WASHINGTON POST ARTICLE RE: SOVIET BACKFIRE IN MEXICO

• Document Type: CREST
• Collection: General CIA Records
• Document Number (FOIA) /ESDN (CREST): CIA-RDP73B00296R000200170086-8
• Release Decision: RIFPUB
• Original Classification: K
• Document Page Count: 1
• Document Creation Date: December 12, 2016
• Document Release Date: December 27, 2001
• Sequence Number: 86
• Publication Date: March 1, 1971
• Content Type: NSPR

Approved For Release 2002/01/10 : CIA-RDP73B0029rt6R0O02 ?86t
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Rowland Evans and Robert Novak
Soviet Backfire in Mexico
QUITE APART from the tiela training 111 a..~=b and arrested approximately ban on Soviet diplomatic ac-
vast effrontery of the Soviet ment subversion. They one-third of the revolution tivity was lifted several
Union's aborted attempt to formed themselves into the oneary students 10 days ago, months ago, but lifted
Russians
plant highly trained Mexi- Revolutionary Action Move- The official reaction of
can agents and provocateurs ment. the Mexican government, have yet arrived. Against
inside Mexico, the sudden probably the most sophisti- the Mexican backdrop,
exposure of the eight-year- BUT MOSCOW would not cated in Latin America, was Costa Rica-a traditional
old plot may have a pro= provide this revolutionary highly unusual public indig- democratic bastion in Cen
found anti-Soviet reaction training in the Soviet Union nation. Five Soviet diplo-
throughout Latin America.. itself. If discovered, the mats were declared per- tral America-may have see-
Moscow's diplomatic prob- Mexican government would sonna non grata and sent and thoughts (despite Janu-
ing with traditionally anti- instantly retaliate. home. Beyond that,. the af- ary ratification of a surplus
Communist governments in To keep Soviet hands fair raise's serious questions coffee-purchase agreement
the hemisphere, just on the clean, the students were about Soviet standing with Moscow).
verge of success, is now en- sent by rail to East Ger- throughout the hemisphere Likewise, the Russians
dangered by the Soviet many, where they acquired -as in Venezuela. have been making strenuous
cloak?and-dagger maneuver. North Korean passports. Venezuela has been a key efforts to sign a cultural
The facts of that maneuver, They returned to Moscow Soviet target for subversion, agreement with Colombia,
breathtaking in its audacity, and then flew, via Soviet financed partly through So- which renewed diplomatic
are just now coming into Aeroflot Airline, to Pyong- viet aid to Communist Cuba, relations with the Soviets in
focus. yang, - capital of North partly through Eastern Eu- 1968. The agreement was
In 1963, under auspices of Korea. ropean Soviet satellites. At- signed last summer but it
the Mexican-Soviet cultural In Korea, they were given tempting to warm relations has not yet been ratified by
exchange agreement, the So- six months' training in with Caracas by exchanging the Colombian parliament.
viet-Mexican Cultural Insti- guerrilla tactics, at a loca- diplomatic delegations, Mos- All these careful diplo-
tute in Mexico City chose tion far from the prying cow finally reached agree- matic probes by Moscow are
the first batch of promising eyes of diplomats. Their ment last December after now endangered by Mos-
left-wing Mexican students training completed, they tortuous negotiations 'con- cow's patronage of the
for a four-year scholarship threw away their passports, ducted intermittently for al- aborted Mexican affair. Just
-
at Moscow's Patrice Lu- flew back to Moscow and re- most 20 years. how is much eviden they t in are the endan-
mumba Institute. The cen- turned to Mexico on their gered
AGREEMENT lim-
t.ral figure selecting these Mexican passports. It is un- THAT m Soviet idiet response in h for Mex-
first 10 students was the sec- thinkable that all this could its Soviet personnel in the orl s Soviet expulsion the five
diplomats. Unable to
and secretary of the Soviet have b e..e n accomplished new emb and chauffeurs. d- Sony tfoatsan
Embassy in Mexico City without Soviet complicity. ing the cs, the the usi s
(one of the five Soviet "dip- Two more groups, totaling far,. only three Soviet diplo- blamed the
fair d "powers"-hat ra sin af-
lomats" now expelled by the 19 Mexican students, fol- mats have actually taken p that are
Mexican government). lowed the precise course of residence. With the ex lo- foreign reign e
After the four-year univer- the first 10. Back in Mexico, sive Soviet subversion opposed countries-, that are
sity course, during which they set up eight clandes- against Mexico now sur- relations." .
they underwent indoctrina- tine training centers, most faced, Venezuela will un What powers? What moti-
tion in Communist Party in remote provincial ;towns, doubtedly clamp additional vation? The Russians can't
and revolutionary tactics, and started, recruiting. restrictions on the new Rus- answer that question.
?1971, Publishers-Hall Syndicate
the 10 students asked for Mexican counterintelligence sianembassy.
Approved For Release 2002/01/10 : CIA-RDP73B00296R000200170086-8