Last month I spent two weeks in Nicaragua, as part of an International Encounter of Kairos Association of Sister Parishes. It was my second trip to Central America this year. Earlier I led a Rotary Group Study Exchange Team to Belize, Guatemala and Honduras. I also spent a week in Costa Rica. Of the five countries, Nicaragua was the poorest, albeit Guatemala and Honduras are third world countries with considerable poverty. These countries stand in contrast to Costa Rica, the wealthiest country in Central America. Costa Rica also has excellent educational and health care systems, with a higher literacy rate and life expectancy than the United States, and interestingly no military.

Countries like Nicaragua and Guatemala have suffered from tyranny, American aggression, and civil war. I was surprised to learn the number of times the United States invaded or interfered in the internal affairs of Nicaragua. Two particular larger than life figures in Nicaraguan history are William Walker and Augusto Sandino. The former was an American who led a group of U.S. marines that invaded Nicaragua in the 1850s, attempting to conquer Central America and become its dictator. At one point, William Walker at age 33 on July 11, 1856 was inaugurated president of Nicaragua. He was eventually repulsed by troops from Costa Rica. Forty years later, Nicaragua had a reform-minded president in Jos Zelaya. When he cancelled or reduced concessions granted to American mining and lumber companies, once again the United States sent in marines and killed Zelayaís successor, Zeledn, after first getting Zelaya to resign. His death motivated Augusto Sandino to wage war against the American occupation, and eventually he became a martyr to the Nicaraguan nationalism. His statue graces the harbor at Managua.

From the mid-30s and until the late 70s Nicaragua was ruled was a ruthless, but pro-American military dictator, General Somoza. His sons were trained at the School of Americas. FDR described him as "heís a son of a ****, but heís ours." In the later 70s there was a populist rebellion, modeled after Castros revolution in Cuba. They succeeded in overthrowing the Somozan dictatorship. Somoza fled to Miami and later was killed in Peru. We initially supported Somoza, but after his ouster we did provide the new socialist leaning government, the Sandinistas, some modest support. With Reaganís election in 1980s our policy soon was reversed, for fear of another Cuba being created in Nicaragua. We cut off aid and began to undermine their new government. We eventually armed a resistance movement called the Contras and fostered civil war for the next 10 years. All their leaders were on CIA payroll. During that time we also invaded Grenada, deposing their democratically elected Marxist president, in part to intimate Nicaragua. Nicaragua expected the United States to invade them as well. At one point, Congress cut off aid to the Contras, only to have Reagan illegally continue it, as some of you may remember as the Iran-Contra affair.

The civil war eventually ended under the mediation of the president of Costa Rica, Oscar Airas, and when the Contras came to the realization that they could not win, with or without the support of the United States. The damage had been done, the war had wreaked economic disaster on Nicaragua and removed any threat that the United States had perceived of a Nicaragua run by socialists. The Sandinistas were defeated in the next presidential election and once again the United States had a pro-American as Nicaraguan president. His party still is in power and still is corrupt, but not as brutal as Somoza. The last president was put in prison for corruption, but recently had his conviction overturned. Under these corrupt pro-American presidents poverty increased from 50 percent to 75 percent and unemployed skyrocketed. Services were cut as most of their taxes went to payoff debt from the war. In addition, to promote economic development, many tax-free industrial sectors were developed with the net result that the rich got richer, the poor got poor, and services were significantly cut with less income. The problem was made worse by tax cuts and the proposed Central American Free Trade Agreement or CAFTA, will further exacerbate the problem.

During my visit anti-Americanism was running high because of the growing economic problems, popular opposition to the Iraq war and a resentment of American ongoing interference in their country. Less than one week after we re-elected Bush, Nicaraguans went to the polls and overwhelming elected Sandinistas to municipal posts, despite American attempts to influence their elections the other way. Immediately after the results were announced, Rumsfield and other American officials were in Nicaragua expressing the disappointment of the United States in the election results, which our government believed threaten the stability of the region.

We are once again interfering in the internal affairs of Nicaragua. We have not learned from our mistakes in the past. Mirroring invasion of Grenada, Bush invaded Haiti, as a show of force. We also have been undermining the government of Venezuela and continuing to support oppressive governments in Guatemala, Columbia and Honduras. The last president of Guatemala, a friend of Bush, for example, left Guatemala with millions of dollars and is now under indictment. The former president of the Guatemalan Senate, a person Reagan once called a champion of freedom, is under house arrest and is believed to be responsible for the deaths of more than 100,000 Guatemalans. The reason that Latin Americans hate us is not because of their jealousy of our wealth, but because we have supported and trained leaders that have oppressed them, exploited them, and killed or disappeared hundreds of thousands of them.

The foreign policy of President Bush is the same as that of Reagan, undermining governments we disagree with, invading countries, and supporting so-called democracies that go on to oppress their citizens and put more money in the hands of fewer people, including many American economic interest. Americans need to learn the truth, to understand that our war in Iraq, like all other interventions, have not stopped terrorism, but created it and resulted in the deaths of thousands of innocent people. I would recommend that you read ìBlood of Brothersî by NY Times columnists Stephen Kinzer or some objective source. If we continue the Bush policies we will bankrupt our country morally and economically, and contribute to misery, hunger and hopeless in much of the world. I would also recommend that you visit Central America and see for yourself.

Robert G. Walz
North Branch

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