TOP SALVADOR POLICE OFFICIAL SAID TO BE A C.I.A. INFORMANT

• Document Type: CREST
• Collection: General CIA Records
• Document Number (FOIA) /ESDN (CREST): CIA-RDP90-00552R000100980014-0
• Release Decision: RIPPUB
• Original Classification: K
• Document Page Count: 1
• Document Creation Date: December 22, 2016
• Document Release Date: June 22, 2010
• Sequence Number: 14
• Publication Date: March 22, 1984
• Content Type: OPEN SOURCE

Sanitized Copy Approved for Release 2010/06/22 : CIA-RDP90-00552R000100980014-0
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22 March 1934
Top Salvador Police Official
Said to Be a C.I.A. Informant
By PHILIP TAUBMAN _
sped &J to The New York Times
WASHINGTON, March 21 - The" head of El Salvador's Treasury police Pozo, and their subordinatesa high-
has been a paid informant for the Cen- ranking State Department official said.
tral
Intelligence Agency since the late Intelligence officials, while declining
1970's, according to American officials.. to talk about Colonel Carranza, said
The Treasury police have long been C.LA. operations in El Salvador had
Considered the least disciplined and not involved the agency directly or
most brutal of the Salvadoran security , indirectly in sanctioning death squads.
forces and some of the members have A , C.I.A spokesman, George V.
been linked to death-squad activities by Lauder, refused to confirm or deny that
the Reagan Administration, Colonel Carranza had been an inform-
The American officials, who are' ant. Repeated efforts this week to'
familiar with C.I.A. activities in El Sal- reach Colonel s Carranza by telephone
vador, said that the Treasury police- were unsuccessful. Aidest said he was
chief, Col: Nicolas Carranza, had re- out of his office and unavailable. ?
ceived more than $90,000 a year from Lieut. Col. Ricardo Cienfuegos, the
the C.I.A. as an informant for the last chief spokesman for the Salvadoran
five or six years. aimed forces, said today that without
A senior officer of the Treasury po. proof of a connection between Colonel
lice, their head of intelligence,. Maj. Carranza and the C.I.A. he could make
Jose Ricardo Pozo, was removed from no comment. "We are not going to keep
his job late last year after the Reagan answering these charges without
Administration pressed the Salvadoran' proof," he said.
Government to take action against se- -American officials said the use of
'curity officers, including Major Pozo, Colonel t of as a paid informant
who were linked to the death squads, was Part of the C.I.A.'s effort to morn-
according to State Department offi- for military and political develop-;
vials. The American officials main- menu, including power struggles
Within the Salvadoran
when
tained, however, that there was no
he was recruited b byy the he e C.I.A. in n the
e
credible evidence Colonel Carranza late 1970's, Colonel Carranza was the
was personally involved with the death Deputy Minister of Defense.
squads. ;- Before taking command of the Treas-
In visits to El Salvador at the time of ury police last May, Colonel Carranza
Major Pozo's dismissal, according to worked at the Salvadoran telephone
Administration officials, Vice Presi-. company and electric company in posts
dent Bush and other senior United commonly occupied by ranking milt.
that military commanders, including Three Internal Security Forces
'Colonel Carranza, should move aggres- The Treasury. police, originally es-
sively against any colleagues involved! tablished to deal with revenue viola-
in death squad activities to dispel the bons, are one of three internal security
impression that the commnianders forces in El Salvador. The others are
the national police and the national'
tacitly condoned the groups. guard. All three are active in efforts to
Conduct Said to Have Improved counter guerrilla forces. Like the
h
The State Department officials said
today that since Colonel Carranza took
command last year, the Treasury po-
lice had improved their conduct some-
what but remained a major source of
human rights abuses.
army, t
e three organizations report to
the Minister of Defense.
J(Mn N. McMahon, the Deputy Direct
tor%of. Cent-ra intelligence. ina
recent
_
ap' ce before the Senate Select:
C' mmittee -on Intelligence, testified'
;t' at C.I.A. policy barred the use of '
agents or informants who were in-
A diplomat in El Salvador said today' volved in assassinations, according to
of the Treasury police, "That is still the, two members of the committee.
organization that people would least ? One of the Senators, who asked not to
like to be picked up by." Abe identified, said that the C.I.A. had
whole is involved with the death squads, but we did complain about i
g
e man
een a
some top officials, including Manor 1.valuable source of information. That
former informant, the Senator said,
was not Colonel Carranza.
recently terminated its relationship
with a Salvadoran security officer be-
lieved to be involved with the death: squads even thou
h th
had b
Information linking Colonel" ? Car-
ranza to the C.I.A. was initially pro-
vided by a former Salvadoran official
who recently accused leading Salvado-
j ran military officers and civilians of in-
volvement in death squad activities. In
an interview, the former Salvadoran
official accurately identified the cur-
rent C.I.A. station chief in El Salvador
and named his two immediate prede-
cessors. His information about Colonel
Carranza's connection to the C.I.A. I
was confirmed by American officials
familiar with the agency's operations
in El Salvador.
Anonymity Requested
The former official's accusations
about the death squad links of Salvado-
ran officers aril civilians could not be
independently confirmed.
The former Salvadoran official, who
waspromised $50,000 by a group of crit-
ics of Reagan Administration policies
in Latin America if he would speak out,
has asked to remain anonymous for
fear or reprisals. He has already re-
ceived $'29,00 of the $50,000..
'. American officials said it was com-
mon for the C.I.A. to recruit and pay
senior military officers in foreign coun-
tries to provide information and to fur-
ther American interests.. Many of these
informants, the officials said, are in-
volved on their own in activities that
the C.I.A. does not necessarily support
or condone. "You can't always do busi-
ness with honorable people," one for--
met' intelligence officer said. .HeL
added, "In such cases, the less you
know, the better it is."
This gray area was illustrated two
years ago when the former head of
Mexico's national police was charged
in San Diego with directing a stolen car
ring that operated in southern Califor-
nia. Intelligence officials said the man
had been a key C.I.A. informant in
-Mexico.
In an interview broadcast by CBS
News tonight, the former Salvadoran
official repeated his assertion that
Colonel Carranza worked for the C.I.A.
and was involved with the death
squads.
STAT
STAT
Sanitized Copy Approved for Release 2010/06/22 : CIA-RDP90-00552R000100980014-0