SANDINISTAS TAP HEROINE AS ENVOY BUT SOME IN THE U.S. OPPOSE HER

• Document Type: CREST
• Collection: General CIA Records
• Document Number (FOIA) /ESDN (CREST): CIA-RDP90-00552R000505000003-0
• Release Decision: RIPPUB
• Original Classification: K
• Document Page Count: 1
• Document Creation Date: December 22, 2016
• Document Release Date: August 27, 2010
• Sequence Number: 3
• Publication Date: March 22, 1984
• Content Type: OPEN SOURCE

STAT
Sanitized Copy Approved for Release 2010/08/27: CIA-RDP90-00552R000505000003-0
ARTICLE APPEARED
ON PAGE-/
R'EW YORK TIMES
22 March 1934
San din is tas Tap Heroine as Envoy
But Some in the U.S. Oppose Her
The New Yaet Thais
Nora Astorga
By STEPHEN KINZER
SpecialtoTheNewYc Mms
MANAGUA, Nicaragua, March 21-
The Nicaraguan Government plans to
nominate a Sandinista guerrilla hero-
ine, Nora Astorga, as Ambassador to
mg f ewelry and
Astorga s nomination from being ac- sunglasses, she exudes an air of sophis.
cented by WAehinatn, '1k-...:- 1.__ tication that bl d
But some Reagan Administration of. Tali' and slim with close.cropped
ficials said they hoped to prevent Miss dark hair often w
eari
activities ..during the Sandinista-led
revolution.made her unsuitable fora
diplomatic post.
Miss Astorga, 39 years old, rata-
. pulted to national fame six years ago
after a top national guard officer was
found murdered in her bedroom. Since
the Sandinista victory in 1979, she has
held several high Government posts.
Miss Astorga attended. Roman
Catholic schools in Nicaragua, and also
lived briefly in Italy and the United
States. She recalled in an interview
that the nuns who ran her high school in
Managua would often take pupils to,
visit hospital patients or to give by.
giene classes to slum children. "Little
by little I began to realize that this was
not. enough," she recalled.
Miss Astorga entered law school in ,
Managua and made her first contacts
with the Sandinistas there in 1989. She
graduated and began practicing law,
and soon became acquainted with Gen.
S
en with ferventSome revo-
Sandinis
. - !.
lutionary tas have convictionscomplained privately that
their ambassadors in Washington have
not denounced the United States Gov.
ernment with sufficient vigor.
The United States is providing mil.
lions of dollars in aid to rebels fighting
the Sandinista regime. Miss Astorga
charged Tuesday that "while efforts to
achieve peace are under way
Wash.
,
1- An `Asset' of the C I.A. _ ington is doing everything possible to
bring about war.
The Present Nicaraguan Ambassa.
I'dor- to the. United States, Antonio..
the national guard Jarquin, has-been in the post about a
year. Miss .Astorga described the
Anastasio cl-amS as routine.
Western diplomats in Managua said
an American refusal to accept Miss As-
torga because of an act she committed
during the revolutionary war would
further increase hostility between
Washington and Managua. Foreign
Minister Miguel d'Escoto Brockman
is abroad, and a spokesman for the
ministry said he had no comment on
by I Minister, said she expected
her nomination to be acre ted
Washington within our weeks. Admin
istration o als however said the
hony C..
Central Intelligence Agency the De-
fense Agency and the Na. '
tonal- Secu tv_ already ex.
Under established diplomatic prac.
tice, the Nicaraguans would be ex-
pected to send a formal note to the
United States asking for "agretent"
- the French term - that Miss As.
forge be the next ambassador. The Ad-
ministration would have the option of
giving consent or withholding it. Nor-
mally, the withholding of agreement is
very rare and is usually not publicized.
The State Department declined com-
ment on the matter today.
sea concern about the nomination.
State Department opinion on the mat-
ter was said to be divided.
Department Won't Comment
An Able Advocate
People close to the Nicaraguan Gov.
ernment said Miss Astorga had been
selected as envoy to Washington be.
cause she is a convinced militant who
has ably advocated the Sandinista
cause in countless interviews and
speeches, both in Nicaragua and
abroad.
Sanitized Copy Approved for Release 2010/08/27: CIA-RDP90-00552R000505000003-0