Word: sandinistas
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WASHINGTON--President Reagan declared today the United States must give Nicaragua's Contra rebels "what they need to survive" and said prospects for peace in Centra America depend on keeping pressure on the leftist Sandinista government...
...basic idea behind financing the contras was to force major concessions from the Sandinista regime, and perhaps to overthrow it entirely. After much maneuvering in Washington, Reagan in August announced his peace plan, which called for an immediate cease-fire and required the Sandinistas to give up all Cuban and Soviet-bloc aid, open negotiations with the contras, release all political prisoners, restore civil liberties and hold elections soon. Reagan was pleased to regard this as a bipartisan plan because it had won the co- sponsorship of Democratic House Speaker Jim Wright...
...three mining towns in northeastern Nicaragua. In the hamlet of Siuna, the invaders routed 750 defenders, blew up an airfield and seized enough Soviet-made weapons to supply 1,000 troops. Their biggest coup was the destruction of a Soviet GCI radar unit that formed the heart of Sandinista air defenses for the region. Jubilant rebel leaders called the two- day assault the most successful offensive of the six-year civil war. "We hit them hard," claimed Enrique Bermudez, the contras' military commander. "We achieved all our objectives...
...that the contras were far from finished as a fighting force. Unconfirmed reports monitored in Washington said the guerrillas destroyed a fuel storage facility and two electrical stations in the town of Bonanza. In nearby Rosita they overran a brigade headquarters and an airfield and cut two bridges before Sandinista reinforcements arrived aboard three Soviet Mi-17 helicopters to stop them from taking the town. Overall, the contras claimed to have seized more than 50 tons of food and weapons and killed more than 100 Sandinista troops. Managua contended that a similar number of insurgents died in the fighting...
...Reagan Administration was delighted with the attack. "It is in fact the largest single operation that the resistance has carried out," noted a State Department military analyst. He declared the drive a strategic success because it targeted Sandinista staging areas and income-producing gold mines. State Department Spokeswoman Phyllis Oakley credited "military pressure" with bringing the Sandinistas to the bargaining table...