SANDINISTA FOE BACKS 'CONTRA' AID

• Document Type: CREST
• Collection: General CIA Records
• Document Number (FOIA) /ESDN (CREST): CIA-RDP90-00965R000504870072-2
• Release Decision: RIPPUB
• Original Classification: K
• Document Page Count: 1
• Document Creation Date: December 22, 2016
• Document Release Date: February 8, 2012
• Sequence Number: 72
• Publication Date: January 4, 1985
• Content Type: OPEN SOURCE

STAT
Declassified in Part - Sanitized Copy Approved for Release 2012/02/08: CIA-RDP90-00965R000504870072-2
He also asked other governments and private
organizations to' demand steps toward democrat-. ,
is reform as a condition , for further aid to Nica-
ragua.
The announcement was`a boost for the: Rea
gan administration, which . regards . continued
contra attacks as crucial to its policy?of pressur-
ing the leftist Sandinistas toward regional peace
talks and domestic political concessions. .' -
The statement represents a considerable shift.
for Cruz, a former Central Bank president and
former member of the Sandinista, government.
He previously said the contra program had 'pro
vided the Sandinistas with an excuse to tighten
domestic repression.
"Yes, it is used politically by the Sandinistas,"
Cruz said at a news conference. "But you have to
go back to the cost-effect" [analysis] ... this is a
WASHINGTON P6sT
4 January 1985
Sandinista Fo& Backs..`Contra
Cruz Shifts; Endorses U.S. Funding for Rebels
civil war.", If U.S. backing stops, Cruz said, the
Sandinistas would not get rid of the Soviets or.
become more democratic; it would be just the
;. ,
opposite."
However, he rejected an economic boycott or
other stiff U.S. sanctions because. "the effect
would be terrible" for civilians . and 5for the,
Nicaraguan economy.
With Cruz was Pedro Joaquin Chamorro, ed-
itor of Nicaragua's lone opposition newspaper,
La Prensa, who last month went into voluntary
exile in Costa Rica to protest growing censorship
and travel restrictions. He ridiculed "revolution-
ary tourists" from the United States and else-
where who follow Sandinista guides through Nic-
aragua and believe what they are told, he said,
"One of the wonders of the revolution is that
there is still a newspaper publishing," he said.
"They don't see that 50 percent of what we want
to publish is censored." .
ment.
oli [ F.r
By Joanne Omang
Washington Post SUR Writer
Arturo Cruz, leader of the democratic oppo-
sition to Nicaragua's Sandinista government,
yesterday shifted position to endorse continued
U.S. funding for the armed opposition,"contra"' .
rebels.
Cruz said'it would be "a terrible political mis-
take" to end the U.S. aid program before. the
Soviet bloc halts aid to the Nicaraguan govern--, l
Chamorro charged that outbound Nicaraguans
are required to pay twice for their tickets, once
in dollars and once in Nicaraguan currency. "The
`price now.is too high for most Nicaraguans,"
Chamorro said.
Cruz said he still wants an end to the contra
program but only in the context of'an.overall
settlement involving freedom for the press, po-
litical parties and unions; a political amnesty for
dissidents and "a more rational" foreign policy.
That position is fundamentally the same as the
r' contras': He'denied any"`organic relationship" to'
them but said there -is "a commonality of pur-
:pose." A'spokesman for'the largest rebel group,
Bosco Matamoros of the'Nicaraguan Democratic
Force (FDN), said Cruz's remarks had "clarified"
the situation and were "useful for the cause of
democracy, which is our cause too."
Ambassador Carlos Tunnermann of Nicaragua
.said Cruz 'has' publicly revealed that he is now
acting in a coordinated manner with the armed-
counterrevolution." He said the Sandinistas "al-
Ways suspected that he [Cruz] was being used,
possibly without realizing it," by the contras and
added that "commonality of purpose" meant that
Cruz had adopted the contras' avowed purpose of
overthrowing the Sandinista government. `
The Reagan administration hopes to persuade
Congress to provide another $14 million next
month for the contras, who have used more than
$75 million in U.S. aid to grow from 500 ragtag
rebels in .1981 to an estimated 14,000 insur-
gents; But Congress ended the aid last May, and
-the issue promises to be among the most contro-
versial of the new session. Cruz said he would
testify to Congress on the need for the program
if asked to do so.
The FDN yesterday issued a report alleging
hundreds of cases.of displacement, torture, ar-.
bitraryarrest and murder of civilians by the San-
dinista government. .
The. 11-page, list was in part a response to?a
report , last. week from the Council. on Hemis-
pheric Affairs (COHA), a private eduational and
human rights organization. COHA charged the
contras with routinely torturing and murdering
hundreds of civilians suspected of backing the
Sandinista government.
Declassified in Part - Sanitized Copy Approved for Release 2012/02/08: CIA-RDP90-00965R000504870072-2