Battle for Hearts and Minds

The Sandinistas and CONTRAS vie for U.S. support

In downtown Boston, black-robed protesters wearing skull masks act as pall- bearers in a mock funeral for Nicaragua's war casualties. A banner reads 7,000 NICARAGUANS MURDERED BY CIA CONTRAS. At a University of Florida rally in Gainesville, students on the other side of the issue call the contras "freedom fighters" and cheer as Marcos Zeledon, a leader of those rebels, decries Nicaragua's Marxist-led Sandinista government. In Los Angeles a large crowd gathers to hear liberal Actor Ed Asner debate with Lewis Lehrman, a conservative activist. The subject: "Should the U.S. resume aid to the contras?"

For both sides in the Nicaraguan...

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