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Whatever the actual military situation, the Sandinistas were trying to make the most of their uncomfortable circumstances. They demanded an emergency Security Council debate in the United Nations that eventually lasted five days. Nicaraguan Deputy Foreign Minister Victor Hugo Tinoco warned darkly that the conflict could turn into a war with neighboring Honduras, where many of the anti-Sandinista rebels have been based.
The Nicaraguan charges drew scathing replies from U.S. officials, who declared that there were many good reasons for the Nicaraguans to rebel against their Sandinista rulers. According to recent human rights reports, the regime has systematically violated the rights of local Miskito Indians, undermined religious freedom, and continued to practice arbitrary arrest and detention. Said State Department Spokesman Alan Romberg: "It is not surprising the Sandinistas are trying to convince their public and the outside world that there is not an internal problem in Nicaragua, when there is." Reagan Administration officials refused to discuss charges that the U.S. is covertly supporting the Nicaraguan insurgents. In a newspaper column, however, Ambassador Kirkpatrick implicitly defended the idea of such an operation, saying in effect that if Nicaragua and Cuba could arm and train revolutionary insurgents, it was wrong to think the U.S. could not do so.
Many of the 55 countries that took part in the U.N. Security Council debate felt that the U.S. was being disingenuous. Replying to a predictable Soviet diatribe about incidents of U.S. intervention in Latin America, Kirkpatrick said that such actions were past history. On the other hand, she added, a computer would be required to keep track of Soviet interventions in the affairs of other countries, the most recent example being Afghanistan.
Despite the show of support for Nicaragua, there were some important exceptions. Italy, Holland and Belgium, all NATO allies, remained quiet during the Security Council debate, as did France, which earned Washington's ire in January 1982 by selling $90 million worth of military equipment to the Sandinistas.
While Nicaragua is eager to urge other nations to condemn the U.S., it is far less anxious to consider many of the suggested peaceful solutions to Central America's political troubles. Even though the U.S. is aggrieved at the extremist nature of the Nicaraguan regime, it is far more concerned over Nicaraguan support for leftist insurgents in nearby El Salvador. Last October the U.S. endorsed the idea of an agreement with the Sandinistas that would have included an end to cross-border support for guerrillas, a ban on foreign military advisers in the region, and guarantees of local political pluralism. The Sandinistas dislike that Central American initiative, but the Reagan Administration says that it is still eager to pursue the earlier proposal.
Discussions are under way in Central America to hold a meeting of five Central American countries (Nicaragua, Honduras, El Salvador, Guatemala and Costa Rica), with five other Latin countries from the region as observers. Said Secretary of State George Shultz two weeks ago: "Nicaragua should be engaged in the process. Its good faith, or lack of it, will be tested." So far, however, no date has been set for that meeting, and Nicaragua is apparently refusing to participate.