jefff@cadovax.UUCP (Jeffery H. Fields) (05/01/85)
Wednesday, May 1rst, the Reagan Aministration announced a trade
embargo against Nicaragua. All imports and exports between the US and
Nicaragua will cease until three demands are met by the Sandinista
government:
1) Constructive dialogue between the Sandinistas and the
opposition takes place. This includes the fighting rebel factions as
well as the merely political opposition.
2) Nicaragua reduces its own supplies of arms by twenty percent.
3) Nicaragua stops supplying arms to revolutionary movements in
neighboring countries.
Reagan and his supporters fail to see the absurdity of these
demands. The Contadora nations have already proposed a balanced
dialogue between the disputing factions in Nicaragua. Reagan's demand
for a dialogue could easily be fulfilled through the Contadora plan,
which Reagan initially endorsed, but now that Nicaragua sanctions the
plan, he rejects it. How can Reagan expect the Sandinistas to heed
his demand for a dialogue when they have already shown a willingness
to go to the negotiating table and have been rebuffed?
The US or any other country has no right to demand that a country
limit the supply of arms in that country's possession. It is
especially absurd to expect a nation to disarm in the face of violent
opposition that has been supported by the same country demanding
reduction in arms.
The Reagan Administration has not provided proof to the US or the
world as a whole, that the Sandinistas are fomenting revolution in El
Salvador. There has been no public display of evidence that Nicaragua
is actively supplying military aid to the El Salvadoran guerillas.
All of this is in light of the fact that the Sandinistas have
reduced the trade flow to the US from 50% of Nicaragua's GNP to 17%.
The effect of an embargo now will cause some austerity measures in
Nicaragua for a few months, but in this period, the Sandinistas will
be able to shift the exports lost to the US to European nations and
the USSR. The overall effect of the embargo will not impact the
Niacaraguan economy but will further polarize the western hemisphere
and widen the gap diplomatically between the US and Sandinista
governments at a time when this gap desperately needs to be filled.
I predict that the embargo will fail miserably in its intended
purpose. After it fails, Reagan will be presented with an ever
deepening animosity between the nations of Nicaragua and the United
States. It would appear that the US is one more step down the road to
military intervention in Nicaragua. Personally, I do not wish to see
another black monolith in Washington DC commemorating US soldiers who
have died in a foreign land defending the perceived messianic role of
the United States of America.
--
Jeff Fields
{ucbvax,ihnp4,decvax}!trwrb!cadovax!jefff
Pax vobiscum.