CENTRAL AMERICA: SERIES OF REPORTS

• Document Type: CREST
• Collection: General CIA Records
• Document Number (FOIA) /ESDN (CREST): CIA-RDP88-01070R000100120003-9
• Release Decision: RIFPUB
• Original Classification: K
• Document Page Count: 4
• Document Creation Date: December 20, 2016
• Document Release Date: May 17, 2007
• Sequence Number: 3
• Publication Date: March 18, 1982
• Content Type: OPEN SOURCE

Approved For Release 2007/05/18: CIA-RDP88-0107OR000100120003-9
RADIO TV REPORTS, INC.
NBC Nightly News
March 18, 1982 7:00 PM
STATION W R C TV
NBC Network
Central America: Series of Reports
JOHN CHANCELLOR: Good evening.
Washington, DC
In Central America, more trouble involving Nicaragua.
It was reported today that near its border with Honduras, Nicara-
guan troops got in a fire fight with anti-government guerillas
sometime yesterday, in which 11 guerillas and three government
soldiers died.
Honduras borders on both Nicaragua, with a left-wing
government opposed by the United States; and El Salvador, whose
government is supported by the United States. And Brian Ross
reports from Honduras that American military advisors and men
Argentina are Hondurans to take a more active role in the
troubles of Central America.
BRIAN ROSS: This is Tegucigalpa, the capital city of
Honduras, and a city that American diplomatic sources and sources
in the intelligence community say may soon become headquarters
for a secret war of infiltration and sabotage against the country
to the south, Nicaragua.
Since the first year, dozens of American military
personnel have been sent to Honduras, described as advisers to
the Honduran army. Some of them travel around in government
jeeps, wearing US Army uniforms. Others try to operate less
conspicuously, dressed in civilian clothing, and traveling in
small groups in rented vans and cars, all appearing to be unarmed.
American embassy officials in Honduras say with the
new Army personnel to arrive this week there are now at least
95 American soldiers in Honduras as advisers, almost twice the
number of American military advisers reported to be in El Salva-
OFFICES IN: WASHINGTON D.C. ? NEW YORK ? LOS ANGELES ? CHICAGO ? DETROIT ? AND OTHER PRINCIPAL CITIES
Material supplied by Radio N Reports Inc. may be used for file and reference purposes only. It may not be reproduced, sold or publicly demonstrated or exhibited.
Approved For Release 2007/05/18: CIA-RDP88-0107OR000100120003-9
 Approved For Release 2007/05/18: CIA-RDP88-0107OR000100120003-9
The big buildup in the number of American military
advisers here comes at a time when former Nicaraguan military
men who served in the regime of Anastasio Somoza say a para-
military force is now being assembled to conduct sabotage raids
into Nicaragua.
Sources say at least one training camp is now being run
in Honduras by military advisers from Argentina, and that Ameri-
can military advisers are involved in obtaining weapons for this
force, including laser rifle scopes and artillery range fingers,
which can be used at night. Sources say this force, which is
made in part by former military men from Nicaragua, was involved
in two raids last weekend into Nicaragua, which led the government
in Nicaragua to declare a state of seige.
And while American military advisers are apparently
not involved in training the paramilitary force, some of the
training the Americans are doing with the Honduran army involves
special infiltration techniques. The men in the dark jumpsuits
are American Army parachute specialists teaching a special high-
altitude jump which they say is perfect for infiltration.
CAPTAIN RICHARD GORSON: It would be for an infiltra-
tion technique undetected. The aircraft could fly at an altitude
that would not be detected from the ground.
ROSS: Officially, the United States and Honduras say
all that is going on here is the kind of standard military training
the United States provides to many countries. But American
sources and others involved here say Honduras, with its long
borders on Nicaragua and El Salvador, is about to become deeply
involved in the conflict in Central America.
Brian Ross, NBC News, Honduras.
CHANCELLOR: We asked the Argentine Embassy in Washing-
ton to comment on all that, and it denied that any of its citi-
zens were training covert actions forces in Honduras. American
officials said it was ridiculous to say that Americans are ob-
taining sophisticated weapons for the force, but also said they
routinely to not comment on allegations of covert activity.
And on the Nicaraguan side of the border with Honduras,
there's a buildup of forces. Robin Lloyd has the story from
Nicaragua.
ROBIN LLOYD: The Nicaraguans are steadily building
up their military strength on the border with Honduras. The
two bridges that were blown up by anti-government guerillas a
few days ago are going closely guarded while repairs are made.
Approved For Release 2007/05/18: CIA-RDP88-0107OR000100120003-9
 Approved For Release 2007/05/18: CIA-RDP88-0107OR000100120003-9
Nicaraguan leaders charge that the CIA was involved.
Border outposts like this one have sentries on duty
day and night. Military training camps, some 20 miles from
the Honduran border, are active. Soldiers are reporting scat-
tered shootouts in many areas.
Meanwhile, here in Managua, the Reagan Administration's
foreign policy increasingly is coming under fire. Nicaragua's
leaders are demanding that the United States stop building up its
military presence in the region. Commandante Tomas Borge, one
of Nicaragua's top leaders, told reporters yesterday that Nicaragua
will not negotiate with the United States until the Reagan
administration guarantees it will not intervene in Nicaragua
or El Salvador. He said, quote, "you can't negotiate when you
have a pistol pointed at you."
Today, a group of Americans living in Nicaragua also
were critical of the administration's policies. Patricia Hines,
of the Centeral American Historical Institute.
PATRICA HINES: ....concerned that, when people
express concern over my safety in Nicaragua, I have to say to
them that the only danger that I am in in Nicaragua comes from
the actions of my own government.
LLOYD: Nicaragua's leaders have announced that militia
training will continue at full speed. They claim they have more
than 100,000 people signed up for the militia now. What they
have not said is how many of these people they can arm.
Robin Lloyd, NBC News, Managua.
CHANCELLOR: There is an anti-leftist group of Nicarguans
based in the United States, called the National Liberation Army,
which has claimed responsibility for blowing up six bridges in
Nicaragua. Today in Washington, the Justice Department said it
is looking into that group's activities.
More from Washington, from Roger Mudd.
ROGER MUDD: The Reagan Administration has just about
put a lid on all briefings, comments, and public relations exer-
cizes involving El Salvador and Nicaragua. The Administration
still is smarting over the 19 year old Nicaraguan soldier who
didn't say what he was supposed to say.
Today, in El Salvador, four members of a Dutch television
crew were killed when they reportedly got caught in a cross-fire
between the guerillas and the government. Dan Molina reports.
DAN MOLINA: The confirmation that these four Dutch
journalists had been killed in El Salvador came today from the
Approved For Release 2007/05/18: CIA-RDP88-0107OR000100120003-9
 Approved For Release 2007/05/18: CIA-RDP88-0107OR000100120003-9
Dutch Ambassador in Mexico. Ambassador Van Warden told NBC News
that the Foreign Minister of El Salvador relayed word that the
four, all members of a television crew, were killed in a fire
fight. The place where they died is said to been an are about
40 miles north of San Salvador, in the southern part of the
Chela Tanongo (?) Province. This area has been the scene of
heavy fighting.
Today this bloody clothing was found in the area,
along with a film can. It can't be confirmed that any of this
belonged to the Dutch crew, and no bodies were seen.
Until yesterday, the four men had been staying in
this San Salvador hotel, the Hotel Alameda. The desk clerk
told us they checked out yesterday with the intention of
returning on Saturday. Last Thursday night the men were
taken to this police headquarters and question for five hours
by government security forces.
According to this article published the next day in
a San Salvador newspaper, a guerilla killed by government troops
was found to be carrying a piece of paper that read, "contact
with Kuef Kauster (?) at the Alameda Hotel, Room 418, telephone
239999, Dutch. Yokovis Kauster was a producer in the group.
During questioning, the article says Kauster said he didn't know
any terrorists in this country, and possibly his name had been
given to the guerillas by another journalist.
Late this afternoon a spokesman for the military con-
firmed that the four journalists are dead. No one has as yet
supplied any information as to who killed them.
Dan Molina, NBC News, San Salvador.
MUDD: The estimate is that in 2 1/2 year sof fighting
in El Salvador, about 32,000 people have been killed. Nine journ-
alists are dead, two missing and presumed dead, and 12 wounded.
Approved For Release 2007/05/18-:-C'IA- DP88-01070R0o01001 00a -9