NICARAGUA: A HAVEN FOR LEFTISTS; PUBLIC DIPLOMACY CALENDAR
Document Type:
Collection:
Document Number (FOIA) /ESDN (CREST):
CIA-RDP87M00539R001802760030-2
Release Decision:
RIPPUB
Original Classification:
K
Document Page Count:
10
Document Creation Date:
December 22, 2016
Document Release Date:
September 16, 2009
Sequence Number:
30
Case Number:
Publication Date:
March 8, 1985
Content Type:
MEMO
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CIA-RDP87M00539R001802760030-2.pdf | 611.83 KB |
Body:
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EXECUTIVE SECRETARIAT
ROUTING SLIP
ACTION
INFO
DATE
INITIAL
1
DCI
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DDCI
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EXDIR
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D/ICS
5
DDI
6
DDA
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DDO
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DDS&T
9
Chm/NIC
10
GC
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IG
12
Compt
13
D/Pers
14
D/OLL
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D/PAO
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SA/IA
17
AO/DCI
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C/IPD/OIS
19
NIO LA
x
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/rnpr /j
22
/AL / I
STAT
4ecutime Secretary
5 Mar 85
3637
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United States Department of State
Washington, D.C. 20520
Registry
March 8, 1985
MEMORANDUM TO DISTRIBUTION LIST A
FROM: S/LPD - Otto J. Reich
SUBJECT: Nicaragua: A Haven for Leftists;
Public Diplomacy Calendar
Enclosed are two articles from the March 3 Miami Herald
regarding the numerous left-wing militants from around the
world who have settled in Nicaragua since the Sandinistas took
over in 1979.
As the articles describe, the majority of these militants
"are simple political exiles or leftist sympathizers come to
express solidarity with the Sandinista revolution and mingle
with ideological brethren in a friendly environment. Several
Sandinista officials acknowledge, however, that a significant
minority, mostly Latin Americans, are active guerrillas,
plotting the overthrow of home governments. They hold strategy
meetings and, sometimes, undergo military training here and in
Cuba, the officials say."
Also enclosed is an updated Public Diplomacy Calendar.
Enclosures:
As stated.
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a11u11i1 s L is d L LJ . i2 In_!1 -1----
By JUAN 0.-TAMAYO
Herdd SW Writer
MANAGUA, Nicaragua - He is
a 5-foot?I1, gray-eyed surgeon,
treating children In a Managua
alum. She Is a petite journalist,
writing for a Paris magazine. Both
are fugitives, wanted in their
native Italy for leading left-wing
guerrilla gangs.
Two West Germans linked to
the Baader?Meinhof Gang are now
officers in the People's Sandinista
Army. One is in charge of a
counterintelligence unit. The other
commands an artillery battalion.
And an Argentine Montonero
guerrilla, widow of the Argentine
rebel who led the commando team
that assassinated former Nicara-
guan President Anastasio Somoza
In Paraguay, is dating a ranking
Nicaraguan official trained as a
guerrilla by the PLO in Lebanon in
the early 1970s.
These are but a few of the
left-wing extremists from Europe
and Latin Amdtlca who came to
Managua after the 1979 Sandinista
revolution, seeking safe haven and
a chance to prove their solidarity
with the Nicaraguan government.
It Is the same kind of revolution-
ary "networking" - leftist mili-
tants call it "Internationalism" -
that benefitted the Sandinistas
during their long guerrilla struggle
to topple Somoza.
In the late 1960s, the Sandinistas
signed a pact with the Palestine
Liberation Organization to train
Nicaraguan guerrillas in Lebanon.
Somoza was a steadfast supporter
of Israel,. and Nicaragua was one
of the first nations to recognize
the Israeli state in 1948.
A former Israeli intelligence
agent once based in Nicaragua said
at least 150 Sandinistas were
trained in the 1970s in Lebanon
camps run by the Popular Front
for the Liberation of Palestine. the
PLO faction most committed to
terrorism in Europe and the Mid-
dle East.
Veteran Sandinistas say that it
was at the PFLP camps that the
Nicaraguans first met European
leftists - Germans from the
Baader-Meinhof Gang and Its
spin-offs; Italians from the Red
Brigades and other radical groups
- and began establishing the
close personal relationships that
persist today
"The European leftists believe
that the Ho Chi Minh Trail and the
Quebrada del Yuro run through
their countries, too," said one
Sandinista official, referring to a
key guerrilla supply line in the
Vietnam War and the Bolivian
gully where famed guerrilla chief
Ernesto "Che" Guevara was killed
in 1967.
One PLO-trained Sandinista, P~?
tricio Arguello, joined the PFLP s
most notorious. terrorist, Leila
Khaled, in a botched attempt to
hijack an Israeli jetliner from
Amsterdam to New York on Sept.
6. 1970. Israeli security agents
killed Arguello and captured
Khaled, who was later exchanged
for hostages seized by another
group of PFLP hijackers. The
Sandinistas have named a geother-
mal power plant after Arguello.
Another PLO-trained Nicara-
guan was Communications Minis-
ter Enrique Schmidt, killed in
combat with anti-Sandinista guer-
rillas last November. Schmidt's
widow, a West German citizen
born; in the Basque region of
Spain, now works for the Sandi
nista Front's Department of Politi-
cal Education. Health Ministry
workers say she lectured them last
year on the Ideology of the Basque
Homeland and Liberty guerrilla
group, known as ETA, fighting for
Independence from Spain.
Yet another Sandinista trained
in - Lebanon is Deputy Interior
Minister Rene Vivas. He is now
dating an Argentine Montonero
guerrilla, the widow of Julio
Alfredo Irurzun, head of the
Montonero team that assassinated
Somoza in Paraguay in September
1980, in what the killers called a
show of "revolutionary solidarity"
with Nicaragua.
VV I I I I LN w "1 I (Jl LGl I Ul 1;!) I
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`It's a lie,' Defense
Minister Humberto
Ortega says of
reports that
Nicaragua harbors
leftist fugitives from
around the world.
`We do not require
that type of support
to defend our
principles.'
The PLO now has a fully
accredited embassy in Managua.
And the Sandinista Front has
"fraternal" relations with leftist
groups from Italy, West Germany,
Spain's Basque region. Argentina,
Uruguay. Chile, Paraguay, Peru,
Colombia, Libya, El Salvador,
Honduras, Guatemala and Costa
Rica.
The Italian government on Feb.
8 gave the Sandinistas a list of 22
Italian leftists believed to be living
in Nicaragua - about halt of them
wanted fugitives, the rest de-
scribed only as "extremists." The
Foreign Ministry said It knew
nothing about the Italians but
would investigate.
Topping the list, obtained by
The Herald, Is Guglielmo Gugliel-
mi. 39, a one-time Rome surgeon
facing five arrest warrants for
crimes between 1979 and 1983
ranging from kidnapping to illegal
weapons possessions to "participa-
tion In armed gangs."
International terrorism records
show that Guglielmi, now work-
ing at a government-run children's
clinic in the Managua slum of
Ciudad Sandino, was a top leader
of the Units Combattente Comu-
nisti, a guerrilla band that spun off
from the Red Brigades in the late
1970s. He! was convicted in absen-
tia last 'June of kidnapping and
sentenced-to 22 years in prison.
. Also on. the list is a 33-year-old
Milan sociologist wanted on a
warrant charging her with."orga-
nizing and leading armed gangs In
Italy and abroad." An Italian
woman with the same name as the
fugitive Is a journalist accredited
in Managua as correspondent for a
Paris-based magazine that special-
izes in Third World issues.
The fugitive Is also described in
the international records as a
member of a group that helped
Guglielmi and three other Italian
fugitives move from Parts to
Nicaragua after the Italian govern-
ment accused France in 1983 of
harboring more than 200 wanted
Italian militants.
The woman journalist In Mana-
gua declined comment when two
Italian journalists tried to inter-
view her last month. "I am not
who you think I am," she said. Her
name Is known but omitted here
because of the absence of proof
that the journalist and the fugitive
are the same.
Roberto Sandalo, 27, a Red
Brigades defector living in Kenya,
told Italy's Oggi news magazine
last month that five Brigadisti are
now serving as officers In the
Sandinista army. "That's a lie."
Defense Minister Humberto Orte-
ga said last week. "We do not
require that type of support to
defend our principles and our
f lags."
Sandinista government sources
said two West Germans who have
bragged of having been part of the
Baader?Meinhof Gang are now
serving in the army - one as a
captain in an artillery unit sta-
tioned at the Montelimar base
southwest of Managua and the
other attached to a military coun-
terintelligence unit.
A West German known only as
"Fitz" has told friends there is a
warrant for his arrest in Germany.
"Fitz," described as an anarchist,
fought in the Sandinista revolution
and later worked as an administra?
for at the government-owned Julio
Buitrago sugar mill.
Also living in Nicaragua is Peter
Paul Zahl, a well-known West
German writer with former links
to Baader?Meinhof who spent four
years In prison for the attempted
murder of a policeman in Cologne,
Germany. Friends said Zahn, who
Is not wanted for any other
crimes. is In Bluefields setting up a
theater, group for the port's West
Indian blacks.
Nicaraguan government officials
said a handful of Basque ETA
guerrillas also lived In Managua
until 1983, when Spanish Prime
Minister Felipe Gonzalez, a strong
Sandinista sympathizer, protested
to the Managua government. Sev-
eral ETA members moved to
neighboring Costa Rica and some
went to Venezuela. the officials
said.
Gregorio Jimenez, 32, an ETA
militant wanted by the Spanish
government on terrorism charges,
was arrested in Costa Rica in
September 1983 and charged with
plotting to assassinate Eden Pasta
ra, leader of an anti-Sandinista
guerrilla group based in Costa
Rica.
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Costa Rican Justice Mlnis'..y
officials say Jimenez, still a' uit?
Ing trial, has confessed that, a
Managua-based group of 0A
rebels planned Pastora's assassina-
tion, without authorization from
the Sandinistas. but as a sign of
"revolutionary solidarity."
Since the revolution triumphed.
Nicaragua has also been visited for
varying periods by a string of
leftist militants from Europe and
Latin America. many of them
simple political exiles, some of
them well-known guerrilla lead-
ers.
Mario Firmenich, head of Argen-
tina's Montoneros, traveled legally
through Nicaragua - once staying
several days in the home of
Interior Minister Tomas Borge -
as well as Mexico and Costa Rica
before the Buenos Aires govern-
ment put out a warrant for his
arrest. He was detained in Brazil
last year and extradited to Argen-
tina.
Two Baader-Meinhof gang
members visited Nicaragua in
1980 to express their support for
the Sandinistas and explain the
reasons for their own struggle.
They sought out three foreign
Journalists living In Managua and
granted them interviews, one of
the reporters said.
And Lauro Azzolini, 41. a Red
Brigades founder sentenced in
absentia to 30 years in prison for
the 1978 kidnap-assassination of
Italian Prime Minister Aldo Moro.
visited Nicaragua in early 1980
and tried to hold a news confer-
ence to explain Moro's slaying.
Journalists Invited to the confer-
ence said the Sandinistas blocked
Azzolini, alleged to have been
the man who killed Moro with a
close range blast from. a Czecho-
slovak-made Skorpion machine
pistol, was later captured in Italy
and is in prison.
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$ ml Klaad H.ral
841 day, March 3. IIM
World's leftists find
a haven in Nicaragua
Some sought on charges of terrorism
By JUAN O. TAMAYO
Herald Stall Writer
MANAGUA. Nicaragua -
Scores of left-wing militants from
around the world - some of them
wanted on terrorism charges in
their home countries - have
settled in revolutionary Nicaragua
since the Sandinista triumph of
1979.
Some are treated by the Nicara-
guan government as virtual diplo-
mats, representing their organiza-
tions. Others are fugitive
militants, granted jobs, identifica-
tion papers and safe haven.
An overwhelming majority. are
simple political exiles or leftist
sympathizers come to express
solidarity with the Sandinista rev-
olution and mingle with ideologi-
cal brethren in a friendly environ-
ment.
Several Sandinista officials ac-
knowledge, however, that a signif-
icant minority, mostly Latin
Americans, are active guerrillas,
plotting the overthrow of home
governments. They hold strategy
meetings and, sometimes, undergo
military training here and in Cuba,
the officials say.
The Reagan administration has
used the presence of so many
people with ties to left-wing
groups as proof that Nicaragua has
become a nest of international
terrorism. U.S. officials say they
will focus on these linksin asking
Congress to resume U.S. assistance
to anti-Sandinista rebels. Anti.
Sandinista leader Alfonso Robelo
calls Nicaragua "the center of
Please turn to NICARAGUA/ 22A
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The blt1aeetlOu
Nicaragua's network of the left a t t contacts
- contacts
PLO - A PLO faction trained as many es
160 Sandinista guerrilla fighters In the
1970s. Including the late Mad of the
Nicaraguan telecomhtunications office. A
Sandinista. Patrlclo Arguello, was killed
during a Palestinian hijacking attempt. The
PLO now has an embassy In Managua.
pad B,I9ades - Sandinistas reportedly
first met members of Italy's Red Brigades
in Palestinian training camps. The Italian
government has claimed that 22 terrorists
and political extremists now are living In
Nicaragua. a claim the Sandinistas say they
.will Investigate.
Nader.MSlnhol - Sand n a
with Baader?Melnhof terrorists also began
in Palestinian training camps. Two West
nin
Germans now in the Sandinista army
reportedly have said they
Meinhof members. Other Baader?Molnhof
members are reported to have visited
Nicaragua since the revolution.
Montoneros - Former Sandinista fighter
Eden Pastore says 20 to 30 of the
Argentine guerrillas joined Sandinistas
fighting Somosa. A Montonero commando
team assassinated Somoza In Paraguay.
Several Montoneros now live In Nicaragua.
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a a vacs s~-r~~~ ~'V~ ~- .
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world, s let Lists t inct
haven. in Nicaragua
terrorism In Latin America today."
But several knowledgeable
sources Interviewed In Managua.
elsewhere in Central America and
in the United States argue that
Nicaragua is less a terrorists'
training ground than a tropical
sand-and-surf watering bole for
the international revolutionary set.
One leftist intellectual close,to
both exile circles and the Sandinis-
ta leadership called Nicaragua "a
winter barracks for over-re-
pressed guerrillas." Training of
foreign terrorists, he said, "is not
government policy."
Whether they are guerrillas-at-
ease or terrorists-in-waiting, it is
clear that Nicaragua is attracting
them by the droves.
between guerrilla movements that
have armies in the field and
terrorist or$anizatlons that spe-
daiise in bombings, kidnappings
and assassinations. Guetlllas, er
pecfally those from El Salvador
and other Central American eoun?
tries, can get training and guns.
The others. mostly from Europe.
are kept at arm's length.
Help was denied
But on occasion the Sandinistas
have even denied help to Latin
American guerrillas. Leaden of
Colombia's April 19 Movement
have told friends they were denied
permission to use Nicaragua as a
staging base for their 1981 Incur-
son into Colombia's Caqueta prov-
ince. A Peruvian writer known to
be close to Shining Path guerrillas
was expelled from Nicaragua last
year. And Salvadoran rebels said
that the Sandinistas almost re-
fused them permission to use the
Managua airport as a stopover last
-month for 10 crippled guerillas
traveling' from Costa Rica to
Europe for medical treatment.
Despite these occasional rejec-
tions. Nicaraguan government of-
ficials said, the Sandinistas have
built an extensive, intricate and
highly discreet system for main-
taining and cultivating contacts
with the foreign leftists and
funneling different kinds of assis-
tance to them.
Many Sandinista officials ac-
knowledge that in a sense they are
repaying past favors. The Pales-
tine Liberation Organization
trained at least 150 Sandinistas in
Lebanon during the 1960s and
1970s, said a former Israeli intelli-
gence agent who used to Uve in
Nicaragua. And Argentina's Moo-
tonero guerrillas sent 20 to 30 foot
soldiers to fight in the revolution,
said Eden Pastors, a one-time
Sandinista turned opposition guer-
rilla leader, in a Miami interview.
On almost any day, Argentine
and Uruguayan guerrillas gather
at the Yerba Buena, a beatnik-
style coffee shop-bookstore in the
heart of Managua. Salvadoran
rebels can often be found dining at
the Los Gauchos restaurant. Ital-
ians and Germans gather for small
house parties.
Some are indeed fugitives: Ital-
ians from the Red Brigades and
Unita Combattente Comunisti;
West Germans linked to the
Baader-Meinhof Gang; members of
Spain's Basque ETA separatist
guerrillas; leaders of Honduras'
Cinchonero guerrillas; militants
from Peru's Shining Path; Monto-
neros from Argentina; Tupamaros
from Uruguay; and a hodgepodge
of Salvadorans, Costa Ricans, Co-
lombians, Chileans. Guatemalan=,
Paraguayans and Bolivians.
On Feb. 8. the Italian govern-
ment handed the Sandinistas a list
of 22 left-wing Italian extremists
believed to be living in Nicaragua.
some already sentenced in absen-
tia to 22 years in prison, some
wanted on arrest warrants. others
described only as "subversives."
`Clean conscience' Cuba relationship
The Nicaraguan Foreign Minis-
try has denied any knowledge of
the 22 Italians. Sandinista officials
also say their "conscience is clean"
regarding the Reagan administra-
tion allegations they consider most
damaging to their image: Reputed
links to Libyan strongman Moam-
mar Khadafy, Iranian Moslem
extremists and Colombian drug
traffickers.
However, one ranking Sandinis-
ta official acknowledged that "we
can't deny everything.... It is
perfectly possible that on special
occasions there would be jtrain-
ingl courses scheduled." The offi-
cial, like almost every other
knowledgeable source contacted.
agreed to talk about the sensitive
issue on promise of anonymity.
Some Nicaraguan. officials.
though not many, say they regard
the aid to leftists as retaliation for
U.S. support for anti-Sandinista
The Sandinistas' relationship
with Cuba dates back to 1961.
when Interior Minister and Com-
andante Tomas Borge underwent
guerrilla training there. Hundreds
of Sandinista rebels eventually
trained In Cuba. And in 1979,
Havana sent several planeloads of
guns and ammunition for the final
offensive against President Anas-
tasio Somoza.
Controlling today's aid system
in Nicaragua is the Sandinista
Front's Directorate for Interna-
tional Relations, supervised by
Bayardo Ara, like Borge one of
the nine comandantes who have
ruled Nicaragua since 1979. Arce
is regarded as one of the most
radical of the nine, which also
include Nicaraguan President Dan-
iel Ortega.
The directorate. all of the
sources agreed. manages the San-
dinista party's "fraternal" rela-
tions with everybody from official
pecan leftists are tlghting NATO. ruling parties, to loyal oppositions,
"the symbol of American imperial- to broad front coalitions. leftist
ism in Europe." alliances, guerrilla groups and
Conversations with a vanety of bands of terrorists.
sources indicate that the Sandinis- "This includes groups battered
by reVeSSIOn because of their
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Tomas Borge: A long
relationship with Cuba.
active opposition to their govern-
ments," said one Nicaraguan offi-
cial. "Many of these. are under-
ground groups."
And many of them are still
virtually underground in Nicara-
gua. under Sandinista. orders to
stay out of public view. Long-time
.Sandinistas said this is the same
wink-and-a-nod arrangement the
Cubans imposed on them when
they lived in exile in Havana in the
1960s and 1970s.
The sources said at least 30 of
the clandestine groups have deie-
gados in Managua who are offi-
cially recognized by the director-
ate. A delegado has three duties:
maintain official contacts with the
Sandinista front; organize his
group's meetings, publications and
other political work; establish
links with other foreign groups
and potential sponsors.
PLO embassy
The Palestine Liberation Organi.
zation has an embassy and diplo-
matic staff in Managua. Colom-
bia's April 19 Movement has a
political office. The Salvadoran
guerrillas have three news and
propaganda offices, as well as a
clandestine radio transmitter.
Once a delegado has established
himself. his key job is to rind work
for down-and-out compatriots liv-
ing in Nicaragua, Sandinista offi-
cials said. The directorate will not
? help here, but allows the delegado
to exploit his personal contacts
within the government.
One Latin American exile living
in Managua said that Montoneros
in 1980 offered to use some of
their savings, amassed in dozens of
ransom kidnappings. to build a
Managua factory that would em-
ploy some of their guerrilla coun-
trymen. There is no Indication
whether the project was carried
out.
Bayardo Arce:'Fraternal'
relations with all fronts.
Several of the delegados have
taken advantage of the Sandinis-
tas' hospitality to summon follow-
ers abroad to strategy-setting ses-
sions In Managua. Peru's Shining
Path held a "spiritual retreat" last
year to study Von ClausewitZ's
book On War and "the theory of
betrayal" according to Shake-
speare's Macbeth, said one person
who attended.
Sandinista officials usually stay
away from such revolutionary
seminars, sources said, although
they almost certainly know about
them. "They are notoriously care-
ful about who they let into the
Country, so it must be with their
knowledge." one official said.
A former official of the Nicara-
guan interior Ministry who now
lives in Costa Rica said the
directorate also occasionally helps
fugitive guerrillas and terrorists
by arranging financial aid through
labor unions and other Sandinis-
ta-run ' organizations. It also can
provide safe houses. false pass-
ports. Nicaraguan identification
cards and false license plates. he
said.
The interior Ministry's General
Directorate for. State Security and
the Sandinista army. the source
added, both have officers specially
assigned to help any foreign leftist
that gets into trouble - a car
accident or a drunken brawl.
For the first tour years of the
revolution, the sources said. the
Sandinistas provided a steady now
of aid and assistance to their leftist
friends, especially the Salvado-
rans.
`Ripe for revolution,
"The Sandinista triumph
brought a certain revolutionary
euphoria." said one Sandinista
official with close ties to the
exiles. "We thought all Latin
America was ripe for revolution.
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so there was a bt Of asaistaeex
going out. Thom yaopk could
count on auapoet"
Est by id& 19e3, the official
said, and espedaflp after the Us.
invasion of Granada Is October of
that year. the Sandinhtas "began
to r"llze that the tide, of Latin
American history was moving
against us."
On Nov. 20, 19831 the Sandinis-
tas gave the Salvadoran guerillas
two days to transfer some of their
people out of Nlearagui and close
down some sale bousq. They
moved some of their logistics
operations. including a radio sta-
tion. to more discreet locations on
the outskirts of Managua. Salvado-
ran rebel officials said-
A year later, however, the
Sandinistas moved in still another
direction after noting that contro-
versial U.S. policies - the Grena-
da invasion and deployment of
U.S. cruise missiles in Europe -
had gone forward without effec-
tive international opposition.
Seeing themselves as the next
target for U.S. aggression. Nicara-
guan officials said, the Sandinistas
sought closer links with the radi-
cal European left, the failed anti-
missile movement, other Latin
American leftists and even U.S.
liberals.
Visitors from the United States,
Europe and Latin America now
return home, said one official,
"sensitized to the Central America
problem, and if they've spent any
time at all here they have passion-
ate sentimental links to Nicara-
gua ,.
Some of the visitors leave with
more than passions. According to
several of the sources, there is a
second level of Sandinista assis-
tance to Latin American leftist
volunteers - one that includes
military training.
Cuba's top military representa-
tive in Nicaragua, Gen. Arnaldo
Ochoa. runs this program through
two parallel chains of command.
according to the former Interior
Ministry official and two present
Sandinista government officials.
`Cuban Force'
One. the "Cuban Fora," is made
up entirely of Cuban Officers. The
other, the "International Force."
has only Latin American exiles.
many of them Argentines, Chile-
ans and Uruguayans, who live in
Cuba and hold officers' rank in the
Cuban solitary. Ab for p nib-
W7
factor cards the
- met
Sources with access m the
Peeple's9andlsista Arm s psymi
ieaocds said aeouf< abin
ftce 6Nlce a
Nicaragua in 1980. The number
tripled the following year. they
The Pick of the Latin American
volunteers to to Cuba for iostruc-
don In special camps in the
western proving of Pinar del Rio
and an installation near Guanabo,
close to Havana, known as "Base
00." the defector said. In 1983. be
said. be saw Cuban military otfl.
cers at the Managua airport es-
corting 1012 Cate Rican volun-
teers aboard a plane for a flight to
Havana.
Second-level prospects, the
sources aid. are trained in Nicara-
gua, either in groups from the
same country or as individuals
integrated into regular Sandinista
army units. Several Honduran
guerrillas captured in 1983 and
1984 described 2% years of train-
ing in Cuba and Nicaragua. fol-
lowed by several months of fight-
ing with the Nicaraguan army
against anti-Sandinista rebels.
Still, most foreign leftists living
in Nicaragua did not come to bone
military skills or hide out.
The majority are political exiles
who fled right-wing governments.
or they are militant leftists who
moved to Nicaragua because of
what one South American intellec-
tual called a "moral imperative" to
support the Sandinista revolution.
Many of the exiles, usually
professionals and technicians who
would have difficulties working In
more developed countries. also
came to Nicaragua because they
an find jobs ben. replacing a
managerial class rapidly fleeing
Sandinista rule.
And Nicaragua is a safe haven. a
place where enemies cannot easily
watch them, where they can
gather in groups and perhaps
persuade the government to grant
them the kind of international
solidarity that the Sandinistas
enjoyed during their long struggle
against Somoza.
"The Sandinistas received a lot
of help when they were guerril-
las." said a one-time high-ranking
Sandinista security official now
living in Costa Rica. "Now the
others are collecting the debt."
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LATIN AMERICA/CARIBBEAN PUBLIC DIPLOMACY CALENDAR
2/28/85
FEBRUARY
Feb. 28- Sec. Shultz visits Ecuador and attends.Sanguinetti
Mar. 3 inauguration in Montevideo, Uruguay.
Mar. 1 Inauguration of President-elect Julio Sanguinetti in
Uruguay.
Mar. 6 Amb. Middendorf speaks to National Student Body of
Presidential Classroom at Shoreham Hotel on "Foreign
Policy: America's Approach to World Problems."
Mar. 7-15 Clarence M. Bacon, American Legion National
Commander, visits Mexico, Guatemala, Panama.
Mar. 10-15 Inter-American Press Association meeting in Panama.
Amb. Otto Reich will speak at one session.
Mar. 15 Inauguration of Brazilian President-elect Tancredo
Neves.
Mar. 18-25 President Alfonsin of Argentina makes state visit to
United States.
Mar. 31 Legislative Assembly and municipal elections in El
Salvador.
APRIL
Apr. 6-10 Festival of Democratic Youth in Kingston, Jamaica
Apr. 9-12 PBS series on Central America and the Caribbean.
Apr. 11 Assistant Secretary Motley speaks at SRI
International (formerly Stanford Research Institute)
conference on "Restructuring for Growth in Sao
Paulo, Brazil.
Apr.414 National elections in Peru.
Apr. 18-20 Latin American Studies Association meeting in
Albuquerque, N.M.
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-2-
Apr. 20 Scheduled end of State of Emergency in Nicaragua.
Apr. 27 Second anniversary of President Reagan's address to
joint session of Congress on Central America.
May 31 Deadline for Guatemalan Constituent Assembly to
complete new constitution.
JUNE
June ? Moscow World Festival of Youth and Students.
JULY
Jul. 19 Termination of offer of general amnesty in
Nicaragua; anniversary of the victory of the
Sandinista revolution.
OCTOBER
Oct. 27 Guatemalan national elections.
NOVEMBER
Nov. 25 National elections in Honduras.
DECEMBER
Dec. 15 Guatemalan installation of national congress and
elected municipal government officials.
1986
JANUARY
Jan. 14 Installation of new Guatemalan president and vice
president.
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