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TIME: Almanac 1990
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1990 Time Magazine Compact Almanac, The (1991)(Time).iso
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time
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021389
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02138900.021
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1990-09-17
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WORLD, Page 56World NotesNICARAGUATightening Their Belts
Our only sin was that of trying to give the Nicaraguan people
all that they deserve, at the same time we were fighting a war
against U.S. aggression." With those words of justification for
Nicaragua's shattered economy, President Daniel Ortega last week
imposed a drastic austerity program that will slash the national
budget by almost half and lay off nearly 35,000 public employees,
including 10,000 army personnel and 13,000 members of the security
police. The measures are aimed at stimulating production, almost
at a standstill, and exports, which have been cut nearly in half
by the war. The program also targets Nicaragua's towering rate of
inflation, which reached an almost unimaginable 22,000% last year.
Washington greeted the news as the inevitable result of
Managua's social and military policies, but hinted it might b-e
willing to negotiate with Ortega at a future date. Opposition
leaders, for their part, were disappointed by the government's
failure to address political issues that would guarantee democratic
reforms. The Sandinistas, Insisting that their adoption of
traditional economics implied no shift from revolutionary politics,
are betting that their harsh measures can bring long-term economic
viability to their regime.