Word: humberto
(lookup in dictionary)
(lookup stats)
Dates: all
Sort By: most recent first
(reverse)
...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...
...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...
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...
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...
MANAGUA, Nicaragua--Defense Minister Humberto Ortega said yesterday that an aide who defected to the United States was a "little worm" who took with him several documents of questionable strategic value...