it would be held responsible for any future attacks on Americans in Honduras or El Salvador. HEALTH Patients Clog the Hotlines...