Beleaguered Contra Leader Pastora Facing Uphill Fight for U.S. Aid

The fortunes of Eden Pastora, the famous if down-and-out Nicaraguan guerrilla leader, have sunk to a new low, his associates here say, and again he is trying to get help from the United States.

But continuing disagreement between Pastora and the other anti-Sandinista rebels, those favored by Washington, stand in the way of his chances of getting any U.S. aid.

The squabble has crippled the effort to create a real southern front by rebels opposed to the Marxist-led Sandinista government of Nicaragua. The Sandinista army has been able to drive the rebels from the border or into remote regions of little importance in the war.

Most of the pressure on the Sandinistas is in northern Nicaragua. There, the rebels of the Nicaraguan Democratic Force, the main force of contras, as the rebels are called, are fighting out of bases in Honduras. These contras get most of the U.S. aid in the anti-Sandinista effort.

Barefoot Troops

“We have no bullets, our troops walk without shoes,” Jose Davila, political coordinator for Pastora’s forces, the Democratic Revolutionary Alliance, said the other day.

Davila said that Pastora still leads a group of 4,000 rebels, but Costa Rican security sources put the number as low as 200. The contras in the north, by comparison, are estimated to number anywhere from 12,000 to 20,000.

Pastora’s forces, known by the Spanish acronym ARDE, have tried to reach some agreement with representatives of the rebels in the north but have had little success.

The Honduras-based rebels are grouped in a coalition known as the United Nicaraguan Opposition (UNO). The coalition’s leadership is made up of Adolfo Calero, the leader of the Nicaraguan Democratic Force; Arturo Cruz, a banker and politician, and Alfonso Robelo Callejas, a former ARDE leader.

Seeking $100 Million

The coalition has received about $27 million in aid voted by the U.S. Congress, most of it earmarked for the Nicaraguan Democratic Force, and is seeking up to $100 million more this spring.

According to Davila, the coalition broke off unity talks with Pastora’s group last month. He accused the Nicaraguan Democratic Force of trying to lure away commanders still loyal to Pastora. Two ARDE commanders, who use the code names “Goose” and “Leonel,” refused to join with the Nicaraguan Democratic Force but are reported to be cooperating with it in return for supplies. The two have also written to Pastora, asking whether any aid will be forthcoming.

“It is hard to keep troops in the field without hope of assistance,” Davila said.

At the bottom of the longstanding split between Pastora’s forces and the coalition is the presence in the ranks of the Democratic Force of officers of the old Nicaraguan National Guard, which served deposed dictator Anastasio Somoza. Pastora, the Sandinistas’ “Commandante Zero” in the battle against Somoza, wants these officers removed.

Beyond this basic clash are others that involve policy and personalities. Coalition officials argue that Pastora is self-centered and power-hungry. They say that he has squandered the aid the United States has given him.

Drug-Running Charges

U.S. officials, who as recently as two years ago were supporting Pastora, have leveled a variety of charges against him, among them incompetence and drug-running.

Pastora’s value has long been regarded as political as much as military. He is not only untainted by ties to the Somoza regime, he also commands something of a following inside Nicaragua. And he appeals to some Latin American governments, which see him as a democratic alternative to the U.S.-backed Nicaraguan Democratic Force.

With his strength flagging, Pastora has tried to regroup by forming a civilian-military organization called the Southern Opposition Bloc. BOS, as it is known by its Spanish initials, tries to collect funds from sympathizers in the United States and Latin America.

The effort has not been particularly successful, Davila, Pastora’s coordinator admitted. He estimated that Pastora’s forces need at least $600,000 a month to carry on.

He said that with another vote on funds coming up in Congress in Washington, Pastora’s representatives are lobbying for a share, Davila said.

Costa Rica Restrained

The coalition, meanwhile, is reportedly organizing a force of its own to operate in southern Nicaragua. But establishment of a secure southern front is hampered by a restrained attitude on the part of the Costa Rican government, whose cooperation is necessary.

The outgoing government of Costa Rica’s President Luis Alberto Monge has been increasingly unsympathetic toward the Sandinsta regime but has refused to give its full support to the cause of the rebels trying to topple it.

Last year, Costa Rican police arrested two ARDE advisers on suspicion of gun-running. The two were released, but ARDE sympathizers considered their detention a discouraging message.

Monge’s successor as president, Oscar Arias, who was elected on Feb. 2 and will take office in May, has declined to offer support for the Nicaraguan rebels. He said that such groups would not be welcome on Costa Rican territory.

May Ignore It

Nonetheless, Arias said it will be difficult for Costa Rica’s police force to control the long border with Nicaragua, suggesting that he might look the other way if such a force became large and effective.

The border was the scene of a clash last year with Sandinsta troops that took the lives of two Costa Rican rural guards. The area has been tranquil in recent months, according to Benjamin Pisa, the Costa Rican public security chief.

Pisa attributed the decline in activity to a successful Sandinsta drive last summer to clear Nicaragua’s frontier zone of ARDE bases. At least four such bases are now occupied by Sandinista troops backed by Soviet-supplied combat and transport helicopters.