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Is Central America Salvageable?
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13316 |
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Section : |
MODERN THOUGHT
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| Issue
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10 / 1987 |
4,402 Words |
| Author
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Daniel James
Daniel James has written extensively on Cuba. He is the author
of Cuba: First Soviet Satellite in the Americas and Che
Guevara: a Bibliography, and editor-translator of The Complete
Bolivian Diaries of Che Guevara and Other Captured Documents. |
One of Ronald Reagan's worst fears was realized on August 7, when the five Central American presidents signed a "peace plan" that virtually guarantees continued Sandinista control of Nicaragua. Thus was Nicaragua, which throughout nearly seven years in office Reagan pledged repeatedly he would not "lose on his watch," lost.
Worse yet for the future, the United States also lost almost entirely its influence over Central America's four democratic governments, who signed the pact in preference tone offered by the administration and congressional leaders only two days before. They acted out of desperation, unsure of U.S. policy; but in so doing they left themselves easy prey to Sandinista subversion and perhaps even aggression in the years ahead. The consequences may well be that, as Reagan warned in a March 16, 1986 address to the nation, the Soviets and Cubans will become "the dominant power in the crucial corridor between North and South America." That will put them in a position, he added, to "threaten the Panama Canal, interdict our vital Caribbean Sea lanes, and, ultimately, move against Mexico."
A scary enough scenario. Yet there is an even scarier one: "The safety of our homeland would be put at jeopardy," the president concluded, should the situation evolve along the lines he depicted. But if his words showed great concern, his deeds scarcely lived up to their significance. On the contrary, they have proven utterly self-defeating at every step of the way, beginning with the "peace plan" he concocted with House Speaker Jim Wright on August 5, as the Central American presidents were about to meet in Guatemala to work on their own plan. In the sea of confusion that their and other "plans" and "negotiations" are bringing about, the Sandinistas will prove more skillful at politico-military navigation than their democratic neighbors and, certainly, the United States. Sooner or later, the region's democrats will grow weary and disheartened, and leave the field to the disciplined and dedicated Marxist-Leninists.
Amateurs Run Our Central American Policy
The pity of it all is that the Reagan administration, while displaying keener interest in Central America and devoting greater resources to it than other recent administrations, has consistently demonstrated a curious ineptitude and myopia in dealing with the Nicaraguans--Contras and Sandinistas alike--and Central Americans in general. Policy has been conducted by officials who lack genuine affinity for the people as well as real understanding of the area's problems. Our top
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