| From a little island in Nicaragua,
we bump over gravel roads, rock to-and-fro on a ferry, sit shoulder-to-shoulder
in a public bus, stand in the rain at the borderpost, and hitch-a-ride to the
Costa Rican resort town of Fortuna. We're moving south quickly because we've had
our fill of Central America's Spanish churches, colonial architecture, steamy
jungle and volcanoes. An American expat (Costa Rica is chock full of them) picked
us up and drove us to Fortuna. She's teaching Spanish but didn't mind talking
English with a couple of sweaty and smelly gringos. Costa Rica keeps Central America's
best reputation as a stable country betwixt turbulent neighbors, but the roads
still have potholes that could swallow a buffalo. |
| Our
Nicaraguan camp manager has named his piglets Ollie North and Ronald Reagan, for
their involvment in Iran Contra. A Lonely Planet bulletin recounts the history
this way: "It wasn't long before Nicaragua encountered serious problems from
its 'good neighbor' to the north. The US government, which had supported the Somozas
until the end, was alarmed that the Nicaraguans were setting a dangerous example
to the region. A successful popular revolution was not what the US government
wanted. Three months after Ronald Reagan took office in 1981, the USA announced
that it was suspending aid to Nicaragua and allocating US$10 million for the organization
of counter-revolutionary groups known as Contras. The Sandinistas responded by
using much of the nation's resources to defend themselves against the US-funded
insurgency. In 1984, elections were held in which Daniel Ortega, the leader of
the Sandinistas, won 67% of the vote, but the USA continued its attacks on Nicaragua.
In 1985, the USA imposed a trade embargo that lasted five years and strangled
Nicaragua's economy. By this time it was widely known that the USA was funding
the Contras, often covertly through the CIA, and Congress passed a number of bills
that called for an end to the funding. US support for the Contras continued secretly
until the so-called Irangate scandal revealed that the CIA had illegally sold
weapons to Iran (its enemy and against the wishes of its ally, Iraq) at inflated
prices, and used the profits to fund the Contras." |
