Decry Nicaragua Regime’s Ban on Opposition March : Sandinista Civic Foes Begin Protest Fast

Leaders of Nicaragua’s civic opposition began a 72-hour fast Friday to call attention to a Sandinista government crackdown that they said is being abetted by House Speaker Jim Wright (D-Tex.).

Thirteen activists of the Nicaraguan Democratic Coordinator, the main anti-Sandinista coalition, gathered in their headquarters for the hunger protest after the government denied them authorization to lead a march Sunday through the streets of Managua.

Sandinista officials have barred such outdoor demonstrations since July 10, when participants in an authorized rally led by the dissident coalition clashed with riot police in the town of Nandaime and more than 40 people were arrested. The government accused the U.S. Embassy of inciting the disorders and expelled eight diplomats, including Ambassador Richard H. Melton.

Managua’s justification for the crackdown received support from unexpected quarters Tuesday when Wright said in Washington that CIA personnel had admitted to Congress that they sponsored civic unrest in Nicaragua to provoke police violence.

CIA Link Denied

Ramiro Gurdian, president of the Democratic Coordinator, said Wright’s remarks were “irresponsible” and “endangered the lives of hundreds of democratic opposition leaders in Nicaragua.” He denied any link between his group and the CIA.

“Mr. Wright has put himself on the side of the executioner and against the victims,” Gurdian declared at the start of the fast, as protesters lounged on mattresses, read magazines and played chess.

President Daniel Ortega said Friday that the government will not allow opposition rallies “as long as the Reagan Administration is trying to provoke bloody confrontations with the police.” Although Sunday’s proposed march was banned the same day as Wright made his disclosure, Ortega insisted that it did not harden Sandinista policy.

“Mr. Wright is not saying anything new,” Ortega told a group of foreign reporters. “We have been denouncing CIA involvement in these actions for a long time.”

The government and its foes are maneuvering to sway Congress in an upcoming vote on a $27-million package of non-lethal aid to U.S.-backed guerrillas fighting a 6 1/2-year-old war against Managua. The legislation would allow for a subsequent vote to free $16.4 million in military supplies to the Contras under certain conditions.

Peace Accord Violation?

The planned opposition march was timed to coincide with a scheduled lobbying trip by Ortega to the United States. Nicaraguan opposition leaders said his crackdown violated a year-old Central American peace accord that requires “total political pluralism” and “freedom in all its forms.”

Ortega said the proposed march was aimed at provoking the police and helping win sympathy in Congress for war funds that would undermine the peace process.

The Sandinista leader had planned to urge Congress next week to reject any kind of Contra aid and support new peace talks. He was to press those themes in speeches to the U.N. General Assembly and the Organization of American States.

He canceled his trip, however, after the Administration failed to grant entry visas in time for half of his entourage, including those for his wife and eight children. Ortega, his physician and nearly two dozen security personnel were given visas, but about 30 other members of his proposed entourage did not get immediate visas. The State Department said they were not applied for in time.

‘Negative Precedent’

Ortega said any points he might have scored in Washington would have been offset by what he called the “highly negative precedent of letting the North American government decide what people can travel with a chief of state” to the United Nations.

In any case, Ortega said he is not prepared to offer any concessions to head off Contra aid.

Opposition leaders say the Sandinistas’ hard line also is reflected in sporadic press censorship and violent harassment of them. In one incident, Joaquin Mejia, an opposition legislator and editor, was assaulted by three unknown men on his way to work Thursday and beaten with chains and pipes. He suffered rib fractures and head injuries.

Wright’s statement had an equally chilling effect on the opposition. Wright did not say which Nicaraguan groups had been manipulated by the CIA or when. But opposition leaders said his remarks, true or not, had taken the Sandinistas off the defensive in Washington at a critical time, freeing them to be harsher on their critics at home.