A Diplomatic Blunder

The Nicaraguan government’s recent expulsion of two U.S. diplomats is not in keeping with the Sandinistas’ oft-stated desire to normalize relations with the United States. Officials in Managua should reconsider what seems to be a diplomatic blunder.

The day President Bush took office, the Sandinistas clearly signaled a desire to improve relations with the United States by offering to end a diplomatic standoff with Washington that had lasted for six months. It began last July when the Sandinistas expelled eight diplomats, including the U.S. ambassador, from Nicaragua for allegedly encouraging anti-government street protests. Former President Reagan responded by expelling the Nicaraguan ambassador and seven other Sandinista diplomats from this country. Afterwards, both governments prolonged the feud by delaying the issuance of visas for diplomats to replace the personnel that had been sent home. The Sandinistas took the first step towards ending that impasse on Bush’s inauguration day, when they offered to provide new visas for U.S. embassy personnel.

The two U.S. diplomats expelled last week had entered on new visas, and had been in the country less than a month. They are accused of interfering in Nicaragua’s internal affairs by “inciting” labor union members to join a series of teachers’ strikes. Spokesmen for the State Department acknowledge that the two diplomats met informally with labor union officials, but insist they were only doing their job, one diplomat being the U.S. embassy’s economic and commercial attache and the other a labor attache.

Most neutral accounts of the meeting indicate that the pair were doing no more than gathering information on Nicaragua’s labor turmoil. The harsh government reaction seems to be more the result of embarrassment than any violation of diplomatic etiquette. Many of the striking teachers are former Sandinista loyalists who are angry with the government because of layoffs and wage cuts decreed as a result of Nicaragua’s economic troubles. But the fact that such troubles exist in Nicaragua is no secret to anyone who closely follows events in that country. Expelling Americans trying to gather information on the situation does nothing but attract more attention to it and illustrates how paranoid some Sandinista officials are about the United States. The State Department should respond to this provocation calmly and constructively, rather than feeding Sandinista paranoia with a needless tit for tat.