CIA PLANNING TO BACK MORE NICARAGUA REBELS

• Document Type: CREST
• Collection: General CIA Records
• Document Number (FOIA) /ESDN (CREST): CIA-RDP90-00552R000504880083-7
• Release Decision: RIPPUB
• Original Classification: K
• Document Page Count: 1
• Document Creation Date: December 22, 2016
• Document Release Date: September 15, 2010
• Sequence Number: 83
• Publication Date: July 14, 1983
• Content Type: OPEN SOURCE

Sanitized Copy Approved for Release 2010/09/15: CIA-RDP90-00552R000504880083-7
PlannIng
TOTiuath
Nicaragua Rebels
B
D
Ob
d
y
on
er
orfer
Washington Post Staff Writer
The CIA is planning to support a
rapidly 'growing "secret army" of
12.000 to 15.000 anti-government
rebels in Nicaragua, roughly double
the number backed by the United
States two months ago, :.official
sources said yesterday.
The sharp increase in planned
U.S. support comes as the House of
Representatives moves toward a leg-
islative showdown, probably next
week, on continuing undercover ac-
tivity in Nicaragua.
The House intelligence and For-
eign Affairs committees have ap-
proved a bill sponsored by their
chairmen, Edward P. Boland (D-
Mass.) and Clement J. Zablocki (D-
Wis.), respectively. It would termi-
nate secret U.S. aid to the insurgents
and authorize an open $80 million
program to stop leftist gun-running
in Central America.
A secret House session to discuss
the proposed cutoff, opposed by the
Reagan administration and most
House Republicans, is scheduled
Tuesday with an open vote to follow.
House Democrats have scheduled a
closed caucus today to discuss this
and other politically sensitive issues
regarding Central America.
The mushrooming growth of the
U.S.-supported insurgency against
Nicaragua's leftist Sandinista gov-
ernment has generated much of the
controversy and, in some quarters,
consternation on Capitol Hill.
In early May, the CIA told con-
gressional oversight committees that
the U.S.-supported rebel forces had
swelled to 7,000 men. By early June,
the official estimate had climbed to
8,000, and last week the State. De-
partment officially estimated . the
force at 8,000 to 10,000.
In recent days, according to, the
sources, the CIA has drawn up a
plan to support a force of 12.000 to
15,000 with money and materiel and
is seeking presidential authorization
for such expanded activity. A CIA
spokesman declined to comment on
the matter yesterday.
A U.S.-supported force of 12.000
anti-leftist guerrillas in Nicaragua:
would be at least twice the reported.
size of the leftist guerrilla force op
posing the government of El Sal-:
vador. The State Department esti-:
mates that 4,000 to 6,000 leftist reb-'
els, aided by Cuba and Nicaragua,:
are operating in El Salvador against
the U.S.-supported government.
During most of the early buildup,
the principal U.S. justification for
supporting anti-Nicaraguan insur-
gency was that it could reduce or
end Nicaraguan military assistance
to Salvadoran guerrillas. However,
this justification has been receding
as the U.S.-supported "secret army"
has grown larger than the Salvador-
an insurgency.
According to- one account, a new
presidential "finding," or secret in-
telligence authorization, being pre-
pared by the CIA no longer lists in-
terdiction of arms as one purpose of
the undercover war in Nicaragua.
Instead, this account said, the
stated purpose is to force changes in
Nicaraguan government policies, in-
cluding those of aiding leftist guer-
rilla forces elsewhere in Central
America.
Last December Congress passed
an unusual law, known as the
Boland amendment, banning U.S.
aid to paramilitary forces "for the
- purpose of overthrowing the govern.
ment of Nicaragua or provoking a
military exchange between Nicara.
gua and Honduras."
The administration has denied its
purpose is to overthrow the Ni-
caraguan government, although lead-
ers of rebel forces supported by the
United States there have said they
are trying to topple the government.
That has prompted some members
of Congress to charge the Boland
amendment is being violated.
In initiating the secret effort in
December, 1981, the CIA told con-
gressional committees it was build-
ing a highly trained commando force
of 500 Latins to attack the Cuban
support structure in Nicaragua.
Some . lawmakers immediately ex-
pressed concern, and it was revealed
later that Boland addressed a con-
fidential letter to CIA Director Wil-
liam J. Casey about Hill disquiet.
According to official estimates,
most of the U.S.-backed Nicaraguan
guerrillas are in a group near the
Honduran border. They are com-
posed of separate groups of Miskito
Indians and exile-led insurgents
known as the Nicaraguan Democrat-
ic Force. About 1,200 guerrillas are
reported near the Costa Rican bor-
der and commanded by Nicaraguan
'exile leader Eden Pastora. Despite
reports to the contrary, Pastora is
fighting against Nicaraguan forces
.and receiving U.S. support, the -
sources said.
Sanitized Copy Approved for Release 2010/09/15: CIA-RDP90-00552R000504880083-7