SANDINISTA INFLUENCE IN HONDURAN LIBERAL PARTY AND IN SCHEDULED NOV. 29 ELECTIONS

• Document Type: CREST
• Collection: General CIA Records
• Document Number (FOIA) /ESDN (CREST): CIA-RDP84B00049R000601700013-9
• Release Decision: RIFPUB
• Original Classification: K
• Document Page Count: 10
• Document Creation Date: December 21, 2016
• Document Release Date: August 13, 2008
• Sequence Number: 13
• Publication Date: October 26, 1981
• Content Type: REPORT

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DEPARTMENT OF STATE
AM3P,SSAUOR AT LARGE
UdASHINrTO~~
October 26, 1981
Admiral Bobby R. Inman
Deputy Director of Central
Intelligence
4Jashington, D.C. 20505
Dear Bobby:
Attached is the paper I mentioned to you about
the Liberal Party in Honduras. I would be most
grateFul for any thoughts you have on it.
Faithfully,
Vernon A. t-Jalters
,,?''`
.,i'
State Dept. review completed
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UNITED STATES PERMANENT MISSION TO THE
ORGANIZATION OF AMERICAN STATES
' DEPARTMENT OF STATE
October 14, 1981
Dear Dick,
Here is the paper I told you
about. I am unable to attest to
its accuracy or lack of accuracy,
but I have sent a copy of it to the
Honduran desk (I:athleen Anderson
X23385) for their comments. You
may wish to query them, once they
ave had a chance o look it over.
~~~
~ ~ t~ ~.~.
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Sandinista Influcence in Honduran Liberal Party ~.d in Scheduled Nc3v. 29
elections..
The 1979 Honduran political parties called for celebrating a constituticz~l
assembly. as the first step toward bringing back a D~.~cratic foruz of goverr~zzt
through an election process.
't'he three parties who wen representation in the "Asamblea C:onstittryente"
Constitutional Assembly were Partido I~i~sal with 33 delegates, P~-~rtida
National. with 33 deleb tes, anal Fartido del Pine with 3 delegates.
We will begin with a brief description of thv Liberal Party and the :uzfluence
that the Sandinista Movement (which nc~,a governs Nicaragua} has in t~~ Honduras
Liberal Party, wh_i.ch is ca~posed of three political active gro?~ps or factions.
.Faction A, tk-e Mavima_c.~to Rodi.sta, ori~'ax-ated by Mr. Rada.S Alvarado, fonder
of the Liberal Party who recently died, aYxnYt three years ago, and whose
son, Modesto T~das Vasa, of a Ni.carag~t n~the.:: , is the leader j oirtl~- w th
Suazo Cordova, the president of the Liberal Party. These are the ones wbo
control the Liberal Party.
The M~svimi.ento Rodista is the Est influ~^~ faction in the Liberal Party
although the Liberal Party has two other cu---rents, directed by diffP~ent leaders,
all struggling for power ~rithin the party.
Nbdesto ~iwdas Vaca. has along- history of support for the ~~viriento S~d_i_nista
Nicaragu.ense and has very high ties kith the Sandinista ~~~~nt f-ran th_a ti~~
why the Sandinistas wale clandestinely fighting aga_~n~t S~za. In fact,
they were using r~'. Modesto Rodas' hacienda next t~ the Nicarad ~-~ border
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~ -
Eden Pastora and the guerrilla group that took over the National Palace
in Nicaragua?trained in Mr. Modesto Rodas' farm in Choluteca and his
conntection with Eden Pastora is a. ver?` close one, to the paint t.:hat the ri.f).e
that Eden Pastora, Cornandante Zero, used during the attack at the National
Palace belonged to Mr. Modesto Rodas.
During the time of the operation at the National t mace in t~:i.caragua the
military security police in Honduras arrested Mr. Modesto Rodas for
clandestinely guying arms in San Pedro ue Sala for t_he T';-ent:e Sand_ir~.i.sta.
This case was highly publicized. in the Honduran press since :i.t raas an open
trial.
Mr. Modesto Rodas is the second man under Suazo Cordova, the candidate for
the presidency under the Liberal Party in Honduras. Tir. Modesto Rodas has
traveled to Nicaragua and has been invited by Sand:ini_sta gbvern>ent to the
various activities that have taken place in I~ir_ar.agua. Sdhen Fa_deI Castro
visited Nicaragua, Modesto Rodas V.aca met with Fidel Castro together with
Carlos Flores Fucte:~se, ~. Honduran of Palestine descent owner of tr,e major
(leftist) circulation paper in Honduras, La Tribuna. Carlos Flores Facusse
is also a representative of the legislative assembly and a leader in the
riovimiento Rodista. He is of clear anti-American posture, and pro-Sandinista.
Another leader of the Movimiento Rodista is another representative called
Carlos Pfontoya who has a long radical leftist bzckground full of political
activities during his time at the Autonomous Uni~-zrsit}~ of Honduras. }le
is also aligned with the Sandinista government prcgrams in Honduras_
These three individuals are aligned with the International Communist Rrzgade
operation in Central America and are active in the 1~iberal Part}~ of F~onduras.
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Their political activities arc obviously supported b}= major financial
contributions that Tnakc possible their political efforts pro Suazo-Cordc~~a,
the president of the Liberal Party.
These individuals scan to be receiving Ttoncy froL,l~icaragua to support their
poitical campaigns since they have traveled to Nicaragua cXtcnslVC].y and
have bccn fully indcntificd ~-1th Nicaraguan leaders. (Al:l h.ss bccn rcparted
by the press).
The B faction of the Liberal Party is the AlYanza Liberal del Pueblo (ALIPO).
? Its leaders arc Carlos Roberto Rcina and Jo.rgc Arturo Rcina, brothers.
Jorge Arturo Rcina is the forTicr dean of. t~rc Univcr.aity of Honduras, and
while dean of the University contributed ?_ million dollars to the t'rcntc
Sandinista during the years 1977 and 19 l8; out of the budget of t?nc L'nivcrsity
funding. These two xeina brothers are possibly the Host influenc~al eanncction
bcti,~ecn the Sandinistas and the Liberal Party since their a1_lianccs arc
directly with Cuba and arc members of the 2?Sovimicnto do Solidaridad de los
Pueblos directed by Manuel Pineiro, head of the Cuban G-'L, in charge of .
Dcpartamcnto de las Americas.
The Lni-~crait}? of Honduras has traditionall}= bccn -the focus of all corR:nunist
terrorist activities in Honduras with the objective of Cor,,~.unist domination
ox Central AT:TCrica and these individuals, the Rcina brothers, TRCntioned
in this report arc part of that organization that has existed far zany years
at the university ,of Honduras. ~'cr}= reliable inforrlation indicates that
man}= arms and ammo arc being stored in the University which is the source
cf all marhist publications, leaflets, etc., that arc printed for the
Honduras destabilization cfxort.
The C xactian called Frc^te llnxdo Liberal (FuT), is headed b}? Dr..Grtts
Colindres and is what one could call the T:~oderate leftist faction of the
Libr_ral Party. Although it 'is also very wcll.cornectcd~c:ith the Sandinistas.
They arc the less asgresive ~..*ithout discarding the fact thst they arc
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sympathizers of the Sandinistas. The principal director of FU7 ar.e Dr.
Enrique'ortes?Colindres, a prominent attorney who used to dircct-_ the Banco
Ccntroamericano de Xntegracion trconoialc=a, dr~cr t1~at used to ~;c_rva as Gencraa.
Somaza's attorney in Honduras for the various Somoza personal holct~,ngs.
A man of defined anti-American principles, but Somoza used ha.m to };ecp the
left in Honduras pacified (so he thought..
The second man in importance in the Frcnte Unido Liberal is r1r. Ramon V:illcda
Bczzaudez, son of t'he former president Villcda Morales.knocan as Rabivcxa,
?who has alsa traveled to IvT~caragua seeking cconomle assistance for his
iEactiorb of the Liberal Party.
The Liberal Party with i is 3 bas~.c current; , tfze I~fovimicnt.o 3:od~ st:a, talc
Alianza Liberal del Pucblo,~and tnc Frcnte Unido Li~cral, together with
the support that the Christian Democrats Party gave them, received a5% of
the votes in the past election against the Partido Nacioaal, wiZO took r~p%
and Partido del Pino who took ~%.
It is believed that if the elections were held today, the Liberal Party
woulcs beat the Partido t~acional and that 24r. Suazo Cordova would be elected
President of Honduras against R:.cardc Zt:niga Aousti.no, the cand.i.datc far
the Parta.do tvaeional. to which case the Partido Liberal would be co;ttrolled
by militants sympathetic to and activists for the Sandinista. government
in Nicaragua since. the LS.boral Party leadership hay=~ all come fron~ the.
Autonomous Honduran University and have a long history of Sandinista
support in its cffrot to ovcrthro~; Somozz.
~.t this moment it is very difficult to prcvc that the Sa^.dinistas Hare given
money to the various factions of the activist currents of the Libcraa Part,
but it it very obvious that they have money for their car:,paigns and hart
been able to advertise, campaign, buy autos, jeeps, tra~~el, etc. with ample
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economic support and that all sighs and rumors in Honduras, indicate t1~at
the money is coming from the Nicarguan govcrnmcnt. After all, it =.;ould
only be logical to assume that the i~iearabuans arc paying back their political.
debt to Honduran allies who helped the Sandinistas against Somoza.
Tne fact is that the pro-Cuban and pro-Sandinista forces in Central r~cr~.ca
nave not begun an actzvc guerrilla campaign in Honduras, because they arc
well entrenched in the Liberal Party and have very nigh hopes of ~:*i^ning
power in Honduras by an election come novcmbcr 2yth, 19211. :then, t:tc men
that will run Honduras will surface and the new policies will not be that
~oi coopcratlon with the United States.
To believe that the United States, through its dipl~rlatic channels is going
to have any 'influence over the type of govcrnmcnt and the goals of the adninistrat~.on
that would be headed by Suaza Cordova, is to be naa.vc, and only tnc sympathzzcrs
oz a "change zn Honduras" and the forces against the present Kcagan policies
in Central America are supportive of this opinion.
Presently conf~_rmcd and rcliablc'inrormation indicates that Mrs. Dora :Cellcs.,
a Sandinista Comandantc (of 9 comandantcs in the Sandinista F.cvolutior.)
visit s the University of Honduras once a month carrying instructio:~s, 1.ztcrature
and money to the lef*-i~t c~rganzcations at the Ilnxvcrs ty. She enters the
country from Nicaragua through clandcstin^_ sources and although tnc government
is aware of nor presence has not acted against her:
Mr. Jose Maria kteyes 2.1atCt, is tnc most Important guerrilla leader in Honduras
and the ideologist of the International Tiov~mcnt in Honduras. He no;c lives
in Nicaragua and has rnarrzed a Nicaraguan girl, Gisclic 2~aj1Qs. Tne_, arc
now living ~.n the former residence of rir. Augusto A1ta3irano.
?~ir. Joscr Maria Reyes F~as freed a year ago alter being arrested ane' sentenced
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for kidnapping the vice President of '1'eaaco vial c;o. in San Pedro dC Zula,
Honduras. After his imprisonment, Josc T,aria Rcycs became a political la.ability
for tnc Honduran government due to the ric2vy pressures exerted Uy tnc leftist
organizations in tn~ Honduran Autonomous ~:n.zvcrsity~. '
It ~.s pressumcd tnat ne was the intellectual dzrccto7: of abt,uL' 2~ kidnapping }
that have taken place in Honduras to the carious private cntrepencurs that
have occn subjected to pay~ransam tar their l~.ves.
A case in point is the $2 Million Dollars paid by Paul ~,'iriclli in a ~:idnapping
carried out by Nicaraguans, Salvadoreans an6 ~ionduxans.
3ose Marta Rcycs 2~fatt~ is the on1.y survivor of the original Cnc Guevara group
Kecently part of the group active in the ~'inclla. kidnapping ~?~crc arrested
in Cost.Rica for conspiring to kidnapp th_ personnel of the Guatemalan embassy
in Costa Kica and Honduras nas requested their extradition.
Aga:;.n, the sources of all tncse kianappings is tnc Unit=crs~ty whr_xc their
exists coordination between tnc Frcntc Sandinista and the rxcntc Farabundo
r^.arti at E1. aalvador.
The United States has to understand that the political climate prevailing
in ~ionduras today is not appropriate to carry out an election; since there
is high unemployment, acute inflation, sel=ere credit shortase a dzcline in
real economic growth and per capita incowe and coffee prices have not been good
lately, and tremendous flee of hard currency and capital, the mome:~t is very
opportune for the leftist to c~=in an election against t1~e Partido :~icionalista
which is headed by Ricardo Zuniga Agostino.
Ricardo Guniga is what one calls in politics, a burn cigar, aue to tnc
many years or potit~.cal activities, bcing the stcond ~~an o,. importar.~e ~n
the country under tnc latest three presiocnts or i~ondur~ s, Lopez Arclla:~o,
r;cigar Castro ana Policarpo Paz.
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His candidacy is one that he has been seeking for the last 20 years, but
he will produce a substantial abstention from his o~:-n party members that
will give the Partido Liberal the edge o?:er him, since the Partido Liberal
will not count with the about 50,000 Social Democrat votes f.or the;: in the
last election because they will be supporting their. own candidate.
The most convenient position would be to support a postponement of the election,
allow the present Honduran administratio. to generate a new impetus in the
economy and work with the Partido R?acionzlista to support another and more
viable candidate., one that could be identified with the new economic iripetus
that the Honduras Govern-nent could create ?_rca11~ if the I7, S. would support
the private sector.
There is support for the postponement of the elections within the Social
Democratic Party, El Pino, and the Partica `;acionalista, and also in a
representative group of the P