PHOTOS ON NICARAGUA 'BUILDUP' RELEASED

• Document Type: CREST
• Collection: General CIA Records
• Document Number (FOIA) /ESDN (CREST): CIA-RDP90-00552R000302860016-7
• Release Decision: RIPPUB
• Original Classification: K
• Document Page Count: 1
• Document Creation Date: December 22, 2016
• Document Release Date: July 29, 2010
• Sequence Number: 16
• Publication Date: March 10, 1982
• Content Type: OPEN SOURCE

Sanitized Copy Approved for Release 2010/07/29: CIA-RDP90-00552R000302860016-7
1CL~f; r`TPLARED LOS ANGELES TIMES
Ci! PJ G 10 MARCH 19'2
,ys ?A ;Hal ictui es Support char
.ban; vi t Backed t ms'Expans
' By OSWALD JOHNSTON; Times Staf f Writer..
n
our a Y. - P -.dinistas = who control the -present
Hairatrina `recentlv'naved or Ienft-
;Agency=and'the man;who briefed' :. military garrisons, with a truck ga
the.White Houseon the Cuban:nis ,
rage, barracres. a training and exer
sile crisis nearly 20 years ago-pre= . rise area, walled fortifications with
rented "the recently declassified
watchtowers and Soviet-built anti=
aenalphotographs :,y ,
h , . aircraft. installations - nearby
,: Pbotograplaic Evidenee- Hughes said 36. new - garrisons' of
-
:?:,The photographs?:whose exis - this tyPe are in oPeration or are be4
-tentedisclosed thatU.S. reconnais ing constructed- in addition: to':131
sance planes have-beeri flying overolder garrisons dating form the re-
Nicaraguan territory,. ed showed m gine of President Anastasio Somoza;
a who-was overthrown by the San-
4 -?'? F
ail -in- rovilitary
Administration on Tuesday released . model tanks, but ' Inman said the
the: largest..array of secret U.S. re-. '.only other armor in. all Central
eonriaissance photographs,. to be America is one World War.1I-vin-
made public since the Cuban missile' tage tank in Guatemale and another'
crisis to. back up its'charge-that a, -in Honduras. ` ?-
Cuban-led; Soviet-supplied military. :-A permanent garrison for a 25-
buildup is under way in Nicaragua.. tank armored battalion under con-
dm.'Bobby R.- Inman, CIA depu- = -struction. Hughes described the in
ty director and one of two top Intel- ": stallation as similar to such parr i-
;ligence officials who presented the .= sons in .Cuba-.complete with bar-
;Administration's- case,-'said -he is .racks, an obstacle course, a training
"concerned and angry" that warn-., ground and covered bays for the
ngs about the military buildup have tanks. Inman said he expects the
eventual ? Nicaraguan armored
not been- - vndely: accepted in this buildup to reach 50 or even 75,
country ry o' ;'
tanks. - - ; -- ~ ? - ~ ~ ~;.
Aden. John Hughes;deputy direr
Several -examples of what'
for e of the 'Defense; intelligence gughes described -as Cuban-style!
`thened to accept'Soviet=built l~liG ? '---- t T+ fl
:_17-or:MiG-2! fighter-bombers. The Ni zagnan Buildup r
`airstrips;-two of themon;the east Inman-and Hughes claimed than
coast --of- Nicaragua;:are.equipped 'the photographs are clear proof that.
with defensive-,embankments and', Nicaragua. is.-building-a milit