From: Luis.Forestier@f21.n367.z1.FIDONET.ORG (Luis Forestier)
Newsgroups: soc.culture.latin-america
Subject: Nicaragua Myths
Date: Mon, 24 Aug 92 20:23:00 EDT
Organization: FidoNet node 1:367/21 - Moon Rise, Bayamon PR

Pezzullo's next task was to "moderate the FSLN." The Carter doves
proposed economic aid as "the main source of U.S. influence"
(Pastor).  The U.S. business community supported this plan,
particularly U.S. banks, which, as noted in the London _Financial
Times_, were pressuring Carter to provide funds to Nicaragua so
that their loans to Somoza would be repaid (courtesy of the U.S.
taxpayer, as in the Savings & Loan scam of the Reagan years).
The banks were particularly concerned that if Nicaragua, reduced
to utter ruin and bankruptcy by the U.S.-backed Somoza regime,
were to default on the Somoza debt, it would serve as a "bad
example" for other U.S. clients.  It was also recognized that aid
directed to anti-Sandinista elements in the ruling coalition was
the last remaining device to block the FSLN and its programs.
{note: Pastor, _op. cit._, 157, 208-9; Susanne Jonas, in Stanford
Central America Action Network, _Revolution in Central America_
(Westview, 1983), 90f.} After Nicaragua reached a settlement with
the banks, $75 million in aid was offered, about 60% for the
private business sector, with $5 million a grant for private
organizations and $70 million a loan (partly credits to buy U.S.
goods, another taxpayer subsidy to corporations).  One of the
conditions was that no funds be used for projects with Cuban
personnel, a way of ensuring that nothing would go to schools,
the literacy campaign, health programs, or other reform measures
for which Nicaragua was likely to turn to those with experience
in such projects and willingness to serve.  Nicaragua had no
choice but to agree, since, as the _Wall Street Journal_ noted,
without this "signal of U.S. confidence in the stability of the
country" there would be no bank loans, which were desperately
needed.  Nicaragua's request for U.S. military aid and training
was rejected, and efforts to obtain such aid from the West were
blocked by U.S.  pressure, compelling reliance on East bloc aid
as the external threat mounted. {note: _Ibid._; Theodore Schwab
and Harold Sims, in Thomas Walker, ed., _Nicaragua: the First
Five Years_ (Westview, 1988), 461.}

As these events pass through the U.S. doctrinal system, they
undergo a subtle alchemy and emerge in a different form: The
Sandinistas "enjoyed American encouragement at first; having
helped get rid of Somoza, the Carter administration also gave
them $75 million in aid.  But when the Sandinistas brought in
Cuban and East German military advisers to help build their Army
into the region's largest fighting force, conflict with
Washington was sure to follow..." (_Newsweek_). {note: Charles
Lane, _Newsweek_, March 12, 1990.}

Nicaragua also attempted to maintain its trade links with the
U.S. and the West, and succeeded in doing so through the
mid-1980s despite U.S. efforts.  But Washington naturally
preferred that they rely on the East bloc, to ensure maximal
inefficiency and to justify the attack on these "Soviet clients."
The U.S. also blocked aid from international development
organizations, and, after failing to displace the FSLN, sought to
destroy private business in Nicaragua to increase domestic
discontent and undermine the mixed economy (a major and predicted
effect of the Reagan embargo, and the reason why it was bitterly
opposed by the Nicaraguan opposition that the U.S. claimed to
support). {note: Walker, _Nicaragua: The Land of Sandino_
(Westview, 1986), 67f.; Michael Conroy, in Walker, ed., _op.
cit._; _La Prensa_ (Managua), April 20, 1988, and Stephen Kinzer,
"Anti-Sandinistas Say U.S. Should End Embargo," _NYT_, Jan. 12,
1989.}
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