Obando Upset Over Sandinista ‘Insults’

MANAGUA, Nicaragua — Cardinal Miguel Obando y Bravo threatened Wednesday to halt his participation in peace talks between the government and U.S.-backed Contras because of “insults” against him by the ruling Sandinista party.

In a broadcast Tuesday, Radio Sandino, the official voice of the Sandinista National Liberation Front, accused the Roman Catholic leader of “being the intellectual director of the counterrevolution and therefore responsible for the crimes and assassinations of elderly people and children.”

Obando made public a telegram he sent to President Daniel Ortega in which he protested the radio statements and threatened to quit the National Reconciliation Commission.

There was no immediate reply from the government.