|
|
"A comprehensive, collaborative elections resource."
|
Pastora, Edén "Comandante Cero"
|
| Affiliation | Independent Liberal |
|
| Name | Edén "Comandante Cero" Pastora |
| Address |
Managua, , Nicaragua |
| Email | None |
| Website | None |
| Born |
January 22, 1937
|
| Died | June 16, 2020
(83 years)
|
| Contributor | 411 Name Removed |
| Last Modifed | Juan Croniqueur
Jan 22, 2024 12:14pm |
| Tags |
Hispanic - Divorced -
|
| Info | Edén Pastora Gómez was the leader of the Nicaraguan Revolutionary Democratic Alliance ARDE; the largest contra army in southern Nicaragua in the 1980s. Nicknamed Comandante Cero ("Commander Zero") by the U.S. intelligence community, Pastora was reviled by Oliver North and other Reagan era insiders for his refusal to subordinate to the CIA-backed FDN.
Pastora began his rebel career when he decided that the Somoza government of Nicaragua was corrupt and joined the FSLN in the mid 1960s. He became a rebel guerrilla, and was the mastermind behind the August 1978 attack on the Nicaraguan National Palace, in which he and a band of FSLN operatives disguised as members of Somoza's National Guard stormed the Palace, killing the real National Guardsmen in the process. Among the hostages taken were members of the Nicaraguan Congress, which was in session at the time of the attack, and Somoza's half brother, José Somoza. This operation was organised to free FSLN members imprisoned by the regime, among the prisoners being Daniel Ortega. After negotiating a USD $500,000 deal with Somoza and Cardinal Miguel Obando y Bravo, Pastora, Ortega and other released prisoners left for Cuba where he claimed to have been a "prisoner" lavished with women and luxury, but not allowed to leave the country until Martin, the son of former strongman of Panama, Omar Torrijos, voiced his concern and went to Cuba to rescue him personally.
Disenchanted with the turn of the revolution, and the fact that most of the Sandinista leaders moved to the luxury residences of Managua, while the people did not experience the expected benefits in their lives, Pastora turned against the Sandinista regime and became a Contra with the support of the United States and Carlos Andres Perez from Venezuela.
His money came from help obtained with the CIA. "When your mother is sick, you accept help from anybody, it doesn't matter who it is", he stated at that time.
Pastora had three failed marriages. Lamenting about the interpersonal strains that occur in the life of a revolutionary, Pastora said: "The first thing we revolutionaries lose is our wives. The last thing we lose is our lives. In between our women and our lives, we lose our freedom, our happiness, our means of living."
He was seen at a Sandinista demonstration over the slow certification of winners in the November 5, 2000 municipal elections. Pastora has been reportedly living as a fisherman on the San Juan River along the border with Costa Rica.
[Link] |
 | BOOKS |
 |
|
| Title |
Purchase |
Contributor |
|
| Start Date |
End Date |
Type |
Title |
Contributor |
|
| Date |
Category |
Headline |
Article |
Contributor |
|
| INFORMATION LINKS |
|
|
|
|
