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Administration Allowing Nicaraguan Refugees To Remain In United
States
By PETE YOST
Associated Press Writer
    WASHINGTON (AP) - The Reagan administration announced today that
Nicaraguan exiles, numbering as many as 200,000 nationwide, will be
permitted to remain in the United States under a liberalized
immigration policy.
    Attorney General Edwin Meese III signed an order, after consultation
with the White House, ensuring that Nicaraguans who have fled to the
United States can remain here, the Justice Department said in a
statement.
    No Nicaraguan with a well-founded fear of persecution from the
leftist Sandinista government will be deported unless he has engaged
in serious criminal activity or poses a danger to national security,
the Justice Department statement said.
    There are an estimated 60,000 Nicaraguans in South Florida and 90 in
Florida who are eligible for immediate deportation, according to
immigration officials. Refugee advocates say as many as 75,000
Nicaraguans have settled in South Florida since the July 1979 triumph
of the Sandinista revolution.
    Nationwide, there are an estimated 150,000-200,000 Nicaraguan
exiles, according to the Immigration and Naturalization Service.
    Nicaraguans will be permitted to remain in the United States ''for
the present'' under Meese's order, which ''is effective until further
notice,'' the Justice Department statement said.
    Every qualified Nicaraguan seeking a work authorization will be
entitled to one, the statement added.
    Also, Nicaraguans whose claims for asylum or withholding of
deportation have been denied are encouraged by the Immigration and
Naturalization Service to reapply for reopening or rehearing of such
claims.
a213  1044  18 Jul 87
AM-Sandinista Anniversary, Bjt,0568
Nicaraguan Revolution is Eight Years Old
By ELOY O. AGUILAR
Associated Press Writer
    MANAGUA, Nicaragua (AP) - Fed on a mixture of Marxist and
nationalist ideology, the Sandinista revolution turns eight years old
Sunday.
    Surviving that long is ''one of our main accomplishments,'' says
Bayardo Arce, the leftist government's political coordinator.
    Not many more accomplishments are visible. Nicaragua is embroiled in
a civil war with armed groups supported by the United States. Empty
supermarket shelves, ration cards for all products and long lines for
scarce products are the open wounds of a sick economy.
    The Sandinistas maintain political power on the strength of their
military. There is a growing erosion of the popularity that brought
them to power.
    They have used external and internal threats as pretexts to tighten
domestic controls, such as shutting down unsympathetic news media,
limiting the activities of opposition parties, and even trying to
muzzle the Roman Catholic Church.
    President Daniel Ortega was elected to a five-year term in 1984 in
an election boycotted by anti-Sandinista parties. The only opposition
in the National Assembly comes from a small group of parties that
support the revolution but disagree with the Sandinista National
Liberation Front, or FSLN by its Spanish initials.
    Arce and the government say the revolution has managed to accomplish
many things in spite of constant attacks. They cite a successful
literacy campaign and an agrarian reform that redistributed more than
4.3 million acres of land.
    They argue that the war has caused damage estimated at $3 billion
and that it consumes 40 per cent of the national budget.
    But critics argue that the revolution has failed because its leaders
betrayed the principles that rallied the Nicaraguans around the bands
of youths in the FSLN to overthrow the 40-year-old right-wing
dictatorship of the Somoza family in 1979.
    Under Cardinal Miguel Obando y Bravo, who once called the Sandinista
struggle a just one, the Roman Catholic Church has been one of the
harshest government critics. It accuses the FSLN of trying to
establish a Cuban-like regime in Nicaragua.
    The government has branded Obando y Bravo a counterrevolutionary,
and he is a constant target of the government-controlled media.
    ''Blood is still being shed, there is scarcity, there is hunger, our
people are leaving the country,'' said the Rev. Uriel Reyes, press
spokesman for the cardinal. ''People are opposed to the political
direction of the revolution.''
    ''The revolution was betrayed,'' said Enrique Bolanos, president of
the Council of Private Enterprise. ''It started as a Nicaraguan
revolution without Marxist characteristics. Now people are
discouraged and opposition is growing and part of that opposition has
taken arms.''
    Arce said in an interview that President Reagan ''pledged to destroy
our revolution. We have been under constant aggression and we feel
that Reagan will continue to attack us during the last phase of his
government.''
    Bolanos and other government opponents inside Nicaragua agree the
government is still firmly in control because of the efficient
internal security apparatus that discourages open criticism.
    Arce acknowledged the the economic situation is difficult, but
denied an ersoion of public support.
    The anniversary ceremonies, which normally are turned into a display
of propaganda in front of distinguished guests, will be subdued this
year and held in the city of Matagalapa, about 100 miles north of the
capital.
    
 
AP-NY-07-18-87 1334EDT
***************

a261  1707  10 Jul 88
AM-Nicaragua-Protest,0400
Police Hurl Tear Gas, Beat Protesters at Anti-Sandinista Rally
By BRYNA BRENNAN
Associated Press Writer
    NANDAIME, Nicaragua (AP) - Police hurled tear gas and kicked and
beat protesters with rifle butts Sunday to disperse thousands of
people in one of the largest rallies ever against the leftist
Sandinista government.
    The official Voice of Nicaragua said 10 police officers were injured
in the hourlong protest but did not give any figures for civilian
casualties in this small city about 40 miles south of Managua, the
capital. It said 38 protesters were detained.
    The violence erupted after the estimated 10,000 protesters marched
several blocks along the city's mud-covered streets.
    The marchers, some carrying signs saying: ''Democracy Yes, Communism
No,'' then gathered in an open field for speeches. Witnesses said
police began pushing and shoving at the back of the crowd.
    People suddenly started screaming and running for cover as police,
wearing gas masks and carrying AK-47 rifles, lobbed tear gas
cannisters into the crowd. Groups of protesters grabbed stones and
sticks and started hurling them at police. ''You murderous dogs!''
one man yelled.
    Police beat several people with their fists, feet and rifle butts.
One man stood stunned, blood dripping down his face, his arms cut.
    Witnesses said police threw one of the rally organizers, Carlos
Huembes, to the ground, then punched and kicked him.
    Plainclothes security agents confiscated film from several
photographers, including one from The Associated Press.
    Scores of heavily armed police in four-wheel drive vehicles and
pickup trucks had stood guard before the violence erupted.
    ''We're here to make sure that order is kept,'' an officer said.
    A state security officer told the AP later that police had used tear
gas in response to stone-throwing by the protesters.
    The demonstration, one of the largest yet against the leftist
government, was organized by the Democratic Coordinate, an umbrella
group for anti-government political parties and trade organizations.
    It was authorized by the government, which staged its own
pro-Sandinista demonstration in the town over the weekend.
    ''This is to show the people want democracy,'' said protester Myriam
Arguello, secretary-general of the anti-government Conservative
Party, only minutes before the violence erupted.
    Public discontent against the Sandinistas has increased this year as
Nicaragua's economy worsens and the government's war against
U.S.-backed rebels, known as Contras, remains unsettled.
    
 
AP-NY-07-10-88 1957EDT
***************