myers@uwmacc.UUCP (Jeff Myers) (01/12/85)
> The Salvadorian[sic] government offered every opposition group including > the guerillas to participate in the elections. They didn't because they knew > they would loose big since the majority of the people support their > government. > They were offered equal time media coverage. Did the Sandinistas do > the same ??? As a matter of fact, they did. Also equal quantities of money. Don't you read the New York Times? The real difference was in organizational strength prior to and during the elections. The Sandinistas were able to get more people to rallies because of the size of their party. This also enabled them to heckle effectively, probably *too* effectively. The Contras were not allowed to participate, however. Since they are engaged in killing civilians (including private sector coffee growers who support the government), this was a reasonable policy, in my view. The Honduran based, US supplied Contras are engaged in a scorched earth mode of warfare waged from outside the country. How many opposition leaders in Nicaragua have been killed? How many in El Salvador? The current President of El Salvador was tortured a few years ago by a military that has not changed all that much from that time to the present. Someone earlier said that the Mexican TV that they watched ended up concluding that the Nicaraguan elections were invalid, but didn't explain why the TV station concluded this. Would this person please expand on his point? -- 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
ekrell@ucla-cs.UUCP (01/15/85)
In article <659@uwmacc.UUCP> myers@uwmacc.UUCP (Jeff Myers) writes: >> The Salvadorian[sic] government offered every opposition group including >> the guerillas to participate in the elections. They didn't because they knew >> they would loose big since the majority of the people support their >> government. >> They were offered equal time media coverage. Did the Sandinistas do >> the same ??? > >As a matter of fact, they did. Also equal quantities of money. Don't >you read the New York Times? The real difference was in organizational >strength prior to and during the elections. The Sandinistas were able >to get more people to rallies because of the size of their party. This >also enabled them to heckle effectively, probably *too* effectively. > >The Contras were not allowed to participate, however. Since they are >engaged in killing civilians (including private sector coffee growers >who support the government), this was a reasonable policy, in my view. >The Honduran based, US supplied Contras are engaged in a scorched earth >mode of warfare waged from outside the country. > >How many opposition leaders in Nicaragua have been killed? How many >in El Salvador? The current President of El Salvador was tortured a >few years ago by a military that has not changed all that much from >that time to the present. > >Someone earlier said that the Mexican TV that they watched ended up >concluding that the Nicaraguan elections were invalid, but didn't >explain why the TV station concluded this. Would this person please >expand on his point? > >-- >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 -- Eduardo Krell UCLA Computer Science Department ekrell@ucla-locus.arpa ..!{sdcrdcf,ihnp4,trwspp,ucbvax}!ucla-cs!ekrell
ekrell@ucla-cs.UUCP (01/15/85)
In article <659@uwmacc.UUCP> myers@uwmacc.UUCP (Jeff Myers) writes: > >Someone earlier said that the Mexican TV that they watched ended up >concluding that the Nicaraguan elections were invalid, but didn't >explain why the TV station concluded this. Would this person please >expand on his point? > They sent a press crew to cover the meetings and rallies prior to the elections (both pro and anti-government). Whenever an opposition party tried to held a public meeting they were disrupted by pro-sandinistas and couldn't go on with their meeting. In some occasions the pro-sandinistas, armed with wooden sticks and well organized, waited for the people who attended these meetings to come out and beat them without any provocation. I saw this several times on their news broadcast. Of course, this never happened in a pro-sandinista rally... -- Eduardo Krell UCLA Computer Science Department ekrell@ucla-locus.arpa ..!{sdcrdcf,ihnp4,trwspp,ucbvax}!ucla-cs!ekrell
orb@whuxl.UUCP (SEVENER) (01/22/85)
> They sent a press crew to cover the meetings and rallies prior to the > elections (both pro and anti-government). Whenever an opposition party > tried to held a public meeting they were disrupted by pro-sandinistas > and couldn't go on with their meeting. > In some occasions the pro-sandinistas, armed with wooden sticks and > well organized, waited for the people who attended these meetings to > come out and beat them without any provocation. I saw this several times > on their news broadcast. > Of course, this never happened in a pro-sandinista rally... > -- > Eduardo Krell UCLA Computer Science Department > ekrell@ucla-locus.arpa ..!{sdcrdcf,ihnp4,trwspp,ucbvax}!ucla-cs!ekrell Funny, that in our own United States when Reagan held a rally signs were taken away from all anti-Reagan protesters at the gate. Ostensibly this was because of "potential violence" caused by sticks some signs were on. However once inside the gates pro-Reagan signs were handed out to Reagan supporters! Of course, this was totally safe, whereas the anti-Reagan signs were not! Isn't it amazing how politics works sometimes?.......... tim sevener whuxl!orb
kel@ea.UUCP (01/22/85)
[] The way I heard it was that the contras were allowed to participate in the election, but were prohibited from using foreign sources of funding, and dropped out as a result of this restriction. Ken
myers@uwmacc.UUCP (Jeff Myers) (01/25/85)
> [] > > The way I heard it was that the contras were allowed > to participate in the election, but were prohibited > from using foreign sources of funding, and dropped > out as a result of this restriction. > > Ken That's more or less correct. The `contras' themselves were not allowed to participate, being at war with Nicaragua, but the parties that were more ideologically in line with the contras dropped out because external funding was not allowed and because US officials there encouraged them to do so. All parties were given an equal quantity of money with which to campaign, and equal public airtime on radio and television. In the paper just today it was reported that the Nicaraguan assembly has granted amnesty for all of the contras, including the leaders. Past offers of amnesty applied only to the rank-and-file, and 1500 or so accepted. These offers would have more force if we did not continue to support terrorism directed at Nicaragua, but the New York Times has reported recently that aid to the contras from El Salvador and Israel has increased due to the suspension of US Congressional funding for them. -- 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
mmt@dciem.UUCP (Martin Taylor) (01/27/85)
> In some occasions the pro-sandinistas, armed with wooden sticks and >well organized, waited for the people who attended these meetings to >come out and beat them without any provocation. I saw this several times >on their news broadcast. > Of course, this never happened in a pro-sandinista rally... >-- > Eduardo Krell UCLA Computer Science Department And it never happened in the US, UK .... in the 19th century (or later) either, did it? -- Martin Taylor {allegra,linus,ihnp4,floyd,ubc-vision}!utzoo!dciem!mmt {uw-beaver,qucis,watmath}!utcsrgv!dciem!mmt