Contra Rebel Chief Arrested in Costa Rica
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SAN JOSE, Costa Rica — Nicaraguan rebel leader Adolfo Chamorro, who has been barred from this Central American country, was arrested upon arrival from Miami and will be sent back to the United States today, officials said.
Chamorro is a leader of the U.S.-backed Revolutionary Democratic Alliance, one of several Nicaraguan rebel groups called contras that are fighting Nicaragua’s leftist Sandinista government.
Pedro Arias, deputy director of the Costa Rican Rural Guard, told reporters Chamorro was arrested Wednesday at Santamaria International Airport when he arrived on a plane accompanied by two Cubans and a Costa Rican.
Arias denied Costa Rican radio reports that Chamorro arrived on a private plane owned by drug traffickers, and said his arrest was based solely on his attempt to enter Costa Rica in defiance of a government ban.
Jose Davila, a spokesman for the Revolutionary Democratic Alliance, also denied the radio reports concerning drugs and said Chamorro arrived on a commercial plane.
Chamorro was expelled from Costa Rica in February, 1985, after making inflammatory statements against Nicaragua’s government.
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