Central America: Next Step: Pink Slips

"We all knew it was coming," said Jorge Rosales, a press officer at the Nicaraguan Resistance headquarters in Miami last week. Word had just leaked that the contras plan to lay off many, if not all, of their civilian employees. "Everybody knows there has been a negative vote in Congress," said Rosales, referring to the bleak prospects for more U.S. aid to back the contra war effort against the Sandinista regime in Nicaragua.

The contras' support staff comprises several hundred employees in many Latin American, U.S. and European cities. This week contra leaders will meet to determine the precise number of cutbacks, which will go into effect on July 1.