I was born in the center of it all. Few Americans know where Nicaragua is and for those who claim to know, I’m sorry but Africa is not the place. Nicaragua is actually closer than most people think, in fact it’s geographically considered part of North America (no not the USA, I’m talking about North America which includes: Canada, USA, Mexico and Central America). Flying from Nicaragua to Miami actually only takes about an hour and a half, that’s pretty close considering that going from Miami to San Francisco takes twice the time. Sub geographically Nicaragua is found in Central America and it is considered to be the very center of the Americas. This key location has caught the eye of many nations in both North and South America. Initially the Panama Canal was planned to be constructed in Nicaragua but sadly this idea never took of. The idea still lives on today though because of Nicaragua’s central location in the Americas. But that’s another story.
Back in the days of the Cold War, the US was known as the protector of democracy. The US made it their duty to preserve democracy and contain communism. The USSR was spreading through Eastern Europe, communism was taking over Asia and under developed countries in the Americas. The US could certainly not allow this, for this was a direct threat to democracy. At the rate communism was spreading it was only a matter of time before it reached them. Nicaragua fell to communism as the Sandinistas took over the country back in the 80s. The very center of the Americas had been infected the US had to act fast before communism reached its own borders. On April 21 1985, Ronald Reagan imposed an embargo on Nicaragua. Reagan said "the actions and policies of the Nicaraguan government represent an extraordinary threat to the national security and foreign policy of the United States." The idea behind the embargo was to create such an economic crisis in Nicaragua that it would only have one option to ask the US for help and renounce its communist tendencies. But the Nicaraguan people held on and never fell to the embargo. Reagan then gave green light to his back up plan. US military personal stationed in Honduras was promptly moved into Nicaragua territory to aid rebels who opposed the national government. The missions to bring down the Nicaraguan government failed, but Reagan was still hopeful that the economic tension and the increasing military operations would eventually take over allowing for the US to take over and install democracy. The Nicaraguan government was able to maintain power and Reagan’s attempts failed. The country though had tens of thousands of people dead and the economy was destroyed. To this day the effects of the Reagan presidency still echo in Nicaragua.
So how did Nicaragua respond to this aggression? We didn’t attack New York City, we didn’t bomb Washington. Instead we took the diplomatic road. We responded by presenting a case to the World Court, there was no problem putting together the evidence there was plenty to pick from. The World Court took our case and ruled in the favor of Nicaragua. The Court ruled that the US was guilty of “unlawful use of force,” which is fancy talk for international terrorism. In the end the court said that the US needed to terminate the crime and pay Nicaragua reparations. So what did the bastion of democracy do? Well the United States government basically wiped their @$$ with the court ruling. The US announced “that it would not accept the jurisdiction of the court henceforth.” How convenient if I may say. Then Nicaragua then went to the UN Security Council which considered a resolution calling on all states to observe international law. No one was mentioned but everyone understood it was targeted toward the US. The US simply vetoed the resolution. It now stands as the only state on record which has both been condemned by the World Court for international terrorism and has vetoed a Security Council resolution calling on states to observe international law. At this point, Nicaragua couldn’t do anything lawful. It tried all the measures. Sadly the world is ruled by force and not democracy, and the US government is no exception.
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“Nicaragua was left in a ditch to die” is a very informative article; it comes from an author that is clearly writing to Americans and those who are just uninformed of the past actions of the United States government. J. Fonseca attempts, and very successfully, to help the reader reflect on the issues of violations of the Nicaraguan sovereignty.
The Unites States government has earned its reputation. This Government creates and dismantles anything in its path, thinking only on the benefits for the U.S. and ignoring the effects it might have on other nations.
The American Government has its reasons for applying such tactics against the communist Nicaraguan government, but is it really justified?
The United States order the placement of mines around the Nicaraguan harbors and funded the guerrillas against Nicaraguan government. The U.S. government funded the El Salvador’s attacks against Nicaragua, and suspended all trade with this country, trade that Nicaragua was largely dependent on. The U.S. was found guilty under the treaty of Friendship, Commerce, and Navigation, treaty that was signed in 1956. How ironic, the actions committed are in fact terrorism.
The United Stated therefore was found guilty under international law, but decided to declare the ruling of the International Court ‘questionable’ as a matter of fact, the U.S. called the judges questionable, how arrogant. During the presidency of G. H. W. Bush, many contributions to Nicaragua were made with hopes of declaring the charges null, now that is questionable.
Because of the embargo placed on Nicaragua and the ongoing “civil war”, Nicaragua has become the second poorest country in Central America, well, technically north and central. Nicaragua has a GDP of 16.17 million and a per capita of 2,800. One must realize that the actions of the U.S. affected Nicaraguans; the poor always suffer the most
The United Stated has contributed to Nicaragua but always with the conditions of change. America uses its trade to infringe with the sovereignty of Nicaragua and other nations, doing as it pleases.
I could relate much to the tone of the article. J. Fonseca wrote this article in such a way that he could transmit his frustration over the actions taken by the United States. This article uses a combination of facts and emotional persuasive elements thus making “Nicaragua was left in a ditch to die” a very effective article.
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