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PASTOR GENERAL'S REPORT,. MARCH 28, 1986
PAGE 9
The Editor-in-Chief of U.S. NEWS AND WORLD REPORT, Mortimer B. Zuckerman,
gave this sobering assessment of the deepening crisis in Central America
in the March 24 issue of his magazine:
On the very day in 1983 when our group arrived in Managua, the
Sandinistas shut down the leading newspaper, LA PRENSA. Why?
Because LA PRENSA carried a news story the Sandinistas wanted
to cover up.... Prior to that visit, my sympathies had been
with the Sandinistas, who had fought bravely to rid Nicaragua
of the despicable Somoza. But it became clear that Nicaragua
is a revolution gone awry••••
The Sandinistas have made no secret of their policy of export
ing their brand of revolution--what they have called "revolu
tion without boundaries.•••• Nothing is more likely to lead to
direct U.S. military involvement in the region than the emer
gence of a militaristic, anti-Ameri9an (the Sandinista anthem
goes "Down with the Yankees, _ the enemy of humanity•), aggres
sive, totalitarian regime in Nicaragua bouncing around Central
America like a loose cannon.
This is why the region is so
critical to U.S. security.
We can't allow a second Cuba. So what can we do? We should
both talk and carry a big stick--what is called a two-track
policy•••• We should test them by asking for a withdrawal from
the Soviet sphere of influence and a commitment to peaceful
coexistence.... The Sandinista record is one of broken
promises. But this test is worth a try--if only to demonstrate
to doubters in our country and elsewhere the alien nature of
the Sandinista regime•••• The Democrats should think hard and
long about what is at stake. It is more than simply a sem
blance of freedom in Nicaragua.
It is peace and stability
throughout Central America--whicb after all lies in our own
backyard.
-
Palme's death: Chickens come home to roost Police in Stockholm, Sweden,
are still at a loss for clues leading to apprehension of the person or
persons who assassinated Prime Minister Olof Palme on March 1. The motive
for the crime is equally unclear.
The murder stunned the Swedish
populace, which was accustomed to having its chief executive pop up unan
nounced and unescorted in public.
But no longer can Swedes claim "it
can't happen here."
Even though Mr. Palme was widely respected in the world, especially in
Third World countries for whose causes he ardently strove, he had his
domestic detractors. Critics on the right claimed he was far too soft on
Communism, especially toward the Soviets, whose submarines snoop in
Swedish coastal waters almost with impunity.
Officers in Sweden's
military were becoming so disheartened over this ongoing problem that some
of them had come out in favor of Sweden joining NATO, a course which would
terminate Sweden's long-standing principle of neutrality.
Mr. Palme, reported the March 3 TIMES of London, also "appeared to take
particular relish in criticising the United States." In 1968 he marched in
an anti-American demonstration
·
in Stockholm with North Vietnam's