berman@ihopb.UUCP (Rational Chutzpah) (03/15/85)
A vote on releasing funds for military aid to the "contras" will be coming
up shortly in Congress. The contras are the ex-Somocista national guardsmen
who attack Nicaragua from bases in Honduras. While the Reagan Administration
calls them "freedom fighters," their acts of murder, torture, rape and other
brutalities against civilians in Nicaragua are well documented by neutral
human rights agencies, such as America's Watch and others.
The contras, despite massive funding by CIA covert aid and private right-wing
groups in the US, have been unable to win any support among the Nicaraguan
population, nor have they been able to control any territory.
The signs are that Congress will reject further funding, but the Reagan
administration is making a determined effort to continue it.
If you don't feel the United States should be at war with Nicaragua, urge
you congressperson to vote against aid to the contras.
Write: Honorable Your Representative
House Office building
Washington , DC
or Senator Your Senator
US Senate
Washington, Dc
The vote will be coming up in just a few weeks
Andy Berman ..ihnp4!ihlpg!berman
-- matthews@harvard.ARPA (Jim Matthews) (03/16/85)
> > A vote on releasing funds for military aid to the "contras" will be coming > up shortly in Congress. The contras are the ex-Somocista national guardsmen > who attack Nicaragua from bases in Honduras. Wishful thinking, I'm afraid. The issues in Nicaragua would be more clear-cut if this was the case, but in fact only a small minority of the contras have ties to the old national guard. Men like Eden Pastora fought the Samoza regime for decades, only to see his revolution co-opted by Marxists. And that's why they are fighting in the jungles. > The contras, despite massive funding by CIA covert aid and private right-wing > groups in the US,.... Again, this is a simplification. The aid to the contras (some $40 million last year, the Administration is now asking for $14 mill.) has been rather insignificant. Immeadiately after the Sandinista victory in 1979, Jimmy Carter sent the new regime $75 million in economic aid. In fact, Carter gave the Sandinistas more money in one day than we had given to Samoza in years, or that we have given the contras since. But I didn't hear you complaining of "massive" U.S. funding of a regime that has also been implicated in rather brutal violations of human rights. Jim Matthews matthews@harvard
mroddy@enmasse.UUCP (Mark Roddy) (03/17/85)
> > Wishful thinking, I'm afraid. The issues in Nicaragua would be more > clear-cut if this was the case, but in fact only a small minority of the > contras have ties to the old national guard. Men like Eden Pastora fought > the Samoza regime for decades, only to see his revolution co-opted by > Marxists. And that's why they are fighting in the jungles. > Actually Pastora was purged by the National Guard factions, he is no longer involved. His attempt to establish a legitimate alternative democratic movement was a failure. -- Mark Roddy Net working, Just reading the news. (harvard!talcott!panda!enmasse!mroddy)
myers@uwmacc.UUCP (Jeff Myers) (03/18/85)
> But I didn't > hear you complaining of "massive" U.S. funding of a regime that has also > been implicated in rather brutal violations of human rights. > > Jim Matthews > matthews@harvard > America's Watch has just issued a report on the human rights violations of the Nicaraguan govt and the contras. Paraphrased, the report states that violations on the part of the govt have decreased substantially, while the contras continue to be `brutal'. They are particularly fond of killing or kidnapping medical personnel. The Dean of the Medical College (UNAN) in Managua was recently abducted, and his whereabouts are still unknown. The worst violation of the Nicaraguan govt that I've seen documented was their forced relocation of Miskitos south from the border. The govt has admitted its grave errors in doing this the way they did. The National Assembly is currently working on legislation granting autonomy (in what form we know not) to the various non-Hispanic populations: Miskitos, Sumus, English speaking blacks. If the contras have so much support indigenous to Nicaragua, why are the people given arms? Aid to the contras is aid to the economic and cultural devastation of Nicaragua. We've seen the ``success'' of US Latin American policy in Chile, where economic sabotage was accomplished more indirectly between 1970 and 1973. -- Jeff Myers The views above may or may not University of Wisconsin-Madison reflect the views of any other Madison Academic Computing Center person or group at UW-Madison. ARPA: uwmacc!myers@wisc-rsch.ARPA UUCP: ..!{ucbvax,allegra,heurikon,ihnp4,seismo}!uwvax!uwmacc!myers
mjk@tty3b.UUCP (Mike Kelly) (03/18/85)
>From: matthews@harvard.ARPA (Jim Matthews) >... in fact only a small minority of the >contras have ties to the old national guard. Men like Eden Pastora fought >the Samoza regime for decades, only to see his revolution co-opted by >Marxists. And that's why they are fighting in the jungles. > The 'small minority' also tend to hold leadership positions, though. Besides, more important than where they come from is what they do. Independent human rights groups have documented hundreds of cases of rape, murder of civilians and attacks on non-military targets. In the argot of the Reagan Administration, that's called "state-sponsored terrorism". Except this time the state sponsoring it is us. These people are seeking to overthrow an elected government. You may not like that government. That is irrelevant; you are not Nicaraguan. There may be people in Nicaragua who don't like that government. They can oppose it through the electoral system, which they reject. If they seek to overthrow that government, then they are criminals and should be dealt with as such. If the U.S. conspires with them to overthrow that government, then we are in violation of the UN Charter and various other international laws. Mike Kelly
tonyw@ubvax.UUCP (Tony Wuersch) (03/18/85)
> > > > A vote on releasing funds for military aid to the "contras" will be coming > > up shortly in Congress. The contras are the ex-Somocista national guardsmen > > who attack Nicaragua from bases in Honduras. > > Wishful thinking, I'm afraid. The issues in Nicaragua would be more > clear-cut if this was the case, but in fact only a small minority of the > contras have ties to the old national guard. Just the leaders. And the contras won't accept Eden Pastora because he wants to kick out the national guardsmen from the leadership. (Only a small minority of Sandinistas are Marxist-Leninists, too. :-)) > > The contras, despite massive funding by CIA covert aid and private right-wing > > groups in the US,.... > > Again, this is a simplification. The aid to the contras (some $40 > million last year, the Administration is now asking for $14 mill.) has > been rather insignificant. Immediately after the Sandinista victory in > 1979, Jimmy Carter sent the new regime $75 million in economic aid. In fact, > Carter gave the Sandinistas more money in one day than we had given to > Samoza in years, or that we have given the contras since. That "aid" (I don't know how much) was in the form of a loan. It was not given away free. It was also given under exceptional circumstances -- Somoza had taken all of the money given him by the IMF and put it in Swiss banks. I also recall that it was not sent in one lump -- that one installment went out and the rest were withdrawn (but my memory is fuzzy on this). Should the US have said hooray to embezzlement instead? Are we going to ask the contras to pay our aid back with interest once they win their "revolution"? What a waste of good money. > Jim Matthews > matthews@harvard > Tony Wuersch
matthews@harvard.ARPA (Jim Matthews) (03/20/85)
> These people are seeking to overthrow an elected government. You may not > like that government. That is irrelevant; you are not Nicaraguan. There > may be people in Nicaragua who don't like that government. They can oppose > it through the electoral system, which they reject. If they seek to overthrow > that government, then they are criminals and should be dealt with as such. > If the U.S. conspires with them to overthrow that government, then we are in > violation of the UN Charter and various other international laws. > > Mike Kelly Sounds like what the Athenians said about Sparta. I'll bet you sleep easy at night, knowing that you wouldn't condone the violation of such important things as the UN Charter and "various other international laws." It's wonderful to live in a country that takes the law so seriously, so far as to be under the delusion that it even governs the actions of nations. You, surely, would have have invoked the Kellogg-Briand Pact to prevent our war on Germany in 1941 -- after all, they elected their government, and if the jews don't like it they can "oppose it through the electoral system." Which is not to say that Nicaragua is Nazi Germany, because that doesn't matter -- what does is your belief that nations are ruled by pieces of paper. We enjoy a blessedly liberal political system, but trying to apply it to international affairs is an invitation to lose it. Jim Matthews matthews@harvard