Contras Seize U.S. Activist, Associate Says

MANAGUA, Nicaragua â€”  U.S.-backed rebels kidnaped an American member of a peace group who was investigating reports that the contras have attacked civilians in Nicaragua, a spokesman for the organization said Tuesday.

Paul Alan Fisher, 41, was abducted Saturday near La Libertad in Chontales province, 103 miles southeast of the capital, Ed Griffin Nolan, local director of Witness for Peace, said. Fisher is from Mill Valley, Calif., and his mother Celia, a widow, lives in Cleveland Heights, Ohio.

In Washington, Rep. Louis Stokes (D-Ohio) said Fisher and two clergymen said to be in rebel hands will be freed soon. He quoted unnamed State Department officials as saying Fisher “is in good health and is being well-treated.�

Third Party Sought

“I’ve also been assured that Mr. Fisher will be released as soon as a reliable third party can be found who will assure his safety,� Stokes told a news conference.

He identified the clergymen as Father Enrique Blandon, a Roman Catholic priest, and the Rev. Gustavo Adolfo Tiffer, a Seventh-day Adventist. Nicaragua’s leftist Sandinista government has said they were seized Oct. 10, but the contras have denied holding them.

Fisher had been in Nicaragua since April as part of a 32-member team that travels in the countryside checking on reports of human rights violations, Nolan said.

Sam Hope, a Witness for Peace spokesman, said in Washington that Fisher was hitchhiking to check out reports of a contra attack on civilians. He said Fisher got a ride on a truck that was ambushed Saturday near Santo Domingo.

The Nicaraguan Resistance, an umbrella organization for the contras, said Tuesday in Miami that it has no information on the matter but will investigate.

No immediate comment was available from the Defense Ministry in Managua.