Mark Eveland, in a Collegian letter entitled CIA defense (2/6/89), proved once and for all that Americans have no memories. He spoke of the 23,000 percent inflation in Nicaragua and about the 35,000 government employees being laid off by the Sandinista party. What he failed to mention were the reasons for these large numbers.

Nicaragua was recently hit by hurricane Joan. It left 300,000 people homeless; it destroyed countless farms, crops, hospitals, schools, businesses, etc. In a country of only 3 million people, this is devastating.

Add the CIA-initiated Contra war, the U.S, economic boycott, a declining world market for Latin American exports and an economy left in shambles by 50 years of Samosa rule to a disaster the equivalent of loosing the entire West Coast of the U.S., and the problems tend to pile up.

The Sandinistas cannot put large amounts of money into their economy (like they did until this year); instead, they have to continually prepare to fend off a U.S. attack. This is not an unfounded fear. The Honduran border is littered with U.S. built air strips and roads designed for just such an attack.

Mark Eveland also mentioned his disbelief about the 3.6 million murders committed by the CIA. The number seems large, but it all happened covertly and over a long period of time.

The CIA regularly carries out assassinations of foreign political opponents. It sponsors coups like the one in Chile where Pinochet was put into power, and the resulting wave of political repression left 100,000 dead. The CIA founds, funds, and trains terrorist armies like the Contras and their counterparts in Mozambique. The list goes on; and the numbers add up.

Finally, we do NOT need a virus like the CIA, and you can't rationalize crimes against humanity by saying that "the world is not a nice place." That's just a cop-out. It's just the way that you keep your conscience safe from the atrocities committed in your name, and with your tax money.

Before you let numbers like 23,000 speak for themselves, find out what they are really saying.