Your Central American reporter, Storer Rowley, is to be commended for finally acknowledging that there are other political parties in Nicaragua besides the Sandinistas. Actually, seven parties are represented in the General Assembly, three to the right and three to the left of the Sandinistas. (The other nine, which for some reason Rowley refers to as ”illegal,”
chose not to take part in the 1984 elections.)
It is difficult to understand why Rowley refers to the Sandinistas as a
”totalitarian regime” after his recognition of Nicaragua`s political pluralism, especially when coupled with the fact that 62 percent of Nicaragua`s mixed economy is in private hands (compared with only 48 percent in the ”model” democracy of neighboring Costa Rica).
My recent trip to Nicaragua was both eye-opening and spirit-lifting. I was most impressed with the guileless joy and hope-beyond-hope of the people. Unlike El Salvador or Guatemala, Nicaragua still has no curfew, no military or police pointing their guns at people, no sense of fear or tension outside of isolated war zones.
The three major forces blending together in this experiment are the Christian base communities, a new brand of inverted socialism, and a deep sense of nationalism born out of many years of oppression and foreign interference. This Christian socialist democracy could be a mustard seed experiment for the whole Third World, and if so, a real threat to Mr. Reagan and the Pope.
Hence, it seems both immoral and inane to send aid to the contras.
