Relay-Version: version B 2.10 5/3/83; site utzoo.UUCP Posting-Version: version B 2.10.2 9/18/84; site cornell.UUCP Path: utzoo!linus!decvax!bellcore!petrus!sabre!zeta!epsilon!gamma!ulysses!mhuxr!mhuxt!houxm!vax135!cornell!gil From: gil@cornell.UUCP (Gil Neiger) Newsgroups: net.politics Subject: Re: Living Conditions in Nicaragua Message-ID: <314@cornell.UUCP> Date: Fri, 1-Nov-85 09:39:15 EST Article-I.D.: cornell.314 Posted: Fri Nov 1 09:39:15 1985 Date-Received: Sun, 3-Nov-85 13:39:24 EST References: <531@nbires.UUCP> <433@cylixd.UUCP> Reply-To: gil@cornell.UUCP (Gil Neiger) Distribution: net Organization: Cornell Univ. CS Dept. Lines: 29 Summary: Diana Spalding writes: Most people in Nicaragua have never lived nearly as well as they are living now. . . . . most of the people are living *much* better now than they did under Somoza. This may have been true a year or so ago. The actions of the Sandinistas in the areas of land reform and economic policy greatly increased the economic well-being of the average person. Unfortunately, the state of the war in Nicaragua has caused most of these gains to be lost. The resumption of U.S. aid to the contras has caused the level of the war to be stepped up to the point where the Nicaraguan government now has to put some 60% of its budget into defense. Consequently, most of the economic gains that the people of Nicaragua made under the first five years of the Sandinista revolution have slowly been lost. This is not the fault of the Sandinistas. No serious inquiry into the causes of the economic erosion in Nicaragua blames the Sandinistas economic or social policies. The economic upheaval is clearly the result of the sustained military and economic policies of the U.S. government. -- Gil Neiger Computer Science Department Cornell University Ithaca NY 14853 {uw-beaver,ihnp4,decvax,vax135}!cornell!gil (UUCP) gil@Cornell.ARPA (ARPAnet) ; gil@CRNLCS (BITNET)