CENTRAL AMERICA'S young revolutions are reaching a crunch point. In Nicaragua the Sandinista government faces a showdown with the bosses after suppressing the first serious military uprising against it. In El Salvador, amid growing rumours of a coup from the right, a new and all-embracing opposition movement has been Evidence of the attempt to coordinate a military overthrow of the Nicaraguan government began to emerge aner une deal or an uportant businessman, Jorge Salazar, in a shootout with security forces. Salazar was shot dead as a gun-running operation was discovered by police.
Two other important leaders of COSEP, the employers' organisation in Nicaragua, have been subsequently arrested and accused of attacking state security. Both developments occurred after COSEP representatives had walked out of the governing Council of State claiming political persecution.
Skirmishes with right-wing forces have been going on in the northern regions of the country. Nicaraguan capitalists have gained confidence after Guatemala Reagan's electoral victory and statements from his advisers that they would cut off aid to the Sandinista •overnment are esume do to tac redd tionary governments of El Salvador and The US-backed government in El Salvador is now receiving so-called 'non-lethal' aid from the White House, but has carried torward a prooramme of mass killings against the workers and forces.
America and the Caribbean. peasants. A recent military drive into the liberated zones was repelled by the fierce resistance of the forces organised by the Faribundo Marti National Libera. tion Front (FMLN) who now unite all the groups fighting against the junta.
The growing weakness of the military junta's position has provoked a spate of terrorist outrages carried out by the extreme right with backing from the police and army. Rumours of a coup continue to persist and have been confirmed by members of the junta themselves, who are using it to justify the need for direct intervention by US All of these developments point to the need for the British labour movement to add its voice to the growing support for the revolutions of Central