CENTRAL AMERICA  Exploding the myths |
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Fighting talk
Wars are fought with more than bullets and bodies. In Central America
a propaganda war
of words has raged over the last few years with the US
state Department carefully
cultivating a one-sided image of the region to
justify growing American involvement there.
Here we analyse the war
of words and look behind the rhetoric.
| POINT 1 |
Nicaragua. like Cuba, is a Soviet satellite intent on bringing
communism to all of Central America, Mexico and eventually the US itself. The Sandinista
government is the main arms supplier to the rebels in El Salvador.
COUNTER-POINT
Sandinista political philosophy is a mixture of free enterprise,
Christianity and socialism. About 60 per cent of the economy is still privately controlled
and state ownership is less than Mexico, Brazil or Argentina. The Nicaraguan
revolution’s first concern is solving the problems left by centuries of colonialism
and dictatorship, not exporting revolution. Despite repeated charges, the US has yet to
produce any firm evidence of Nicaraguan arms exports to El Salvador. Aid from the Eastern
bloc is increasing as Western assistance falls. Yet only 20 per cent of Nicaraguan aid
comes from the East and 40 per cent from the West. Having fought so hard and long against
the former dictatorship and US domination, Nicaraguans are not about to accept dependence
on another foreign master so readily.
| POINT 2 |
Nicaragua suppresses religious freedom and is a major violator of human
rights.
COUNTER-POINT
Religion (especially Roman Catholicism) is an integral part of the
Nicaraguan revolution. Three priests are ministers of state and more than 20 others hold
key administrative positions. True, some members of the church hierarchy, like Bishop
Obando y Bravo, publicly oppose the regime’s politics but not its policy on religious
freedom.
Independent human rights organisations like Americas Watch and Amnesty
International have complained about press censorship and the treatment of the
nation’s Miskito Indians, but agree the country has eliminated the systematic human
rights violations found in Guatemala, El Salvador and Honduras. Says Americas Watch:
‘There have been a few documented cases of torture but it is not a routine
practice’. Capital punishment was outlawed after the revolution; there are no summary
murders or disappearances of political opponents. There has also been a new emphasis put
on social and economic rights like food, housing, health care, education and jobs.
The Sandinistas have stifled political opposition. They rule without popular support
and refuse to hold elections.
| POINT 3 |
The Sandinistas have stifled political opposition. They rule without popular support
and refuse to hold elections.
COUNTER-POINT
There are 12 opposition parties in Nicaragua, although most outspoken political
opponents of the Sandinistas have gone into self-imposed exile. Elections are scheduled
for 1985. The government distinguishes between legitimate opposition and
counter-revolutionary opposition (contras) that seek, through armed invasion, to
return the country to a Somoza-style dictatorship. Support for the Sandinistas is not
universal. But there is almost no popular support for the US-supplied contras. That’s
why they are based in neighbouring Honduras and Costa Rica. The government is distributing
arms to the civilian population so the country can defend itself against invasion. Could a
government that lacked popular support arm its citizens?
| POINT 4 |
El Salvador is a democracy on the mend. The US presence is needed to
support a democratically-elected government being threatened by communist guerrillas and
by right-wing extremists.
COUNTER-POINT
El Salvador is a country in the midst of a full-scale civil war.
Despite widely-publicised elections in March, 1982, the country is in no sense a
democracy. No left-of-centre opposition parties took part for fear of being murdered.
Before the election the armed forces publicly stated that as subversives and terrorists
opposition politicians were legitimate targets of persecution. The normal rule of law is
non-existent. Political murder and torture of suspected opponents by government security
forces is routine. According to the Archdiocese of San Salvador there have been 36,000
political murders since 1979. The number of murders by government forces increased by
nearly 10 per cent in the first half of 1983. The Democratic Revolutionary Front (FDR)
opposition represents about 80 per cent of the population, according to ex-US Ambassador
to El Salvador Robert White. Guerrilla forces now directly control about 20 per cent of
the country.
| POINT 5 |
Honduras is a stable country with a democratic government that finds itself an
unwilling staging ground for anti-Sandinista forces. By giving military and economic aid
to Honduras we can help the country defend itself against Nicaraguan aggression.
COUNTER-POINT
Honduras is becoming the main US military base in Central America. 1982 elections made
Roberto Suazo Cordova a figurehead president. Army commander Gen. Alvarez leads the armed
forces and US Ambassador John Negroponte runs Washington’s covert war against
Nicaragua. According to Time magazine more than 6,000 CIA-directed mercenaries
operate out of Honduras backed by American arms, advisors and the Honduran military. The
US is currently building new airstrips and a radar installation along the Nicaraguan
border to support the contras. A new regional training centre has also been built
in Puerto Castilla to train Salvadoran government troops, staffed by more than 100 Green
Berets. Far from an innocent bystander, Honduras is spearheading a counter-revolution
against Nicaragua in obedience to American wishes.
| POINT 6 |
Like El Salvador, Guatemala is under attack by externally-financed Marxist guerrillas
attempting to use widespread social problems as a pretext for revolution and totalitarian
rule. There has been a genuine effort to improve the human rights situation in that
country and the government deserves more Western aid.
COUNTER-POINT
Guatemala has been universally condemned as the worst human rights
violator in the region. Former US State Department official Wayne Smith says the
government’s atrocities make the Sabra and Shatila massacre in Beirut pale by
comparison. According to the Americas Watch human rights group torture and murder
by government troops of Indian peasants amounts to ‘a policy of extermination’
by a government ‘engaged in a level of barbarism that shames human society’.
There are an estimated 1 million internal refugees and more than 100,000 refugees outside
the country. Guerrilla forces are estimated to number no more than 2000-3000. The country
has been ruled by a series of right-wing civilian presidents and military dictators since
1954. Those who challenge the status quo (two per cent of the population control nearly 80
per cent of the farmland) have been murdered or exiled. Despite continuing atrocities and
a recent coup, the Reagan administration has pledged increased military aid to Guatemala
- $50 million has been promised for 1984...
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