Fighting Justice

THE MAJORITY writes that the Reagan administration's handling of the situation in Central America is nothing short of catastrophic, and this is certainly true. But they also assume that the U.S. is on the right side in its opposition to the Sandinista government. On the contrary, the U.S. is on the wrong side of the illegal effort to overthrow a popular government.

Our country is, quite simply, opposed to justice and liberation in Central America. The mining of the harbor, the CIA manual and the contra funding hurt American prestige and are ineffectual, as liberals claim. The point they miss is that all of these efforts, like Walter F. Mondale's proposed quarantine, are aimed at destroying a government that overthrew a U.S.-sponsored dictatorship which repressed its poverty stricken citizens.

The Sandinistas are immensely popular among the Nicaraguan people, so much so that their opposition withdrew from this month's elections. Harvard professor Frederick E. Snyder visited the scene and found both "massive support" and "a sense of freedom and security." So much for totalitarianism. Their popularity should come as no surprise, because the Sandinistas and the peasants fought long and hard to overcome the brutal Somozas.

In Nicaragua, the people we kept down for so long rose up. In El Salvador the people have not been able to surmount the U.S.-supported junta. Why then would an improvement in Nicaraguan defense capabilities be so "alarming," in the words of the majority? Liberals can't seem to understand the nature of American involvement in the region, and they aren't taking the side of liberty and equality.

If they did, they'd be hoping real MiGs were on their way to our southerly neighbors.