NICARAGUA REBS GET MORE CIA AID

• Document Type: CREST
• Collection: General CIA Records
• Document Number (FOIA) /ESDN (CREST): CIA-RDP90-00552R000504880064-8
• Release Decision: RIPPUB
• Original Classification: K
• Document Page Count: 1
• Document Creation Date: December 22, 2016
• Document Release Date: September 15, 2010
• Sequence Number: 64
• Publication Date: April 3, 1984
• Content Type: OPEN SOURCE

Sanitized Copy Approved for Release 2010/09/15: CIA-RDP90-00552R000504880064-8
ARTICLE APPEARED
ON PAGE NEW YORK DAILY NEWS
3 April 1984
Nicaragua: rebs
gel more CIA --and
Washington (News. Bureau)-The CIA is .expanding its support for the covert .
war against the- Marxist Sandinista government`-in Nicaragua, Ii :S: ' officials
disclosed yesterday:. Alliance, -which U.S. officials say has
The CIA has told Congress that the.
d
armed forces of the rebels, called"con-
tras," had increased from a--few -hun-
dred -.men - in -1982 to 9.000 in early
1983-and are currently up to 15,000.
One official,-during a discussion of the
administration's request -for an- addi-
tional $21 million to fund the covert
war. predicted a further increase in the
guerrilla force.
Since 1982. the .United States has
sent a reported $62 million in military
aid to the rebels. Originally, the admin.
istration said the aid was for efforts to
block arms shipments from Nicaragua
to rebels fighting the U.S.-backed gov-
ernment in El Salvador.
In the last three months, the CIA
has funneled its support to Eden Pas-
tora, known as "Commander Zero," a
one-time Sandinista war hero who ac-
cused the Managua government- of
betraying Uie revolution, the o tcia
sa td,. - ,
Pastora's Democratic Revolutionary
pjc e
up the most recruits lately, is
. responsib a for
t e
a qu-as Nicar
aci is cean port of ?Corinto
and of El Bluff on the Caribbean. -
Aluch of the sop isticated a uip-
ment,.inc u ing mines an powerboats
used t.o_ block oil and weapons ship-
ments into the port, is believed to come
from the-CIA.
Some officials in the-administration
and on Capitol Hill believe Pastors has
a better chance of winning the popular
keep- their. promise to. restore demo-
cratic rule and have elections" in
Nicaragua.
support in- Nicaragua than the' other-.
rebel army, the Nicaraguan Democrat-'
is Force, which is-led by a number of
Anastasio Somoza's former national
guardsmen,
The Reagan administration is be-
coming increasingly public in its sup-
port for the Nicaraguan rebels,
although it has refused to acknowledge
any U.S. role in the guerrilla war.
President Reagan in an interview
last week said he saw "no dichotomy in
our supporting the- government, the-
democratic government of El Salvador
and the contras here-and we made it
very plain to Nicaragua-made it very ,
plain that this would stop when .they
Sanitized Copy Approved for Release 2010/09/15: CIA-RDP90-00552R000504880064-8