"To Destroy Our Own Revolution"

Daniel Ortega, Saavedra, 37, head of Nicaragua's revolutionary junta and a leading member of the ruling nine-man National Directorate, is perhaps his country's most outspoken opponent of U.S. policy in Central America. His two-hour interview with TIME last week was heavy with criticism of what he sees as U.S. attempts to undermine Sandinista rule. Excerpts:

On U.S. support for the cofitras. A totally irresponsible policy. The constant attacks against us are at the will of the Reagan Administration. The Hondurans are helping to such an extent that there is a constant possibility of having a war between Nicaragua and Honduras. Without the aid of the U.S., the contras in Honduras could not survive.

On the contras' military performance. Their efforts to set up bases within the country have been stopped. They are not really well equipped, and they do not have much military capacity. About all they can do is go around assassinating technicians, teachers, students, civic workers, that kind of thing.

On U.S. attempts to link Nicaragua to Salvadoran rebels. A totally absurd excuse for the U.S. to commit aggression against us. We did not invent the Salvadoran revolution. As recently as 1977, their guerrilla movement was stronger than ours. The Salvadoran revolutionaries do not have military bases here. If they have bases outside El Salvador, they are in Guatemala and Honduras.

On the U.S. charge that Nicaragua supplies arms to the Salvadoran rebels. If your Government provided us with the information necessary for us to stop the flow of arms, we have the will. The problem is in the area of information.[Assistant Secretary of State Thomas O.] Enders has said that because his Government did not have the right sort of relationship with us, it could not give us the information we were asking for. In discussions with the U.S., the American side would be free to raise matters of concern to it, and we would take measures to stop those things that worry the U.S. But of course we would also hope that in response the U.S. would stop the activities that it has launched against our country. We would insist on reciprocity.

On U.S. aims in providing covert aid to the contras. The real purpose, from the beginning, has been not to get us to stop helping the Salvadorans, but to destroy our own revolution here in Nicaragua.

On U.S. concerns about Communism in Central America. Any government in Latin America that defends its natural resources or tries to make a dramatic break with its colonialist past is immediately slapped with a label. That is one thing that keeps Americans from seeing the pluralism that exists in Nicaragua.

On the the of the Sandinistas. Our first obligation is to meet the needs of our own country and consolidate our own revolution. That means not giving any pretexts to governments like Mr. Reagan's to attack our revolution.

On defeating the contras. The only way we have to influence the Reagan Administration is to demonstrate the will of our people to defend the revolution. Our defeat of the contras will be a defeat for the U.S. policy of intervention and aggression. Nevertheless, we have got to prepare Nicaragua for the worst. If the U.S. were to invade us, it would not be the first time. This file is automatically generated by a robot program, so viewer discretion is required.