percent described US policies in Central America as bad or terrible; only 8% called them good and 17% gave them a fair rating. The United States was most often cited as the country that least seeks peace in the region (33%). When asked what they admired about the United States, 42% said "nothing." Asked what they disliked, 47% named US aggression, war-making or imperialism.

In contrast, the policies of Cuba, the Soviet Union and Mexico toward Central America are widely admired. The Soviet policy was rated good or excellent by 57% and 54% said the same of the Cuban and the Mexican policies. Thirty percent of those surveyed said Cuba was the country most in solidarity with Nicaragua. Twenty-six percent named the Soviet Union.

Beans and Rice:
Domestic Issues

There is understandablymuch less enthusiasm for the economy. Seventy-four percent said their family's economic situation was worse than a year before and 80% said the new córdoba issued in February buys less than the old. The government's economic management was characterized as good or excellent by 22%, fair by 36% and 38% called it bad or terrible. Sixty-five percent of those surveyed said the government "wants to solve the economic problems of the population," although 27% thought not.

People's explanations for the country's economic problems appear to have changed. Whereas two years go a clear link was made between economic problems and the US-sponsored contra war (see "How Do the Poor Survive in Managua?" envío, December 1986), that link has become blurred. Nineteen percent of those surveyed named the war, the