After many bitter battles in the U.S. Congress, a bill to supply the rebel forces in Nicaragua with $100 million in aid was finally successful in the House of Representatives. Following the U.S. commitment to the Contras, Nicaragua exiled several critics of the government, closed the only semi-free newspaper, La Prensa, and wrung a negative judgment on the United States from the World Court. In addition, the pitch and volume of anti-U.S. rhetoric has soared, to both the Nicaraguan and the world audience. Sandinista spokesmen have made it clear that, in retaliation, they will accept aid from any government that wants to give it.
Why has Nicaragua become the focus of such heated attentions?
Strategically, Nicaragua is positioned between two oceans, and in the epicenter of the arc of land creating the Gulf of Mexico. It could hardly be a more perfect trigger for a domino-like toppling of democratic governments up and down the spine of Central America.
Any discussion of the future of Nicaragua must address certain key questions: What is the status of the present Nicaraguan regime? What chance, if any, do the Contras have of defeating the Sandinistas? Is the Contadora process relevant or workable? How true are the allegations of human rights violations against the Miskitos and other Nicaraguan indigenous groups? Finally, what do the people of Nicaragua want for themselves?
THE WORLD & I asked some of the leading experts on Nicaragua to address these issues. In the cause of freedom for all the world's peoples, it is important to study the
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