INSIDE CENTRAL AMERICA: The Essential Facts Past and Present on El Salvador, Nicaragua, Honduras, Guatemala, and Costa Rica

Since 1979, United States policy in Central America has been based on an assumption that revolutionary movements led by Marxists must represent a serious threat to U.S. interests and security. On this point, the difference between liberals and conservatives is merely one of emphasis or accent.

Such an assumption is not shared by most governments in Western Europe and Latin America. In part, these countries base their positions on their understanding of the originas of the present crisis—that...