Give Democracy A Chance In Nicaragua: Don’t Disarm The Resistance

(Washington, D.C.): This weekend, the five Central American presidents will meet to consider a new "peace initiative" — the Sandinista proposal that the Nicaraguan Resistance forces be disarmed and disbanded before Managua holds "free" elections, now scheduled for February 1990.

The Center for Security Policy today called upon President Bush to use every means available to ensure that this transparent ploy is firmly rejected. Doing otherwise would eliminate the only significant check on Sandinista power and the sole leverage available to ensure that the long-suffering Nicaraguan people have the opportunity finally to enjoy real democracy.

Frank J. Gaffney, Jr., the Director of the Center, in releasing a new paperThe Fight for Democracy in Central America: The Bush Administration Must Stay the Course," said "The Sandinista plan would eviscerate the fundamental basis of previous regional peace plans — namely, a trade of peace for democracy." entitled "

The Center’s paper notes that: "Congress is the real target in the Sandinistas’ regional diplomatic efforts. If they can get the other presidents to sign a paper calling for disbanding the Resistance prior to the elections in February, they will have given their allies in Congress a powerful weapon to use in arguing for a cut-off in humanitarian aid. The argument will be an all too familiar one: continuing aid violates the newest peace plan because it maintains the Resistance as a force in being. Henceforth, the Sandinistas’ allies and apologists will argue, the only legitimate aid is refugee resettlement assistance."

Gaffney added that, "We must expect that the Sandinistas will seize upon any ‘violation’ of such an agreement by the Nicaraguan Resistance as grounds for cancelling the elections. If President Bush fails to dissuade the Central American presidents from acceding to this travesty, we at the Center believe he must adopt a three-part strategy if there is to be any hope of salvaging the prospects for democracy in Nicaragua."

This three-part plan would require the President to stipulate: 1) that there will be no aid cut-off to the Resistance unless and until there are free elections; 2) that there must be symmetry in the treatment accorded Nicaragua and El Salvador; and 3) that the multi-billion dollar Soviet campaign of subversion in Central America — a more faithful guide to the true character of Gorbachev’s policies than most other indicators — must cease."