EX-REBEL LEADER DECRIES U.S. ROLE IN NICARAGUA

• Document Type: CREST
• Collection: General CIA Records
• Document Number (FOIA) /ESDN (CREST): CIA-RDP90-00552R000504880111-5
• Release Decision: RIPPUB
• Original Classification: K
• Document Page Count: 1
• Document Creation Date: December 22, 2016
• Document Release Date: September 15, 2010
• Sequence Number: 111
• Publication Date: November 8, 1982
• Content Type: OPEN SOURCE

Sanitized Copy Approved for Release 2010/09/15: CIA-RDP90-00552R000504880111-5
STAT'?
Y
n
o
w e
i
who now opposes the junta in Mana- -5- am caraguans - ra
that they were"playingwithfire" if , mm'n,as Comtnandtr ?.ero~~
gua. said be believes that'Washing- they supported rightist counterrevo- _:ry ? f . = " G
ton has been providing aid to the lutionaries who.have been making 'i hnY Vent, the United States' is'
anti-Sandinistas operating along the frequent raids from across the bor- widely believed to be seeking to de.
border, many led by former officers der in .Honduras. On Thursday, the stabilize the Sandinistas, and a gov
of Nicaragua's national guard, and government, placed all -five of its eminent with views more com ti.
that political and military conditions northern provinces bordering Hon- ble.'wlth those of the United States
inside Nicaragua are such that a duras under a form of martial law. would -hardly be unwelcome,
large-scale action along the border is The martial-law order was issued Pastora, regarded as a moderate
imminent along with a statement saying that a ? -alternative to the former national
But, he added, such an action US: backed invasion was imminent guardsmen on the right, and the left.
would fail and have an effect oppo- The government extended.for six....; ~ Sandinistas now in power, was
site to that sought by the United months a national state of emergen- reportedly the CIA's choice to 'lead
States - strengthening, rather than cy that suspends many civil rights - such a movement.
The former' 'Sandinista fighter.. -- '?" W A JULIla ,caUCL
Eden Pa
Daniel 'Ort
t
d N
ragas border.; groups staging raids into Nicaragua.
.&-rebel leader
decries U.S. role
in Nicaragua
,. - bwWw ARn s.nka
Eden Pastora - nicknamed "Com-
mander Zero' during the Sandinista
revolution that toppled Anastasio So-
moza's regime in Nicaragua - has
added his voice to the chorus warn-
ing that the United States has moved
perilously close- to direct, military
involvement on the Honduras-Nica-
ernment
"those armed men are not going to
resolve anything," he said in a re-
cent interview conducted by' a
Knight-Ridder Newspapers reporter
in Pastora's headquarters in Costa
Rica, the country to which he fled in
mid-1981, after splitting with the San-
dinista revolution that he had
weakening the leftist Sandinista gov-
PHILADELPHIA INQUIRER
8 NOVEMBER 1982
helped lead against
gime in Nicaragua.
"It is going to be a Bay of Pigs,
perhaps not of .72 hours, but of 72
days," Pastora said. "The result will
be a resentful, violent people, with a
Sandinista National Directorate and
army with their morale high as a
result of victory, and a delicate polit-
ical situation in which the democrat-
ic (opposition) groups won't be in a
position to oppose the Sandinista Di-
rectorate." .. ..
In' Pastora's view, most" Nicara.
guans, although increasingly dissat-
isfied with the Sandinistas' Marxist
line, would still reject a liberating
force led by former Somoza national
guardsmen the -leaders of armed.
including freedom of the press and- -However; be is said to have reject
the right of assembly. ... . -ed-all'such offers. In the interview
United Press International said -conducted at his headquarters, Pas-
that it-had visited a deserted rightist -tors acknowledged that he lacked
camp last week and found it. filled the resources to match those avail-
with discarded boxes that had con. ' able to the national guard.:-
tained ammunition and food manu- He added that at no time since be
factured in the United States. Area left Nicaragua in, mid-1981 has he
residents said the rightists had car- been approached by anyone from the
ried US.-made arms. - - U.S. government offering to support
Newsweek magazine last week re- him. - , -- _ .
ported that the Central Intelligence "I can talk to the KGB or the CIA,"
Agency was using covert action to ?he$aid,'explaining that he was will-
topple the Nicaraguan government. ing to talk but not to surrender his
The Reagan administration has de- political independence.
nied the report. . , - "My conscience is clear," be said.
However, administration officials "fit is my strength? My honesty. -I
told the New York Times on Tuesday do not submit to anyone. I don't sell
that the United States bad supported - myself to anyone. I am going to de-
small-scale clandestine military op- "fend Nicaragua against right or left"
erations against Nicaragua intended , The Nicaraguans .who have gath-.
to harass, but not to overthrow, the erect, in. Costa Rica in the last six
Sandinistas. _ _ _ _ _ _ _ months -' grouped around Pastora
Ccullrr ulmr
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Sanitized Copy Approved for Release 2010/09/15: CIA-RDP90-00552R000504880111-5