WHITE HOUSE DIGEST: THE HUMAN TRAGEDY OF DISLOCATION

• Document Type: CREST
• Collection: General CIA Records
• Document Number (FOIA) /ESDN (CREST): CIA-RDP86M00886R001900090002-4
• Release Decision: RIPPUB
• Original Classification: K
• Document Page Count: 7
• Document Creation Date: December 21, 2016
• Document Release Date: August 20, 2008
• Sequence Number: 2
• Publication Date: June 23, 1984
• Content Type: MEMO

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NATIONAL SECURITY COUNCIL
WASHINGTON, D.C. 20506
June 23, 1984
MEMORANDUM FOR MR. CHARLES HILL
Executive Secretary
Department of State
COL R.J. AFFOURTIT
Executive. Secretary
Department of Defense
Executive Registry
STAT
Executive Secretary
Central Intelligence Agency
SUBJECT: White House Digest: "The Human
Tragedy of Dislocation"
The NSC requests review and clearance of the attached
White House Digest by June 27, 1984.
Robert M. immitt
White House Digest
Executive Secretary
cc: Ronald L. Blunt
Special Asst. to the Attorney General
Dept. of Justice
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THE HUMAN TRAGEDY OF DISLOCATION
Violence causes flight. A common feature of warfare in the
20th century has been lines of people trying to escape the
indiscriminate slaughter of modern weapons. Even after wars end,
upheaval often continues, causing even more disruption and
dislocation.
For those forced to flee their homelands, it is an ordeal
beyond imagination. As repressive regimes have taken control of
countries in Eastern Europe, Southeast Asia and the Caribbean,
hundreds of thousands have had to choose between enduring
Communist oppression or facing a perilous journey into the
unknown.
Such a human tragedy is currently taking place in Central
America. It is an unpleasant reality that sudden emigration does
not result only when Marxist-Leninists are successful. Violent
terrorism, even when unsuccessful in its ultimate goal of over-
throwing an existing government, can still create refugees.
Estimating the Numbers
Any attempt to estimate how many people will take flight
from a given country if it falls to Communism will be open to
debate. Refugees flee out of chaos, often coming to countries
bureaucratically ill-equipped to keep track of how many enter.
Moreover, the countries from which they come are often unwilling
to give reliable estimates of the number of refugees who have
fled. Finally, many refugees die en route.
A useful method, however, is to base predictions on past
experiences. Since 1959, 1,250,000 Cubans, more than 12 percent
of the island's population, have fled Cuba's Communist regime.
Nearly 85 percent have come to the United States. That high
percentage is partly due to Cuba's proximity to this country.
Because the United States is prosperous and free it is the most
popular destination for those fleeing Communism, so the exodus
from Communist governments can be expected to be higher when
those governments are nearby.
Because Central America is not much farther and, unlike
Cuba, is connected to the U.S. by land, a similar percentage of
Central Americans can be expected to leave their homelands. With
25 million people living in the region, a 10 percent exodus --
slightly less than. that out of Cuba -- would yield 2.5 million
people. A rock bottom estimate of five percent would yield 1.25
million. These numbers do not include the Caribbean island
nations, which may also be vulnerable.
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From Central America
Today, the five nations of Central America and Panama face
the threat of disruption and violence. This alone has caused
hundreds of thousands to suffer dislocation. Should the worst
come to pass, and Central America falls to Marxist-Leninist
terrorists seeking to impose dictatorships on the people,
experience indicates that many more would flee.
Estimates, based on the experience of Cuba, Southeast Asia
and other places around the world, indicate that between 21.5
million and 2.5 million personal dislocations would occur. As
Ambassador H. Eugene Douglas, the U.S. Coordinator for Refugee
Affairs, has said:
"If we truly care about the people of Central America,
then we must not allow them to be forced onto the
refugee trail... Democracy allows many options: the option
to vote for or against the government; the option to stay or
to leave. Communism offers only one option -- to flee. But
if the free world allows any country to be forced so far
along the Communist path that millions of its people feel
they have no choice but to flee, then we have already
failed. No provisions, no matter how compassionate, that
may be mide for the refugees, can make up for that
failure."
Fleeing the "Revolution of Broken Promises"
The flight from Communist-led Nicaragua has been highlighted
in recent months by several large scale departures by Miskito
Indians. This ethnic group has suffered greatly under 2the
Sandinistas' Marxist plans to "rescue" the Atlantic Coast.
In an event widely referred to as The Christmas Exodus,
1,000 Miskito Indians left the relocation camp of Francia Sirpe
and walked for three days through the jungle to the safety of
Honduras. They were accompanied by Catholic Bishop Salvador
Schlaefer, who3has ministered to the Atlantic Coast region for
over 30 years.
This Exodus has been repeated. At the beginning of April,
some 2,500 more Indians trekked 50 miles to escape Sandinista
repression aid take up residence in the more hospitable regions
of Honduras. Both these mass escapes have taken place since
the Sandinistas announced an "amnesty" plan, which has been
loudly rejected by the Indians.
Interestingly enough, the Honduran government views the
Miskito refugees as a positive boon. The refugees have proven to
be extraordinarily productive and will be given land along the
Honduran Mosquita coastal region, making that area productive for
the first time in many years.
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But for many, the nightmare continues even after leaving the
land of their persecution. Conditions in many refugee camps are
bad -- not enough food, clothing, shelter, or medical attention.
Wycliffe Diego, political representative of MISURA, an
organization of Indians opposing the Sandinistas, recently
described the conditions refugees face:
"The children are dying daily because of hunger and
lack of medicine. At the present time, there are some
20,000 Miskito Indians that have sought refuge in Honduras
and another 6,000 or 7,000 in Costa Rica. ... Every day in
the refugee camps in Honduras and Mocoron and gosta Rica we
have 12-13 of these children dying every day."
For those left alive, the reminders of life under the
Sandinistas and the hardships of flight are all around. An
American doctor toured the border between Nicaragua and Honduras
recently to provide medical attention to the Nicaraguan refugees.
He reports widespread medical problems due to malnutrition and
exposure. But he also chronicles some of the reasons the people
have accepted their deprivations:
"They [the refugees] spoke of torture and showed me
fingernails that had been torn out, hands that had been
crushed, scarred backs from whippings and scarred bottoms of
the feet from the same treatment. Many had tendons that had
been cut. A favorite of the Sandinistas was to cut Achilles
tendons and to sever tendons in the wrist that made the
thumb and forefingers useless on the dominant hand. ...
They told me a common torture was to throw peeper and sand
in the eyes while hands were tied to chairs."
Of particular concern both to the refugees and the Honduran
government is the attempt by the Sandinistas to force some of the
refugees back into Nicaragua. Several cases have been reported
of Sandinista troops crossing the border into Honduras and
coercing refugees to return so that they could be displayer' as
Indians taking advantage of the government amnesty program.
These incidents illustrate the essential problem of refugee
status -- the insecurity. Becoming a refugee means giving up
one's home, farm, and way of life for an often squalid and
precarious existence in a refugee camp. Residents frequently
complain that what is even worse than the lack of adequate food,
clothing or shelter is the constant insecurity, not knowing when,
or if, they will be able to return and try to put their lives
back to normal.
There are other problems as well. Honduras and Costa Rica
are ill-equipped to provide for either the security or the
economic well-being of the newcomers. Eventually they will
become productive citizens but this does little to alleviate the
suffering caused by a sudden and massive emigration.
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In El Salvador
Over 400,000 people have fled areas of conflict in El
Salvador and are now living in government-run refugee camps, in
spite of the inadequate resources and personnel at most of these
refugee centers.
El Salvador is a populous country, but 400,000 is still a
substantial percentage of its population. If the same percentage
of Americans were forced to flee their homes, it would mean 18.4
million people in refugee camps.
Even this figure does little to convey what it means to be a
refugee. Mrs. Geraldine O'Leary Macias, who fled Nicaragua with
her husband in 1982?, commented recently on what this has meant
for them:
"[F]irst of all, I am a refugee; one of thousands who
have left Nicaragua in the last four years. My husband is a
Nicaraguan. I have watched him in the last year and a half
lose contact with 'his family, his elderly parents; struggle
with the English language, which he never planned to learn
before. ... I have watched him lose his culture ... and
suffer the fact of being a political refugee, and basically
it's because he's two things: a Christian and a
politician."8
A refugee, almost by definition, is a stateless person whose
desperation makes them attractive targets for those who profit
from people in need. The ultimate destination of many refugees
is the United States. Getting here from El Salvador is a short
but dangerous trip, especially for those without protection.
The Mariel Experience
In 1980, over 125,000 Cubans either escaped or were expelled
from that country and became part of what is known as the Mariel
boat lift. These Cubans and the few thousand Haitians who
arrived about the same time are a tiny fraction of the 10 million
we can expect to flee to this country if the entire region from
the Rio Grande to the Panama Canal is engulfed in turmoil.
The sudden nature of their arrival, and the fact that many
arrived destitute, caused a number of problems for Florida
especially and for other Gulf States. Federal reimbursements to
Florida alone totaled nerly half a billion dollars for fiscal
years 1980 through 1983.
That figure does not include federal administrative costs,
nor does it take into account local expenses such as money for
special bilingual education programs. A .lack of government
officials sufficiently fluent in Spanish was also a problem.
Finally, the sudden appearance of over 100,000 refugees
sapped the resources of churches and charitable institutions who
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try to help them through the adjustment period. Once this period
ends, the refugees become able, patriotic citizens who contribute
innumerable benefits to the communities where they live. This
has been the case with refugees who have fled Communism in
Eastern Europe, Southeast Asia, and Cuba.
Any mass migration brings chaos, and that chaos brings costs
-- costs that are expressed not only in dollars and cents but in
significant strains on the social fabric. Even in Miami, which
has been accustomed to :heavy immigration for more than 20 years,
the sudden immigration from the 1980 exodus has certainly, and
unfortunately, contributed to social tensions in that city.
Should Central America fall to the Communists, Florida,
still reeling from the Cuban-Haitian exodus, would not be able to
absorb 2.5 million new sudden immigrants, nor could the other
states along our southern border. The immigrants would have to
be distributed throughout the country, as would the temporary
financial and social burden.
An Ounce of Prevention
The American people have always welcomed refugees from
Communism. Their presence in this country has demonstrated how
quickly and how willingly Americans give help to people in need.
This is in the nature of a cure.
What the people of Central America need is a preventative,
not a cure. We can make the human tragedy of dislocation
unnecessary. We can prevent the deprivations that refugees face.
We can insure that that there will be no need for millions of
people to risk their lives to escape to the United States.
We can do this by supporting the democratic aspirations of
the people of El Salvador and Nicaragua. We can give our Central
American neighbors the military aid and training and, even more
important, the economic assistance they need to turn back the
Communist challenge.
Democracy is under attack and the people are afraid. Fear
causes refugees -- the fear that one's life or one's freedom will
be lost. Attacking the root cause of this fear is easier,
cheaper and more compasionate than dealing with the results.
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Endnotes
1. Memo to the White House Outreach Working Group on Central
America, August, 1983.
2. See Freedom House report.
3. El Tiempo, Bogota, Colombia 26 December 1983. Quoted in
the Washington Post "For the Record" column 6 January 1984.
4. "Buscan Refugio en Honduras 2,500 Miskitos," Diario Las
Americas 7 April 1984 p. 6
5. Wycliffe Diego, "Statement before the Outreach Working
Group on Central America - Special Briefing on Religious
Persecution in Nicaragua," 4 May 1984
6. Dr. Othniel J. Seiden, "Medical Mission to Honduras,"
Report to the Virginia and Albert Gildred Foundation 20
September 1983.
7. Tegucigalpa, Cadena Audio Video 12 January 1984 (Foreign
Broadcast Information Service 13 January 1984, p. P11)
8. Geraldine O'Leary Macias, "Statement before the Outreach
Working Group on Central America - Special Briefing on Religious
Persecution in Nicaragua," 4 May 1984
9. Memo from the Office of Refugee Resettlement, Department
of Health and Human Services, to the Outreach Working Group;
August 31, 1983.
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