bitmap@ucbtopaz.CC.Berkeley.ARPA (04/10/84)
<....> [John Macario's comments are > and >>> ] >>a bay of water, and about 40 miles by land. >> I don't understand how these distances are supposed to prevent arms >> smuggling from Nicaragua to El Salvador, assuming that the >> (alleged) smugglers are not so polite as to notify the govt. of >> Honduras with a request for permission to cross its territory. My >> understanding is that part of the reason for having military "exercises" >> in Honduras was to interrupt the smuggling through there. > My point was that the areas of contra attacks were not tens but >hundreds of miles away from the Gulf of Fonseca. Your "point" was unclear, then. Here is (part of) what you said: >>>One final note....our government says we are funding the contra's to >>>interdict arms shipments going from Nicaragua to the Salvadoran rebels. >>>I find this strange in view of the fact that Nicaragua and El Salvador >>>share no common border ?!? Look at a map and read history and >>>above all LEARN about Central America before our governments starts >>>a war there.... As I understand it, your statement that the contras are fighting more towards the N.E. (and the south) is correct. However, my undertanding is also that supporting the contras is/was to put pressure on the Nicaraguan govt, inducing them to slow/stop the shipments, rather than turning the contras into customs agents for El Salvador. > I can see it now, huge flotillas of dugout canoes transporting >all of Samoza's old rocket launchers and M-16's across the gulf. >Next thing you know the canoes will be traveling up the Gulf of >California, then the arms can be transported across the US border >near Mexicali to guerrillas in southern California. Aside from the sarcastic statement about California, it does not seem, by any means, impossible or even improbable that arms are being smuggled from Nicaragua to El Salvador. (i) the water route: So how many rifles or grenade launchers will a canoe hold? 20 for a small canoe? 50 for a large canoe? Why just canoes: presumably there are boats in Nicaragua, powered by outboards, say (for a small boat). Suppose that 5 small canoes made 1 trip every 2 days or so. Are 100 M-16s not enough to equip all the new recruits made in 2 days, in addition to possible replacement of (?) worn-out rifles? (ii) the land route: You didn't comment on this, yet. 40 miles (or so) is not a very long distance to cross, even with (?) occasional hostile patrols. I really don't know, but I'd suspect that much of the smuggling would go by this route. (iii) air (?): In the U.S. it is (apparently) quite possible for planes to smuggle in drugs using small airstrips, even with radar surveillance (sp?). My understanding is that the guerrillas in El Salvador control certain sections of the country. Might it not be possible that they have a small air strip, or the capability of building a temporary one? How many rocket-launchers can a plane smuggle in? Sam Hall ucbvax!ucbtopaz!bitmap
wetcw@pyuxa.UUCP (T C Wheeler) (04/11/84)
{}
Just a small aside to Peat's(sp) remarks. Here is a longer list
of countries that do not recognize the World Court.
USSR
Libya
Isreal
Jordan
Syria
Vietnam
Cambodia
Iran
Iraq
Cuba
India
Pakistan
Argentina
China
and several others I can't even remember.
All of these countries have ignored the wisdom of the World Court
at one time or another. I happen to think that, in the case of the
US doing so, it is a wrong move.
T. C. Wheeler