From: rich@pencil.cs.missouri.edu (Rich Winkel)
Subject: NICARAGUA: POLICE OFFICIALS LIKELY VICTIMS OF US PRESSURE 
Followup-To: alt.activism.d
Originator: rich@pencil.cs.missouri.edu
Organization: PACH
Date: Thu, 13 Aug 1992 23:20:25 GMT

/** reg.nicaragua: 108.0 **/
** Topic: IPS: Police Officials Likely **
** Written 10:51 am  Aug  9, 1992 by hrcoord in cdp:reg.nicaragua **
From: Human Rights Coordinator <hrcoord>
Subject: IPS: Police Officials Likely

/* Written 12:13 am  Aug  9, 1992 by newsdesk in cdp:ips.englibrary */
Copyright Inter Press Service 1992, all rights reserved.  Permission to re-
print within 7 days of original date only with permission from 'newsdesk'.

Title: NICARAGUA: POLICE OFFICIALS LIKELY VICTIMS OF US PRESSURE

managua/bonn, aug 6 (ips) -- nicaragua's police chief, rene
vivas, and 12 other top police officers are likely to become
casualties of renewed u.s. pressure on the nicaraguan government
to dump officials linked to the sandinista national
liberation front (fsln).

their dismissal is ''a matter of hours or days'' police sources
told ips thursday, adding that minister for the presidency
antonio lacayo had informed vivas this week that washington was
conditioning the release of 104 million dollars in aid for 1992
on his removal.

without the funds an economic stabilization and reactivation
plan being conducted by the government of president violetta
chamorro would be severely affected. the delay in granting the
aid would also hamper nicaragua's compliance with objectives set
by the world bank and the international monetary fund.

u.s. secretary of state james baker demanded vivas' dismissal
as a condition for the aid when he met with nicaraguan president
violetta chamorro and lacayo in washington last month. lacayo
reportedly presented a plan for restructuring the 6,000-strong
police force at the meeting.

lacayo said wednesday that the restructuring of the police
would not cause any tension or clashes with the fsln and that the
opinions of both the front and the ruling national opposition
union (uno) would be taken into consideration.

since chamorro became president in 1990, washington has
continually pressed the nicaraguan government to get rid of top
police and army officials linked to the fsln.

vivas and other main u.s. targets were sandinista guerrilla
chiefs before and during the insurrection which toppled
u.s.-backed dictator anastacio somoza in 1979.

the u.s. policy on nicaragua contrasts with that of other
industrialized countries.

in june germany pledged loans totalling 17 million dollars to
the central american country. japan has promised 35 million
dollars and taiwan has also promised aid.

the world bank has approved a 68 million dollar loan,
according to official reports in managua.

european experts on latin america feel that, by conditioning
its aid on the removal of sandinistas from top posts, washington
is returning to a confrontational policy which is outmoded.

they say the ''tacit alliance between chamorro and the
sandinistas corresponds to the nicaraguan reality. (more)
----


the ruling uno, which defeated the fsln at the 1990 elections
was an ''extremely heterogenous'' coalition, comprising parties
united only in their opposition to the sandinistas ''but which
had no positive basis for unity and lacked a programme''
explained detlef nolte, head of germany's institute of
ibero-american studies (iei).

on the other hand, the fsln was a ''solidly structured (party)
with a significant political weight,'' backed by 40 percent of
the electorate, said nolte, who was an observer at the 1990
elections.

''with this correlation it was predictable that there would be
a regrouping of political forces, which is exactly what has
occurred, with the tacit coalition between the sandinistas and
the government,'' nolte pointed out.

nolte and another german specialist on latin america, heinrich
krumwiede, who also observed the nicaraguan elections, both feel
that the ''political premise for obtaining economic results is
not confrontation, but coalition.''

''this is what the governments and institutions which have
continued aid to nicaragua understand, in contrast with the
united states'' and ''that is why i consider the u.s. strategy of
again polarizing the situation is wrong: they have remained in
the confrontation schema prior to the 1990 elections,'' nolte
said.

the main man behind the withholding of u.s. aid to nicaragua
is conservative congressman jesse helms, the mover of motions to
this effect in the u.s. congress and a staunch anti-sandinista
campaigner.

helms ''is a man very to the right whom i consider ill
informed'' on the distribution of political forces in the central
american country,'' said krumwiede, a specialist on latin america
at the foundation for science and politics in ebenhausen,
germany.(end/ips/trd/fj/cb-ica/kb/92)
----


** End of text from cdp:reg.nicaragua **

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