Posted on 12/16/2007 5:17:10 AM PST by texanyankee
MONKEY POINT, Nicaragua — The second military helicopter in as many days hovered over the jungle and then landed to a most unwelcome reception from several dozen angry Rama Indian and Creole villagers.
Rupert Allen Clear Duncan, a leader of some 400 Creole who live along the shoreline, confronted the foreigners dressed in suits and military uniforms that day in March and demanded to know the purpose of their aerial trespasses.
"This is our land; we have always lived here, and you don't have our permission to be here," Duncan spat, when refused the courtesy of an explanation.
Not until Duncan threatened to have his machete-waving followers damage the aircraft did they learn that some of the men were from the Islamic Republic of Iran and had come promising to establish a Central American foothold in the middle of their territory.
As part of a new partnership with Nicaragua's Sandinista President Daniel Ortega, Iran and its Venezuelan allies plan to help finance a $350 million deep-water port at Monkey Point on the wild Caribbean shore, and then plow a connecting "dry canal" corridor of pipelines, rails and highways across the country to the populous Pacific Ocean. Iran recently established an embassy in Nicaragua's capital.
In feeling threatened by Iran's ambitions, the people of Monkey Point have powerful company. The Iranians' arrival in Nicaragua comes as the Bush administration and some European allies hold the threat of war over Iran to force an end to its uranium enrichment program and alleged help to anti-U.S. insurgents in Iraq.
"The bottom line is if there is a confrontation with Iran, and Iran gets bombed, I have absolutely no doubt that Iran is going to lash out globally," said John R. Schindler, a veteran former counterintelligence officer and analyst for the National Security Agency.....
(Excerpt) Read more at mysanantonio.com ...
"A Mystery Compound"
Twelve-foot-high concrete walls topped by neat rolls of razor-sharp concertina wire protect the manicured grounds of a mansion inside. The compound is not unlike many others in the affluent Managua suburb of Las Colinas, except for a telltale identifier.
From the street outside, through the wire at just the right angle, can be seen the top half of the distinctive red, white and green flag of Iran. This is the temporary embassy of Iran's new envoy to Nicaragua, Akbar Esmaeil-Pour.
The envoy, however, hasn't been in a talking mood lately, since local media stirred just the sort of questions that fuel Yankee fears. Last month, the country's largest-circulation newspaper, La Prensa, published leaked government documents that showed Nicaragua's chief immigration minister personally authorized 21 Iranian men to enter the country, without visas that would have left a record.
Officials denied the report until confronted with the document but refused to explain why the men were let in that way or what became of them.
Another report named as Revolutionary Guard operatives several men who accompanied the Iranian envoy to his new digs. A Honduran newspaper in June reported that Iranians had entered that country without permission from Nicaragua.
Knocks on embassy gates over four days recently drew Nicaragua national police guards and two polite aides but no interview. A call to Esmaeil-Pour's private cell phone showed how much curiosity his presence has stoked lately.
"I've had hundreds of requests for interviews, and yours is only one! I'm very busy," the ambassador snapped before hanging up.
must be irans christian ministries
Good, warm fuzzy feelings produced with that.
This week’s excuse for crude to head for $100/bbl—crude will have doubled since dims won in 2006......
President Huckabee with Chuck Hagel and Lindsey Graham tucked under each arm, can go down there, and I am sure he could work out everything.
They are such nice people, after all. Aw shucks, gee whiz, just like us!! We just have to learrrrrrrrnnnnn to be ooooooopen and friennnnnnnndly to the sandinistas, and be compaaaaaassionate and not cloooooooseminded. Diversity in our hemisphere. Yep, that's the ticket.
BTTT
...but, but it’s only the poor families coming over the border from Mexico.
Well, well. I wonder how good old Oliver North looks to them now? Looks like Oly was spot on correct, what, twenty years ago?
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OLIVER NORTH =
Now there’s a story that DESERVES to be told
.
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The Lessons of:
The “WE WERE SOLDIERS” Battle of IA DRANG-1965 =
The Battle of PEARL HARBOR-1941 =
The Battles of the WORLD TRADE CENTER-1993/2001 =
1. There really is such a thing as HATE in this world
2. There really are people out there who hate the FREE, for being FREE.
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It may well be that...
...the entire future of the whole human race may will hinge on our finally, during this new 21st Century of ours,
...FREEING all the women of the world to be all that they already are in GOD’s Eyes,
...and all that they can be while here on the Earth..?
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Didn't some recent report state Iran was NOT a threat? Really, the deep water port is there so ships bringing toys for the children of Nicaragua can get in and out easily.
While researching in a military library years ago, I came across plans for a canal across Nicarauga dated at the turn of the 20th century.
There were more recent plans, including digging the trench with nucs.
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Iranians in Nicaragua! I need to keep up with the news better. Good post.
Good question!
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