D'Escoto on Ronald Reagan: 'crimes in the name of democracy.'

Catholic New Times, July 4, 2004 by Miguel D'Escoto

Editor's note: Fr. Miguel D'Escoto was Nicaragua's foreign minister under the Sandinista government in the 1980s. CNT covered Nicaragua quite extensively in those years. A Maryknoll priest, D'Escoto lived through the worst oppression of the corrupt Somoza years before the Sandinista revolution in 1979.

One of the most prophetic voices for gospel nonviolence, the American-born Nicaraguan begged Archbishop Obando y Bravo in the late 1970s to lead the people into the streets armed only with rosaries in their hands and prayers on their lips. In this way they would share the Cross of Christ. It never happened.

He later said that "the cancer of oppression, injustice and exploitation was allowed to grow and the people rose up with the means available to them, armed struggle."

D'Escoto, as foreign minister (1979-1990) under the new government, had a front row seat in negotiating with the Reagan regime. On May 15, 1992 he visited CNT and talked about Maryknoll's wish to reassign him out of Central America.

The following is D 'Escoto's reflection on the death of Ronald Reagan.

I, for one, would like to say only nice things about the late president. I'm not insensitive to the feelings of many U.S. people mourning Mr. Reagan, but I pray that God in his infinite mercy and goodness forgive him for having been the butcher of my people, for having been responsible for the deaths of some 50,000 Nicaraguans. We cannot, we should not, ever forget the crimes he committed in the name of what he falsely labeled freedom and democracy.

More perhaps than any other U.S. president, Reagan convinced many around the world that the U.S. is a fraud, a big lie. Not only was it not democratic, but in fact the greatest enemy of the right of self-determination of peoples. Reagan was known as the great communicator, and I believe that that is true only if one believes that to be a great communicator means to be a good liar. That he was for sure. He could proclaim the biggest lies without even as much as blinking an eyelash. Hearing him talk about how we were supposedly persecuting Jews and burning down non-existent synagogues, I was led to believe really, that Reagan was possessed by demons. Frankly, I do believe Reagan at that time as much as Bush today was indeed possessed by the demons of manifest destiny.

Of course, as I say this, I'm quite aware that to the people of say, for example, Project for a New American Century, that is counted as a big plus. Because of Reagan and his spiritual heir, George W. Bush, the world today is far less safe and secure than it has ever been. Reagan in fact was an international outlaw. He came to the Presidency of the United States shortly after Somoza, a dictator that the U.S. has imposed over Nicaragua for practically half a century, had been deposed by Nicaraguan Nationalists under the leadership of the Sandinista Liberation Front.

To Reagan, Nicaragua had to be re-conquered. He blamed Carter for having lost Nicaragua, as if Nicaragua ever belonged to anyone else other than the Nicaraguan people. Reagan invented, mounted, financed and directed the Contra War, about which he continually lied to the people, helping the United States people to be the most ignorant people around the world. I said ignorant, I don't say not intelligent. They are ignorant of what the U.S. does abroad. People don't even begin to see--if they did, they would rebel. And so, he lied to the people, as Bush lies to the people today and as they push on, thinking that the United States is above every law, human or divine.

And we took the United States, Reagan's United States, his government to court, the World Court. I was Foreign Minister at that time here in Nicaragua. I was responsible for that. And the United States government received the harshest sentence, the harshest condemnation ever in the history of world justice. Despite the U.S. proclaiming its moral superiority, its adherence to international law and obedience to the World Court, when the they were brought to the World Court in Nicaragua and received the condemnation, the United States failed to heed the sentence, owing Nicaragua between $20,000 and $30,000 million. This moderate estimate was calculated by the United Nations Economic Commission for Latin America, along with Harvard University, Oxford and the University of Paris.

The United States was ordered to pay for the damage. Bush never even wanted to talk to me about it. I said, "Well, let's have a meeting so that you comply with your sentence of the court." He said to me in two different letters that there was nothing to talk about.

So, Reagan did damage to Nicaragua beyond the imagination of the people who are hearing me now. The ripple effects of that criminal murderous interventions in my country will go on for what, 50 years or more.