ROANOKE TIMES 

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

DATE: SATURDAY, September 4, 1993                   TAG: 9309040133
SECTION: NATIONAL/INTERNATIONAL                    PAGE: A8   EDITION: METRO 
SOURCE: 
DATELINE:                                 LENGTH: Short

NICARAGUAN LEADER BREAKS FROM FACTION

The Clinton administration rallied to the support of Nicaraguan President Violeta Chamorro on Friday after her surprise break with the leftist Sandinista Front and her assertion of civilian control over the military.

U.S. officials have been urging those moves on Chamorro for three years, straining U.S. ties with her government. On Thursday, Chamorro announced that the Sandinista Army chief, Humberto Ortega, will be replaced, and that the Sandinista military intelligence chief, Lenin Cerna, was being fired.

Amid concerns about a potential constitutional crisis in Nicaragua, the Organization of American States permanent council approved by consensus Friday afternoon a declaration expressing its "firm and unqualified support" for Chamorro and for Nicaraguan democratic processes. The resolution was approved with strong U.S. backing.

- Associated Press 


 by CNB