SANDINISTAS SAID TO SURROUND VISITING INDIANS

• Document Type: CREST
• Collection: General CIA Records
• Document Number (FOIA) /ESDN (CREST): CIA-RDP90-00965R000201110002-8
• Release Decision: RIPPUB
• Original Classification: K
• Document Page Count: 1
• Document Creation Date: December 22, 2016
• Document Release Date: January 20, 2012
• Sequence Number: 2
• Publication Date: January 25, 1986
• Content Type: OPEN SOURCE

ST"T
Declassified in Part - Sanitized Copy Approved for Release 2012/01/20: CIA-RDP90-00965R000201110002-8
Sandinistas Said to Surround Visiting Indians
ARTICLE ApP tip NEW YORK TIMES
ON PAGE 25 January 1986
SHIRLEY CHRISTIAN
Special to no Drew York Timm
WASHINGTON, Jan. 24 - A Miskito
Indian spokesman said today a
United States and Canada, on a secret
trip inside Nicaragua with a Mis to
leader, BE22]Up Rivera,
circled by care an __??
e Mikito spokesman, Armsttang
Wiggins, said the purpose of the trip
was to familiarize the foreign Indian
leaders with conditions in the Miskito
area and the attitudes of the people.
A Nicaraguan Official in Washington
said he had no information from his
Government about the presence of Mr.
Rivera's group but added that if it had
entered the country illegally and was
traveling with armed men, it would
,have to suffer the consequences. "
Although the Miskito spokesman said
the delegation had not gone into Nica-
ragua to engage in combat, the Nicara-
guan official, Mantel Cordaro, deputy
chief of the Nicaraguan Embassy,
pointed out that one of the American
Indians on the trip, Russell Means, had
declared in Costa Rica on Nov. 10 that
he hoped to recruit 9e to 100 "warriors
from North America" to fight the San-
dinistas.
Called Edueatlemal Trip
Steven Tullberg, the staff attorney
for the Indian Law Resource Center,
said of the trip: "It was part of an
educational process. They wanted to go
see for themselves what was going on
in the villages."
Mr. Wiggins, an associate of the In-
dian Law Resource Center here, said
the Sandinistas conducted bombing
raids Wednesday around the village of
Layasiksa in the Atlantic coast area
where Mr. Rivera and his party were
traveling. He said two civilians had
died of wounds in the bombing.
Mr. Wiggins said Mr. Rivera, leader
of the Miskito organization known as
Misurasata, was accompanied by Mr.
Means and Hank Adams, another
American
Indian activist; Clem
president of the
Chartier of Canada,
World Council of Indigenous Peoples,
and several other people.
"They are safe, but they can be in
danger at any moment," Mr. Wiggins
the
could be wiped out
said. "They
-
Sandinistas would try to t
the blame
on the C. IA . or ne contras. ere are
no contras or C.I.A . in the, arse. [lest
to make that clear to the world. This is
Indian ternntory.
Contras is the term widely used for
combatants of the United States-
backed Nicaraguan Democratic Force,
the largest anti-Government guerrilla
force.
Originally Support Sattdieistas
The Miskito Indians supported the
Sandinista Government after it cams
to power in 1979, but within a year
sharp differences began to develop
over Miskito desires for more au-
tonoesy. and the Sandinista military
buildup in the Mis$to region, which
covers the eastern, two-thirds of Nica-
ragua. In 1981, many Miskitoo began to
flee to Honduras and Costa Rica and
actively oppose the Sandinistas.
The Government responded by de-
stroying many Miskito village and
moving large numbers of those who re-
mained inNicarasueinto reaattlanaot
camps. Last year, some of those who
were resettled were allowed to return
to their traditional homelands.
Mr. Tullberg said today that he and
Mr. Wiggins had begun contacting
"friendly governments" to ask them to
press the Nicaraguan Government to
pull its troops back from the encircle-
ment of the Indian group.
Mr. Wiggins said the Governments
included those in the Netherlands,
Sweden, France, Canada, Mexico and
Colombia, all of which have been spon-
sors of an effort to achieve a negotiated
settlement between Mr. Rivera's In-
dian group and the Sandinista Govern-
ment. Another Miskito group cooper-
ates with the Democratic Force.
The talks, which were distinct from
the so-called Contadora peace negotia-
tions for an overall Central American
settlement, broke down last May. But
Mr. Wiggins said that an unofficial
truce, which began before the talks cold
lapsed, had remained in effect in the
Miskito region and that there had been
very little combat until this week.
Called Violation of Promises
"This is a violation of the Sandinista
promises to give rights to the Indians."
Mr. Wiggins said. "It will threaten
whatever peace is possible. It will kill
the negotiations."
Fighters Joined Trip
He said that the Indian leaders had
attracted a following of armed Misura-
sata fighters as they traveled but that
they were there to protect the delega-
tion, adding, "Misurasata doesn't want
to precipitate combat."
Mr. Wiggins said that in the bombing
raid Wednesday the Sandinistas had
used a "Push-Pull" aircraft left from
the days of the Somoza dictatorship
and a singlene warplane. He said '
people from the villages of Layasiksa
and Haulover fled into the surrounding '
forest when the attack occurred and
were still hiding there. He identified
the dead as Florentin Conrado and
Julio Semple.
Mr. Means, a leader of the American
Indian group that took over the
Wounded Knee reservation in South
Dakota in 1973, later served one year of
a four-year prison sentence for his role
in a clash between Indians and the po-
lice at the court house in Sioux Falls,
S.D., in 1974. He lives in Rapid City,
S.D.
Mr. Adams, who was a leader of the
four-day occupation of the Bureau of
Indian Affairs building in Washington
by Indians in November 1972, is na-
tional director of the Survival of Amer-
ican Indians Association in Olympia,
Wash. Mr. Chartier's group has its
headquarters in Ottawa.
He said Mr. Rivera's group clandes-
tinely crossed into the Miskito region of
days ago and had been moving quietly
toward Honduras, talking to people in
villages along the way.
Mr. Wiggins, who said Miskito repre-
sentatives in Costa Rica were in fre-
quent radio contact with those inside,
said Sandinista officials apparently de-
tected the presence of the group at the
beginning of this week and began to in-
crease the army presence in the region.
He said a large number of troops dis-
embarked along the coast and others
were deployed some distance inland.
He said that he did not want to reveal
the exact location of Mr. Rivera's
party but that it was in the general area
of Layasiksa, which is south of Puerto
Cabezas, the major town in the Miskito
region.
Declassified in Part - Sanitized Copy Approved for Release 2012/01/20: CIA-RDP90-00965R000201110002-8