Latinnews Archive
Caribbean & Central America - 13 July 1984
POLITICS: The contras move house; THEY'RE NOT AS WELCOME AS THEY USED TO BE
The anti-Sandinista Frente Democratica Nicaraguense (FDN) is moving its staff headquarters from outside Tegucigalpa to Las Vegas, a site close to the Nicaraguan border in the eastern pan of the department of El Paraiso, accessible only by helicopter or jeep. The nearest important town is Danli.
Sources inside the FDN say the move comes as a result of pressure by the Honduran army for them to be less visible in Honduras and to move more operations to Nicaragua. Some contras even report being picked on by the Honduran authorities for not having proper papers, and complain of less freedom of movement since the departure of armed forces chief General Gustavo Alvarez Maninez. However, the army still gives important support to the contras by supplying them with transport and refuge inside Honduras.
* 'We're gaining terrain': The FDN source, who spoke English because of his US marine training, said, 'Seventy-five percent of our forces were just in the rear guard, and 25% were "in-country" (a term used by US military and diplomats). General Walter Lopez Reyes (who replaced Alvarez) ordered us to go back into Nicaragua and forget about Honduras . . . Now 85% to 90% of our forces are "in-country" and we're gaining terrain.'
There have been small camps and outposts in Honduras along the border in such places as La Lodosa, Las Dificultades, La Fortuna, Tapalchi, Las Trojas, Duyusupo and Duyure. The FDN source said there would still be some outposts and mobile camps, but that the larger ones would be closed. Banco Grande (east of Las Vegas on the Rio Coco) would be a jumping off point for infiltration into Nicaragua. Further south, in the border department of Choluteca, the camps are disappearing, but there will be back-up points, hospitals and supply depots.
The FDN source, who has been a commander and is now an instructor, described the contras' organisation and tactics. 'They work in teams of 10. Two or three teams make a detachment, three detachments make a group, three groups make a unit. They constitute the work groups of 300 to 500 men, and three of those make a regional command. There are seven commands'. A FDN fighter said the Nicarao regional command in Nueva Segovia had 1,300 men.
*A dual role: Though the bulk of FDN forces may be inside Nicaragua, the Hondurans (and US) still play an important role in supply and as a base for the general staff and for refuge and recuperation.
The US is the main supplier of the contras. Arms, food and equipment are sent through the base at Palmerola, about 50 miles north of Tegucigalpa, or Toncontin, in the capital, which the US uses for its joint activities with the Honduran armed forces.
Supplies go to Puerto Lempira for the Misura guerrillas and to Aguacate for the FDN. A Honduran sergeant said in June that a group of contras handled cargo that came in every few days on a DC - 35 and went out on helicopters.
The contras interviewed in El Paraiso said they got three months training in guerrilla tactics, such as how to carry out ambushes, night patrols, evasion and military deployment. There is separate training for rural and urban guerrillas. The latter learn how to infiltrate sensitive organisations, to make barricades and carry out propaganda.
Aside from supply, the other important aid Honduras provides is to serve as a place of refuge for contra troops. Hondurans report seeing patrols passing by such towns as Duyure, Las Dificultades and Las Trojes.
Guerrillas cross the border at the Guasale river, near El Triunfo in Choluteca, at a site where there was a customs station until the bridge over the river washed out last year Now Honduran troops occupy the old hotel.
Contra activities have sometimes involved the Honduran army. The Honduran government said that on 19 June the Sandinista and Honduran soldiers fought a six-hour battle in Duyusupo, about 3km from the border near El Espino. The Sandinistas entered and attacked the town but were repelled by Honduran soldiers, who left seven Sandinistas dead and took two prisoners. The Sandinistas said, however, that the battle occurred in Nicaragua, thaqH60 contras had attacked the town of Aradito and that the bodies and prisoners had been removed across the border.
The likelihood is that the contras attacked the Nicaraguan town and were chased back into Honduras by Sandinista troops.
* Tit for tat: The presence of the contras has brought death and injury to some Honduran civilians and economic hardship to many others. The guerrillas cross the border on footpaths through the mountains and the Sandinistas have responded by mining the frontier inside Honduras.
Some Hondurans who were friendly to the Sandinistas have been seized by the contras. Others, whom the contras suspect to be Nicaraguans, have been forcibly recruited. Some Hondurans have been paid to join the contras, but they desert when they find that the initial payment is their last.
The Sandinistas have stolen large numbers of livestock from ranches inside Honduras -- in one foray at end May they took as many as 1,000 head of cattle. Much of the land near the border is now useless to the peasants. People who used to market their produce in Nicaragua find their customers cut off. A thousand people a day used to go to the border at Palo Verde at low tide to trade. Now very few go.
Peasants can't let their animals go to the river for water nor cultivate land near the border for fear of shooting from the other side.
Many have left their small farms to go to the larger towns such as El Paraiso, Danli and Choluteca. Paolo Barahona, a priest in El Paraiso, said there are some 2,000 displaced Hondurans who are not getting help from any agencies because no-one recognises them as internal refugees.
Return to top