DEPARTMENT OF STATE DAILY PRESS BRIEFING

• Document Type: CREST
• Collection: General CIA Records
• Document Number (FOIA) /ESDN (CREST): CIA-RDP90-00552R000606260019-3
• Release Decision: RIPPUB
• Original Classification: K
• Document Page Count: 9
• Document Creation Date: December 22, 2016
• Document Release Date: August 27, 2010
• Sequence Number: 19
• Publication Date: March 16, 1982
• Content Type: OPEN SOURCE

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DEPARTMENT OF STATE
DAILY PRESS BRIEFING
TUESDAY, MARCH 16, 1982
INDEX
Subject Page
NICARAGUA
"State of emergency". ................................2
Future presentation of evidence of involvement in
El Salvador ....... ..................... ..... .......2,10
Allegations of American involvement in destruction
of bridges .........................................3,4
Enforcement of the Neutrality Act ....................3,12
Fagoth visit to U.S........ ......................4
L-- Tardencilla's appearance 3/12/82..... ........... o ... o5-10
Two pa.lots...........................................11
GUATEMALA
Elections: allegations of fraud ...................... 13
Outside interference .................................15
EL SALVADOR
Elections ............................................15
REFUGEES
S/R/Douglas before HFAC on the world refugee
situation ..........................................1
RP/Vine before HFAC on overview of refugee situation.1
AFGHANISTAN
D/Stoessel before HFAC on Afghanistan Day............ 1
KOREA
EA/Albrecht before House Agriculture Committee on
Korean rice purchases ..............................1
ARMS CONTROL
Background briefing 3/16/82 on Brezhnev proposal on
missile reductions .................................1
SOUTH AFRICA
Incursion into Angola ................................2-3
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Q Dean, now that a legal issues has been
raised, can you explain in any detail at all the legal
basis for Tardencillas' appearance or flight up here, his
stay here, his transfer to Nicaraguan authorities, to what
extent he was advised of his rights by counsel, or any
legal basis for this entire procedure of any kind?
A I am not sure how responsive I can be to
your specific questions about the legal background. I can
give you a chronology, if you will, of how he came here
and the basis upon which he returned. If you want to
hear that, I shall be glad to spell it out for you.
Q You just said we don't address allegations
of that sort. You have addressed them all the time. Look
at some of your statements about charges of U.S. inter-
ference or espionage or covert activities in Poland or
Afghanistan, or quite a few places.
Is this a new policy?
A This is a different sort. (Laughter.) 4
Q Dean, are you going to address -- I didn't
get a sense of the--
A John injected a new question, and I said I
would be glad to give you what I have on the background
and chronology on the subject of your question.
Q Were you going to do that? I mean, I would
be happy to hear it.
A If that is the consensus of the house, I
shall be delighted to, yes.
Orlando Tardencillas Espinosa, as you know, is
a 19-year old Nicaraguan who was captured in January 1981
in El Salvador. At the time of his capture, Tardencillas
declared in a TV interview that Sandinista support for
the Salvadoran guerrillas is "direct and total."
Tardencillas added that Sandinista support
for the FMLN started in November of 1979, that he and 40
"comrades" had been chosen by the Sandinista National
Liberation Front to join the Salvadoran guerrillas. He
added that he had been trained as a demolition expert in
Ethiopia.
Tardencillas had never strayed from that story
in his conversation with Salvadoran or U.S. officials.
Details of his story, which were carefully checked, were
consistent with other reports we had of Nicaraguan involve-
ment in the Salvadoran insurgency.
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In early March of 1982, the U.S. Government
asked the Salvadoran Government for permission to 'bring
Tardencillas to the U.S. The Government of El Salvador
agreed, and Tardencillas was granted a non-immigrant
visa by the U.S. Embassy to travel to the United States.
Tardencillas repeated his earlier story to U.S.
officials, and the decision was made to invite journalists
to hear his story.
As you know, Tardencillas recanted his story
in the presence of a number of journalists. The fact
remains, however, that in front of those journalists,
as in 1981, he stated that he is a Nicaraguan guerrilla
who not only fought but actively led insurgent forces,
combat forces, in El Salvador.
On the evening of March 12, the Department re-
ceived a diplomatic note from the Nicaraguan Embassy asking
that Tardencillas be turned over to the Nicaraguan
Ambassador.
Tardencillas said he wished to meet with the
Nicaraguan Ambassador and to return to Nicaragua. Since
Tardencillas had not violated any immigration law by his
presence here, the State Department decided to grant his
wish and to allow him to return to Nicaragua.
Accordingly, a meeting was arranged early
March 13 with the Nicaraguan Ambassador, as well as his
representatives, after which Tardencillas left with
Nicaraguan Ambassador Francisco Fiallos. He has now
returned to Nicaragua.
0 Why didn't he go back to El Salvador?
Nicaragua.
A Because he expressed a wish to go to
0 But what were the ground rules on the deal
worked out with El Salvador about letting him come up
here? You asked permission. Did that permission at that
time say that after he does whatever he does, he is free
to visit Disneyland, or what?
A I don't know the details. All I know is that
when he expressed a wish to return to Nicaragua, it was
granted.
Q Did we check that out with the Salvadoran
Government?
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Q That is, when he expressed a wish to return,
did the Salvadorans say, "That's fine, he can go back"?
Q Dean, he said that he was held in custody
from his arrival in the United States on Tuesday up until
the time of his release. Since, as you say, he broke no
law of the United States -- and I am not just asking this
frivolously, I have had several lawyers who called and asked
this -- can you cite what the legal authority was?
Q Can you get something on it?
A I believe we said last Friday that he was
in the hands of the U.S. Government. Now, beyond telling
you that, I do not know how to describe it legally.
Q But you can't be in the hands of the U.S.
Government without being charged with something.
A If you want further information on it,
I will have to look into it. That is all the information I
have at this point.
Q Last Friday, you said that he had been
paroled to the U. S. Government. That connotes a legal
understanding that he still had some ties to El Salvador.
Was that the word you intended to use?
A That was the word I used on Friday.
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Q My question -- well, maybe you can straighten
this out. Was he ever permitted to see counsel while he was
in the United States?
Q I wonder if you could take that question, and
specifically with respect to any future witnesses you may wish
to present to us. I'm very concerned about whether these
people --
A You're concerned about their human rights?
Q -- are being afforded Constitutional, legal
guarantees that the United States has traditionally upheld.
Q It's not a frivolous question. I'm not trying
to score a point.
A I'm not smiling.
Q This is another question, Dean: He had volun-
tarily come here, and I think the Secretary or a senior offi-
cial or both had said that the Salvadorans had set him free.
Had they released him from prison when he came here? What was
the legal basis?
A As I say, I have no further information
relating to the legalities.
0 The President intimated that maybe you had been
set up. Have you anything to illuminate on that; that this
guy was sent up here just to embarrass this government?
The President addressed that the other night.
A I don't think I have anything to add on that
particular point. Yesterday, the Secretary addressed the
question of the young man's credibility, and I really don't
think it necessary for me to go beyond that.
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Q Let me ask another: At the time that he was
seized in El Salvador, he was either 17 or 18. That was
January 1981. In your view -- and we appreciate the chrono-
logy -- have you thought about a world superpower basing its
policy on some teenager's account given in a wartime
situation? In retrospect, do you think this was a smart move
by the United States of America? (Laughter)
A No.
Q But you were part of it?
A Well, I would still say no.
Q Was this primarily, as far as you know, a State
Department-CIA operation?
A I'm not going to get involved in who was
Q Let me follow that up. Was anybody in the
White House, at any senior level, aware of the decision to
bring this man to Washington?
Q Are you aware of a policy directive that has
been issued by the White House that there be no repeat of this
incident without full approval of the President?
Q Can you take a question as to whether,
perhaps, you could make that directive public?
A I doubt that we would if there is any such
directive, so no, I won't take the question.
0 Dean, to check back on that chronology, please,
on what date did you ask the permission of the Government of
El Salvador to bring this young man to the United States?
A On what date?
Q On what date in March?
A I thought I said early in March. I don't have
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Ili
Q Can you give us the date as to when the United
States received custody of him in El Salvador before it brought
him to the United States?
A No, I cannot.
Q Can you give us an idea of what preparation --
coaching, if you will, whatever -- he underwent with U.S. offi-
cials prior to making the statement he did?
A Not beyond what I said, no.
Q Could we get a copy of that?
A Yes.
Q Could we call a filing break for those who may
want to attend the luncheon today?
A Yes, filing break, sure.
Q I just wondered why it took 14 months for the
decision to be reached to bring the young man here?
A I'm not aware we knew he was in prison during
that period.
Q When did you learn about him?
A I don't know.
0 Can you find that out?
A My understanding is, it was quite recently.
Q On a related matter, can you comment on a report
that the State Department has informed its embassies overseas
sometime over the weekend that not much progress was made in
the talks between Secretary Haig and the Foreign Minister of
Mexico?
A I never comment on internal communications.
Q You're not knocking it down, though?
A I'm just not commenting.
Q Can I just clarify? Should we still expect that
at some point in the not-too-distant future the State
Department will be releasing some information, some evidence
which might suggest that the Nicaraguans command, control, and
supply El Salvador's rebels? Or should we no longer expect
that?
A We have consistently said that we intend to
make as much information public and available to you as we
possibly can, provided it does not compromise sensitive sour-
ces. We will continue to do that.
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Q And at this point, would I be right in assuming
that what is holding that up is that the Congressmen who need
to hear about this first have been too busy?
A No, no. These briefings of Congressmen, I
understand, are continuing. I wouldn't even accept your term
"being held up," and certainly it would not be attributed to
that.
Q But officials were talking about a briefing last
Friday at one point.
A Oh, I understand. There have been a number of
proposals under consideration; and we will do as I said we
would as soon as possible.
Q You think this week?
possible.
A I can't put a date on it, but as soon as
Q Are two Nicaraguan pilots who defected to
Honduras, are they here in Washington now or in the States
somewhere?
A I don't have any comment on that.
Q Are you ready to go off Nicaragua?
A I don't know.
Q One more Nicaraguan question. Has it always
been the State Department's position that as far as it knew
officially, there were no anti-Nicaraguan terrorists, from the
Nicaraguan point of view, guerrillas training on U.S. soil? I
think that has been the official position, that they didn't
know of any.
And yet, when Haig went through his proposals
yesterday with us in New York to Nicaragua, he said that the
United States would make a political commitment to curb the
activities in this country of exiles who oppose Nicaragua's
Sandinista government? Wasn't that an admission that in fact
these guys in Miami are operating, and the U.S. is turning a
blind eye to activities which it condemns when other countries
do it?
A I understand your question. It has arisen in
the past, and I, again, don't want to rely on my memory to try
to respond to it. It is a question again of the legal status,
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and whether or not laws have been violated. I think we have
consistently said that no laws have been found to be violated;
but we have guidance on that in the Press Office, and I would
refer you to it.
2 The Times ran a transcript of what Haig said on
that particular point. He said, "A United States political
commitment on the activities of Nicaraguan exiles in this
country -- that involves, of course, the application of the
long-standing United States Neutrality Act," and he went on to
the next point.
Thank you.
0 Does that mean that application of this
longstanding Neutrality Act depends on something which is hap-
pening between Nicaragua and the United States.
A Lars asked me this question earlier. I said I
would have to take the question. I do not know the answer.
0 I thought you didn't know what he said.
A I didn't know what Lars said?
0 No. Haig.
A I said I didn't have before me what the
Secretary said, that's correct.
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