‘Re-contra’ Article Was Informative, Incendiary

Dear Nica Times:

I read with great interest your very informative article by Tim Rogers, “Re-birth of the Re-contras?” in The Nica Times of Nov. 20.

I regret, however, that this article (despite various disclaimers) seems to sympathize in some measure with an extremist group which, funded (to a large extent illegally) by the Republican administration of United States President Ronald Reagan, did

its best to prevent any kind of progress in Nicaragua after the overthrow of the Somoza dictatorship.

The contras’ numerous human-rights abuses, including mutilations, rapes and murders, were well documented by Amnesty International and other human rights advocates, as well as by the mainstream American and European press, during the 1980’s.

The article further seems to imply that the general population of the northern departments of Nicaragua generally opposes the Sandinistas and supports the ‘Re-contras’.

This is a highly dubious proposition, given that the Sandinistas’ base for the overthrow of the Somoza dictatorship (funded and supported for generations by successive U.S. governments) was precisely here.

I think that your constant criticism of the Sandinista government is, for obvious reasons, quite legitimate, but I believe it is at best unhelpful and at worst incendiary to give publicity and support to groups such as those promoted in your article.

Paul Pickering

Yorkshire, England