Nicaragua’s New Constitution

The most hypocritical statement in Abrams’ diatribe against the Nicaraguan government is, “. . . Nicaraguans have fled their own country and thousands have taken up arms to reclaim rights and freedoms we Americans take for granted.”

Abrams “forgets” that Gen. Somoza overthrew the elected president in 1936 and then became president in an election supervised by his own troops. We supported the brutal, repressive, elitist government of Somoza and his family successors until the Sandinistas finally overthrew them. Now we support the contras , many of whom are the remnants of Somoza’s National Guard.

The sad and humiliating truth is that we have seldom, historically, supported the rights and freedom of Nicaraguans. The Sandinistas were elected in a seven-party race carefully supervised by organizations from many democratic countries. Although Marxist in philosophy, this is not a single-party government in the communist tradition. Neither is it an “elected” dictatorship in the Central American tradition. The election was more fair, free and democratic than any Nicaraguan election in nearly 50 years.

Sadly and alarmingly, the Sandinistas have become increasingly repressive as the war drags on, but Abrams forgets that we abridged our own freedoms during our Civil War.

Traditionally, we have espoused self-determination for all people. It is time for us to withdraw support from the contras, support the Contadora peace process with passionate determination, and let the Nicaraguans work out their own destiny.

VIRGINIA L. LOUAILLIER

Woodland Hills