If we're going to have to remember Ronald Reagan, then we should also remember Ben Linder

[ck4829]

American engineer who was murdered by contras in Nicaragua.

He wasn't a guerrilla, but apparently trying to bring electricity to some of Nicaragua's poorest people was enough to get you wounded by a grenade and then shot in the head at point-blank range.

I have yet to hear how murdering this man brought freedom and democracy to Nicaragua, why is the 'liberal' media which glorifies Reagan 24/7 avoiding this?

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ben_Linder

[Joe Bacon]

1. Also remember Bill Stewart

The ABC Reporter killed by Somoza's thugs. Still remember that video clip of the thugs shooting Stewart in the head. And how American Conservatives (ESPECIALLY YOU, GEORGE WILL) downplayed it...

[a la izquierda]

3. That, technically, had little to do with Reagan...

trust me, I'm not apologist for him. I study this period in Latin America for a living. However, there are Democratic presidents who deserve to shoulder some of the blame of the messes in Latin America, though more indirectly. Kennedy tried to throw money at the problems (like Chile and Alliance for Progress); Carter, whom I greatly admire, chose to ignore the problem of Nicaragua for awhile.

But at any rate, Stewart died in 1979, before Reagan took office. The contra atrocities deserve his direct blame. So do Salvadoran death squads.

[Enthusiast]

4. Democrats voted not to fund the Contra

rebels. The Reagan Administration violated the constitution by ignoring the vote of a majority of elected representatives in funding the Contras. To fund this effort the Reagan Administration sold spare parts and arms to our sworn enemy -Iran. Apparently they also created, smuggled and sold crack cocaine to help fund these illegal operations.

Carter chose not to interfere in the politics of Nicaragua because it was not seen as a "problem" by a majority of our elected representatives. Carter might have wanted to change the government in Nicaragua but chose not to violate the constitution to accomplish this end as Reagan later did. During the entire period of the cold war the far right in this nation considered any duly elected leftist government as undesirable.

[a la izquierda]

6. Yes, I know this. I was responding to the post about Bill Stewart.

It technically happened under Carter's watch.
Carter, a human rights advocate, sat by and watched while the Somozas tortured Nicaraguan citizens. I'm not suggesting he could have done anything, but he really hemmed and hawed over US support for a murderous dictator while people in Nicaragua suffered greatly. Somoza was our bought and paid for dictator, and Carter SHOULD have told him to vamoose. He didn't. When Somoza was finally forced out of office, Reagan could not stand the idea of "commies" taking over. He ratcheted up the violence as a result of the Sandinista victory.

Tell me, why is it that Republicans can do whatever the fuck they want internationally, and Democrats, when they should act, don't? Republicans get passes, Democrats don't seem to want to push the envelope in the face of gross violations of human rights.

I can go on and on with other examples from Latin America. The bottom line, Democrats and Republicans are to blame: Republicans for aiding and abetting murderous tyrants and death squads, and Democrats (in general) for sitting on their hands while thousands died. And people wonder why Latin Americans don't give a shit whether a Democrat or a Republican is in office. They were always screwed either way.

[Blue_Tires]

2. kicked for truth

[Octafish]

5. Thank you, ck4829.

Ben Linder: The Gift of a Dreamer

[murdoch]

7. George H. W. Bush said at the time that Linder "was on the other side"

Linder certainly was on the other side - the other side from Bush, and his idle class parasite ilk whose families made their fortunes in the munitions business, on the other side of the Iran-Contra crooks who didn't hesitate to support people who didn't hesitate to assassinate Catholic archbishop Romero and then attack his funeral cortege, and the people who beat, raped, murdered and then mutilated four nuns before throwing them in a ditch. That is the side Bush and Reagan and all of them were on and funding, often illictly, it is a credit to Linder he "was on the other side".