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From: djs@nbires.UUCP (Diana Spalding)
Newsgroups: net.politics
Subject: El Salvador, Nicaragua
Message-ID: <531@nbires.UUCP>
Date: Thu, 24-Oct-85 01:31:17 EST
Article-I.D.: nbires.531
Posted: Thu Oct 24 01:31:17 1985
Date-Received: Thu, 31-Oct-85 01:00:27 EST
Distribution: net
Organization: NBI,Inc, Boulder CO
Lines: 72



[ note to Tom Hill - sorry to answer this publicly but you didn't send a
  path to reach you, and mail to our vaxes often comes with the headers
  munged and therefore unusable for finding a path to the sender. ]


> Well Diana, you are wrong.  Duarte is a moderate but is unable to control
> the rightwing terrorist groups.  Nic. is no more united than dust on the
> wind.  If it were why would Ortega have to suspend all his people's rights?
> Can you answer me that?  Separating your emotions from the facts is
> difficult at times but I am sure you can do it if you try.  You might also
> read the newspaper and stay informed.  The net is a terrible place to
> get one's opinion.
> 
> Tom Hill

Well Mr. Hill, if Duarte is a moderate, then he is totally incapable of
controlling the actions of the military, and therefore is not very effective
in ending the violence against his people, now is he?

Nicaragua is no more united than dust on the wind???  That is quite untrue.
Most people in Nicaragua have never lived nearly as well as they are living
now.  They are a very proud and determined people, and are not going to give
in to a super power (either U.S. or Soviet) all the basic human rights they
have gained, because now that they see how good things can be, there's no
going back.  Of course there isn't total agreement amongst all Nicaraguan
people on all issues, far from it, but on one level the people really *are*
united.  In addition, the disagreements both inside and outside the
Sandinista government are discussed openly and appear in the newspapers as
well.  It's true that the newspapers are submitted to a committee, and
some things are censored, but come on, this country is at war with the
largest super power on earth.  If the Soviets invaded the U.S. would we
let them print whatever they wanted and distribute it freely?  Hell no,
we would seize their printing presses first and foremost (which incidently
the CIA just did to a radical group in Puerto Rico, and there's not even
a war going on there).  In addition, anything that is censored from La
Prensa (the right wing paper in Nicaragua) is posted on a bulletin board
by the road for anyone to come read if they so desire.

Please keep in mind that there is a *war* going on against the people of
Nicaragua, and things cannot be as wonderful as those who really care
about the lives of the people would want them to be.  Even so, most of
the people are living *much* better now than they did under Somoza.

I do read the papers Mr Hill.  I would suspect that that's the *only* place
you get *your* information from, and that you believe everything you read.
That would explain your attitude.  The truth is that the American press is
often full of twisted facts and out and out lies, and just omission of
important events and facts.  If you really want to know what's going on
you ought to at a very minimum read some European papers, which are more
objective, and talk to people in/from the areas that you profess to
know about.

Because you obviously don't know Mr. Hill.  Before you start saying things
like Nicaragua is not the least bit united, why don't you just take a trip
down there and see for yourself.  Walk around by yourself, talk to the
people, see how they really feel about the Sandinista government and
what's going on in their country.  I did this, Mr. Hill, and I discovered
an enormous amount of support for what the Sandinista government is doing
for the people.  But then maybe you'd rather stay in your cozy home and
sit back to listen to the state department line, and believe our country
is always doing right?

I would say it is you who needs to do the reading.

And I certainly don't get my opinions from the net!  If I did I'd be
wanting to nuke everybody at this point.  I'd be convinced that peace
was a communist plot!

Diana Spalding
{allegra, ucbvax, hao}!nbires!djs