CORNWELL@IUBACS.BITNET (Dor-E-N-E Cornwell) (02/28/90)
Hmmm yes, The Monroe doctrine is proving to be FAR more durable than the "Brezhnev doctrine." However, I think it's important to keep inperspective what Nicaragua voted FOR, PEACE with the US--which they have been calling for repeatedly for years-- and the SECOND democratically elected government in their history. Heavens just think how much mayhem could have been prevented in 1984 if the opposition hadn't declared the election fraudulent BEFORE the votes: Only problem is that then the "democratic resistance" would have lost big time and the war machine would have had less excuse to beat up on tiny third-world nations. I'm betting the "united" opposition is going to have a HECK of a time holding together, but at this point if I were daniel Ortega, I'd step down tomorrow and tell Chamorro and her gringo financiers "there, it's all yours. You broke it now YOU fix it." You'll notice that Uncle Sam is still hedging about whether they have ANY money to back up REAL PEACE. In any case this "democratic transition" is a TREMENDOUS opportunity: --There is NO LONGER any reason to give ANY aid to the Contras. --Uncle Sam has NO EXCUSE any longer to ignore horrendous human rights violations by the government of El Salvador and NO EXCUSE for not participating in negotiations with the opposition there. --Any government that DARES to comment about possible Sandinista efforts to maintain hold on parts of the government is guilty of FLAGRANT double-standards for "not noticing" similar problems in the "democratic" governments of Chile and Guatemala! --ANY new government in nicaragua MUST be held to the SAME human rights standards the right wing applied SELECTIVELY to NICARAGUA As some Republican congresswoman said, it wasn't Ollie north. It wasn't the Contras, it took a WOMAN. I for one hope that Nicaragua comes out better than Cory Aquino and the Phillipines! DC