NICARAGUA/)MACNEIL

• Document Type: CREST
• Collection: General CIA Records
• Document Number (FOIA) /ESDN (CREST): CIA-RDP88-01070R000301530011-6
• Release Decision: RIFPUB
• Original Classification: K
• Document Page Count: 2
• Document Creation Date: December 22, 2016
• Document Release Date: January 8, 2010
• Sequence Number: 11
• Publication Date: January 10, 1985
• Content Type: OPEN SOURCE

Approved For Release 2010/01/08: CIA-RDP88-0107OR000301530011-6
PBS MACNEIL/LEHRER NEWSHOUR
10 January 1985
-NICARAGUA/>MACNEIL: Our next focus section is a documentary report
>POLITICS 2>on Nicaragua, where the Sandinista leader, Daniel Ortega,
was inaugurated president today in a ceremony attended by
Cuban President Fidel Castro. Ortega was elected last
November in a vote criticized by the United States as a
sham, because the opposition could not freely take'.part.
Today, a crowd of about a thousand government officials,
party leaders and foreign guests gathered for the ceremony
on the shores of Lake Managua. Ortega became a
revolutionary when he was a teenager. Soon after the
Sandinistas seized power in 1979,,'he began to emerge as
the central figure in the military junta and eventually he
was named coordinator. Then the directate (sic). named him
to be the Sandinista candidate for president. Our special
correspondent, Charles Krause, has given us the following
report on the state of the opposition now and the views of
those who oppose the Sandinista definition of democracy.
KRAUSE: Ortega'?s supporters claim he was elected
president with more than 60 percent of the vote because
most Nicaraguans support the Sandinista revolution. But
there's no way to know if the opposition could have done
better, had there been a completely fair election. Ortega
was able to campaign freely; opposition candidates were
not. Arturo Cruz,'for example. He worked closely: with
the Sandinistas for many years, first as a member of the
government junta, then as ambassador to Washington.
Disillusioned with the revolution, Cruz returned to
Nicaragua last summer to run against Ortega as the
Democratic Coordinador's presidential candidate. But
.-after several of his rallies were disrupted, Cruz pulled
out of-the election. Five opposition party candidates did.
remain on the ballot, but Cruz's decision not to run was
crucial. It ended any chance the election would be viewed
as credible outside Nicaragua. ARTURO CRUZ (opposition
leader): The elections were nothing more than a
preparatory, ritualistic step to confirm the Sandinistas
in power. ?There was no real contest. They believe in
holding absolute power and, with that power, graciously
make concessions to.other'members of society. But that.
will not work. That will not be,functional. You see,
totalitarians. regarding freedoms are like a miser
regarding money. They just hold on the. same way that a
miser hold ons (sic) to gold coins.
KRAUSE: The'Sandinistas claim Cruz did not withdraw
because of lack of political freedom in Nicaragua, as he
says.. They point to an article .in.The New York Times,
which reported that Cruz's political allies were taking
orders from the CIA. Carlos'Tunner?man.is Nicaragua's
ambassador to Washington. CARLOS TUNNERMAN (Nicaraguan
ambassador to the United States, voice of translator): Cotfinued
Approved For Release 2010/01/08: CIA-RDP88-0107OR000301530011-6
 Approved For Release 2010/01/08: CIA-RDP88-0107OR000301530011-6
They knew that if Arturo Cruz participated or if the
Coordinador participated and lost these elections,, that
would give more legitimacy to the Sandinista front. So
they took the decision to try to discredit the election by
alleging that there weren't sufficient guarantees.' CRUZ:
Not only I don't agree with Carlos Tunnerman, but I reject
t
he allegation as false. In luncheons that I have with
members of the administration on a personal basis, they
felt-that with a Coordinador should go to the elections
regardless of conditions or not.
KRAUSE: Whether or not the CIA tried to discredit the
election,-the Reagan administration has provided arms,
airplanes and covert training to counterrevolutionary
guerrillas trying to overthrow the Sandinistas. In
Washington, Cruz has urged Congress to renew financial aid
for the contras. Inside'Nicaragua, opposition leaders
claim.they have no direct ties to the guerrillas. ' But
Enrique Bollanos, head of Nicaragua's most powerful
private business association, told us the contras have
helped the political opposition. ENRIQUE BOLLANOS
(opposition businessman): I think that if you look at the
facts, that ever since the contra has been operating, we ?
found- more room to maneuver inside. It's not anything
that we planned or anybody planned, but the Sandinistas
felt that the contra is more dangerous and they paid more
attention to the contras and they didn't . pay attention. to
us, by coincidence.
Approved For Release 2010/01/08: CIA-RDP88-0107OR000301530011-6