'COMMANDER ZERO' RETURNS TO THE FRAY

• Document Type: CREST
• Collection: General CIA Records
• Document Number (FOIA) /ESDN (CREST): CIA-RDP90-00552R000504880093-6
• Release Decision: RIPPUB
• Original Classification: K
• Document Page Count: 1
• Document Creation Date: December 22, 2016
• Document Release Date: September 15, 2010
• Sequence Number: 93
• Publication Date: May 15, 1983
• Content Type: OPEN SOURCE

STAT
Z
Sanitized Copy Approved for Release 2010/09/15: CIA-RDP90-00552R000504880093-6
t!PICLL LFFV:?= THE WASHTI\NGTCN POST
ON PAGE-Z-1 / 15 Nay 1983
`Commander Zero' Retur
to the Fray?-
By Karen DeYoung
Washington Post Fbrefgn Service
LOS CHILES, Costa Rica-Nearly four years
after he commanded the Costa Rica-based "south-
ern front" of the Sandinista revolution against
Nicaraguan dictator Anastasio Somoza, guerrilla,
hero Eden Pastora is back:at war n.these rugged
border hills
The odyssey of "Commander .Zero," onceone of
the_best-known Sandinista Tevolutionary figures,
has come .full circle. ,from a, position in the San-...
dinista government, to -__ disillusionment with its'
increasing slliance with Cuba, to 'exile and_'fmally
again to the place where he.began.
Two weeks ago, 500 -to 700 guerrilla troops led
by Pastore opened a new "southern front" of bat-
tle along the border, this time against the Sandi-
nistas themselves.
- Their attacks, although largely limited so far to
harassment and minor ambushes, have resulted in
new tensions between Nicaragua and a Costa
Rican-government that no longer wants to be in-
volved in Nicaraguan; conflicts, and have threat-
ened to widen U.S. involvement in efforts, to oust,
the Sandinista -government. -
Pastors'.s-decisiontto*ake-up arms again.-Mows
a recent greement by his Democratic Revolution-
ary Alliance exile organization, known as ARDE,
to coordinate activities and strategy with a larger
force of CIA-backed rebels oneratiner in _nnrtbPrn
Nicaragua. According to sources close to ARDE
who are opposed to the new coordination with the
Honduran-based, 7,000-man Nicaraguan Demo-
cratic Force (FDN), Pastors also has begun receiv-
ing U.S. assistance through FDN supplies.
Pastors had long resisted ties with the FDN on
the grounds that anti-U.S: sentiment in Nicara-
gua, and the fact that the ..FDN includes many
members of Somoza's defeated National. Guard,
would undermine his credibility asa revolutionary
leader. nd his efforts tq.spark-domestic .unrest
against'the Sandinistas.
But ARDE's codirector Alfonso Robelo said the
group had been forced to become more "pragmat-
ic" after acknowledging the failure of
its year-long attempt to obtain in-
ternational support for pressure
against the Sandinistas and a peace-
ful resolution of the Nicaraguan cri-
sis. ?....
It became 'a question of our los-
ing credibility," as a viable -option
inside Nicaragua-asthe FDN attacks
escalated, Robelo said in an inter- 1
view earlier this month in Washing-
ton, where he -met with Assistant
Secretary of State Thomas 0. End-
ers and FDN -leader Adolfo Calera.
"Especially for Eden, it was a ques-
tion of machismo," Robelo said. U.S.
officials in Costs Rica declined com-
ment in response to questions on
possible aid to ARDE. Pastora him-
self has been inside southern Nica-
ragua-for the past several weeks, ac-
-cording to ARDE spokesmen in San
Jose, and cannot be reached-
One 'of the reasons that Pastors, a
man who always has been eager for
press coverage, has been unavailable,
Nicaraguan exile sources said, is the
opposition of the Costa Rican gov-
ernment to becoming, once again, a
base of military operations against
Nicaragua. During the fight against
Somoza, - "all of Costa Rica helped.
But the government of Costa Rica
doesn't want to play the same role
Sanitized Copy Approved for Release 2010/09/15: CIA-RDP90-00552R000504880093-6