European Stars And Stripes (Newspaper) - November 22, 1987, Darmstadt, Hesse                                Page 10 columns1" the stars and stripes sunday. November 22.1987 Flora Lewis a War against Fidel Castro to the last nicaraguan As everyone knows Miami is an Odd place. In is definitely part of the United states but it is also the capital of a misty latin american Republic called Exi Lia a Cunia or nostalgia according to Choice it lives steadily preoccupied with Cuba some to mics and a world away but Cuba can be approached from various directions. At the moment in is being approached via Nicara Gua. For nicaraguan exiles this is a period of great concern of both fear and exhilaration As Maneu vers proceed around the possibility of a negotiated , Carem Hopes Are at stake. Even civil War Cre ates vested interests in its own perpetuation. No one can speak out against peace. That says Arturo Cruz a former member of the sandinista Junta and for a Lime until he quit in disgust its ambassador i Washington is the great moral strength of the process launched by Costa Rica s president Oscar Arias. They say Arias has a Carrot and no stick Cru commented in a conversation but he does have a Slick and in is effective in Alt of latin America. He has shrewdly with great political pragmatism arranged to construct an offer which cannot be openly  but Many arc afraid of peace lest it permit consolidation of the sandinista regime. Cruz believes thai leaders of the Contra movement in much he does Noi Lake part Long held the illusion that sooner or later the United Stales would Send its own forces to overthrow the sandinista so the exiled opposition had Only to Anthony Lewis prevent the Managua regime from cementing its foundations. In made us look like provocateurs insensitive to the need for social change without anything to offer. That was the biggest mistake/1 he urges patience ii let mediation and negotiation Advance without pro claiming failure so that elections can be held in 1990. The focus should be on the anti sandinista opposition within the country not on the  guerrillas based outside Cruz said Hough he agrees with the Contros that they should not disarm if a cease fire is achieved until there is a political settlement. Some supporters of the Contra movement claim it is More United now thai work is beginning on the Arias plan than in had Ever been before. Bui Here is still plenty of evidence of disagreement among them particularly on what will happen to the movement if he Low of american arms is Cut off and a Casc firc docs Lake hold. The difference is essentially whether they think their support will tin1 up in bitter disillusion or spread with More Active Hope for political change. The More thoughtful ones insist that just As the sandinista proclaimed themselves a political military Force there must be both a political and military approach to settlement. Alvaro Taboada a professor and political analyst Points out that if the contras could achieve a military Victory which is highly doubtful in would bring a Bloodbath Itiat incr Somoza and in a few years another perhaps stronger communist move ment. We need both strength and flexibility he said because flexibility without strength becomes Retreat and strength without flexibility becomes  but for the cuban americans Nicaragua is a metaphor i he Leader who Nave Learned in Nike heir weight fell in american politics in a Way that is unavailable to he nicaraguans Are basically aware no decisions Are currently possible that would make a difference on the question of Cuba. Luis Lauredo is a Democrat and considers himself a centrist in the narrow Range of cuban american Opin Ion where the vote goes 90 percent to republicans. Nonetheless to gel his support he says a democratic presidential candidate must have to reasonable policy on Nicaragua which to him Means backing the anti sandinista. And what would be a reasonable policy towards Cuba neither he nor cuban americans who put themselves on his right and his left had an answer. Docs this mean they want to fight i hair Battle against Fidel Castro to the last nicaraguan that Isan important question a very important question Laurido said soberly but again no answers. This is going to have an influence on the politics of . Centra american policy. Ii must be resisted Nicaragua is not Cuba and the View from Miami through a distorting Lens. Exilia ref Jujia and nostalgia arc not the right capitals for making . Foreign policy. C now York t . Central America policy Wright or wrong speaker Jim Wrights Active role in encouraging the peace process in Nicaragua has predictably nettled the Reagan administration. Foreign policy must be left to the president its spokesmen complain. The commentators write about historic tests of constitutional Power. The dispatch of . Armed forces earlier in this Cen Tury Sheds Light on the Wright Reagan affair and Illus trates the Battle then and now Over the prerogatives of the branches of government thai is the conflict in United states opinion and policy Over whether this country should try to dictate events in latin America. The United Stales has acted again and again toward the Region As what can Only be called an Imp end Power. In has used its own military forces and Covert actions to install or protect regimes that in regarded As Friendly. As Long ago As 1912. President Taft sent marines to Nicaragua they were there on and off into the 1930s and they finally left Only after installing the Somoza family As satraps. In 1954 president Eisenhower undertook the Covert military operation that overthrew the elected govern ment of Guatemala. Operation Success As the Cia called in led Guatemala into three decades of torture murder and political instability. That is one Strain in the history of . Relations with latin America. But there has been another the Promise of respect and friendliness implicit in for example. Franklin Roosevelt s Good neighbor policy and John f. Kennedy s Alliance for Progress. The latin reaction to that history is a fundamental political reality in the Region. Across the spectrum of politics there is resentment of . Interventionism ii is a Mailer of Pride of self respect. Yet at the sometime those who have suffered under latin dictatorships Over the years have looked to our free Dom for inspiration. Carlos Fuentes the mexican writer and Diplomat summed up the feelings in a comment last summer. The United slates has been the Jekyll and Hyde of latin America he said. We Admire the democracy we deplore the expansionist and manipulative Empire the Reagan administration has not understood those feelings or the important part they play in Central Ameri can approaches to the peace process now. That failure of understanding is one reason for the administration s Hap less bungling m the peace negotiations the bungling thai led speaker Wright to step into the vacuum. What the Reagan people did not grasp in that All five countries of Central America despite their Sharp Polit ical differences have an interest in making the peace plan their presidents signed in Guatemala work the Point is that in is their plan. In was not imposed by the sei58 United suit. In the same Way the whole Region lakes Pride in the Nobel peace prize awarded to the inspirer of the plan. President Oscar Arias of Cosu Rica. The prize says to those countries that they count that they Are entitled to respect. When president Reagan criticized the peace plan he offended those political feelings. He aroused the old fears of dictation and condescension from the North. To do that was to Lake his government out of a process that was in fact going ahead the willingness of Miguel Cardinal Obando y Bravo of Nicaragua to act As a mediator spoke volumes. The Cardinal has been a very Likely the prime critic of the Sand Nisu government inside Nicaragua. Cyl he accepted the role when president Daniel Ortega asked him to undertake it ii was Ai that Point that speaker Wright offered his Good offices his View As he had explained earlier was that Central american Leaden had to make peace themselves. The speaker s visible role wounded the Reagan administration s amour proper. An Anonymous official whose Lough Guy talk sounded very much like assist ant Secretary of state Elliott Abrams denounced his activities As guerrilla  of course the administration is not Upsel by constitutional niceties any More than Abrams was when he lied to Congress to cover up illegal Aid to the nicaraguan centres. What bothers them in thai their policy toward Nicaragua is being rejected rejected Here and in Central America. They want War. That is the policy. Thai is Why the created the Contra army directed it supplied it. That is Why the president says he will struggle for the con tras As Long As there is breath in this  but their policy has failed As Wight said they Are scared to death that peace will break  in a York tawn