EDITING BY ENDERS CITED AS 'LAST STRAW'

• Document Type: CREST
• Collection: General CIA Records
• Document Number (FOIA) /ESDN (CREST): CIA-RDP90-00965R000201090044-5
• Release Decision: RIPPUB
• Original Classification: K
• Document Page Count: 2
• Document Creation Date: December 22, 2016
• Document Release Date: February 9, 2012
• Sequence Number: 44
• Publication Date: June 10, 1983
• Content Type: OPEN SOURCE

Declassified in Part - Sanitized Copy Approved for Release 2012/02/09: CIA-RDP90-00965R000201090044-5
nTl^! FA IEAFED
THE MIAMI HERALD
10 June 1983
Editing by Enders
cited as `last `straw'
By AL'FONSO CHARDY.'
WASHINGTON = A few days before.being ousted
as ..the State Department's senior specialist on ..Latin
America, Thomas Enders.:ordered' a softening in the
tone of aaeport on-left-wing -insurgencies .in-Central
America, -according to-U3.' military,and intelligence
sourcesr-:.
.The original paper, baire1t.Was presen~+ed,.tb the
pressawith State Department-modtfications,dhad-been
prepacid )y the GakiW. ligenceAgenc*.and the
.Pentagon..
.Although the changes vere`nwsubstantial and did
they notAger-the essence t ,h~ ~ y $
they d Penta-
?dd~ng e
gon officials who helped.. prepare
the report.
The episode has been cited as
"the last straw" in Enders' abrupt
replacement May 27, the same day
that the report - entitled "Back-
ground Paper: Central America" -
was issued at a . press briefing by
State and Defense Department offi-
cials.
Reporters who attended the ses-
sion sensed something was amiss
when Enders, who usually conduct-
ed briefings related to Central
America, did not appear. Journalists
were told :chat -a--shift in schedules
had prevented him from attending.
A few hours later, Secretary of
State George Shultz - traveling
with President Reagan 'aboard Air
Force One from Washington to the
Williamsburg economic summit -
announced that Enders was being
replaced as assistant secretary of ,
state for inter-American affairs.
The sources, familiar with the
original material drafted at CIA
headquarters in Langley, Va., and at
the Pentagon's defense intelligence
unit, say the changes ordered by
Enders resulted in the removal of
the equivalent of at least three
pages in the report.
The sources said Enders also
had at least three sections in the
document dealing with Cuba, Nica-
ragua and Guatemala partially edit-
ed to reflect more neutral language.
A comparison of some of the
original material made available to
The Herald with that contained in
the public report indicates only sub-
tle differences in the two docu-
ments.
In the Guatemala segment, for
example, the change Involved two
lines and 10 words in the opening
paragraph.
The original document said:
"In Guatemala, although there
..was increased guerrilla activity in
the months preceding the elections,
this violence failed to disrupt the
national elections of March 7, 1982.
A widespread,- but unconfirmed,
perception ,'of . extensive electoral
fraud -by, the government led to a
junior officer coup on March 23,
1982."
'The final document, with the
change noted (italics added by The
Herald), read:
"In Guatemala, although there
was increased guerrilla activity in
the months preceding the elections.
this violence failed to disrupt the
national elections of March 7, 1982.
A widespread, but unconfirmed,
perception of extensive electoral
fraud by the government together
with pervasive and excessive gov-
ernment corruption and interna-
tional isolation led to a junior offi-
cer coup on March 23, 1982."
The sources said the change was
designed to "placate" congressional
critics who believe that the human
rights situation in Guatemala is
grim. They said that in some in-
stances the word "terrorist" was
replaced with "guerrilla" or "insur-
gent."
Officially, the State Department
had no comment on the complaints,
but a State _Department source ac-
knowledged that changes were
made.
This source, ,intimately familiar
with bow policy documents are
drafted, defended Enders' role -in
the matter, saying changes -were
-logical because the document was
going. to =be` issued jointly by' the
State Department and Pentagon.
Therefore, the source said, the
State Department felt that its ideas
also should be- reflected in the
paper, not only those of the Penta-
gon and the CIA.
The source also denied that the
changes were made to cast military
regimes in an unfavorable light or
to improve the image of the guerril-
Ias.
COAT:
Declassified in Part - Sanitized Copy Approved for Release 2012/02/09: CIA-RDP90-00965R000201090044-5
 Declassified in Part - Sanitized Copy Approved for Release 2012/02/09: CIA-RDP90-00965R000201090044-5
The source said other changes
were made to strike a balance.
For example, in the segment on
El Salvador, the original draft said
that Nicaragua remained the prima-
ry source of weapons and ammuni-
tion for the Salvadoran insurgents.
The final document said, however,
that the guerrillas "do capture some
weapons and ammunition from the
Salvadoran military."
Another department source said
that at one point Enders referred to
the original draft as nothing more i
than "warmed-up leftovers" from
previous White Papers on Central
America released over the past two
years. j
s~ n effect,Vl'thiS source said, it
-was generally felt -that the -eport
did not really contribute ?anyfing'
new ,to the debate on Central *sner-
ica and that perhaps it was not nec-
essary after all." . ,. _
This is disputed by supporters of
the document.They .point ;to the
Salvador section: 1vhicb-linked, for
the first time, :Cuban -aid-and train-
ing to a Salvadoran commando
team responsible for the spectacular
raid on a Salvadoran airbase on Jan.
27, 1982, in which a dozen combat
aircraft were destroyed or -dam-
aged.
As released, the background pa-
per's main theme was to charge
that the Soviet Union, through
Cuba and Nicaragua, -sought to
"consolidate control of the Sandi-
nista Directorate in Nicaragua and
to overthrow the governments of EI
Salvador and Guatemala.'.'Stalso
maintained - that Honduras. - .and
Costa.Rica"`nave been;targeted." {
Declassified in Part - Sanitized Copy Approved for Release 2012/02/09: CIA-RDP90-00965R000201090044-5