NICARAGUA'S U.N. VOICE

• Document Type: CREST
• Collection: General CIA Records
• Document Number (FOIA) /ESDN (CREST): CIA-RDP90-00965R000705970010-6
• Release Decision: RIPPUB
• Original Classification: K
• Document Page Count: 3
• Document Creation Date: December 22, 2016
• Document Release Date: December 12, 2011
• Sequence Number: 10
• Publication Date: September 28, 1986
• Content Type: OPEN SOURCE

QTAT
Declassified in Part
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ARTICLE APPEARED
NEW YORK TIMES MAGAZINE
ON PAGE
28 September 1986
NICARAGUa~S U.N. VOICE
By Elaine Sciolino
HE HADN'T BEEN EXPECTED TO AT-
tend the reception, but it was her first invita-
tion from the United States Mission to the
United Nations, and as Nicaragua's chief
delegate, Nora Astorga accepted. When she
shook hands with her somewhat bemused
American host, Vernon A. Walters, the chief
United States delegate, he told her, in impec-
cable Spanish, how pleased he was that she
had come. She complimented him on how
well he spoke her native tongue.
After a polite stay, she crossed the street
to the Security Council, and two hours later
railed against American aggression in Nicaragua. "We hope
reason and wisdom will prevail over brute force," she said.
The United States may be waging a war by proxy against
Nicaragua, but the two countries still have diplomatic rela-
tions. So neither Ms. Astorga nor Mr. Walters see any contra-
diction in being civil to each other. "We said nonsense," she
says, "but it was important nonsense." Mr. Walters, who regu-
larly attacks Nicaragua as a Marxist-Leninist dictatorship
that has betrayed its revolutionary goals, speaks graciously
of Ms. Astorga's appearance. "It required a certain courage
for her to come."
In the male-dominated world of multilateral diplomacy,
where protocol does much to smooth the rough edges of politi-
cal reality, a woman like Nora Astorga has a distinct advan-
tage. The 37-year-old diplomat is much sought after in an en-
vironment where charm at evening receptions is often as im-
portant as skill in corridor politicking.
Much of Ms. Astorga's time recently was spent sharpening
strategy for the just-under-way General Assembly session, at
which Nicaragua will figure prominently when the subject of
Central America comes up for discussion early in November.
She plans to ask for reaffirmation of past resolutions during
the session and may introduce new ones, including a call for
the United States to abide by a World Court decision and a
condemnation of new American aid to the rebels.
Vernon Walters, reflecting the Reagan Administration's vi-
sion of Nicaragua as a Marxist-Leninist dictatorship that
persecutes Catholics, Jews and ethnic minorities, notably the
Miskito Indians, and one that has silenced the opposition
press, will campaign vigorously against the resolutions. But
Nicaragua, which enjoys the support of the Soviet bloc and
that of the 99-nation Nonaligned Movement, can be expected
to win easy majorities.
Ms. Astorga serves as her country's only direct point of dip-
lomatic contact with much of the world, as Nicaragua has em-
bassies in only 38 of the 158 member states of the United Na-
tions. Her mission within and outside the meeting halls is
straightforward: to win broader support for Nicaragua's
revolution and to discredit American policy in Central Amer-
ica. Even those who oppose her goals acknowledge that she
applies herself vigorously.
"She goes out of her way to get to know the key diplomats
and explain her country's policies," says a State Department
official familiar with her activities. "But," he adds, "even the
best diplomat can go only so far with what is clearly a lousy
hand."
Some of her critics charge that she is just a pretty face
whose role is as a propagandist. "Norita is a resonance box
and what is put into it is decided in Managua," says Arturito
Cruz, who worked with her in the foreign ministry before he
joined his father, the contra leader Arturo Cruz. Indeed, some
diplomats who deal with her regularly say she is overpro-
grammed. "It is hard to cut through her charm," says one
third-world ambassador. "I have spoken with her many times
but feel I don't know her."
An Asian ambassador thinks that "she's still a little green
when it comes to United Nations politics. She's still learning
how to handle herself under pressure." At Security Council
meetings, she sometimes appears nervous, chain-smoking
Marlboros, fingering her jewelry, folding and unfolding her
hands.
(I
before the Sandinistas over-
threw the regime of Anasta-
sio Somoza Debayle, that
Nora Astorga, then a corpo-
rate lawyer and a divorced
mother with two children,
lured the top Somozista gen-
eral, Reynaldo Pdrez Vega, a
reputed torturer and woman-
izer, to her bedroom. When he
began to undress, she gave a
signal and three Sandinista
companeros burst out of hid-
ing. They were supposed to
kidnap the general for inter-
rogation and exchange him
for political prisoners, she
says, but when he resisted,
they slashed his throat with a
knife.
Today, she has no regrets.
T WAS ON MARCH 8,
1978, International
Women's Day and a year
Continued
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,,it was not murder," she
says, "but political justice."
Sexual intercourse, however,
would have been a different
matter. "I couldn't have done
it, even with all my political
conviction," she says. "He
was too much of a monster."
Ms. Astorga claims to re-
sent what she calls "morbid
curiosity" about the murder.
But she acknowledges that
had it not been for that one
dramatic act of revolution,
she might scarcely be no-
ticed. "It's one of the high
points of my life," she admits
matter-of-factly. "It has not
been a disadvantage. But I in-
sist, my life is more than that
single act."
The attention showered on
Nora Astorga has made some
of her female comrades a bit
resentful. "Nora is famous
outside Nicaragua because of
one action," says Sonia Roa-
Suazo, a former revolution-
ary and foreign ministry offi-
cial who broke with the San-
dinistas because she dis-
agreed with the turn the revo-
lution had taken; she now
lives in California. "Inside
Nicaragua, she's nobody spe-
cial, and there are many
women who have done more
than she."
Her role in the general's
murder cost Ms. Astorga the
job as Nicaragua's Ambassa-
dor to the United States two
years ago. Although the State
Department was ready to ac-
cept her nomination the Cen-
tral Intelli ence A ens let it
be known that the slain gen-
eral had been a valuable
C.I.A. "asset," and that his
murder was a hostile act. To-
day there is an admission in
Washington that politics
played no small part in her
rejection.
The Reagan Administra-
tion could do little, however,
to block Ms. Astorga's nomi-
nation to the United Nations.
She was, in fact, a natural
choice: four years as a
Deputy Foreign Minister and
three years as one of Nicara-
gua's delegates to the United
Nations had taught her the
ropes of diplomacy, and she
is articulate in a way many of
her less-educated revolution-
ary comrades are not. Mr.
Ortega denies that the ap-
pointment was an effort to
tweak Mr. Reagan's nose,
telling reporters during his
recent visit to New York that
the Administration rejected
her because "it was afraid of
the message she would bring
to American public opinion.
However, we feel honored
that she represents us at the
United Nations, a body that is
so important to the peoples of
the world"
Ms. Astorga, also repre-
sents Nicaragua at various
overseas conferences, most
recently at the Nonaligned
Movement's triennial meet-
ing earlier this month in Zim-
babwe. But despite her in-
tense campaigning to have
Nicaragua named as the site
of the movement's summit
conference in 1989, a decision
was postponed for at least a
year. "There is a lot of con-
cern that since Nicaragua's
whole domestic and foreign
policy is geared against the
United States, it might not
have the proper focus," ex-
plained an Asian diplomat
keenly involved in the Non-
aligned Movement. The
chairmanship falls to the
leader of the host country and
guarantees high visibility as
the movement's spokesman.
Disappointed but undaunted,
Ms. Astorga means to try
again. "It is a very important
goal for us," she says, "and
we feel we could strengthen
the movement."
MS. ASTORGA'S AT-
tempts at "selling" her nation
to America is almost as im-
portant for Nicaragua as is
her work at the United Na-
tions. In this, she easily up-
stages her country's Ambas-
sador in Washington, Carlos
Tunnerman Bernheim, a re-
served 53-year-old former
Minister of Education whose
speeches sometimes resem-
ble academic lectures. At a
speech to students at New
York University, Ms. Astorga
portrayed Sandinism this
way: "Communists we are
not; Marxists we are not,"
adding, "We just don't believe
that Communism or Social-
ism is a contagious disease."
At a funeral service for a Do-
minican sister who had been
active in Nicaragua, her
eulogy moved the assem-
blage at Manhattan's St. Vin-
cent Ferrer Church to tears.
At a recent opening of Nica-
raguan paintings in a chic
SoHo gallery, she attracted
almost as much attention. as
the art.
She also actively promotes
the "sister city" program
that Nicaragua has with
about a dozen American mu-
nicipalities, from Concord, N.
H., to Portland, Ore., and she
is planning a speaking tour to
some of them this fall.
Much of the publicity about
Nicaraguan activities in the
United states is handled by a
small public relations firm,
Agendas International, which
was founded three years ago
by Darryl L. Hunt and Donald
J. Casey, former Maryknoll
priests. The two had met
Nicaragua's Foreign Minis-
ter d'Escoto 30 years ago in
Maryknoll College and have
been believers in the Sandin-
istas ever since.
For $25,000 a month, the
duo consult almost daily both
with Ms. Astorga and Ambas-
sador Tunnerman in Wash-
ington. They plan advance
work for official trips in the
United States, help write
speeches, arrange public ap-
pearances and prep visiting
dignitaries for press confer-
ences and television appear-
ances.
Continued
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But even the most sophisti-
cated media campaign cat;-
not help Ms. Astorga to de-
fend some of Nicaragua's
positions. When the Reagan
Administration accused
Nicaragua of invading Hon-
duras with 1,500 troops last
spring, for example, she
called press conferences and
went on national television to
charge the Administration
with "lies and fabrications."
Although it was not an "in-
vasion," Nicaraguan troops
had, indeed, crossed the bor-
der to attack contra camps,
an admission Ms. Astorga
even now is loathe to make.
"They say their camps are in
Nicaragua," she says.
"That's what we say, too. So
we have destroyed these
camps. That explains why it
was not an act of aggression
against Honduras."
Some of her fellow diplo-
mats call her evasive on
other thorny subjects. She
refuses, for example, to ex-
plain why Nicaragua ab-
stains every year when most
of the nonaligned nations
have voted to condemn the
Soviet invasion of Afghani-
stan. Instead, she refers to a
1980 speech by one of her
predecessors in which Af-
ghan rebels were referred to
as "mercenaries and coun-
terrevolutionaries." On why
her country supports Iran in
its war with Iraq, she says, "I
don't usually comment on in-
ternal things in other coun-
tries." She denies that Nica-
ragua's revolution resembles
that of Cuba. When pressed,
she claims ignorance: "I just
don't know Cuba in detail to
pinpoint things that are good
or are bad. The Cuban people
believe what they have is
good for them."
Her responses accurately
reflect the policies articu-
lated in Nicaragua. The clos-
ing of the opposition news -
per La Prensa was neces-
sary, she says, because ,it
was financed indirectly by
the C.I.A., and you cannot
ve your enemies all the pos-
sibilities to harm you." Two
grants totaling $200,000 had
been awarded to La Prensa
by the National Endowment
for Democracy, a private
American group that chan-
nels money from the United
States Information Agency to
various institutions in coun-
tries where democracy is
deemed fragile or nonexist-
ent ($50,000 was withheld
after La Prensa was shut
down). The closing of La
Prensa eliminated the only
press opposition to the
Ortega regime.
As for recent measures
taken against churchmen,
Ms. Astorga says that Bishop
Pablo Antonio Vega had to be
expelled from Nicaragua be-
cause "he held many open
meetings with counterrevolu-
tionaries and was practically
asking for U.S. intervention.
Just because he's a priest
doesn't mean he's above the
law." In a country where the
populace is overwhelmingly
Catholic, and where a war
with the church would under-
cut the revolution's legitima-
cy, she is quick to add, ,This
action is not against the
church; it is against an indi-
vidual who also happens to be
a church person."
Pope John Paul II said he
"strongly deplored" the ex-
pulsion, which he called "an
almost incredible act" that
recalled the "dark ages" of
Latin-American anticleri-
cism. A meeting on the
church-state rift has been
scheduled for this weekend
between President Ortega
and the Nicaraguan Primate,
Miguel Cardinal Obando y
Bravo.
As for her own commit-
ment to religion, Ms. Astorga,
who attended mass daily
until she was 17, says she is
no longer a practicing Catho-
lic. But she is raising her chil-
dren as Catholics, and is her-
self still religious enough to
have received communion
this summer at the 25th anni-
versary celebration of For-
eign Minister d'Escoto's ordi-
nation as a Maryknoll priest
in Ossining, N.Y.
Although the revolution she
defends has lost much of its
original luster for countries
that had hoped it would usher
in democracy after decades
of dictatorship, Nora Astorga
has won the respect of many
of her colleagues at the
United Nations. "She func-
tions like any good ambassa-
dor overseas," says Cavan O.
Hogue, Australia's Deputy
Permanent Representative
at the United Nations, who
first met Ms. Astorga in 1982
when he was Ambassador to
Nicaragua. "She doesn't rush
around slapping backs and
thumping tubs. She certainly
doesn't act like a Mata Hari."
Even Vernon Walters, a re-
tired three-star general and
former Deputy Director of
Central Intelligence, has
some kind words for an oppo-
nent whose debating skills
rival his. "She defends the in-
terests of her country very
adequately," he says. "And
I'm glad she realizes all gen-
erals are not alike." ^
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