CUBA'S TOP COMBAT GENERAL IS SAID TO SERVE IN NICARAGUA

• Document Type: CREST
• Collection: General CIA Records
• Document Number (FOIA) /ESDN (CREST): CIA-RDP90-00552R000404650004-0
• Release Decision: RIPPUB
• Original Classification: K
• Document Page Count: 1
• Document Creation Date: December 22, 2016
• Document Release Date: June 24, 2010
• Sequence Number: 4
• Publication Date: June 19, 1983
• Content Type: OPEN SOURCE

Sanitized Copy Approved for Release 2010/06/24: CIA-RDP90-00552R000404650004-0
NEW YORK TIMES
ON FAG A 19 June 1983
revolutionary image and credibility,
Cuba's Top Combat General move decisively to prop up the Sandin-
ista regime.
Ocboa's Previous Roles
Is Said to Serve in Nicaragua The C.I.A. writers of the report con-
? tended that General Ochoa's assign.
By LESLIE H. GELB Reagan Orders a Review meat, based on his previous activities, 6pselalmTh.?Orr Yok mm.. .` / Although Nicaraguan and Cuban offi was "a major indicator" of possible
Cuban moves.
WASHINGTON, June 18--Cuba's.top cials have put the number of Cubans in According to the report, General
military combat commander has been Nicaragua at about 4,000, the C.I.A. re- Ochoa completed a special training
wmidng in Nicaragua for about - a port estimated that there were. 8,000 1 coursein the Soviet Union in 1976, then
month and has been "secretly assigned there, 2.000 of them military -advisers went directly to Angola. When he ar-
" there. according to an intelli- and technicians, 2,000 teachers and the rived, Cuban forces were said to total
to duty" fewer than 3,000, but when he left in
rest in construction brigades and teams
.geace rep?r t disclosed by a Reagan Ad- specializing in public health, agricul- ! April 1976, that figure had reached I
m;n io official. e andeivilaffairs.There wasnosug- 20,000. The report put the present Cuban
r -=The commander,was iidentMed as force there at 25,000. It defends the
. -eGe. Arnaldo Ochoa Sanchez, Mho as a Bgdon-that Cubans had. engaged in Marxist Government in Luanda against
r1gade?commanderwvassaid to have combat rival factions..
-bee instrtaaental in =egodating. or- about the report, other Adinin- Later in 1976, according to the report,
ga'' a and leading The: Cuban mill- 3stratiootdfictils said there was no evi- the general was one of Cuba's key nego-
Mary puildup in Angola in 3976 and in . cedrat Cuban-forces would be sent tiators in Moscow's agreement to sup-
:'Ethiopia in 1977. Be is now deputy to to.Nicaragua for:combat-duty, but they ply arms to Ethiopia for use against
said General,Dcboas Presence Might Somolia in border clashes. in Decem-
-Radl ore Castro, Minister. of the- Armed!; her 1977, the report said, General Ochoa
~:_ F
'larger Cuban military.
Forces. ! " visagea
was transferred to Ethiopia as head of
The report is based primarily on Cen-' .advisory role and perhaps an increase Cuban combat and support forces.
tral American. Military sources who, In the number of Cuban advisers there. These forces rose from 2,000 in April
two officials said, have been reliable in An -Adminstration official said that 1978 to the current level of 17,000, ac-
=their.accounts of Cuban activities in. the report was given to President Rea- I cording to the report.
Nicaragua. -- ? gin about two weeks ago in his daily in- ~ General Ochoa is said to be in his mid-
These sources, according to -the re- telligence briefing book prepared by the 40's and to have been in charge of com-
port, believe General Ochoa is organdy Central Intelligence Agency and that he bat readiness and military combat
tug -a -,large-scale Cuban move into immediately ordered a study to review training Cuba since 1981. He is said to
be a close friend of President Castro.
Nicaragua." One of the sources even poss'%.ble United States responses. Other Indications In Cuba
said he would be chief of all Nicaraguan .1tvras said that William P. Garde, the
lidforces. The C.F.A. report's writers also sa' ' :
Administration officials aclanowl- Tilesident's national --security adviser, there were indications in Cuba that it
felt the report Put a new `'dark cloud" might make further military moves in
;,edged that apart. from the Central overthe situation in Central America. Nicaragua. They said that in the last
There was nosuggestion by any of the few months Cuba had considerably in-
Administration rofficials who spoke creased its military abilities "for both
about the intelligence reportthat its die- I foreign deployments and defensive pm
closure was intended to justify any new ' ? paredness at home." Details on these
American military moves. The motive were not made available. The officials
for the disclosure was apparently to un-1 also spoke of the "record-setting rate
derline Cuba's growing n role in Nicara- and nature" of military deliveries to
gun and to warn Havana that Washing- Cuba by the Soviet Union over the last
ton knows what is going on. 30 months, shifting Havana's ? `military
The disclosure falls into a pattern of capabilities from a mere defensive to a
gent events pointing to greater mill- : now notably offensive footing."
Lary activity in Central America. Ad- The Administration official who pro-
ministration officials said recently Batt vided the substance of the report also
she number of American-backed anti- drewattention to the fact that Foreign
Sindinist guerrillas in Nicaragua had Minister Andrei A. Gromyko spoke on
abou by a third in the last two months to the Central American situation at
1 about 8,000 and that they could be ex- length in a speech several days ago to
pected to control large areas of Nicara- the Supreme Soviet. But he and Admin-
gua within six months. Honduran offi- istration specialists on Moscow said
cials indicated they would be asking for Mr. Groin
more American military aid if. fighting yko said Ong new on the
2M . in Nicaragua spilled over into their subject.
Gen. Arnaldo Ochoa Sanchez territory. More than '100 American Soviet officials have been 'extremely
Green Berets have been sent to Hon- careful to maintain that Nicaragua" is
American sources, they had no inde- duras to train Salvadoran forces. not a "socialist" nation by -Moscow's
Tendent confirmation that ' Gene cal Wayne S. Smith, formerly the State definition. This is deemed- to be impor-
Ocboa had in tact been "assigned to Department's top expert on Cuba and tant because Moscow generally avoids
duty" in Nicaragua. now with the Carnegie Endowment for any military commitment to countries
International Peace, said: "I would not I it does not consider "socialist."
An Administration official also said expect Cuban expeditionary forces in The prevailing view in the Adminis;
that the assignment did not mean Gen- Nicaragua. But given the external p.*?es- tration, apart from that of the writers' of
eral Ochoa was expected to be inNica- :ores on the Sandinista, I think it would the C.I.A. report, seems to be that nei-
o the neglect of his. be surprising if there were no response ther Moscow nor Havana is likely to
ragua full time 0-1e-
duties in Cuba and that it was assumed from the Cubans." risk any dramatic new move in Nicara-
that he traveled back and forth between The judgment of the C.I.A. analysts gca?
thetwo countries. who wrote the report was similar. They -
said President Fidel Castro had decided
he had to,- ".for the sake of his world
Sanitized Copy Approved for Release 2010/06/24: CIA-RDP90-00552R000404650004-0 _
STAT