U.S. relations with Nicaragua will be the focal point of a presentation tonight by Leonor Huper, Nicaragua’s council general in Washington, D.C.

Monique Lemaitre, associate professor of foreign languages and literatures, said Huper’s lecture also will include “a discussion of the effects of U.S. aid to the Contras, the U.S. trade embargo” and insight and information about the ruling Sandinista government.

In June 1986, the House of Representatives approved $110 million in funding to aid the Contra rebels in their fight against the Marxist Sandinista government led by Daniel Ortega.

There is also a possibility Huper will address the recent Iran-Contra arms scandal, Lemaitre said. A question and answer session will immediately follow the presentation, she added.

uper, a schoolteacher for 18 years, was very active in the Sandinista movement until their overthrow of dictator Anastasio Somoza in July 1979, Lemaitre said. Now a lawyer, Huper has been working for the Sandinista government since its inception, she said. Huper served as Nicaraguan ambassador to Costa Rica as part of her duties, Lemaitre added.

Tonight’s presentation is sponsored by the department of Foreign Languages and Literatures, the NIU College of Law, the National Chicano Student Movement and the DeKalb Interfaith Network for Peace and Justice in Central America.

The lecture is scheduled for 8 p.m. in the Sandburg Auditorium at the Holmes Student Center.