Comment
Guise of Objectivity Multi-party diversity in a revolutionary socialist country has little historical success, and Nicaragua's experience could enrich our understanding of paths for...
...The real reasons are the subject for another article...
...1) Jenkins asserts that "the elections become little more than a costly distraction...
...Jenkins, under the guise of objectivity, begins his analysis from a liberal perspective, doubting all the expressed good intentions of the FSLN leadership...
...Guise of Objectivity Multi-party diversity in a revolutionary socialist country has little historical success, and Nicaragua's experience could enrich our understanding of paths for radical social change...
...3) I agree the Sandinistas have made major efforts to avoid becoming isolated...
...The CIA encouragement of the CDN to boycott the elections fell on receptive ears, and a major effort was launched to pull more parties out of the elections...
...Yes, the elections were a useful educational and mobilizing operation, but, as many Sandinista leaders have privately admitted, the overriding priority was to convince European Socialist International leaders of their pluralist commitment...
...As I showed, it has as yet to prove that the role is justified...
...Copyright c sume[s] 1985 by the North American Congress on Latin voice of domestic opposition to the America, Inc...
...The PCN was actu- NACLA are tax-exempt...
...sic] One of these, the PLI, re- Promotion Manager gistered but withdrew October 21...
...To the CDN and Washington, the only fair elections are those that the FSLN loses, a virtual impossibility even if all parties ran...
...Let's recall where the Socialist International is coming fron--they would clearly like a "Portuguese solution" in Nicaragua...
...and and while it is not legally recognized Canada $6...
...Fairness is not the issue to Reagan and his allies, it is class struggle and they "seem hellbent on a military showdown...
...45 for three years...
...Yet within the Frente there were many who argued that elections could not be organized in a time of war-after all, Britain held none during World War II...
...There is no liberal bourgeois conspiracy...
...NACLA), an independent tional Conservative Party left Nicara- non-profitorganization foundedin 1966 focusingon gua with Somoza in 1979 and the the political economy ofthe Americas...
...Jenkins' statement about the "repression of all public political opposition" makes Nicaragua sound like El Salvador...
...The brief article by Tony Jenkins (September/October 1984) provides some useful information but is filled with factual errors and analysis more suited to The New Republic...
...a distraction [the FSLN] long resisted...
...Like it or not, that is the reality...
...The PCN is the right wing of the Conservative Party in Nicaragua...
...elsewhere $14...
...Others argued that the participatory, mass-organizational element of the Council of State should not be discarded...
...That does not mean the Sandinistas are faultless...
...Their excuse was the absence of guarantees and conditions...
...send address changes to NACLA, 151 West have been hard for millionaire 19th Street, 9th Floor, New York, NY 10011...
...Contadora and promised to negotiate Book store distribution: Camrer Pigeon, 40 Plympan end to any foreign military advisers ton Street...
...Index and Hispanic American Periodicals Index...
...In practice it is an ex-officio member...
...the old Conservative Party...
...For reasons explained in my article, the CDN was able to assume the role of the "legitimate" opposition in international opinion...
...The PCN has never joined the CDN...
...As Interior Minister Tomas Borge has often admitted, the elections should have been held earlier...
...No other society has ever been so radically altered with so little bloodshed...
...The PCN joined the CDN For Air Mail Subscription add, per year: U.S...
...4) If Watrous wants to fault my facts, to undermine my analysis, he should get his own facts right...
...Reagan may say he views CDN's "participation in the elections . . . as the touchstone of Sandinista commitments to pluralism and democracy...
...South America, Europe $12...
...While we do not know the real reasons behind the withdrawal of the PLI candidates, it certainly fit into CIA strategy...
...Kate Browne (3) Jenkins quotes two seemingly Subscription Manager important but unnamed sources: it Cecilia Chacon "was clear the government was beBusinessanager coming isolated . . . the Sandinistas Stuart Ozer seem hellbent on a military showdown...
...The PCD never joined the CDN so it would Second class postage paid at New York, NY...
...They had previously promised to lift them on February 21...
...as a party, it is considered so, and thus the CDN is usually said to have four, Back Issues...
...75 for three years...
...To set the record straight: in five years the Sandinista Front has transformed Nicaragua from the plaything of coffee and cattle barons into a society focused on hospitals and schools, women's organizations and campesino cooperatives...
...Few independent observers were fooled by the CDN pretense of preparing for elections-it was a set-up to allow stronger criticism of the process...
...5) Watrous quotes me out of context...
...Jenkins does not mention a crucial fact: the FSLN won overwhelmingly not because it suppressed the opposition, but because the Sandinistas outorganized the other groups and developed a program that met the needs of the majority...
...But, regrettably, in the months leading up to the elections the efforts were not being met with much success...
...Nicaragua has been a lion on the diplomatic circuit, has agreed to support Typography by: Your Type...
...manipulation within the electoral process...
...Back issue lists available on request...
...In practice, as I wrote, the major concessions did not come until early August...
...2) According to Jenkins, "very Editor few parties were prepared to commit George Black themselves to the elections" [because of restrictions under the emergency Features Editor legislation...
...3 plus 75 cents postage and handling...
...not three, member parties...
...Of the ten parties Research Staff with legal status, six had long leaned Robert Armstrong Deborah Huntington toward registering and three had Janet Shenk hinted since 1983 that they would not...
...media, which are, after all, where most people's opinions are shaped...
...While strong opposition to the FSLN is discouraged, La Prensa keeps criticizing, new rightist groups are formed and old ones continue to exist (and can print materials...
...Outdoor opposition rallies were discouraged but indoor conferences continued...
...5) The article says the CDN "as- Microfilm reels of Volumes I through VI and VII sume[s] the role of the legitimate through X available at $90 each...
...Continued on page 13 Continued from page 2 The CDN's constant demands that the government dialogue with the contras make it quite unpopular in Nicaragua, and it is a testament to the restraint of the Sandinistas and their supporters that the CDN and its mouthpiece, La Prensa, were not shut down years ago...
...I could go on, but I won't...
...businessman Mario Rappaccioli to Subscriptions: $18 per year for individuals ($32 for have been a "dominant voice inside two years...
...29 per year for the CDN" for more than a few institutions ($54 for two years...
...The FSLN led a politicized population, united only in opposition to Somoza in 1979, to a point now where the majority support a socialist program...
...2) Yes, the Frente promised May 31 to lift restrictions...
...Given the newness of free elections, Art Direction all parties [attempted to define what Liz Mestres they viewed as] fair conditions, but Librarian only the most conservative two of the Ruth Kaplan seven were not committed to elections...
...Postmaster...
...Jenkins also ignores U.S...
...months...
...While some FSLN leaders may see elections as a waste of time (preferring to concentrate on grass-roots participatory democracy and reconstruction), the Sandinista line is that the elections are a great step forward in institutionalizing the revolution and 2 REPORT ON THE AMERICAS building democracy in Nicaragua...
...You may believe six parties were "leaning" toward participation, but until the last moment the PLI and the PCD were vacillating...
...Mexico, Central America, Caribbean as a party, it is considered so, and thus $9...
...Donations to party dissolved...
...That I should start from such a perspective does not mean that I endorse it-I think my article proves that...
...Steve Watrous Milwaukee, WI Tony Jenkins responds: Perhaps I underestimated my audience, but I felt it was important to tackle the elections from the context of the establishment U.S...
...In reality, the CDN's participation is viewed in Washington as the touchstone of Sandinista willingness to sell out, and this the FSLN has refused to do...
...Report on the Americas (ISSN 0149-1598) is pubor arms trafficking...
...Instead, he gives the benefit of the doubt to the right-wing Democratic Coordinating Committee (CDN...
...All I will say is that, given the context, the elections were remarkably fair and open and this has been reflected in the reports from a broad range of observers...
...Through COSEP Mario Rappaccioli has long been a dominant voice in the CDN...
...The PCD was not a split but a coalition of the three conservative parties which reunited in 1979, as such it is the direct descendant of the traditional Conservative Party...
...What other socialist or even Distribution Manager nationalist revolutionary governments Ted Auerbach have done more in the face of difficult On Leave internal conditions and outside ag- Judy Butler gression to keep from being isolated...
...Legitimate to whom...
...Actually, the government an- Managing Editor nounced May 31 that restrictions Virginia Cannon would be reviewed for the elections at Research Director the revolution's fifth anniversary cele- Robert Matthews bration on July 19, and most were lifted [on that day...
...1) With regard to the date of the elections it would be naive to suggest that Sandinista policy has been consistent since 1980...
...Yet it is clear that the Nicaraguan elections are a qualitative improvement over the "demonstration elections" in El Salvador, and that the FSLN has gone the extra mile in encouraging participation by all parties in governing and in the elections...
...Fifty thousand died fighting to overthrow Somoza and Nicaraguans see no reason to let somocista mercenaries back in through negotiation...
...Fortunately, the fairness of the elections helped the Frente to recover much of the lost ground...
...Most Nicaraguans do not see catering to groups supporting the contras as a "touchstone of democracy...
...lished bimonthly by the North American Congress (4) The far-right wing of the tradi- on Latin America, Inc...
...In fact, the Sandinistas announced in 1980 that elections would be held in five years...
...Boston, MA 02118...
...They have their own political ax to grind...
...Indexed by Alternative Press government...
...Statements by CDN leaders have confirmed [that they never intended to run], so why Jenkins' weak and tentative statement...
...it would be patronizing to pretend so...
...All Watrous' points could be answered in the same vein...
...ally formed this year by a right split The views expressed in Report on the Americas off the PCD, which itself split from are those of the authors and do not necessarily represent the views of NACLA...
Vol. 19 • January 1985 • No. 1
