CIA Activities in Nicaragua

Thank you for your editorial “Necessary Evil?” (Sept. 25) in response to House Speaker Jim Wright’s decision to reveal the CIA’s provoked acts of aggression against Nicaragua. Most of us have been aware of this for a long time. We applaud Wright’s decision to act with courage and integrity, and pray that others in political offices will stand up and speak the truth.

Your editorial brings forth many questions, as well as a sigh of relief that Ronald Reagan, with his destructive foreign policy and “dirty little war in Nicaragua,” was not awarded the Nobel Peace Prize. Some of our questions are: Why are Reagan and others obsessed with conquering this tiny country, about the size of Iowa, with a population of 3 million? Will George Bush, former CIA head with his “peace by force” policy, continue this pattern of covert wars, with no other elected officials, including members of Congress, involved in the decision? What do we gain from this violence and terrorism?

We recently returned from Nicaragua and feel a great sense of unity with the people there. We were free to talk to anyone and to go anywhere--anywhere except inside the American Embassy. We did join with other Norteamericanos in front of the embassy in Managua, where they gather once a week to protest the illegal and immoral U.S. foreign policy and send a message to Reagan that “we do not want to be rescued.” The many caring people who are in Nicaragua helping to rebuild the country that our tax money is destroying also fear an invasion of Managua, with Reagan using the excuse that the Norteamericanos must be saved from the Sandinistas or whatever fantasy he chooses. Remember the pretended rescue of Americans in Grenada?

We wish that President and Mrs. Reagan could visit in Matagalpa with the Mothers of the Heroes and Martyrs who have been tortured and killed by the Contras. One mother had been in the U.S. on a speaking tour and had seen the hungry and the homeless. She asked us to ask our President why he does not use our tax money to put food into the mouths of the hungry and jackets on the backs of the homeless, instead of killing innocent people in Nicaragua.

To be with these people is a spiritual experience. They have a deep faith and a deep commitment to save their country.

DON THOMPSON

JANE THOMPSON

Long Beach