NICARAGUA

• Document Type: CREST
• Collection: General CIA Records
• Document Number (FOIA) /ESDN (CREST): CIA-RDP90-00552R000302470024-1
• Release Decision: RIPPUB
• Original Classification: K
• Document Page Count: 1
• Document Creation Date: December 22, 2016
• Document Release Date: July 21, 2010
• Sequence Number: 24
• Publication Date: November 14, 1982
• Content Type: OPEN SOURCE

Sanitized Copy Approved for Release 2010/07/21 : CIA-RDP90-00552R000302470024-1
UNITED PRESS INTER NATICNA
14 NJCVEIv'BE? 1982
By JUAN J. WALTE
A group associated With the American Civil Liberties Union issued a report
ay` ':lc l",ing the Reagan administration seems to be lo5 ng control of its
covert operations aimed at Nicaragua's leftist regime.
"Either the Reagan administration's policy is aimed at destroying the
government of Nicaragua or it is out of control, " said the Center for National
Security Studies, 2 strong liberal critic of administration policies in Central
America.
CNSS Director Morton Halperin, who served on Henry Kissinger's National
Security Council staff in the early 19705, called on Congress to investigate
U.S. actions in regards to Nicaragua.
"The only real secret about its operation is its purpose, '' said Halperin in
a statement issued with the report. ' 'It is high time Congress held hearings on
the very dangerous situation developing in Central America because of the
CIA's actions there.''
The CNSE report questioned adminstration Claims that its operations in
_rai A Er1ca see to support Nicaracuan moderates, disrupt Cuban-Nicaraguan
supplies lines to El Salvador, and forcE Nicaragua to end its aid to leftist
guerrillas threatening El Salvador's U.S.-backed government.
The report cited U.S. contacts with, and alleged aid and support for,
anti-Sandinista exile groups ranging ,F-om former supporters of the Somoza
dictatorship to disenCiiatited members of the Sandinista m:'%emEnt who have fled
Ni ^ - c r a g
,. u2.
The report claisis these exile groups, many operating out of neighboring
Honduras and some within Nicaragua, ' 'are already too well organized and
committed to be easily turned off by the United States. "
Also, the report said, these groups are not helping disrupt Cuban or other
supply lines to El Salvador.
The report also claims the administration, contrary to its claims, does not
help Nicaragua political and private sector moderates. Instead, the report said,
''it cripples them by leading an increasingly nervous and authoritarian
government (that of Nicaragua) to mistake opposition for treason. "
''In short, it (the administration's policy toward Nicaragua) serves none of
its stated purposes.''
STAT
Sanitized Copy Approved for Release 2010/07/21 : CIA-RDP90-00552R000302470024-1