A Jaguar Smile--#2 finished

I had actually finished this book yesterday on Sunday but didn't get a chance to log it in till today. An interesting read of Salman Rushdie's trip to Nicaragua in the mid 1980s when Ortega and the Sandinistas were in control and Reagan was supporting the Contras against them. It seems like he is offering a pretty fair assessment of what was going on with both sides pointing fingers at the others blaming them for the problems. The book mostly does point to Reagan and the US for being in the wrong but the Sandinistas do enough wrong that it makes it hard for Rushdie and others on the fence to convince the public at large.

It was a very strange time, in that the Sandinistas were leftists and also looking for money & help so of course Cuba and the USSR were the ones to turn to. This pissed off the US, but I don't know if the US had stepped forward with help how that would have or even if it could have been accepted. Many in the Sandinistas were communists but many were also simply people wanting to end the authoritarian ways and oligarchic ways of the past.

Like I said and interesting read and certainly I will need to go back and re-read about what has happened in Nicaragua since then. I am sure what I remember is probably wrong in many ways. I hope Wikipedia has the info.

I have posted it on PBS. There was one WL for it but it was cancelled so it is now the only copy of this book on the system. I expect it will move shortly, probably within the month but could go a little longer too.