Nicaragua ‘deteriorating’

Press, 26 February 1986, Page 16

Nicaragua ‘deteriorating’

By Tony Catterall in Bonn

Following the Amnesty International report criticising the human rights situation in Nicaragua, a senior West German politician who has recently returned from a Central American tour says there has been “a considerable deterioration” there in the last year. Mr Hans-Jurgen Wischnewski, a veteran Latin American specialist in the opposition Social Democratic Party (S.P.D.), told a news conference in Bonn early in February that he saw “no positive development towards democracy in Nicaragua.”

The S.P.D. has been a constant

supporter of the Sandinista Government since the overthrow of the Somosa dictatorship in 1979 and Mr Wischnewski has been a frequent visitor. Since his last trip a year ago, he said, the number of opponents to the Sandinistas has grown: even the opposition parties which had earlier talked with the Government now uttered only hard criticism.

The dialogue between the Government and the Church was “in complete tatters,” although one positive side was that it was being resumed. However, the conditions for peaceful development were not there.

Mr Wischnewski expressed unease at developments within the Sandinista Party which were “not moving in a democratic direction.” The Government of President Daniel Ortega was not worrying so much about its international reputation as it had previously.

At the same time, Mr Wischnewski said, Nicaragua could not be called a Communist land: opposition parties still existed, there was an opposition newspaper and the Church remained extremely strong. Copyright, London Observer Service.