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The Quest for Peace and Democracy
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19320 |
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Section : |
CURRENT ISSUES
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6 / 1991 |
2,378 Words |
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Arturo J. Cruz
Arturo J. Cruz is a senior research associate of the Institute
of Inter-American Studies of the University of Miami. |
The Sandinista deputies in the Nicaraguan National Assembly, now as opposition, gratify the democratic world by voting to approve a stabilization program that the newly elected government of Violeta Chamorro must adopt, or it will fail miserably in the task of rescuing Nicaragua from its calamitous socioeconomic conditions. Since the success of the program enhances her prestige and diminishes the chance for a comeback of her Marxist adversaries in the 1996 elections, the Sandinistas deserve praise for what appears to be unselfish patriotism.
But, inside Nicaragua, other Sandinistas continue to agitate and subvert with the obvious purpose of hampering the implementation of hampering the implementation of the program. More revealing is Daniel Ortega's defiant reiteration of his intention of "ruling from below." Furthermore, he assails the economic adjustment measures undertaken by the Chamorro administration, labeling them "detrimental to the people."
This appears to be a contradiction, but actually it is consistent with the behavior of the Frente Sandinista de Liberacion Nacional (FSLN) shown from the early years of its pursuit of public power.
The same double standard is exhibited by the Frente Farabundo Marti de Liberacion Nacional (FMLN) in El Salvador. Abroad, there is widespread praise for the FMLN's sponsorship, worthy of statesmen, to abolish forever all military forces. However, inside El Salvador, the guerrillas don't seem to be willing to make a pause in their attacks against the army even while they continue peace negotiations in Mexico, not even for the sake of innocent civilians. And their lopsided conditions for demilitarization certainly do not help to build confidence in their sincerity.
Amidst this bleak outlook, there are two causes for hope. The overwhelming electoral victory of Violeta Chamorro in February 1990 increases the possibility of Nicaragua's democratization. The results of the elections of March 1991 in El Salvador open, for the first time, a political space, however small, for the guerrillas to exchange violence for civic action.
Two 'Revolutions'
Shortly after the Sandinistas seized power in the summer of 1979, one could hear in their rallies an oft repeated battle cry: "Si Nicaragua vencio, El Salvador vencera" (El Salvador is
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