SECRET OPERATIONS CAN GO AWRY, SAYS FORMER US AMBASSADOR

• Document Type: CREST
• Collection: General CIA Records
• Document Number (FOIA) /ESDN (CREST): CIA-RDP90-00552R000504830021-0
• Release Decision: RIPPUB
• Original Classification: K
• Document Page Count: 1
• Document Creation Date: December 22, 2016
• Document Release Date: August 27, 2010
• Sequence Number: 21
• Publication Date: December 3, 1982
• Content Type: OPEN SOURCE

Sanitized Copy Approved for Release 2010/08/27: CIA-RDP90-00552R000504830021-0
ARTICLE APPE.P. ED
O PACE_ l0
THE CHRISTIAN SCIENCE MONITOR
3 DECEMBER 1982
Secret -operations can go"awry,
says former US ambassador'
By a staff correspondent of The Christian Science Monitor
-Wa n .
A former-?US ambassador to Nicaragua warns that secret operations'against.
Nicaragua could getout, of control .and-,create.more.problems than benefits for the
United Sam.. _:J~'?: ,T7`sy..... ! Y!`.'^.. t ^.^ "~.' r-s J;.u a?I
Lawrence Pezzullo, who served in-Nicaragua from mid-1979 through?tbe sum-..
mer of 1981, says that while such operations.may start with the aim of simply.
"harassing or cutting off an arms supply.. the Nicaraguan counterrevolutionaries in'.
charge of .carrying them out may have larger.-purposes in mind,.such=as,ttie'
overthrow of a government.
Now a Washington consultant, the former ambassador says that once the US
places its main focus on the flow of arms from Cuba and Nicaragua to El Salvador..
it says, in effect, to the Salvadoran government and military men: "This is a
problem beyond your control." Mr. Pezzullo says be believes that Cuban involve-
ment in Central America's turmoil is undeniable but overstated by the Reagan
administration, and that this focus of concern removes the pressure on threatened
governments to carryout reforms.
In the struggle for Nicaragua, says Pezzullo, it-was not Cuban support for the
Sandinista revolutionaries which was decisive, but the sanctuary and supply base
of democratic Costa Rica which made the difference. Some Costa Ricans madea.
fortune from trafficking in arms, be adds.
In an interview, Pezzullo said that the US ought to foster centrist forces, encour-
age talks between Honduras and Nicaragua, and seek regional ways of dealing with, the traffic in arms and related problems. - .
"The US in its own interest has to learn how better to deal with radical change,"
says Pezzullo. "It's essential, because we're living in a world where governments,
especially in smaller countries with weak institutions. face radical change: .
. "These radical changes are going to usher in movements which rhetorically at
least are. going to be anti-American. We can throw up our hands and say this is a
creature of the Soviet Union, but that's not a policy. That's an emotional outcry.
"We're.going to have to realize there are ways in-which you can deal with It. No
particular pattern will work. But you're going to have to have a flexible,- very
pragmatic kind of policy.". -
Pezzullo says the US has,more-to offer asmal.l nation undergoing change .than
does the USSR._ To oppose such change, be says, 'reinforces the myth that the'US
Supports the status quo. no mat t r bow corrupt governing elites may be
But If it wants to, Pezzullo says, the US can assist any new regimes in ways that'. the Soviet Union cannot match. In the fields of agriculture, health, education, and
public administration, the US can provide resources and experienced professional
help.
"The Soviets," he says, "don'tdeliver."
"Whether changes occur in an Iran or a Nicaragua. zone of them .are going?to be
easy to cope with," says the former ambassador. "They're going to test the pa-
tience and pragmatism and ingenuity of everybody who deals with them.
"But'we eithendeal with change orzim for co veraevery. time we- e t dleave
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