To Ronald Reagan, Nicaragua is a "cancer" in the Western Hemisphere, a potential Soviet "beachhead" in North America, a haven for dope smugglers and terrorists. The country is in the grip of "an outlaw regime" of Marxist-Leninists who torture pastors and burn down synagogues. Left to fester, Reagan warned the nation last week, the Nicaragua of Sandinista Leader Daniel Ortega Saavedra will become a "second Cuba"--worse, a "second Libya, right on the doorstep of the United States."
The specter conjured up by the President is a frightening one, and though exaggerated, it contains elements of truth. But last week it failed...