CENTRAL AMERICA

• Document Type: CREST
• Collection: General CIA Records
• Document Number (FOIA) /ESDN (CREST): CIA-RDP83M00914R001900230111-8
• Release Decision: RIFPUB
• Original Classification: K
• Document Page Count: 4
• Document Creation Date: December 20, 2016
• Sequence Number: 111
• Content Type: MEMO

Approved ForeTease
The Director of Central Intelligence
Mshinaton.D.C.20505Ex3d-r1
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9 September 1982
MEMORANDUM FOR: NIO/LA
FROM: DCI
SUBJECT: Central America
00914ROO1900230 1.
-ems
We should talk about this.,.--
William J. Casey
Annrrw d Fnr RPIPaca 2007/1)5/16 ? C;IA-RDP8SM00914 t 1
 The Reagan Administration
veers left in Central America
The Reagan Administration's Central American policy has
zagged sharply to the left is anticipation of. a major new
escalation of violence in the-region. In a speech delivered at
the Commonwealth Club in -San Francisco, Assistant Secre-
tary of State for inter American affairs Thomas 0. Enders
adroitly backtracked on previous positions. The Enders speech
is being explained to hard-liners inside and outside the gov-
ernment as a "tactical" attempt to persuade critics, particular-
ly of U. S_policy toward. El Salvador, that the Administration
can be reasonable. But in-spe-
cial State Dept. news brief-,
in.-s, the Enders speech was -
presented as a policy reversal
reflecting the position. of new
Secretary of State George P-
Shultz.
The policy turn comes at a
critical time for the Sandinis-
tas in Nicaragua. Internal op-
position to the regime has in-
creased substantially and is
allied with a coalition formed
from the remnants of the So-
moza National Guard forces
in neighboring ? Honduras,
heavily reinforced with other El
enemies of the Sandinistas. ; *;:;
The coalition, which can field 8
8,000 well-trained men, claims -
to have some 200 small units operating inside Nicarao is-and
attacks by small units have taken place even in Manaagua, the
capital. Meanwhile, a war of attrition is on between the Sandi-
nista leadership and the Meskuit Indians whc live along the
Caribbean coast across which passes the Sandinistas' lifeline
to the Cubans.
A new level of violence. All this has produced an almost con-
stant clash in recent weeks between Sandinista and anti-
Sandinista forces on both sides of the Nicaragua-Honduras
border. And Daniel Ortega, the leading radical member of the
Sandinista junta, has threatened to cross the Honduran bor-
der "to take out [the exile army] with surgical precision." If
that kind of engagement does. come, it could force a formal
"internationalization" on the anti-communist side by invoking
the Central American Defense Treaty to match the alliance of
communist forces with the Sandinistas. Or it could produce a
call to invoke the Treaty of Rio. de Janeiro calling on all
American states-including the U. S.-to halt aggression,
The U. S. is already involved. Clandestine aid from the U. S.
had been flowing to the Nicaraguan. exiles-although, per-
haps in line with Enders' speech and a new policy, the aid
apparently was cut off in mid-August.. Americans also have
been associated with the famous Commander Zero (Eden Pas-_
tors), a former Sandinista leader who earlier- this summer
announced that the. Nicaraguan -revolution had been "be-
trayed" and that he was going into armed left-wing opposi;
tion. But Pastora, whose Mexican, Libyan, and possibly Cu-
ban connections make him suspect to other Nicaraguan exiles,
says he will fight the-Honduras-based group, which he labels
"Somozistas."
48 BUSINESS WEEK September 13, 1982
Honduran troops: Unable to stop Salvadoran
guerrillas from using the country as a sanctuary.
In El Salvador, the situation for the U. S.
backed regime continues to deteriorate. Leftist
guerrillas, unable to force a victorious military
showdown with the government, are. methodi-
cally destroying the economic infrastructure in
an effort to demoralize the population. Hondu-
ran forces under military strongman General
Gustavo Alvarez, who supported free and fair
elections there earlier this summer, have back-
stopped Salvadoran government forces. They are trying to
stop the use of Honduras as the "Cambodia" of the Salvador-
an conflict. Honduras' relatively large size, sparse population,
and weak armed forces make it difficult to halt the infiltra-
tion of weapons and men, providing a sanctuary for the
Sandinista- and Cuba-backed Salvadoran guerrillas that cross
back and forth into El Salvador.
The U. S. is extending military aid and training to the
Honduran forces and improving the airport facilities at San
Andres, a Colombian island off Nicaragua. The Hondurans
are also training marines for the new Guatemalan regime,
which-while more acceptable to Washington than the previ-
ous military junta-is still under a U. S. embargo that forbids
the training and delivery of weapons.
Massed vehicles. The question is whether these measures by
the U. S. are adequate in the face of the continuing buildup of
arms and forces in Nicaragua. For example, the Sandinistas
reportedly have massed amphibious vehicles at Monkey Point,
near the Costa Rican border opposite San Andres. The Hondu-
ran air force, long considered that country's main defense
against any Sandinista attack, may soon be outclassed by
Nicaraguan pilots being trained on MiGs in communist coun-
tries. Other Nicaraguan recruits training on Cuba's 'Isle of
Pines and in other communist countries for the past year are
-due back in strength this fall. _ _ .
. At the same time, the Sandinistas are getting training and
direct participatory support on the ground from a wide range
of communist and left-wing allies, including- the Palestine
Liberation Organization; - East Germans, Vietnamese, North
Koreans, and Bulgarians, plus- a large Cuban contingent-'
14----C1A4-R-D 3?MO49 4F~.{If3 ~3f}d~3fl~ 1-F-S _~~_~_
 Approved For Re ease 200/705t167-C1 f9009l4ROO1900232 .
The Director of Central Intelligence
9 September 1982
MEMORANDUM FOR: C/LA, DDO
.FROM: DCI
SUBJECT: Central America
I would like your comment on this
and a copy of the Enders speech.
William J asC sey
 The Reagan. Administration's,Central American' policy-has
zagged sharplyy to.,the left;ix anticipation:,of_.a major new'
escalation of -violence in the-region.. In a speech delivered at `
the Commonwealth Club in, San Francisco,-Assistant Secre-
adroitly backtracked on previous, positions. The.-Enders speech:. -
is . being explained .to hard-#iners: inside and outside: the gov-
ernment as.a--'-'tattled"-- attempt to persuade critica;..particularr.
ly of U. S:.-policytoward _El Salvador;.: that the:Administration r. s
can oe reasonanie; tsut in. spe-;
ciai;:State:; Dept__ news-.brief
: