Sandinistas Moving 6,000 Peasants to Remove Support Base for Contras
The Nicaraguan government is in the process of relocating about 6,000 peasants from remote villages in southeast Nicaragua where fighting with U.S.-backed contras has intensified, an army official said Monday.
About 2,000 men, women and children have been moved so far, and another 4,000 will be moved in the near future, Lt. Roberto Herrera, an army spokesman, said in an interview.
Herrera said the relocation is designed in part to remove a base of support for the contras, who have been active in the area since 1983.
The peasants are being taken from about 20 hamlets in southern Zelaya province to resettlement camps closer to the town of Nueva Guinea, where the army maintains a base, he said. Nueva Guinea is 150 miles southeast of Managua.
He also acknowledged that many of the peasants objected to having to leave their homes.
“We explain to them the limitations (of) where they are living and offer them land to persuade them,” he said.
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