Arturo Cruz

In thisSpanish name,the first or paternalsurnameisCruzand the second or maternal family name isPorras.

Arturo Cruz, 1981

Arturo José Cruz Porras(December 18, 1923 – July 9, 2013), sometimes calledArturo Cruz Sr.to distinguish him from hisson,was aNicaraguanbanker and technocrat.He became prominent in politics during theSandinista(FSLN) era. After repeatedly resigning from positions in protest, opinion divided between those who lauded him as a statesman and man of principle, and those who derided him as an ineffectual hand-wringer.

Somoza opponent

Cruz grew up inJinotepe,Nicaragua.His fatherArturo Cruz SánchezdespisedAnastasio Somoza García,despite the family's traditional Liberal loyalties. Cruz graduated from the military academy in 1944, but refused his commission rather than serve Somoza's dictatorship. He went on to attendGeorgetown Universityin theUnited States.Cruz participated in a 1947 coup plot against Somoza, for which he was imprisoned for four months. After joining the April Rebellion of 1954, together with his brother-in-law, Adolfo Báez Bone, andPedro Joaquín Chamorro Cardenal,he was jailed again for about a year,while Báez was executed. However, his wife persuaded him not to join Edmundo andFernando "El Negro" Chamorroin their November 1960 rising, which included an attack on the Jinotepe barracks. He would avoid rebel politics for nearly two decades.

In 1969, Cruz became an official at theInter-American Development BankinWashington, D.C.There, he was approached by the FSLN in 1977. He became a member ofLos Doce,the Group of Twelve establishment figures who voiced support for theSandinistastruggle against dictatorAnastasio Somoza Debayle.Their backing of the Sandinistas'popular frontconvinced many Nicaraguans that the FSLN's appeal had broadened beyond itscommunistroots, and moved the country towards the full-scaleinsurrectionthat toppled the régime in July 1979.

Sandinista opponent

Cruz was appointed head of theCentral Bank of Nicaraguain post-Somoza Nicaragua.When the non-communistmoderates resigned from theJunta of National Reconstructionin April 1980, after finding that the real power lay with the FSLN National Directorate, he joined the Junta as a replacement moderate on May 18. He too became frustrated with his impotence, but agreed to leave gracefully by becoming ambassador to the United States. The arrangement was announced on March 4, 1981.

Cruz continued to clash with Sandinista policies, and resigned as ambassador in November 1981, returning to the IADB. However, he was a major ghostwriter for the speech delivered by Sandinista heroEdén Pastoraat his press conference of April 15, 1982, in which Pastora declared his break with the FSLN National Directorate. Pastora's speech helped convince his son,Arturo Cruz Jr.,who was not then aware of his father's role, to also move from supporting the Sandinistas to joining Pastora's camp.

When the Sandinistas announced in January 1984 that they would hold elections in November, the right-wing opposition umbrella group, theCoordinadora Democrática Nicaragüense,settled on Cruz as the only candidate acceptable to all factions. However, in the end heboycotted the election,saying it would not be free and fair. Years later he admitted that his decision not to run was a mistake and that he was on the payroll of theCIA.

Afterwards, Cruz drifted deeper into the politics of the rebelContras.He was a primary drafter of the San José Declaration of March 1, 1985, signed by many rebel leaders. The declaration evolved into the formation of the rebel umbrella groupUnited Nicaraguan Opposition(UNO) on June 12, withAlfonso Robeloand theNicaraguan Democratic Force'sAdolfo Calero.However, with Calero's FDN comprising the great majority of UNO's forces, he found himself in another figurehead position. He continually threatened to resign unless he and Robelo were given real power. Despite Calero's eventual resignation in February 1987, he quit anyway on March 9.

In 1999, he issued a statement asking the United States and Honduran governments to release all information about the death of his nephew, David Arturo Báez Cruz, a naturalized American citizen and formerGreen Beretwho returned to Nicaragua to serve in Sandinista military intelligence, and died while acting as amilitary advisorwith Honduranguerrillas.

References

• Chamorro, Violeta Barrios de.Dreams of the Heart: The Autobiography of President Violeta Barrios de Chamorro of Nicaragua.Simon & Schuster.
• Christian, Shirley.Nicaragua: Revolution in the Family.Vintage.
• Cruz, Arturo Jr.Memoirs of a Counter-Revolutionary: Life With the Contras, the Sandinistas, and the CIA.Doubleday.
• Kinzer, Stephen.Blood of Brothers: Life and War in Nicaragua.Putnam.