Sandinista

In 1990, Violeta Chamorro floated over bloody Nicaragua, pronounced it healed and was elected president.She had appeared as if from heaven -- a still beautiful grandmother, almost invariably dressed in white, who traveled the rutted dirt roads of that heavily Catholic country in a vehicle designed to resemble the "pope mobile."The non-charismatic Mrs. Chamorro even managed a semblance that tight, benign smile peculiar to Pope John Paul II. And for a while, the 64-year-old newspaper publisher was the saintly embodiment of the nation's desire to bind its wounds.

WINNING AN ELECTION against a ruling Communist Party is one thing. Dismantling its control of a country is quite another.From Russia to Prussia, from Warsaw to Managua, newly elected leaders confront entrenched officials of the previous Marxist regime who are still running all aspects of economy, state and society.These new democratic leaders are confronted with similar questions. Should they leave the experienced Marxist bureaucrats and managers in place -- and run the risk that the Marxists will sabotage the new policies?

WASHINGTON -- Rallying outside the Capitol, hundreds of Central Americans demanded yesterday that the United States accept refugees from their war-torn homelands the same way it welcomes those who fled from Cuba and Nicaragua.The demonstration renewed a bitter debate about whether those who flee leftist regimes should get preferential treatment over those who escape other forms of oppression or upheaval.Salvadorans, Guatemalans and Hondurans streamed in from various parts of the Eastern Seaboard to rally behind legislation that would make tens of thousands of Central Americans permanent legal residents of the United States.

DAVID GARCIA, 63 Pioneering TV journalist David Garcia, a pioneering Hispanic television journalist who became known as "Earthman" for his environmental reporting, died Tuesday in Palm Desert, Calif., of liver failure, his former colleagues at KABC-TV, KNBC-TV and KTTV-TV reported. Born in Temple, Texas, Mr. Garcia attended Baylor University and after college was hired by a radio station in his hometown. He moved on to the ABC television and radio affiliate in Dallas, to New York for the ABC radio network and then into ABC television.

The Clash The Clash (UK version) (Epic 63882) The Clash (US version) (Epic 63883) Give 'Em Enough Rope (Epic 63884) London Calling (Epic 63885) Sandinista! (Epic 63888) Combat Rock (Epic 63896) The Singles (Epic 63886) "The only band that matters." That was how Epic Records advertised the Clash back in 1979, and at the time, the phrase struck many American music fans as a colossal load of hype. Led Zeppelin, the Eagles, Supertramp, the Doobie Brothers -- those were bands that mattered, if the charts were any indication.

MANAGUA, Nicaragua -- The Rev. Ernesto Cardenal still gets huffy when he's asked about that famous image: Pope John Paul II wagging a finger at Cardenal as the priest knelt before him."Meaningless," Cardenal snapped, though that scene from 16 years ago came to symbolize the bitter fight between the pontiff and Roman Catholic theologians who advocated "a preferential option for the poor.""I am still a revolutionary who defends the poor. And liberation theology is in crisis. Capitalism won. Period.

BLUEFIELDS, Nicaragua -- Nicaragua's Mosquito Coast, seemingly forgotten by both the government of President Violeta Chamorro and the Sandinista-led armed forces, has quietly become a point of trade for cocaine en route from Colombia to the United States, local authorities say.In the 20 months since Mrs. Chamorro took office, because of liberalized trade and a decline in coastal law enforcement, Bluefields has become an easy port of entry for Colombian cocaine,...

MANAGUA, Nicaragua - Billboards around the country depict an elderly man with a gentle face, sweet smile and twinkling eyes declaring, "Yes, we can." It's Enrique Bolanos, the 73-year-old former vice president, hoping to convince Nicaraguans to give him a shot at the country's top job. But as election day nears, people here wonder: Can he win? Or will Bolanos' close association with what is widely considered a corrupt and failed presidency doom him, and leave the country instead in the hands of the Sandinista Front's Daniel Ortega?

NATIONAL FBI may run undercover sting The new chief of the FBI's Criminal Division, which is swamped with public corruption cases, says the bureau is ramping up its ability to catch crooked politicians and might run an undercover sting on Congress. pg 2A School-bus related accidents up New national data show school bus-related accidents send 17,000 U.S. children to emergency rooms each year, more than double the number in previous estimates that only included crashes. pg 3A MARYLAND Groups focus on getting out vote With Maryland's close gubernatorial and Senate races likely to hinge on voter turnout, political parties and special-interest groups are orchestrating what may be the state's most extensive get-out-the-vote efforts in a midterm election.

Nicaraguan President Violeta Chamorro's gamble that she could share power in good faith with the Marxist-inspired Sandinistas she defeated in 1990 elections is tearing her country apart and placing her own hold on office in jeopardy.Her attempt to govern by reconciliation is taken by her many enemies on the right as well as the left as a fatal weakness which cries out for exploitation. The result is thuggery in the countryside, international terrorism operations in Managua, poverty and disaffection all around, and now this: aid-cutoff pressure from a Clinton administration that is losing patience with Mrs. Chamorro.