Chamorro’s Upset Win in Nicaragua

Many people say that they were surprised by the Sandinistas defeat. Actually, there was nothing surprising because the election was a free choice between democracy and dictatorship, particularly at a time when overthrowing dictatorial rule has become a world trend.

The Sandinistas defeat has vindicated the Reagan Administration’s policy of a trade embargo against the Latin American communist state. There has been a lot of dispute among pundits and government officials about the effectiveness of the embargo. Some of them have maintained that it can only increase the suffering of the people and they have used this rationale to oppose further trade sanctions against China after Beijing’s crackdown on the pro-democracy movement.

They say that it was the trade embargo that drove the Sandinista regime to change the policy of bullets into a policy of ballots, and forced the South African government to make tremendous concessions to the black majority, but they have continued their efforts to ease trade sanctions against China. Isn’t this contradictory?

The Sandinista regime is gone, an end to the war in El Salvador is in sight. The development certainly has unnerved Fidel Castro in Cuba.

As the democracy movement is expanding and the people in every part of the world are rising up against dictators, I don’t think Deng Xiaoping in the “People’s” Republic of China can sleep well if he continues to suppress the aspirations of the people.

THOMAS CHEN

Los Angeles