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From: gadfly@ihu1m.UUCP (Gadfly)
Newsgroups: net.politics
Subject: Re: Strangling Nicaragua
Message-ID: <417@ihu1m.UUCP>
Date: Wed, 8-May-85 10:00:06 EDT
Article-I.D.: ihu1m.417
Posted: Wed May  8 10:00:06 1985
Date-Received: Thu, 9-May-85 03:00:12 EDT
References: <173@ttrdc.UUCP> <1423@bbncca.ARPA>
Organization: AT&T Bell Laboratories
Lines: 33

--
> The junta in Managua that calls itself Sandinist seized power by
> force, has purged democratic members or made them fall into line
> in an authoritarian regime, & is a militaristic dictatorship, many
> of whose key members have either received training in Communist bloc
> countries or were National Guards or flunkies under the previous
> (Somoza) dictatorship.
> 
> 					Ron Rizzo

Training in Communist countries is certainly believable, but
the notion that members of the Sandinista government might be
crypto-Somozans seems ludicrous on its face.  I'd love to see
some substantiation of this claim.  

By referring to the Sandinistas as authoritarian dictators, Ron,
you make it sound as if they rule with an oppressive, iron hand.
The impression I get from people who have been in Nicaragua is
that the regime has great popular support.  The best evidence
for this is that the people--*NOT* an elite police force, but
all the citizenry--is armed.  Unpopular tyrants can't allow that
sort of thing.

But even if they were tyrants, since when has the US cared about
democracy in Central America?  We've been responsible for some
of the most brutally oppressive regimes in the region.
-- 
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