THE STRUGGLE OVER NICARAGUA

• Document Type: CREST
• Collection: General CIA Records
• Document Number (FOIA) /ESDN (CREST): CIA-RDP90-00552R000100670001-8
• Release Decision: RIPPUB
• Original Classification: K
• Document Page Count: 3
• Document Creation Date: December 22, 2016
• Document Release Date: June 18, 2010
• Sequence Number: 1
• Publication Date: August 7, 1983
• Content Type: OPEN SOURCE

STAT
Sanitized Copy Approved for Release 2010/06/18: CIA-RDP90-00552R000100670001-8
ARTICLE APPFIRFJ?
ON PLQZ E - I -
T
over.
With the crisis deepening in.Cen-
tral America, The Washington Post
asked Tomas Borge, -a founding
member o-j~ting Sandinista Na-
tional Liberation Front in Nicara-
gua, to address American concern
about his government's policy
for instance, what it means that the
Nicaraguan revolution has not
made good on its promises of free
elections and whether Nicaragua is
so beholden to Cuba or Marxism
that it cannot accept-'restraint for
the sake of regional' peace.:Borge,
,,who was given the ' title 'b f ,'Com-
mander of the Revolution" and
serves as minister of the interior,
cabled his replies to these and othe-t
questions. -
By TOMAS BORGE
.'A great nation gains in honor
and prestige by respecting the sov-
ereignty of small, weak nations,
rather than by oppressing those
who fight to secure their rights"
- A.C. Sandino, the Nicaraguan
general who led the fight against
US. Marine intervention in Nicara-
MIAMI HERALD
7 August 1983
st
There is another, less apparent form of
.aggression, an aggression of constant lies,
half-truths, accusations based on false
premises and interpretations motivated by
bad faith.
It is obvious that this latter form of ag-
gression was planned months ago in order
to justify to an uninformed public a later
military aggression. This is an affront to
the intelligence and good will of the people
of the United States.
What is said of Nicaragua? That the rev-
olution has altered its original program and
that the present government has liquidated
democratic liberties to'establish a totalitar-
ian regime. -
Several political parties covering a broad
span of the political spectrum are active in
Nicaragua today. We distinguish clearly
between legitimate opposition and counter-
revolutionary opposition: The latter is
based on anti-national premises that seek a
return to dictatorship and the forfeiting of
our people's needs to the interests of other
nations.
We asked our people to give us five
'years to reorganize a country destroyed by
war. Part of this reorganization is setting
the institutional bases for elections to be
held in 1985: Have the American people,
after 200 years, forgotten that the United
gua, 1927-33, and served as inspire- ' States required 13 years of reorganization
tion for the Sandinista National Liberation before e the first national elections were
Front in 1789? ,
It is recognized internationally that Nic- Today the process is moving forward.
aragua is the victim of an unjustified mili- Our council of state is studying the politi-
tary aggression. This aggression is in viola- cal systems of other countries, including
tion of international laws and the very the United States, in order to see what as-
.laws of the United States. As many facts pects are pertinent'to our reality, and to
concerning this aggression are well known develop our own democracy.
by now, there is no need to enter into de- A law of political parties, which guaran.
tails about it. tees political parties access to power
through the electoral process, has been ap-
proved by our legislature.
Political pluralism is growing side by
-side with a -strong mixed economy. In
;1982, the private sector received 60.5,.per
cent of the-credits approved by the banks.
That sector also obtained 68.8 per cent of
the authorized foreign exchange. More
than 70 per cent of. the land and 60 per
cent of industrial activities are private. The
agrarian reform is not based on whether
the land is privately held or not; rather, it
is founded on the productive use of the
land..
.Don't these facts disprove the state-
t-meats made by the government of . the
United States concerning Nicaragua's po- litical and economic reality?
In Nicaragua today there is a greater
percentage of private enterprise than is the
case in countries such as Venezuela, Mexi-
co and Brazil, to state a few examples.
? In just four months in 1980 we reduced
illiteracy from 51 per cent to 12 per cent
and have developed programs to prevent
relapse into illiteracy. The entire child pop-
ulation-is incorporated into the school sys-
tem. (Some of these schools have been at-
tacked by the CIA-financed counterrevolu-
tionary forces.) The number of children at-
tending primary school has doubled, and
there is an increase of 53 per cent at the
.secondary level. There, has been a 92 per
_cent increase in university registration.
The achievements in health care.during
the last four years have been greater than
the accomplishments during the previous
150 years. We have eliminated diseases
such as poliomyelitis, reduced tuberculosis,
virtually eradicated malaria, reduced in-
f ant mortality by about 50 per cent and in-
creased the number of vaccinations by 190
per cent. The entire population is incorpo-
rated into the program of preventive medi-
cine. Nicaragua is recognized by interna-
tional organizations to be at. the forefront
in_, public health care. Both education and
health care are available to our people free
-
of charge,
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 Sanitized Copy Approved for Release 2010/06/18: CIA-RDP90-00552R000100670001-8
Is this not respect for human, economic
and social rights? Is the Reagan Adminis-
tration fighting against this? What other
country in Latin America has accomplished
so much in such a short period of time, in
spite of sabotage and the opposition of the
most powerful country on the planet?
When we were fighting against Somoza,
the Soviet Union gave neither arms nor ad-
vice to us Nicaraguans.
Following the revolutionary victory,
Nicaragua has. established diplomatic and
commercial relations with the Soviet
Union and other socialist countries, within
the normal parameters that are the rights
of all modern states that are fighting to
We have been accused of religious perse-
cution. Many religious organizations have
stated the contrary.
Since 1979 full freedom of religious ex-
pression exists in Nicaragua for the first
time in our history. There are 240 priests
in the country, most of whom support the
revolution. Sixty per cent are foreigners.
They offer more than 300 Masses daily in
more than 350 churches located in 155 par-
ishes. Catholic orders, including the Do-
minicans, Calazans, Jesuits and Maryk-
nolls, as well as dozens of Protestant
churches including the Moravians, are all
represented in Nicaragua. The Protestant
and Evangelical churches have quadrupled
their memberships since 1979. Several
Catholic priests serve as ministers of state,
and a Jesuit priest, Father Fernando Carde-
nal, is one of the leaders of the Sandinista
Youth Organization.
Is this reality consistent with the accusa-
tions leveled againstvs by the government.
of the United States? And if there are
doubts as to whether we have freedom of
religion, why don't they come to Nicara-
gua and see firsthand, as have so many
honest and open-minded U.S. citizens who
have changed their opinion after visiting
our country?
Recently we have been accused of anti-
Semitism. In Nicaragua no one is persecut-
ed because of his religion, race or political
beliefs. Those who participated directly or
indirectly in the genocide carried out
against the people of Nicaragua by the So-
moza dictatorship were punished. Two in-
dividuals of Jewish origin had their prop-
erties confiscated because of their involve-
ment in the above-mentioned crimes. We
are sending documentation to Rabbi Mor-
ton Rosenthal, who initiated these charges
against us. Moreover, we have invited him
to come to Nicaragua so he can see for
himself how mistaken he has been.
If, in the process of reviewing the case
Our people are fighting to keep from
dying of hunger. Our struggle is against
hunger ? and backwardness. Hunger and
backwardness create a conflict between
the selfishness of bloody dictatorships and
the people. What does the East-West con-
flict have to do with gastroenteritis, illiter-
acy and the genocide of repressive military
rulers?
I think that this argument is a brutal
sophism to deceive the people of-the United
States,to justify the aggression of a power
ful, rich country against a small, impover-
Jished,, weak country. This argument is a
deliberate he -whose only force lies in