Nicaragua Tales of a Sandinista Defector

By Jill Smolowe

Acceptance speeches by Nobel Peace prizewinners tend to be windy affairs, but Oscar Arias Sanchez's message last week was short, simple -- and aimed directly at the two superpowers. "Let Central Americans decide the future of Central America," the Costa Rican President told his Oslo audience. "Send our people plowshares instead of swords." Then Arias, who won his prize for formulating last summer's Central American peace plan, beamed happily as he accepted his gold medal.

On the same day in Washington, Major Roger Miranda Bengoechea met with American journalists for the first time since he defected from Nicaragua two months ago. Miranda, 34, who served as the chief aide to Defense Minister Humberto Ortega Saavedra, is the most important Sandinista defector ever. In a five-hour interview, Miranda detailed explosive charges that could worsen Nicaragua's relations with its neighbors and the U.S., as well as damage Arias' peace plan. Among his claims:

-- Nicaragua's military plans include receipt of a dozen Soviet MiG-21 jet fighters and the doubling of its armed forces and reserves, to 590,000, by 1995.

-- Managua continues to provide logistical and materiel support to leftist rebels in El Salvador and Guatemala despite repeated denials that it is doing so.

-- Panama's Strongman Manuel Antonio Noriega supplies Nicaragua with intelligence reports on U.S. military movements in the region.

-- Defense Minister Ortega, brother of Nicaraguan President Daniel Ortega, has close to $1.5 million in diverted Defense Ministry funds in a Swiss bank account.

Miranda's tale comes at a delicate moment. Arias' accord, signed by Nicaragua, includes a pledge to halt aid to regional rebel forces and a vague commitment to reduce armed forces. "While Daniel Ortega was talking about ((peace))," Miranda charges, "he was taking part in discussions to have by far the largest armed forces in the region." The bill for the buildup would allegedly be footed by Moscow. Last week, as Soviet Leader Mikhail Gorbachev and President Reagan basked in goodwill, Miranda was kept from sight. After five weeks of debriefing by CIA, Pentagon and State Department officials, four reporters were permitted to talk with him on the condition that no stories be printed until this week.

The question, of course, is whether the major can be trusted. After Miranda sought protection at the U.S. embassy in Mexico City in late October, Humberto Ortega charged that his deputy had been "touched by the CIA" a month earlier. Miranda claims that the defection was his own idea, born of a mounting disillusionment with the Sandinista regime. There seems little doubt that at least some of his information is accurate. As Ortega's right-hand man, Miranda had access to high-level meetings and sensitive documents. Ortega has conceded that Miranda's defection was the "most important betrayal" ever suffered by the Sandinista People's Army. But last week an army spokesman dismissed Miranda's charges. "He is emotionally and mentally unbalanced," said Major Rosa Pasos. She added that Humberto Ortega would not comment because "we do not believe it merits a response."

Miranda charged that in early October Humberto Ortega, the head of the Soviet military mission in Nicaragua (identified as a "General Zaitsev") and his Cuban counterpart discussed a five-year military plan extending through 1995. Among Miranda's documents is an agreement outlining the plan, which specifies that Nicaragua will receive twelve MiGs, an additional squadron of Mi-24 combat choppers, and medium-range surface-to-air missiles. Miranda notes that the Sandinistas could use the MiGs to intercept supply flights to the U.S.-backed contras. The Reagan Administration has repeatedly warned that the delivery of MiGs to Nicaragua would be unacceptable and has hinted that it might provoke an armed U.S. response.

Some of Miranda's information was painstakingly detailed. Charging corruption within the Sandinista directorate, he claimed that Humberto Ortega, under other names, maintains a bank account, No. 58946, in a Swiss branch of the National Bank of Paris. As of last October, Miranda claimed, the account totaled $1,495,596, all of it diverted between 1981 and 1986 from Defense Ministry coffers.

Miranda also detailed instances of alleged double-dealing by Noriega. He charged that the Panamanian general regularly informs Nicaragua's Chief of Army Intelligence Major Ricardo Wheelock of military movements involving the U.S. Southern Command in Panama, which is the U.S. military headquarters for Latin America. Miranda charged that last August, as relations between the Reagan Administration and Noriega soured, the Panamanian told Wheelock that he wanted to send arms through Nicaragua to the Salvadoran rebels. Miranda claimed that top Sandinistas approved the scheme, but he does not know if the shipment took place.

Last week Humberto Ortega had other matters to deal with. He announced that Sandinista infantrymen had shot down a single-engine Cessna plane and captured $ an American "mercenary," James Denby, 57, a pilot who divides his time between a corn and soybean farm in Carlinville, Ill., and a ranch in Costa Rica. Two days before the incident, Denby had requested permission to fly over Nicaragua to reach Costa Rica. The Sandinistas charged that Denby was on an espionage mission for the contras. But it appeared that if it came down to comparing the propaganda value of a Denby with that of a Miranda, the U.S. would have to be judged the clear winner.

With reporting by Ricardo Chavira/Washington