Central America: Some Reluctant Friends

In Honduras and Costa Rica, concern about the U.S. presence increases

Not far from the sleepy fishing village of Trujillo on the Caribbean coast of Honduras, construction workers are toiling in the sweltering tropical heat to erect dozens of elevated wooden barracks. Each of the $2,000 buildings is made to last. Those already completed make up the nucleus of the Regional Military Training Center, where 150 U.S. advisers have instructed 6,000 Honduran and Salvadoran recruits over the past 13 months. Near by, workers have constructed sandbagged guard positions and bunkers large enough to...