A controversial hardliner in the guerrilla war against Nicaragua's leftist government has become the first military man to win a key role in the rebel leadership. Col. Enrique Bermudez, who survived an ouster attempt in April, joins a seven-member Contra directorate that oversees the U.S.-backed insurgency against the Sandinista government. The 56-year-old professional soldier, a former colonel in the Nicaraguan National Guard under ex-dictator Anastasio Somoza, was elected by a 44-2 vote Monday by an assembly of rebel delegates meeting here. Three of the 54 assembly members abstained and five were absent when the vote was taken on the second day of the assembly's three-day meeting in this Caribbean capital. Bermudez ran unopposed as an independent candidate for a one-year term on the directorate, which sets overall policy for the Nicaraguan resistance. He pledged to unify the exiled movement, which has been split by infighting and has struggled to stay financially afloat since Congress halted military aid in February. ``Today, more than ever, I offer my spirit and goodwill ... to strengthen our movement,'' Bermudez said. ``To our Marxist-Leninist enemy, we promise a hard battle.'' The Contras have been fighting a seven-year war to overthrow the government of Nicaragua's President Daniel Ortega. Bermudez insisted he would confine himself to military affairs. Although all seven directors have equal power under assembly rules, senior director Adolfo Calero had been widely regarded as the movement's de facto political head. Calero was re-elected with 36 votes to 16 for his conservative rival, Fernando Aguero Rocha, with two abstentions. There had been some speculation that he could lose his seat in a power struggle with Bermudez. Calero, 56, said he expected Bermudez to confine himself to military matters, and said he was satisfied with the election results. Bermudez' position was strengthened with the defeat Monday night of incumbent director Pedro Joaquin Chamorro, who lost his seat by a 31-20 vote with three abstentions, to Wilfredo Montalvan, 42. Chamorro and Calero tried but failed to strip Bermudez of his military command in April when Bermudez fired six regional Contra commanders for mutiny. Chamorro said talk of making Bermudez a defense minister for the directorate was a ``mask'' for the military chief's ambition to gain absolute control of the movement. ``I don't think he has total control yet, but that is clearly his intention,'' Chamorro said after the election. Bermudez' closest ally on the directorate, Aristides Sanchez, was re-elected, along with Alfredo Cesar, who has supported the military leader's candidacy. The other newly elected directors were Roberto Ferrey, replacing his sister, Azucena, who decided not to seek re-election; and Wycliffe Diego, who fills a vacant seat representing the Atlantic Coast Miskito Indians and Creoles.
