Word: sandinistas
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...soldiers was flown into Honduras, for the start of months of elaborate military exercises with that country's armed forces. The maneuvers, nominally for training purposes, have a more important strategic intent as well: Reagan wants to intimidate the leftist insurgents in El Salvador and, even more, the Sandinista government of Nicaragua that supports them...
Policy made in such an ad hoc manner has left important questions unanswered. Is the U.S. in fact committed to overturning Nicaragua's Sandinista government, or only to harassing it enough to keep it from fomenting Marxist revolution throughout Central America? Reagan and his advisers have made statements that can be interpreted either way. How serious is the Administration about promoting negotiations for a regional agreement that would ban all foreign military advisers and cross-border arms shipments in Central America? Reagan last week had Special Envoy Richard Stone hand-carry a letter to the Presidents of the so-called...
Newer and lesser-known names are rising to prominence. One is Fred Iklé, 58, Under Secretary of Defense for Policy, a scholarly, low-voiced, pinstripe hawk who favors putting maximum pressure on the Sandinista regime. He has the ear of Weinberger, who according to Pentagon colleagues has been too preoccupied with budget matters and congressional relations to devote much personal attention to Central America. The Secretary is believed to allow Iklé and Deputy Assistant Secretary Nestor Sanchez to shape the Pentagon position that Weinberger presents at interagency meetings...
...that buildup was, and still is, in dispute. Some CIA experts thought the actions were aimed primarily at strengthening Nicaragua internally. But the Defense Department was concerned that it might be the prelude to a Nicaraguan strike at Honduras or Costa Rica, another neighboring country from which anti-Sandinista exiles have been conducting guerrilla operations against Nicaragua. The same fear had been expressed by Honduran officials, who were concerned that by letting the main group of contras set up bases and train in their country with U.S. arms, they might be exposing themselves to Nicaraguan invasion. The Sandinistas, for their...
...about the same time, the Sandinista leadership was softening its own stance in hopes of an accommodation with the U.S. To a crowd of 75,000 celebrating the fourth anniversary of the overthrow of Dictator Anastasio Somoza Debayle, Nicaraguan Leader Daniel Ortega Saavedra announced that his government "had decided to make a new effort to contribute to peace" and was willing to join in the multilateral regional discussions that the U.S. has sought. Ortega proposed a six-point peace plan that would prohibit arms sales to both the government and the rebels in El Salvador, as well as military...