Sandinistas, in Bid for Swap, to Release Rebels

The Sandinista government will soon release most of the 1,129 inmates held in its prison system on charges of counterrevolutionary activity, keeping a small number locked up until the Contras free 1,845 people listed as abducted by their army, Nicaraguan President Daniel Ortega said Wednesday.

The announcement, a shift in Ortega’s position on amnesty, was his first offer to exchange the last wartime prisoners for people held against their will by the U.S.-backed rebels. Until now, Ortega had insisted that total amnesty would come only when the Contras end their rebellion.

Exchange Offered

In a Farmer’s Day speech to 3,000 grain growers and cattle ranchers here, the Sandinista leader said it is up to the Bush Administration “to order the Contras to free the kidnaped ones.”

“If they free the kidnaped ones,” he added, “then we will free those prisoners they love so much.”

Ortega spoke on the eve of a trip to Libya to attend celebrations marking Col. Moammar Kadafi’s 20th anniversary in power. He said the “close, fraternal relations” between the two revolutionary governments have been reinforced by Libyan economic aid and the hostility of a common enemy, the United States, which accuses Kadafi of abetting international terrorism.

“We’re not going to pay any attention to what the Yanquis say about Libya,” Ortega told the farmers. “Now (the Americans) are going to say, ‘What a barbarity that he’s going to Libya.’ So why doesn’t President Bush invite me to Washington?”

Ortega drove his Jeep to the outskirts of this farming center, in a lush valley 65 miles northeast of Managua, then rode into town on horseback, waving a white cowboy hat. His speech was part of an effort to write the final chapter in a seven-year war that is all but settled.

While heavy fighting has been stilled by peace talks and truces for the last 17 months, the debate over prisoners in Sandinista jails and kidnap victims in Contra camps remains an emotionally charged obstacle to a stable peace. It is complicated by the denials of rebel leaders that they hold any captives.

Under an Aug. 7 peace accord signed by five Central American presidents, the Contra camps in neighboring Honduras are to be closed under international supervision by early December. But rebel leaders insist that their army will not disband until safe, democratic conditions in Nicaragua, including a general amnesty, are ensured.

Under Pressure at Home

Conversely, Ortega is under pressure at home to limit such an amnesty until the Contras account for hundreds of rural Nicaraguans abducted or forcibly recruited by the rebel forces.

During Wednesday’s ceremony, Auxiliadora Martinez burst into tears on the same podium where Ortega sat as she spoke of a son seized by the rebels five years ago and not heard from since.

“Our suffering is different,” she said. “The Contras know where their prisoners are, but we do not. For there to be peace, we have a right to know where our sons are.”

She begged the president to stop freeing imprisoned Contras until the rebels give an accounting.

Ortega said he will hand a list of 1,845 reputed kidnap victims, compiled by relatives and church groups in Nicaragua, to the international commission to be set up to oversee the peace accord. He called on opposition and religious leaders to join in demanding their freedom.

Meanwhile, he said, most of the government’s remaining prisoners will be freed in a good-will gesture to persuade Contra foot soldiers to lay down their weapons and come home.

“Look, we are not interested in revenge,” he declared. “In spite of the crimes they have committed, we are not going to judge and condemn anyone who comes home to work in peace.”

In an interview after the speech, Ortega said the government will study amnesty petitions on behalf of 1,050 prisoners accused of being rebel soldiers or collaborators and start freeing most of them “within the coming week.”

Those on the list who are “known leaders” among the rebels or “directly involved in serious crimes” will be kept in prison until the apparent kidnap victims are freed, he said.

Likewise, the 39 former members of the pre-revolutionary national guard who are still in prison will be released only as part of an exchange of captives, the president added.

Difficult Exchange

Such an exchange will be difficult, however, because rebel leaders insist that their army of about 10,000 guerrillas is voluntary and holds no prisoners.

“If any of those people on Ortega’s list are among our forces, they are free to go back to Nicaragua if they wish,” rebel spokesman Bosco Matamoros said in an interview from Washington. “We would have a unilateral obligation to let them go.

“But Ortega also has a unilateral obligation to free our supporters in Nicaragua,” Matamoros added. “Two years ago, he promised a general amnesty. He should not use this issue as an excuse to waste more time.”

When peace talks with the rebels began in late 1987, the Sandinistas acknowledged holding more than 3,500 Contras, rebel supporters and former national guard members. Last March they freed 1,894 ex-guard members and have been releasing other political prisoners in small batches, including 283 this month.

The Permanent Commission of Human Rights, linked to Nicaragua’s political opposition, charges that the government is holding about 6,000 counterrevolutionary prisoners, but it has not listed their names. It says most of them are in State Security jails outside the normal prison system.

In an effort to settle the dispute, the Interior Ministry last Saturday invited the International Red Cross to make a census of all jails. But the Red Cross refused to visit the State Security jails unless it was granted regular access--a condition denied by the government.

Ortega said the figure of 1,129 prisoners was what the Red Cross counted in nine regular prisons. He did not give the number of Contra suspects held in State Security jails but said it is not considerable.