Speech #990210091

This plea for cooperation and dialog was censored by the Sandinistas as a threat to the country. Radio Catolica the only Catholic radio station in Nicaragua remains shut down by direct order of the State. I have previously warned about the immigration problem this country would face if the Sandinistas were successful in spreading their revolution without borders to other Central American nations. A look at what has happened in Nicaragua is an indication of what could occur throughout the region. Since the Sandinistas rise to power in 1979. almost 10 percent of the population has left the country. The number of Nicaraguan refugees in other Central American countries and illegal immigrants in the United States now comes to nearly 225.000. Earlier this spring the Sandinista military attacked numerous Miskito Indian villages along the Atlantic coast. This unexpected assault triggered a mass exodus of 11.000 Miskitos across the river into Honduras. necessitating the United Nations High Commission on Refugees to declare a state of emergency. It is often argued that we are driving the Sandinistas into the Soviet camp by our unwillingness to provide economic and humanitarian aid to the people of Nicaragua. Well. we tried that approach at the outset.