Obviously. we have security interests and we will not allow that country. that close to our borders. to be used as a launching pad to threaten U.S. national security. I dont think such a threat exists today. but it clearly Is a possibility. But I do think that we have a moral responsibility to give humanitarian assistance to the refugees of that civil war because it was to a great extent our policies which brought on the war. The United States. in our desire to rid Nicaragua of human rights abuses and a stream of refugees escaping the Somoza dictatorship. sided with the revolutionary opposition to Somoza. Immediately after the Sandinista triumph in 1979. America gave millions in aid and debt rescheduling assistance. Between July 1979 and April 1981. the United States gave Nicaragua $117 million in bilateral aid. Part of our support for the Sandinistas was their written promise to the OAS that the Nicaraguan people would have democratic elections. full political. religious. and trade union freedoms. a free press. a mixed economy. a policy on nonalignment. and peaceful relations with its neighbors. Today we have a new set of refugees. new human rights abuses. and none of the solemn promises made to the OAS have been fulfilled. Today. Nicaragua has a censored press. sham elections. an official policy of antisemitism. exportation of revolution to El Salvador. invasions of Costa Rican and Honduran sovereignty. and a Leninist consolidation of police. judicial and military functions under the authority of a political party.
Keywords matched
refugees