Reagan Figures Close to Mark on Contra Forces in Nicaragua
In an attempt to clear up some confusion created by President Reagan this week, the White House today released official U.S. estimates of rebel forces fighting in Nicaragua.
Spokesman Larry Speakes said 15,000 U.S.-backed contra rebels are opposing about 120,000 troops of the leftist Sandinista government.
Reagan said Monday that twice as many rebels were battling the Sandinistas now as were fighting on the Sandinistas’ side against dictator Anastasio Somoza’s regime in 1979.
On Tuesday, the President put the figure at “nearly three times as many.”
Speakes today said 6,000 insurgents were battling Somoza at the height of the civil war that led to his fall. That means that the current contra forces are 2 1/2 times bigger, he said.
“It’s more than twice as many or nearly three times as many,” Speakes said.
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