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

Document Type: 
Collection: 
Document Number (FOIA) /ESDN (CREST): 
CIA-RDP90-00965R000403790008-4
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RIPPUB
Original Classification: 
K
Document Page Count: 
1
Document Creation Date: 
December 22, 2016
Document Release Date: 
February 9, 2012
Sequence Number: 
8
Case Number: 
Publication Date: 
March 11, 1987
Content Type: 
OPEN SOURCE
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PDF icon CIA-RDP90-00965R000403790008-4.pdf105.42 KB
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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