Nicaragua: A Whole New Universe

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A left-wing military buildup worries Washington

By the multibillion-dollar standards of the international arms trade, the deal that came to light last week was almost unworthy of notice. The Socialist government of French President Francois Mitterrand had quietly agreed to sell $17.5 million worth of "nonoffensive" military equipment to the Marxist-dominated Sandinista government of Nicaragua. The items: two patrol boats, two Alouette III helicopters and 15 trucks. Paris also contracted to train a dozen Nicaraguan pilots and an equal number of sailors in the use of the equipment. Yet when word of the deal reached Washington, both Secretary of State Alexander Haig and Defense Secretary Caspar Weinberger registered their "strong disappointment" at the decision of the French government. The reason: the sale ran directly counter to a growing sense of alarm in Washington over the arms buildup in Nicaragua. The arsenal is reaching unprecedented proportions for Central America, and has already turned the country into the predominant military power of the region.

What is more, Nicaragua is willing to use its force, as it illustrated unmistakably last week during a skirmish in the remote swamplands of eastern Honduras. Some 75 members of the revolutionary army of Nicaragua collided with roughly equal numbers of Miskito Indians, members of a Nicaraguan tribe that has rebelled against their country's Marxist-dominated Sandinista government. When the shooting stopped at least eight Indians were dead, according to sketchy local reports, and the Honduran government was enraged at a clear violation of its borders by the Sandinista forces. The ill-equipped Honduran army went on full alert, Honduran troops sped to the trouble zone, and the foreign ministry angrily berated Nicaragua.

There was no immediate danger of a war between the two countries, but the flare-up was yet another sign of the tense atmosphere in a region that is increasingly aboil with Marxist guerrilla activity. The aims, ambitions and military preparations of the Sandinista regime worry Washington and Nicaragua's neighbors. Says Lieut. General Wallace Nutting, head of the Panama-based U.S. Southern Command: "All of a sudden, Nicaragua has become a military base of substantive potential. It's a whole new universe."

Ever since the Sandinistas overthrew the late dictator Anastasio Somoza Debayle in July 1979, the revolutionary government has zealously embraced Marxism. The Reagan Administration has long charged that the Sandinistas, backed by Cuba and the Soviet Union, give substantial aid to the broadening guerrilla insurgency in El Salvador, where the U.S. is the principal backer of the civilian-military government of President José Napoleón Duarte. The U.S. is also a firm supporter of Honduras. Furthermore, the Administration fears that the Nicaraguan military buildup will start a regional arms race, something that no country in the area can afford.