'COMMANDER ZERO' FIGHTS FOR A NON-ALIGNED NICARAGUA

• Document Type: CREST
• Collection: General CIA Records
• Document Number (FOIA) /ESDN (CREST): CIA-RDP90-00552R000504880084-6
• Release Decision: RIPPUB
• Original Classification: K
• Document Page Count: 1
• Document Creation Date: December 22, 2016
• Document Release Date: September 15, 2010
• Sequence Number: 84
• Publication Date: July 4, 1983
• Content Type: OPEN SOURCE

Sanitized Copy Approved for Release 2010/09/15: CIA-RDP9O-00552ROO0504880084-6
DALLAS TIMES-HERALD
4 July 1983
Zero' fights Yor
a non-aligned Nicaragua f
I t ' i' 1 President Reagan has called the
I i June 23 ?strategic halt" now FDN guerrillas "freedom fight-
(' ;,! , :, ;': ;,,, , ? I t, 1 f :~ I 1 seerru to have been a calculated ers." Pastora has said he visited
,-maneuver to jostle ARDE support- Honduras in March 1982, when he
A I i t (: t T1 i I, N .11) A to l i I t' ? ers `into giving more aid. discussed a possible alliance- in. F'i: t?trnra{'~~:~ i,Ir? I'actr?a Z('t `=;pastora has a reputation as a conversations with Honduran.
:I-id- h,c , ir, -ii, t;+ ,:ul,('r (if r i,~'. guerrilla fighter with a flair for military officers, -F
DN leaders and
1' attc ,n,l tnch,.,i hanannc and t'the'drainatiC. He led the brazen U. S' intelligence officials ;The
'
ver of the National
k
a
eo
hf i?rl W,, talkie. Frt?r, lh .-daylight ta
be "
talks apparently.~broke docir
ttl??t . r kr?I (v,t, it I( An nl-atif l?t,r"i palauce=in Managua in 1978, forc- .cause of Pastoral'saemand~:titiat'
shy, k r a, ~-wl ,-lit of thr' rivr'r ,, 'President Anastasio Somoza to
ing be named comiaatider-in-chief
hat,k, hn siw,I,? Ow r"irxi nt,t", ,Ireeimprisoned Sandinista leaders the guerrilla forces, and because
Ilk
c 7 ? t A -.tart the Part)? a n d giving t h e w o r l d i t s f i r s t look+of his o p p a s i t t o n - to t h e F D N z
1;att thr? (,art\' at the revolutionaries who'would'tary commanders,, V#tua4y`ll
The di,:ta?t thud of a mortar seize power a year later. whom are .former_.oificersof So
ttlingen?afoot-long~stac of?
moza's hated ,national gua>:d.- ...
mund a?mrir?ri mn ments later as Whi
-_~ ARDE leaders :say the FDN'
rurrrillrc r,( thr Demmratic Revo- sugarcane, Pastors said his anon
(?tinnarc Alliance, known as ymous "traditional-friends"--'had commanders_are..contras;-iar,
n 11. tF. ??, l,r,,,r3ed to Pastora's mot been providing ARDE, with counterrevolutionaries,.-who 'hope r'
, " , 1 11 ' I inn t a , r t : an isolated gar- sufficient aid - because--'they . In. r e s t o r e - . , a - ghtist regime .in..
?;,,, ?f ,tom.,,; 75 Sandinista sol- thought I was getting everything 'Nicaragua. , i , . ?? t , o- C i r i h it a n port torn I needed from the CIA." Pastora calls himself a ''demo=-
?{ S;,,, ,roan (I"?I Norte, one of the "I am not getting '1 cent from., cratic revolutionary" who remains
the U. S. government or any U. S. faithful to the ideals of the' 1979 ``
last government strongholds in organization, like the CIA;" Pas- I revolution but opposes :the San -1
cnutheaatern Nicaragua. tors said. " N o t .that I would-not- th t ' ihift toward Marxism,_its:
dependence on Cuban and Eastern
I'a c tnra, 4 ; , the legendary Com- accept help from the. --CAA if;-- t
rnandt'r 7pro of the 1979 Sandin were offered without. strings ' bloc military advisers, and its fall:
i--t:, rrrvnlution who now seeks to attached." ure to call free elections.
r,,.?r?rthri'w the regime he helped ARDE's short-term needs may "The revolution has accom-
i,,c:a1l. :.'ac back doing what he be satisfied by Pastora's tradition- plished -many good thins," he
kr,,,.: c t,-r, - waging war in the al supporters.- Sources say-- the said last week. "The literacy cam-
,,, cnuthern Nicaragua. military assistance comes from I paign, the seizure of Somoza's
": h,' ..'uick began only five days sympathetic senior military offi- holdings, the nationalization of
a f +,?r Pa'tnra announced to the ; cers in Venezuela, Panama and certain industries and exports.... .
wrn id that he was calling a "stra- ' Colombia acting independently of ,I am not anti-communist, but I
tr'g;c halt" to his 3-month-old their governments. - 1 am not naive," he- said. 'How
ARDE officials -acknowledge about their expansionism. I am-for
guerrilla campaign because ARDE ' that their refusal to form an alli- ! a truly non-aligned Nicaragua.
was nearly broke and critically, ante with a larger force of U.. S.- I Something is really wrong with
short of food and arms. supported guerrillas fighting in the world if everyone has to align
"I never said retreat," northern Nicaragua is keeping I1 themselves either with the United...
told reporters who visited one of ' . Pastors cut off from the U. U.S. sup- States or the Soviet Union the
his remote' outposts last week. Ply line. .CIA or the KGB.
"We were not abandoning the The northern' force, called IM, --The..-g gos (U. S., officials),
struggle, and our cease-fire lasted Nicaraguan Democratic Front or - 'should help us and not tie any ,
only 48 hours before traditional 'FDN, claims to-have 7,000 men in strings to the aid," Pastora said.
friends proms d us substantial arms. Both U. S. and Honduran "When we win, we will throw out
aid." government sources have ac- the Cubans and call free-elections.
Ai though first appearing to be a knowledged that FDN troops are I believe in a democratic Nicara
serious setback for Pastors, the allowed to operate from Honduras gua, but the gringos are afraid of
and receive considerable covert me. I am too independent. They
aid from the Reagan' cannot control me."
administration.
Sanitized Copy Approved for Release 2010/09/15: CIA-RDP9O-00552ROO0504880084-6