During the course of that period of time that I spent down there in the last few days I visited Nicaragua. Honduras. and El Salvador. The primary purpose of this trip was to investigate the situation with regard to refugees and displaced persons. as I went as a part of the Immigration. Refugees. and International Law Subcommittee on a factfinding mission for that purpose. In the process I could not help but also observe things relative to our policy going on down there concerning the Contras and concerning the entire situation with regard to the democracies in Honduras and in El Salvador. So for a very brief period of time this afternoon I would like to review both of those subjects. first discussing for a few moments what I had occasion to observe with regard to the refugee status in the three countries. and then some of the politics. because I really think in the last analysis the two are intertwined. You cannot have one without the other. and the reason for the refugees and the reason for the pressure is of concern to us with their possible migration to this country. with the United Nations having to care for them in many cases with our assistance and our funds. or in the case of El Salvador and the disposados with our funds with AID. I think that they are there because of the disruptions caused by the turmoil in that region of the world. First of all. in Nicaragua the refugees of concern to all of us are the Miskito Indians. Many of them have left the country in large numbers to go to Honduras because of some of the oppression of human rights that has been imposed upon them by the Sandinista Communist Government in Nicaragua. Now the Government of Nicaragua says we made a mistake by some of those things that we did in disrupting the lives and the customs of those Indians that live on the Atlantic coast of Nicaragua. and they want to make amends. and they have proposed a new autonomy program.
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Refugees Immigration refugee refugees