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From: rupp@cod.UUCP (William L. Rupp)
Newsgroups: talk.politics.misc
Subject: Re: Technical Travel to Nicaragua, Update #4
Message-ID: <143@cod.UUCP>
Date: Tue, 23-Sep-86 20:27:53 EDT
Article-I.D.: cod.143
Posted: Tue Sep 23 20:27:53 1986
Date-Received: Mon, 29-Sep-86 01:43:51 EDT
References: <1315@jade.BERKELEY.EDU>
Organization: Naval Ocean Systems Center, San Diego
Lines: 36
Summary: Why just Nicaragua?

In article <1315@jade.BERKELEY.EDU>, michael@iris.berkeley.edu (Tom Slone [(415)486-5954]) writes:
> 
> tecNICA is an organization which provides technical expertise to the country of
> Nicaragua.  Typically, a volunteer will pay her/his own airfare to Nicaragua,
> work for 2 weeks at a host agency in Managua and be given room and board by the

This is not a diatribe (I trust), but a genuine question which
for some dumb reason just ocurred to me today, although I have
read many postings re: tecNICA, both pro and con.  The question
is this:

	Why just Nicaragua?

There are many countries, both in Central America and elsewhere, which
could use the kind of help tecNICA purports to offer.  Why, then, did
this organization choose the one Latin American country (other than
Cuba, of course) which, by any fair standard, leans toward the
Marxist-Leninist world view?  This organiziation has every right to
carry on their work, and individual citizens have every right to
participate.

On the other hand, limiting the group's activities to Nicaragua leaves
tecNICA wide open to criticism which could have been avoided by
including El Salvador, Guatemala, and Costa Rica.  A truly non-partisan
and non-biased group should be able to get along with authoritarian 
regimes of both left and right.  After all, tecNICA is offering valuable
help, right?  If there is some reason why tecNICA can cooperate with
the Sandinistas and not with the other Central American countries, 
perhaps someone from that group could explain that reason.

This is not a challenge; I really am curious about this question. 

------------
This has been a totally personal opinion of my own which
has nothing to do with Computer Sciences Corp. or any other group.
(Is that okay, Gary?)