Robelo Says He Will Soon Quit His Post With Contras, Cites Conflict With Calero

Alfonso Robelo, the last of the original three directors of the largest bloc of Nicaraguan rebels, said Tuesday that he will soon quit the organization’s leadership.

Robelo said that he will not be a candidate for one of seven slots in an expanded directorate of the United Nicaraguan Opposition, which is to be renamed the Nicaraguan Democratic Resistance.

His departure from the leadership, following the resignation of Arturo Cruz last month, could further damage chances of the rebel forces, known as contras, receiving additional U.S. aid.

Robelo, interviewed by telephone from his home here, gave the same reason for leaving that Cruz cited--continual conflict with Adolfo Calero, president of the Nicaraguan Democratic Force, the largest rebel army under the UNO umbrella.

The opposition organization is to change its name and increase the number of its directors from three to seven at the next meeting of its General Assembly, later this month or early in May. The assembly also is expected to be expanded, from 28 to 54 members.

Predicts Calero Dominance

Robelo predicted that the new directorate would be dominated by the Calero force, which is staging an offensive against the Nicaraguan government with the $100 million worth of new weapons and materiel approved by Congress last year.

Each of the four exiled political parties of the opposition body is to have one seat on the directorate. They parties are the Conservative, Liberal, Social Democratic and Christian Democratic. One seat each will go to the FDN, to the Opposition Bloc of the South, and to the indigenous Indian groups of eastern Nicaragua.

Robelo said that directorships are likely to be won by Calero, who is also president of the Nicaraguan Conservative Party in Exile, and by Col. Enrique Bermudez, Calero’s right-hand man and military chief of the guerrilla army.

Noting that both he and fellow UNO director Pedro Joaquin Chamorro are Social Democrats, Robelo said he would back Chamorro for their party’s seat on the new directorate.

“I have no doubt that Pedro Joaquin Chamorro can get along with Adolfo Calero,” Robelo said. “He has the backing and support of Calero.

“In the past, we’ve had periodic crises in UNO because of lack of unity, so I think it is my duty to position myself not in the directorate but in the assembly, where I will represent my party,” Robelo said.

“To try to get into the directorate would mean that I will have the problems with Adolfo that I’ve had in the past, and that is not for the benefit of the cause,” Robelo added.

UNO was established two years ago at the urging of the United States, as an attempt to unite the disparate rebel groups that have been trying to overthrow the leftist Sandinista government since 1982. Calero, Robelo and Cruz were the umbrella organization’s original directors.

Almost from the beginning, however, Cruz and Robelo had problems sharing leadership with Calero. Their disputes occasionally flared into the open, hurting the body’s efforts to win support in the U.S. Congress and elsewhere.

Previous Resignations

Under pressure from Cruz and Robelo and their supporters in Congress and the State Department, Calero resigned from the directorate in mid-February. He retained the presidency of the FDN and his role in the Conservative Party.

Less than a month later, Cruz also resigned, saying he had been frustrated in an attempt to bring what he called democratic reforms to UNO. He mentioned no names, but left no doubt that Calero and his rightist supporters were largely responsible for his departure.

Chamorro was named to replace Calero on the three-member UNO directorate, but the vacancy left by Cruz’s resignation has not yet been filled.