World Notes NICARAGUA

For the people of Nicaragua, Hurricane Joan was a rare thing, only the fourth such storm to touch their shores in the past century -- and by far the worst. But for officials in Managua and Washington, it was just politics as usual as Joan's 125-m.p.h. winds cut a swath of panic and devastation across the country, leaving 116 dead and flattening the Atlantic port city of Bluefields.

All but foreclosing the prospect of relief assistance from Washington, Nicaraguan President Daniel Ortega Saavedra declared, "The best help they can give us is to stop the ((rebel)) aggression." He accused the U.S. of encouraging the contras to take advantage of the storm to infiltrate back into Nicaragua from Honduras. In lieu of direct aid, he suggested that Americans make donations to nongovernmental agencies.

The Reagan Administration was no less stubborn. Some U.S. officials indicated that they would consider a request for aid from the Nicaraguan government -- a safe bet since they knew none would be forthcoming. Others seemed to rule out even that prospect, charging that the Sandinistas would only misuse the funds to further their campaign against the contras. As partisan politics raged, the losers were the 181,000 Nicaraguans who are now homeless.