Anarchy in Central America
Peter Strafford
There must be something about the mountains, jungles and volcanoes of Central America, or else the mixture of Spanish and Indian blood, which makes it a particularly turbulent place. It has always been like that, through a century and a half of changing constitutions, wars, civil wars and dictatorships. Now much of the region is going through a new upsurge of violence, as the Sandinista guerrillas pursue their latest attempt to overthrow the regime of President Somoza in Nicaragua, ambassadors and businessmen are taken hostage in El Salvador, and political leaders are gunned down in Guatemala. Each of these small countries has its own peculiarities, but they all have repressive military governments — they have other features in common, too, such as extreme poverty and backwardness, resistance to change on the part of a small propertied class, and large American interests.
The most critical of them is Nicaragua, Where the Sandinistas, named after a guerrilla leader, General Sandino, killed in 1934, now for the first time seem to be Within sight of defeating Somoza. Over the Past few weeks there have been armed uprisings in towns all over the country, Including Managua, the capital, and Leon, another large city which has been almost taken over by the guerrillas. The Sandinista groups have also come across the border from Costa Rica. The guerrillas are heavily outnumbered by the National Guard, Nicaragua's combined army and police force, and are far less well armed. They have no tanks or aircraft, for instance. But they have the advantage of popular support, longing many Nicaraguans of all classes are Longing for Somoza to go. So the National Guard have had difficulty in dislodging them, and have set about it with a great deal of .bloodshed and destruction, including the bombing of areas which are held by the Sandinistas. This latest guerrilla offensive is in fact the culmination of more than 18 months of Clashes, big and small, in the course of which the Sandinistas have become steadily stronger and better armed — although, for that matter, so have the National Guard. The Nicaraguan economy has been badly damaged, and the struggle has been closely w. atched throughout Central America and 13.eyond. In his heyday, Somoza was the dominant figure in the region, and his fall would cause considerable repercussions, Particularly if he was succeeded by a leftist regime. He himself has presented the issue as a fight against communism, and he can Probably count on the support of the Guatemalan and Salvadorean govern ments, which also see it in those terms. Honduras, another military government, but a less repressive one, is less certain, while the Sandinistas have received backing from Costa Rica and Panama to the south — Costa Rica the one democracy in Central America and Panama a much milder sort of military regime which is now trying to liberalise itself.
Further afield, Venezuela has long been opposed to Somoza, though less outspokenly since the new Administration took over last March, and Mexico and Ecuador have both recently broken off diplomatic relations. Cuba, though clearly sympathising with the Sandinistas, or at least the more leftist of them, has so far been careful not to become openly involved. The United States, the dominant power throughout Central America, which for a long time more or less ran Nicaragua, has been following developments with some embarrassment.
Somoza is unusual since he is only the latest in a line that has ruled Nicaragua for more than 40 years, and is particularly strongly entrenched. His father seized power in 1936, after being appointed head of the National Guard while the United States Marines occupied the country; and since then one Somoza or another has always been the power that counted in Nicaragua, whether or not he actually held the office of President. The family has become extremely rich, and now owns a large part of the economy, from the national airline, Lanica, to canning and construction firms, a bank, a newspaper and a television station.
Most important of all, it has retained the loyalty of the National Guard, which is virtually a private army. For a long time Nicaragua was closely aligned with the Americans, being regarded in Washington as a bulwark of anti-communism. It was used as a launching point for the Bay of Pigs invasion of Cuba in 1961, and was the leading member of Condeca. the Central American Defence Council set up to counter subversion in all six countries, from Guatemala to Panama.
But since President Carter took office, Somoza has come to be regarded as more of a liability by the Americans, because of his appalling human rights record. But they have been reluctant to break with him completely, and have failed in their main objective, which was to persuade him to make way quietly for a more democratic system. Over the months they have applied a certain number of pressures, such as the cutting off of military and economic aid, and the blocking of a loan from the International Monetary Fund last year. But Somoza has refused to step down, and says that he intends to stay in office until his term runs out in 1981; and last month the Americans did not object to an IMF package of some $65m. in loans, which will bail him out for the time being.
The main American fear is that if Somoza goes, he might be replaced by a government dominated by the Sandinistas, many of whom are Marxists. Somoza's most prominent opponent, Pedro Joaquiin Chamorro, was assassinated at the beginning of last year, and they have found it difficult to put together an effective opposition of moderates. The traditional parties are weak, and the groups set up by businessmen and others have had internal disagreements in the face of Somoza's intransigence. Yet the longer Somoza stays in power, the stronger the Sandinistas are likely to become, because they are increasingly seen as the only force capable of dislodging him. In fact they are by no means all Marxists, and have made a point of emphasising democratic principles. They included some moderates when they recently named five people to be members of a provisional government.
There is no one like Somoza in El Salvador or Guatemala, where military men tend to succeed each other as President, often through manifestly fraudulent elections. But in both countries any movement for social or political reform is liable to be regarded as a form of subversion, to be met with repression. This, of course, leads to violence, both by leftist groups and by right-wing organisations more or less openly sponsored by the government. In El Salvador there are at least three known terrorist groups, one of which kidnapped two British bankers, Mr Ian Massie and Mr Michael Chatterton, last November and is still holding them; another has claimed responsibility for killing the Minister of Education last month. There is also the Popular Revolutionary Block, a larger militant group made up of peasants, teachers and students which occupied three embassies in San Salvador last month, as well as the cathedral and several churches. On at least two occasions troops opened fire on people demonstrating in sympathy, killing over 30 of them.
In Guatemala, two leading politicians, Alberto Fuentes Mohr and Manuel Colom Argueta, both members of the liberal left, have been assassinated this year, victims of the 'death squads' that run rife in that country. They are only the tip of the iceberg. A report published in London last year by the Latin America Bureau estimated that there had been 20,000 political killings in Guatemala over the previous decade; and the tradition continues, with politicians, union leaders, university lawyers and officials and others all risking their lives if they are perceived as a threat to the system. There is probably no systematic plan, just the anarchy and violence which seem endemic in much of Central America.
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