once again asked the Honduran head of state to clean the contras out of his country.

On domestic issues, agricultural producers were optimistic. Credit had become more freely available in May, inputs were available and rains had begun late but were steady. The first planting season was proceeding well. The government had introduced its new municipal law into the National Assembly, bypassing the National Dialogue, which was stalled after the opposition walked out to protest the ongoing construction and automotive workers' strike. In that dispute, the disaffected workers had recently concluded a hunger strike.

The monthly inflation rate had started to fall, dropping from more than 100% in February to 31% in April and 20% in May. Perhaps most significantly, the sweeping economic measures of mid-June were yet to come.

InternationalPolling—Reader Beware*

The survey group's strenuous efforts to be demonstrably objective were, in part, a response to the way polling has been manipulated by the United States. International affiliates of US polling organizations have undertaken secret public opinion polls all around the world for the United States, a practice begun with the cold war. The US Information Agency (USIA) hires the organizations and gives them their brief, then uses the information to influence world opinion or feeds it selectively to local media.

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*The information for much of this section comes from "Encuesta Gallup al gusto de Reagan, para justificar la ayuda a la contra," an article by William Bollinger and Daniel Lund in Proceso, Semanario de Información y Análisis, Mexico, May 2, 1988. The same article appeared in English in