SNUBBED BY U.S., REBEL LEADER CALLS IT QUITS

• Document Type: CREST
• Collection: General CIA Records
• Document Number (FOIA) /ESDN (CREST): CIA-RDP90-00965R000100140063-0
• Release Decision: RIPPUB
• Original Classification: K
• Document Page Count: 1
• Document Creation Date: December 22, 2016
• Document Release Date: April 13, 2012
• Sequence Number: 63
• Publication Date: July 5, 1983
• Content Type: OPEN SOURCE

Declassified in Part - Sanitized Copy Approved for Release 2012/04/13: CIA-RDP90-00965R000100140063-0
V
11 :~a Mr,
ti. i U RED
Snubbed by U.S.,
Rebel Leader
Calls It Quits
This is the story behind the story
of Commander Zero's cease-fire in
the guerrilla war against the Sandi-
nista regime in Nicaragua. Unfortu-
nately, it's the story of a colossal fail-
tire by the Reagan administration to
seize a golden opportunity.
Commander Zero is the nom de
guerre of Eden Pastora, the hero of
the 1979 revolution that overthrew
Nicaraguan dictator Anastasio So-
moza. Appalled by the communist
takeover of the Sandinista regime he
helped put. in power, Pastora went
into exile and gathered other disen-
chanted Sandinistas for a new rev-
olution.
When CIA-hacked exiles, includ-
ing many former Somoza national
guardsmen, launched their counter-
revolution from Honduras in the
north, Pastora struck from Costa
Rica in the south. His 2.000 guerril-
las became the most effective anti-
Sandinista force.
But the Reagan administration, in
its infinite wisdom, turned its back
on Pastora, preferring instead the
"contras" in the north with their
right-wing credentials. Pastora asked
WASHINGTON POST
5 July 1983
Washington for money to buy arms
and food for his guerrillas, but he
insisted that there be no strings at-
tached. The administration said no.
I sent my associate Jon Lee An-
derson to march with Pastora inside
Nicaragua. In fact, Anderson was
standing by Pastora's side when the
rebel commander told his troops
that he had to call off the war be-
cause they were broke.
Pastora made his announcement
to about 100 guerrillas in his camp
on the San Juan River in southern
Nicaragua. The message was relayed
by radio to units fighting deeper
within the country.
"There's no money left to keep
fighting," Pastora told his men.
"This is the difficult and harsh re-
ality. You must make up your minds
what to do-to go back to your as-
signed combat zones and subsist in
the bush or not.
"You mpst go on with what you
have. We can't promise you any
more. If we can, we'll return to you
with the boots, the medicines and
the bullets you need.
"If we can't, we'll bring you only
our hope, our concerns and our
brotherly love-and we'll come to
die with you."
When he finished his speech,'Pas-
tora and his men shouted the old
Sandinista battle cry: "Free home-
land or death!"
Pastora did not try -to hide his
bitterness at what he considered the
Reagan administration's deliberat&
betrayal.
"The CIA wants us around." he
told my associate. "They want. its
fighting. But they don't want us to
get big enough to be a threat to their
puppets." He was referring to -the
U.S.-backed Nicaraguan Democratic
Force (FDN) fighting in the north:
"They have been trying to get 'us"
to join the FDN, something we will
never do, because its commanders
are still ex-officers in Somoza's :na-'
tional guard," said Pastora, 47.
The administration's refusal ti
provide funds for Pastora's operation
was something he could tolerate..:
They had been getting money from7
private donors, including several-
U.S. corporations, and from some,
governments in Europe and Latin
America.
But, what infuriates Pastora is..
what he claims is the CIA's deliber-: {
ate sabotage of their fund-raising
efforts.
"The CIA has told potential sup- i
porters of ours to lay off," Pastora
complained. "They want us alive
only to legitimize their puppet FDN _
force in the north."
Pastora said he had less than $400
left when he announced his tempo-
rary cease-fire on June 23. Yet it was
the very success of his anti-Sandi-,
nista movement that drove it, into
bankruptcy, by bringing in more re-
cruits than he could arm, clothe or
even feed.
Declassified in Part - Sanitized Copy Approved for Release 2012/04/13: CIA-RDP90-00965R000100140063-0