PASTORA DECLARES HE WON'T GIVE UP

• Document Type: CREST
• Collection: General CIA Records
• Document Number (FOIA) /ESDN (CREST): CIA-RDP90-00552R000504880045-9
• Release Decision: RIPPUB
• Original Classification: K
• Document Page Count: 1
• Document Creation Date: December 22, 2016
• Document Release Date: September 15, 2010
• Sequence Number: 45
• Publication Date: June 3, 1984
• Content Type: OPEN SOURCE

Sanitized Copy Approved for Release 2010/09/15: CIA-RDP90-00552R000504880045-9
ARTICLE AP?EARED
ON PAGE
TAJTORA DECWRFS
NE WONT GIVE UP
Venezuelans Treating Him for
Leg Fractures and Burns
Expect Quick Recovery
CARACAS, Venezuela, June 2 (Reu-
ters) - -Eden Pastora Gomez, the
Nicaraguan rebel leader who is recov-
ering in a Caracas clinic from wounds
received in a bomb attack, said today
that he would never give up his strug-
gle for democracy in Nicaragua.
"I will not give up or sell myself how-
ever many bombs are placed by the ex-
tremists," he said in a Venezuelan tele-
vision interview.
Mr. Pastora was expelled from Costa
Rica on Friday night and was flown to
Venezuela in a private plane. Venezue-
lan officials said the Government
played no role in his movements.
Venezuelan doctors today treated
Mr. Pastora for leg fractures received
when a bomb exploded at a news con-
ference on Wednesday just inside Nica-
ragua. They said he had burns over 40
percent of his body.
The longtime guerrilla leader, hero
of the 1979 Sandinista revolution that
toppled Anastasio Somoza Debayle,
said the bomb attack reflected growing
pressure on his guerrilla group by ex-
tremists.
Mr. Pastora said the extreme right
had circulated false stories of divisions
in his group.
Doctor Predicts Quick Recovery
"There was a campaign to make me
appear the only 'obstacle to unity in
Nicaragua and this led to the assassi-
nation attempt," he said.
But he also said the bomb could have
been planted by the extreme right or
the left.
"I will not give up or sell myself how-
ever many bombs are placed by the ex-
tremists," he said. "rn a couple of
months we will be back in action. I am
optimistic because we represent the
only possibility of a real democratic
revolution in Nicaragua."
A Venezuelan doctor who attended
him on the flight described- his condi-
tion as "quite satisfactory" and said he
expected him to make a relatively
quick recovery.
Mr. Pastora was a hero of the 1979
revolution but became disaffected with
the leftist Government he had helped
NEW YORK TIMES
3 June 1984
his Revolutionary Democratic 'Al-
liance, which is operates from areas
near the Costa Rican border, with the
guerrillas of the National Democratic
force, which operates in northern
Nicaragua from bases in Honduras.
Mr. Pastora has objected unless for-
mer Somoza aides leave the leadership
of the group based in Honduras.
"In the last three months we have re-
ceived no aid, not even a pair of boots.
or a uniform, and over the last 30 days
it las been unbearable,")* said.. -
gy Tie sad he
nev a ncaranzuan
SdtYgZCU~entin M~na_ya was resoonsi-
b_le.
A Sandinista junta member, Sergio
Ramirez Mercado, said the bomat-
tack was the result of squabbles among
counterrevolutionary groups.
Mr. Pastora said he had been under
Sanitized Copy Approved for Release 2010/09/15: CIA-RDP90-00552R000504880045-9