Nicaragua: Living Legend Gives It Up

It has been almost eight years since Eden Pastora Gomez, the Sandinistas’ legendary “Commander Zero,” stormed Managua’s National Palace, paving the way for Dictator Anastasio Somoza Debayle’s flight into exile. Soon feeling % powerless in a government that he charged was run by Communists, Pastora helped form the Democratic Revolutionary Alliance (ARDE) and began receiving covert U.S. aid to fight the Sandinistas. But the funds were cut off when Pastora refused to cooperate with other rebel forces.

Now, it appears, Pastora is washed up. On May 9, six of his top commanders signed on with the United Nicaraguan Opposition, the U.S.-backed contra force, taking with them most of ARDE’s troops. At week’s end Pastora said that he is abandoning the contra struggle and will seek political asylum in Costa Rica.