Noam Chomsky - Turning the Tide U.S. intervention in

Patterns of Intervention
Classics in Politics: Turning the Tide Noam Chomsky
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enjoying a fraction of the foreign support provided to Pastora, but
nevertheless surviving within El Salvador, where they originated and
remain. It is difficult to avoid the conclusion that the most popular figure
among the contra leadership was unable to mobilize significant popular
support within Nicaragua.
Pastora is praised across the political spectrum in the US as the
authentic “freedom fighter” and “democrat” whom we must support. If
his credentials are as solid as alleged, then his fate stands as a further
indictment of US policy, which is revealed as unable to tolerate a
democratic alternative to the Somozist-led FDN. Whatever the truth of
these claims, they have no bearing on the issue of US military aid for the
attacks launched from Pastora’s Costa Rican bases; it is not proposed
that we support honest democrats in military attacks against far more
terrible governments.
Though the issue is not strictly relevant here, it might be noted that
the widespread acclaim for Pastora is difficult to assess because it has
not been accompanied by an exposition of what he stands for. One
exception is the “extensive statement” by Pastora published “with great
pride” by the rightwing Journal of Contemporary Studies, which
describes it as, “To our knowledge, the first time this great Central
American patriot’s outlook has been directly communicated, in detail, to
our part of the hemisphere.” Here, Pastora expresses his willingness to
join with the FDN, but not as a subordinate, and expresses his support
for what he calls the “democratic opposition” within Nicaragua, namely,
the pro-contra journal La Prensa and COSEP, the Higher Council for
Private Enterprise, representing business interests. He criticizes the
Sandinistas for failing to understand the seriousness of warnings from
Under-Secretary of State for Latin American Affairs Thomas Enders—
”the Empire was speaking,” he observes, but the Sandinista leadership
did not appreciate the fact. He opposes the “Cubanization” of the