Probe Vowed in Ex-Contra Chief’s Death : Nicaragua: Bermudez’s murder casts doubt on assurances of safety for rebels who have put down their arms. Security police are Sandinista-controlled.

An official from the Sandinista-controlled security police Sunday promised a full-scale probe into the slaying of former Contra chief Enrique Bermudez, whose death cast doubt on government assurances for the safety of other rebels who laid down their arms.

But a right-wing radio station blamed the slaying of Bermudez late Saturday on Sandinista sympathizers, some of whom cheered the news of the killing.

Officials said they had no suspects and no one immediately claimed responsibility for the killing.

A gunman shot Bermudez, 58, outside his car near the downtown Intercontinental Hotel on Saturday night, then fled on foot.

Vice Interior Minister Jose Pallais said it appeared Bermudez was followed and was shot twice from a distance of five to six feet.

Sports Minister Carlos Garcia, who graduated from the Military Academy in 1952 with Bermudez, said he saw the former Contra leader in the hotel bar shortly after 9 p.m. Saturday.

Bermudez told him he had been looking in vain for someone.

“ ‘I’m leaving,’ ” Garcia said Bermudez told him. “ ‘I don’t want to get you hurt. There are people here who think only evil.’ ”

Minutes later, Bermudez was sprawled on his back next to his Jeep with two bullet holes behind his left ear. Police said he never had a chance to use his Walther PPK pistol.

Taxi driver Rene Sanchez said a man looked at the body and said: “This man died by the bullet. He is 380, Enrique Bermudez,” then hurried away. Bermudez’s nom de guerre was “Comandante 380.”

Garcia added that the slaying clouds the government’s ability to guarantee the safety of ex-Contras.

Bermudez only months earlier said he feared death at the hands of the Sandinistas.

During Sunday Mass, conservative Cardinal Miguel Obando y Bravo said Bermudez had told him in a letter that he felt in danger.

In an interview with United Press International a day before his death, Bermudez said he would represent former Contras in requesting land and credit promised by the government of President Violeta Barrios de Chamorro.

“I fear this new position is going to cost my life, but the former combatants need someone to truly represent them,” Bermudez said.

Some of the land to be handed out to Contras was seized by the Sandinista government, which took power in a popular 1979 revolution and turned over power after Chamorro’s election in 1990.

Right-wing Radio Corporacion, in a Sunday broadcast, blamed Bermudez’s death on the Sandinistas.

“The eyes of the people say the Sandinistas are responsible for his death,” the radio asserted.

Pallais promised an “exhaustive” investigation and called the killing “an attack against the policy of reconciliation by the government of President Violeta Barrios de Chamorro.”

The Interior Ministry, responsible for internal security, remains controlled by the Sandinistas.