Sandinista Official Blasts U.S.

Saying that the United States has consistently misrepresented the aims of his government, a visiting Nicaraguan official yesterday attacked President Reagan's anti-Sandinista stance and the Administration's efforts to aid Nicaraguan rebels.

Speaking at the Center for International Affairs, Alejandro Martinez, Nicaragua's Minister of Foreign Trade, took issue with Reagan's attempt to portray Nicaragua as a Soviet pawn. Martinez said that the Nicaraguan government has only sought help from the Soviet Union when it felt that "the U.S. was trying to kill us."

"Nicaragua is not a communist country," said Martinez, who has been Minister of Foreign Trade since the 1979 establishment of the Sandinista government, citing the fact that the private sector accounts for 73 percent of the country's gross economic product.

The Sandinista government's main goal, according to Martinez is "to allow democracy to flourish." He told the audience of 50 that his country has striven for political diversity because it is "small and weak."

Nicaragua wants to be friends with the U.S., said Martinez, but it wants "a relationship of mutual respect."

The Reagan Administration maintains that the Sandinista's have suppressed human rights and have become a Soviet satellite in the Americas. Reagan has used such claims in his efforts to win approval of $100 million in aid to the Nicaraguan Contras.

Martinez denied charges that the Sandinista government had neglected human rights, although he said it may have shown "inexperience" in its new revolutionary campaign.

He said he was afraid that the American government had overlooked positive developments in his country.

"We have constructed four new hospitals and vastly expanded social service programs," said Martinez. "And all this is taking place in the midst of a war."

Tragic Flaw

Martinez criticized the Reagan plan to aid the contras as "tragic." The plan has no chance of success because "the group has no support in Nicaragua," he said.

"The U.S. is supporting an immoral, destructive war," he said.

"Reforms in the countryside may have caused [rural] people to join the Contras," he said.

Calling the current U.S. trade embargo of Nicaragua "most counterproductive," Martinez explained that the embargo imposes a $40 to $50 million burden.

"There is a lot of garbage thrown on Nicaragua by the U.S.," he said