NICARAGUA TO EXTEND COASTAL LIMIT

• Document Type: CREST
• Collection: General CIA Records
• Document Number (FOIA) /ESDN (CREST): CIA-RDP90-00806R000100380029-8
• Release Decision: RIPPUB
• Original Classification: K
• Document Page Count: 1
• Document Creation Date: December 22, 2016
• Document Release Date: September 9, 2010
• Sequence Number: 29
• Publication Date: October 24, 1983
• Content Type: OPEN SOURCE

STAT Sanitized Copy Approved for Release 2010/09/09: CIA-RDP90-00806R000100380029-8
on PAGE
WASHINGTON POS~
24 October 198
25-Mile Zone to Be Claimed
Nicaragua to Extend Coastal Limit
islature is
l le
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rely on its small Navy, made up mostly of small
patrol boats.
V
warships would have to ask permission 15
days in advance before coming within 25
miles of Nicaragua's coastline. Civilian craft
would have to seek permission a week in
advance.
While the United States technically only,
respects a three-mile coastal limit, it has in
practice kept ships more than 12 miles from:
Nicaragua's coasts, a U.S. Embassy spokes-,
man said.
The'United States or other countries with,
ships in the area might. object to the 25-mile;
zone. A flotilla of U.S. warships was dis-
patched to waters near Nicaragua's Carib
bean and Pacific coasts last summer in a:
show of force coinciding with U.S. military'
maneuvers in neighboring Honduras. .`
. The Nicaraguan plan, outlined in the pro-;
government newspaper Nuevo Diario, does
not explicitly threaten to attack ships or war-S
planes that infringe upon the 25-mile. limit.
Instead, it provides -for fines of up to $75,000 if
the vessel or plane resists authorities seeking to
expel it.
To enforce the zone, Nicaragua would have to
coastal facilities from the sea. The security
zone could lead to tensions between Nicara-
gua and the United States, which reportedly
still has warships in waters off the Honduran
coast. north of Nicaragua.
Under the naval and air security, zone
ruposed by the junta, foreign warplanes or
By Robert J. McCartney
wash-ngton Post Fbrelgn smite
MANAGUA, Nicaragua, Oct. 23-Nica-
ragua plans to declare a 25-mile security
zone off both its coasts and move thousands
of people away from vulnerable fuel storage
tanks in the nation's largest port in response
to recent attacks by anti-Sandinista counter-
revolutionary guerrillas, government officials
said today.
The steps reflect concern over the U.S.-
hacked rebels' success at staging raids on
g
pa
The Council of State, or natao
scheduled to begin considering the plan Wednes-
day. It is dominated by the Sandinistas and ap-
proval is considered routine. also began this
The Sandinista government
weekend to promote a peace proposal it had
presented in Washington Thursday aimed at ne-
gotiating a halt in guerrilla attacks. Daniel Ortega,
coordinator of the Wiling revolutionary junta,
sounded conciliatory when asked to comment on a
US. statement calling the Nicaraguan proposals
"deficient:"
We hope that they really will study them and
plan political solutions," Ortega said yesterday.
The progovernment media had given relatively
little attention to the peace proposals Thursday
and Friday, but the official newspaper of the rul-
ing Sandinista front today ran a long editorial
--stressing Nicaragua's willingness to negotiate.
In another development, Ortega announced that
-repairs were almost complete on an underwater pipe-
line that was sabotaged Oct. 14 at a key oil-receiving
terminal. He said that negotiations are underway to
rent a tanker to deliver oil after Exxon Corp. 10 days
ago stopped providing tankers to cam, oil to Nica-
ragua because of safety considerations.
One diplomatic source said a tanker has already
been leased and is expected to arrive in early No-
vember. Tankers docking at the port of Puerto
Sandino provide more than three-quarters of the
nation's petroleum needs, and the government
called on citizens to expect tighter fuel rations
after Exxon canceled its shipments. The U.S. cor-
poration acted after guerrillas of the CIA-funded
Nicaraguan Democratic Force threatened to at-
tack any tankers supplying Nicaragua.
The government also is planning to evacuate
about 3,000 people from their homes around fuel
tanks in the Pacific port of Corinto before Nov.
10, officials said. They would live in new homes
being constructed less than 10 miles away in the
town of El Realejo.
The entire city of Corinto, with a population of
close to 25,000; was evacuated Oct. 10 when guer-
rillas in a motor boat. fired on ;the fuel tanks and
started a huge fire that took -a -day and a half to
poNrnvVED
Sanitized Copy Approved for Release 2010/09/09: CIA-RDP90-00806R000100380029-8