Herbert W Armstrong

A new "domino theory" is in full operation: Today Nicaragua; tomorrow El Salvador and Guatemala, both of which are "full of dry kindling" — home-grown Marxist insurgents in the bush, trained in Cuba, inspired by the Sandinista victory. And that's just the beginning of trouble for the United States in the area commonly called "America's Soft Underbelly."

In Nicaragua, the pro-Cuban Marxists are not in complete control — yet. Much of the revolutionary council is composed of nationalist revolutionaries united, on the surface, by their hatred of the deposed dictator Anastacio Somoza. The Sandinistas are split into three main factions — but the most powerful is the pro-Cuban group. The Communist element is clever, too. Reconstruction of war-torn Nicaragua will take 4 to 5 billion dollars, much of it expected to come from the United States (Cuba and Russia can't afford it!). Gullible Washington will probably come across with the money — hoping it can gain the favor of the moderates. Meanwhile the revolutionary junta is nationalizing practically every important industry in the country, but will allow foreign private banks to operate in order to maintain a non-Communist facade.

Meanwhile, Cuba is stepping up the training of Communist guerrillas from El Salvador and Guatemala, the latter country now left very much exposed by its open pro-U.S. stance (woe be to any country trusting in America these days; its a recipe for revolution). El Salvador is considered to be the ripest plum. Says a priest in El Salvador: "Once the Sandinista's send arms here, the revolution will be more violent than in Nicaragua."

Cuba's Castro believes furthermore, that the entire Central America isthmus — from Mexico in the north to Colombia in the south — can be turned into one string of Marxist states. And, suggested one news source: If Central America, with its strategic Panama Canal, falls to the revolutionary left, can Mexico and Venezuela, with their strategic oil supplies, be far behind? (As he left for exile in Florida, Somoza himself warned that Communist insurgents could "be on the Rio Grande" in a few years time.)

In the entire revolutionary process, Cuba has been aided by Panama — which incidentally gets control of the U.S. Canal Zone on October 1. Nevertheless, most of Panama's National Guard is non-communist in philosophy. Yet, the United States will be trusting largely in this corrupt force to guard the canal from now on. "It is at heart a calculated risk that the guard can stay in power, and that its corruption will not become so great as to lead to some new counter-force arising in the crucial next 20 years (Los Angeles Times, March 14, 1979).

As U.S. prestige sinks to new lows throughout the hemisphere, that of Cuba rises. The entire Caribbean area is subject to a great deal of Cuban influence, especially in that ring of largely weak, independent islands guarding the eastern rim of the Caribbean Sea — and the entrance to the Canal sea lanes.

According to a special CIA report prepared for President Carter, the "Cubans are all over the place in the Caribbean," and what especially worries such men as Henry Forde, the foreign minister of Barbados and Prime Minister Eric Williams of Trinidad and Tobago and Premier Lee Moore of St. Kitts and Nevis is the total lack of an American response.

Gene H. Hogberg, News Bureau