ATROCITIES IN THE NICARAGUAN CIVIL WAR

• Document Type: CREST
• Collection: General CIA Records
• Document Number (FOIA) /ESDN (CREST): CIA-RDP85T01058R000100170001-7
• Release Decision: RIPPUB
• Original Classification: T
• Document Page Count: 24
• Document Creation Date: December 22, 2016
• Document Release Date: January 19, 2012
• Sequence Number: 1
• Publication Date: March 25, 1985
• Content Type: REPORT

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25 March 1985
ATROCITIES IN THE NICARAGUAN CIVIL WAR 25X1
Introduction
Abuses have been committed by both sides in the Nicaraguan
conflict, as would be expected in any war. Most civilian deaths
and injuries are reported from areas of heavy fichtinci.
insurgent attacks on military and government 25X1
vehicles, and on economic targets such as agricultural
cooperatives, frequently result in civilian casualties. US human
rights groups have reported that their investigations corroborate
such charges. I 25X1
the Sandinistas, for their part, frequently abuse civilians and
prisoners. In addition, he regime 25X1
deliberately mixes civilians with military personnel, a practice
that almost guarantees casualties to non-combatants. The
Sandinistas maintain a civilian presence at military encampments,
staff civilian cooperatives with militia personnel, and send
civilians as passengers in military vehicles. 25X1
The following memorandum examines, in turn, Contra and 25X1
Sandinista abuses
The charges and countercharges of atrocities by the 25X1
two si es t at have appeared in the international press and have
been examined by human rights rou s are commented upon in either
a specific or generic sense, 25X1
Chronologies of human rights abuses
and lated information accompany 25X1
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Contra Abuses
Overall,
abuses by the Nicaraguan Democratic Force (FDN) are neither as
widespread nor as clearcut as recent press stories and human
rights groups contend. In some cases, Sandinista disinformation
has been used to tar the FDN image.
Recent human rights reports,l based largely on interviews
with eyewitnesses, detail numerous abuses by the anti-Sandinista
insurgents. These include murder, rape, and inflicting
casualties on civilians during the course of actions in three
broad categories: attacks on economic targets such as
agricultural cooperatives, attacks on vehicular traffic, and
forcible recruitment and kidnappings in the Atlantic coast
region.
Attacks on economic targets. The reports' strongest case
focuses on Contra attacks on agricultural cooperatives. Although
many of the casualties occur during resistance by militia or
armed civilians, the reports present some credible accounts of
civilian deaths and injuries by insurgent shelling, summary
executions of captives, and some cases of rape. Such abuses,
when they occur, probably reflect the poor discipline
characteristic of irregular forces. The continued popularity of
the FDN in the northern areas of the country--evidenced by the
flow of volunteers to Contra ranks--suggests that abuses are not
so widespread as to be a serious detriment to the insurgent
cause. This situation contrasts markedly with El Salvador, where
a guerrilla force of 9-11,000 has had to turn to massive forced
impressment to maintain steady numbers in the field. In
Nicaragua, with less than three fifths of the population of El
'Reed Brody, "Attacks by the Nicaraguan 'Contras' on the Civilian Population
of Nicaragua. Report of a Fact-Finding Mission, September 1984-January 1985,"
March 1985; Americas Watch, "Violations of the Laws of War by Both Sides in
Nicaragua, 1981-1985," March 1985; Washington Office on Latin America,
"Statement of Donald T. Fox and Michael J. Glennon," March 7, 1985. 0
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Salvador, a guerrilla force almost 50 percent larger still enjoys
such popular sympathy that it cannot provide sufficient arms or
training to all those who rally to its cause.
Attacks on vehicular traffic. The FDN repeatedly has warned
that it considers all government vehicles fair game, especially
since construction equipment and communications vehicles are
involved in military support activities. Even private trucks
often carry armed civilians or militia, and military vehicles
routinely have civilian passengers. Conse uentl insurgent
ambushes often cause civilian casualties.
Forcible recruitment and kidnappings. The reports' 25X1
on forcible recruitment and related kidnappings is the weakest
The 25X1
largely Indian population of the Atlantic coast, by Managua's own
admission, is alienated from the regime--because of harsh
Sandinista repression as well as the region's traditional
resentment of the Pacific coast inhabitants. 25X1
ost of the refugees from this
area have left voluntarily, in many cases to join the Misura
insurgent group operating out of Honduras. For example, one of 25X1
the human rights reports repeats Sandinista charges of a Misura
massacre and mass kidnapping at Sumubila, even though Managua's
account has been discredited in the US press. 25X1
We do not believe that crimes by anti-Sandinista insurgents
constitute a deliberate policy to terrorize civilians. On the
contrary, the FDN leadership has attempted to prevent abuses by
disciplining field commanders who allow such behavior. A number
of the known insurgent abuses were the work of one Contra leader,
Comandante Suicida, who was tried and executed by the FDN for his
Journalists) report that the
insurgents single out government political leaders in occupied
areas for intimidation and occasional physical abuse. In
addition, Nicaraguan officials frequently claim that the
insurgents have kidnapped citizens. We have been able to confirm
some of these reports.
We believe that, in
large part, the Sandinistas use the term "kidnapping" to cover
3Joshua Muravchik, "Manipulating the Miskitos," The New Republic, August 6,
1984, pp. 21-25.
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for desertion
s from their ranks and civilians escaping with
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Eden Pastora's forces in the south have stated publicly that
their policy is to execute non-Nicaraguan combatants captured
with the Sandinistas, but we doubt that any have been taken. In
fact, Pastora has made a practice of turning Sandinista captives
over to the Costa Rican Red Cross.
Most of the reports of Contra abuses
are circums antis
Some of these stories
are fabricated by Managua as part of an ongoing disinformation
campaign to discredit the insurgents and influence public and
Congressional opinion in the United States. For example, the
regime's false claim in December 1982 that the insurgents shot
down a MI-8 helicopter carrying some 70 Indian children was
propaganda.
an Indian council publicly attributed it to
overloading. Similarly, the regime's allegation in December 1983
that the Contras had kidnapped and killed US Bishop Schlaeffer
also proved false. Schlaeffer, who subsequently appeared in
Honduras, said he had voluntarily accompanied a group of Miskitos
fleeing Nicaragua and that the refugees had been bombed and
strafed by Sandinista forces during their march.
Even when reports of insurgent abuses originate elsewhere,
the regime is quick to exploit them for its own advantage.
Ithe Sandinistas
publicized claims that the Honduran military had evidence linking
the FDN to 18 unresolved killings in Honduras. Senior Honduran
military officials denied the story, and the Honduran Human
Rights Commission said it had no such information. Managua also
picked up a story from the US media on statements by former FDN
officers concerning Contra abuses. We believe these individuals
are among those officers expelled from the FDN for abuses and now
trying to take control of the organization.
Attached is a chronology--
~-of reported abuses by an i- an inista i.nsuraents since
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Chronology of Contra Abuses
The pro-Sandinista press reported that Contras killed seven
persons, including an armed militia member, in an ambush of a
Construction Ministry vehicle near La Posolera and mutilated the
bodies. Managua claimed that 16 construction workers had died at
the hands of the Contras this year.
4 March 1985
The pro-Sandinista newspaper reprinted a West German press
item citing a Mexican expert's charge that the Contras were
poisoning the water along the Nicaraguan-Honduran border with
"Agent Orange."
1 March 1985
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wi a peasant whose son had Koine the insurgents
four mon s previously. The peasant said he spread the story 25X1
that his son had been kidnapped by the Contras, hoping to avoid
government repression. 25X1
Late February 1985
said'nis er San inista frontier guard unit had murdered two
peasants and then blamed the insurgents.
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25 January 1985
The pro-Sandinista press reported that insurgents kidnapped
four medical workers, including an official of the National
Autonomous University of Nicaragua, on Rama Key.
8 January 1985
The pro-Sandinista press reported that insurgents killed 13
civilians in ambushes near San Juan de Limay in Esteli
Department.
21 December 1984
The pro-Sandinista press reported that Contras attacked a
Red Cross ambulance killing a patient and wounding four
attendants. ~~
20 December 1984
The pro-Sandinista press reported that insurgents had
kidnapped 21 peasants in Jinotega and Nueva Segovia
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In one of the incidents featured most prominently in the
human rights reports, the pro-Sandinista media reported that
guerrillas ambushed a truck and killed 21 or 22 volunteer coffee
pickers, bayonetting some of the wounded and burning others
alive. According to US Embassy reporting, US journalists who
interviewed the survivors said at least half the people on the
A Sandinista official publicly claimed that more than 850
coffee producers and workers had been killed by guerrillas during
The pro-Sandinista press reported that insurgents killed
five peasants, including a four-year-old child, in northern
Zelaya Department.
Managua claimed that Contras killed five civilians,
including three young girls, on a cooperative in northern Zelaya
30 October 1984
The progovernment press alleged that insurgents killed six
children and wounded three others in an attack on a government
agricultural cooperative. Farm workers--all members of the
militia--ran to trenches for safety, but the children apparently
failed to escape the house where they were sleeping before it was
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The government radio claimed guerrillas attacked a peasant
family in Chontales Department, killing four--including two
children--and wounding three other children.
The progovernment press reported that insurgent forces
ambushed and killed the director of the Central American
Hydroelectric plant near Jinotega. Two days earlier, the
insurgents were said to have raided a small farm in Chinandega
Department and killed three children.
23 September 1984
A Sandinista Army truck carrying civilians to visit
relatives at a local military base was ambushed by insurgents,
with five dead and 19 wounded. Press accounts indicate civilians
joined the convoy when their bus broke down enroute to the
facility.
12 September 1984
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A Defense Ministry communique claimed that seven farmers
were kidnapped by insurgents and that the bod oy f one was found
near his home in southern Zelaya Department. 25X1
5 September 1984
According to US Embassy reporting, MISURASATA insurgents
kidnapped three Sandinista officials, including a woman, and
released all of them in late October as part of a prisoner
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exchange. A MISURASATA official admitted that one of the
insurgent captors had attempted to rape the female official but
was prevented from doing so by his superior.
1 September 1984
A government telecommunications vehicle, which the local
press said included civilian hitchhikers, was ambushed by
insurgents in northern Zelaya Department.
that civilians repeatedly are warned by the insurgents
not to ride in government vehicles, which are considered fair
game.
25 August 1984
A Defense Ministry communique alleged that guerrillas shoot
and then slit the throats of captured peasants. Other press
reports stated that insurgents shot and beheaded a peasant mother
19 July 1984
including executions and slitting of throats,
an 1 not appear to take many prisoners.
an FDN ambush of a civilian truck in mid-Ju y Killed mos y
peasants, and also noted the apparent assassination of a former
militia member and his family.
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4 May 1984
Then-junta leader Daniel Ortega announced 1,884 civilian
casualties--including 747 dead and more than 1,000 "kidnapped"--
between January 1982 and March 1984. These figures sup osp edly
included only state employees and cooperative members.
The pro-Sandinista press reported that insurgents killed 14
persons, including some children, during an attack on a
cooperative in Nueva Segovia. The rebels allegedly sacked the
cooperative, burning homes and grain supplies.
The Sandinistas claimed that as many as 46 persons--mostly
civilians--were killed in an FDN attack on the town of
Pantasma.
13 August 1983
An ARDE "War Bulletin" communique claimed that ARDE tried a
Sandinista prisoner accused of killing five peasants and burning
their homes. The Sandinista was turned over to locals for
execution. In a later meeting with US Ambassador Stone,
insurgent leader Alfonso Robelo failed to confirm the killing but
indicated that he would investigate.
May-December 1983
FDN officials told the press that one insurgent commander
went on a rampage in may 1983 after learning that his wife had
been killed by the Sandinistas. He carried out killings of pro-
regime civilians and executed some 40 Sandinista prisoners. The
commander--Comandante Suicida--and his associates subsequently
were tried by an insurgent courtmartial and executed late that
year.
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Sandinista Abuses
the
Sandinistas have engaged in persistent abuse of civilians and
prisoners since coming to power in 1979. Although some of these
reports originated with anti-Sandinista groups,
refugee debriefings, independent press
accounts, and even public admissions by government officials.
Reports by human-rights groups, the Organization of American
States, and the Department of State detail many abuses by the
Sandinista regime. Documentation of the mistreatment of the
Miskito Indian population, for example, is extensive. Although
the record focuses mainly on the violation of basic rights
associated with the forced relocation of the Miskitos to
resettlement camps in 1982, evidence of brutality by government
The regime has engaged in arbitrary arrests and abuses of
citizens believed to be nounterrPyn1i1t-innari,-.Q nr - inista
sympathizers. the
torture and genera mistreatment inflicted on inmates of the
Puerto Cabezas prison system. These retorts include eyewitness
and secondhand information of beatings and executions.
tell of killings and other crimes against civilians in
various parts of the country. Although some incidents apparently
reflect government attempts to intimidate the population, in
other cases the regime has sentenced officials guilty of serious
misdeeds to prison terms.
the regime has
resorted to assassination to eliminate several opponents. Soon
after coming to power, the Sandinistas reportedly kidnapped and
murdered former National Guard officer "Comandante Bravo" in
Tegucigalpa. In the fall of 1980, according to
'the public confession of one of the participants, a number of
4Americas Watch, "The Miskitos in Nicaragua, 1981-1984,"
November 1984, and "Human Rights in Nicaragua," April 1984;
Organization of American States, "Report on the Situation of
Human Rights of a Segment of the Nicaraguan Population of Miskito
Origin," 1984, and "Report on the Situation of Human Rights in
the Republic of Nicaragua," 1981; and US Department of State,
"Broken Promises: Sandinista Repression of Human Rights in
Nicaragua," October 1984.
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South American leftists assassinated former President Somoza in
Asuncion in an operation planned and financed by Managua. F_
We believe Managua also
is responsible for four assassination attempts against insurgent
leaders, including the bombing that wounded Eden Pastora, the
former Sandinista comandante who now heads the Sandino
Revolutionary Front. In addition the Sandinistas sometimes
execute captured insurgents
the Sandinista Army has 25X1
inflicted substantial casualties on civilians through
indiscriminate artillery and rocket fire in an effort to
interdict insurgent infiltration routes in northwestern
near rder. Press accounts and 9.)X1
hat the Army currently is evacuating civilian 25X1
ami ies--w i e orcing them to leave their livestock, crops, and
other possessions--from this area to create free-fire zones. ~~ 25X1
In addition,) the
Sandinistas deliberately mix civilians with military personnel, a
practice that almost guarantees casualties to non-combatants.
The regime maintains a civilian presence at military encampments,
staffs civilian cooperatives with militia personnel, and sends
civilians as passengers in military vehicles.
Attached is a chronology of the most credible, specific,
and/or verifiable reports of Sandinista abuses against civilians
and prisoners since 1982.
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Chronology of Sandinista Abuses
The pro-Sandinista press reported that a Nicaraguan Interior
Ministry official was sentenced to 30 years for murdering five
persons in southern Carazo Department last November.
According to the US Embassy in Managua, a former Radio
Impacto correspondent said that his recent 47-day imprisonment
included 33 days of solitary confinement in an unlighted cell and
a three-to-four-day period during which he was denied food and
water and interrogated four times a day.
A Nicaraguan asylum seeker, released after more than two
months in prison, claimed he was abducted from the Costa Rican
Embassy in Managua in December 1984 and subsequently mistreated
physically and psychologically by Sandinista officials.
US press accounts cited Sandinista admissions that some
7,000 residents were being removed from areas near the Honduran
border so the Army could treat all persons in those areas as
hostiles.
21 February 1985
According to the US Embassy, a prominent Nicaraguan attorney
and Social Christian Party member stated that, following his
arrest on 6 February on the unexplained charge of causing a
public disorder, he was held incommunicado in a dark cell and
interrogated about his relations with US Embassy staff.
12 February 1985
Sandinista military
personnel reported the placement of some 600 foreigners,
including 200 Americans, in coffee and sugar cane fields in areas
of Contra operations because any harm to them would cause adverse
international publicity for the insurgents.
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12 February 1985
UN officials announced that a Nicaraguan UN employee had
died following his arrest in Nicaragua after a dispute with
Sandinista officials over expired travel documents. The UN is
conducting an investigation.
10 February 1985
Nicaraguan Interior Minister Borge publicly admitted that
citizens had been jailed on the basis of gratuitous reports or
rumors of counterrevolutionary activities, that authorities had
interfered with local religious workers, that farms had been
confiscated without justification, and that several killings by
police were under investigation.
25 January 1985
The progovernment press reported that, between June 1984 and
January 1985, the Popular Anti-Somocista Tribunals--irregular
courts that do not provide full due process to defendants--
sentenced 418 persons to prison terms. Only 25 persons were
acquitted.
12 January 1985
According to the US Embassy in Managua, a Sandinista
military counterintelligence officer requesting asylum reported
that physical and psychological torture was used to gain
information from Contra prisoners.
9 January 1985
Nicaraguan Government has been testing imported medicines on
political prisoners.
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January-February 1985
in early 25X1
1985 the Sandinista leadership instituted a new policy toward the
Miskito Indians, continuing severe repression--including aerial
bombings and artillery fire--of the Indians south of Puerto
Cabezas while im rovin treatment of those closer to the Honduran
border. F_ g] 25X1
January 1985
a Nicaraguan
refugee saia a oun a mass grave containing the mutilated
bodies of some 50-60 political prisoners, some of whom he had
seen alive in the Sandinista prison at Esteli some months
previously. The refugee also claimed to have been tortured while
an inmate in the same prison from mid-1983 to mid-1984.
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the regime was
aware its policy of sending 11- to 14-year-olds to help in the
tobacco harvest placed them in jeopardy and might accrue
propaganda benefits to the government if any of the children were
killed by Contra action.
The US Embassy in Managua cited reports of the arrest and
torture of a youth for refusing to participate in mandatory
Sandinista demonstrations.
Unidentified assailants attempted to kill ARDE political
leader Alfonso Robelo in San Jose by tossing a grenade-style
device into his car, according to press accounts. The US Embassy
reported that this was the fourth attempt on the lives of ARDE
leaders in Costa Rica. Guerrilla chief Eden Pastora, then with
ARDE, was seriously injured and four journalists were killed when
a bomb exploded at an ARDE base in La Penca on 30 May 1984. Both
Robelo and Pastora were targets of attacks last summer.
22 September 1984
some Nicaraguan officials in
Jinotega and Matagalpa Departments had been arrested or removed
from office because of arbitrary arrests, torture of prisoners
and illegal confiscation of property.
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July-August 1984
a resident of the Bluefields area reported that
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Nicaraguan soldiers executed an Indian woman and her three
children after destroying their village. The woman's husband
reportedly was suspected of being the leader of the anti-
Sandinistas in the area.
13 May 1984
a Sandinista Army
unit urne several homes in the village of Ma antaca in northern
Zelaya Department. The Defense Attache commented that government
forces had destroyed a number of small towns in Zelaya and
Chontales Departments to prevent their use by the Contras.
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31 January 1984
inhabitants of Esteli
believed that nine anti-Sandinista insurgents said to have been
killed in a mine explosion were in fact prisoners who had been
unloaded from a military truck. The locals, who buried the dead,
alleged that the Sandinista military rigged the explosion as a
coverup for their execution. One individual had a slit throat,
and none of the dead had uniforms or weapons.
19 January 1984
The US Embassy in Tegucigalpa indicated that in early
January Sandinista forces killed some eight Miskito Indian
refugees in Honduras and tried to blame the incident on the
Hondurans. Tegucigalpa officially protested the incident, and
the US Embassy found the evidence persuasive.
18 January 1984
Escapees from a relocation camp claimed that Nicaraguan
soldiers subjected residents to imprisonment and torture. Some
17 individuals were said to have been publicly executed during
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22 December 1983
According to the US Embassy in Costa Rica, several
Nicaraguan refugees claimed they had fled repression and torture
by the Sandinista Army. They reported firsthand accounts of
decapitations, mutilations, and rape. Local preachers and youths
resisting conscription apparently were the prime targets.
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6 October 1983
Three members of the European Parliament who visited a
Sandinista prison reported that five political prisoners had been
subjected to physical and psychological abuse.
28 September 1983
The US Embassy reported that a motorist who did not yield
the right of way to a Sandinista comandante's motorcade was shot
and killed by a member of the official's protective detail.
Church officials strongly criticized the government for the
16 September 1983
A British
dent in Nicaragua,
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said that Miskitos
in
tree Pue
rto Cabezas
arrested and shot without tria
l. The
source
suggested that thi
s act
ivity was selective, ho
wever,
and did not
occur on a large s
cale.
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September 1983
in
September 1983 two Miskitos in Barra Rio Grande were denounced as
counterrevolutionaries, tortured, and murdered by Sandinista
Defense Committee members. One, an elderly Indian, was dragged
behind a power boat until drowned. The body of the other was
found by townspeople, who reported that skin had been removed
from his feet, his eyes were gouged out, and his ears and tongue
September 1983
officials of the Christian Democratic International
believed the Sandinistas' international prestige had been damaged
by growing evidence of abuses such as the mass assassination of
opponents.
8 July 1983
According to the US Embassy in Costa Rica, Indian refugees
complained of heavy-handed treatment by the Nicaraguan Army.
They reported that village members were shot, beaten, and
imprisoned.
29 June 1983
A bomb exploded prematurely in a car in downtown San Jose on
29 June, killing a Sandinista infiltrator and severely wounding
another Nicaraguan. The bombing may have been part of an aborted
Sandinista plot to kill key members of ARDE.
April 1983
According to US Embassy reporting, the privately run
Permanent Commission on Human Rights in Managua claimed that,
during the first quarter of 1983, the Sandinista regime was
responsible for 78 disappearances, 10 deaths, and the detention
of 378 new political prisoners.
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22 February 1983
A member of the Conservative Party told US Embassy officials
in Managua that Miskito Indians charged with
"counterrevolutionary activities" had complained of being
tortured and physically abused while in detention.
24 January 1983
10 captured
insurgents in northern Chinandega Department were tied to posts
and for target practice by Sandinista soldiers.
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 75X1
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SUBJECT: Atrocities in the Nicaraguan Civil War
DISTRIBUTION:
Copy 1 - HPSCI
2 - SSCI
3 - HAC (Defense Subcommittee) Read and Return
4 - SAC (Defense Subcommittee) Read and Return
5 - Mr. Elliott Abrams
6 - Mr. Morton I. Abramowitz
7 - DCI
8 - DDCI
9 - DDI
10 - DDO/LA=
11 - OLL/CD
12 - SA/DCI/IC
13 - C/DDI/PES
14 - DDI/CPAS/ISS
15 - D/ALA
16, 17 - ALA/PS
18 - ALA Research Director
19-22 - CPAS/IMC/CB
23 - C/MCD
24 - C/CAS
2 5 - C /CAN
26 -
27 - MCD Files
28 - CAS Files
DDI/ALA/CAS
(25 March 1985)
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