INTERVIEWS PRESIDENT OF NICARAGUA

• Document Type: CREST
• Collection: General CIA Records
• Document Number (FOIA) /ESDN (CREST): CIA-RDP75-00149R000700310021-1
• Release Decision: RIFPUB
• Original Classification: K
• Document Page Count: 1
• Document Creation Date: December 16, 2016
• Document Release Date: December 29, 2004
• Sequence Number: 21
• Publication Date: February 5, 1963
• Content Type: PREL

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PROGRAM: Chet Huntley Reports
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INTERVIEWS PRESIDENT OF NICARAGUA
WILSON HALL OF NBC NEWS WAS SEEN ON THE TV
SCREEN AS HE INTERVIEWED PRESIDENT LUIS SOMO
OF NICARAGUA.
HALL: "Mr.
vasion of Cuba?"
President, do you think there should be an in-
SOMOZA: "There should have been one long ago, a stronger
one--"
"Did Nicaragua help in the Bay of Pigs invasion?et
SOMOZA: "Yes, we did help. We put all our hearts and effort,
and we helped because we had a complete promise that all the
countries would help completely to the last man, but those promises
sometimes weren't there. But it was a good experience, because
it has been able to raise the spirit of America, for America to
realize that Castro is not something very weak that can be over-
thrown with another banana revolution, as they call it in the
United States, you see?"
HALL: "After you step down from the Presidency, what are
your plans?"
SOMOZA: "I've told the newspaper men the other day that
after I leave the Presidency I am going to try to lift the public
opinion of some of the countries here to form a legion of people,
of free people of Latin America, and to convince the governments
to become a belligerent government against Castro and to lend
their shores and their countries to help train a big Latin American
force to invade Cuba and get rid of that. It's not only the
responsibility of the United States, and try to get the United
States to give us some physical aid, machines that we don't have,
but we can overthrow Castro if they don't do it. I mean if they
let the CIA do it, they will never do it."
HALL: "Do you think the United States has been too soft
on Castro, Mr. President?"
SOMOZA: "Well, the United States has been, in my opinion,
as strong as it can be with Castro. United States has many irons
in the fire all over the world, you see, and they have to play a
world political game. We don't have a world political game. We
have our own local Caribbean and Central American game, which is
what we play, so we, have no ties with anybody."
Approved For Release 2005/01/05 : CIA-RDP75-00149R000700310021-1