Relay-Version: version B 2.10 5/3/83; site utzoo.UUCP Posting-Version: version B 2.10.1 6/24/83; site dartvax.UUCP Path: utzoo!watmath!clyde!floyd!harpo!decvax!dartvax!dire From: dire@dartvax.UUCP (John Macario) Newsgroups: net.politics Subject: Re: Nicaraguan Arms Smuggling Message-ID: <1152@dartvax.UUCP> Date: Sun, 8-Apr-84 15:06:52 EST Article-I.D.: dartvax.1152 Posted: Sun Apr 8 15:06:52 1984 Date-Received: Mon, 9-Apr-84 06:06:01 EST Distribution: net.all Organization: Dartmouth College Lines: 72 > Someone expressed disbelief that arms were being, or even possibly > could be, smuggled from Nicaragua to El Salvador. This person, > noting that there is not even a common border, suggested that > people should learn a little geography before believing things. > Well, I knew that Nicaragua and El Salvador were separated, > slightly, by Honduras, but it never hurts to learn a little > geography. Upon consulting my atlas, it appears that the closest > distance between the two countries is ~10 miles, which would > involve crossing a bay of water, and about 40 miles by land. > I don't understand how these distances are supposed to prevent arms > smuggling from Nicaragua to El Salvador, assuming that the > (alleged) smugglers are not so polite as to notify the govt. of > Honduras with a request for permission to cross its territory. My > understanding is that part of the reason for having military "exercises" > in Honduras was to interrupt the smuggling through there. My point was that the areas of contra attacks were not tens but hundreds of miles away from the Gulf of Fonseca. Reports from the border towns, both by workers for international relief agencies and personal contacts, indicate that the contra activity is limited to terrorizing the local population and disrupting their main source of income, the coffee and cotton harvest. This disruption is both direct (burning of fields) and subtle (forcing the most able bodied individuals to spend their time defending the border instead of harvesting). An interesting conversation took place recently between the US ambassador to Nicaragua, Anthony Quainton and Jim Wallis, a reporter for the Christian magazine "Sojourners". Quainton: We now know that massive amounts of arms are going from Nicaragua to El Salvador across the Gulf of Fonseca by dugout canoe. Wallis: Massive amounts? By canoe? Quainton: Well, substantial amounts. Wallis: Do you have any documentation? There must be evidence --- the US has a lot of sophisticated surveillance equipment there. Quainton: Well, no. We don't have photographs. The canoes are too small to be detected by our satellites. I can see it now, huge flotillas of dugout canoes transporting all of Samoza's old rocket launchers and M-16's across the gulf. Next thing you know the canoes will be traveling up the Gulf of California, then the arms can be transported across the US border near Mexicali to guerrillas in southern California. I can't understand why the US is so threatened by the Nicaraguans, a country whose main concern is feeding and defending its population. Personally I fell more threatened by the massive US military build up in Honduras...I for one have no intention of spending a couple of years in army fatigues in Tegucigalpa. -- John Macario UUCP: {decvax|linus|cornell}!dartvax!dire CSNET: dire@dartmouth ARPA: dire%dartmouth@csnet-relay US MAIL: 10 TERRACE VIEW Y7+Lebanon, NH 03766 PHONE:Y7+(603)-448-3095