
                         Roanoke Times
                 Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.

DATE: THURSDAY, March 8, 1990                   TAG: 9003081781
SECTION: NATIONAL/INTERNATIONAL                    PAGE: A-6   EDITION: METRO 
SOURCE: Associated Press
DATELINE: MEXICO CITY                                 LENGTH: Short

CASTRO TO HALT MILITARY TIES WITH NICARAGUA

Cuban President Fidel Castro said Wednesday that he is withdrawing all military cooperation with Nicaragua before the new government takes office next month, Cuba's official news agency Prensa Latina reported.

Prensa Latina, monitored in Mexico City, quoted Castro as saying that Cuban assistance in housing construction and health care could continue.

Castro had close relations with Nicaragua's leftist Sandinista government, which governed Nicaragua for a decade. Violeta Barrios de Chamorro and her 14-party political coalition defeated President Daniel Ortega in Feb. 25 general elections.

Castro said that by backing Chamorro, the United States may have created an even more revolutionary situation in Nicaragua.

"Nicaragua, like the rest of the [Central American] isthmus, faces an unreal situation that could lead to a conflict . . .," Castro said.

He also was quoted as saying, "The elections took place a few weeks after the fall of socialist governments [in Eastern Europe], and the Sandinistas had to make many concessions and made mistakes."

by CNB