Press Coverage
Generic Sandinistas On Thursday, Mr. Bush addressed a student audience at St. Michael's College in Winooski, Vt., and in answering a question on Central America said: "The Sandinistas...
...Q. If somebody else asks, would you be willing to do it again...
...They overthrew Somoza, killed him, and overthrew him...
...Vincent and the United States...
...The charge was made at a news conference here by Foreign Minister Unison Whiteman, who said he had "evidence" of a Washington plot...
...And in Brownsville, Texas, the presidential chief of staff, James A. Baker 3rd, said the assertion was "absolutely not true...
...Now they have, but we say we aren't satisfied...
...It had exactly what we announced in the beginning, the need to protect the lives and the safety and freedom of about 1,000 Americans [. . . .] and in answer to a request on the part of the other nations bound by treaty together in the east Caribbean that we lend our support to them in freeing this up because they lacked the strength and capability of doing it...
...Paradoxically, the driving force for seeking American aid was [Barbadian Prime Minister] Adams, whose country is not a member of that organization...
...The wording of the formal request, however, was drafted in Washington and conveyed to the Caribbean leaders by special American emissaries...
...He added, "The whole point was to get the Nicaraguans to accept the Contadora proposals...
...Alan Romberg, a State Department spokesman, termed Mr...
...I hate to say it, but the average American doesn't know the difference between a contra and a caterpillar, or between a Sandinista and a sardine...
...Asked if he would guarantee that the United States would not invade Nicaragua in the future, Mr...
...Daniel Ortega] added, "The military offensive is ready to begin October 15...
...He later went to Paraguay, where he was assassinated in 1980...
...A State Department spokesman, Alan Romberg, today termed the charge made by Grenada's government "ridiculous...
...A. As I say, if all the conditions were the same, I don't see why our reasons would be any different...
...I'm not sure what there's left to talk about at Manzanillo," one State Department official said...
...Whiteman said, "You'd have to ask the CIA for the evidence...
...The New York Times March 29, 1983 We acceded to the request to become part of a multinational effort [to invade Grenada] with contingents from Antigua, Barbados, Dominica, Jamaica, St.Lucia, St...
...Bush said the next day: "I can't say clearly who it was...
...The New York Times September 22, 1984 Sandinista or Sardine...
...The Pentagon spokesman, Michael Burch, said in Washington that it was "absolute nonsense...
...The New York Times November 13, 1984...
...Bush said he was referring to the Sandinistas in a "generic" sense...
...But I don't foresee any similar situation on the horizon...
...Asked for details, Mr...
...A]nother official familiar with the issue said that [Daniel Ortega's] proposed trip [to Los Angeles] was discussed at senior levels in recent days, with a number of officials arguing that the trip should not be approved, in part, to punish Mr...
...Then he added: "I will just stay with what I said yesterday...
...I might add that two of those, Barbados and Jamaica, are not members of the organization but were first approached, as we were, by the OECS and asked to join in that undertaking...
...Asked if he meant the Sandinistas, Mr...
...Congress refused to provide the aid in this protracted conflict," the Senator [John P. East, R-NC] said...
...We're going to lose Central America, as we lost Vietnam, because the U.S...
...Ortega's claim "obviously absurd...
...A. No, I can't foresee any situation that has exactly the same things that this one had...
...And then all of them joined unanimously in asking us to participate...
...The New York Times November 14, 1984 Asked whether the United States intended to invade Nicaragua, as the Nicaraguan government has been asserting in recent days, Mr...
...Obviously they are trying to whip up their population," he said...
...President Reagan November 4, 1983 "New plans are being prepared in the Pentagon and the CIA, this time to prevent the November 4 elections in Nicaragua...
...Michael's College in Winooski, Vt., and in answering a question on Central America said: "The Sandinistas came in," he said...
...The officials said that the announcement by Nicaragua on Friday that it was prepared to sign the draft treaty might undermine the Administration's efforts to portray the Sandinistas as the primary source of tension in Central America...
...The New York Times October 10, 1984 The Department of Defense said today that the United States would respond "with whatever assistance was necessary" if Honduras or El Salvador asked for military help in repelling an Continued on page 13 Continued from page 5 invasion from Nicaragua...
...The New York Times October 30, 1983 Q. Mr.President, does the success of, Grenada, as you view it, does that operation mean that you might be able to apply the military in similar situations elsewhere...
...The Nicaraguan dictator, Anastasio Somoza Debayle fled Nicaragua for the United States after the Sandinistas took power...
...Killed him, threw him out...
...Two members of the Argentine Marxist People's Revolutionary [sic] were charged with the killing...
...Asked to clarify what he said, Mr...
...Ortega and the Sandinistas for accepting the Contadora peace proposal...
...I'm not sure I would blame the Nicaraguans if they were confused...
...Shultz said only that past predictions of invasion had been false and "the same is true of all the alleged plans that the Nicaraguans are talking about now...
...President Reagan October 25, 1983 The formal request that the United States and other friendly countries provide military help was made by the Organization of Eastern Caribbean States last Sunday at the request of the United States, which wanted to show proof that it had been requested to act under terms of that group's treaty...
...The New York Times October 12, 1984 Punishment for Signing Contadora The State Department's negative response to Nicaragua's acceptance of a Central American peace plan was based partly on concerns that the Sandinistas' announcement would be a public relations coup, Reagan Administration officials said today...
...The New York Times September 24, 1984 From "Ridiculous" to "Absurd" Grenada joined Nicaragua today in charging that it was the target of "an imminent attack" by the United States...
...Shultz said that "the invasion concerns seem to be a self-inflicted wound on the part of Nicaragua...
Vol. 19 • January 1985 • No. 1
