THE SANDINISTAS SISTER-IN-ARMS

• Document Type: CREST
• Collection: General CIA Records
• Document Number (FOIA) /ESDN (CREST): CIA-RDP90-00552R000100230002-5
• Release Decision: RIPPUB
• Original Classification: K
• Document Page Count: 1
• Document Creation Date: December 22, 2016
• Document Release Date: June 21, 2010
• Sequence Number: 2
• Publication Date: October 4, 1984
• Content Type: OPEN SOURCE

STAT
anitized Copy Approved for Release 2010/06/21: CIA-RDP90-00552 R000100230002-5
11
STAT
isferA
By Art Harris
NEW .YORK, , Oct. 3-She walks
down the stairs in Gloria Vanderbilt '
jeans and a green cashmere sweat-
er. The cheekbones are high, with a
wisp ' of blue shadow about dark,
brown eyes. Her nails are lacquered -
pearl and her voice is husky from
inhaling too many.-Marlboros'.and .
exhaling revolution.
She smiles.
You can see how her charm could
become the flirtation that left a Ni-.
caraguan general with his throat slit
in her bedroom.
Ever since Nora Astorga, Nica-
ragua's deputy foreign minister,
lured a top Somoza general. to her _.
home in 1978 and left his corpse
behind, vanishing into the jungle to.
carry a rifle for the Sandinistas, she
has become the stuff of legend...
To the left, -she is a hero who
risked her life to'swa a life'of priv-
ilege and motherhood for an AK-47
in order to save her country. To the
right, she is viewed as a ruthless
femme fatale, Freud's worst macho
nightmare. As one joke bandied
about Managua put it, "There is one,
question you don't ask Nora' As- j
' torga: 'Your place or mine?'"
She hears the joke and smiles.
But it does not surprise her as she.
r*stretclies out on a couch in the ram-
ii bling Westchester County home of
'-Nicaragua's U.N. 'ambassador and
sips strong cafe negro. Far worsg
was said about' the twice-divorced
mother of five when the White
House rejected her last April as
Nicaragua's ambassador to the
United States.
"I don't see myself as a calculat-
ing monster," says Astorga, 35,
comparing herself to Judith of bib-
WASHINGTON POST
4 October 1984
iN ora Astorga:
''lie Ardor of
A Revolutionary
lical "fame who murdered King Hold=
fernes after he subjugated the Jews.
No matter whose version is pre-
ferred, the allusion to Judith evokes
the incredible horror of man's be-
trayal by a' woman. Classical paint
ings conjure-the parable with'gory.'
scenes of Judith holding a severed
head aloft, dripping blood, mocking
man's weakness and raising the ul-
timate 'question: Is' all fair in love
and war? And is it fair for a woman
to fight on both battlefields at.once?
Last night, afte'.a long.day.an the.
front lines of the _ public-relations
offensive Nicaragua is - staging at
the United Nations and .throughout
the .city; it' was pokerfaced :junta
coordinator, Daniel 'Ortega,.. who
held down the official receiving line
at a trendy New York Athletic Club
reception hosted by, lawyer Michael
-Kennedy..
But across the room, a swelling
crowd of women talked -about As-
torga beneath 'ceiling murals of.men
wrestling," boxing.". and running
track. A piano, player was singing; "I
Love You Just the Way You Are."
' "Oh, -God," said Susan Horowitz,
a political activist who champions
liberal causes. "To try to get the.
guy to bed, and then kill him! Fan-
tastic. It's like a western. That's my
dream to do ? that to Reagan,
George Bush, go right 'down the
line. I've got to meet' this - Mata
Mari."
Among me crowd were cetgon- -
ties like Abbie Hofiiman, actor-pro-ducer Michael Douglas,_ Mik Wal-
lace, Shana Alexander, judges-.arid
rabbis, doctors and .lawyers :.None
sparked Freudian debate like ? As-
torga.
"From, a purely .estheticstand-
point," sniffed one investment bank-
er, "I'd say she's not worth getting
killed for." ..4
"I think she's ' great ;Booking;
snapped his wife, eyemgt a crowd'
build-up. "I'd say the women are'
more interested in her than' the
men."- - ..:.;. `L .}..
"That's because they all wanf to
do what she did," he.replied.
Nearby, Horowitz, a:-stunning,;
intelligent-looking woman' with long
brown hair accompanied by'husband,
David Horowitz, president of MTV.
was chiding feminists for. denying
they use sexuality to get what they
want. "I know I do," she said.
"So many women on the left-deny
they'd ever use their sexuality be-
cause they assume, it's not in keeping
with women's liberation," she went
on. 'But I know a lot who use their
looks and wiles, even though they'd
never march into the Wonder Woman
foundation and say, 'Hey, I got this.
guy to do something for Me because I
gave him the 'hint I'd do something
foi him in return:`-!' - .-
She saw Astorga as' an inspiration
for the 'New Woman:,"She's the most
exciting modern female revolutionary
around. I love it." ` ....
Under fire by CIA-backed contras
and Pr s dentate Regan for f .- eec-
tio o revolution an'd oft er
assort s ow-RD
ua ,sigttung
'Eck ere with a war of wordy . .
Sanitized Copy Approved for Release 2010/06/21 : CIA-RDP90-00552R000100230002-5