Publisher's Synopsis
There are now 3 million Central American refugees, an entrenched civil war in El Salvador, a right wing contra army fighting the Sandinista government, billions of dollars lost by the area in direct war-damage and lost production, and apparently no end in sight to the violence, tensions, or poverty.;The foreign policies of the Reagan Administration, based on a concept of national security threatened by Russia in America's "backyard", are thought to have been largely responsible for this situation.;In this book the author sets out democratic alternatives to current US policy, built on demilitarization and negotiation, and leading to renewed economic growth and more socially equitable patterns of development. A prerequisite of this change is peace in Central America which, he argues, can only be brought about if American motives of self-interest are, at the very least, revised.