"Reagan Was the Butcher of My People:"

[Dirk39]

Tuesday, June 8th, 2004
"Reagan Was the Butcher of My People:" Fr. Miguel D'Escoto Speaks From Nicaragua

We go to Managua, Nicaragua to speak with Fr. Miguel D'Escoto, a Catholic priest who was Nicaragua's Foreign Minister under the Sandinista government in the 1980s.

The 8 years Reagan was in office represented one of the most bloody eras in the history of the Western hemisphere, as Washington funneled money, weapons and other supplies to right wing death squads. And the death toll was staggering - more than 70,000 political killings in El Salvador, more than 100,000 in Guatemala, 30,000 killed in the contra war in Nicaragua. In Washington, the forces carrying out the violence were called "freedom fighters." This is how Ronald Reagan described the Contras in Nicaragua: "They are our brothers, these freedom fighters and we owe them our help. They are the moral equal of our founding fathers."
* Fr. Miguel D'Escoto, a Catholic priest based in Managua, Nicaragua. He was Nicaragua's Foreign Minister under the Sandinista government in the 1980s.

FATHER MIGUEL D'ESCOTO: First of all, let me start out by saying that, of course, Reagan is now dead. And I, for one, would like to say only nice things about him. I'm not insensitive to the feelings of many U.S. people mourning president Reagan, but as 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.

http://www.democracynow.org/article.pl?sid=04/06/08/1453219

Hello from Germany,
Dirk

[Maat]

1. Wow. Thanks for the quote. Nice to hear from you.

n/t

[LibertyorDeath]

2. Thanks for this

Cheers Dirk

[Dirk39]

3. Hi,

I'm really going mad this week.

Although some critical remarks were made here in Europe, this funeral of a guy, who had Alzheimer for at least 70 years of his live - was reported live in German T.V.!
And the same lies, like Reagan has put an end to the cold war, are repeated again and again and again. He prolonged the cold war.

I will always remember Reagan (and Thatcher) as the ones, who declared war to the "New Deal" and the European post-war "Welfare States". For me a kind of "new dark age" started with Reagan, Thatcher and Kohl.

Even Nixon's anti-communism and fight against the left was accompanied by large welfare programms to pacify the poor and seperate the working class from the new left.

Reagan and his comrades were the first to make their fight against social justice and welfare programs in the USA and the "west" a part of their fight against "communism" and the "left".

This might be the reason, so many people admire him,
Dirk

[LibertyorDeath]

5. You have a good grasp of History

I will always remember Reagan (and Thatcher) as the ones, who declared war to the "New Deal"

The battle continues

[Octafish]

4. Vielen dank, Herr Dirk! Here's how I remember Ronnie...

El Mozote was covered by a reporter for The New York Times.
El Mozote was covered-up by The New York Times by killing the reporter's story.
Who benefitted from this?
The right wing.
NAZIs.
Klansmen.
War profiteers.
Koo-koo TV preachers.
Gangsters.
Big Oil.
The Bush Family Evil Empire.

[Tight_rope]

6. I said it once and I'll say it again...May Reagan rot in Hell! n/t