a026  0140  21 Sep 88
PM-Nicaragua,0564
Government Defends Refusal To Allow Opposition Rally
By BRYNA BRENNAN
Associated Press Writer
    MANAGUA, Nicaragua (AP) - Interior Minister Tomas Borge says
Nicaragua will not allow a planned opposition march because it could
end in violence, providing a pretext for new U.S. aid to Contra
rebels.
    Also Tuesday, the government and rebels blamed each other for the
breakdown of talks aimed at forging a lasting peace in the 7-year-old
civil war.
    Borge told a news conference that the march planned for Sunday - the
first since a July 10 rally in which 40 opposition figures were
arrested - was intended ''to create disturbances.''
    He acknowledged that the denial of the opposition Democratic
Coordinate's petition Tuesday leaves the leftist Sandinista
government open to criticism, but added:
    ''It would be worse and would be a larger political cost and a
greater pretext for our enemy and more of an argument for aid to the
Contras if there were provocations here that led to bloodshed in the
streets of Managua.''
    The Sandinistas claimed the U.S. Embassy backed the June 10 protest,
which ended in a clash between protesters and police. Nicaragua
charged the embassy was seeking a plan to undermine the government.
The following day, the U.S. ambassador, Richard Melton, was expelled
from the country.
    In Washington on Tuesday, House Speaker Jim Wright said the CIA had
acknowledged in congressional testimony that it used undercover
agents in Nicaragua to stir up public protest, hoping the government
would overreact.
    Wright, D-Texas, said he did not know if the July 10 demonstration
in Nandaime, south of Managua, was the result of U.S. provocations.
    The Democratic Coordinate protested the government's decision to ban
Sunday's march.
    ''Political groups should have access to the means of communication,
take part in the right of association and the ability to hold public
demonstrations,'' the newspaper La Prensa quoted Duilio Baltodano, an
opposition leader, as saying.
    Government and rebel negotiators held talks Monday in Guatemala City
in an attempt to reopen peace negotiations to end the war, which the
government says has claimed more than 28,000 lives.
    ''The interest of Managua is to agree on a definitive cease-fire,
which the Contras have rejected,'' Victor Tinoco, deputy foreign
minister and Sandinista negotiator, was quoted as telling the
pro-goverment newspaper El Nuevo Diario.
    The rebels have said they would enter formal negotiations only after
Nicaragua frees the 40 opposition leaders.
    The government and rebels signed a pact on March 23 providing for a
temporary truce and talks in Managua. But the Contras say they will
participate only if they are held anywhere but the Nicaraguan
capital, where they say their movement is restricted.
    The Sandinistas insist Managua be the site of negotiations.
    ''This is a clear demonstration of the lack of Sandinista desire to
establish or take measures and set up reforms that permit a
democratic opening,'' said Roberto Ferrey, one of seven Contra
leaders. He spoke Tuesday on the rebels' clandestine Radio
Liberation.
    Negotiations to set a timetable for the rebels to lay down their
arms and for the Sandinistas to institute democratic reforms ended in
stalemate June 9.
    The U.S. Congress cut off military aid to the rebels Feb. 29. The
Contras claim they need such aid to act as a bargaining chip in
negotiations.
    
 
AP-NY-09-21-88 0427EDT
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