CENTRAL AMERICA/NICARAGUA

• Document Type: CREST
• Collection: General CIA Records
• Document Number (FOIA) /ESDN (CREST): CIA-RDP88-01070R000200910008-0
• Release Decision: RIFPUB
• Original Classification: K
• Document Page Count: 1
• Document Creation Date: December 21, 2016
• Document Release Date: June 27, 2008
• Sequence Number: 8
• Publication Date: October 19, 1983
• Content Type: OPEN SOURCE

Approved For Release 2008/06/27: CIA-RDP88-0107OR000200910008-0
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19 October 1983
CET?TRAL AIMRIC.. RATHER: The House of Representatives votes tomorrow on a bill
/NICARAGUA to cut off covert U.S. aid to rebels fighting Nicaragua's
Sandinista government. And there were predictipns the vote may
'
reaffirm last July
s house decision to halt those funds. But
because the Senate never passed the bill; covert aid to the
Nicaraguan rebels continues. Evidence of the rebels' activity
as.seen in this exclusive footage shot by CBS News. Richard
Wagner reports from Nicaragua.
WAGNER: The CIA-supported attack on the port city of Corinto,
by far Nicaragua's most important link with the outside world,
destroyed more than two million
allons of
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fue
fighters were able to contain the blaze, and. most of Nicaragua's
major oil storage. facility-escaped damage, as these pictures of
the tank firm and adjacent cargo handling area show. Although
oil deliveries have been suspended temporarily, other goods
continue to move :Freely in-t-o Corinto--goods which Washington
sources say sometimes include. military hardware. Clearly
cons-umer products are being supplied to Nicaragua Qy Soviet bloc
nations. In the capital city of ?ianagua, there are some
shortages, but the essentials are available. If anything, the
food situation here is better no:: than we observed it to be at
mid-summer. hanagua shoppers no longer have to stand in lengthy
lines for meat and bread. And in the countryside the markets
have more than enough food and clothing to sell. In the capital
of this leftist revolutionary nation there are even a few
touches of the good life Western style. Nicaraguan's wheels are
still turning 'despite the CIA's intention to disrupt this
country's economy. But Nicaragua's economic future is another
matter. At best, it's shaky. There's perhaps a month's supply
of oil or. hand here--and the ongoing threat by anti-goverment-
forces to attack tankers which might resume oil deliveries. And
from the all-important harbor of Corinto, site of more than 90
percent of Nicaragua's non-petroleum imports, there's just one
bridge goods can pass over on their way to the mainland. The
counter-revolutionaries have already tried and failed to destroy
it. Should they ever succeed in cutting this critical
connection, it would. almost certainly spell economic disaster
for Nicaragua. Richard Wagner, CBS News, Tianagua.
Approved For Release 2008/06/27: CIA-RDP88-0107OR000200910008-0