Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: THURSDAY, April 26, 1990 TAG: 9004260659
SECTION: NATIONAL/INTERNATIONAL PAGE: A/1 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: DORALISA PILARTE ASSOCIATED PRESS
DATELINE: MANAGUA, NICARAGUA LENGTH: Medium
Two would-be Cabinet ministers have refused their posts and Contra rebels are reneging on a demobilization accord.
The Contras last week signed an accord with Humberto Ortega andChamorro's United National Opposition, or UNO, to demobilize.
But not a few laughed at the idea after Chamorro received the presidential sash from Daniel Ortega on Wednesday.
Chamorro took over as defense minister, but that did not ease the anger over Humberto Ortega's staying on. What the Contras want, says rebel chief Israel Galeano, is for the Sandinistas to relinquish all control of the military.
The Sandinistas have warned of a renewed civil war if any attempts are made to alter the armed forces in any profound way.
How Chamorro and her government solve this deadlock will show whether they can deal with Nicaragua's complicated problems.
Chamorro's decision to stick to an agreement last month that effectively allows the Sandinistas to keep control of the armed forces has heightened the political split in the country.
She has been trying to close that chasm with calls for reconciliation.
But for either the Contras or the Sandinistas to give up their weapons would be tantamount to surrender, and both sides claim military victory in the 9-year-old civil war.
Observers were surprised last week when the Contras, who had said they would negotiate demobilization with Chamorro only after she was in power, signed an accord less than 24 hours later to lay down their weapons.
What was more surprising was that they did so without imposing any conditions. That led to speculation that there had to be some sort of secret pact between UNO and the Contras.
Many of the estimated 9,000 rebel fighters inside Nicaragua have begun streaming into five security zones staffed by a 700-member United Nations peacekeeping force. The rebels are to give up their weapons voluntarily.
Once they do that, they can begin receiving food and medical supplies from a mission of the Organization of American States.
Many Contras interviewed in the countryside have said they are indeed tired of fighting and want to go home. Others reportedly have staged a rash of highway robberies, and the new government may find its hinterland controlled by small bands of rebels-turned-bandits.
The thieving probably will increase if the rebels have to continue living off ever more skeptical peasants.
"Ortega! Ortega! The weapons will not be handed over!" was one of the chants that greeted Daniel Ortega as he walked into a baseball stadium for his last act as president - turning over power to Chamorro.
The chant by an unruly Sandinista crowd was a telling sign: Weapons mean power for the Sandinista Front, which brooked little opposition during its decade of rule after forging itself on the premise of armed revolution.
And as long as the Sandinista armed forces remain intact, Nicaraguans - long inured to dictatorships propped up by control of the army - understand that they retain the real power.
That power is constitutionally vested in the executive office but can rise against the president at any time. It is a lesson deeply ingrained in Latin American politics.
It also is something the Contras have warned about and brandished as one more reason for their reluctance to disarm.
UNO members also are angry over Humberto Ortega's staying on.
"We campaigned throughout the countryside during the elections without money, without anything," said Jaime Cuadra, explaining Tuesday night at a UNO Cabinet meeting why he rejected his appointment as agriculture minister.
"We told those peasants that once UNO won the elections, we would get rid of all the Sandinistas. Now, how am I going to look to all those peasants if I take a post in the government and Humberto is still there?"
Cuadra is president of the Matagalpa Coffee Planters Association, a group of 260 private farmers in Nicaragua's heartland.
He once was jailed by dictator Anastasio Somoza for smuggling guns for the Sandinistas. Now he refuses to have anything to do with them.
Gilberto Cuadra, president of Nicaragua's most influential private business group, the Superior Council of Private Enterprise, also rejected his appointment as construction and transportation minister.
The men - who are not related - are influential, both inside the country and among Nicaragua's exiles. While others were appointed in their place Wednesday night, their dissatisfaction is bound to find ready audiences.
At a party celebrating the change of government, UNO revelers chanted "Humberto Must Go!"
Vice President Virgilio Godoy, a strong Sandinista critic, was at the party at the lakeside Plaza of the Revolution.
Asked about Chamorro's decision on Humberto Ortega, Godoy said: "Tonight we're celebrating. We'll get back to work tomorrow."
by CNB