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 came in," he said. "They overthrew So- moza, killed him, and overthrew him. Killed him, threw him out." The Nicaraguan dictator, Anastasio Somoza Debayle fled Nicaragua for the United States after the Sandinistas took power. He later went to Para- guay, where he was assassinated in 1980. Two members of the Argentine Marxist People's Revolutionary [sic] were charged with the killing. Asked to clarify what he said, Mr. Bush said the next day: "I can't say clearly who it was." Then he added: "I will just stay with what I said yesterday." Asked if he meant the Sandinistas, Mr. Bush said he was referring to the Sandinistas in a "generic" sense. The New York Times September 22, 1984 Sandinista or Sardine? "We're going to lose Central America, as we lost Vietnam, because the U.S. Congress refused to provide the aid in this protracted conflict," the Senator [John P. East, R-NC] said. "I hate to say it, but the average Ameri- can doesn't know the difference be- tween a contra and a caterpillar, or be- tween a Sandinista and a sardine." 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 San- dinistas' announcement would be a public relations coup, Reagan Admin- istration officials said today. The officials said that the an- nouncement by Nicaragua on Friday that it was prepared to sign the draft treaty might undermine the Adminis- tration's efforts to portray the San- dinistas as the primary source of ten- sion in Central America. [ .... ] [A]nother official familiar with the issue said that [Daniel Ortega's] pro- posed trip [to Los Angeles] was dis- cussed at senior levels in recent days, with a number of officials arguing that the trip should not be approved, in part, to punish Mr. Ortega and the Sandinistas for accepting the Contad- ora peace proposal. [. . . . "I'm not sure what there's left to talk about at Manzanillo," one State Department official said. He added, "The whole point was to get the Nicaraguans to accept the Contadora proposals. Now they have, but we say we aren't satisfied. I'm not sure I would blame the Nicaraguans if they were confused." 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. [. . . .] The charge was made at a news conference here by For- eign Minister Unison Whiteman, who said he had "evidence" of a Wash- ington plot. Asked for details, Mr. Whiteman said, "You'd have to ask the CIA for the evidence." A State Department spokesman, Alan Romberg, today termed the charge made by Grenada's govern- ment "ridiculous." The New York Times March 29, 1983 We acceded to the request to be- come part of a multinational effort [to invade Grenada] with contingents from Antigua, Barbados, Dominica, Jamaica, St.Lucia, St. Vincent and the United States. 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 un- dertaking. And then all of them joined unanimously in asking us to partici- pate. 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 wording of the formal request, however, was drafted in Washington and conveyed to the Caribbean leaders by special American emissaries. Paradoxically, the driving force for seeking American aid was [Barbadian Prime Minister] Adams, whose coun- try is not a member of that organiza- tion. The New York Times October 30, 1983 Q. Mr.President, does the success of, Grenada, as you view it, does that op- eration mean that you might be able to apply the military in similar situations elsewhere? A. No, I can't foresee any situation that has exactly the same things that this one had. 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. Q. If somebody else asks, would you be willing to do it again? A. As I say, if all the conditions were the same, I don't see why our reasons would be any different. But I don't foresee any similar situation on the horizon. 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." [Daniel Ortega] added, "The military offensive is ready to begin October 15." Alan Romberg, a State Department spokesman, termed Mr. Ortega's claim "obviously absurd." The Pen- tagon spokesman, Michael Burch, said in Washington that it was "abso- lute nonsense." And in Brownsville, Texas, the presidential chief of staff, James A. Baker 3rd, said the assertion was "absolutely not true." The New York Times October 10, 1984 The Department of Defense said today that the United States would respond "with whatever assistance was neces- sary" 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 November 14, 1984 Asked whether the United States in- tended to invade Nicaragua, as the Nicaraguan government has been as- serting in recent days, Mr. Shultz said that "the invasion concerns seem to be a self-inflicted wound on the part of Nicaragua." "Obviously they are trying to whip up their population," he said. Asked if he would guarantee that the United States would not invade Nicaragua in the future, Mr. 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." The New York Times November 13, 1984
