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The Nicaraguan Constitution as Propaganda
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12944 |
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Section : |
CURRENT ISSUES
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Date : |
5 / 1987 |
2,423 Words |
| Author
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Howard J. Wiarda
Howard J. Wiarda is professor of political science at the
University of Massachusetts at Amherst, professor national
security studies at the National Defense University, and
visiting scholar at the Center for Strategic and International
Studies (CSIS). He was lead consultant to the National
Bipartisan (Kissinger) Commission on Central America and is
the author of Rift and Revolution: The Central American
Imbroglio and The Democratic Revolution in Latin America. |
The Sandinista revolution in Nicaragua is in trouble. It is more and more isolated internationally, the economy is a disaster, its social and political experiments haven't worked very well, and its friends and defenders have dwindled. In Washington, outside of the left wing of the Democratic Party (a fairly small group), no one supports the Sandinistas anymore. The consensus is well-nigh universal that Nicaragua has become a full-fledged Marxist-Leninist regime fully allied with and dependent on Cuba and the Soviet Union. Policy disagreements are no longer over the nature of the Sandinista regime but over what precisely to do about it.
The Sandinistas have, among other things, a public relations problem. They know they are losing support, both at home and abroad, and they need to rally their shrinking band of defenders. There are still quite a number of "true believers" in the Sandinista revolution - "political pilgrims," to use Paul Hollander's apt phrase - persons who can never admit they were wrong about the revolution and its democratic and benign character and who need a new reed, a new hope, to hang on to.
At the same time, the Sandinistas know there are others in the United States, Western Europe, and elsewhere who are so hostile to the Reagan administration and its policies that, while they will not support the Nicaraguan revolution, they can at least be kept neutral and maybe even hopeful about it.
For both the true believers and those they hope to keep neutral, the Sandinistas ran an "election" in 1984. This was not a genuine, free, open, and competitive election but a "demonstration election" aimed at impressing the outside
... (1997 of 14838 Characters)
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