CRUZ, CONTRA CHIEF WHO QUIT, SAYS AIM IS TO FORCE CHANGES

• Document Type: CREST
• Collection: General CIA Records
• Document Number (FOIA) /ESDN (CREST): CIA-RDP90-00965R000403790008-4
• Release Decision: RIPPUB
• Original Classification: K
• Document Page Count: 1
• Document Creation Date: December 22, 2016
• Document Release Date: February 9, 2012
• Sequence Number: 8
• Publication Date: March 11, 1987
• Content Type: OPEN SOURCE

STAT J
Declassified in Part -Sanitized Copy Approved for Release 2012/02/09 :CIA-RDP90-009658000403790008-4
I ARTICLE APP `JE~1 YORK TL"~ES
oti ~,ar,E -~ 11 March 1987
Cruz, Contra Chief Who Quit,
Says Aim Is to Force Changes
By JAMES LeMpY#Lr
? S ? to New York Tlmee
SAN SALVADOR, March 10 - Ar- tartans, not democrats, have the upper I it
turo Cruz, the senior Nicaraguan rebel hand.
leader who resigned Monday, said to- I "I feel tremendously frustrated be-
,day that he hoped his departure would cause we Nicaraguans are going in cir-
"shake up" American and rebel Dili- ties," Mr. Crtu said. "We started in
cials and force them to face the neces- 1977 with one dictatorship, only to have
sity of fundamentally reorganizing the anew dictatorship led by the Sandinis-
guerrilla movement. tas emerge in 1979. It would be terrible
"I hope my resignation will convince to create a new dicatatrship if we de-
people that the need for reform is more teat the Sandinistas. For me it is the
radical, more urgent than ever," Mr. , duty of Nicaraguan democrats to see
Cruz said in a telephone interview trt.,n ~~~~ said hpe had found, after two
Costa Rlea. "Unless there is deep re- extremely difficult years, that he could j
form, the problems of the Nicaraguan not force reform from within the rebel
opposition will go on." movement. As a result, he said, he had
A Coatradletory Career chosen to publicize the necessity of
Mr. Cruz appears to have succeeded changing the rebel leadership, conduct
In provoking a strong reaction, prompt- i publie/ytand as loudly as possib ems as
ins American officials Monday to ask , , Mr. Cruz, who is 63 years old, said he
other rebel leaders in Costa Rica to en-' had joined the United Nicaraguan Op-
ter into negotfations to create a new di- I position rebel movement in 1985 at the
rectorate for the United Nicaraguan ~ strong urging of American officials,
Opposition, according to two rebel ofti- who promised that his entry would
cials. They said the negotiations were mark a serious effort to broaden and
expected to be extremely difficult. democratize a guerrilla opposition
Mr. Cruz's gesture of resigning from dominated by former followers of the
~ Nicaraguan dictator Anastasio Somoza
'
movement they have backed.
dictory career of a man who served
first as a top Sandinista official and
then became one of the Sandinistas'
leading opponents.
j Such sharp turnings appear to reflect
both Mr. Cruz's own mercurial charac-
ter and the hard choices many Nicara-
guans have faced as their country has
plunged into war and revolution.
Despite his indectston and shifts in
course, Mr. Cruz acqu[red a reputation
as a man worthy of respect among for-
eign diplomats and American mem-
bers of Congress. He said today that
"part of my tragedy is that I am not a
~ politician." Yet he appears to have
I forced American officials to reconsider
'their actions and those of the rebel
e-
the directorate in order to demand f
h
ponent of the Sandinistas, whom e
condemned as "totalitarians and dicta-
tors," adding that he would continue to
press for "a democratic solution" in
~ his country. But he conceded that Nica-
ragua'shistory suggested that authori-
Debayle.
Confrontation Wlth `Clique'
Mr. Cruz said he had spent the time
since in bitter confrontation with a
"clique" led by Col. Enrique Bermu-
~ dez, the military commander of the
~ Nicaraguan Democratic Force rebel
army, and by Adoito Calero, the
group's political leader. He condemned
the Reagan Administration or al ow-
ing~lgicaraauan oooos[tion to Tie
controlled b militar comman
an r tt st po gcians who were origi-
ns c osen t e antra me f-
ence c .
' e problem is that the United
Nicaraguan Opposition is a vehicle chat
the clique of the F.D.N. never let func-
tion," Mr. Cruz said, using the Spanish
initials of the Nicaraguan Democratic .
Force. "The United States, by its inde-
cision and ambivalence, supported the
F.D.N. It did not push for reforms."
Stlli Opposed to Sandinistas ~ in describing the problems he faced ~
Cruz
Mr
vement
l
b
h
,
.
mo
e
e re
Mr. Cruz said he remained a firm op- ~ ,inside t
recounted an incident on his last visit to
Honduras three months ago to visit
Nicaraguan refugees along the border.
He said he found that followers of Mr.,
Calero had threatened several refu=
gees, telling them that it they sup-
ported or even talked to him food sup-
pliesand other aid would be cut off.
Mr. Cruz said he believed a new polit-
icaldirectorate should be elected by an
assembly made up of leading Ntcara-
guan exiles representing all major
political factions and also including
Irebelfighters.
"We need a strong, unified director-
. ate," Mr. Cruz said. "It can't be made
up of puppets."
But he conceded that creation of a
unified leadership for the badly divided
'rebel movement would be difficult. He
(said he believed the new leaders would
emerge from discussions between six
key rebel figures.
These, he said, would include Mr.
Calero and Colonel Bermudez. Others
would be Alfredo Cesar an indeoend-
ep tTeTeader in Costa Rica. and
Rrmltlvn Rivera. a Miskito In tan
leader who has been isolated_bv the
Cents me itence Attencv over the
Iyears~ri a3dition, r. ruz sa[d, Al-
fonso Robelo and Pedro Joaquin Cha-
morro, now serving as rebel directors,
would be key negotiators.
The problem, Mr. Cruz conceded, is
~ that several o! these exile leaders have
strongly opposed one another on politi-
cal and personal grounds for the last
five years.
'The contras have to show that they
don't just want to win power but that
they want democracy," he said. "[ left
because 1 found that there was not
apolitical will to make changes, but 1 be-
~ Ileve that others will try to bring re-
form and [hope they are successful."
Declassified in Part -Sanitized Copy Approved for Release 2012/02/09 :CIA-RDP90-009658000403790008-4