100 Cubans Leave Managua : Departure of Advisers Called Gesture to U.S.

The Sandinista government, making what it has called a peace-seeking gesture toward the United States, said “adios” Thursday to 100 of its Cuban military advisers.

And the top Cuban adviser, Gen. Arnoldo Ochoa, chose the occasion to appear in public here for the first time.

Ochoa, reputedly the organizer of Cuban military buildups in Angola and Ethiopia during the late 1970s, was first reported to be in Nicaragua in mid-1983. But he has kept a low profile, and his presence was never confirmed officially until Thursday’s farewell ceremony for the 100 soldiers.

There was no indication that the general himself was leaving. Instead, his surprise appearance seemed to underline a vow by Nicaragua’s defense minister to maintain close relations with Cuba.

President Daniel Ortega had announced in February that Nicaragua would send home 100 of its Cuban military advisers in an effort to reinforce Central American peace negotiations.

The Reagan Administration, which has demanded that Nicaragua give up its close ties with Cuba, said that shipping out the 100 advisers would be an insignificant gesture. U.S. officials have estimated that 2,500 to 3,000 Cuban military advisers work with Nicaragua’s army in its fight against U.S.-backed guerrillas known as contras.

In March, Ortega said there were 786 Cuban military advisers in the country and that the 100 to be sent home would thus represent 12.6% of the total.

Thursday, Defense Minister Humberto Ortega, the president’s brother, delivered a farewell message to the 100 advisers. As he spoke at an army training center in central Managua, the advisers sat on folding chairs arranged on an asphalt court, their crisp green uniforms wilting under the tropical sun.

Not Bending to U.S.

The defense minister said that Nicaragua, in returning the advisers, is not bending to U.S. pressure but is showing its readiness to have all foreign military forces, including Americans, leave Central America.

He said, however, that if conflict in Central America makes it necessary for Cuban advisers to return to Nicaragua, “then they will return.”

In Havana, the returning Cubans were greeted by Defense Minister Raul Castro, a military band and ceremonial platoon, the Associated Press reported.

A U.S. trade embargo against Nicaragua, to take effect Tuesday, is aimed in part at forcing the leftist Sandinista government to reduce its ties with Cuba.

Humberto Ortega on Thursday called the embargo an “earthquake,” but he said Nicaragua is not trembling.

‘Friends, Brothers’

“Nicaragua will continue to be friends, brothers, with the Cuban people,” he said. “We are not turning back a single millimeter, we are not turning back a single instant in the content of our just, noble, revolutionary, exemplary relations between the people of Cuba and Nicaragua, between the governments of Nicaragua and Cuba.”

(In Belgrade, Yugoslavia, President Ortega said the U.S. trade embargo reaffirms Washington’s “traditional policy towards Nicaragua, a policy characterized by aggression and interventionism,” Reuters news agency reported.

(Asked at a news conference how damaging the U.S. embargo would be, Ortega replied: “The actions are very serious because they will probably be accompanied by military actions.”

(The Nicaraguan leader arrived in Yugoslavia on Tuesday after visiting Moscow, where he was promised Soviet economic assistance. He flew Thursday to Sofia, Bulgaria.)