COMMANDER ZERO, DESERTED

Document Type: 
Collection: 
Document Number (FOIA) /ESDN (CREST): 
CIA-RDP90-00965R000301890024-8
Release Decision: 
RIFPUB
Original Classification: 
K
Document Page Count: 
1
Document Creation Date: 
December 22, 2016
Document Release Date: 
September 25, 2012
Sequence Number: 
24
Case Number: 
Publication Date: 
May 26, 1986
Content Type: 
OPEN SOURCE
File: 
AttachmentSize
PDF icon CIA-RDP90-00965R000301890024-8.pdf85.89 KB
Body: 
3 Declassified and Approved For Release 2012/09/25: CIA-RDP90-00965R000301890024-8 "`r g ITEARED WASHINGTON POST aii ha 1. 26 May 1986 Rowland Evans andRobert Novak Commander Zero, Deserted ? Further Omens the well for ailed , freedom fighter jilmaidwa,_ahadowy U.S. agents have told Costs Rica not to, oder poitical asylum to the fabled anti- Sandinista amen* lesder whose beutesionts wee suborned to dined him and who then gem himself up for hick of ammunition, boots and clothes for his Mg* tielttri.,, with dale White House that these to " could thm?' ?Vara) be gated as fact is that four of Panon's top guerrilla lieutenants went to a safe house in Son Jose early this month. Each received $5,000 cash to desert Panora's movement and it the United Nicaraguan Opposition. The ? psynient was personally made by Alfon- so Rohn* a key UNO leader. That tightened the net on Command- er Zero, famed throughout Nicaragua for his role in overturning Anastasio Sanaa and then defecting from the communist regime established by his revolutionary comrades. Deserted by four of his six cornmandentes (twv re- fined to lea* hind he turned himself in to Costa Rican authorities on May 16. Only weeks before that tragic series of events, Pastors had been promised by an unofficial U.S. negotiator that he would get immediate help. He was promised ammunition, boots, clothes and a secure comniunications system in exchange for this pledge: deliver his 2,000-plus guerrillas to a Nicaraguan meeting place with UN O; cooperate with UNO leaders; accept a retired U.S. officer as mina*, adviser to end his movements orgenisetional troubles. Even though this arrangement is be- braid to have Ind the bieseing of Assist- ant Secretary of State Elliott Abrams, it was systematically subverted. Instead of getting what had been pledged, Pastors found his lieutenants suborned, his abib- ty to keep going ruthlessly choked. This repudiation of a pstriot and a political pluralist seemingly violates the Reagan doctrine of support to anti:am- monia rnomments.' At least temporardy blodted from asylum in Costa Rica. Panora finds his momment killed by MI unseen hand. A prol s! here that he should travel in Europe as a modern-day Minuteman to main the truth about Nicaragua's communist regime nay also be dead. In the shrouded world of freedom fighters acting under the thumb of covert intedi- gene agents to advance the cause of democracy, Pastore has been hong out to dry. Costa Rican authorities, urging him to seek asylum in Panama, say that is what the United States wants. If they send Inn to Panama; an imider with wide experience in Central America told us, 'they are sentencing him to death.* The reason: Cub= agents are beginning to onimm Patina Here ii Mardi, Past's hand was warmly shaken by no leas than Seize- tsrY af State George Shultz. That ges- ture was seen by U.S. admirers al showing Shults's support for Pastors.. If 90. Shultz has now been overruled by those shadowy on-the-scene U.S. agents who regard Pastors as a trouble- maker because he does not play by their rules?and pcesibly because they know he would not negotiate with the Sandi- nistas wiless he was certain that they could be defeated militarily. When we saw the anti-Sornom rev- olutionary leader at one of his jungle headquarters a year ago, the duplicity of Washington-connected political attacks against him was Wm. He had been charged with being a mere propagandist who operated only on the Costa Rican side of the border, with hints that he might be in cahoots with the old Sandi- nista comrades he deserted long ago. The day we were there, wounded guerrillas were arriving by ramshackle bon in a camp with primitive medical facilities. The crisis he faced was vivid: no ammunition, food or clothing. He already been frosen out by the CIA and cxinsumiw conservatives, torehabili- tate -both in the Nicaraguan jungles and mut -mtFPIdentaurey reaciers in Muir& Just before Easter, SngIaub went to Central America and reached the across-the-board agreement with Pastors. It was accepted by Abrams who, with other officials, beim. Pato- ra's name alone is a priceless asset for the contras duoughout Nicaragua. But in the real world of the Reagan adninietration. Policy Wastes accord- ing to no rides. Although the nominal victim ii this tragedy is a single man, the real victim is one ci Ronald Reaves mitior PrinCiPle& 01999. News Mario *dime ,? ? Declassified and Approved_For Release 2912/09/25: CIA-RDP90-00965R000301890024-8