CONTRAS RAID CIVILIAN TARGETS (original) (raw)
World|CONTRAS RAID CIVILIAN TARGETS
https://www.nytimes.com/1987/03/10/world/contras-raid-civilian-targets.html
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- March 10, 1987
Credit...The New York Times Archives
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March 10, 1987
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Section A, Page
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When gunfire erupted Wednesday night around the Quisilala cattle cooperative, Dominga Solana, 26 years old and quick, dived for cover.
Miss Solana's arm was shattered by a rifle bullet, but she survived and is hospitalized. Her mother and three others at the cooperative, including a 15-year-old girl, were killed.
''The contras came in shooting, and we had no soldiers to defend us,'' Miss Solana said from her hospital bed. ''They stole cattle and burned our houses.''
The raid at Quisilala, near the town of La Esperanza, 225 miles east of Managua, was the most recent in a continuing series of attacks by United States-backed rebels, known as contras, against civilian targets. A trip through the contested zone indicated that contra units operating here have not significantly changed their tactics despite strong pressure on them to do so.
The contras' human-rights record has cost them important political support in Washington and elsewhere, and some contra leaders have vowed to take action to change patterns of abuse. Contra squad leaders recently trained in the United States were reportedly taught to avoid civilian targets and concentrate on engaging the Sandinista army.
In this part of Nicaragua, the Sandinista Government is widely unpopular. Contra forces arriving here from bases in Honduras hope to build both a military and political base, according to diplomats.
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