U.S. steps up campaign for further contra aid
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On Nov. 5, the same day the Arias Central American "peace plan" went into effect, the U.S. House of Representatives— with its Democratic Party majority-voted a further $3.2 million in "nonlethal aid" to the Nicaraguan contras. This vote constiDONT PANIC... I'M • DOING EXACTLY WHAT WAS DONE TO END THe LAST DePRESSIONI'M GeTTING US INTO A WAR!
CRASH! tuted a direct violation of the peace accord.
Hardly a voice of protest was raised from the U.S. media or from the so-called Contadora nations of Latin America, which are being called upon to monitor the peace process. They all continued to echo the Mikc Kafe Reagan administration theme that the Sandinista government remains the main obstacle to peace in the region.
After eight years of enduring a brutal contra war, and under pressure from Costa Rican President Oscar Arias-as well as from the Soviet bureaucracy—the Sandinista government reversed its long-held position and agreed to negotiate a cease-fire bid with the contras. This demand was not included in the document signed by the five Central American presidents.
"They have won a crucial political battle in any guerrilla war: forcing the [Nicaraguan] government to recognize them as a belligerent force," the Nov. 8 New York Times stated. "This is a big gain for us," said Alfonso Robelo, a contra director.
Unrelenting pressure on FSLN No sooner had the Nicaraguan government made this concession than the U.S. government and the contras began to demand greater concessions.
Alfredo Cesar, a member of the contra directorate, told NBC News on Nov. 13 that he fully agreed with the Arias Plan's call for democratization in Nicaragua, but stated that "the only genuine and acceptable meaning of 'democratization' is for the (continued on page 12, in “"We must not be caught off guard by peace plan'”)