LOOK TO LEFT WRONG IN EL SALVADOR

• Document Type: CREST
• Collection: General CIA Records
• Document Number (FOIA) /ESDN (CREST): CIA-RDP90-00965R000100160127-7
• Release Decision: RIPPUB
• Original Classification: K
• Document Page Count: 1
• Document Creation Date: December 22, 2016
• Document Release Date: January 3, 2012
• Sequence Number: 127
• Publication Date: February 13, 1981
• Content Type: OPEN SOURCE

Si Declassified in Part - Sanitized Copy Approved for Release 2012/01/03: CIA-RDP90-00965R000100160127-7
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Loop to deft Wrong iii F1 Salvador
THE WASHINGTON POST
13 February 1981
JACK ANDERSON
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behind leftist forces in-,the, ravaged lit- va oran ,_revo ution was recen y cap re
a fl e s , " - t h e document states: As many a s 300 g u e r r i l l a s at a
a mass of intelligence reports that cialist Party, given their apparent sup- hand grenades, still in original crates,
pointed to the Kremlin as the power
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Jimmy Carter's lame-duck. decision ; In, West Germany, the intelligence direct Complicity; some Russian-made'
to resume military aid to the junta in team "would, of course, hope to make arms are also getting into El Salvador..
El Salvador was apparently based on presentation to leadership of the So-For example,.. a shipment of Soviet`
,
administration's fear of a' communist the Defense Intelligence Agency. What in El Salvador is more devious than a
victory in; El Salvador may blind it to would they have to tell the skeptical straight-out victory for leftist rebels,
what they see as an even likelier pos- foreign leaders? Here is some top- What they hope " to do is " create-
sibility: that the centrist junta may be secret . information` that our intelli_ enough turmoil in Central America "td
overthrown by rightist elements who divert U.S. attention from the Russ--
want. gence experts have"' been gathering ,
- a :return . to the old- military- . since last summer. Much of it, sources 'fans activities in Afghanistan and
landowner oligarchy. elsewhere - and maybe sucker us in
told my associate Lucette Lagnado,
Allies like Mexico and West Ger- documents to another Vietnam
many, meanwhile, tend to be less fear- comes from a cache of d tared from Salvadoran comma- The Kremlin. "would like nothiing'
ful of the Salvadoran leftists than of cop better" than to see the United States"
what they regard as a return to the nists. get deeply involved in the Salvadoran.
days of U.S. imperialism in Central ? With the. Kremlin's approval, the conflict, a diplomatic source said.
America. Cubans are in charge of smuggling
In the hope. of persuading European arms to the guerrillas from Eastern
leaders that .S. fears of a leftist vic- Europe and Vietnam. - ~ '
tory in El Salvador are not just anti- ? The leftist rebels have received
communist hysteria, the State Depart- several tons of arms from the ' Soviet
ment is considering the idea of send- bloc, including 57 mm rifles and other i
the CIA and Our experts believe the Soviets' aim
and intelligence analysts, is that the the State, Department
What worries professional diplomats roadshow would be representatives of Syria and Iraq.
rom e a an -
ar
emocra
Soviet line,` will undoubtedly continue : select European countries.", zation is also providing training to..
aid to the junta. ' ` " ' u, 1' . Participating , in the 'intelligence Salvadoran . rebels at PLO bases m
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y e agen un the intelligence would be made "avail- :. in Cuba
.. tion, which needs no encouragement ? liberation
d` ti ' able to NATO members and other The Palestine Lib ~an!-
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brnef western leaders. As the teams . Many of the communist weapons
mission is described in a secret docu-
ment, it would be to "show them evi- smuggled to the Salvadoran guerrillas
dence in our possession [to] clarify come from the stocks Americans left
and , support our' statements and ac- behind in Vietnam.
tions via-a-vis El Salvador.' _ < ? Despite Soviet attempts to avoid
ing a team of intelligence experts to antitank weapons.
Declassified in Part - Sanitized Copy Approved for Release 2012/01/03: CIA-RDP90-00965R000100160127-7