Contras’ AM Radio Station Begins Operating

A new, clandestine radio station operated by Nicaraguan contras can be picked up by AM radios in Managua, the capital, and elsewhere in Nicaragua.

The 50,000-watt Radio Liberacion, which went on the air last week, was designed to broadcast music, news, commentary, sports and other programs from 6 p.m. to 6 a.m.

It replaces the 15 de Septiembre station, which broadcast for about three years on a much weaker signal.

Listeners in Managua said the new signal comes in fairly clear and can be heard around the 1520-kilohertz frequency.

About 85 miles northeast of Managua, the signal came in clearly on a car radio.

‘Break the Blockade’

Rebel leader Alfonso Robelo said in Costa Rica last week that Radio Liberacion “is going to break the blockade the Sandinistas have on information to the Nicaraguan people.”

The left-wing Sandinista government controls all the radio and television stations and newspapers in the country.

Robelo refused to say where the Radio Liberacion transmitter is, but he insisted it is not in Costa Rica. U.S. officials have been quoted as saying it is in nearby El Salvador, where a leftist guerrilla movement is fighting to oust the U.S.-backed government.

The Nicaraguan contras have refused to identify the source or quantity of “private donations” that they say are financing the radio station. They have insisted that the money has not come from the $100 million in aid to the contras that Congress approved last year.

The station is being operated under the name of the United Nicaraguan Opposition, the contras’ umbrella organization.

During the guerrilla war that toppled dictator Anastasio Somoza in 1979, the Sandinistas used the clandestine Radio Sandino to rally support for their cause.