Relay-Version: version B 2.10 5/3/83; site utzoo.UUCP Posting-Version: version B 2.10.2 9/18/84; site gatech.UUCP Path: utzoo!linus!decvax!decwrl!amd!gatech!hope From: hope@gatech.UUCP (Theodore Hope) Newsgroups: net.politics Subject: Nicaragua Message-ID: <10360@gatech.UUCP> Date: Mon, 1-Oct-84 12:49:55 EDT Article-I.D.: gatech.10360 Posted: Mon Oct 1 12:49:55 1984 Date-Received: Tue, 2-Oct-84 06:12:11 EDT Distribution: net Organization: School of ICS, Georgia Institute of Technology, Atlanta Lines: 32 >From: wall@ucbvax.ARPA (Steve Wall) >Subject: Re: nicaragua (long article, but *please* read) >One more point. I just noticed that the population of Nicaragua is >2,300,000. Estimates say that the Somacistas number between 10-15,000; >That leaves 2,280,000 people who either support the Sandinistas, or >feel that the Sandinistas are better than the Somacistas. Please don't >suggest to me that 2,280,000 support the government in fear of repression >if they criticize the government; I really can't swallow that. You mean you can't swallow the thousands of 'desaparecidos' in Argentina or the countless numbers of Russians who have been shipped off to Siberia for speaking out? The 2,280,000 people that 'support' the government, as you say, may not in reality do so. Yes, entire populations remain silent out of fear. Just look at the USSR: how many people over there get away with criticizing the government? The same is true for many countries in Latin America and other parts of the world. The situation is not polarized; we can't separate the Nicaraguans into those a) supporting the government and not supporting the guerrillas and b) supporting the guerrillas and not supporting the government. A large portion of the population remains silent and publicly unsupportive of the guerrilla movement for fear of government repression. -- Theodore Hope School of Information & Computer Science, Georgia Tech, Atlanta GA 30332 CSNet: Hope @ GATech ARPA: Hope%GATech.CSNet @ CSNet-Relay.ARPA uucp: ...!{akgua,allegra,hplabs,ihnp4,masscomp,ut-ngp}!gatech!hope ...!{rlgvax,sb1,uf-cgrl,unmvax,ut-sally}!gatech!hope